Juerg Kaufmann’s photostream on Flickr.
25
May
11
Juerg Kaufmann’s photostream
10
May
11
Summerv is on the way
Juerg Kaufmann’s photostream on Flickr.
It’s getting warmer every day, turn on your grill
14
Apr
10
test
14
Apr
10
What a day
After spending the entire last week out on the water for the Laser regatta in Lugano, I was quite sure that this week will be a booring office week. One exception was the shooting of the two boats build by Pius Waeger. “Comandante” and “Miss Geneva” amazing boats. Beautiful lines and unusual functionalities.
The pilot was cool too, without his skills certain images would not have been possible.
Enjoy the images of the shooting by clicking on the 2 images above
Jürg
It was a cold day, waiting on the photo boat for the race committee to start the race, then speeding around like devils at 50 miles/h following the boats after the start (now I know how fast is Hydroptere).
5 Miles in to the race we had to stop and after a short break off again full speed for almost 20 minutes towards the gybing mark. Once there we had to wait a bit. My Iphone was playing Jean Michel Jarre, with the big lenses we saw them on the horizon coming closer and closer, they seemed slow.
Soon we realized that they aren’t. My song wasn’t over and BMWO followed by the umpire boat gybed allready at the mark. Right after comes Alinghi 5: The cup is gone from Switzerland.
Jürg
PS: The photo of Alinghi 5 was taken on the same leg as the BMWO photo, on the way to the finish after the gybe.
18
Feb
10
on tv
It was sure one of my highlights during the 33rd America’s Cup having a professional TV crew following me during 1 day shooting. The TSI is the Televisione Svizzera Italiana the Italian part of Switzerland where I grew up, unfortunately because of all this travelling for sailing I spend too little time at home.
The portrait went on TV the 13th of February during the news, it’s impressive to hear from the TV crew that at least 100’000 person saw it.
Grazie TSI
Jürg
15
Feb
10
Congratulations to BMWO
The race was way out, Alinghi on port and BMWO on Starboard entry, first cross dialup and penalty…..BMWO with the wing sails higher and faster on the beat almost 10 degrees and deeper and faster on the run almost 30 degrees.
Tomorrow is another day, forcast 2 knots. Alinghi keep saying we are fast with light wind…let’s see if we have a race tomorrow and who knows maybe we have a third race too…
Good evening from Valencia
Juerg
05
Feb
10
raison d’etre ?
05
Feb
10
Valencia is getting ready
First day in Valencia, it doesn’t seem that in less than 3 days there will be the 33rd Americas cup. Plenty of activity going on, tv trucks cables, noise etc. The harbor is busy but no AC boat’s. BMWO is in the commercial harbor and Alinghi 5 is under the tent.
On the top of the Varadero building you can find 2 SNG flags and a big sign “Mediacenter” at the entrance. Even here lot’s of preparation activities going on. Nearby the Alinghi base, impressive building, shop is open, music plays.
We are used to those prevent activities, for a typical regatta that what’s normally happen but for the cup it’s a bit a strange feeling.
Another thing: The weather forecast for February 8th announce 5 knots of wind in the morning, will this be the Alinghi day or does the wing from BMWO will impress us all?
I’m looking forward to see what’s happening in the next days.
Jürg
01
Feb
10
Christo Redentor
One morning the customer I was shooting for in Rio told me, you have to go up there and shoot the “Christo Redentor”. After the racing days we had only cloudy days and only 2 of them left before flying home. In a good moment with the clouds disappearing I grabbed a taxi and off we go. 100 Reais up and down and 25 Reais to get in..and guess what happend up on the Corcovado? The clouds where back.
Sometimes you need to invent something, the original picture was very dull no contrast and lot of grey light.
Click on the image to see more pictures of Rio inclusive some of the famous Copacabana.
Juerg
30
Jan
10
Getting Ready for the Cup
Since a while Daniel Forster and me we started to work together on projects, this give us the chance to cover more complex shootings easier such as for example the 33rd Americas cup.
The distances are so big it’s impossible to shoot at the start and then being on time also at the weather mark. So during the 33rd America’s cup we will share the positions on the race course with the goal to give a better coverage to our customers.
The size and speed of the boats is also a bit of a challenge. For those who shoot in their free time try to go on the street and take a picture of a car moving towards you with 50 – 60 km/h maybe even more, you have to be quite fast with framing and the focus to get a sharp picture. Another point are the distances that’s why we will be using the big long lenses. For the cup Nikon Switzerland give me the chance to use their 500mm lens with VRII function. I really curious too see the difference. by the way the lenses it selves is 3.5 Kg plus 1.2 Kg the camera this means holding up almost 5 Kg.
Sometimes I think back at the Olympic Games where we got Chinese agency photographers used to work in the football stadiums with tripods, coming on board with tripods and monopods. Very quickly they realized that this is of no use as the boats are moving too much. Some even got seasick but that’s another story.
Please come and visit our new website www.go4image.com especially for the 33rd Americas cup we made a gallery with Daniels images of the last 10 America’s cup going back more than 30 years to Newport 1977 until the images we will start to publish next week.
Jürg
One of my favorite images of this year…do we need to see the before andafter or is it just better this way?
Today Nikon announced the new Nikon D3s. I was expecting a new semi pro camera something between the D3x and the D700, a high resolution camera with with aprox. 20 megapixel at a affordable price.
Dreamer..the D3s is a 12.1 megapixel camera with great ISO values. The big surprise was, it takes video. Why not, this is the ongoing discussion in the mediacenters at big events. All photographers are talking about the two worlds getting closer to each other. Honestly I’m not so sure.
Recently at an event the organizer hired a film crew who worked on the water and up in the air without gyroscope. I never getseasick no matter how big the waves are but the outcome by watching this movie I almost got seasick, this TV crew was simply useless. Now everyone believes that videos out of the still camera will change the market. I’m really questioning that.
I doo like changes and I take changes as a chance to do business but this time I have my doubts. Today in the yachting photography we are trying out so new angles to get more dynamics in to the images (have a look at this one), when I used the D3x in Singapore for the Volvo Ocean race felt the freedom to crop the image and this was a real new way of working. I didn’t bought the D3x as I believe it’s simply too expensive to go out on the saltwater with such a camera. This explains why I’m waiting for the Nikon semipro with 20 megapixel.
