Wat Chaiyamangkalaran

I hate blogger. One of these days I am going to make the switch over to Wordpress. But until I can figure out how to migrate all my old blog entries, I am hosed. Then again, if I get any more frustrated with blogger I might just count them as a loss and make the switch anyway. So, why am I so frustrated? All I wanted to do is use Lightbox or Slimbox, but you have to be a freaking programmer to figure out how to install and use the scripts and that is just not me. So for now I am stuck with giving you a link to a Lightroom version of lightbox.

So what this is all about is I went out yesterday and shot a few images at a local Burmese temple; Dharmikarama Temple and a Thai temple; Wat Chaiyamangkalaran. Nothing life changing, but I thought I would share with you the results. I have wasted most of the day trying to figure out how to make them pop up in Slimbox. So, enough of that! You can view them HERE.

Just Landed in KL

(Click image to view larger.)

I leave in 30 min, for Penang and am really looking forward to seeing Alou and Jess. I will post something on Monday my time. But not today. Today is family time and I need to finish my Teh Tarik. Talk soon.

Winding Down

Only one more day left. This trip has been more fun than a person should be allowed to have! But, I will be truthful with you, if I don't see another Gompa (a.k.a. Monastery) for a while, I won't complain. But - with that said, I am really looking forward to doing this again next year. Ladakh has definitely feed my mountain craving. Leh is just off the Tibetan plain, yet still in the Himalaya, so we are surrounded by 20,000 foot peaks every where we turn. The people are some of the most photogenic people I have run across in all my travels. Almost all Buddhist they are a beautiful and gentle people and very colorful. I will post more and update my gallery once I return to Malaysia.

Nicole Gibson Brings Home a Guru!

A hearty congratulations goes out to Nicole Gibson for winning the Vincent Versace Award at Photoshop World Expo in Las Vegas. Nicole is a good friend and one of our participant in the 2007 Lumen Dei workshop in Kashmir. In fact, it was her image of a Kashmiri man viewed through a flock of pigeons taken on the Lumen Dei tour that took the Guru Award. The image is outstanding and well deserved. Not sure, but I think Nicole walks away with a tidy little prize booty as well. Well done Nicole!

The destructible, indestructible North Face Base Camp Duffle.

North Face Base Camp Duffle

The Base Camp Duffle after two trips.

I have wanted a North Face Base Camp Duffle for a long, long time. Almost since they came out. One reason is they just looked cool. The other and the main reason was they seemed indestructible. The PVC coated nylon looked as if it would be water proof and be, as we say completely "bomber". So finally I shelled out the mulla and picked out a bright yellow XL. I took it to Indonesia and then here to Penang. The first time it was not very full. The second it was packed to the hilt. After arriving into Malaysia I noticed a big whole forming in the lower end near the seam. In fact the seam is coming un-stitched as well. I could not believe it, This was the indestructible North Face Base Camp Duffle how could it have a hole in it! Well, all I have to do is call The North Face and tell them and they will surely say, "Send it on back, we'll replace it!" So I called them, long distance from Malaysia all the way to the USA. I, to their credit got warranty repair service right away. So I told the nice young man on the line the situation and waited for his response. Dead air... Finally the awkward silence was broken by his, "So, what do you want us to do about it?" Huh? I want you to say "So sorry, please send it back to us and we will replace it." But, what I got was "Oh, well we don't warranty against holes." Well, then why do you make the think look like a tank! I thought the whole idea was it is tough, indestructible, bomb proof! Sorry, North Face you dropped a couple of notches in my book today. Fortunately I bought it through REI and they warranty everything, workmanship, holes even your dislike of the color once you get it home. Too bad The North Face doesn't cover their technical gear like it is going to be used in technical environments!

American Airlines Charges for Bags

You know I am not a fan of many Western airlines. I am a 1K "elite" traveler with United and have found sticking with one airlines to be the most beneficial in the long run. But The airlines industry continues to cut staff and services and now American will begin to start charging you $15 for the first bag and $25 for the second! I am not opposed to private industry. But this just sounds like bad business to me They also increased fees for reservations and oversize bags and cutting jobs. All while management are getting bonuses. Hmm, sound odd. Oh, and by the way, American is encouraging other airlines to follow suit. Let's hope they don't.

