Category: Photography

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San Telmo district, Buenos Aires

San Telmo was my favorite neighborhood of Buenos Aires.  It had interesting streets to wander around, curious shops, good restaurants and cafes and a great mix of diverse people.  All this said, I was never in this area very late at night but I definitely wandered around a few streets that had a pretty grungy vibe that bordered on hip and and just plain dangerous.

Of course, I kind of like that vibe as it adds a little excitement to any trip.  I’m not looking for Disneyland..

And so I wandered through this area a few times, the most memorable being on a Sunday when the area is transformed into an outdoor market with lots of sights and sounds and a lot of dancing and music as the night comes on.  This is where I saw the Tango act whose music I used for my South American video and it’s where I captured the dancing/drumming images used in that video.

On other days of the week the neighborhood offers a very different, less frenetic vibe that’s equally enticing and is also worth a little of your time.

Anyone who is thinking about a trip to Buenos Aires should definitely consider being in this neighborhood on a Sunday and if you are there, make sure you stay around for the evening music!

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Photos from South America

This week I’m finally getting some photos online from my South America trip.

Buenos Aires was my first destination and it’s an awesome city.  I really liked the vibe of the city: friendly people, good food, abundant cafes, good parks, different neighborhoods with unique feels.  It’s everything you’d want in a city.

I spent a few days in Buenos Aires before taking off for Patagonia.  I stayed in the Solar Soler hotel in the Palermo neighborhood.  It was a really nice little hotel that I booked online before the trip (I always like to have my first night’s hotel booked before a trip).  After returning from Patagonia I again stayed with the Solar Soler folks but this time in their apartment which was cheaper and actually a little closer to a subway station.

The Palermo neighborhood reminded me a bit of the Mission/SOMA districts here in San Francisco in that it’s a pretty mixed neighborhood with expensive shops and restaurants and new development alongside older residences and light industry.  I liked having it as a base from which to explore the city (though this district puts you at one end of all of the areas you’d want to visit and not in the middle).

The Subway system was really convenient for me and a great way to get around town.  I’d just pick a destination and take the subway there (or close to there) and then walk from then on.  That’s essentially how I spent my days.

Nights were pretty mellow since I was on my own but I definitely enjoyed the food and atmosphere of the late-eating crowds (restaurants are easily still crowded at 1am on any day of the week).

I’ve sorted through and chosen just a few of the photos that remind me of the city and that I hope best convey what I saw while I was there.

I’ve split out a subset of photos that I’ll post next, which are from the San Telmo neighborhood.

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South America video

I’m finally getting around to my photos from my trip to South America and this time I decided to do things a little differently.

After our trip to Africa in 2008, I not only posted photos online but I also put together a little video of the trip.  Using iMovie on the Mac, I  combined photos, videos and some songs from an African choir I downloaded from iTunes.  That video turned out to be pretty long, so I never posted it online.

While in Buenos Aires, I was so taken by the rhythm of the city, and the fact that music was everywhere, I decided I wanted to do a video presentation to accompany the photos.  I recorded videos of street performances thinking that I would use those as the soundtrack but the microphone on the G10 didn’t do such a great job of capturing the music – at least, not the way I was shooting with it (not really standing with the mic pointed reliably at the source).  And then I came upon this tango orchestra performing during the San Telmo markets on Sunday.  They had the audience captivated and I couldn’t resist purchasing one of their CDs. It’s their music I used for the soundtrack.  If you’re ever in Buenos Aires (and I would highly recommend it) be sure to check out Orquesta Tipica El Afronte.  They play regularly in town, though not on days that I was able to see them in a proper venue.

This video contains images taken during my trip including photos from Buenos Aires, El Calafate, Colonia Del Sacramento, Torres Del Paine, and Los Glaciars National Parks.

I will post the individual photographs soon as well as a few blog posts about the trip.  In the mean time, I hope you enjoy the video.  By the way, the little 4-arrow button on the bottom right of the video will blow this out to full-screen, definitely the way to watch (if you ask me 🙂 )

As before, I used iMovie to put this together.  It’s a pretty decent product and the ’09 version fixed some of the little issues I had with the previous version.  This still turned out a little longer than I’d like – next time I’ll make it even shorter.

The photos and videos are taken using either the NIkon D300 or the Canon G10.  All of the videos are from the Canon and it’s obvious that the quality of the videos is not as good as that of the stills.  I’m really looking forward to getting an SLR with video capabilities but that’s not a purchase I’ll be making soon.

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What podcasts do you listen to?

