Looking Down, London Eye

The pods on the London Eye give you the opportunity to look in all directions.

On this chilly, drizzly early December day in 2008 I decided to look down as well as around.  Some of the people there on the South Bank seem to be clustered for a reason, but if I knew once, it escapes me now.

Shooting inside one of those pods does present challenges.  The polished windows make reflections stand out unless you back away (in which case you get a lot of the pod’s interior in your shot), or get the lens right up to the glass.

A lower cost stereo microphone alternative

I ran a quick test of this mic in a voice-over situation.

Tascam TM-ST1 Stereo Microphone

It’s not a world beater, but for someone starting out in recording, and especially those who travel and find space for goodies is at a premium, this might do the job.

Although this photo from Tascam has the mic in a pretty vertical orientation, you can see the small diameter weighted base.  It actually works pretty well.  You can adjust the stereo pickup of the mic between 90 and 120 degrees and teamed with a good digital recorder you could cover a fair amount of recording.  Circuit noise is noticeable in quiet situations, so this isn’t the mic you’d want for environmental recordings.

And a New Microphone.

(This guy looks more than a little like R2D2.)

Blue Yeti USB Microphone

Blue microphones has started shipping their Yeti USB microphone.  The biggest operational advantage over most other USB microphones is that you can monitor your recording session without a time lag (latency).  This mic also offers four patterns:  Stereo, omnidirectional, cardioid, and bi-directional.  A brief description and audio samples are on my website.

The next microphone I’ll be looking at is the Tascam TM-ST1 stereo condenser mic.  I’m looking for an alternative to stereo mics in the $300+ range for those who are just starting out in field recording.

A quick test run with Ricoh’s very interesting GXR.

I like to test new cameras at the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles International Airport.

The museum is a very difficult place to shoot since it is generally dim, has several different light sources (it is not unusual to have four light sources in a single picture) and the curved ceilings and all those airplanes make for some compositional challenges.  With shooting conditions right on the edge, the bad habits of a camera or lens (or photographer, for that matter) don’t stay hidden.

This WWII vintage Vought F4U-1D Corsair is one of the first planes you see as you approach the first overlook (on the right in this photo), and is one my regular test subjects from that vantage point.  But I also like this view from below since you can get visitors in the picture.  (As a side note, this is one of the few situations where you can somehow manage to get only one airplane in the frame.)

Most of my serious travel photography is done with a Leica M8, but it’s good to have a point-and-shoot camera available too.  The Ricoh GXR features different lens/sensor modules that slide into the camera body.  The module I have on my GXR is a 5.1-15.3mm zoom — which is equivalent to a 24-72mm lens in 35mm film cameras.  The GXR will replace my current GX100.  Ricoh cameras are a bit of a niche item in the U.S., with very few dealers.  However, Ricoh seems intent on designing cameras for more experienced photographers and their functions and control layouts are, in my opinion, the best of any compact cameras made.  The small sensor models suffer a little more from noise than other brands, but the GXR is quite improved over the GX100.  (I need to build some Noise Ninja profiles for making larger images, but you can’t really see any noise issues at this size.)

Approaching SFO

Usually I don’t like applying PhotoShop’s filters and effects.  This picture is one of the rare exceptions.

I shot this photo using a Minox EC Subminiature camera around the 1999/2000 holidays.  I was flying into San Francisco on the first-of-the-day United Express flight out of Arcata-Eureka Airport (ACV) in an Embraer EMB 120 turboprop.  From up in the air, we could just see the rising sun in the east, while the Bay was still shrouded in darkness and clouds — just a few clear spots here and there.  The situation was photographically “hopeless” but I shot with the Minox anyway.  With ISO 100 film and a fixed aperture of f/5.6 camera shake was a certainty.  But the lights of San Francisco were reflecting on the engine nacelle, and there is a little streak of light on the lower right corner…Angel Island or Tiburon?

I scanned the print and then “PhotoShopped” the image.  I mounted a print and hung it by my desk at work.  After a couple of job changes the print is gone, and I lost track of the final image file.

Flying into San Francisco from Medford, Oregon (MFR) early on January 4th, I again had that dawn view of San Francisco Bay.  I was reminded of that photo from a decade ago and decided to rescan the print and resurrect the final image.  ( The filter is PhotoShop’s Dry Brush.)

