PixelatedImage Blog

A while ago I posted a short article about “the best travel tripods.” I knew when I did it that the quest was quixotic at best, but I’ve never shied away from the impossible. I’m reckless that way.

The thing is, when people google “what’s the best travel tripod” they’re asking others to find the perfect compromise between weight, size, price, and usefulness in any number of scenarios. For you the perfect one might still weigh 4lbs. For me, I don’t care so much that the max. height is 22 inches, as long as it’s light and will hold my camera stlll for a few evening shots. What perfectly meets my needs might not meet any of yours, so the best I can do is a grown-up show-and-tell and show you some possibilities.

So, here’s a couple more I’m looking at through the lens of “make it as light as possible, even it’s really short and I have to sit on the ground to use it.

Really Right Stuff’s Ground Pod - Man this is a sexy little thing. It’s the same size as the Kirk MLB, but where the MLB is a girl who’s your best friend and wears sensible footwear, the Ground Pod is Charlize Theron in the movie Aeon Flux. Or Trinity from the Matrix. Hard-core, built like a tank (sexy, sexy tank), and, uh, dressed in black (I need to start thinking about these metaphors before I commit to them…)

Specs: 2.6 lbs, max heigh 16.9″, max load 50lbs, Shekels Required: $375, no head.

Gitzo’s GT-921 Basalt Table Tripod - Not as sexy, but Carbon Fibre always gets points and Gitzo has never let me down yet. And weight? 1lb without the head. My boots weigh more. If I can set this on a table or on the ground and get those few crucial shots I need a tripod for, this one might be worth it’s salt.

Specs: 1 lb, max height 33.5″, max load 8.8 lbs, Shekels Required: $200, no head.

Neither of these might be your ultimate sticks for traveling. It’s a shame the Gitzo Basalt G1298 was discontinued. I’ve traveled around the world with mine and while I am now looking to shed some weight for the ultra-light trips, it’s a really great tripod and I will continue to take it on trips where I know I want a larger tripod. It’s like a slimmed down, sexy Manfrotto 190 in size, but lighter, and sturdier. I’ve seen them on eBay and that ought to save you a few bucks.

Got a tripod that you won’t leave home without? Leave a comment, share the love.

My sponsors, ZINK, the technologists behind the new pocket-sized Polaroid mobile printer dubbed “PoGo” just told me the product is about to hit the market. The Polaroid website says PoGo hits Best Buy stores (probably in USA only) on July 06, 2008, and in Target on July 20, 2008.

Estimated price will be $149.

I will do a review as soon as I can. In the mean time think about how many times you’ve wished you could give a subject a copy of their photograph, think about how much easier it is to give a copy then and there, rather than waiting until you get home and hoping you remember. Think how useful this might be in getting that model release signed or getting a reluctant model to spend a few moments with you. In the places I work these small photographs would be kept as priceless family heirlooms - not bad for a thirty-cent piece of paper.

It will weigh 8 oz. (without battery) and measures about 1″ by 3″ by 4.5″. Each 2×3 print takes 60 seconds to make. Downsides? 15 prints per battery charge, but extra batteries are available. There’s no inks to replace and the paper pricing looks like it won’t kill us either. Here’s the website.

Trips on the horizon include Kashmir, Kathmandu, Cuba, some un-specified World Vision work, and now an around-the-world trip. I have travel on the brain - but it’s not the travel itself that I love, it’s exploring parts of this world I’ve not yet seen, photographing people and cultures I’ve not yet immersed myself in. It’s the anticipation of wandering aimlessly through souks and markets and side-streets and discovering a convergence of place, people and moment, that will never happen in the same way ever again. I am giddy with excitement.

And in the midst of it, my friend Gavin Gough moves to Thailand and the lucky guy gets to wander and shoot every day. I am seething with friendly jealousy. Check out Gavin’s blog and his latest posts on Thailand here.