(By the way, there have been no photos or graphic published this week with the blog entiers because Blogger is having issues with uploading images. Hopefully it will be fixed soon.)

May's Wallpaper - Lumen Dei

Here is May's wallpaper. It is a little different. A bit of a plug for Lumen Dei. Which, by the way, starts in 136 days. (note: We still have two* one space open.) This image is of men waiting for a meal in a welfare line. I love the intense look that the man in the middle is giving me. This image was taken on last year's Lumen Dei workshop while walking with the students through Old Delhi. Click the image above and a full-sized (1680×1160 yes, it is huge.) image will open in a new window. Right click it or ctr click (Mac) it should give you the option to save it and make it a desktop wallpaper. Enjoy.
* since I published this just 2 hrs ago another space filled.

Lightstalker.org - A Photojournalist Aide

Others of you may already know about Lightstalkers.org. Lightstalkers is a network for journalists, especially photographers and other media types that find themselves constantly traveling, dealing with visas, gear issues and all the other frustrations our folks in our line of work face. It is a great experiment working towards networking photojournalists directly with one another. It is a free site and open for anyone who shares this lifestyle. There are some great resource links such as posting of assignments and opportunities, events and workshops relating to travel and photojournalism around the world, gear for sale, tech support for everything from Lightroom to negative scanners, even housing around the world. But the most interesting and most helpful has to be the travel link where you will find photographers asking questions about, "best way to embed with US troops in Iraq " or the easiest way to get into North Korea. The site comes with other perks like a Slideshow Pro gallery of up to 50 images. What it isn't, is a place to be discovered. There are way too many photographers on it and you will be just another one of many. But I do think it could prove useful for planning that next adventure or remote shoot.

April Wallpaper

(Silly me, I forgot to give you the location of this shot. This is taken on the edge of Dal lake in Srinagar, Kashmir. Right in front of my favorite coffee shot "The Ice Fern" see the map below.)


View Larger Map
I know, I know you are amazed! Not at the image, but that it is actually on time for once. I have not posted in a while as I have been traveling for business, not photographic business however, so no new images to post.

The Lumen Day One Day that David Duchemin and I will be leading in Temple, TX is happening this Saturday. I am excited, and to be frank somewhat nervous doing this in my back yard. David is flying in early and I am looking forward to hanging with him and showing him some of our Central Texas culture. What would that be...any suggestions? Clem Mikeska's Bar-B-Q?

In other news, the Brandons will be moving to Malaysia in June. So my time in the USA is counting down. We arrive on June 25th! Long story, but suffice it to say, I can do everything I was going to do in England from Malaysia. So why not?!

Review: ThinkTank's Modular Belt System

Photos of Matt by Keith Talley

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

I have gone through many camera bags. I have used and abused several Lowepro bags and a ThinkTank Photo bag or two. I have finally come to the conclusion there is no one perfect bag. You don't know how hard that is to say. It has been my quest to find that all elusive perfect bag. For trekking with a camera, the Lowepro Vertex 200 AW II is really close. But for international travel and shooting in urban environments I have yet to find the perfect bag. I guess it is because of all the different settings I find myself in, from airports and airplanes to hot and humid crowded streets. But I certainly have found a winning combination for now. It is a combination of a carryon and a modular belt system.

I have for the past year or so used the Lowepro Stealth Reporter 200 when I shoot in urban environments. I like the size and ease of access to the gear. But a couple of things I don't like is that it doesn't provide enough pockets and storage space to use as a carryon, and it is a little too big to stick in my suitcase. Plus, as I get older, all the weight of gear hanging off my shoulder all day gets really old. So what I have come up with is a bit of a jury rig for sure, but it seems to work.

I now carry or rather pull, a North Face Doubletrack 21” convertible pack. This bag is carry-on-legal and comes with a zip off backpack for easy-to-access essentials like my noise reduction headphones, journal, pens, passport and reading material. In the main compartment of the Doubletrack I pack my lens, camera body, passport drives, cables and card readers as well as my 17” MacBook Pro. Here is the cool part that I have to pat myself on my back about: I pack all this gear in ThinkTank's Modular Pro modules and the computer goes into the ThinkTank's Artificial Intelligence 17. This has two advantages over standard gear wraps. Where gear wraps may save a few inches of space they do only one thing, protect the gear. But the modules protect the gear and serve as a carry system once I arrive on site. Not only do the modules carry each lens and the body, I also pack the Pro Speed Belt and Pixel Racing Harness. So I arrive ready to shoot even if my checked bags get lost in Dubai.