…The Morning After Christmas

(A one-picture audio slide show)

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I woke up about 2:30 a.m. on the 26th.  It was raining steadily and beating down the snowfall from the weekend before — probably 16″ to 18″ in my neighborhood.

So I decided to take a picture from one of the front windows.  And then I decided to grab a little bit of audio.

Later in the day I decided to put the two files together as a one-picture slide show.  Click here or on the picture to link to the slide show.

I shot it.  Then I ate it.

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One of the small joys of Poland is the chance to drop into a little shop, enjoy paczki, relax, and watch the world go by.

This little kuchnia is on Ul Jagiellonska, a block off Krakow’s Market Square.

Backstory:  This was originally one of the exercises in the Travel Channel Academy course “Travel Writing in the Digital Age“.  I was encouraged by the instructors to add the link to the paczki definition.  And they also suggested more information on how to find the place, etc.  My head went in to auto-bob mode, but that evening I decided that too much information was not a good thing.  The point is to relate the possibility, but then to let the traveler finish the journey.

I’ve added three new voice recordings to the audio samples web page on my web site.

These samples feature the Audio-Technica AT897 short shotgun mic — again in narration or voice-over recording situations you might encounter.

So I wanted to just smack the guy…

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…No — not the kid in the picture.  I wanted to smack my “brother” photographer.

I like this picture, but it was a challenge.  It was quite dark.  I was shooting a Leica M6 with a 15mm lens at a very slow shutter speed — ISO 800 film.  This installation was “The Weather Project”, by Olafur Eliasson, in the “Turbine Hall” of London’s Tate Modern Museum from 16 October 2003 until 21 March 2004.  I made several shots, and all the scans take a lot of work.  The best rendering of this image was something I did in a printing class — printing as in ink on paper — but that’s another topic.

I was on the floor, discretely using a monopod and contorting myself as I tried to get the right perspective.  Then this dude comes over near me, sets up his tripod, and the next thing you know the docent is telling us both that we “can’t do that”.  Grrrr.  So I’m going to be doing contortions — combined with slow shutter speeds, that’s asking for problems.

I’m sorry, but do people really think you can plop a tripod down in any museum without permission?  Monopods, on the other hand, seem to be OK in many places.  The Victoria and Albert had no problem.  Most of the Smithsonian museums allow monopods.  And you should always ask when you visit a museum for the first time.

So that’s why I wanted to smack the guy.

The little boy and the woman, on the other hand, hopefully had a wonderful day.  It sure looked like it from where I was crouching.

I’ve updated my field recording equipment pages.

The TOC is here.

The first page is a brief survey of some Field Recording equipment.  This is fairly general — not just for travel writers.

The second page emphasizes equipment and practices that apply more to Travel Writers.

Recording "studio" in a walk-in closet. The digital recorder is clamped to the mic's floor stand, and the clamp also serves as a hanger for the headphones. The script is clipped to a rack of ties.

The third page has Audio Samples using equipment the way a travel writer might when making voice-overs for a blog or slide show.  I intend to add some more samples since I just got a shotgun microphone.

Following my Travel Channel Academy two-day workshop on Travel Writing in the Digital Age, I realized I needed to update my web pages on field recording with digital audio recorders — and also add a page with information that was relevant to the course objectives.

I have a couple more details to polish, and I’m waiting for piece of equipment to show up that could be the solution to one of the problems encountered when recording to a laptop, but you can go to the TOC for my audio web pages right now.

The verdict:  It works.

Obviously I’m not going to do any intensive computing with the netbook.  But I was able to download and catalog photos, sort and edit phots (including conversion from RAW), record blog pages, and insert photos into the blog.

I’m running MicroSoft Office application with no problem, which means no relearning another word processor of e-mail application.

I wouldn’t want to sit at the netbook for 8 hours, and the 1024 x 600 (or 1024 x 600 window on a virtual 1024 x 768 screen) isn’t perfect.  But the ASUS fires up quickly and communicates well.  I have additional connectivity options in the form of a B/G/N USB WiFi adapter that runs on both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz.  I can also use my Verizon USB air card.

I’m pleased.

Heading home — So some closing comments:

Paris Museum Pass: Extremely handy.  They come in different denominations (days).  It doesn’t “start” until your first visit, and you can re-visit a museum or site any number of times within the span of days for your pass.

