Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jan 15, 2017 13:03:53 GMT 10
Typical camp site int he Kalahari No fences, just drive off the game trails and hope for the best. blocked out my mates face in the pic. We stayed at several camp sites like this, the last night we a lion come visit us. It was pitch black, I'd say he stopped not too far outside the light of our camp fire and let loose a roar that sent us scrambling for the tents lol The truck was a sweet setup (it was a diesel), impressed me in the soft sand with the amount of power it had at very low revs (less than a 1000 in 2nd and pulled through) even as loaded up as it was. We never had an issue with it or any of the gear in it. The Waeco fridge was awesome as well. (I've only had Engel) There was this one river crossing on a dingy little barge that had a tinny bolt to the site to power it. The drive came up to us, half way across and said "your vehicle too heavy" then we had to constantly shift the weight by driving backward and forward for him until we made the other side at which point he stopped short of the bank and we drove off into about 1m of water and up the bank
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Post by graynomad on Jan 16, 2017 6:40:20 GMT 10
I did weddings when I started, never again. I worked in darkrooms and behind the camera in Perth (commercial/industrial), Canberra (darkroom tecnician), Grafton (newspaper photographer), London (darkroom tecnician) plus was a Globe Photos contributor (NY) and spend many years contributong to magazines. All good fun and I still have the gear but don't do much at present. An example I'll dredge up a few pics.
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Post by graynomad on Jan 16, 2017 6:45:38 GMT 10
That's what we did, the best way IMO. We used to drop into a lodge in the middle of the day for a beer and a shower, the animals are resting then anyway so you aren't likely to miss a shot. I posted this on the other thread but will repeat here This was one of our camps, in the Tsavo NP. No fences, no nothing, just a flat spot in the bush. Man I loved it in Kenya, I'd love to go back.
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Post by graynomad on Jan 16, 2017 7:00:17 GMT 10
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jan 16, 2017 9:21:19 GMT 10
I did weddings when I started, never again. I worked in darkrooms and behind the camera in Perth (commercial/industrial), Canberra (darkroom tecnician), Grafton (newspaper photographer), London (darkroom tecnician) plus was a Globe Photos contributor (NY) and spend many years contributong to magazines. All good fun and I still have the gear but don't do much at present. An example I'll dredge up a few pics. Very cool mate, certainly had some experience at it. How do you go about contributing to magazines? Do you just esquire with what you have or do they tell you what they are after?
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jan 16, 2017 9:25:29 GMT 10
Note the blue "lighting" on some of the pics. This was a common problem with film in dry climates, as the motordrive wound the film on it generated static electricity and that cause sparks that showed up on the film. Digital killed film for many good reasons and this is one of them. Great shots, looks as though you got pretty close in the first lion shot. What gear lens wise were you using back then?
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Post by graynomad on Jan 16, 2017 21:03:50 GMT 10
... How do you go about contributing to magazines? Do you just esquire with what you have or do they tell you what they are after? I phone to ask about their requirements, and if they sound interested then send in a submission. In the old days that meant a typed story and actual slides, these days a DOC file and TIFFs on a disc or more lately a thumb drive. They will tell you what they like. After a while though a couple of mags got to asking me if I had any potential cover shots, or could I write and article about "Backyard Macro" or whatever they needed. I dropped it in 2007 because I was building Wothahellizat Mk2 and didn't have time. When I got back in touch a year or so later all the rates had dropped and I decided it wasn't worth the trouble. A cover is still worthwhile because you have already got the shot(s), you just have to send them. An annecdotal article is harder work and a how-to like "photoshop layers and you" is bloody hard work because of all the screen grabs and illustrations etc. For $100 per page it was just worth it, when they went down to $70 I thought sod it.
