darren m green

Be advised that what ever format you use you will need a permit the second you set up a tripod anywhere in Manhattan.

 

Not for hand held but the second you put a a tripod you are required by law to have a permit.

 

Good News!! Permits are free and heres the link to the mayors office, you can do it all on line now. http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/permits/still_photography.shtml

 

Happy shooting guys.

Being a Brit I would never consider yellling at anyone. Yeah right! guess i've lived in NY too

long now.

 

Did no one see the stats on Michael Moores 'Bowilng for Columbine'?

 

With over 11,000 fire arm related homicides in the US every year i'm suprised anyone

would do something as stupid as yell rudely at another person.

 

And if you choose to yell at me? well I got all day I aint in no hurry.

 

Best wishes.

Hey there,

 

I use a Cambo ball head available from calumet. I had the team at wimberley modify the

clamp fo rme for fifty bucks. I use the wimberley sidekick with my ball head and slap on

my EOS 10D with battery grip and a 500mm f/4. Head performs beautifully.

 

Take your kit to your local dealer and try thee heads out with your tripod to see what suits

you best.

If your dealer wont let you try heads in store, find another dealer.

 

Good Luck.

Nobody seems to have hit the nail on the head here so let me try.

 

When shooting TIFF you only have 8bit funcionality (8bits = 256 shades of gray)

When shootin RAW You have 16 bit functionality (16bits = over 65,000 shaades of gray)

 

You see much better color rendetion and tonality especially if you do as much editing as

possible in 16bit mode. Photoshop CS is a dream for this. Give up shooting TIFF.

 

Good Luck.

Ah Gerald you make me smile Civil rights in the US? since when.

 

You try pointing a camera at a train in the US or even a boat in a busy port or come to that

try it at some place like Kennedy airport.

 

Spain is a lot more photographer friendly. The rules in Europe are pretty simple at present.

Don't shoot inside an airport. No shots of military instalations or government buildings

and certainly don't try to photograph military personal.

 

Otherwise knock yourself out. Can't help you with Madrid locations but if in the UK, St

Marys Cray station in Kent (30 mins south of london from victoria train station) allows

some good views of the Euro tunnel trains as they fly by..

 

Enjoy Spain

I invite you to see my latest images from Venice.

 

www.photo.net/photodb/folder.tcl?folder_id=404080

 

Hope you like the pictures.<div></div>

I spend four weeks a year in the Greek Islands, 2 two weeks in the spring and two in the

fall. I have found the smaller islands to be realitvley crime free and never had any

problems.

 

The best way to secure you gear at the beach is to get a rental vehicle and leave valubles

in the trunk.

 

Rental cars are really competitive in the island at present and a small car can cost you as

little as twenty euros a day. A small price to pay to insure the saftey of you valuables.

 

And of course it never hurts to make sure you've got insurance.

 

Good luck.

Hey there,

 

As a Brit living on the upper west side in Manhattan I shoot all over the city and the only

times I have ever been challanged were outside the UN building shortly after 9/11 and that

was for walking into a restricted area and NOT for taking photos. The other incident was

when a police office tried to claim he could confiscate my camera for taking a picture of

him manhandling protesters at the 2004 peace rally in NY. The fact that I outweighed the

officer by 100bls meant the only way my camera was going anywhere without me is once

he's prised it from my cold dead hands.

 

As for shooting in Grand Central the reason aginst tripods is more to keep the flow on the

go as opposed to restrict your photography but I also use the 10d canon and found

pushing the ISO to 400 gives good results all round in places like the station.

 

The incident where Raghus friend had his film exposed by an NYPD officer is incredulous

and I would have filed a law suit aginst not only the officer but also the city.

 

Now as for good locations, my favorites are the circle line cruise boat that takes four hours

and does a complete circle of manhattan offering graet views of the city from the water

but take at least a 200mm and also the lake in central park.

 

Hope you enjoy the visit.

