Kofi Annan Portraits

Last week I had the pleasure of working with Kofi Annan. It was an honor to meet such an amazing man. I even managed to get a photo with him!

Reuters Geneva

I have just recently completed a 6 week stint with Reuters TV, Geneva. I was filling in for one of their staffers that was working the Vancouver Olympic Games.

I had a great time working with Anne, the Geneva producer. We covered everything from the Swiss-Libya Hostage crisis to the Geneva Autoshow.

I will still be doing some work for Reuters from time to time, as I have since I arrived in Geneva. But I will miss being a part of the day to day news operation.

NOTE: More blog posts to come! I have been so busy I have been neglecting to update.

CNN.com 360 degree Video of Haiti Earthquake

I have never seen anything like this before. CNN.com has a 360 degree view of Port-au-Prince from the perspective of a truck driving around the devastated capital. It's similar to Google Maps, only it's video.


You can see people waving at the camera-truck as it drives by.

It's a terrific use of technology and it really lets you feel like you are there.

I don't get a chance to watch CNN often (and when I do, it's CNN Europe) but this is not the first time I have been impressed with their use of new technology to tell a story.

LINK: http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2010/01/world/haiti.360/index.html?hpt=C1

Canon Customer Support Experience...

The other day I got a troubling "Error 20" message on my 5D Mark II out of no-where. Nothing happened to cause this, no trauma, no new memory cards/lenses etc. See my previous post for my conversation with my camera....

So... update.

It's working fine now (of course) but I am worried about this happening again on a job, instead of just taking test shots for a photography workshop I was hosting last weekend. It was a little embarrassing giving lessons to a group without a camera. I need a second body, but I have been holding out for the 1D mark IV.

After calling 2 different numbers for Canon, the third gets me to the right person. My favorite quote regarding the problem:

Canon Guy #3: "Well Mr. Morgan, error 20 could be a few different things. It could be a bad memory card, it could be a mirror problem, a dirty connection between the lens sensors and the camera and it might be the card reader in the camera".

Jesse: "Why not give each problem their own error message, perhaps error 20, 21, 22, 23 etc? That way you know for sure what the problem is."

Canon Guy #3: "Well, ughhh, I... ughhh, that would be a good idea, yeah."

-------------------

The error message has not come back, even thought I am doing test shots using the same lens, card and shooting conditions as before. There is nothing worse than an intermittent problem....

Is it insane to ponder a switch to Nikon at this point? In the handouts to my class, one of the points I make is once you decide to go with a manufacturer, you are then forever married to the system, and that you lose everything in the divorce. I am considering filing papers...

Not Happy... ERROR 20!!!

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

Well, this is quite simple really... I will just turn off the power, then turn it on, and I will even re-install the battery, this should fix ol'error 20, no prob-lemo.

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

OK, so maybe I didn't turn it off and on properly, I don't know how, it's pretty straight forward really. Or maybe I didn't take that ol'battery out enough. Try this one more time...

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

Errrrrrrr........

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

COME ON!

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

...................

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

WHY??!?! I have done nothing but treat you with care and respect Canon 5D Mark II. Why do you do this to me!???!

ERROR 20, "Shooting is not possible. Turn power switch off and on again or re-install the battery"

I'm going to bed.

This guys gets all the free ice cream he wants...

CEO of Nestle Paul Bulcke for the Wall Street Journal.

Africa!

For the last week I have been in Ethiopia working on a video for the United Nations World Food Program. It was a fantastic experience. Here are some production photos.



My sweet ride!


(Thanks to Judith for the picture of me!)

Busy, busy, busy...

So I haven't blogged much about work lately, that's been because I haven't really had the time (a good thing). In the last few months I have worked for Reuters covering the Iran/E.U. talks in Geneva, gone to Italy for Lonely Planet, shot stills of the CEO of Nestle for the Wall Street Journal and I just got back from Africa after finishing the production end of a video for the United Nations World Food Program.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks!

Here is a photo of the central character of the story I am working on for the WFP. She is an amazing woman which you will see in the video once it's finished.

I have a conference to shoot tomorrow so I have to get to sleep. It's good to be busy!

From above

Struck

Seen on Servette from my window

Trumpet under the Bridge

99999

Portraits from Toronto

Had a great time shooting in Toronto. Here are my favorites from the week:

NYC Traffic Cop

One Way

Portrait - In the Park

I am starting to offer photography lessons (In English!). I'm still "in Beta" right now, so the lessons are one on one. Here is a shot of one of my first students:

70-200mm f4.0 - Some Thoughts

Over a month ago I sold my old 70-200mm f2.8 IS lens and picked up a used f4.0 non IS for a good price back in Canada.

It was hard to give up my 2.8, at the same time, I was glad to have my bag a little bit lighter.

So, some initial thoughts on my new telephoto:

1. The Weight. Wow, is this thing easier to carry around! The weight (my main and really only complaint other than price about the 2.8 IS) is a big difference. I can barely feel the thing in my bag anymore. It's also much easier to shoot with since it's easier on the arms and well, easier to keep steady too. I feel that because of how light it is I don't need IS (Image Stabilization) with this lens at all anyway.

2. The Pictures. Nice crisp images. This shot taken from a bumpy fast-moving boat of a moving target turned out great. (more here)

3. Responsiveness. Maybe it's just because it's easier to hold, but I feel like it's autofocus is better.

4. The Money. So I barely lost any money selling my 2.8 (I bought at a good time, took good care of it and found a buyer that was looking for a pristine quality product). So I had more than enough to buy a used f4.0 and now I also have enough left over I can buy another new toy! I am thinking either the 45mm tilt-shift or the 135mm f2.0.

So, bottom line - I think I made a good decision. I do miss having those extra stops. But the 5D Mark 2 has fantastic ISO levels so even this shot at dusk turned out pretty good at very high ISO levels.

Old Town Portrait Shoot

Another Rainy Day on Servette

Wake Boarding / Kite Boarding

I spent the day out on Lake Leman today shooting some wake boarding and wake kiting. The weather kept shifting from sunny to doom and gloom. It made for some interesting backgrounds though.