For the home/family use a camera doing also video is great but do we really need that in the PRO world? Are the good still moment similar as the good video moments? I think not. For the daily use on websites and agencies for the press this may be a solution. Two weeks ago Lynn, Daniel and I we just finished the book of the Voiles de Saint-Tropez and we have been very hard on us to choose the images for the book. Many of them are unique moments where the before and after doesn’t really matters. It’s rather a split moment captured who also gives you a bit of interpretation freedom about the before or the after who makes the image better.
Question: What is more sensual a beautiful women completely naked or dressed with a shirt where you can’t see anything but imagination goes wild?. Isn’t a video different from sill image? Browsing in the web about video and the still discussion I found a post from APhotoEditor he believes that top shots with a good headline are more successful as videos. On top it takes much longer to get the video edited and up on the web as a image.
What do you think about this?
Juerg
After 2 weeks shooting the classic yachts on the cote azur…here is my best image, enjoy….
See the book online
PARTNERS IN TRADITON – CLASSIC and MODERN YACHTS in SAINT-TROPEZ
Saint-Tropez, France (September 26, 2009) –Yachting photographers, Juerg Kaufmann and Daniel Forster, and sailing writer, Lynn Fitzpatrick, have teamed up to produce a coffee table book of Les de Saint-Tropez entitled PARTNERS IN TRADITON – CLASSIC and MODERN YACHTS in SAINT-TROPEZ. The book will be packed will stunning images and highlights of the yachts, people and atmosphere of the event.
The regattabook’s development can be followed online at regattabook.com. Each day we will reveal the images that the team will publish.
The 10th anniversary of the event will be exceptional. This year, Les Voiles celebrates the 100th year anniversary of Tuiga and her sistership, Mariska. Many of the world’s most beautiful traditional yachts such as Elenora, Cambria, Shamrock and Moonbeam will ply the same waters as the stylish Wallys. Additionally, all five of Eric Tabarly’s Pen Duick yachts will be assembled in the marina and raced during the day.
The regattabook will capture the essence of the event – the excitement, the venue, the yachts, the organizers, the partners, the characters and personalities that sail these boats. From the quiet of first light to the cacophony of 300 boats leaving port and the Mistral whistling through the rigging, the regattabook will enable you to live vicariously and remember a decade of regattas marking the close of the summer sailing season in the Mediterranean.
22
Sep
09
Ladycat
What to do with a grey day? Add a bit of color
23
Aug
09
Photoshooting with Karin Jaggi
Last week I had the chance to spend 2 days with Karin Jaggi 27 times windsurf world champion in Turkey Alacati on the PWA Tour. I didn’t know what to expect although I had some clear ideas about the images I want to bring home.
How will it be? With so many titles is she still cool? Yes she is cool very cooperative. You would say she could be simply the neighbor.
During the shootings you could really see how professional she became in all this years. Especially whily using the underwater camera. Karin keept gybing around me whiteout getting tired at all, at this was aftre a day racing .
Windsurf itself is so photogenic that I’m wondering why we don’t see more of those images. Maybe I’m getting a bit tiered of shooting sailing and windsurf gave me this feeling of something new to discover with the camera.
Have a look at the images:
Shooting with Karin
Racing images from the PWA Tour
Thank you Karin, it was great.
Juerg
29
Jul
09
2010 Classic Yacht Calendar
Last year I did my first calendar with images from the Olympic games. Many of my readers are enjoying the calendar every day now.
Now it’s time to plan the 2010 calendars. Yes we do two, a racing calendar with Swiss and international regatta images and the classic calendar. The images are chosen and together with the editor Sailing Media we publish it, the focus of the exclusive black and white images is the famous Belle Classe, some of the yachts are Tuiga, Mariquita and a few more.
27
Jul
09
Always look twice
Yesterday on flight back from the Audi Medup in Cagliari I found this picture. It’s a sunset on the Hirzel one of my favorite shooting place. Right after the shooting the picture didn’t made it in to the selection of the day, would have almost deleted it, sometimes you really need to look twice before you see the real beauty.
04
Jun
09
Back to Thun for a few days
It’s quite some time ago since I have been in Thun, it’s a interesting feeling walking around here in this town. Thun is my birth town and in some way it’s a home.
With all the travel we do, did you never asked yourseles where is home?
Good night
Juerg
26
Apr
09
While you where sleeping
It doesn’t need to be the Caribbean or some other well known place. Close to Zurich we have a place called Hirzel, it’s a landscape with many small hills and on each hill you will find a tree.
It’s a tradition that the farmer who owns the small hill plants a tree on top of it his first born son. The result is a stunning landscape. Specially during sunrise or sunset.
A few days ago I did the third shooting in on the Hirzel, as we had a warm and dry wind blowing over the hills we got a clear view and a stunning sunrise.
Note:
A few days ago someone told me image is pimped…I told him, get up early in the morning and you will find it out.
6am on the Hirzel
Sometimes I do complain about the waves and the salt on the camera. A few weeks ago I had the chance catch in images the work of the talented architect Bruno Huber from Lugano. Here the challenges are light and shadows, corners etc. It’s an old Walser house in Klosters, Serneus build around the 1700 century…don’t miss the sauna and the whirlpool…
(click the image to see more)
Juerg
09
Apr
09
sail off into the sunset
Together with Lynn Fitzpatrick we managed to publish the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Book within hours of the prize giving for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series, a coffee table book with a foreword by regatta organizer, Bruno Troublé, will be available for distribution.
With just the right balance of prose from sailing journalist, Lynn Fitzpatrick, and some of my best images. The book is the perfect keepsake for everyone attending this historic match racing event in Auckland, NZ. For those who were not present for five days of practice and 16 days of exciting match racing between world renown skippers, helmsmen, tacticians and crew from 10 teams representing 9 countries, this photo journal allows you to live vicariously.
19
Feb
09
Il mondo della Vela in immagini
Serata foto giovedi 5 Marzo 2009 ore 19.00 Palazzo Congressi Muralto
In collaborazione con la Federazione Ticinese della Vela e banca SYZ&CO organizziamo una serata foto con le più spettacolari immagini di vela internazionale come:
-Maxi Catamarani
-Monaco Classic Week
-Barcelona World Race
-Tour de France a la Voile
-Giochi Olympici di Qingdao
-Voile des St. Tropez
-Volvo Ocean Race Singapore 08/09
-Louis Vuitton Pacific Series Auckland 09
Entrata e libera
p.f.v. registratevi per questioni logistiche:
With support from Nikon Switzerland I have had a chance to test a brand new D3X from Nikon Singapore during Volvo Ocean Race Singapore stopover.
