I was interviewed for IT Conversations’ Technometria by hosts Phil Windley and Scott Lemon about our experiences in Cairo during the early days of what now appears to be a revolution throughout the Middle East. Download or stream the audio.
General
Tahrir Square Video
Here’s some of the video I shot of Tahrir Square in Cairo on the first night of the Egyptian demonstrations.
It was shot using a Nikon D7000 with an 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 lens at ISO 3200 from my 25th floor balcony of the Semiramis InterContinental Hotel, which is about a block away. If you watch the High Definition version you can see a lot more detail even through the digital noise.
Thanks to The Conversations Network’s Paul Figgiani for editing and titles.
Lenses for Egypt
I agonized over equipment for weeks before heading to the Middle East: Zoom or primes? High-end big/fast glass or a kit lens? Tripod? Strobe? Here’s what I ended up taking on the trip:
- Nikon D7000 (ie, cropped sensor)
- 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 kit zoom
- 12-24 f/4 wide-angle zoom
- 35mm f/1.8 prime
- Slik Sprint Mini tripod w/ball head
Exodus from Egypt
On January 19th I tweeted “Getting ready for a trip to the Middle East. Decided to register with the State Department. You just never know.” Six days later I stepped out of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo to find a scene reminiscent of Berkeley in the 1960s: a stream of demonstrators running past the museum towards Tahrir Square.
Out of Egypt
My wife and I just returned prematurely from a trip to Egypt. We arrived in Cairo on Monday, January 24, the day before the protests began. We were in the Semiramis Intercontinental Hotel just off of of Tahrir Square with a 25th-floor view of the action. On Tuesday, February 1, we finally evacuated on a charter flight to Amman, Jordan. Two days later we were able to get a flight to JFK and finally to SFO on Friday, February 4. So much to blog about. Once I get some sleep, I’ll post my thoughts and experiences here. Stay tuned!
Insure Your Stuff — It’s a Bargain
For over a year, I’ve been thinking about insuring some of my expensive photography and computer equipment. I’m getting ready for a three-week trip to the Middle East on Sunday, and since I’m taking some of that pricey camera gear, I finally decided to check this off my to-do list. Insuring this stuff turns out to be fairly simple and surprisingly inexpensive.
The hard part was the inventory. I created a spreadsheet with all the descriptions, serial numbers and purchase prices. Although it wasn’t necessarily for some items, I tracked down all the invoices. (Most of it was purchased from Amazon.com, who allows you to re-print the invoices for anything you have ever bought from them.) I put it all into a PDF and sent it to my State Farm Insurance agent, where their underwriter picked through it, item-by-item.
Bottom line: This is a terrific deal. For a cost of only $1.25/year per $100 of value, they will insure against any loss or damage with a zero deductible. I’ve got almost everything covered: not just cameras and lenses, but expensive filters, accessories and even my backpack. I can update the inventory at any time. I’ll eventually add other items like my wife’s jewelry, artwork, etc. I haven’t insured my computer gear yet, but my agent says that will cost even less. The underwriting is detailed to the extent that they won’t insure iPads, for example. The losses and risks are just too high. But they had no problem with any of the photo stuff.
The only other restriction is that this is for amateur photographers only. A pro will have to pay a higher rate. (Probably a completely different policy.) I haven’t seen the details, but I think this is an add-on to my homeowner’s insurance.
So if you’ve been putting this off, particularly if you’re planning a trip to a far-away place, call your insurance agent now and check it out.
Syl Arena’s “Speedliter’s Handbook” is a Must-Have
Last week I blogged about the Speedliter’s Checklist that accompanies Syl Arena’s new book, Speedliter’s Handbook: Learning to Craft Light with Canon Speedlites. Today the book arrived, and I’m even more impressed. No, I haven’t read the whole thing yet. In fact, I’ve only flipped through most of the pages, looking at the photos and diagrams, and read a few short chapters. But I can already tell you this is one of the most valuable books on photography on my shelf. Don’t think for a moment this is only for Canon shooters. I use Nikon gear including Nikon strobes. Very little of this book is specific to Canon Speedlites, and even those sections can easily be mapped into the Nikon equivalent. And don’t think this is only for large or small strobe users. Even if you only shoot in available light, there’s terrific material here.