My Lumen Dei partner-in-crime, Matt Brandon, is now on his way to Malaysia, Penang to be exact. I feel orphaned. Perhaps it’s time to move to Kathmandu so we can all chill together once in a while. If you haven’t spent time on either Matt or Gavin’s galleries, you need to.

In my giddy anticipation I bought the 2008 Lonely Planet BlueList. Excellent, excellent book, and this year it features a whole section on travelling the muslim world, which is a strong draw to me. It features some really great lists and suggestions, and some of the best photography I’ve seen in an LP book.

I’m appreciating the emails and comments I’m getting from the last post. If you missed it, I’m looking for feedback on your favourite countries ever - the places you’d recommend for shooting people, places, cultures. Anyone been to Syria? I’m thinking about adding Damascus to the list. Havana, Cairo, Hanoi, Kathmandu, Penang are also thoughts. So many places, so little time. If you’ve got thoughts add them.

Here’s your wisdom of the day, while we’re talking about travelling, and shooting:

“Your ability to see is not increased by the distance you put between yourself and your home. If you do not see what is around you every day, what will you see when you go to Tangiers?” - Freeman Patterson, Photography and the Art of Seeing.

Thanks for your patience, the last couple days haven’t been jam-packed with blog content, and I’m grateful y’all stick it out with me when I get busy or travelling.

If there’s one thing that makes it tough, if not impossible, to create great photographs while on location, it’s being waylaid with sickness. So if you’re traveling to an exotic location, the more precautions you take the better your chances of staying upright. Here’s what I do. I’m not a doctor, so take this as a list of ideas and nothing more.

1. One month before I travel i visit my travel medical clinic for a consult with the experts. I’m about as immunized as I can be right now, but they make sure I’m on the right anti-malarials and they give me a prescription for DUKORAL which is an oral cholera vaccine that is also effective against traveler’s diarrhea.

2. I take acidophilus pearls daily while I am on the road, starting a week before I go. This balances the natural/good biotics in your gut and gives you a fighting chance against the badies. Or so I’m told.

3. I take Emergen’C’ daily. It’s a powdered vitamin mix and I figure anything I can do to keep my immunity up through planes, trains, and hotels, is a good move. Plus it makes the bottled water taste better.

4. I hydrate. I don’t like drinking water, so it’s a conscious effort, but I drink 3 litres a day. I buy a case and keep it in my hotel room and I’ve always got some. I brush my teeth with it too.

5. I eat smart. I’m taking more and more risks, but I still tend to eat vegetarian when I can on the road, and I avoid fruit drinks, ice-cubes, raw salads, and pretty much anything that scares me. I’m not Anthony Bourdain, my job is to shoot not eat everything the locals call a delicacy. And I carry meal bars and snacks for those times when the available local food is too dodgy or I’m just not in the mood to brave it.

6. I carry charcoal tablets in case I get shloshy-gut. I also carry immodium but use it only in an emergency - like getting on a plane in a couple hours. It’s better to let your body get rid of what’s going on down there and immodium plugs you up good. On the off-chance I have to use the stuff I also have some laxative to ease me back into things. While I’m at it - Gravol (the natural stuff, not the pink stuff that knocks me out all day), Tylenol, Advil, also get thrown into a bottle. And for the REALLY scary stuff, I carry a course of ciproflaxin, which I don’t take unless I’ve run out of options.

7. I carry twice as much medication, all accompanied with the perscriptions, as I anticipate needing, and I split it and pack it in two separate bags.

8. I carry a decent first-aid kit. Actually I have two. A larger one in my big duffle, and a tiny one that fits in my camera bag with just basics like band-aids, a couple tylenol, some gauze. REI has this kind of thing pre-made for trekkers and travelers.

9. On more remote trips and trips to high HIV areas I carry a sterile sharps kit - 5 - 3cc syringes, 10 needles, 1 suture line, 1 IV drip needle, alcohol swabs, polytopic ointment and 4 gauze dressings. A signed prescription note and certificate of authorization accompany the kit.

