Hey, Reuben here.
Just thought I'd make some of you sick with jealousy - I just scored my dream
job writing for
Lonely Planet next year. Wherever I go, I will be accompanied by my trusty
OM4ti kit and here's
why ..
I'd actually been angling for work as a photog with them, but their Image
Library requires an
initial stock submission of 500 images, with no more than 50 per country. When
I found out
that I was going to be writing for them next year, I immediately inquired as to
the possibility of
submitting digital images from the road via laptop - I had been considering
going digital or
medium format for some time now, due to various frustrations with 35mm.
But for travel stock, it seems, 35mm is IT. LP's image library - and I'm
assuming many others
like it, too - DO NOT accept digital submissions or provide dig files for use.
When purchasing
an image from a contributor they immediately make hundreds of dupes, so that
purchasing/renting clients can scan an actual physical transparency to their
own standards for
publication, thereby eliminating much potential for customer disatisfaction.
Images are
previewable in digi form on their site, but only real, FILM images are
supplied. I would imagine
this is standard practice for many stock libraries, regardless of genre.
After much humming, hawing and wondering if I wanted to lug a medium format kit
around the
world, I kicked myself and realized I've already got the best travel kit
around: 4Ti, Zuiko 24, 50,
85 lenses + macro and tele converters and a handful of filters. Ultrapod, cable
release and
TONS of Provia 100 and/or Kodak E100SW (plus some Scala for fun and some Provia
400 for
emergencies) and I'm gonna spend 2003 wrangling myself a new career ... the 4ti
is so light,
so strong, so reliable (and like an extension of my arm these days) and the
whole damn lot fits
in the bottom of a Tatonka photo trekker with room for an F280, T20, Winder 2.
I keep an XA in
the backpack at all times, and a 35 SP rangefinder handy for mono -Cartier
Bresson fun. Don't
snigger - the lens on that baby is a screamer, and the spot meter is damn
useful on the 30
year old rangey ...
I can't wait. The only hassle now is deciding whether or not to upgrade to a
smaller, lighter
ibook to sort and preview all the images I'll be getting back on Photo CDs
(with the original
trannies express-posted back home of course) - or to stick with the much
bigger, heavier
Wallstreet II G3 Powerbook (which has neither USB nor Firewire) on which I now
compose.
Hmmm.
Any constant travellers (business or pleasure) who lug laptops around? What are
your
thoughts? (Sorry about the OT, but my Mac fervour is surpassed only by my OM
addiction - hey,
my background's publishing and music, could it have gone another way?)
Cheers,
Reuben Acciano
--
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