 | Discussing upcoming travel??? |
| Discussing upcoming travel??? |
Discussing upcoming travel??? | ||
| How about discussing our own past travels and future travels to buils a bit of a community. | ||
| Justin Watson (Justin) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #1 Added: 2006-12-29 09:48:25 | |
| I was thinking perhaps another way of invigorating the site is to have maybe some more discussion on travel or planned travels too. After all someone might be able to give must sees from a photography perspective. Things that shouldn\'t go unphotographed, or places you should tuck your camera away etc. I know there are travel forums etc that can be used for this purpose, but i think if we build a community here where we know a little more about each other the place may pickup a bit. As excited as i get about my own travels, i love hearing about everyone elses as well. | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #2 Added: 2006-12-29 14:48:40 | |
| A good idea. My travel plans are staring me in the face. I'm leaving here on Monday and flying to Bangkok on Wednesday. After a few days soaking up some great Thai food I'm off to Myanmar for a month and then Bangladesh for a month. I've been to both countries before and this time intend to get into some "less visited" parts. I've given myself an assignment of finding local craftsmen who produce useful products (boats, houses, furniture, etc.) using mainly hand tools. I want to try some photojournalism-type shooting, something that I've not done before. I was outside yesterday, working on fences and a swim dock on my pond with ankle deep snow. I'm ready to go. | ||
| Justin Watson (Justin) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #3 Added: 2006-12-29 22:53:52 | |
| Yeah i knew you were going somewhere from post on LP TT, but thats quite close. Are you planning to post pics while away or will we have to wait 2 months! I'm interested as its quite close to me and i've done little travel in Asia. as for me if i start saving a fw more dollars now, I'm planning for Costa Rica and maybe Panama/Nicaragua later this year. I'm also interested on how your K100D goes. Personally I love mine for around town and even Australia. I will keep it,but i haven't travelled abroad with a dSLR or SLR for that matter. I'm very happy with the quality and weight of the DA50-200 lens though compared to my 200mm prime. I'm thinking my travel kit will be DA16-45, DA50-200 and FA50 f1.4. From memory I think you went for the fisheye which i think would be great too. So anyone else got some travel plans or past travels they wish to discuss. Just FYI i've been to Western Europe, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Southern Africa (SA, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique). Planning on Central America even though the $3000 in flights puts me off a bit. | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #4 Added: 2006-12-30 01:19:55 | |
| I've spent a bit of time in both Costa Rica and Panama. Costa Rica is great for nature sorts of stuff but quite devoid of the "ancient culture" sort of stuff. Except for the Gold Museum in San Jose. There you can get a feel for what the Spaniards were after. The main cities of Panama are quite dangerous (I assume they haven't changed recently). The countryside is pleasant. If you can get to the San Blas Islands they're great. The best place that I visited while sailing around the area. When I was there access was pretty limited without a boat but might have changed. I image that it's still easy to get a ride through the Canal. Private boats are always looking for line handlers. There's a silly requirement that each boat has a captain, guide, and four people to handle the ropes. Lots of couple show up and look for hands. It's a good way to see the locks up close. If things haven't changed you go half way one day and spend the night on Guatan Lake, finish the second. If you haven't been to Guatemala then I'd suggest going there. Lots of good stuff to photograph and visit. I'd say it's the most photogenic of the CA countries. And southern Mexico is quite interesting as well. Oaxaca you might have to give a miss due to the political problems at this time, but moving east to San Cristobel and Palenque you should see some great stuff. Have you looked into the cost of flying to Miami and from there into CA? | ||
| Justin Watson (Justin) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #5 Added: 2006-12-30 08:48:46 | |