10. Lastly, I carry good travel health insurance, mine comes through the Canadian equivalent of AAA. And I carry MedJet Assist - a comprehensive, no-small-print, evacuation insurance in case I am hospitalized which can happen as eaily due to a car accident as it can from eating dodgy moo-goo gai pan.

If all this seems overkill to you remember it’s created by someone who is a Type 1 Diabetic, and travels to some relatively remote places. If your idea of exotic travel is a 5-Star hotel in Vienna, you can safely ignore much of this. But if you’ve got two weeks in Lubumbashi, DRC, then this should be considered a minimum effort. Travel safe, travel healthy.

If there’s one question that seems to come up with traveling photographers more than “what’s the perfect bag?” it’s “what’s the best travel tripod?” And that question is almost almost qualified with, “and it has to be light, sturdy, compact, and inexpensive.” And if possible it must come with little tripod faeries to carry it about and position it for me too.

So here’s the deal. No. Such. Thing. Every conversation about tripods needs to be realistic. So here’s my initial recommendations.

1. Decide how badly you need this and for what. Are you shooting alot of landscapes and macro shots where your tripod is truly crucial or are you just wanting the odd sunset shot? How critical your work is will determine which is more important: stability vs. convenience vs. price.

2. Determine ahead of time what you mean by crazy words like “affordable” and abandon the idea that “it’s just a tripod, it shouldn’t cost much.” If you want sturdy, light, and compact, it’s gonna cost you at least an arm if not an arm, leg, and kidney.

3. If you have specific weight and size restrictions, now’s the time to decide that. Words like “light” and “compact” are meaningless. 3lbs, 2oz - that’s meaningful. 16 inches collapsed - that too is meaningful. Lighter than something heavy? Not so meaningful.

OK, here’s my top 3 choices based on three possible priorities. Folks, this is not a canonical list. If you’re favorite tripod isn’t here, feel free to drop it into the comments.

1. Price. I suggest looking at the Manfrotto 190
It’s sturdy enough to remain useful while not breaking the bank. Weight 4lbs, Collapsed size 20.9 inches. Cost at B&H $130.00, without a head. Link here

2. Lightweight. The Gitzo GT1550T Traveler 6x Carbon Fibre Tripod.
2.2 pounds, 8.7 inches collapsed. It’ll set you back $675.00 but that includes the ball head. Link at B&H here

3. Sturdy. The Gitzo GT-2931EX Explorer Basalt.
Supports 22lbs, weighs 4.4 lbs without a head, and collapses to 25 inches. Price at B&H - $440.00. Link here.

Are there other options? Of course, but don’t cheap out. Decide on what you really need and then make the best choice. Remember - a crappy tripod can mean blurry shots and equipment -expensive equipment - falling over. If you’re the kind to try alternatives - check out The Pod, or the Kirk Mighty Lowboy. Even a Gorillapod might work for you. If you’re the spendy type and only the best will do - check out the Gitzo Anniversary Titanium Tripod (only $2500, shown in the photo above the post. Very sexy.)

This looks awesome. I have a weakness for black fleece, and pockets. And anything that’s black fleece with a ton of pockets? Like crack cocaine. And this jacket from Gitzo is pricier than crack cocaine. The $400 price-tag invites the temptation to make jokes about getting fleeced. Sorry, I resisted the temptation but I am a weak, weak man.

Still, all things being equal, I would love one of these jackets. I wear a black fleece on almost every trip, even if I take it off on arrival. Gate agents getting picky about carry-on? No problem - empty your stuff into the pockets and you’re on your way. Want to go walk-about for a day and not take a bag of gear? This’ll do it. Unless you’re in Delhi in June, then you’re pretty much screwed - cause, baby, it’s hot outside.

Get the lowdown on this Gitzo fleece as well as their waterproof jacket, on the Gitzo site, or order them direct from B&H Photo - here’s the link to the fleece.