I felt honored to have this opportunity especially when I have learnt from Max Sim (Nikon Singapore) that there where only 2 cameras available for tests and I got one of them…that’s a good start.
Since the last Olympic Games I have been using Nikon D3 almost on a daily basis, so I was very curious to see what I can do with the new D3X. The look and feel are the same as those of D3; so are the buttons. In a nutshell, besides the logo there are no external differences.
The menu is identical, so there is no big need to study the manual. It didn’t take me long to spot out the differences. However, ‘24 mega pixel resolution of D3X generates massive files. Max advised me at the very beginning not to expect the same ISO range as the one in D3. In fact, the range in D3X is only from 100 to 1600. Another difference between the two cameras is speed. The high continuous settings from the D3 give me up to 11 images per second and the D3X gives me only 7 images. Though, such difference makes sense as all the data has to be processed and it does take sometime. With D3X we are getting closer to the typical Hasselblad’s resolution and they don’t do 7 images per second.
If all other features remain at the level as this of D3, in addition to the amount of pixels that D3X gives, then D3X is a great tool.
I think we can achieve a good quality at ISO 1000 just like we can with the same setting of D3 for sport and action photography. Those that work in the studio, with plenty of light, will get even more out of the camera as those that normally work with daylight.
Since forever I’ve been missing the flexibility of 200 – 400mm. When shooting racing yachts, there are moments when you can’t get close enough to the object and then you dream about 100mm or more and greater cropping flexibility. The best solution, in my eyes, would be 200 – 400mm lens with 1.4 converter and the new D3X.
On the way to the media center of the Volvo Ocean Race, I had to make a decision regarding lenses. The question remained: “Should I go with 300 mm F2.8 and 1.4 converter on the D3X or maybe its better using the 70 – 200mm F2.8?” Considering the limited ISO range, I opted for 70 – 200mm. So, the long lens (300mm plus converter) was mounted on D3.
I picked up Nikon D3X in the morning and at 11am on that day I did my first shots during the practice race. Through the day, I have had the impression that the quality of images, taken at high ISO setting up to 800, is good. In fact, it’s a real pleasure to look at the screen that’s the same as the one of D3 and being able to zoom and zoom to check the focus of the shot. Here, I realized for the first time, the difference that higher resolution makes.
What I have felt during the shooting was the matter of speed. Before the boats come around the windward mark, I switch on continuous high. I have kept having the speed of the D3 in mind, but the camera in my hands was D3X with capability of 7 images per second. Slightly more images would not harm as all goes so fast, you just shoot and choose your image later. I was thinking “com’on baby, a bit faster”. On the other hand, considering a greater cropping flexibility, D3X is a much better camera.
When I returned to the media center, it was the moment of truth, but all turned out to be as expected. Though, I have to admit that it was the first day I used the JPEG files. Lightroom 2.2 is not reading RAW file of Nikon D3X and Nikon’s software, Capture NX 2 needed an upgrade right away on its latest version.
The next day I tested the camera at the Singapore Botanic Gardens with all the special orchids. My equipment included Nikon 105mm VR macro lens and SB 800. I encourage you to look at the images so you can notice the amount of details that is just impressive.
During the evening I went for a night skyline shooting, just to see how the camera performs at night. Believe or not, you can zoom so much that you really see what’s behind windows of those skyscrapers. It sure will be a great tool for secret services and detectives.
In the meantime, I got hold of the capture NX update and I could finally work on the raw file and ‘yes, you can watch right into the offices of the buildings’. With Nikon D3X, you can start to do landscape panorama shots and still have a good amount of pixel/data in your image after the crop.
Being a spoiled Nikon D3 user, my expectations for D3X were high and I have to say I am more than happy with this camera despite it’s high price. However, I’m not sure how many agencies will switch on to D3X at this time. Studio photographers working in different segments have a better chance to amortize such an investment and I believe this is the place where the cameras will be sold the most. My question would be ‘invest in camera or lenses?’ I would love to go for the camera, but an old rule says ‘invest in lenses first’, then in the camera.
The rate at which the amount of pixel increases is 20-40% and the size of the file doubles almost every year. Although this is in line with the principles of technological advancement, the question ‘what are we heading towards remains’? An even higher resolution? More colors, therefore more data? Speed or price reduction ? One thing is certain, once I return home I need to double my hard disk storage space in the archive , if I am to use Nikon D3X.
Now I’m jumping on the plane to Auckland, New Zealand to the next shooting, Louis Vuitton Pacific Series regatta. Who knows, it might be that by the end of this event I will start to miss higher resolution so much that I will consider buying D3X.
Jürg Kaufmann
Nikon D3x Digital SLR Review go4image go4image.com yachting photography marine photography aerial photography sailing
In den letzten 3 Jahren verbrachte ich Weihnachten in Singapur. Jedes Jahr gleicht sich dem andern, es ist warm und regnet oft. Die Orchard road die haupt Geschäftsstrasse ist farbenprächtig dekoriert und so viele Leute dass man automatisch nach 2 -3 Stunden das weite sucht im botanischen Garten. Nur eines hat sich kontinuierlich verändert, alles wurde immer teurer. Ich denke da nicht nur an die Taxis und die Hotels, was die Touristen merken sondern auch der Immobilien Mark.
Singapur blickt zurück auf Jahre mit berauschenden Wachstumsraten. Dies führt dazu dass kein Vermieter, sei es für Wohnungen oder Geschäftsräume kaum Verträge über eine Dauer von 2-3 Jahren abschliessen denn kein Vermieter will sich diese Chancen mit einem langen Mietvertrag vergeben.
Die Regierung hat über die Jahre eine perfekte Geldmaschine entwickelt und diese lief auf Hochtouren 24 Stunden 365 Tage im Jahr.
Dieses Jahr empfinde ich die Teuerung als extrem, dazu kommt noch eine Verschlechterung der Geschäftsethik, es wird kassiert wo es nur geht. Die billigen Angebote werden von der Regierung bewusst schikaniert. Denke da an den Malaysischen Flughafen der in 30 Minuten mit dem Auto erreichbar ist. Damit dieser nicht zu beliebt wurde ist es den Taxis von Singapur nicht erlaubt über die Grenze zu fahren und Bussunternehmen bekommen auch keine Bewilligung.
