You are back right? just saw a plane crash from a cruise ship excursion....
You are back right? just saw a plane crash from a cruise ship excursion....
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Way too much gear and even more lighting equipment.
We cruise in 44 days. It'll be interesting to read the final investigation reports, as we've flown ProMech twice last year (one round-trip by air to Misty Fjords, one round-trip to Neets Bay for a Bear Watch), and I felt their planes were very well equipped. Both of the planes we were on had really good GPS navigation systems that seemed to have terrain avoidance systems, etc., and since there were 8 passengers on the flight that went down, the incident had to be on one of their "Turbine Otters" (same kind of plane that we were on). Considering they had 5 Turbine Otters, there's a 40% chance my wife or I had been on that plane.Originally Posted by Manofmayo66
We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.
We're back, we're alive, and I'll start the editing as soon as I adjust to the fact that my in-laws are visiting for the next week or so. We took a LOT of gear, we had a blast, and we have very few regrets. I ended up renting a 5DsR (long stories combined for that), a TS-E 17, and everything else I'd planned to rent. Only the 85/1.2 came back unused (plus little things like filters which I forgot to take on our key excursion, timer remote, pocketwizards as camera remote), oh, and our older/lighter tripod (mostly because the weather leaving Ketchikan was garbage and not worth heading up to look for whales from the ship).
The RRS TVC-34L tripod was awesome. I'm already a big fan of buying a tripod that's taller than you think you need. The leveling base was excellent for the gimbal head, though marginally useful for the ballhead. The 5DsR was awesome...a couple of times I put it on the 600 (minus the 1.4x TC III) but usually it was on the 16-35/4IS giving me great cropability when the next lens I had handy was a 100-400. The TS17 gave me some new challenges: I guess I'd never used it on full frame before, and I was surprised at how many times the metering would be WAY off.
The Profoto B1 was actually quite useful on three occasions: sunset pictures of us on the first formal night, fun pictures of us (by one of the ship's photographers, and by our waiters) while we did the Ultimate Balcony Dining, and great pictures of us and our dining room staff "friends" on the second formal night (lit so the exterior water view was visible along with the interior "us" in a balanced way.
I hope to get the pictures edited and posted within 10 days, but regardless I'll post a link here just as soon as I can get them ready.
As always, I do hope all of you consider a trip to Alaska (or several...). The photographic opportunities are nearly endless, and it's quite the photographer's paradise.
We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.
Finally got the edits done, DVDs mailed off to important people on the ship, and loaded onto Flickr. Visit https://www.flickr.com/photos/alibea...57658597426265 if you'd like to peruse. Filenames represent what day they were taken, 1xxx was day 1, 2xxx was day 2, etc.
Itinerary was:
Day 1: Board the ship, had lunch & dinner aboard.
Day 2: Formal night, did some private formal photos deck 16 aft while enjoying quite a show of animals. While I was setting up the light, I heard my wife say "Gimme that" as I saw the 600 get carried towards the railing...
Day 3: Private tour in Ketchikan - rainiest day we've had amongst five visits to Ketchikan (though the town is known for its rainfall)
Day 4: Small-boat excursion into Tracy Arm Fjord, followed by a whale watch in Juneau (the SIMRAD nav/plotter represents the start of the whale watch)
Day 5: Private photography tour in Haines via ferry from Skagway, then Ultimate Balcony Dinner
Day 6: Formal night photos with our waiters and our Maitre D' Hotel
Day 7: Whale watch in Victoria BC (should have cancelled this...too late compared to sunset, and the boat was not ideal).
We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.
Nice series Pete!
BTW, let me know if you have any tips. My nephew just announced he is getting married in Anchorage July 2016. We won't be doing a cruise, but are looking at spending time in Seward/Homer/etc.
Hmmm...not a lot I can add. Two of our six cruises ended in Whittier, with a car/bus ride to Anchorage. There's a wildlife conservatory on the highway from ANC to Seward/Whittier that we enjoyed, and Portage Glacier has a neat boat tour (it's on "this side" of the mountain into Whittier). We also did the cable car up the side of the mountain somewhere along the highway from ANC to Whittier, nothing amazing (though I was probably sad from having just gotten off the cruise ship - BOO!!!!). To me, Anchorage is somewhat plain: interesting sights around the airport, particularly the water "airport" adjacent with easy access for all involved, and the view from the airport observation deck basically goes like this: "Hey look, there's a 747 cargo plane. Off goes a 747 cargo plane. Look, another cargo 747 landing, and another one. Look, there goes a 747 cargo plane. Hey, what's that, a 767 cargo plane? Yep, followed by a 747 cargo plane. Intruder alert: 737 passenger plane landing! No worries, there's a 747 cargo right behind it." Those 747s stop for 60-90 minutes for fuel, perhaps a crew change, and they're off into the blue yonder. (I have a soft spot for the 747...good thing I now live in the Seattle area!)
We're a Canon/Profoto family: five cameras, sixteen lenses, fifteen Profoto lights, too many modifiers.
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