Aspiring humanitarian photographers will want to look into NEED - The Humanitarian Magazine. This is a first class magazine with excellent photography and a strong focus. It’s not filled with ads, just great stories and great images and a really elegant layout. If you’re looking for inspiration, this is it. Subscriptions start around $30 depending on where you live. There’s also a package with the subscription and the first 4 issues, all starting at $50.00

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Aspiring environmental or conservationist shooters should be aware of E Magazine. It’s been out a good while longer than NEED Magazine and looks like a solid resource for people like my friend Nick Hall who shoots this kind of thing.

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For traveling photographers with alot of gear: Air Canada’s checked baggage policy is changing as of May 15, 2008. Check details HERE. United is changing theirs effective today, May 5th. Check details HERE. If you travel within North America, now’s the time to re-check your carrier’s policies.

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For location shooters looking to work on their lighting chops, Kirk Tuck’s new book, Minimalist Lighting, is available for pre-order on Amazon and is slated to ship on May 22nd. This looks like a great resource, though like you I’ll be waiting for a copy of my own. If I remember to do it I’ll post a review. (My record with book reviews is less than stellar. I read them voraciously but am less good at actually completing the reviews. What can I say, I get distracted.) Link HERE.

Ok, inflammatory title aside, this one’s gonna hurt some of you. I hope it’s the good kind of hurt, like when that girl dumped you in high school but then you fell in love with the wonderful woman who’s now your wife and the mother of your children. Oh, still not over that one, huh? Ok, make up your own metaphor, or sing Rod Stewart’s “Hurts so Good” - anything to get you in the mood to read this with a positive outlook.

A while back I wrote an article about the death of travel photography. It got taken the wrong way by the people that take things the wrong way. Mutinies were staged, theses were nailed to doors. It nearly got ugly. And the point got missed. So. Will people continue to travel with camera? Yes. Will some of them get paid well to do so? Yes. Will people always love lolcats? Unlikely, and way off topic. Try to focus.

As a descriptor, telling people I am -in part- a travel photographer is helpful. But at the same time is there really such a genre? If I live in Venice and shoot the gondolas are those images “travel photographs” if I didn’t do a lick of travelling?

The point is the creation of compelling images that capture how you think and feel about a place, a people, and a culture - not whether you got on a plane to do it or not.

Why am i still going on about this instead of writing about something else or speculating about the Canon 5D MkII? Because the sooner we change our perspective, and with it the words we use, the sooner we’ll start putting greater energy into our craft and less of it into which lens is “best for travel photography.”

Yes, traveling with gear presents certain challenges and I can geek-out with the best of you. But it’s high-time we chased our vision more passionately than we chase our airmiles.

Travel Photography is Dead. Long Live Travel Photography the vision to create extraordinary images of this planet and her people, whether you need a plane, train, or bicycle to get to your location.

As for the arguments, I suspect when we immediately jump to defend a cause it reveals something about which we’re deeply passionate. It should also be an opportunity to make sure we’re defending the right thing. So if, like me when I first read someone ask if travel photography was dead, your first reaction is “the hell it is!” perhaps it’s time to make sure our passion is in the right place. Some of us are more passionate about defending the name of our pidgeon-hole than we are about our vision and our craft.

I’d love to find a new way to describe this genre. Comments are open for ideas/discussion.

Thus endeth the rant. Have a great weekend. Go shoot something you love.

TripAdvisor.com has published their 2008 Traveler’s Choice Destination awards and the pdf is available for download HERE - if you’re passionate about traveling the globe this list of top destinations is a wonderful distraction.

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While we’re talking travel and top picks for destinations, here’s a link to the Canon/Microsoft Top 100 Iconic Locations Contest. I don’t have much interest in the contest, but the top 100 locations are interesting. Always as interesting to see what got excluded as it is to see what got listed. Link HERE

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Earlier this month I held an ill-fated design contest - up for grabs was a 4GB 300x Lexar CF card but the stipulation was that there had to be a minimum of 10 entries. I thought I might even bend for 9, but the total submissions tallied at 7, so I get to keep the card. Thanks to those who entered. Next time I’ll plan a contest that doesn’t fall directly into the middle of a planned blog-migration - that was poor planning on my part.

