Heading off on a 4 month expedition through 10 countries creates a long list of things to do before you leave! One of the key items on that list has been determining the right photographic equipment to arm myself with. I’m talking about ‘still’ photography now, as the video cameras are being spec’ed by Wheel2Wheel production partner – Siren Films.
Lucky for me Wheel2Wheel has its resident expert, the internationally renowned photographer Nathan King on the team! So Nathan has been kind enough to not only provide guidance on what hardware to buy, but also give me a few crash courses in photography 101. I’ve always considered myself a budding amateur photographer, but the reality is – I know very little …. or at least ‘used to’ know very little!
The fork in the road in making a hardware decision comes quickly in photography – its either Nikon or Canon, as the rest seem a distant third place. Based on all my online research it seemed Canon, and in particular the 5D mark II (and mark III – to be released this year) was the way to go.
As a “Nikon-guy” it is akin to ditching your Mercedes and buying a new BMW!
After much consultation with Nathan, I decided to be loyal and stick with Nikon – as I have a decent body and three lens already. So on that basis we went shopping for more Nikon weapons for the armory. However before deciding what new fun lens to get for the trip, I briefed Nathan on what I was hoping to achieve over the 120 days on the road, from an imagery perspective:
1) Take at least one amazing close up portrait of an 8 year old child each day. My objective here is to publish a humanitarian coffee table book at the end of the expedition with my daughter Aria (who is 8 years old) on the cover, then a series of similarly shot images of other 8 year old kids – 120 in total, representing the 120 days of my expedition. Can you imagine the wonderful sequence of ethnicity this will create as I go from HK to China to Vietnam to Laos to Cambodia to Thailand to Malaysia to Indonesia to Timor Leste to Australia! I believe this book will show that all kids, no matter their lot in life are essentially all the same; and all deserve the same chance at life.
2) Capture the epic landscapes of South-East Asia and the Australian Outback – the majestic scenery and vivid spectum of colours that nature provides.
3) In a photo-journalistic way, use photos to tell the story of the people at the ten charities I will be visiting on route and in the hundreds of villages I will pass through over the 4 months.
So with these three photographic objectives in mind, and looking at my existing lens; Nathan suggested in buy two new Nikon lens, both with “VR” – Vibration Reduction – the first a 70-200mm f/2.8 and the second a 16-35mm f/1.4. Today, I took both for a “test-drive” and they really are wonderful but I need a lot more practise.
Given my amatuer status, I will be shooting on Aperture-priority, not yet full Manual, but I guess it’s better than full-Auto!
In this setting, I choose the appropriate Aperture and the camera sorts out the Shutter Speed.
Its my plan to upload photos to the website every day if possible. So you will get to see my evolution as a photographer, among other things, over the course of the journey! I’ll try my best to capture the memories …
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