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Post by graynomad on Jan 16, 2017 21:10:45 GMT 10
... What gear lens wise were you using back then? I had the best cameras (4x Canon F1) but pretty ordinary lenses, some Canon, some Sigma. No L-series, just cheap stuff. IIRC 20, 28, 100, 300/5.6 and 500/8 mirror. These days I have all EOS1 series bodies and L-series lenses. In this context I love my 400 f4 DO, but that 200-400 of yours is the ducks guts. It wasn't released when I had the money to buy a long lens, everyone was talking about it for years but it just never came out. Mind you the 400 DO is very light, much easier to carry around I would think.
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jan 18, 2017 21:59:33 GMT 10
I don't know much about the Canon Film bodies but have heard of the F1. Hard to beat the Canon 1D series nowadays though IMO. Currently I have a 1D mark IV, 5D Mark III and a 7D Mark II. I'd really like to add a gently used 1DX but can't swing it for some time cash wise, would probably have to sell either the 1d4 (really like that one though) or the 5d3. I sold off most of my shorter glass in Canon mount when I added a Fuji X kit which I wanted for traveling, other than traveling for photography like going to Africa where I'd still take the Canon gear. The Fuji is just so much smaller and lighter and I don't need the AF speed or FPS etc of the Canons for travel and landscape shots. Here's my big Canon glass kit Top is 7D mark II and 300 2.8 IS II Middle is 5D mark III and 200-400 Bottom is 1D mark IV and 600 f4 IS Also have a Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II, a Canon 100-400 Mark II and both 1.4x & 2x mark III TC's plus still have a Sigma Art 50 1.4
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Post by graynomad on Jan 19, 2017 18:08:19 GMT 10
It's official, I have a bad case of lens envy
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jan 19, 2017 20:19:32 GMT 10
The 300 and 600 I picked up slightly used, you would have to look well to find marks.
I got them both for a song though otherwise I'd never have been able to sink so much $ into glass.
I did have a nice 400 2.8 IS, it was my first big white but I sold it in order to fund the 200-400. That 400 was a nice lens but too big for working out of a vehicle in Africa at the time, plus it weighed around 6.5kg with a body attached. About the same as the 600 now.
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jan 19, 2017 20:27:50 GMT 10
Was going through a few more pics from my Africa trip and found this guy, just about carrying his own seat around
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Post by graynomad on Jan 20, 2017 7:55:53 GMT 10
Awww, how cute, a Chinese squirel who goes by the name of Well Hung. Much as I would love a 600/4 I am by nature a "walk around and see what I can see" type of photographer. To this end the 400/4 is a better choice for me as at 1.9kgs you can really walk around all day with it. Good for Oz, less useful in Afrcia as you don't tend to walk around much over there. I almost all the time have a 1.4x added to it, so with the 1D's crop factor I have a ~700mm lens and I find that is about perfect for small wildlife and birds. I also always have a flash and a Better Beamer so most of my shots have at least a little fill flash. Here is an extreme example. This was in the bushes with crap mottly light and shade so a photo would not have been practical without the flash. But even in good light I like the way a flash just evens things out a tad
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Jan 20, 2017 21:56:09 GMT 10
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Post by graynomad on Oct 21, 2017 7:28:16 GMT 10
The Beamer is a bit flimsy, that unit does look better.
I'd forgotten about this thread, might have to drag up a few more pics.
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Oct 21, 2017 8:37:17 GMT 10
I had forgotten about this thread as well Here's one from a trip this year
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Post by Peter on Oct 21, 2017 19:23:49 GMT 10
I love looking at great photos like these. I wish I had the time & equipment to learn, and the talent to properly compose a picture. Great stuff. Keep them coming (please).
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Post by graynomad on Oct 22, 2017 9:08:53 GMT 10
OK, time for something completely different, how about a reptile.
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Morgo
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Post by Morgo on Oct 22, 2017 10:00:02 GMT 10
Great shot grey
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Morgo
Senior Member
Posts: 682
Likes: 661
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Post by Morgo on Oct 23, 2017 20:17:56 GMT 10
I lost a lot of the photos I had on the net with photobucket, will have to go through my HDD's to find them again but here's a few from the lappy. Points to anyone who can name where these were taken
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