I’ve written two books myself, so I have some idea of what it takes. Syl’s book is a monumental effort. It is packed (!) with photos and diagrams that get his points across. And they’re not those huge page-wasting images. This thing is dense! I’ve already discovered sections on equipment, accessories and techniques that made me say, “I wish I’d known that before now!” You will too.
Trying to Get a Handle on WikiLeaks
I’ve been taking my time with the whole WikiLeaks thing, trying to understand what it really means to our country, culture and society. For anyone who was politically active during the Vietnam era, the obvious comparison is to the Pentagon Papers. Your feelings about that incident are probably solidified: You think it was either an act of treason or an act of patriotism. At first I though the WikiLeaks disclosures were essentially the same, but now I’m not so sure, and it’s going to be yet some time before I’ll be confident in my own opinion of the matter.
In the case of the Pentagon Papers, we were dealing with outright lies being told to the people of the U.S. by our military and civilian leaders. Daniel Ellsberg exposed those lies (and catalyzed the end of the Vietnam war) by publishing some secret documents. The publication of 250,000 diplomatic cables by WikiLeaks doesn’t prima facie serve the same purpose.
For now, here are some interesting writings on the subject (thanks to David for compiling):
- Truth is not enough (David Weinberger)
- Berkman Buzz (WikiLeaks links)
- Jay Rosen
MVFF: A Somewhat Gentle Man (A-)
What is it about Scandinavian cinema? Even in comedy, they manage to show us only the “gritty underbelly” of their countries. In the case of A Somewhat Gentle Man from Norway, the setup comes in the first few moments. Ulrick, played by the marvelous and ubiquitous Stellan Skarsgård, walks out of prison after serving 12 years for murder, only to find a world that’s at least as bleak as the one he’s leaving behind. This is the story of Ulrick’s reintroduction to society: getting a job, making contact with his family, considering revenge for those responsible for his incarceration and making up for twelve years without female contact.
That’s the stage for this utterly hilarious but absolutely deadpan movie. Maybe it was the exhaustion after 18 films over the past 11 days, but we laughed louder and harder than at any other time during the 33rd Mill Valley Film Festival. The entire cast of deeply real characters is terrific.
In searching for a trailer to include below, I decided to embed the one without subtitles. Somehow I think it captures the spirit of this great film even better. Distributed by Strand Releasing, if this movie plays near you, go see it. You’ll have a lot of fun.
MVFF: Tiny Furniture (A-)
You’re going to hear a lot about filmmaker Lena Dunham in the next few years. Her Tiny Furniture is a great film, and truly extraordinary when you consider it’s a first feature for which she is writer, director and lead actress. On one hand Tiny Furniture is a very personal autobiographical film. Dunham’s sister and mother play her character’s sister and mother in the movie and it was shot in their own house for only $25,000 ($45,000 total after post-production). But this film isn’t handicapped as a low-budget picture. It’s as good in every respect as any high-budget drama/comedy.
Dunham’s character, Aura, returns home fresh out of college not quite knowing what to do with herself. Her boyfriend of two years decided to head to Colorado. She has plans to share an apartment with a female college friend, but for now she’s going to live with her artist-at-home mother and teenage sister. Men? Jobs? Friends? Family? It’s all up for grabs, and we watch Aura test the limits in all categories in her first few weeks back home.
The script is brilliant. It’s on a par with Michael Arndt’s Little Miss Sunshine. The dialog is as taught and realistic as Diablo Cody’s Juno. During Q&A I asked Dunham if she ever considered casting someone else in the lead role, but as she explained, since the mother was played by her mother and the sister by her sister, that probably wouldn’t work. Ultimately Dunham is going to have to make a choice. I don’t think she’ll be able to write/direct forever. Her directorial skills are clearly strong enough that she’s likely to go in that direction. It’s too bad she can’t just clone herself, because her writing skills are every bit as good. Her acting performance was also terrific in this film, but you can only go so far playing roles that are so autobiographical.
Keep your eye open for this one. It’s worth going out of your way to see. BTW, the film is much more energetic than the rather lethargic trailer embedded below. Tiny Furniture was picked up by IFC First Take and will have theatrical openings in New York in mid-November and L.A. in early December. Lena Dunham is already at work on new projects including one for HBO Films.
Tiny Furniture Trailer from Lena Dunham on Vimeo.
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