Are you all failing to miss the point? TRAVEL photography is an art! Not just the art of

taking great pictures but also the art of traveling. I have just returned from a seven week

trip and all that time I lived out of a medium sized back pack (that wasn't so insanley

overstuffed as to have it bursting at the seems) and one camera bag. My camera bag holds

1 body, 3 lenses, 1 flash, filters, batteries, general accesories and my 15 inch laptop. The

lenses are all Canon L series. Tripod I hear you ask? Goes in the backpack and gets

checked in the hold. I have always found that if your not comfortaable when you travel it

wont be any fun. If you aint having fun theres no point being there. Hone the art of travel

as well as you would the art of photography and see your enjoyment factor rise. As for the

question of fat people surchages? At 6' 4" tall I weigh in at 265lbs and I reckon theres not

an airline out there that could not benefit from reconsidering the layout of their economy

class cabins. As for bribes, why waste good beer money you worked hard for in the first

place?

DONT use xray proof bags. If they can't see through the bag they will turn up the power of

the machine. Not what you want them to do. Heathrow, Gatwick, Kennedy, and Newark

and several other airports have all refused hand inspections of my films. The longest flight

I made was London UK to Perth, Austraila with two stops each way. By the time the film

was processed in London it had seen six x-ray machines and still came out with no visible

effects. The film? Velvia 50, Kodak extachrome E100VS, Kodak technical Pan 25 and Kodak

HIE infared. Since all that survived the trip I have never even conssidered asking for ny

bags to be hand searched.

I spent Martin Luther King Day weekend in Washington last year and found it a great time

to visit as every one had left town for the weekend and tourists were heading for warmer

climates. I was shooting hand held as my girlfriend gets stressed when I start setting uo

the tripod but the problem I encountered was a lot of the memorials are made from all

kinds of marble, very easy to burn out your highlights if your not very careful. As far as the

service is concerned I wish you all the best. If the Diana services in London were anything

to go by your in for a tough time getting close to the proceedings. On the other hand it

could make for some fantastic reportage shots of the crowds.

Personally I find summer in Tuscany far too crowded with the tourists. I much prefer late

March to early April, far less tourists, better rates for accommadition and of course the

temperatures are no where near as hellish. Whatever time of year you visit Tuscany

however you will not fail to find an abundance of fantastic photo oportunities.

I am looking for some good reading on digital printing techniques. Any suggestions would

be welcomed. Thank you.

I stick a modified Cambo ball head and a Wimberly Sidekick on my 1228. Then I load it up

with a canon EOS10D with battery grip and my 500mm f4.5 and go out shooting wildlife.

Never had any issues with this rig and the 1228 seems more than capable despite my

'overweighting' it.

 

I might just say that the legs 'screw' locking mechanism is a bit of a pain when it's so cold

out that your hands burn and as any one who uses a Gitzo for photography as opposed to

being able to claim they have one will know cleaning the grit and dust out of the joints

after a week in the field is a pain in the ass.

 

Having said that I have had mine for 3 years now and wouldnt change it for any other.

 

Darren Green

If you've not been to Skye before you're in for a treat. A new oportunity around every

corner. You can drive around the island within a day and that's stopping top scout

locations along the way.

 

Just as you get to the bridge from the mainland to the island in the town of Lochalsh

you will see a road off to the right, 20 minutes up this road and you run into a quaint

old world town. I dont remember the name of the town but the backdrop is the

mountain range the 5 sisters best light for this is late afternoon.

 

The best landscapes on the isle itselff in my opinion are to the north of the town of

Port Righ (Portree) which makes Portree a goo place to set up camp. I can honestly say

that you could easily spend 2 weeks just photographing the landscapes on the island.

 

Remember on the road from Inverness to Skye you will pass the Eillean Doonan Castle,

the most photographed castle in the world. Best light is early morning. Also along the

route at one point you cross a small bridge and on your right hand side you will see a

small cemetery with the remains of a small chapple very photogenic and worth the

stop.

 

And before I forget all of the castle grounds on the Isle of skye afford good photo ops

too.

 

Best wishes, Darren Green

Hey Ed,

 

We have been running yearly operations out to the Galapagos for some time and when we first started we realised the issue of trying to go on you own or just a couple could be a hassel.

 

Their are a lot of operators our there so my advice is do your reasearch on the operators and get recomendations. Ont the equipment front I also go with the monopod for wildlife as the critters are so friendly that you can get within feet of them. I carry a lightweight tripod for sunsets.

