Micro Blog: 15th April 2010 (Landscape Photography)

The weather has been totally unpredictable these days. It is amazingly hot in the mornings and then the storms will arrive in the afternoon. Photographically, it is a disaster and my plans are changing so much that I am semi-retired to the digital darkroom for a week already.

The recent trip to East Malaysia did a lot of good though and there were split second thoughts of moving there for a couple of months. That would of course not be possible without proper planning and with jobs lined up till the end of this year, I am tied down. It would be great to just get to a place, know the people and really shoot to one's heart content. I have always believed that the best photographs come from knowing a place, where the best light will be, the culture of the people there, etc. And it is something that will not be achieved within a week. A month will be good though the probability of not wanting to come back to a concrete jungle will increase exponentially.

The astro-timelapse is still very much in its infancy and given the challenges encountered this time round, I would say I need about 10 more nights of work before I will have enough footage. The major challenge I had while shooting was dew. The temperatures dropped quite a bit at night and dew formed on every inch of the equipment, from tripods to the lens hood. I have some solutions in mind and will be trying them out and reporting back soon. Meanwhile, it will be prepping as much batteries as possible. The lower temperatures and long exposures do not bode well for the bricks of stored energy. Lugging 4 pairs of tripods out in near total darkness and being sleep-deprived is a recipe for going bonkers but the final result will be worth the effort.

Backup is essentially managed by 2 Nexto drives that I purchased. Both have 500gig drives installed in them and their transfer speed is pretty amazing. Their battery life is nothing to wow about though it should not be an issue since I have power outlets easily within reach. A laptop with 2.5 inch drives will of course be better since reviewing can be done. It is not a choice for me though, given the amount of shooting gear, I should be lessening the load as much as possible.

End of April will see me travelling the 3 over hours north again. This time round, it will be travel light and easy.....hopefully.