Metro/Bus/RER Passes and Carnet: I was going to get a Paris Visite multi-day pass, but usually started my days walking, and then taking the Metro back to the hotel on a single journey ticket.  I finally did get a carnet (10 tickets) but ended up carrying 4 unused ones home.  Your ticket is read when you board a bus or enter a station — keep it with you throughout your journey in case an inspector asks for it.  The RAPT web site has good information.

Pass Bundlers: Some services will bundle the Paris Museum Pass and the Paris Visite pass and either mail it to your home, or deliver it to your hotel.  However, they charge a hefty fee for the service.

Hotel: I stayed at the Best Western Hotel Eiffel Segur.  Small but clean rooms.  Close to two metro stations.  A little market diagonally across the street, and a convenience store a block away next to the Midas Muffler shop.  The room was booked through Expedia.

Airport Transportation: I didn’t want to use the Metro or the RER lugging my suitcase. camera case, and knapsack.  It makes you a “mark”, and with a case full of Leica gear, represents a pretty good chunk of money.  Taxis are expensive from CDG, so I booked a door-to-door shuttle in advance.  I used Paris Airport Shuttle.  The total cost for both trips was 54 Euros.  The confirmation e-mail is very detailed and gives you a toll-free number to call after you land at CDG.

Thought I’d drop by the Eiffel Tower this morning and see what was happening.

How about a mob of people?  It didn’t take much internal argument to figure out hanging around for a couple of hours in line just for the first elevator ride was not going to be a productive use of my leisure time.

As I arrived, a group of trinket sellers and some of the Roma women were hightailing it out of the crowd of tourists as a couple of police officers on bikes rode through.

This shot barely gives an impression of the crowds, likely made worse because one of the four pillars was shut down — the tower is undergoing its once-every-seven-years repainting.  The Roma woman (foreground, long dress, left side of frame) approaches targets with a piece of paper and asks if you speak English.  This is to get you distracted, get you to reveal where your cash is, etc.  I gave an oddly accented “No Ainglesh” to the first one I encountered and she moved right on.  The second one got a fully Americanized “F___ Off” from me, and I got an equally clear “F___ Off” in response — but she did keep moving.

The mandatory Eiffel Tower shot.  A little later, the Leica-toting Japanese guy and I traded shooting positions, and I did the tourist shot for Japanese girl.  An Italian guy insisted that the picture I took of him with his camera be just right — which included making a redo.

What turned out to be the last stop of the day was the Luxembourg Gardens.  I arrived around noon after picking up a bag of Vietnamese Oolong tea at a little shop I spotted on the way from the Metro.  It was a beautiful midday, and being a Monday, the crowds were moderate.  These are the gardens of the French Senate, which meets in the Luxembourg Palace.

And those chairs?  I have no idea how many hundred there are.  Most are straight back, but a fair percentage are kinda slouching.  People group them, single them, read, sleep, eat lunch, visit, etc.  I grabbed one of the slouch models — and proceeded to take a nap in the sun.  Much better use of my time than waiting in line at the Eiffel Tower.

The Medici Fountain.  There are sculptures all through the gardens, activities for kids (puppets, rental model sailboats, play areas), tennis and basketball courts, and specified lawns where you can sit on the grass (sounds regulated, but it does allow the grass areas to be cycled).

Other Observations:

– The only place I saw police “on the ground” were the two bicycle cops under the Eiffel Tower, and a pair of officers on foot (one with a FAMAS rifle) at the Louvre.  I didn’t see one uniformed officer in the Metro.  At the Eiffel tower and the Louvre there were also 3-person military patrols (two with FAMASs and the senior member following), but they don’t bother with crime…The trinket sellers, pickpockets, and Roma women pay them little notice.

– Both the Mini and the Fiat 500 are contemporary “comeback” cars.  The originals (the Mini-Cooper and the “Cinquecento”) are rarely seen in the U.S., though my family won a Fiat 500 in a raffle and several friends have had the original Mini.  It’s only in Europe where you are likely to see them all together.  Then you realize how tiny the originals were.  The current Mini is really a “Midi” — and the Fiat 500 is a 500 in name only.

Today started across the street from Saturday’s first stop.  The Musee Rodin is a nice place to visit — almost a refuge.  The Hotel Biron, though a little frayed around the edges, has two floors of sculture, some paintings (including some Van Goghs).  Small wonder the floors are creaky and show patches, when you consider the amount of bronze, marble, and plaster.  The free museum guide is well done and concise.

