The Traveling Widower

Tag: camera

  • Gearing Up for Trips to Alaska and Antarctica

    Gearing Up for Trips to Alaska and Antarctica

    Retiree’s, especially those who have been retired for a long time like myself (9 years) have a problem remembering the current date and sometimes the current day of the week. Once you are out of work, every day seems like Friday. Or Saturday. Or whatever day you like the best. I use to rely on my wife to keep track of important dates – she kept a completely detailed calendar for important social, financial, anniversary dates,  birth dates – pretty much everything scheduled for up to a year ahead. Now that she’s gone, I rely on my Pixel watch – the face clearly has the day and date, so all I have to do is check my wrist. Seriously, I do maintain a schedule, and check it every day, which is why I realized the other day that I’m just 39 days from departing for Alaska, and maybe I should start getting serious about making sure I have everything I need for the trip. The Alaska trip is only 10 days, but it’s chock full of different activities (kayaking, hiking, cruising for wildlife), in a wet and cool location. Kind of different from the trips I’ve been on this past year. So I’ve dedicated the past few days to preparing for the next trip, the Inner Passages of Alaska, and starting to think about Antarctica in November.

    In Search of the Perfect Camera Backpack

    I posted a while back about my never ending struggle with lugging camera gear on my adventures. Every one of the trips I’ve been taking (or planning to take) that requires air travel seem to have somewhat different photography needs, and different airline requirements for carry-on luggage. For example, the Galapagos Island trip had land based wildlife photography plus snorkeling with sea lions and penguins. That’s a lot of gear. My upcoming trip to Alaska is primarily wildlife, but also kayaking and possible close encounters with whales. Long lens, wide angle lens and the GoPro. The next Baja trip will have opportunities for wildlife, and both surface and underwater whale photography – I probably will not need the 500mm lens on that trip, but probably take it anyway.  This large amount of camera gear would not be an issue if I were always flying first class on large planes. But most of these trips have a second flight on smaller, commuter jets, which have limitations on weight and size of carry-on. I’ve also got two trips so far, which have the final leg on single engine prop planes. Very small, with limitations on size and weight of luggage.  I’ll be closing my eyes on take-off and landing, especially the sea plane. 

    Now that I have a very large and heavy telephoto lens (150-500), my former go-to camera bag no longer goes. That’s what happens when you try to cut costs. My wife would have said..”just buy the damn bag you need”. But I didn’t. And then a miracle occurred while I was stressing out about what to do for my upcoming Alaska trip, I received two sale advertisements via e-mail, one from Mike’s Camera, and the other from Think Tank, both for the same camera bag – the Airport Commuter backpack. The overall size of this pack is between my giant LowePro backpack, and the smaller Think Tank backpack that I used on my last two trips. It’s also a bit smaller than the roller camera bag I have. It looked absolutely perfect for pretty much anywhere I travel to. So, off to Mike’s Camera, which had one in stock. For once in my life, I did not stand there trying to justify the purchase. I had already done the research on it, so as my wife had recommended at times like these, I just bought the damned thing. 

    The Think Tank backpack is pretty much the last photography related item I’ll be buying for a while, other than a raincoat for the camera. Seriously, they make specialized rain covers for cameras, large enough to cover huge lenses mounted on a tripod/monopod. You can get inexpensive ones which are basically large plastic bags, or spend a lot on waterproof material, sized to fit specific lens types. I opted for the latter – after spending that much on the camera and lens, I’m not going to scrimp on the rain gear. And I even found one made in the USA, from a company (Lenscoat) that specializes in various protective covers for cameras and lenses. It is rare to find any camera gear made in the US – almost all camera and lens makers are foreign, and even tripods/monopods are all made elsewhere. 

    When I got home, I packed all of the gear I could possibly use on a trip into the new pack – there was still plenty of room for other carry-ons like an iPad, books, glasses, etc. And the size really was perfect – it will fit in the overhead of pretty much any plane, and should not be an issue with the small planes either. I won’t be packing much in the way of clothing for those trips. On one trip we live on the beach, the other in a shipping container on a fishing boat. Who cares what I look (or smell) like. I’ll be staying at hotels after each trip, with real showers, and my own bathroom. I am treating both of these like a backpacking trip. I will be looking forward to a long, hot shower when I get to the hotels.

