I just learned of the death, earlier this week, of Col. Ralph Albertazzie, who piloted Air Force One during the Nixon administration. That brought to mind the photograph I made at Andrews Air Force Base on August 9, 1974, as the Nixon family boarded Air Force One for the final time.
Col. Albertazzie commanded that flight, and the attached obit, quoting from his book, “The Flying White House,” notes the exact time and location when Air Force One changed its call sign to SAM 27000. That was the moment that Gerald Ford was sworn in as President, and Nixon became a private citizen.
I managed to make it back to the White House in time for the swearing in and later got a look at the Oval Office without any sign of its previous occupant or the new President.
While at NAB, I spent some time with Bob Salomon at the HP Marketing booth. The company has been around a long time and is well-known as the distributor for Novoflex and for Heliopan filters, among other quality products. I'll be writing about some of them in coming posts. But at the top of my list was borrowing Heliopan's Vario ND filter.
In an earlier post, I wrote about using filters with the Canon G-series camera, using the adapter that Canon makes (and which too few photographers knew about until recently). So when our Northern California sales rep, Bill Hodges, sent me a press release about the Heliopan filter, I knew I had to get a sample for a field test.
The primary use of NDs is to allow greater control of depth-of-field, particularly in the field and in strong light. They are also essential if you're looking to shoot subjects like moving water and need longer shutter speeds. So the idea of being able to 'dial in' the exact amount of ND without carrying a wide range of filters (and having to change them in the field) has great appeal. So stay tuned — I've got the filter in a 58mm screw-in, with plans to shoot some tests in the next couple of weeks. I'll post the results.
Let's return to the diversions that have nothing to do with NAB —
Here's one that seems to be purely for Las Vegas locals — the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum. Located off The Strip, it's a warehouse-like space with what seem to be more than 100 working machines from the 50's (my era) to the 90's. All the machines work and the price per play ranges from a quarter to 50 cents. Just as important, the Hall of Fame is operated as a non-profit and makes significant contributions to local charities like the Salvation Army.
I grew up playing pinball, and I'm sure I put a lot of nickels into many of these same machines. Back then, pinball was very much a male recreation. Just how much so is clear if you look at the graphics on the 'back glass' and on the playing surface. Another reason to have my Canon G11 with me at all times. No efforts at apologies, those were different times. Thanks here again to my son for a 'find' that he knew we would both enjoy.
By the way, we made a return visit on Sunday, with Russ Carswell (VDL's Sales Director), and once he saw they had Track & Field, the arcade addiction of his earlier years, it was 'Game Over.' Tim and I could have left him there and come back hours later without being missed.
I'm back from this year's NAB show in Las Vegas, where it seems the year (if not the decade) of the DSLR continues. Once again, the video production part of the show was filled with cameras (Canon), accessories (Red Rock Micro and Zacuto), and a whole host of established companies anxious to show their track-mounted dollies, jibs, lenses, portable lighting, monitors, tripods and heads, etc. all supporting the EOS 5D and its kin.
We'll get to equipment in a bit… but first, a word on other diversions. I flew out a couple of days early to meet my son, Tim (a lawyer in San Francisco) for a weekend devoted to food and amusements that are not part of what most people go to Vegas for. Tim is a big fan of Yelp.com when it comes to finding great restaurants, and his research did not disappoint. Since he arrived a few hours before me, Tim had already found (and had lunch at) a Japanese noodle restaurant, Monta, that is an absolute knockout. It has fewer than 30 seats, a short menu revolving around ramen that is the equal of any place in New York or L.A., and prices that are extremely reasonable. It's located, as so many great places are in Las Vegas, in one of dozens of drab little strip malls that it would be just as easy to drive past. Another reason to have a portable GPS with you.
Back to NAB, there are more and more companies each year who are showing and selling LED lighting for studio and location use. But this year, I was very happy to see Dedolight's new entry into the field, which Dedo himself has named Felloni.
Initially, production will be of the 1×1 size (12"x12") in a very wide range of output levels and color temperatures, as well as multiple beam angles. There are daylight, tungsten, and bicolor units (variable from daylight to tungsten) — all dimmable, with the ability to be powered by battery as well as line voltage. Great specs on output and power consumption, and some very clever built-in docking of popular battery modules.
We'll have all the key information on the site shortly, along with PDFs you can download. And if you're wondering about price, it will be very pleasant surprise. Of course, Dedolight's current tungsten and HMI lighting range also continues to expand. All the new products are about making sure that film, video, and still shooters have all the lighting tools they need whatever the assignment.
Finally, there is an infrared version of LEDZilla, the very successful on-board LED light introduced a couple of years ago. This one is called iREDZILLA. Primary applications will be for infrared (night) photography and surveillance. Specs indicate it can be used at a range of up to 130' (based on tests with Sony's Nightshot camcorder). Considering the popularity of recent online feeds of nesting eagles and other nature videos, I predict strong demand from nature and scientific shooters.
I’m a big fan of NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and think that the whole NBC News operation does a great job, particularly with international reporting, and not only during times of great crisis. But I was wide awake at 4:30 this morning, very upset (seething really) over a 31-second piece that aired last evening.
After devoting (as they should) most of the broadcast to the events in Japan, Brian came back from a break to report on the four New York Times journalists missing in Libya. Please watch this 31-second clip:
Just how long would it have taken to name Tyler Hicks and Lynsey Addario? There was an on-screen graphic with photos and last names of the four during the report.Even if you’ve never seen their phenomenal work in crisis and war zones, a quick Google search would make it abundantly clear how talented they are and the honors they have received for their photographs.
So at about 5:30 AM, I went to the Nightly web site and posted a comment (first time I’ve done that), letting them know that this was, in its own way, a very discriminatory piece of journalism. I’d very much like to hear what you think.
DIS-patch (n.): An official report from a correspondent (usually sent in haste)
Like just about everyone else, I've been riveted by the current events in Cairo. But my interest goes a bit deeper, because for a number of years in the 1970s, I spent months each year based in Cairo, shooting stories throughout Egypt and all over the Middle East. Cairo itself has always been a chaotic city, requiring tremendous inventiveness just to exist there.
At the time that Cairo was my base, there was no easy telephone service out of the country, and fax and FedEx barely existed; only telex — which, depending on your age, you may not have known ever existed. Sending a message back to New York meant a trip to the government press center, and a bribe to the late night operator (nothing new there, since virtually every single transaction with anyone in a position of authority required "baksheesh"). And in many ways, Egypt hasn't changed all that much. Poverty, overcrowding, unemployment, and corruption are still the rule, but mass communication and social media have put a new spin on this year's events.
Looking through a file of old telex messages produced this one that is a reminder of previous unrest. And after the story had been covered, getting pictures back to the U.S. meant going to the airport and finding a passenger or crew member travelling to New York who would carry a bag of unprocessed film to JFK Airport, there to be met on arrival by a courier on arrival. Interestingly enough, I never lost a roll of film to one of these helpful strangers.
When the current unrest began, some media reports referred back to the last widespread uprisings in Egypt, in 1977, over increases in the government-controlled price of bread. I was there for those, and though there was some tear gas in the air, a lot of rocks thrown, and a small number of people with guns drawn, it was nothing compared to we've seen in the past several weeks. Nor did the demonstrations back then bring down the country's president and government.
So here's to Twitter and Facebook, and a lot of very brave people (including journalists), with the hope that six months or a year from now, we'll see a lot of real democratic progress in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. The part of me that forgets his bad knees and shoulders would have liked to have been in the middle of Tahrir Square again; the sensible part will insist I wait a while and return as a tourist.
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