The grounds are peaceful and well maintained, though I expect that on nice spring and summer weekends it can get crowded.

Bronze works are distributed around the grounds and there are even free telescopes so you can closely examine the details of his famous doors “The Gates of Hell”.

The next stop was the other part of FIAC 2009, taking place in a temporary building erected in the Cour Carree de Louvre.  For those who have been to the Louvre, that’s the courtyard to the east of the Pyramid.

I didn’t find as much to like with this collection of galleries and artists.  One guy was eyeing my Leica, though…At least I think that’s where he was looking.  His wife finally dragged him away.  (He was probably trying to figure out what it was, since I usually cover the “steal me” red dot and model engraving with pieces of black tape.)

My biggest surprise was the Centre Pompidou…The place was crawling with people.  Also surprising was the number of kids — little kids.

These two are looking at an installation called “7th Continent” by Christophe Berdauguer and Marie Pejus…That is, until their mother told them to get out of the way of the guy taking pictures.  But we worked that out, and now Mom is expecting a file with the picture. (That will take a little bit of time back home — this is a tricky image.)  It does make you wonder about “children’s art”…It really shouldn’t be just about clowns and bunnies.

There is quite a lot of activity around the Centre (it is much more than just a museum).  The shot below was taken just after sunset, and you can see the glow of the Eiffel Tower at the upper right.

Even as I left a little after 7:00 pm, people were still coming in.  Why aren’t those people staying at home on Sunday evening watching TV and training their kids to be couch potatoes?

Footnote:  The Musee Rodin has an excellent guide to the museum’s collections.  “Guide to the Musee Rodin Collections” is a compact and concise 256-page book and provides insights into not only Rodin’s sculptures, but also his painting, drawings, and works of others that he collected.  The price is 15 Euros and you can find a little more information here:  http://www.musee-rodin.fr/bnouv-e.htm.

First stop today was Napoleon’s Tomb.  This is indeed a national shrine…Perhaps the French are more willing to celebrate a leader’s accomplishments, and not focus too much attention on his shortcomings.  The sarcophagus likes in the tomb that was excavated and build under dome of what was once the Royal Chapel.

When the dome was regilded in 1989, about 25 pounds of gold was used.  The tomb is part of the Hotel National des Invalides, which also houses the Musee de L’Armee.  I was pleasantly surprised to see an exhibit honoring Poland’s story and contributions in WWII.

There is a series of displays down a corridor (shown) with French text, and a series of large photos and text displayed in the museum’s main courtyard (English and French) giving a much more accurate view of events than the history I learned.

One little gem in the Musee de L’Armee is the Musee des Plans-Reliefs.  These are formerly classified relief map models of French fortifications along the Atlantic coast, the Pyrenees, and the Mediterranean.   You have to climb up to the 4^th floor, where the 24 models in the collection are kept in a dark, climate-controlled room that runs pretty much the length of the courtyard.

It is very dark in the museum, but you can manage photos if you have a fairly fast lens, a steady hand, and can manage high ISO digital images.

FIAC 2009 (Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain) is a pretty significant contemporary arts exhibition.  In the booths are the big name galleries, and sitting in the booths or mounted on the wall are some pretty big name artists.

This picture is just the part that is set up in Paris’ Grand Palais.  The other half is located in the Cour Carree de Louvre…I guess you could see both in one day.  Contemporary art isn’t for everyone, and I can easily disregard the vast majority of what I saw today.  However, every once in awhile…

Might as well use some of those miles.*  Flew out on Wednesday — Arrived Thursday morning.  And I admit to dogging it on the arrival day and just crashing for the rest of Thursday.

Friday I hoofed it from my hotel (near UNESCO) to the Musee d’Orsay.  This remains one my favorite art museums mostly because of its content — art from 1848 to 1914.  The building is an old train station saved from the wrecking ball.  As a result, the main hall is spacious and airy.  There are plenty of places in the main hall to sit and relax, a good restaurant with a wonderfully ornate dining room, another restaurant overlooking the Seine, and a snack bar.  (Some snooty architecture critic was praising NYC’s Guggenheim, remarking that it was unique in that it didn’t look like an old palace or a train shed.  Would that more museums looked like the d’Orsay.)