    The Grizzly Bear boat – no frills.

    Expedition Clothing – REI loves me

    And speaking of gear, I’m almost done buying out REI (and other places) for the Alaska trip. I now own waterproof outerwear for kayaking (which I’ll also need in Alaska, Antarctica and Patagonia), kayak gloves, photographers gloves for cold weather, boot socks for the rented waterproof boots, and some new lightweight insulated clothing. My annual REI rewards check should be impressive this year.  Fortunately, you can rent a lot of the bulky stuff you need on some of the trips, like knee high waterproof boots for Alaska and Patagonia, and winter boots for Antarctica – those would be impossible to pack, and really uncomfortable to wear on the plane. National Geographic gives passengers big parkas for the Antarctica trip. I’m not quite sure how I’ll get that home.

    Monopod vs. Tripod

    I mentioned in a previous post that I had purchased a new monopod, which will come in handy for photographing from the National Geographic ships, and the Kodiak converted fishing boat. I have two tripods, which are a must for shooting with heavy cameras and lenses, but both are heavy, and are not allowed onboard smaller ships – these take up too much deck space on smaller ships. Monopods provide some stability, relieving much of the stress and pain of hand-holding heavy gear, and work well when jockeying for space with the other photographers. The Siriu monopod I purchased is made from carbon-fiber, extends to 6’, and has a small set of fold-up feet for added stability. I also bought a ball-joint mount, and a specialized quick release mount for it as well. The mount and feet sections are removable, so it will be easy to pack the thing in my luggage, and it is super light.

    Big camera on monopod with feet
    Collapsed monopod
    Disassembled

    I’ll leave the feet at home for both trips to cut down on weight – I’m not planning on using it like a tripod for the heavy lens and camera. A very nice toy.

    So I think I’m ready for Alaska. I’ll worry about Antarctica in October.

    FYI – you may notice some formatting changes in this post, which I will be applying to my older posts as well. I’m learning more about blogging, and ways to maximize new visitors through Search Engine Optimization (SEO). I’m not considering advertising/monetization at all, which seems to be what most blogs use. But I will have an occassional link to the locations I visit, or for some of the companies I buy gear from – more of a convenience for readers interested in the stuff, and one of the SEO recommendations I’ve read about.

  • My other hobby – Photography

    Now that I’ve launched this blog, and have actual real viewers and subscribers (amazing), I find myself thinking about new topics to write about during my “in between trip time”, and I came up with one that covers one of the main themes for doing this blog  – photography. Nothing too technical, just how I got into it, and my current kit.

    I’ve always been interested in photography, even as a kid. My parents foolishly let me use their Brownie Instamatic once in a while until they noticed that I would shoot an entire role of film on the same subject…like a statue at the United Nations building. That ended my initial childhood experience. In college, I had a friend who was a very talented photographer, though a little on the strange side when it came to what he photographed and the prints he made in the darkroom. I learned a little bit about SLR cameras and darkroom techniques, but not enough to buy my own camera.

    Fast forward to graduate school i I had another friend who ran the photo lab for the geology department, and once again had the opportunity to learn and maybe try it out on my own. Too bad I didn’t – there were so many opportunities in geology field trips and field camps for photography…like climbing the Grand Teton. One of the students had a camera, and got a classic shot of me, holding on for dear life to a rope to keep from sliding down the Middle Teton Glacier. He was supposed to be holding on to the rope. I think he was hoping to get a sequence of me sliding to my doom. I survived.

    How not to cross a glacier…that’s me It was a very long way down

    Finally, after all these missed opportunities, I had access to a real SLR, and also a Nikon underwater camera. They were not mine though….my soon to be wife owned them, and let me use them. I brought the Nikon along on the summer field camp I was a Teaching Assistant on, and shot a few roles of slides. It was a start.