This last trip to Sumatra, Indonesia was the first time I shot using the modular system. I have to confess, it took a little getting used to, but after an hour or so shooting in 98º heat and the same humidity, I loved it. I am convinced that this system has saved my back and has kept me cooler than any vest could do. I have always liked the feel of vests and found them helpful, but I have yet to find one that was not uncomfortably hot to wear.

On this trip, I used only one body, but took my standard work horse set of lens; 70-200/2.8, 24-70/2.8, 85/1.8 (I love this lens!) and my 17-40/4. I used each of these equally. The first day I shot with just the Pro Speed Belt. But soon found with all the sweating I was doing and the weight of the lens, the belt began to slip down my waste and I found my self always pulling it back up to above my hips where it felt comfortable. But, once I attached the Pixel Racing Harness all was fine. The weight was distributed very comfortably between my hips and my shoulders. I could even loosen up the belt again after having tightened it before. Breathing is enjoyable and the harness allowed me to do it once more.
Here is a little trick I learned on this trip. In high humidity I sweat...a lot. It won't take long before I have sweat burning in my eyes and if I have sunscreen on, it is very painful and can really impede shooting. The Pixel Racing Harness has D rings on the shoulder straps and two little stretchy spandex type pockets. I used one of the small pockets to put my phone/gps in. This assured that the gps got great reception while I was shooting. I wanted this as I was planning to geotag my images from this trip. The D ring came in very handy. I had bought a small MSR microfiber towel for travel in Indonesia. Usually I take a keffiyeh, a middle eastern scarf along and throw it over my neck. It doubles as a rag to wipe the sweat and as a “do-rag” to protect from the sun. But at times it gets in the way. On this trip I took the microfiber towel and clipped it to the D ring on the harness and then stuffed the remainder of the towel in the module designed for a water bottle. It worked perfectly. This is a small thing, but really helpful, as the towel is very absorbent and stuffing it into the water bottle module kept it out of the way while I was shooting and with it being microfiber, at night I would wash it out and it would be dry by morning.

The way I had the belt configured was with four modules. On the left was the water bottle module called R U Thirsty? and the Lens Changer 75 for my 70-200. On the right I had the Lens Changer 50: For my 24-70 with hood attached and the Lens Drop In. One aspect I was not thrilled with, but it was only a minor irritant, was that once I put the harness on, the back of the belt became wasted space. I am not flexible enough to twist around and reach and use any module on the small of my back and with the harness on I could not spin the belt around to the front like I could before. So this left me with only four modules and one of those I was using to store my towel. And when it came time to change lenses, I felt like I needed an extra hand. I would liked to have had one more module as a place to put the lens I was removing in order to free up my hands to grab the other lens as needed. Maybe not an issue for others, but for me it was an irritant for sure. Having just looked at ThinkTanks website, I think they may have resolved this issue with their new Belly Dancer harness. This looks complicated but efficient. It is nothing more than a harness attached backwards (see image) thus giving you more space in the front where the buckle once was. Brilliant! Also they have a new set of modules they call their Skin Set, lighter weight and no padding. It remains to be seen if they will work as a way to pack the lens in my carryon.

Over all I was very happy with the ThinkTank Pro Modular system. It functioned well, saved my back and kept me from overheating. The only downside was that once I attached the harness, I lost some usable space on the belt. But this seems to be resolved in the new system using the Belly Dancer harness

In closing this review, I want to thank Brian and the folks at ThinkTank for their participation in this year's Lumen Dei Workshop in India.