I’ve had a few recent conversations (online and off) about podcasts.  I’m a big fan of the format since unlike more visual mediums like text or video they’re perfect for when you’re on the go: in cars, trains, walking, etc.,).  This got me to thinking that I really should get around to writing down the list that I have on my iTunes.

I have a couple of basic categories:

News/Current events, etc.,

  • Fresh Air – Great interviews.  I usually listen to each episode though I’ll sometimes skip some of the entertainment personalities.
  • Commonwealth Club of California – interesting speakers, though not as reliably great as some other podcasts, I appreciate the format and the many of the guests.  I’ll usually skip over at least 1/3 of these if not more

Entertainment

  • NPRs This American Life – Ira Glass’ great audio production of interesting non-fiction (mostly) stories.
  • WNYCs Radio Lab – dumbing down science so that anyone can enjoy it, layered with elaborate audio production
  • The Sound of Young America – enjoyable pop culture interviews by America’s radio sweetheart right out of his LA apartment
  • NPRs Car Talk – click and clack every week.  I don’t often listen to these but they’re good to have on the ipod when you’re in the mood
  • SFMOMA Artcasts – This I have to enhance my museum membership but the postings are sporadic and only occasionally useful/interesting

Photography related

  • Jeff Curto’s Camera Position – Early episodes discussed why certain decisions were made while composing images.  Lately this has become less frequent and more about the overall process of defining ones approach to photography projects
  • LensWork – thoughts about the creative aspect of image making.  Usually short, and so easily digestible when you’re almost at your destination but just need a few more minutes.
  • Martin Bailey Photography – A Brit in Japan who works in technology by day but photography on the side.  His technical descriptions are easy for anyone to digest, I enjoy this one for the embedded images and the inspiration it provides to just go out and shoot and follow through with your projects.
  • Nikonians The Image Doctors – usually gear talk focused on Nikons but sometime other topics as well.
  • Lightroom for Digital Photographers – short tutorials on Lightroom features
  • Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips – short tutorials on Lightroom features
  • Photoshop for Digital Photographers – short tutorials on Photoshop features

So that’s the list on my computer (most of which get sync’d to my ipod/iphone.  Speaking of which – one aspect of the iphone I love?  The 2x setting.  Some of these podcasts (Nikonians, Lenswork, Martin Bailey) are easily consumed at twice the normal speed allowing me to pack in more listening.  Others (Terry Gross, Ira Glass) I prefer to listen to in real time.

I’m curious to hear what others are listening to as I’m always on the look out for good content.

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what to bring: the photo edition

I have so much crap it’s really not funny.  When it comes to travel & outdoor gear, I can’t resist the American consumerist in me.  But with this trip to Buenos Aires and Patagonia, as with most, there’s the additional question of what camera equipment to bring.

Were I only going to Buenos Aires (or, put another way, if this were a more ‘urban’ trip) I would bring my digital SLR, a good ‘standard’ zoom lens and a smaller ‘walk-around’ lens.  With my current equipment, that equates to the Nikon D300, the Nikon 17-55 f/2.8 zoom and the Nikon 20mm f/2.8.  That would allow me to have good general coverage with the zoom lens with the added benefit of a smaller form-factor for walking around a little less conspicuously.  I would probably consider leaving the 20mm lens behind and just use a smaller pocket camera for when I want to carry around a lighter load.

Which leads me to the next piece of gear – a walk-around pocket camera.  For this I currently use the Canon G10.  It’s not quite pants pocket-sized but it will go in a coat pocket without a problem and it affords me more control over the shots than something truly pocketable.  This is also a handy camera for shooting short videos.  I’m glad to see SLRs including video capabilities these days as moving pictures (and sound!) adds a nice dimension to looking through old trips.

Since this trip includes a visit to Torres del Paine, the situation becomes a little more challenging as that scenery provides for a more diverse set of shooting conditions.  Among the decisions are: whether to take the 70-200 f/2.8 or the 80-400 4/f-5.6 and whether to take the tripod or just rely on the monopod, as well as power considerations and whether I want any specialty lenses like a macro, etc.,

The 80-400 has a great zoom range (especially on the DX Nikon body where it gives me an effective focal length of 600mm).  This is the lens I took to Africa and I was very pleased with its performance and the shots I was able to get with it.  But, ultimately, I think I’ll go with the 70-200 for this trip.  It’s slightly smaller, has a wider, stable minimum aperture, and the optics are slightly better.

Normally for traveling I rely on a monopod since it’s lighter, easier to walk around with, and offers basic stabilization.  For this trip however, I’m going to go with the tripod.  I’m hoping for some great scenic shots and for those (especially when looking to make large size prints) the monopod really doesn’t stand up to the tripod.  (This would be less of an issue of course if I had a nice carbon fiber tripod).