Der Staat schröpft die Einwohner wo er nur kann, es hat schon was von einem gierigen Fürstentum wie wir es aus den Geschichtsbücher kennen. Ich glaube die Versuchung es dem Staat gleich zu machen ist hoch, jedenfalls komme ich mir vor wie eine Kuh die gemolken wird bis sie davon rennt.
Die Restaurants sind extrem teuer geworden, für jedes kleine Ding wird saftig separat verrechnet, sei es nur das Brot, sprechen wir nicht vom Wein wenn die Flasche Mineralwasser mit 19 Dollar auf der Quittung zu finden ist. Da fragt man sich ob der Wirt seit dem letzten Jahr Größenwahn bekam oder ob der arme Kerl einen neuen Mietvertrag unterzeichnen musste.
Sogar in den berühmten und beliebten „Foodcourts“ eine Art öffentliche Kantine wo an den Seiten Nudelsuppen, Reis, Dumpling’s etc. verkauft werden, gibt es die Servietten nur noch gegen Bezahlung. Stellen sie sich vor, sie haben gerade eine paar Portionen von diesen Köstlichkeiten bestellt und bezahlt und fragen nach einer Serviette, da diese beim besten Willen nicht zu finden sind.Die Antwort kommt prompt im typischen Singlish: „Cannot, no have, you buy!“ und zeigt mit der Hand zum Getränke Stand.
Wenn die „Foodcourt’s“ sogar aus den Servietten Geld machen wollen, gehe ich nicht davon aus, dass die lokalen Banken nur konservative Anlagen im Angebot haben, das Glücksspiel ist zwar verboten gehört hier aber zum Volkssport.
Wie lange kann das so weiter gehen, irgend wann muss doch ein Ende kommen? Irgend wann wird aus dem wirtschaftlichen Traum ein Alptraum. Sind wir nun kurz davor? Ich glaube es hat was, denn was wir dieses Jahr in Singapur erlebt haben ist weit weg entfernt von gut und böse.
Nun sitze ich Im Flieger unterwegs nach Laos um ein paar Tage unberührtes Asien zu erleben. Hoffe, dort die Welt noch einigermaßen in Ordnung anzutreffen und lese gerade die Singapur Wochenend-Ausgabe der Financial Times. Auf der Titelseite wird nun auch die Krise in Singapur angemeldet, wurde auch langsam Zeit!
Die Wirtschaft soll im 2009 um 2% einbrechen, Im letzten Quartal sanken die private Immobilienpreise um 5.7 % das schlechteste Quartal seit man sich erinnern kann. Die Analysten glauben zu wissen dass der gesamte Immobilienmarkt um 10 – 20 Prozent zurück gehen wird, was passiert mit den Immobilienpreisen, kommen die auch runter?
Das kommt mir irgendwie sympathisch vor wenn ich an die horrenden Mietzinsen und die kurzen Fristen bei den Mietverträge denke.
Der weltweite Ölkonsum sinkt weiter, das hören wir auch Zuhause, nichts neues, lese weiter: Der lokale Riese SembCorp ein Big-Player im Ölborinselnbau, bekam im letzten Quartal keinen neuen Auftrag. Es kommt noch schlimmer, die Analysten gehen davon aus, dass es Singapur unter den Asiatischen Wirtschaftszentren am stärksten treffen wird. Irgendwie wundert mich das nicht.
Ich frage mich nun ob das wirklich schlechte News sind? Für die billigen Arbeitskräfte aus Indien und dem benachbartem Malaysia sicher. Ein paar grosse und viele kleine Investoren wird es sicher hart treffen wenn es nicht schon passiert ist.
Frage mich aber auch ob es wirklich eine Krise braucht damit wir wieder zur Vernunft kommen vielleicht ist die Wirtschaftskrise auch eine Chance. komisch irgendwie freue ich mich auf die gratis Servietten in Laos.
Grüsse aus Asien
Jürg Kaufmann
14
Dec
08
World Yacht Racing Forum
A milestone in the world yacht racing industry
The first time in the history of sailing many of the key stakeholders of our industry found the way to Monaco to jointly discuss the future our industry. It never appeared to me clear that we are all part of big family and that we are all working in the same industry independent of the countries organizations or teams we belong.
Interesting session with great speakers talking about sponsorship, event management, and key elements driving the world yacht racing industry.
The sailing community is used to meet and come together for events but this is the first time all focused on exchanging ideas and discussion approaches how to improve our industry, networking without having a race to be sailed or organized.
The session about the future of the America’s cup didn’t brought any new hope for a fast resolution of the conflict between Alinghi and BMW Oracle. Paul Cayard Cleary outlined the more fundamental problem of the current situation. The Americas cup moved up to a new level in the last few editions and current management concept as described in the deed of gift does not allow a fast resolution of conflicts. Will and independent body improve this situation and how can this be put in place.
The economy slow down is not only a headline on the news but also having an impact on the founding of the events, teams etc. are this challenging times an opportunity to strengthen the world yacht racing industry. What is the value of an event investment, how can this be properly measured to what is the return of the investment and how is the industry positioned within other industries. It became clear that if well managed the sailing industry is capable of delivering a much higher return as mostly any other sport.
This was certainly the first step in to the right direction and I hope more of this will follow. There is one point who remain addressed only partially, out of the discussions became clear that in the eye of many large event organizers such as OC Events ISAF with his democratic approach is not able to fulfill their requirements.
What is going to happen, will the forum be an important platform for ISAF to better understand the needs of many professionals in this sailing marked or will it be even possible to contribute and cooperate on a different level.
Future will tell
Juerg
17
Nov
08
Openoffice or MS Office
Since a I made the upgrade on the MS Office 2007 I was struggling a lot with this new version. Why we had to do this step? Lot’s of functions are different, mostly hidden somewhere and new functions im not using anyway.
Bottom line, my PC is slower, spend some money for something I didn’t used and on top of it I didn’t had all the languages in the spell checker. The last one is quite important for me as I do have to write in different languages.
I wasn’t a big fan of open source software so fare, don’t really know, probably it was a prejudice from the old times I used to work with the Microsoft guys.
Two days ago I finally installed the new version of Open Office. Firsts thing, you download it for free, great, press install and it works right away. The functions and buttons are again different as the office 2007 but honestly dead easy to learn.
Do you need an aditional spell checker, no need for the credit card or walk in a shop and buy a CD, just click on new function to install and download it again free from the Internet.
