Category Archives: Destinations

Dr. Krist, you’re needed in the O.R., stat!

By bobkrist | Published September 23, 2010

© Bob Krist---The night the lights went out in Senegal!

Wow, what a trip Senegal is!  Incredible place but tough on docs and patients using the less-than-ideal infrastructure. Take the above photo for instance.

My friend Dr. Al Ruenes and his colleague, Dr. Serigne Gueye, were doing a fistula repair on a patient in a remote clinic south of Dakar when the power went out. So they’ve got the patient opened but can’t see a thing.

Well, as much as I love my Nikon Speedlights, it was continuous lighting that saved the day because I pulled out my little headlamp flashlight and my Lite Panels Micro Pro LED on camera video light, handed them to the docs, and they were able to finish the operation with a nice main light and a broader fill!

The docs liked the light quality so much, they continued to use it even when the lights came back on (probably a good thing, since we lost power a couple of times that day!)

© Bob Krist---The fill is a little close to the main light, but for surgery, this is perfect lighting!

We’re wrapping up here today and hope to be home tomorrow. It’s been an incredible experience seeing what obstacles are faced and overcome here on a daily basis. Hope to have some video up (but, it’s going to take a while).

I hardly shot a still while I was here….video took up all my concentration, and I’m still making rookie mistakes. I’ll have more on that in another post.

Also posted in Ironies, Lighting, Multimedia, Photo Gear, Photo Techniques, Technology, Travel | 4 Comments

A One-Man, Video-Shootin’, Senegalese Band

By bobkrist | Published September 14, 2010

Photo by Arun Paul. Left to Right: Painter, Doctor, and....Videographer????????

I’m off to Senegal to shoot a short documentary on the volunteer work of my friend Dr. Al Ruenes. Al is a urologist who regularly visits Senegal to teach new techniques to surgeons from all over Africa, and while he’s there, does a whole slew of pro bono procedures for Senegalese patients.

Also coming is renowned plein air artist Bob Beck. He’s going to make paintings of the trip, I’m going to make the short video, and when we get back, we’re going to try to use this stuff to raise money for an operating theater Al hopes to fund in Dakar.

Originally, my son Brian was coming along to do the video duties, and I was just doing stills and audio. But then, young Brian had to go and get a great new gig as an associate producer for a new series at Discovery Channel and couldn’t get the time off.

(Oh sure, let a little thing like a major career move get in the way of a trip with the old man….sheesh, these kids!)

So it’s up to me to do my one-man band routine.

I’m only mildly panicked, as I’ve spent a lot of the summer studying up, shooting a lot of video to try to get my chops somewhat up to snuff.  Even at that, I’ve got a long way to go as a videographer, but I’m ready as I’ll ever be by tonight, anyway!

And just like in my still shooting,  I’ve been researching and finding the smallest, most reasonably-priced stuff that will do the job right.

So it’s going to be a little quiet on the blog for the rest of the month. And comment moderation could be very slow, so if you post a comment and it doesn’t show up for a while, it is nothing more nefarious than a bad or non-existent internet connection in my location!

For a look at the gear I’ll be bringing on this one man band gig, hit the jump. Continue reading »

Also posted in Audio, Multimedia, Photo Gear, Technology, Travel | 8 Comments

Hands on impressions of the Nikon Coolpix P7000

By bobkrist | Published September 8, 2010

© Bob Krist--The Coolpix P7000's 28mm (equivalent) lens is great for landscapes

I had the opportunity, a few months ago, to work with prototypes of the newly-announced Coolpix P7000 on an assignment in the Southwest US. It was for Nikon’s ad agency in Japan. The P7000 is a fully-featured compact that would be the perfect backup/stealth/walkaround camera for a travel photographer.

This is not a review. So, if you are looking for MTF charts, camera-to-camera comparisons, and all the stuff a full-blown review offers, stop reading now, please.

