Gura Gear update

Just a quick update for those who are interested. Our web site is completely finished, and we are just waiting on the SSL certificate process to be complete. Any day now we will have our site live and ready to go! I am looking forward to showing what I have been working on for the past few years.

BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year links

Here are relevant links for the 2008 BBC and Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year.

Main web site for the contest and this year's winners

Photographs from the awards dinner

National Geographic News Story

A huge congratulations to Steve Winter for his stunning series of snow leopards, of which one of the images won the overall Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest this year. I cannot think of a more worthy winner, as the preparation, perseverence and results truly stand out.

Thank you to all that have sent kind notes. I highly encourage all to go out, create photographs and submit them to competitions such as this one. If nobody sees your images, that is ok, but if people do see your images, it is a great thing.

BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year

I just got back from an amazing evening at the Natural History Museum here in London, where the 2008 BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards dinner was held. I can now announce that my Skeleton Coast of Namibia photograph won this year’s Wild Places category, and I was honored to play a part in the contest and awards dinner. There were some stunning images this year, to say the least. This was the second time for me to attend these festivities, but last time one of my images was a Highly Commended winner, and not the winner of a category. Here is a link to my WPOTY 2006 image.

I met some very outgoing personalities this evening, and I loved hearing the stories behind all of the images. I heard many different numbers of how many entries there were this year, but the consistent number I have heard was that there were over 34,000 entries, and roughly 12 categories where there was a winner. The overall Wildlife Photographer of the Year was chosen from 12 of us that won a category, and I know that all 12 of us were eager to hear who won the overall contest.

My Skeleton Coast image was taken in the spring of 2006, and we were flying from one camp to another. I was seated in the front seat of a Cessna Caravan, and had a significant amount of scratches and reflections on the windshield. I took with image with a Canon EOS 5D and a 24-105mm lens at 47mm with a polarizer. The settings were 1/1250 @ f/5.6, ISO 500.

I will wait for the press to announce who the overall winner of the competition is this year, as it will be more appropriate for the winner to be announced tomorrow with the press.

Here are a few images from the awards dinner. As you can see, it was held at an amazing location: The historic and grand Natural History Museum. Pardon the white balance issues of the images, as there were many theatrical lights that make for a difficult white balance setting.

Photo of the Day

Mind the Gap, London, England. October 2008

Canon G9, processed in Adobe Lightroom 2.1 with gratuitous vignetting, contrast, saturation and clarity adjustments.

Just a quick photo from the day in the underground. Totally playing around as a tourist today. My having the Canon G9 in my pocket is kind of fun, and I am thinking of upgrading to the newer G10 or the Panasonic LX3. One thing that is great about the G9 and G10 is the control dials and buttons are well placed and easy to use. This is great if you shoot in Manual or Aperture Priority mode, which is my preference. However, the LX3 is better suited if you are looking for a camera that can fit in your jeans pocket, as it is much thinner. My hunch is that I will end up buying the LX3, as I am interested in HD video and also a camera that will fit in my pocket.

Digital Railroad goes Kerplunk

Here is a note that was posted on the Digital Railroad web site yesterday:

October 28, 2008

To our valued Members and Partners:

We deeply regret to inform you that Digital Railroad (DRR) has shut down.

On October 15th we reported that the company had reduced its staff and was aggressively pursuing additional financing and/or a strategic partner. Unfortunately, those efforts were unsuccessful. Therefore Digital Railroad has been forced to close all operations.

Digital Railroad has attracted a loyal set of customers and partners, and we regret this unfortunate outcome. Without sufficient long-term financial support, the business had become unsustainable.

Thank you for allowing us to serve the photographic community these past few years.

All questions pertaining to claims should be addressed to:

Digital Railroad, Inc
c/o Diablo Management Group
1452 N. Vasco Road, #301
Livermore, CA 94551

Way to go Digital Railroad. You effectively gave your customers little notice to remove their images from your servers. I would be extremely disappointed if I was a DRR customer right now. Or should I say past customer, since they have shut their doors. It is one thing to close your business, but it is another thing to close your business and not allow your loyal customers to retrieve the things that belong to them.

I have been very vocal that I am a Photoshelter customer, and have had excellent service from them. I know them personally, and knew what I was getting into before I made a committment. Yes, I am included in many of their marketing campaigns, but I pay for my service just like everybody else.

Time to buy every past customer and past employee of Digital Railroad a drink. They need it.

Photo of the Day

Maasai Warrior, Tanzania. February 2007.

Hasselblad H3D 39mp body, 50-110mm lens

I spent a day with the Maasai last February, and was able to take the time to capture some portraits underneath a very old and very large baobab tree. The afternoon was filled with many memories, and I look forward to returning to visit my friends in this village in a few months.

Photo of the Day

Maasai Warrior, Tanzania. February 2007.

Hasselblad H3D 39mp body, 50-110mm lens

Photo of the Day

Zebras, Serengeti National Park, 2006.

Canon 5D, 500mm f/4 + 1.4x, 1/800 @ f/9, ISO 640