How I pack the The North Face Doubletrack 21" :

1. ThinkTank's Artificial Intelligence 17; 17” MacBook Pro
2. ThinkTank's Lens Changer 75; 70-200/2.8
3. ThinkTank's Lens Changer 50; 24-70/2.8
4. ThinkTank's Speed Changer; 5D Body
5. ThinkTank's Lens Changer 25; 17-40/4
6. ThinkTank's Lens Drop In; 85/1.8
7. LowePro Cable bag
8. ThinkTank's Pixel Racing Harness
9. ThinkTank's Speed Belt
10. Compartment for a change of clothing
11. The North Face Doubletrack Zip off Daypack
12. The North Face Doubletrack 21” Carryon
13. ThinkTank's Pixel Pocket Rocket -Flash Card Storage
14. ThinkTank's Bum Bag; Sony Noise Canceling Headphones

The Lowepro Fastpack 350... Great gear for your gear

By Chase Bowers

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Lowepro Fastpack 350 (the red version) on a trip through Sumatra, Bangka, and Belitung in Indonesia. I was assisting NGO and travel photographer Matt Brandon on the trip. We took daily treks through cities and villages, along river banks and through jungles.

I am not a professional photographer, but I had several pieces of equipment essential for my daily travels that this bag handled well. In the bottom section of the bag I carried a point and shoot, a camcorder, a mini tripod, an audio recorder, some of the wiring associated with each of these, and 2 sd cards that fit securely in velcro pockets made just for them. This portion of the bag has velcro dividers that were very convenient as I was able to set up the bag to meet my specific needs on the journey. Inside the bottom flap I carried my travel documents along with copies of them, and my power adapter for my MacBook.

In the main top section I carried a pda with accessories, pens and headphones, along with international electric converters and a card reader. In the outer top section I carried a small book, snack bars, drink powder packs, batteries, and an aftermarket all weather cover. I never needed the rain cover as the water resistant material on the bag worked fine against the occasional light shower that passed. In the laptop section I carried my 13 inch MacBook.

I found the Fastpack 350 a delight to carry. It was lighter than my previous day pack, though I was carrying more equipment in the Lowepro bag. The weight distribution system involving shoulder adjustments, a sternum strap, and a waist buckle helped me get through the 14 day trip without any back or shoulder pain, which is a rarity for me.
Also, I was able to quickly get to both cameras and the tripod while leaving the bag on my left shoulder (it slides right around the torso for very fast access). This was nice when I needed footage or photos quickly. When the bag was tossed in the back of our SUV, or laid on the ground in a village, dirt wiped away easily. It held a water bottle securely and the mesh pouch also served as a resting place for the camcorder when I needed to set it aside for just a moment.

Also, for travel in the cities, the setup of the bag keeps both computer and cameras secure against snatching when it is with you. When I did not have the computer with me, the notebook compartment held small purchases so my hands remained free. Having traveled with a variety day packs over the last several years, I have finally found one with the look, ease of use, and carry capability I need.

I thought a small drawback to the bag would be the lack of an all weather cover, but the one I bought aftermarket was inexpensive and fit nicely into the bag without hindering my packing room. And I never needed the cover as the water resistance held off the light rain of occasional showers very well. This bag has a cool look, a great feel, and the versatility I need for trips all over the world. -- CB

The Fastpack doubled as a pillow.

Sumatra Sample Gallery Posted

As is common on trips like this, I am up at 4 am - my mind spinning. I have some great news, besides the fact that I arrived home safe and into the arms of my loving family; I was able to retrieve the data from my corrupt Lightroom files. I had given up any hope of getting usable data from the offending files. I had started redoing all my work on the long flight from Tokyo to San Francisco. With a combination of lack of sleep and the notion of redoing many hours of work in front of me I began feeling depressed. I made one last effort of opening the data from inside the application itself and by a miracle it opened. So I quickly made a new backup and all seems well - by the grace of God!


I made a small galley with a sampling of the best of the images HERE. I hope you enjoy them.

One other note of business. David Duchemin and I are getting many inquiries into the Lumen Dei One Day course coming up on April 5th. Many folks have sent in their $99 to hold their seat. We are limited to 25 participants and we have had many more inquiries, so send in that check soon to reserve your spot! With one month to go, seats are going fast!

An Animoto Christmas

I really like the simplicity and creativity of the Animoto video creation. Here I took some images from my family's Christmas Reunion and made them, in just a few minutes, into a slick and impressive video. You can do a 30 sec mix for free and a longer one is only $3. I know this sounds like a commercial, but it really is fun and a great way to share images with friends and family.