So fare I used the writer module and for what I need it’s great. Opening an and working on existing Power point presentation in the presentation module works also. Had to adjust a bit the spacing between the lines but te rest was great. Forget to mention, Excel, works too.
In these days with the actual situation on the market I’m really asking myself how long customers will take to the move to open office.
My current version of Office 2007 is still installed on my notebook, but the temptation is very strong to just delete it and by the way saving a lot of space on my hard disk, another cost reduction measure.
Do you also want a free open office? Just go on www.openoffice.org
11
Nov
08
On the waterline
Last weekend I have been in Valencia for the Desafio Annual Regatta. For some a really important event such as Alinghi and Desafio, some others like BMWOracle guess not so interested in it. For me it was a great opportunity to try out a new camera system and this with nothing less as the Americas cup boats.
Since 1 year was thinking how to realize this kind of image, specially as I like to work from the water surface and with the wide angle lenses. The perspective is different and amazing, with underwater housing I can finally combine this two in to one image without damaging the camera and even go a bit under the surface.
It’s really motivating to explore and learning this technology. As sailing photographer you always take images from sailing boats, and in the mean time we did almost every possible angle and corner of the boats and this is finally something new and give us new options.
04
Nov
08
my first swiss sailing calendar
Click on the image to find out more of the calendar
When I came back from the Olympic games I found that it was quite a hard and intensive job to take images at the games but even harder is to choose 13 of the 9000 for a calendar. I don’t know how many times I did a new selection for this calendar but with some help from friends and also another sailing photographer Amory Ross now It’s done and I’m very happy with the outcome.
On the cover we find Nathalie Brugger, she fully deserves to be on the cover of the 2009 calendar.
For every calendar we sell we will pay 5 CHF to the youth development of Swiss Sailing, I like the idea to involve the youth in this project and with the calendars who are sold by the clubs even more money can be collected for our youth.
Like every project there are a few person who are key. Have to admit without the persistence of Daniel Wälti the chief redactor of Swiss Boat Yachting I would not have even started to seriously consider such a project. The calendar shows 13 images from all our Swiss sailors at the Olympic games, this is only possible thanks to Swiss Olympic who helped us with the authorization of IOC.
Enjoy it
Jürg
Photo from Bruno Huber / Pilot Tiziano Ponti
This has always been a bit a dream to me as it represents a milestone in my learning curve. Not that I have hundreds of hours of experience but in the last two weeks I was up there twice. There are many big guys who know better than me , however I’m happy to share my expirience.
Besides being a great feeling sitting in a chopper with to open door, legs out, headset on and having a excellent position to take pictures I also feel a certain pressure and responsibility of what we are doing.
Time counts so there is no much time to touch setting on the camera and every image should be the one. Sure with the digital cameras you can soot as much as you like but the composition must be ok, the deep of field must fit your image and it have to be sharp.
Over the past I made a little checklist to make sure I don’t forget anything:
1: Expected images and flight plan agreed with the pilot and other photographers
2: Warm cloth, harness on, hooked in, position tested, headset on and working
3: One camera around the neck(70 -200mm lens), the other connected to the chopper (normally the body with the big lens 300mm as this is less used)
4: Settings: ISO value ~250, AF mode, VR on active, lens aperture 6, shutter single, focus priority (it’s a good starting point as the shutter speed should be high)
5: Ready to take off
6: Mental walk trough images composition (normally before shooting you have a few minutes and I use this time concentrate about my expected images)
A few months ago I bought my own climbing harness for top mast shootings and this turned out to be a good deal. I feel comfortable and I can get ready quickly. Sometimes jumping in the chopper and fixing everything has to be efficient.
The shooting itself is always a great experience, I think it’s one of the best photo shooting experience possible, you just go to the position where you need by talking with the pilot.
Vibration is one of the subject who I haven’t really solved, in every shooting I get great images with a outstanding composition but not sharp, specially when I start to work too much with the deep of field by going up with the aperture however I think that the VR functions on my Nikon lens is a big help.
If someone have some more good tipp’s let me know.
Take care and enjoy your airtime
Jürg
26
Aug
08
Xie Xie China
Xie Xie in mandarino significa grazie e si pronuncia “cie cie”, hanno dato tutto quello che potevano per trasformare queste Olimpiadi in una bella festa. Non per parlarne della cerimonia di chiusura che no ho vissuto in prima persona.
Sono sul viaggio di ritorno e mi sono fermato 2 giorni a Shanghai per vedere un po di China al di fuori dal villaggio Olimpico e di Qingdao. Sfortunatamente piove fortemente e cosi sono in albergo e scrivo un po.
Gli ultimi giorni a Qingdao erano particolarmente intensi, incominciando con la medal race di Flavio ed Enrico sulla Star: buona partenza, terzi alla boa di bolina, “ultimi” alla boa di poppa ed un recupero da eroi nella prossima bolina fino al secondo posto e poi finire sul scondo posto. La medaglia non ci e stata, gli punti persi nelle prime prove pesavano troppo pero bella prestazione. Bravi!!!
Il giorno della partenza da Qingdao era anche un po particolare. Dopo che gli Chinesi del centro stampa hanno scoperto che il mio volo era solo alle 23.00 non cera mezzo per evitare la cerminonia di chiusura di Qingdao, non so come mai ma dovevo scattare delle foto a tutti costi. Non mi dispiaceva perché gli unici fotografi rimasti era Carlo Borlenghi ed io cosi l’ho fatto assieme a Carlo.
Fino qui tutto bene, hanno organizzato tutta una serie di trasporti per fare in modo che la partenza dallo stadio, caricare le borse in albergo e poi portarmi in aeroporto doveva funzionare alla perfezione. Non fu cosi, l’ultimo trasporto era in ritardo e cosi ho perso la prima volta l’aereo. Per la manager (donna) del centro stampa era un disastro si e scusata in tutti modi possibili e quasi non osava più a guardarmi dalla vergogna. Pero quello che ne e uscito dopo era geniale.
Mi sono trovato in un vero KTV Chinese (Karaoke TV) con un gruppo di volontari del centro stampa e nel fra tempo mi hanno organizzato il nuovo volo, trasporto ed albergo per la notte.
Consequnza ho giocato una specie di indianata Chinese di birra con dei dadi tutta la notte con Chinesi nel KTV dove le ragezza del centro stampa continuavano a cantare in Chinese ed io bere Qingdao birra perche chairmente gli Chinesi erano piu bravi. Ogni tre po caraciavano la canzone “I am sailing I am sailing” per fare cantare pure me.
