US bound

I leave for the US in a few days, I have some meetings in Seattle. Then I am going to take a few days after and visit my Mother. It means being away from my wife and daughter a little longer than I had wanted but Alou, my wife, actually suggested it. Hmm, what does that say :)

I have been fighting with photography associations and insurance companies in preparation for this trip. Let me tell you camera insurance is not cheap nor easy to come by.

Here is what I have found. The best deals are for residence in the US. But most of these will not cover me as I am not a current resident. The PPA (Professional Photographers of America) said they would cover me as long as I had a US address (which I do) but, I could only make the claim from inside the US! So I am here in India, my camera gets stolen and I then have to spend $1,000 to return to the US to get the money. Okay.

The average price is something like $24 per $1,000 of coverage, with a $250 deductible. The PPA is a little better, they have a low $100 deductible.

The one catch with the PPA coverage is they ask on one line in their application, “What is your address in the US?” Not an issue. But, then on the next line, “Where do you store you equipment?” India? At home? Pray they go for it.

I hope to contact a couple of Photographer friends in the area. One, in Vancouver, David duChemin. Just got word he has gotten a sweet gig with World Vision. They are paying him to travel Africa and shoot for their Christmas catalog. Congrates David!! Well done. Remember us when you are famous.

Tired Out!

I got a notice in my post box that I had a package to be picked up. It was 1 o’clock, Srinagar, Kashmir on a Friday; that means prayer time and you can forget about getting the package. So, maybe Saturday. Saturday came and went as it was a general strike, aka a hartal. This is when all businesses close their doors in protest of some event. Saturday was protesting a killing of a student earlier in the week. So Monday came. Now you need to understand that I rarely get packages, even when they are sent I rarely get them. My mom sent my daughter an Easter basket in February, we have yet to see it. So off I went, eager to see what lay in waiting for me. Perhaps the long lost Easter basket! I have to drive about 5 miles from my house to get to the the post office. Along the way I have to proceed through several road blocks and check posts. Monday was Pakistan’s independence day, so there was an inordinate number of security personal deployed to keep the Kashmiris from celebrating with their neighbors across the border.

So off I went with my buddy David to the post office. Just as we came to the first check post my wife called me on the cell phone to pick up some eggs. I should have passed the phone to David because as I was zig zagging my way through some very nasty spiked barricades I bumped one. It was at that moment I knew I was in trouble. My tire was punctured by the 9” spike that stuck out the edge of the barricade and in an instant my front left tire was flat. For some strange reason I was not mad. Just bothered. The only thing that crossed my mind was it was late and I hope I can still make it to the post office and get my package, strange, I know. So we got out of my Toyota Qualis (a SUV type of breadbox) and then it hit me, I remembered I had a problem getting the spare out from under the car. Shoot! Sure enough, the crank did not fit into the mechanism that lowers the spare from under the car. It seemed to keep slipping out from the socket it was suppose to be seated in. We cranked, and cranked, and cranked. Then finally, as if a miracle, it caught and slowly we were able to lower the tire. We took off the ruined tire and replaced it with the ...flat spare! OK, all is not lost, it had perhaps 15 pounds of air in it. Just enough to slowly creep to a petrol station and get it filled. I made it to the pump station and got it filled. We had 15 minutes to get to the post office before it closed and the next day was India’s independence day and the day after was a national holiday as well. So, I had to make it!

We arrived at the post office with a few minutes to spare. We walk though the security of machine gun toting guards and subject ourselves to body frisks. I walk into the dark, dank “speed post” room to collect the reward of my trouble. I am told to wait. “You sit,” was the command, “Wait 5 minutes... no 10 minutes.” Oh, one thing I have learned over 12 years in India is never upset a postal worker. If you do you may never see your package, or any other packages to come, again. So I sat. To my surprise, a nice man came right away and digs though masses of uncollected parcels. But something is wrong, he is looking at small envelopes not big packages. Then, he pulls it out, a small legal size envelope. I sign for it and look at it. It is from the publisher of my new book. Ok, well maybe it is a check. Even before I leave the post office I tear it open and read it. My heart sank, it is a copy of an email he sent me two weeks back. I have to chuckle, that was an expensive email.