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If my monthly desktop wallpaper didn’t do it for you this month, check out the offerings from colleagues Matt Brandon (link here) and Gavin Gough (link here). Just don’t tell me, I don’t handle rejection well.

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In July I’ll be teaching for a week at the YWAM School of Photography in Kona, Hawaii. I’m very excited about spending a week in a small class unloading some of the grey matter I’ve been accumulating. I’ve been alot of places, but Hawaii isn’t one of them. Hoping by then to have a housing for my 5D or perhaps just one for a G9, but I’d love to spend some time snorkelling and shooting in the water. I live 30 seconds from the beach here in Vancouver but most of the year even the seals look like they’d rather be on land with a hot cup of coffee. Anyone with a passion for teaching knows how exciting this kind of thing can be. I’m counting the days…

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Lastly, in the category of “I’ll never buy one but man is this thing cool” - the Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 - I defy you to look at one of these and not imagine yourself feeling really artsy using one. It’s a tiny, 5 megapixel TLR replica and I want one. If money were no option I’d immediately order one of these, a black turtleneck, and a beret from Amazon.com - More info HERE.

Sure, it’s a toy, but it’s a really SEXY toy. I don’t mean to feed the gear-lust, but sometimes you just can’t help but drool.

Beginning to feel the need to be out in the field again; walking, shooting, exercising my eye and my passion.

I’m in a bit of a hiatus right now between assignments. I head to Florida tomorrow, then in July to Hawaii for a week to teach photography - at this point it’s not until September that I head back to Kashmir, and then a month in Kathmandu, and if plans go well Christmas and some of January in Cuba. In between there somewhere are a few weeks on assignment with World Vision and I’m already beginning to wonder where they’ll send me this time.

So as I wait, I’m flipping through Lonely Planet’s The Travel Book, and my shelf of LP country-guides, and dreaming. On a tangent, one of my favourite movies is High Fidelity and it’s given me a tendency to make spontaneous top ten lists, but I’m rubbish at lists of albums and songs, so I make my own. Back to the subject at hand; here is my current top ten list of countries I would like to shoot in again, of for the first time.

1. Cuba.
I want to get there before US foreign policy changes and the embargo lifts. Don’t get me wrong, it’s high time the embargo was gone, but I want to shoot there before that happens. Hopefully that’s happening sooner than later.

2. Lalibela, Ethiopia.
One of the coolest places I’ve ever been. Possible THE coolest. I was there for Orthodox Christmas a couple years back, but my time was far too short. I’d like to go back for a couple weeks around the same time, or for Timkat.

3. Vietnam.
Ever since reading Anthony Bourdain’s assessment of Vietnamese cuisine and culture in his book A Cook’s Tour, I’ve wanted to go.

4. Mongolia.
I loved Mongolia, but want to return in the summer. Two to three weeks exploring the steppes and living in a ger would suit me just fine. If I could go during Nadaam that would be a bonus, so long as I could get out of UB for the festival.

5. The ’stans.
All of them. Or any of them. But not in the winter.

6. Iquitos, Peru.
Loved it, but it’s been a long, long time and I’d like to go back with the eye I have now. Iquitos is the largest city in the world inaccessible by a road, and there’s just something about having a beer in the cooler evening breeze while watching the Amazon river float by. While there a side-trip to Machu Picchu.

7. Galapagos Islands.
Three words: blue. footed. boobies.

8. Tibet.
I’m hoping to make a short detour while I am in Kathmandu in October, but if I do it’ll be too short. I’d love to take my time there.

9. The Sudan. Or Mali.

10. Rural China.
Way, way out of the way. And a couple days hiking on the Great Wall.

Of course, these will have changed by tomorrow morning. So - you have two weeks and money to burn - where would you take your cameras?

*I’ll be in transit all day tomorrow, and Friday is taken up with clandestine meetings with big, important people. I’ll post late Friday, or sometime this weekend. Until then, talk amongst yourselves.