Per fortuna la nostra costituzione sopporta meglio l’ alcool dei Chinesi cosi ce l’ho fatta a sopravvivere più o meno bene la notte.
Il giorno dopo cioè un paio di ore dopo chiaramente mi hanno accompagnato in aereoporto. Stranamente mi hanno portato dritto all check in della first class, il resto si spiega da solo, peccato che il volo e durato poco meno di 2 ore.
Domani torno a casa per un fine settimana tranquillo perché il lunedì dopo si va a St. Moritz per il match race.
Saluti da Shangahi
Jürg
PS: Qui a Shanghai ho trovato un bar che si chiama “Locarno” ed ha il caffe “Chiocco d’oro” e gli spagetti carbonara sono mica male.
© Juerg Kaufmann - www.go4image.com
Questo nome tra un pò no lo posso piu sentire, tutti ne parlano e tutto gira attorno questo personaggio, sembra che sia il nuovo Paul Elvström. Per il momento però è Torben e Paul che hanno 5 medaglie e non Ben.
Oggi era in programma la medalrace degli Yngling e prima quella dei Finn, visto che devo scattare un po di foto di Sofia che è attualment terza e corre per difendere il suo titolo Olympico ero gia sull acqua prima, e mi sono vissutto tutta questa euforia di Ben Ainslie…..non ne posso più.
Per farla breve anche oggi il vento e mancato e la regta dei Finn e stata annullata dopo una lotteria che anche noi conosciamo bene sui nostri dai laghi, conseqenza: Sofia non ha corso e mi tocca rifare la stessa riscendere in campo domani.
Magari mi sto stancando un po da questi olympiadi. Mi alzo presto ogni mattina e scatto tutti giorni attorno alle 800 – 1000 foto e poi alla fine vado a letto quasi senza cena e sento in ogni frase almeno tre Ben Ainslie…..
Ieri invice era quasi una bella giornata, ero sul campo con le star, tutti non si aspettavano altro viso che corre il nostro equipaggio svizzero, speranza per una medaglia.
La meteo annunciava 10 – 12 nodi da nord con il vento che gira da 10 – 20 gradi a sinistra. Dopo un po di ritardi per il vento finalmente la partenza, bel vento, belle foto cielo blu i nostri in mezzo ai piu bravi. Un gruppo vira e va a destra, anche i nostri….Ahi, mi dico forse sinistra e meglio. Ma non erano soli cera anche Hemish Pettper, Robert Seidt etc. Invece Il Polacco e il tedesco Pickel che la sera prima era ancora in discoteca stanno a sinistra.
Alla boa e tutto chiaro la sinistra pagava talmente che devono poggiare sulla boa ed i nostri lontano dai primi nel secondo gruppo……altro sogno svizzero svanito? Non troppo presto.. infatti recuperano di brutto, la barca è semplicemente più veloce delle altre…bellissimo, alla fine sono dentro le medal race per il momento.
Adesso sono qui in un ristorante Chinese con degli amici Danesi e ci rendiamo conto che metà delle Olimpiadi è già trascorsa. Per fortuna, perchè ho già 30 GB di foto sul disco e il sito bello pieno di belle foto…almneo penso, e poi tra un pò non so più cosa inventarmi.
Dalla perte del “Rules Advisor” invece non ho molto da fare per il momento, però può cambiare molto velocemente se Marazzi entra nei primi.
L’altro giorno ho incontrato Ewan, ervamo tutti e due in discussione come rules advisor per i Chinesi, ovviamente ho prefertito prendere i nostri. Lui ha avuto 3 proteste e le ha perse tutte fino ad ora, non era molto felice.
Penso che posso essere contento con il mio OCS perso, tanto é poco probabile che alle Olimpiadi i giudici consierano una richiesta di riparatzione per un OCS uccidendo la credibilità del race officer.
Da domini in avati vorrei incominciare a diventare un pò creativo con le immagini, tanto la parte formale é fatta..vediamo cosa ne uscirà… sperando che non ci siano troppe proteste!
Prima di salutare volevo ancora scrivere dei “Kinder Bueno”, ne abbiamo ricevuti talmete tanti che non riusciamo a mangirli tutti da soli, così tutte le mattine porto un cartone o due al centro stampa. Consequenza: tutti giornalisti e fotografi mangiano Kinder Bueno e uno dei manager del centro stampa é un pò nervoso perché chiaramente la Ferrero non é un sponsor o fornitore ufficiale….
Ora pago il conto in questo ristorante chinese e poi vado a dormire
Jürg
14
Aug
08
A bit of Chinese life
© Juerg Kaufmann - www.go4image.com
Since I’m here I kind of missing a bit the real Aisa, for sure Qingdao is quite different that the places I visited recently such as Laos and Burma but even in Singapore I got the real Asia feeling, but not here. So yesterday I got up at 5.30 and went in the old town of Qingdao to see what’s happening there and I found lot of people practicing tai chi on the sea front. It’s really impressive to see young and a bit older doing this sport together in the parks early morning and guess what the truly feeling of Asia is back.
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- ©Juerg Kaufmann – www.go4image.com
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- ©Juerg Kaufmann – www.go4image.com
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- © Juerg Kaufmann – www.go4image.com
After that still very early in the morning the taxi driver brought me up on a hill to observer the city waking up but when I was up there at 7.00 I realized that the hole city is already up (Qingdao supposed to have 8 or 9 million of habitants). As Swiss used to our size of city’s Qingdao looks endless, the city grown around all those hills and in some way it’ looks a bit like Monaco. The skyscrapers are much bigger, the sand darker and here we have at least 6 beaches almost full at 7.00 am in the morning. Maybe this explains why the why the Chinese like Qingdao.
There is another thing I want to write about: all over we can read the Olympic slogan “ One world one dream” on busses, buildings, etc. but there is one thing you don’t get if you have access to this blog, the word “on world” does not really apply for the internet, here we have quite a lot of censorship.
Most of the blog’s are blocked and not accessible from here even so the one you are just reading.
Yesterday I went to the manager of the media center here in Qingdao asking; what’s going on with the blog’s why can’t we access them?