| thanks Bob. From Australia its all around the same cost. I guess another option is to go to Guatemala for 2-3 weeks and Costa Rica for 2-3 weeks. i'll have 6 weeks leave around oct/nov (hopefully the wet season will be over). For me I love history and wildlife. I knew Costa Rica was more for nature so i might take your hints on board. I'm really just waiting for cheap airfare deals to come out. At the moment its all Europe fares on sale. But flying into Guatemala and out of Costa Rica is an option. Anyway have fun in Myanmar, i believe its far from a tourist mecca so it should be good. | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #6 Added: 2007-01-10 13:18:40 | |
| Just a quick message to all. I'm currently in Bangkok and heading out to Myanmar in the morning. I most likely won't have internet access for about four weeks. Justin has agreed to take over the admin job while I'm away. If you have any problems with the site get in touch with him and he will try to get things straightened out with Ali's help. enjoy! | ||
| Adrian Warren (AdrianW) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #7 Added: 2007-01-18 21:44:24 | |
| Just returned from 10 days in Hong Kong :D Prior to that, spent a weekend in Belgium in early December. Nothing in the year before then though. Next trip: Morocco in April. Should be good! I now have a selection of storage devices. A NextoCF ND2525 Ultra, and a CompactDrive PD70X. The Nexto did well in HK - all 5Gb of shots downloaded over 10 nights, all on the one charge. I haven't put a hard disk into the PD70X yet since I bought it over there, but it looks good so far. I'm planning to do a comparative review, but it'll mean prizing the HD back out of the Nexto, and I was afraid I'd break it when I put it in - it's an awfully tight fit! It also promises to be a tedious test - as the battery life is excellent on both. I suspect with the internal and external battery in use the Nexto will push 64Gb before it runs down. I'll probably run down first ;) Other than that, I'm based in the UK - and have travelled fairly extensively around western Europe. Also been to Canada/US/Australia/NZ/NewCaledonia/Bali/HK/Thailand/Singapore and HK. | ||
| Justin Watson (Justin) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #8 Added: 2007-01-19 06:26:57 | |
| Hey Adrian, I need to get a photo storage device. I'm taking most of my photos in RAW and even though i have a 2 GB and 2 x 1GB memory cards, they will fill up quickly when i'm travelling. As i stated i was hoping to get some interest up and maybe trade some photographic tips for various countries, but it seems very few people on here either read the forums or post to them. I'm looking at either a mid year trip to SEAsia, or a trip around November to Central America. Been to Asia before, but never been to anywhere in the americas. I'm also thinking a 7-10 day trip to hong kong would be great. mainly because i've been there twice just for stopovers and i find the city to be fascinating, plus would love to go to macau also. | ||
| Adrian Warren (AdrianW) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #9 Added: 2007-01-23 22:14:33 | |
| Macau's interesting, but I found communication difficult. Main language is Cantonese, and the secondary is Portuguese - sadly I speak neither. Most of the locals speak no English at all, so I seemed to spend a lot of time pointing at things and hoping for the best ;) For England - generally speaking I'd say visit May-Sept, skip it the rest of the year - too much drizzle and uniform grey skies otherwise, and many tourist things are closed off-season. Overt people photography here is not recommended, you may get away with it, but... Let's just say it's not a good place to start practicing. I also wouldn't point a camera near children unless they're your own - apparently getting lynched can be uncomfortable... Pay attention to your surroundings - it's fairly safe here, but if you're walking alone at night pay attention to what's going on around you. If there's lots of graffiti, and/or lots of metal shutters, it's probably wise to put the camera away. If you're interested in historic monuments it might be worth getting the English Heritage overseas visitor pass. Native orchids flower from late Apr > Sept, with the bulk coming out at the start of June. | ||
| Kristine Sitko (KSitko) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #10 Added: 2007-02-04 04:34:48 | |