Other equipment I considered, but am leaving behind includes my flash and my 105mm macro lens (even though this is my favorite lens).  I need to cut down on the weight somewhere, and this is where I’ll draw the line.

Since I’ll be spending some time in the backcountry, I’ll be bringing along my portable storage device, which will allow me to offload images from the memory cards, freeing up more space.  In the future I just need to buy more memory cards since they’re so cheap and lightweight, but since I already own the hard disk, I’ll just bring that.

And other odds and ends which will travel with me: a lens cleaning kit; battery chargers and extra batteries; cable release; assorted cases and weather protection; polarizer & graduated neutral density filters; memory cards.

I think this is the right setup but here are my concerns:

First and foremost, I don’t know what to expect in terms of being able to charge batteries while in Patagonia.  I have only 2 batteries for my SLR and with cold conditions, they might not last.

Second, I’m bringing only 1 camera body.  In the past I would have brought a second body (either film or digital) but I’ve never NEEDED one and I want to cut down the weight somehow.  I hope this is not the trip where my camera body decides to give up the ghost.

So, the full gear list looks like this:

  • Nikon D300
  • Nikon 17-55 f/2.8
  • Nikon 70-200 f/2.8
  • Nikon 20mm f/2.8
  • Manfroto tripod
  • Manfroto ballhead
  • Spare battery for SLR, battery chargers
  • ThinkTank camera cases
  • lens cleaning kit
  • SinghRay graduated neutral density filter
  • Tiffen Polarizer filters
  • 80GB HyperDrive Colorspace personal storage device
  • three 4GB; one 2GB; two 1GB memory cards for SLR
  • generic Remote Cable release
  • Canon G10
  • two 4GB; one 1GB memory cards for Canon G10

In a pinch I might decide to bring my older Nikon D70 (and associated batteries, charger) and leave the 20mm lens behind.. we’ll see.

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Epson 3800 photo printer & the process of image making

I recently made the purchase of a new Epson 3800 photo printer – a purchase that I’ve considered for several years now.

I was really on the fence about buying a photo printer.  I have access to a really good lab locally, who charge reasonable rates for prints.  I knew that it would take many, many prints in order to recoup the cost of the printer.

But there were two really compelling reasons why I considered, and ultimately made the purchase.

First, while I had access to a lab, I never used it.  I always had on my to-do list “print photos” and it was never getting crossed off.  I wanted to hang more recent prints in my apartment but just never got around to sending the images to the lab.

Second, and the reason for my delay in using the photo lab, I was uncertain about the printing process.  That’s to say; without having control over what gets printed out – and being able to see variations in the final prints from changed settings, I was hesitant to make any prints.  I knew that there were many things that I needed to consider in my prints – like color, tonality, paper, contrast & sharpness – things that either differed from or didn’t exist in online images.  I felt that there was no real way to get a grasp on these elements without doing the work myself.

So after many years of consideration and some recent diligence in research, I ended up with the 3800.  I purchased it sensing that it was about to be replaced with a newer model (it has – the 3880).  But because this  newer model was about to be announced, I was able to save over $400 from multiple offered rebates making this printer much more affordable then its replacement.  I also liked the idea of owning a printer that had been around for a while with a wealth of information available online.

I set up the printer when it arrived using some of these valuable online resources, including most importantly Eric Chan’s website, which offers many detailed setup guides and links.

And the result?

Wow.

I am really digging this printer.  The prints it creates are just amazing.

But the best part – that comes completely unexpectedly, is what printing is telling me about my photography.  I am learning so much more about my images, just by going through the printing process.  I have a much greater appreciation for the final production work required to create a great printed image.

It seems obvious in retrospect, but printing (or final display) is a vital part of the image making process.  And while I’ve been spending plenty of time in this step in the past, it’s been for online presentation – something that didn’t require as much attention as does printing – or so I’ve felt.  Of course now that I look back through my online presentation I see flaws left and right.  The act of fine-tuning my images for printing has made me re-evaluate the process I use to set up my images for online presentation as well.

And sadly, I see where my image taking has suffered over the past several years, because I haven’t had this view of my own work: Most importantly, in image stabilization.  I see in many of my prints, only when trying to print out in large form, flaws in the details – mostly because of a lack of clarity due to movement.  This has not been evident in web-sized images, but when you try to blow that up into a nice landscape print, it just doesn’t fly.

But I am thankful to have this insight now so that I can re-evaluate my processes moving forward and I look forward to the resulting prints that I’ll be able to make.