Yucatan memories

I recently returned from back-to-back projects in Mexico - a week in Cancun and then we drove south to the Riviera Maya for the second shoot.



Fourteen consecutive days of 5am starts and 7pm finishes seemed like child's play when I returned and faced editing about 8000 frames. "You've got to learn to be more selective", I said to myself. As if that's going to happen, because I always say that to myself. Ah well, old dogs, new tricks and ne'er the twain shall meet. (Apologies to Kipling).

I used to live around here in the 1970's and although much has changed it still feels like home to me. At one point we were a short drive from Belize, where I also lived, but I resisted the temptation of a trip down memory lane because we were on a schedule. Cancun didn't really exist then, it was just a big spit of white sand which curved out 15 miles into the sea. Local fishermen would ferry people across to Isla Mujeres for a few pesos and Cozumel for a few pesos more. Now, huge catamarans ferry hundreds of people at a time to these islands and Cozumel even has an international airport.

Playa del Carmen is supposed to be the fastest growing town in Latin America, but it seems to decay as fast as they build. Even the building seems to be half-assed, unfinished this, unfinished that and there are more potholes than in the old part of town. Maybe they're actually constructing potholes? Hmm. Still, it has a charm that even the hordes of English louts roaming the streets can't dent.

Playa is definitely more Mexican than Cancun and although I usually go for more "authentic" myself, there's something about Cancun I really like. The Riviera Maya is completely the opposite of Cancun's large, multi-level resorts, and intimate, low-rise buildings spread over large, mangrove covered, properties prevail. If heaven on earth exists, this is it.

Location laptop for photographers

As anyone who has read this Blog will know - yes, both of you - I'm a reluctant Blogger at best and am never to sure what to write about. Why anybody would be interested in me, I have no idea and I'm not that egotistical or insecure that I need affirmation from others.

This is different though. I have finally found something that I would like to share. While it's not earth-shattering, I do believe that I have found the Holy Grail, for me, anyway. Lugging computers around on location is an absolute pain, and also absolutely vital. I've tried numerous and different combinations of gear and always had too much, or too little - until now.

Two months ago I started the search for the perfect location laptop for the way that I work. I have a lovely Sony with an 18.5" screen and a fully calibrated monitor that's just too big to be as versatile as I need on location. I shoot tethered infrequently and rarely have a client looking over my shoulder at the capture, so the Sony was overkill and took up a lot of valuable, carry-on luggage space. On the bottom end I have a little Asus R2 Ultra Mobile PC, the predecessor of Netbooks. It has a useless 7" screen and is completely underpowered. However, it has a bunch of USB ports and I could attach a card reader and two external drives and securely copy my work as I went along. Not entirely satisfactory, but I had redundant copies of the work, which was the most important thing.

When the iPad came out, like many others I had high hopes that were dashed because of its lack of USB ports and the lack of ability to attach peripheral drives - partially remedied by the Hyperdrive unit, but not totally satisfactorily. I have an iPad version of the Hyperdrive and like it, but I use it for on-the-fly backup prior to my nightly back up to a laptop. I consider it to be another backup of my backup and carry it in a separate place to my other drives, just in case.

So, I went in search of something in the middle of what I already own - just what I need, more gear! After a long search of every manufacturer that I could find, who was also credible and had a firm reputation, I settled on the Fujitsu TH1000, a Laptop and Tablet convertible, responsive to both fingers and stylus. While it only has an 12.5" screen,it is big enough for Lightroom. To compensate for the i3 processor, I put in a 250 Gig solid state drive that is lightning fast. The 4 Gigs of RAM are more than sufficient and Windows 7 makes full use of it all.

Here are the key factors that sold me on this unit: four USB ports and an Express Card slot that I can put a card in that accepts two eSATA connections. The DVD drive pops out to make room for an additional battery module with which I get a solid 8 hours of use from. It has an internal SD card slot which I use as a 32 Gig Cache drive to speed up Lightroom - keeping the C drive as clear as possible is very important if you want Lightroom to be responsive and as fast as possible.

I didn't put Photoshop on this machine because I don't do any post production work while still on location and I want lots of free space on that C drive. Lightroom is so fully featured now it's all I need until I get back home.