    Over the years, my wife and I both dabbled in photography. After a rock climbing accident, I began to take it more seriously, at my wife’s urging, in order to keep me off the rocks – I built my own darkroom, joined clubs, went off on wildlife photography trips, and of course, bought a lot of gear, replacing my fixation with rock climbing toys. Those were the days before digital photography and before phones became cameras. I really enjoyed making prints – I still have a few framed ones on the walls of my current abode 

    Once digital photography appeared, and phone photography became common,  we both invested in new technology, each buying new kits based on Nikon. I eventually bought a 500MM telephoto for wildlife photography, which was my focus (no pun intended) for many years. My wife was always more interested in capturing interesting scenes in parks and cities, and sometimes just of people. When Sony started producing high-end digital cameras, we both traded our Nikon gear for Sony, and have stayed with their cameras going forward. 

    So what am I shooting with now? My wife of course had the higher end camera – a Sony A7RII, which has a 44MP sensor, the largest at the time (2016). You can enlarge those photos to wall size. I had an even older model, the A7II, with a 24MP sensor. A good workhorse of a camera. Both were now way behind current technology – so much has changed, including AI features built into the chip. We had a good range of lenses, which we shared – 50-300, 28-105, and a few other lenses, all Sony. When Jan passed, I inherited her A7RII, which became my primary camera body. Most of the pictures I’ve posted in the blog to-date were shot with this camera, except for the last trip. I had been itching to buy a new, longer lens, but being frugal (or cheap) I was holding off on the investment, even after missing lots of good photo opportunities on the Baja trip. That was until the current administration’s Independence Day came along – the potential for a 39% tariff on Japanese products, and a major increase in price made me pull the trigger on buying the new lens, a 100-500MM Tamron telephoto. Very heavy, but manageable. And then after the whale watch trip, I decided to just go ahead and buy a new camera body with superior focusing, the Sony A7IV. The shots it takes were remarkable in clarity…no more wasted slightly out-of-focus shots, and the shutter bursts are 10 frames per second is great for fast moving subjects, like hummingbirds and whales. I used this camera exclusively on my last trip to the Utah parks.

    All my toys

    So unless I win a lottery, this will have to hold me for a while in terms of cameras and lenses. Here’s a picture of the whole kit and kaboodle – I take all of this on some of the trips (Alaska, Galapagos, but have to cut back on other trips based on luggage size and weight restrictions. That’s a lot of weight for carry-on, especially on smaller planes.

    But that’s not all I have to lug around. Some trips/subjects require more stability, like hummingbirds, shore birds, sea otters….and that requires lugging a tripod or monopod along. The tripod only works for car trips – hard to carry that on airplanes, and impossible to use in small boats like the Zodiacs that National Geographic uses. So that’s where the monopod comes in. That was another Independence Day purchase. It’s hard to find any high-end camera gear made in the USA.

    Tripod, monopod (with feet), GoPro extension rod, extension rod with feet

    But wait, there is more! I also have underwater / action cameras. I have a GoPro 13, and a Sealife underwater camera with a frame, a big U/W light, and a large wide angle lens. Unfortunately I no longer need the Sealife since I’m not allowed to Scuba Dive anymore – when your cardiologist says NO, you listen). The GoPro is fine for snorkeling, and is easy to pack.

    What is not in either picture are the batteries and chargers needed for all the cameras. Or SSD drives I bring along to backup the photos. There is just a pile of stuff that you need to pack and haul around for photography. Not complaining…just wishing I had a llama sometimes. I do have some nice photo backpacks…another post will cover that.

    And finally (almost), there is one more camera I use frequently on these trips. It’s a Pixel 8 phone. Before going on the Galapagos Island trip, I watched a video on photography by one of the top National Geographic photographers, giving advice on what to bring on these trips. He said sometimes the best camera is the one that is frequently in your hand. Your phone. He has published many photos from his iPhone. The Geographic photographers on both trips gave lecture on phone photography as well.

    So do you really need all this “stuff”? Depends on how serious you are about photography, and what you intend to do with them. And how much you want to carry this heavy, awkward gear around on trips. My wife gave up on ‘real’ cameras a long time ago, and only used her iPhone. We were going to buy an underwater housing for it, so she could use it diving or snorkeling. For me, it’s my hobby, so I’ll continue to use both. Plus, I like shopping in camera stores and buying new toys. If REI had a camera department, I’d never shop anywhere else other than Whole Foods for groceries. My life would be so much easier.

    So this post has been all about the gear. How do you pack all this stuff for a trip? I’ll get to that in another post.