| Interesting topic, and I'm glad to join the discussion. While I have no trips planned currently, I can throw in a bit on where I've been (more specifically, where I can recommend you go.) I've spent several months in Russia (most of it in Siberia on and near Lake Baikal). Unfortunately I was not awake to photography at that point - perhaps one of my biggest regrets in life. Hands down, the most beautiful geography I've seen. The people (called Buryats - from a line of Mongolian nomads) were georgous and more than happy to have a photo taken. This is the one place that I must return before I die. Tibet offers some stunning scenery, and the monestaries are prolific and welcoming. It can be tough getting around as the Chinese gov't restricts a good deal of travel into and out of Tibet, unless you're going to Lhasa, which has, as I understand it, more Chinese than Tibetans (not to mention absolute hoards of tourists.) See if you can arrange a bus out into the prefectures, which aren't officially considered Tibet anymore, but are, in many cases, thoroughly Tibetan. Chengdu is a good city to base out of, and from there you can catch flights or busses into Tibet. In China, visit the markets. They open early, and turn to domino parlors at night. But be careful what you photograph - there are plenty of contraband items, and you wouldn't want to upset anyone. I may have used unneccessary caution, but I took most of my photos during daylight. I've found Great Britain to be great for photography, largely because the train system and a railcard allow unplanned access into smaller villages and through the countryside. Keep your eyes out the window, and if you see something you want to shoot, just get off the train. Beyond that, I've hit several spots in western Europe (France, Italy, etc.) as well as in the States and British Columbia (Vancouver, Victoria, Vegas, LA, Chicago, Atlanta, San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, etc.) I'm happy to give specific recommendations if you need. | ||
| Justin Watson (Justin) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #11 Added: 2007-02-04 04:58:22 | |
| Yes i think the general idea i had when starting the thread was to get an idea of where people have been to where they are planning to go and just to learn a bit more about each other and create a community. I guess the few of us regulars were trying to keep the place ticking along. Bob will come back with some great photos of Myanmar. Well hopefully enough to keep him busy and us captivated for a few months :-) I think as far as it being a travel photo style club, photos from where you live is obviously another persons travel destination, so being in Australia i'm always putting up photos from around here! Hopefully this thread will be useful for any of us later down the track, i know my immediate plans are to Central America, but Russia interests me as do most countries in the world. | ||
| Peter A (Peter) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #12 Added: 2007-02-14 16:14:08 | |
| I'll be in Beijing for a paltry 4 days, but it will be for Lunar New Year. Any suggestions on what to shoot whilst there? Never been anywhere in China before. This should be an interesting time to go. Let's hear it for the Year of the Pig! Year of the Gold Pig, at that. As far as other places, I've been to NZ, Russia, Japan, many places in N. America, UK and most recently S. Korea. In the next year, I will begin a westward trek back to Seattle from Korea as opposed to the direct flight east across the pacific. Should be a hoot. | ||
| Adrian Warren (AdrianW) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #13 Added: 2007-04-21 02:08:27 | |
| Just back from 10days in Morocco. Interesting place... One camera died, one was stolen - leaving me a grand total of no cameras by day 5. Justin: Portable storage, the best I've found so far is the NextoCF ND2525 Ultra. 3m20s to backup and verify 1Gb, 12m53 for 4Gb - about 60Gb autonomy using the supplied batteries assuming you use full verify each time. | ||
| Justin Watson (Justin) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #14 Added: 2007-04-21 05:40:32 | |
| Adrian. sorry to hear about your camera situation in Morocco. Although the shot you posted was outstanding. My dilemma right now is i'm planning to be away in Central America for 6 weeks. I hav 6 GB of Sandisk Ultra II SD cards. Do i just get a few more 2GB cards or do I invest in portable storage. Right now with my current camera I get 100 RAW images per GB. I guess the advantage of the PHD is that i have backup of every image and I'd only erase a card if i needed to. | ||
| Bob Wallace (BobTrips) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #15 Added: 2007-04-21 16:23:58 | |
| Wonder how many shots you'll take per day? I average somewhere over 100 per. I'd need a gig per day if I were shooting RAW. | ||
| Justin Watson (Justin) Post Count: Joined: | Msg: #16 Added: 2007-04-22 01:10:30 | |
| Thats what is worrying me I've got so used to shooting RAW. For Travel i might have to be more selective as to when i shoot RAW perhaps? | ||
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