A few minutes later I got at least 3 computer specialist trying to convince me that there must be a wrong setting on my computer and after few nice try comes the “hooooooooooo” typical expression when they don’t know what to say followed by “Sorry Sir cannot” Bottom line of the story It remains blocked but some of the IT guys showed me a way to avoid the Chinese censorship.
That’s probably China today, old traditions like the tai chi, government with strong rules hot very happy with our blog culture, and young smart people who break the rules and finding their way anyway.
Right now we are sitting in the media center, the races are postponed do to lack of wind so it’s a good time to make a selection of my favorite images of the games. Here is the link:
http://www.go4image.com/en/thumbs.php?FolioID=115&ID_menu=smenu21&stat=1
Enjoy
Jürg
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- © Juerg Kaufmann – www.go4image.com
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- © Juerg Kaufmann – www.go4image.com
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- © Juerg Kaufmann – www.go4image.com
Sono le 5.30 di mattina. Il sole doverebbe apparire fra non molto, ma con tutto questo grigio dubito che si veda.
Ogni tanto mi domando con tutti i bei posti al mondo siamo finiti qua a fare le Olimpiadi dove non si capisce se il grigio é smog oppure semplice nebbia.
Va beh, il nostro programma non cambia. Colazione, poi vado al centro stampa a scaricare un pò di foto. Alle 9 mi trovo con Tom Ruegge il capo del team Svizzero: dobbiamo discutere come gestire le eventuali proteste, infatti oltre al mio ruolo di fotografo ufficiale, ho il compito di “rules advisor” per il nostro team.
Alle 11.30 arriva il pulmino che ci porta ai gommoni per uscire sull’acqua. Avete letto bene: il pulmino é una specie di “golf car”, perchè qui oltre a fare un caldo incredibile c’è un’ umidità latissima. Nessuno vuole camminaree pensate a me che devo portarmi in collo 15 Kg di apparecchiature foto sulle spalle.
Il discorso sul gommone é assai divertente. Ieri avevamo un pilota che non parlava una parola di inglese. Inoltre con noi è salito un traduttore che non capisce niente di vela. Risultato: una scenetta da “mission impossible” in cui non ho potuto avvicinarmi al campo per scattare delle belle foto.
I cinesi vanno matti per i formulari. Figuratevi che persino per ricevere il panino a pranzo devo riempire un formulario. Ora potete immaginarvi cosa ho scritto sul “Feedback Form” del driver del gommone.
Oggi vado sul campo dei surf, per a vedere cosa fa il Richi e poi devo scattare anche un po di foto dei greci che sono diventati miei clienti grazie alla Sofia ed ad Andreas (Sofia e la ex. campionessa Olympica di 470)
Chissa che driver e traduttore abbiamo oggi?
Ieri ero sul campo degli Yngling. Sofia come sempre riesce a fare dei recuperi incredibili. Già a Palma nella medal race si era trovata main svantaggio e poi è riuscita ad arrivare tra i primi. Stessa cosa ieri, “go Sofia”
Ora vado a fare colazione. Ammetto sono un pò nervoso
11
Aug
08
Sorprese cinesi: l’arrivo
Certo che il viaggio per Qingdao è iniziato con un po’ di pregiudizi. Forse anche per quel che ho letto e sentito in questi giorni sui media sulla situazione in Cina e sull’effetto che le Olimpiadi potrebbero avere sul governo.
Al mio arrivo all’aeroporto di Sanghai, tra l’altro in Business upgrade da mi fermano subito in dogana per la mia borsa foto. E qui mi sono detto: ci siamo. ”Sir you need this form, Sir we havo our rules….Sir you have to waith”. Beh non e una sopresa o mi stavo sbagliando.
L’impiegata della dogana non solo mi ha portato una bevanda fresca e biscotti ma mi ha anche accompagnato allo Starbucks (fuori dalla dogana) in attesa che arrivasse il fax necessario per l’importazione temporanea del mio materiale fotografico. Ma non era finita qui. Al check-in successivo, con la mia accreditation card al collo, mi sono trovato circondato da cinesi che volevano una foto, firme etc….”sorry I’m not famous” gli ho detta ma non ne volevano sapere.
All’arrivo a Qingdao, come ogni tanto succede, la mia valigia non era sul nastro, ma c’erano almeno 5 persone che si sono date da fare per rintracciare il mio bagaglio promettendomi che se non l’avessero trovato mi sarebbe stato recapitato il giorno dopo al mio. Insomma qui si stanno dando da fare in tutti i modi per risolvere i problemi e rendere piacevole il nostro soggiorno.
06
Aug
08
New banner
During the games some of the world most popular sailing webpages/blogs will feature my images, for that we developped a new banner.
The picture from the Swiss RSX surfer Richard Stauffacher has been taken this spring in Palma at the Princess Sofia where he won the medal race.
03
Aug
08
Palma is over next step is China
The days here in Palma where special, Coppa el Rey is a amazing event with a high level competitors. Every time I’m sailing in this event I’m learning a lot this year was about Farr 40 sailing specially the mainsail trim on this boat.
On our race course we also had the two VOR 70 TELEFONICA racing and getting ready for the Volovo Ocean Race, amazin the speed of the canting keel yachts.
Another phenomena here in Palma is how late it get every evening, it almost seems a mission impossible to go for dinner before 9 and forget being out of the restaurant before 12. So it’s hard to be back home before 2 am but guess what I’m not half as tiered if I would do this at home.
Some say that the island Ibiza and Palma have a special energy…must be.
Yesterday when we left the harbor I finally managed to take a picture I was thinking of for quite some time. I like here lines if you look at it from the bow..
01
Aug
08
Count down for the games
Since a week I’m here in Palma sailing the coppa del rey on a Farr 40 . That all good but I’m the mainsail trimmer on this boat and this mainsail is so huge and hard to trim that my arms really start to hurt.
The entire year I went almost once per week to the gym and training my upper body in order to be fit to hold up the big lenses and the heavy cameras and now I’m using all this for the mainsail trim.
Soon the coppa will be over and then I’m heading home for a few days before flying to Qingdao and beside the arms I think I was a great to do few days racing before getting again behind the camera despite the results here in Palma are probably the worst I ever remember.
The level in the IRC class is extremely high and most of the boats are crossing the finishing line within 2 minutes and with our rating it’s kind of a mission impossible to be up on the scoring but it’s real fun to be on such a boat in these conditions.
By the way here is a link with some images of our Farr 40
Now I have to speep a bit before we go and trimm aagin mansail for an entire day.