I attach two Seagate Go Flex Pro drives with eSATA, the Pro units are 7200 RPM and worth the extra. Lightroom doesn't use a lot of RAM, but it sure likes fast drives and an eSATA connection. If I'm being really paranoid, I make an addiitonal copy on my Guardian Maximus Mini - a RAID 1 storage unit using 2.5" drives, from OWC - highly recommended and quite inexpensive for what they are.

My main criteria was small, very portable, multi-functional, long battery life, flexibility of use and lots or ports, and I got it all. However, dressed up as I finally did it doubled the initial price, so it isn't a cheap machine, but it's the most flexible and usefully compact thing I could find, without any major compromises.

Biscayne Blvd

Working in Miami again. Where else but downtown Miami can you see a sight like this?

I've watched this place grow over the space of a few decades and unlike much development I've seen, this place gets better and better. I even like it in the middle of summer!

Bumped into Chris Opel, an American fashion shooter living in Switzerland and had an enjoyable evening with him in South Beach. He's here for a month, updating his book. Now, if that isn't an investment and commitment. He's completely changed the look and feel of his work and going for a very natural, unscripted look. This was interesting to me because I'm going the other way - don't care so much about the reality, it's my perception of it that counts. Made for an interesting evening's conversation. Good luck to you Chris.

Meanwhile my job went well and I picked up another one for the start of the New Year. Even with a shaky economy there's so much development activity here that I'm looking around the distressed properties and foreclosures with an eye to buying a "pied a terre", while the prices are so low. As Deepthroat said to Bob Woodward, "follow the money" and if the new hotel and art gallery openings are any indication, the money is in Miami.

Was it something I said?

Working with Vlada again and realized that I've never shot her fully dressed.Hmmm, wonder what that means? Anyway, not only is she my "go to" body model, the attached shot shows why I enjoy using her. Always easy to work with and a real pro.

Westjet into the sunset

Somewhere over Fargo, ND.

Heading west and it's going to be a long night. Infant in front is screaming. Kid next to me keeps bumping into me as he keeps falling asleep and then is abruptly woken up again by the baby.

Oh mama. Are we there yet?!!

Look Ma, we're in Business Week!

This week's Lifestyle section has a travel piece by reporter, Venessa Wong, entitled "Beware: your hotel may not be a nice as you think.", for which yours truly was interviewed for and quoted in.

Overall, it's a resonably well balanced piece about retouching shots of hotels and resorts and the ethics therein. While I wasn't exactly profound, I don't think I sounded like a schlub either. It's funny to see an hour and a half interview reduced to a few sentances of quotes. While the context was a little off on a couple of them I'm reasonably satisfied enough to bask in my Warholian fifteen minutes.

I think a lot of myself. How about you?

I recently had the unfortunate experience to watch Platon being interviewed by Charlie Rose. I like Charlie Rose, not so much Platon, whose work I find to be overbearing in it's pomposity. His self deprecating manner in the interview - "if I have any talent, and I'm not sure I do" - was just too much.

He's riding high at the moment, Portraits of Power was a huge success for him and he was being interviewed about his New Yorker essay about the remaining 1960's civil rights leaders. It changed his life, he claimed, and from now on he will devote himself to honorable undertakings. Jesus, what a bunch of claptrap.

The Emperor Platon has no clothes. I find his work to be predictable and banal and his technique of producing Gothic-like imagery is a cover for his lack of vision. Anybody who has achieved the status of being known by only one name has achieved some kind of status in their given world: think of Avedon and Penn, even think of Cher and Bowie, and now Mr. Platon has designated himself to join their ranks.

Sour grapes on my part? I think not because I'm really indifferent to how much success or money he has garnered - what do I care? On one hand I think good for him if he can pull the wool over people's eyes and get away with it. On the other hand, and this is the bit that galls me, how bloody stupid are the people who fall for it and fawn all over him? I can't decide if these Photo Editors and Art Buyers are like lemmings or sheep because there's a slight difference in these two analogies, and they both seem to fit.

Of course, the world has always been as such, hence the story of the Emperor who had no clothes, but I feel it is getting worse. Society produces larger than life people so we mortals have someone and something to aspire to, which is a positive thing after all. It's the self-proclaimed ones who get my goat though.