It is, as the headline clearly states, my impressions of the machine. On these gigs, I’m handed a camera or a lens and I have a limited time to make as interesting a set of pictures as I can, not do side-by-side comparisons. So, tech heads, please forgive me in advance:-).

© Bob Krist--A cowpoke named "Laredo" as captured by the Coolpix P7000

When I got the call, my client said “bring along your DSLR too, in case we see something special and you want to shoot it on your main camera.”  I thought it was a very generous offer, but based on my previous experience with a variety of compacts, I declined. I knew that, in the heat of a great photo opportunity, I’d probably forget to use the compact altogether (Oy! Can say “blown assignment?”).

So, in order to save me from myself, I went out without a “net,” and after a day or so of getting used to using the LCD screen (although there is an excellent, if not 100% accurate, optical viewfinder), I didn’t miss the D90 nearly as much as I thought I would.

In fact, I’m using one of the pictures from this assignment in the oversize calendar that I do as a promotional piece for clients every year. I’ve done the calendar for years and never used anything but DSLR pictures. But I got my early copies last week from the printer, and the P7000 frame is indistinguishable from the DSLR frames. Not bad!

To read more about the camera and see a few JPEGs, hit the jump.

Continue reading »

Also posted in Photo Gear, Photo Techniques, Technology, Travel | 135 Comments

New Hope: In Character—Reception Timelapse

By bobkrist | Published August 30, 2010

The reception for New Hope: In Character was Friday night at the New Hope Arts Center and we had a large and very responsive crowd.

Besides the local luminaries, many of whom were on the wall AND in the crowd, several old photographer friends showed up, including the Geographic’s Mike Yamashita, NY Daily News sports shooting ace Linda Cataffo (we started at The Dispatch together, but the years have been far kinder to her!) and The Record’s Peter Monsees (we’ve known each other since grammar school), The Intelligencer’s Rich Kennedy, and freelancers Jerry Millevoi, and Arun Paul.

Here’s a web gallery of the show. The prints, some as large as 30×40, were made by Aspen Creek Photo. This is the consumer lab division of West Coast Imaging. We had to keep the costs down on this job and WCI’s excellent custom B&W printing was not in the budget. But Rich Seiling and the Aspen Creek crew did magnificent work on the consumer prints that just looked great.

I’d love to take credit for the good looking files those prints were made from, but it was the  Nik Silver FX Pro plug in that made those flawless B&W conversions so easy, even I could do it!

The prints were mounted by another crackerjack outfit, Philadelphia Photographics. Jack and his crew turned the job around quickly and perfectly….and they even delivered!

I can’t guarantee it would be the same for you, but photographing friends and neighbors was one of the most rewarding projects of my career…and one huge benefit was that all I had to do was walk two blocks to work—no metal detectors, no baggage handlers, and no crowded overheads! It’s the lowest carbon footprint travel photography I’ve ever done…..

Also posted in Events, Multimedia | 14 Comments

Nevada’s Wisdom, Where’s Jim, Stephen’s High Jinx, Joe’s Swami….

By bobkrist | Published August 24, 2010

© Bob Krist--Imagine shooting aerials without leaving the ground!

Some of my friends and colleagues have been sharing some great information lately.

Nevada Weir, adventure travel photographer extraordinaire, shares a great post: The 10 things she wished she knew before becoming a professional travel photographer and the 10 things she’s glad she knew. Take number three in the “glad she knew” category:

I knew that I had some great traits for a traveler: I can handle alcohol; I can sleep anywhere; I have an “iron stomach”; I have a bad sense of smell; and I remain very calm in times of stress or uncertainty. All very useful for the solo traveler.

Funnily enough, I have all those same traits (especially the alcohol-holding abilities) EXCEPT that I do go to pieces in times of stress and uncertainty….but I’m working on it, sometimes even without the alcohol part!

To find out where Jim Richardson has been parking his fedora,why Stephen Alvarez craves getting high above all things, and why Joe McNally won’t confess to a swami, hit the jump. Continue reading »

Also posted in Career issues, Photo Gear, Photo Techniques, Travel | 16 Comments