 

As for the wildlife I have never needed more than my 70-200mm 2.8 That's how close we get.

 

If you're interested in a tour check us out at www.darrensworld.com

 

Best Wishes, Darren.

I've been a pro travel photographer for over a decade now and I fly an avarage of 3 times a month. Here's the ins and outs. Your essential equipment the stuff you can't live without, goes in a backpack NOT a wheelie bag or large shoulder bag but a backpack. Reason? simple, if it looks like you're strugling with 50lbs of equipment the staff are going to get curious and thats where your problems start. If you're walking around like you're carring a normal day pack no one will look twice.

 

As for putting equipment in the hold? all non essential (luxry) items go in a pelican case and in the hold. I have never lost a bag yet. And besides whilst having a bag stolen would be a pain in the ass my insurance has it covered any how. !!!NOT TRAVEL INSURANCE!!! !!!SPECIALIST INSURANCE!!! and if you're traveling without insurance anyway you deserve what you get.

 

If you really want a fool proof system forget about contacting the airline to find out their policy or the TSA's policy, Contact the air line talk to management, tell them what your carrying, how many bags, the dimensions, each bags weight and of course the value of the bag. Proffesionals carrying equipment will 9 out of 10 times find airlines more than willing to accomodate them if they are advised in advence.

 

The worst problem I ever had was with Britannia airlines when they wanted to charge me an excess of $150 dollars for carying on my equipment, but if $150 is the price of making sure $6000 worth of equipment gets from Australia to London OK then I don't see the issue.

Yeah right! Try asking customs officals at Heathrow London for a hand inspection. (or JFK, Newark or Laguadia for that matter) not to mention San Marco, Gatwick, Charles De Gaulle etc. The minimum wage security staff at these posts start by looking at you like you have 2 heads, then point to a sign that says "OUR SCANNERS ARE FILM SAFE" (or words to that effect) and insist you put your bags through anyways. I have put film through hand baggage scanners and in check baggage no fogging no detoration of quality etc. The unfortunate events of 9/11 have turned the security operations of the US in to a minimum wage boom industry that dosen't know its ass from it's elbow. As for weight and size of your camera bag, I leave my bag on my back at all times an just forget it's there, if you dont point it out they wont ask. But do be considerate and make sure it fits in the overhead bin. Good luck on your travels.

Take the 28-105 and a 2x converter. A flash for a little fill here and there. If you call yourself a photographer you wont need more than this for either Paris or Venice. As a european of 30 years I speak with authority. If the wife has a problem with the equipment going on the honeymoon then check if your marrying the right girl. (just kidding) My girlfriend knows I'd leave clothes, boots and anything else nessacary if an essential piece of equipment had to go on a trip. Good luck.

Stick it in your suitcase. I do it all the time and make an average of 20 international filghts a year. Never had a problem yet.

This is the link to the national parks service, some fantastic stuff

www.nps.gov

Good luck

I found the isle of skye a great sprt and laid back and small enough to hitch hike around with no problems at least 3 great castles there.

http://www.wildlightnaturephotography.com/Scotland_Expedition_Page1.htm is the link to a site that runs workshops to Scotland where I personally act as a guide after a two year period phtoographing Scotland. also some good workshops on my own site at www.darrensworld.com. Good luck

Hi there,

 

Take a look at www.darrensworld.com They operate tours all over the world and use some extremley experienced photographers. You learn what you want to learn as the group sizes are small so that you get plenty of one on on time with the instructors. They teach you what YOU want to know. Before the tours start you need to fill in a questionaire explaing why you are attending their workshops and in which particular areas you wish to devlop your strengths. Prices are very competitive and when shopping for a workshop be sure to check what you get for your fee (workshop, breakfast, dinner ect ect) as with some operators you are responsible for your own accommadation ect which canstart to hike up the costs. Any way thats enough babbling from me. Good luck and remember if you go on a 'workshop' make sure they allow you to pay by credit card at least this way if at the end of the tour if you feel it was a big dissapointment at least you can apply for a refund through your credit card company. Ever wonder why a lot of tour operators insist you pay by check?