Let’s start with The Technology:
I have well outgrown the utility of my iBook for my needs as a traveling photographer – currently I am using an external hard drive, but I don’t have the available RAM or memory for the software I want or need in order to progress. I like my iBook, but it wasn’t built for what I am using it for. The Lenovo ThinkPad W700ds solves these issues and bridges the gaps I am presently encountering 1000 fold.
In fall of 2008, Lenovo released the most powerful desktop replacement ever tested - the 17-inch W700. Within a few weeks, technology reviewers got their hand on an even more powerful version with a mobile quad-core processor. The ThinkPad W700ds offer a groundbreaking new feature, a second display that extends from the lid to give mobile users a true multi-monitor experience.
Based on reviews - the ThinkPad provides an opportunity to put the entire desktop experience—full keyboard, Wacom tablet, dual screens, and all—in a bag and take it with you. Photographers and filmmakers, who are used to lugging heavy equipment with them on-location, won’t even notice the system’s size. Workers who find themselves setting up shop for weeks at a time in different cities will be able to take the W700ds with them, much more easily than the combination of a desktop, keyboard, mouse, tablet, and two monitors.
I would also plan on using a very, very small portion of the budget to upgrade to an SLR camera (finally) and some lenses.
Next – The Dream:
My brother recently told me that their was a great historical figure who also wanted to witness a total eclipse – Einstein. Apparently, he needed the experience to prove his theory of special relativity. It took three viewings to finally prove his theory. Hearing this made my heart smile, because science, like the arts, has always been very special to me. Ever since I was a child, I have wanted to view an eclipse – and this particular eclipse is going to be quite spectacular and quite unique, it will be the longest total solar eclipse that will occur in the twenty-first century, and will not be surpassed in duration until June 13, 2132. Totality will last for up to 6 minutes and 39 seconds.
Photographing regions within the path of the umbra presents the opportunity to share the “connectiveness” of our world, how we are all one. Photographs have the ability to translate history and personal experience in a way that encourages others to assume ownership of the world or inspire dreams. I still cling to the notion that we each have a fundamental stake in the world around us. It is my hope that this dream assignment only deepens this feeling and allows me to share this unique opportunity with the world, inspiring more dreams and instigating kindness, hope and change. We are all on a journey and I hope the photographs convey how connected humanity truly is in it’s experience.
The opportunity to photograph and experience this is a dream assignment, as a perpetual child at heart, as a photographer, as a person who believes that dreams can come true. I am fortunate that I can tap into the minds of the researchers and scientists within the Smithsonian Institution – and I absolutely plan on doing that should I have the once in a lifetime opportunity to be chosen for this assignment.
Beyond the eclipse and the regions within the umbra, I will have the extraordinary ability and opportunity to share these experiences with the world. I will be able to write on a blog and I will be able to test out nifty equipment and review it. Aspects of the assignment, which I find unique, challenging, and ultimately rewarding.
Finally – Photography
Quite simply, I can’t imagine a world without photographs. They allow you to touch life, be engaged or provoke the viewer in some way. Whenever I return from I trip, I feel so lucky to be able to sift through the shadow and light of the adventure. Every shoot goes well beyond the digestion of hundreds of images that were taken. As the dust settles and memories finally finish replaying like a film real in my mind's sky, the worth of each journey takes on more personal significance than the images produced. One of the satisfying endpoints for my travels is sharing the experience, so an unedited slideshow is put together for friends – and an accompanying album on smugmug.
There really is no such thing as a vacation, or stepping out with friends for me – everything feels like a destination. So although I’m certainly not a photographer by profession, it is a love and a passion. So I strongly feel that destination photography is important for photographers at virtually every level.
Why would anyone go halfway around the world to take pictures?
1) To see the world but also to experience the world - touch life, this great big place we live in
2) You will gain perspective and new appreciation for what others have, and don't have (conversely, you my gain perspective on tour own life)
3) Coordinating an international trip will challenge you, and challenges are good.
4) You will begin to see how connected we all actually are.
5) You will have the capability to share the world with others.
Mark Alberhasky once wrote the following regarding the difference between an amateur and a professional.
Ever wonder what it is that separates the professional photographer from the talented amateur? Does the amateur make images of professional quality? Absolutely. But statistically, the professional is more likely to succeed with a given subject. Why?Better equipment? Yes and no. Plenty of amateurs have equipment equal to (or better than) a given professional.
Better access? Yes and no. Anyone with a camera and the right attitude can get to where amazing shots can be made. It's their hands-on experience. Professionals do many of the same things the amateur does, but they do them over and over and over, UNTIL they see what works and what doesn't. They do so much of everything that it becomes instinct, not a choice or a decision they have to make consciously each time.
I've studied photography and I’ve been shooting for over 15 years, but I would never call myself a professional – however, I would certainly embrace the opportunity to continuously sharpen my instincts on the world stage.
