john_perkins2 Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 I'll be off to Basra shortly, and am wondering what to take. I'm trying to find an excuse not to have to cart around laptop, camera, batteries, adaptors etc. I usually use film when I'm abroad. For anyone who's been recently, how is the infrastructure re power and internet? I know my agency would rather digital so they can sell single pictures as news, rather than the whole body as a feature. Anyone have any experience of working with a hard-drive style device, like an iPod, for storing a month's worth of hi-res pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m_. Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 if it is for personal work, i would take films. if it is for news work, then probably digital has advantages for fast transfer of images. bottom line is that you have to ask your agency to see what they want you to take. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conrad Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 If you're going to use hard drive based image tanks (or an ipod) I would consider getting two. Copy each flash card to both so you have a backup. A small low-wattage DC-AC power inverter might not be a bad idea either if the local utilities are questionable. Just some thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vic_. Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Whatever you take, sand and dust are huge issues in that part of the world, so some kind of bag or cloth to cover everything will be key. Don't leave your idle gear lying around uncovered, the sand and dust will do more damage and WILL find its way into any orifice, and can potentially turn the high tech computer-based-whiz-bang-do-everything into a paperweight fairly quickly. Fortunately, humidity is not an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank_meeker Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 John, Contact Brian David Stevens of this forum. I'm sure he will have some good info if he has the time to talk. Regards, Frank M. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nesrani Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Enjoy yourself, John. I have no wisdom to offer (unusually) except: "Sand. It gets in the cracks." (Tomb Raider). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ellis_vener_photography Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 For a portable hard drive with the ultimate amount of protection try http://www.4tress.com Not cheap, but how much are your photos, data & your trip worth? But you will still neeed a laptop with a FireWire port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadji_singh Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 The only way I know to get digital images onto an iPod is to use the Belkin Media Reader, which sucks. If someone is you using a different method, do tell. You put your CF card in the reader which connects to the iPod. I tried it for a while and got rid of it (kept the iPod, though). The Belkin Media Reader is slow. I mean really slow. Did I say slow? It took 45 min just to transfer a 1GB card (which was only 3/4 full). By the time it was done, the battery on the iPod was almost crapped out (which is another problem onto itself). Do a google search for "iPod" and "Belkin Media Reader", you'll see I'm not the only one having these problems. If you're going digital, I would recommend using some other HD/digital wallet solution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hadji_singh Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Oh, and it goes without saying, but stay safe. From the news reports, it looks like Westerners are walking around with a bulleye on their backs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beatrice_flowers Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 As said, the ipod sux completely for picture storage, so take a look at the "Archos Gmini 220" instead. Same idea, but has a card reader built in, so it's not an afterthought as with the ipod. That said, I should rush to add that I haven't actually tried an Archos, so who knows.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben z Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 No doubt. I've always admired the war-correspondent-photographers probably because it takes more guts than I could ever muster up. If it were me I'd be thinking about bulletproof clothing and such and probably drop my cameras and dive for cover if someone coughed hard. Some of my cameras look like they've been through a war though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_chan5 Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 <i>it looks like Westerners are walking around with a bulleye on their backs.</i> <p>I don't know if you are aware of this, but the 4 guys who got killed and mutilated last week were military contractors from Blackwater Security Cosulting. In other words, professional soldiers who are paid to fight/train/patrol - apparently the media has decided not to use the old fashioned term "mercenaries" because they work for <b>us</b>. <p>This does not excuse what happened, but it puts things in a different light. It seems pretty clear that american military/paramilitary/security personnel are the ones who are targetted for the most brutality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricks Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 john, stay safe. I doubt that this is the wrong forum to ask for war-corr stuff, they simple don't hang around here very much. try http://www.robgalbraith.com check out http://www.vothphoto.com/recent/africa2003/africa2003_main.htm for his experience on this matter during African safari. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_barnett2 Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Take digital, and email you output to a home base each night. Then should the worst happen, the world will still have, at least, your day before last photo's. But from a personal opinion of doing news and photojournalism, if you have to ask here, you shouldn't be going. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