Along both sides of the main hall (the former train shed) are exhibit rooms.  On the River Seine side (the right side of the picture) are several levels of galleries.  The museum’s impressive collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist work is on the 5th level (picture taken from what would be the 6th level), stretching the length of the building and across the end behind the clock.  Additional rooms hold pastels in special controlled lighting.  My only critique is that while the galleries are great, vertical access in the building is a totally bizarre mixture of ramps, stairs, and escalators.

A four day Paris Museum pass gets you access to about 60 museums and attractions, and avoids the longer lines.

For Saturday?  Probably FIAC 2009. (Look it up.)

* Actually, it only took 40,000 Alaska miles to get a flight on American from Washington National (DCA) via Miami — the first time I’ve taken DC’s Metro from home to an airport for a European flight.

Just a quick update:  I decided to go with Microsoft Office 2007 after all.  Microsoft Works just wasn’t cutting it.

Outlook is just better for e-Mail and has the calendar function.  Word and Excel handle their tasks better, and if you get a word processing document, 99.9% of the time it will be a *.doc or *.docx file.

And Office 2007 seems to run just fine.  I don’t load up the desktop with a lot of applications, so I’m not expecting problems.

(Buying the Office 2007 through Amazon saved some money too — I had run out of installations with my existing Office license.)

I’m going to experiment with a travel computer setup that will be smaller/lighter than even the smallish Toshiba notebook I have been using.

I just purchased an ASUS 1005HA netbook and am now working with software setups to see what kind of minimalist set of applications will allow me to download, catalog, and also do some of the basic photo editing tasks.

Netbooks are intended for lighter tasks, such as e-Mail and web surfing, but their capabilities have expanded in the past years (and sales have surprised many in the industry).  That being said, even their strong proponents talk about a 30 minute experience.  Because the displays are small and the CPU and other components are intentionally restrained, they boot up fairly fast and run for hours (8 to 9 hours is not uncommon with 6-cell battery packs).

With the ASUS netbook, I’m working with:

• 10.1 inch screen (1024 x 600 displayed, but 1024 x 768 available)
• 2 GB RAM (a $30 upgrade from the 1GB standard)
• 160GB HDD
• Windows XP Home
• Slightly smaller keyboard than “normal” notebooks
• WiFi B/G/N and Bluetooth
• Larger 63W battery (10.5 hours claimed, and many report 9+ hours in the real world)
• 3 USB ports and 1 SD card reader
• Comes with Microsoft Works and Outlook Express (& trial version of Office 2007 — deleted immediately)

More on the photo and other software later…

With this setup, the goal was to enhance the lighting level of the stage and lectern in the main conference area — used for keynote speakers, lunches, and plenary sessions.  I was to shoot each speaker, and also the obligatory grip-and-grin at the close of each presentation.  The ceiling is about 14 feet high, the walls and drapes are a gray that’s a little lighter than 18%, and the carpeting is a darker gray.

Since the lights would be set up and turned on all day, I needed to place the stands so that they wouldn’t obstruct attendees.  Two columns (shown) provided good base locations and I marked the footprints of the two light stands (Bogen 3333s) with yellow gaffers tape.  Each light was mounted on a fully extended stand (about 9 feet), and positioned to aim light across the front of the stage, with 100% overlapping “fields of fire”.

The first evening was a reception and I set up Alien Bees B800 #1 with the small Brolly Box, and B800 #2 with just the standard Alien Bees 7-inch reflector.  Both units were on full power.  Looking at the results, I decided that light from #2 was too harsh, so starting the next morning (and for the three day run), I used a small shoot-through umbrella.  This took advantage of the walls for some bounce.  Light #1, being in the middle of the room with no walls, worked well with the Brolly Box.

After looking at shots from the first full day, I reduced the power on the lights to 1/2 in order to get just a little bit more ambient light.  Using a Sekonic L-558 meter, I checked the light across the entire front of the stage.  For ISO 400, I was getting f/5.6 to f/5.6^.2 — well within any tolerance needed for this kind of work.

There is nothing sexy about this setup.  I just needed to increase the light level evenly across the stage, and have it not look too harsh.  I was surprised at how well the Brolly Box (in the middle of the room) and the shoot-through umbrella (against the wall) worked in tandem.  This also speaks to having both a range of light modifier types in your kit, and also the utility of the smaller sizes.