The Luminous Endowment for Photographers

Good friend and photographer Michael Reichmann has announced the Luminous Endowment for Photographers. “The mission of The Luminous Endowment For Photographers is to provide financial grants to photographers world-wide to foster current and anticipated projects. Grants allow photographers to pursue specific photographic goals, such as mounting an exhibition of their work, publishing a monograph or book, or photographing a special subject or location as part of either commencing or completing a body of work. Note though that grants are not available for the purchase of photographic equipment.”

Michael has graciously extended an invitation for me to be one of the jurors for this very worthwhile cause, and some amazing grant proposals have been coming in already. You can read more about the grants by heading over to the Luminous Endowment Grants page.

If you are looking to play a part and would like to know how, Michael has released his 20 Year Retrospective, a 400-page large format book of his own work.

Michael Reichmann’s 20 Year Retrosepctive

Published August 1, 2014, this large format, cloth bound, hard-cover book has 400 pages, containing 380 images. It was designed by Arturo Chapa, one of the world’s top book designers. This book is available in two editions; a signed and numbered limited-edition (500 copies only), contained in a clam-shell style slip-case, and also in an open series hard-covered edition without slip-case. To obtain a copy of his book, a donation to the Luminous Endowment for Photographers is the only way to secure your own copy.

I bought my hard back copy today and cannot wait for it to arrive. Consider paying it forward and purchase your copy today, as there are many photographic projects that need funding.

Back to Africa

I am shoving off for yet another adventure in Africa, and this time I will be guiding two back-to-back safaris between three different countries. My first safari will be my Mountain Gorillas and Chimpanzees: The Ultimate Great Apes Photo Safari. We will begin with trekking with chimpanzees in Uganda, and then ending with trekking with mountain gorillas in Rwanda. At the conclusion I will then head over to Kenya to guide my Luxury Great Migration Photo Safari, in hopes of capturing some beautiful sights out on the open plains of the greater Maasai Mara. And if that weren’t enough I will be finishing my trip in Amboseli National Park, where I haven’t visited in many years.

As far as gear goes for this 3+ week long trip, I am bringing a combination of medium format and 35mm gear. As you may know, I sold off all of my Nikon camera eqiupment earlier this year as I moved to Phase One medium format. This trip has some challenges that medium format may not be able to handle, so I am bringing a backup Canon system with me for either longer focal lengths or for ultra high ISO’s. Here is what will be in my Gura Gear Bataflae camera bag:

• Phase One DF+ camera body
• Phase One IQ250 50 megapixel digital back
• Phase One IQ280 80 megapixel digital back
• Phase One 75-150mm
• Phase One Schneider 240mm
• Phase One 2x teleconverter
• Canon 5DMk3 + portrait grip (rented from borrowlenses.com)
• Canon 70D (rented from borrowlenses.com)
• Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II (rented from borrowlenses.com)
• Canon 1.4x III (rented from borrowlenses.com)

Phase One has graciously loaned me the new IQ250 50 megapixel digital back for the trip, and I can choose between the 50 and 80mp backs, depending on the situational need. The new IQ250 allows me to shoot at higher ISO’s, say up to 1600 or perhaps 3200, has a higher frame rate and is a slightly smaller chip in size (and thus a more narrow field of view is captured), and the IQ280 has a larger file size yet at the cost of only being able to use lower ISO values, like 50, 100 and perhaps 200 or 400. It’s the best of both worlds and I am going to feel spoiled.

The Canon gear is all being rented from borrowlenses.com. This allows me to flip flop between Canon and Nikon systems on different trips, a wonderful bit of flexibility that I need in this day and age. Why would I want to have different systems on different trips? It’s easy: I want and need to communicate to my travelers that I understand the systems that they use and that I can understand how to setup and use their cameras and lenses.

Article in Outdoor Photographer Magazine

Opening page of the article in the September 2014 issue of Outdoor Photographer

In the September 2014 issue of Outdoor Photographer Magazine you can find an article that describes my approach to photography and creativity, which you may find different, unique or unusual. I describe my approach the ‘Adjective Driven Approach’. What this means is that I created a list of adjectives that I want my images to portray and I shoot to fulfill this list of adjectives. ‘Remote’, ‘Timeless’, ‘Majestic’ and ‘Hopeful’ are some examples. I decided on these words many years ago and have found them to be helpful in keeping me on task as camera equipment changes and evolve. What I typically see from other photographers is an approach that is more literal, meaning that specific subjects or activities were on their own lists (specific animals, subjects or action like lions, giraffes, automobile races, portraits of people) and I was frustrated with this approach for my own purposes. As a result I came up with my own approach and have a much more focused way of (hopefully) creating images that stir the soul.

You can either pick up the issue on the newsstand or purchase your copy on your iPad via iTunes with the Outdoor Photographer app. Here is a link to the online version, sans high impact images: The Purposeful Photographer.

Antarctica and South Georgia Island - Space Available

In the past few weeks we have had a few spaces become available on our incredible Antarctica and South Georgia Island expedition in November. We have the following spaces available at this time:

• Triple Share Cabin – 2x female berths (upper bunk, single bunk)
• Twin Public Cabin – 1x female berth + 1x male berth
• Twin Private Cabin – 1 Full Cabin Available

We are confident that these spaces will not be available for long, as the ship was previously sold out and now we have these few spaces open. You can find all of the details for this expedition here:

Antarctica and South Georgia Polar Photographic Expedition

November 3-22, 2014