Going to the Salton Sea!

Photo by C. Strife on flick

I’m a really, really lucky lady. This weekend I get to co camping at The Salton Sea Natl. Park, California. That’s really cool enough as it is. I could just say I’m bringing my camera and a tripod and leave it at that. But it actually gets even better. 5 professional photographers are getting there a day ahead of me to scout out locations and tell me where the best shooting is.

I know. I already said I was lucky.

Why and how do I have it so good? It’s b/c I’m a student in the photography department at Santa Monica College and this weekend is the photo department camping trip.

The Salton Sea is all about decay and faded glory. And dead fish. It’s a great big evaporating inland sea out in the desert near the Mexican border. It used to be a resort area, but the water that fed the Sea got rerouted to water golf courses or something in San Diego so it’s drying up both literally and economically.

Photo by Brian Auer on Flickr

Photo by slworking2 on Flickr

The sea might be drying up, but it’s been raining like crazy this spring so there may be a desert wild flower display about 80 miles away. We’ll see. That would be like icing on the cake.

Here’s What I’m Bringing-

• Canon 50D
• Promaster SLR (model unknown) Film Camera
• Nikon FA SLR Film Camera
• 17-40mm Lens for 50D
• 100mm macro lens for 50D
• 32-70 zoom for the Promaster
• 50mm for the Nikon
• 28-200 Tokina lens for the Nikon (haven’t tried this one out yet but it came with the camera so what the heck…)
• 2 8GB memory cards for the 50D
• Wolverine external hard drive with a lot o room on it
• MacBook
• 2 rolls of Fujichrome Velvia ISO 50 (slide film, probably for the Nikon)
• 1 roll of Fujichrome Velvia ISO 100 (slide film, probably for the Nikon)
• 2 rolls of  Kodak Tri-X (b+x film, maybe for the Promaster)
• 1 roll of Rollie Pan ISO 25 (really slow speed b+w film for a class assignment)
• Circular polarizing filter for the 17-40 lens
• Neutral density filter for the 17-40 lens
• A cable release for the SLRs
• A remote shutter release for the 50D
• my new tripod and pistol grip ball head (which I like more now than I did when I bought it…)
• LensPen x2 b/c you never know…
• rocket blower
• 24 inch circular reflector (white on one side, silver on the other)
• maybe my Solio solar charger just in case
• extra batteries for the 50D (I have 4 in all)
• Oh, and the camping gear. This is a camping trip after all. Hopefully Tony will be willing to help me out with that   : /

I want to get a split neutral density filter (or graduated neutral density filter) also. Don’t know if I’ll have time to get that before the trip. I hope I do…

I want to save the slide film for, like, perfect light. I’ve never used it before and apparently there’s no latitude. What does that mean? Click this button to find out»

Photo by Lee Otis on flickr

I’m just so excited. I know I’m bringing a TON of stuff. But it’s like I told my friend Stella.. how often do you get an opportunity like this? I’m going to an incredibly photographically interesting location. And there will be like 5 pro photogs scouting locations and helping us get the best shots. This is one of those pull out all the stops moments. I already own most of this stuff (‘cept the film) so I might as well bring it with.

This is also exactly why I bought that second SLR, the Nikon. I can load the Promaster with b+w film and have color film in the Nikon and just switch cameras rather than switching film. Or worse, wasting film.

Ok, I’m super excited. I just realized I need to start rounding up all of this stuff and charging batteries etc. I’ll definitely update when I get back from the trip, and share some shots with you.

Animal photography is for the birds?

This is what happens when I try to get cleaver with my post titles. I wont do it that often. Promise.

So my friend came over today so I could grab some shots of her adorable new puppy. Half poodle half something else fuzzy and cuddly. I forgot what. Anyway, the mission was to get a cute picture with the dog and a camera or two. Supposed to represent camera buddies. Like if the dog and the camera are the only people you’re shooting with, maybe you want to find some photographer friends.

