Wow! What a trip! Lake Baikal, the Ural mountains - Siberia; those are
places I really would like to visit some day.
Your lens choice/use observations are very much in line with my own
experiences when travelling. Of course everyone has their own special
"likes" of subject matter taking photographs while travelling, but I have
found the lower end of "standard" is the most useful overall.
Cheers,
Lee
----Original Message Follows----
From: Roger Wesson <roger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [OM] Back from two months abroad
Date: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 18:25:50 +0100
Hi folks!
I've just got back to London after two months abroad, six weeks of which was
spent working in Beijing, after which I travelled back to London at ground
level, using seven trains and a boat - my route was
Beijing-Moscow-Warsaw-Berlin-Paris-Lille-Calais-Dover-London. I took with
me the following:
31 rolls of Fuji Sensia 100
1 roll of Fuji Astia 100
1 roll of Ilford XP-2
1 roll of Ilford HP-5
1 roll of Kodak T-Max 400
1 roll of Fuji Super HG 1600
OM-1
OM-1n
Tokina 28/2.8
Zuiko 50/1.8
Zuiko 135/3.5
2x teleconverter
0.42x superwide adaptor
Polariser, deep red filter, ND grad.
The kit worked very well - I had been considering taking along a 400mm or
500mm lens but I really didn't miss the longer focal length. I could
occasionally have done with something between 50 and 135, though, so I'll be
needing to make another OM purchase soon. I fortuitously judged the amount
of film I needed absolutely spot on, taking the last shot on the 36th roll
of film as the ferry approached the White Cliffs of Dover. I've just posted
off all the films today, and wait anxiously for them to return to me around
about the weekend. Most of my shots were landscape shots, and my most-used
lens was the 28/2.8. There is certainly no shortage of things to photograph
between London and Beijing! Each city I stopped at is beautiful in its own
kind of way, from imposing and intimidating and yet beguiling Moscow, to
town-like Warsaw, cutting-edge modern Berlin and elegant and wonderful
Paris. Glad I didn't stop in Ulaan Baator though, as it looked like the
ugliest city imaginable, a horrible festering sore on the otherwise austere
and wild Mongolian scenery. Lake Baikal and the Urals were also scenic
highlights.
Gear-wise I had a few problems - I forgot to take my sachets of silica gel,
which was unfortunate given the extremely high head and humidity in Beijing
(temperatures were around 40C or 100F for about two weeks, but with fairly
low humidity. After that temperatures dropped to about 35C, but humidity
rocketed to 85-90%, which was extremely uncomfortable. Foolishly I went for
a three hour hike along the Great Wall in those conditions and lost about
half my bodyweight in sweat.) However, I discovered that many Chinese
brands of crisps contain packets of silica gel, so I bought a few of those,
chucked out the tasteless cardboard crisps and kept the dessicant.
On the train from Beijing to Moscow the lens release button on my 135/3.5
mysteriously became stuck in, so the lens does not now click into position.
Also the top of the film speed dial on my OM-1 came unstuck and blew out the
window as I was leaning out and taking pictures. Those problems aside
everything worked like a charm.
I've got the print films back already, and the results of an unintentional
experiment might interest you: the roll of Super HG 1600 had been kicking
around in my bag for a long time, waiting for an opportunity to be used, and
I ended up taking it with me on some 17 international flights (four in my
hold luggage, the rest in hand luggage). I estimate that it's been put
through 14 X-ray scanners, so I really wasn't sure what kind of state it
would be in. I finally used it during a truly apocalyptic thunderstorm in
Siberia, and I'm delighted to report that it appears not to have suffered
from its multiple X-ray doses - I got several quite impressive shots of
lightening streaking across the sky and lighting up the landscape, with no
apparent artifacts or problems.
Now I just can't wait to see the slides. I may need a day or two off work
to look through them all. The only downside is the thought of scanning them
all, but I'm going to do my best to get something on the web as soon as
possible.
Before I left there was discussion on the list of the aerial photography of
Yann-Arthus Bertrand. Coincidentally there's an open air exhibition of his
work at the Postdamer Platz in Berlin, with forty or so sizable prints.
They didn't look at all over-saturated, as some had complained and seeing
the huge prints close-up was really very impressive. How he got such sharp
shots from helicopters and planes I really don't know.
Now I'm back in London I wouldn't mind going to see the Ansel Adams
exhibition on at the Hayward Gallery until September 22nd. It strikes me
that it could be an appropriate opportunity for list members in and around
London to meet up - if you haven't been to see it already! Anyone
interested?
Well, I hope everyone's been going along OK over the last two months and
that I haven't missed too much vital info on the list!
Roger
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