It’s going on six weeks since I had shoulder surgery, and I have not taken one photo in Alaska in 2010. That is the longest photo-free period for me ever. However, that is happily ending as I’m pushing equatorial boundaries again for the second time in three months, with travels to Peru (Machu Picchu-if the proper repairs are made to the railway access by the time we arrive) and the Galapagos Islands. I’ll be in a relative degree of disconnect during the first two weeks of April, so posting here may be slim.
Underwater housing for the 5D Mark II. The whole unite with the dome will come in around 10lbs or so-- without the camera. And by the way, that turtle that is in the viewfinder in this picture, I'd take that view indeed!
The real lure of the Galapagos for me is the underwater world. Ever since I dipped my young head in the pacific ocean at 19 years old, and saw the magical aqua world full of life, I’ve been keen to explore it further. I’m far from a skilled underwater photographer, and my novice experimental efforts have been with a less than ideal housing, and very limited time. But this time around I’ve got an Ikelite underwater housing for my 5DII, along with an 8″ dome for use with extra wide angle lenses. It just arrived in my office. While I’m a minimalist in a general sense, the gear begins to add up when you plan to photograph both above and below the water. In a few weeks I’ll have some comments to share about my forays in the relatively warm waters of the islands. After that, I promise to get back to Alaska imagery as the summer is beginning to frame some exciting trips and photo adventures.
What’s in my photo bag for this trip is yet to solidify, but so far:
- 5DII
- 1DsIII
- fisheye
- 24mm f/2.8
- 17-40mm f/4L
- 24-105mm f/4L IS
- 100-400mm f/5.6L IS
- 400 f/5.6L (non-IS) w/1.4x or the 400mm f/4L DO IS – post surgery, I’m trying to go as light as possible.
- Ikelite housing and 8″dome with ports for 24mm and 17-40mm
- Gitzo tripod w/bh3 Hallhead
And I’m giving the new Dust-Aid, Dust-Shield a try on my 5DII. Thanks to Ron Niebrugge (a talented Alaska based photographer) for bringing this to my attention. Others who have used it say it works pretty well on managing dust. I’m not endorsing it yet, since I have not used it, but we shall see. Hopefully, it will blow a gentle dust-free breeze of emancipation over that troubling problem. My last trip to the Galapagos turned out to be a dust nigthmare, but much progress has been made in sensor cleaning since then.
So, with thoughts beginning to drift to warmer places–this morning was minus 2 degrees in Fairbanks–I thought I’d share a few shots from my previous Galapagos trip, way back in 2003 (the year of the 1Ds I).