Below is a poll I have created. Tell me what you think? Do you like the old gallery or the new. You choose.

Which gallery do you prefer?

The old one. The new one. Undecided. Waiting for the newer version which will resize to fit the images.

Web Polls by Vizu

Tighter Security, what does this mean to the Photographer?

Well, yesterday folks tried to blow up 9 or more planes, as I am sure you are aware. Immediately security was heightened. No hand carry at all from England out. No Liquids on US flights. This is said to be indefinite.

So what does this mean to photographers? Well, having lived in Kashmir for 12+ years I am well accustomed to this type of security. We haven’t been able to have hand carries since 1990. We also cannot have batteries in any of our equipment checked or otherwise. At least we have been able to carry our laptops on and recently been able to actually use them (with the batteries). But, if things keep moving in this direction, and I’m sure it will, we need to start thinking now about checking our cameras and computers and how to do it safely.

This is a very unpleasant idea. Two years ago I ordered a Canon 20D and had it “hand carried” over to meet me in England by a friend. My friend put it in their checked bag. The bag never showed up. She did not have insurance and all I got $100 from British Airways for the camera and $500 from American Express (buyers protection) that was it. So now it looks as if we are going to have to check our cameras and our computers involuntarily. OK here are a few thoughts.

We need a strong checkable bag like the Lowepro Omni Trekker Extreme. or one of it’s cousins. Something that will protect and still be useful once we arrive on-site. This bag comes with a Pelican hard case and a shoulder bag inside. I think Lowepro will also need to make a version that supports laptops. Then, we are going to need travel insurance. I know most pros use it, but many others of you go without it. But trust me, not any more! Are you willing to make a bet with several thousand dollars worth of camera equipment that your camera will arrive safe and sound? Not me.

One other thought I had; Luggage weight allotment for checked bags will need to be adjusted by airline. You can’t carry the same amount in your checked bags and then check your hand carry and expect it to be the same weight. Kind of a no-brainer. So Airline Industry, listen up! We feel your pain, we understand your pain and I think most of us agree to these measures, but we don’t need to be penalized for checking our hand carry. A little more luggage weight will be like the sugar to help the medicine go down.

Lexar Article Posted

Just got word that Lexar published my article on the “how to’s” of shooting images while trekking. If you get a moment check it out. You will find it here.

New Old iPod New Old Gallery

Today is a good day. I got my wife’s iPod working again after many months of silence! I have tried everything (or so I thought), I even took it to the Apple store in Delhi, but they just wanted me to upgrade to a newer model. Our iPod is the older 20gb 4th generation monochrome one. We use it mainly for my daughter’s entertainment when we travel and background tunes around the house.

So today while I was procrastinating doing other things I checked yet again on the net for; “broken click wheel”, “iPod click wheel repair” and other such strings. To my amazement I found a solution I thought I had tried, but I guess I had not. Apparently, this is a bug with a 4th generation model. The solution is you flip the hold button to on and back to off. Following that you push and hold the select and menu buttons simultaneously... and pray. According to some sources the iPod calibrates its touch-sensitive surfaces when you turn off the Hold switch. Touching the buttons or the touch wheel on a sleeping iPod at the same time that you turn off the Hold switch causes iPod to calibrate to the capacitance of your finger instead of the air. This can cause iPod to turn on but appear unresponsive when waking from sleep.

So I tried this solution and now I have a functioning iPod! Today is a good day!

In other news. Please check out the new version of The Digital Trekker gallery. You can access it either by going to the splash page or by clicking here. Tell me what you think. I still can decide which gallery I like best. But I am leaning toward the new one. Cast you vote and let me know.