Long story short, we end up literally rolling on the floor laughing b/c the puppy is being cute as all get out but it’s not cooperating at all. It’s just chewing on my rug. Or finding my socks and bringing them to me. And when it does do something perfectly posed and in frame, I have some lighting malfunction or other, and the shot is lost.

50 or so near misses later and I have a shot I can use (I think) for my upcoming guest post at Digital-Photography-School.com. I also got this one. It’s one of the lighting malfunction photos. I basically had to bring it back from the dead in Adobe Camera Raw (Yes I use PhotoShop and GIMP). The image quality isn’t nearly as good as the one I sent in to go with my post, but its a really cute picture, and I kind of like it more.

What do you think?

The Moral of This Story: Always have backup!

I just broke (and fixed) Pare and Focus today. I installed a plugin which broke my site and my ability to un-install the plugin. And I did all this without a recent backup of my website’s files on hand. Brilliant! So I freaked out and broke into a cold sweat thinking almost a year of work was in the toilet.  Luckily my hosting service did have a backup and I was able to fix it.

So the moral of this story is Always have a backup if something is important! That goes for pictures too. Memory cards go corrupt, hard drives crash, bad things happens to nice people. So don’t rely on just one method of storage.

Keeping an original RAW or JPEG file of the photos you love, and only editing a COPY of that file will protect your files too. Sometimes I make crazy decisions in the moment and I go back later and think “what the hell did I do here?”. I’m glad to have my original RAW files, untouched by my madness.

That’s all. Have a nice day.

Back in the states… Jet lag

More eye candy from Venice. Saint Mark's Square as seen from San Gorgio. Light trails are from passing boats.

I don’t usually have too much problem flying across the states. There’s only a three hour time difference so even if I get a little out of whack it’s not anything an extra cup of coffee can’t handle. But when there’s more time difference than that my brain starts to melt a little. I’m better now. I just wanted to explain the lack of posting. I can’t really write when my head is more like a bowl of Cheerios than a thinking machine.

So I’m back in class and I have a TON of catching up to do. Darkroom work takes a lot of time, patience and attention. If I had ADD or ADHD I would die in this class. Thankfully I don’t. I actually kind of love tedious and exacting tasks. It’s kind of Zen for me. So I don’t mind having to do all of the catch up work. I just need to make sure I don’t get any more behind!

I’ve been learning a lot of fun things lately. Like where the terms and techniques or digital photo editing originated. Ya know, geeky stuff. I love geeky stuff.

Speaking of, I have some shots to take, and a chapter to read. Will update soon.

And I’m working on my “What to Look for in a Tripod” post so stay tuned!

Some stuff about Venice

First of all, it’s beautiful in Venice. Second of all, it’s freaking cold and windy today. Whatever, it’s still beautiful.

I did Not take this picture!! It was taken by someone else from a cruise ship, and you can see the source article here:

This is the Island we’re staying on…. beautiful!!

And here’s a photo I grabbed the other day before the weather turned.

I DID take this one. From the ferry on my way back to San Giorgio from a frantic trip to get supplies on San Marco. It’s not perfect, but it’s mine.
Lesson learned, GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!! There’s no way I could get a shot like this today, it’s just too gray and dreary windy and rainy. We didn’t even make it to the ferry station on this tiny island before my umbrella broke.

Dear umbrella,

You’re supposed to do one thing. Keep rain off of me. You couldn’t even get that right. You’re dead to me.

Love,
Kat

Another lesson, check the weather and then give yourself an extra 5 or 10 degree window when you pack. The weather says it’s going to be 72°-75°? I’m going to pack for 62°-85°. Seriously. It doesn’t have to mean I have to add a lot of extra bulk to my luggage. An extra base layer and maybe a pair of shorts and a t-shirt should do it. That way I’m covered for those random cold fronts and unpredicted heat waves. Unlike now, where I’m stuck inside and contemplating borrowing my husband’s fleece and rain coat while he takes a nap.

I think the weather is going to suck for the rest of our stay. I’m really glad I got some shots. Not enough, but at least some.

Stay tuned to see how it goes.

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