Borneo Reflections: Part Zero

Having just returned from Borneo, I thought I'd record my thoughts about photography in one of the best places I've ever been to.

I'm going to start at the end, simply because I'm typing this during a six-hour wait at Kota Kinabalu airport using the iPhone and the only photos I have available are ones I've taken with it. (In fact, just looking at the options available to me on this site, I don't think I can upload from the phone anyway, so I'll just tease you and tell you what's coming soon).

So actually, this is Part Zero: Introduction. In subsequent posts, I'll write about the challenges of shooting in 90% humidity while carrying a 3-kilo camera kit, the most useful settings on an EOS 5D Mk II in jungle and low-light conditions, the advantage of having a wife with a 7D and how to be REALLY geeky with total strangers and by the end have them asking questions like "so what is this ISO setting business on my point-and-shoot camera?". I'll also share the "Black and White Borneo" photo project with you. Bet you can't wait...

There are photos of rare birds, monkeys, apes, elephants, insects, turtles, sunsets and sunrises, night photography, underwater films and more. I want to share the photos with you and give a bit of commentary as well. Hope you enjoy it as much as I/we did taking the shots while experiencing some amazing sights.

I fell in love with Borneo during the two weeks we were there and I hope that some of the pics (to follow, after spending hours and hours in Lightroom sorting them all out) convey that feeling.

Step back in time

Lou's getting a haircut this morning so I thought I'd do the same and take the camera along to kill the other 2 hours until she has finished.

The Pentax MZ-M: Small but mighty.

But I'm not just taking any camera; I've got the Pentax MZ-M. Film camera. Fasten your seatbelts.

I dug it out a while ago when I gave the case it was in to a friend while he borrowed the old 10D and I always threaten to shoot off a few frames for old times' sake.

The first problem was that the battery indicator was flashing - having sat for a few years with no action, the CR2s had slowly died. First stop - WHSmith or somewhere similar to buy some new ones.

More easily said than done, evidently: AA, AAA, square 9v, CR123 and CR2032 but no CR2 in the Wickford branch. In Rayleigh, Martin's only had 'normal' batteries but thankfully there is a Boots nearby with a photographic section. £9.99 later, the MZ-M was alive.

I went to get my hair cut first then ventured into the woodland area of Rayleigh Mount, just off the high street. With a ISO400 film loaded, I knew I didn't need direct, bright sunshine for fast enough shutter speeds.

There were a number of things which struck me as I was shooting off a few (9) shots: the lack of control over ISO (fixed at 400 like I say), manual focus, which takes a bit of getting used to, and no screen on the back. Yes, after just about every photo I looked in vain at the blank back of the MZ-M, muttering "idiot" to myself each time.

A good exercise. Photos? Yeh, I'll get them developed eventually...

Photo project

I've always been impressed by people who put together really well thought-out photo projects. For example, Rick Nunn, a photographer from Lincolnshire, recently completed Fifty of Fifty, a project which saw him take 50 photos over 50 consecutive days using a 50mm lens.

I'd like to do something similar, but don't want to plagiarise the idea (much). I also cannot stick to things too easily, especially when the nights are starting to get darker, so by the time I get home, it'll soon be dark and taking a photo is mainly restricted to indoors, flash photography or long exposures under street lights.

I'm thinking of doing a black and white project, as I've always loved shooting in mono. Perhaps I'll give that a go.

Any suggestions/ideas?

Something I see every day

Iron, originally uploaded by Dave Romanis.

A while ago, the Chaffstoke group had a weekly challenge called "Something you see every day."

I have a bit of a morning routine, where I iron the shirt for the day as I'm watching breakfast TV and before I have a bowl of cereal. It's something I've done for years and although I love the idea of ironing 5 (or even 10, if you're REALLY enthusiastic) shirts on a Sunday to avoid having to rush around each morning. In fact, I think I may have talked myself into ironing 4 shirts this evening (I'm not in the office on Wednesday).

There's another photo in my photostream which I'd LOVE to blog here, but I know my wife will probably kill me. The link is here. I love the sentiment of the photo and the concentration on her face as she does her hair - not something she can do 5 times on a Sunday and avoid having to do for the rest of the week, of course...

The technical bit

I set the camera to monochrome for the shot above and the one of Lou drying her hair - I've recently discovered the amazing C-settings on the 5D2 and have set up C1 to be my black and white configuration. It also uses ISO 800 and f/4 as default.

When I loaded the CR2 (RAW) files onto the computer, I went through the usual steps and converted the CR2s to DNG before then importing them into Photoshop and exporting as JPGs.

This is where I came across a little problem; the 5D2 obviously records the picture in colour and applies the B&W setting separately, because when I converted the shots to JPG, they were all in colour! I had to go through Digital Photo Professional to get the B&W versions.

And some say that you can't convert black and white shots into colour, eh?

Master of light

I was so pleased to read that TIME had included my favourite photography web site in its top 100 blogs of the year. Congratulations to David Hobby at Strobist.

If you haven't already been there, check it out. Personally, I've learned just about everything I know about flash photography from his Lighting 101 and 102 sections and the way in which he explains how to use off-camera flash is chatty, simple and informative.