furcafe Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Unfortunately, Steve, non-military/non-paramilitary/non-security foreigners (not just Americans) have clearly been targeted as well, although their bodies haven't been mutilated. -------------- "It seems pretty clear that american military/paramilitary/security personnel are the ones who are targetted for the most brutality." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jim_mcbride Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 "I'll be off to Basra shortly, and am wondering what to take." Take lots and lots of body armor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socke Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Steve Barnett wrote:<br> <i>Take digital, and email you output to a home base each night. Then should the worst happen, the world will still have, at least, your day before last photo's. But from a personal opinion of doing news and photojournalism, <b>if you have to ask here, you shouldn't be going.</b></i><br> And from an ex soldiers POV, I can only second that! <br> Volker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrew_mcgrath1 Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 Why not take both, digital and film? Throwing a rangefinder and a lens or two into your bag isn't going to add a whole lot of weight,and the RF is probably going to be able to withstand the extremes of sand and heat a whole lot better than the electro-digital. I've had SLR's go belly-up in the deserts of Saudi Arabia after only minor dust blew into the shutter release, while RF's stood up to just about everything. As for being a target, everyone is a target, Western or otherwise. Two Japanese diplomats were stalked and murdered as their car traveled northwest of Baghdad. And bombs know neither nationality nor occupation/intent. In Basra you'll be in a Shi'ite area, so even Iraqi Sunnis will be targets there soon enough. Bottom line, I hope your images are worth the risk. Travel safely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pensacolaphoto Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 John,Things are very nasty right now in Iraq and they may get worse and for a very long time. Unless you really must be there, I would not go there since I have a family to think of. Occupation is almost always a dirty issue with blood and pain. I don't know if I would volunteer to go over to take photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
john_perkins2 Posted April 5, 2004 Author Share Posted April 5, 2004 Thanks for all the tips. I didn't ask for security advice here, I have contacts in Iraq already. But thanks anyway. I've never worn a flak jacket while working before, and I don't think I'm about to start now. I've worked out it will be cheaper to use film, unless I can sell more than x worth of digital pictures. That x is a pretty big number, bigger than what I can make selling features. One day I'll be shooting digital outside Europe, but not yet. Time to dust off the Ms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boris_chan1 Posted April 5, 2004 Share Posted April 5, 2004 "if you have to ask here, you shouldn't be going"Unusually excellent advice for photo.net. But it sounds like he's going anyway, so........ "I've never worn a flak jacket while working before, and I don't think I'm about to start now"You need to start thinking again (actually you need to start thinking, full stop). If you can tell me you've comfortably worked in say Chechnya, East Timor, and Aceh without feeling the need for any kind of protection then I'll bow to your experienced judgement - this isn't Israel. You're in the UK, right? Stop being a clown and pop in to Silvermans (near Mile End Road), they'll kit you out (including ceramic plates) for half the price of a Leica M7. At least give yourself the option - if you choose not to wear it, fine, but don't go without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steve_barnett2 Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 Another good tip would be to read Evelyn Waugh's seminal book on foreign reporting, 'Scoop'. An invaluable read, especially the part about kitting yourself out. I wonder if Silvermans do 'cleft sticks' nowadays? But seriously John, it may make a good read when you are there if humour falls short. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karim Ghantous Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 John, I'd really like to know more about why you're going, what you're hoping to achieve etc. Sounds like a cool job you've got there. Too bad you weren't around in the '30s, dodging Nazis and searching for antiquities. ;-) If you are able to, please let us know about your progress. Do have a safe trip and I hope that you end up with something great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Taylor Posted April 6, 2004 Share Posted April 6, 2004 A photo-journo friend of mine was just there for 5 months with her agency. Took digital and a regular body as back-up. Didn't shoot any film the whole time. The hassle was keeping all the batteries for her Powerbook and sat-phone charged. The last few weeks in the desert toasted her camera and lenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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