Juerg
20
Apr
08
The brain defines the limit
Can you imagine to do 51 km in the alps with a altitude difference of 4000m in temperatures ranging from 5 to – 15 degrees?
Maybe yes if you are well trained but the guys I could follow with my camera they do it in less than 6 ½ hours! No I’m not joking this is serious.
We tock the helicopter from Arolla up to the Col de Bertol at 300metres. The walk up to the 3650meter high summit of the Tete Blanche was everything else as a walk in the park, at least for me with my almost 30 kg backpack with cameras etc.
With the limited view it was hard to estimate the distance to the summit and the last few hundred meters where never ending, the air got thinner, my legs weaker and the my backpack with the cameras heavier.
After a while I started to count the steps, every 60 steps a I started again and again just to motivate myself to get up there.
It was a wonderful moment when my guide Norbert Zurwerra shouted: “There is the summit”.
Up on the summit we found a big military tent and you can’t imagine the surprised faces of this mountaineers when a stranger drops in with the excuse we are here to do a few pictures.
After a coffee we could relax for a few hours but at 1.30 in the morning with the wind blowing at 80 km/m at minus – 12 degrees we got out of the tent.
Until this moment I had no idea what I’m going to see in a few minutes, all happend very fast, get the camera of the bag, set up the flash do a few shots to verify the settings and here they are, running as we can down in the valley but here we are at 3650 meters.
What was even more amazing that the Tete Blanche is not the end of the trail but they still had two more summits before it goes down to Verbier.
The definition of being fit became a complete new dimension. Until this moment I was sure to be fit and comfortable with my health.
How much do they train to get this level of fitness, at least 40’000 meters in altitude difference. With 50 weekends /year you know what they are doing in their freetime.
Now I’m back home sitting in front of my notebook writing this post with some small frost damages on the right cheek and ear. This is the end of the post as I want to go jogging a bit. I’m not planning to do the Patrouille des Glaciers in 2 years as participant. As photographer would be great and hopefully again with Norbert Zurwerra as guide, and next time I want to carry the heavy photo equipment up to the Tete Blanche without counting.
Jürg
PS: I almost forgot to say, It’s important to reach the summit but It’s even more important to come down safe. As the weather was still too bad for the helicopter, we did the way back to Arolla on our ski. Going up is hard but coming down isn’t easy too.
15
Apr
08
Photoshooting with Pucci
Pucci I is a dream a class of its own, a mix between teak, class, engine and power.
As usual it was early in the morning and on top of it end of February so a bit cold when we left the harbor for the shooting of the so called “gentlemen racer”.
The magazine Swiss Boat Yachting published 5 pages plus the cover of this boat in the April edition.
But look at the images it was worth to get up early in the cold.
You want to see more about Pucci click here.
Years ago in the IT business we did some expositions, every times it was an incredible amount of tasks and things to organize. Next week I will display 30 pictures at the Lugano Nautica and you know what noting changed, sometimes i’m asking mysleve this is simply the challenge when you do an exposition.
Today I got the images, the team from Fujifilm Switzerland did a great job, i like the quality of the photos.
Now the truck is on the way to Lugano with the photo’s and I’m really looking forward to unpack them in Lugano beginning of next week.
In the mean time we will upload all the images displayed in Lugano on the Lumobox Gallery, portal for professional photographers from Fujifilm Switzerland.
During the days in Lugano, the beautiful Pamela will help me a bit
Now let’s hope that the promotion effort done in the last weeks bring us a few good visitors.
See the images displayed in Lugano
See you in Lugano
Jürg
19
Feb
08
On the way to the olympic games
Sometimes there are days you get up and you think it will be another boring day in the office doing the paperwork as usual if I’m not out sailing and taking pictures.
Today seemed to be such a day until I got the phone call from Swiss Olympic asking me if I still can go to China taking pictures at the games. I couldn’t believe my ears, what kind of a question…sure I want to go it’s something I’m dreaming and hoping since long time.
Now it’s time for a short break to enjoy this moment and then I guess we have to start to fill in a few forms…details about all this later.
Take care and enjoy the day
Jürg
Since a few days the go4image.com website is down….the good old hard disk of the service provider was probably a bit too old.
In a normal case the backup should come in to the game but it looks to me that it didn’t. End of week the webpage should be back online, let’s hope.
In the mean time, someone may read carefully the good old MURPHY’S LAWS
“If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it.”
Just in case here is the complet murphy’s laws
THE PRIME AXIOM: In any field of scientific endeavor, anything that can go wrong, will. 2. If the possibility exists of several things going wrong, the one that will go wrong is the one that will do the most damage. 3. Everything will go wrong at one time. 3.1 That time is always when you least expect it. 4. If nothing can go wrong, something will. 5. Nothing is as easy as it looks. 6. Everything takes longer than you think. 7. Left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse. 8. Nature always sides with the hidden flaw. 9. Given the most inappropriate time for something to go wrong, that's when it will occur. 10. Mother Nature is a bitch. 10.1 The universe is not indifferent to intelligence, it is actively hostile to it. 11. If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something. 12. If in any problem you find yourself doing an immense amount of work,the answer can be obtained by simple inspection. 13. Never make anything simple and efficient when a way can be found to make it complex and wonderful. 14. If it doesn't fit, use a bigger hammer. 15. In an instrument or device characterized by a number of plus-or-minus errors, the total error will be the sum of all the errors adding in the same direction. 16. In any given calculation, the fault will never be placed if more than one person is involved. 16.1 In any given discovery, the credit will never be properly placed if more than one person is involved. 17. All warranty and guarantee clauses become invalid upon payment of the final invoice. 18. Murphy's Law: "If there are two or more ways to do something, and one of those ways can result in a catastrophe, then someone will do it."
01
Feb
08
What happend in January
I think I was a bit lazy in the last month at least I did not post any news, the phone call from a good friend this morning saying…where in the world are you and what are you doing? Is probably the sign to do a bit more.
In January I was travelling a photo-shooting I Laos, I love that country. All this national protected areas are great to go and discover the still today plenty of untouched Asiaand no crime at all.
The last trekking was unforgettable, in central Laos close to the Vietnam border we spend a few days trekking from one village to the other, all of them from an ethnic minority called Kamoung.
The image below give you an impression about how they life.
Just after I came back home I jumped again in the plane to Manaco, sailing rules training for the Swiss Sailing Youth Team.
A bit of hearing training and on the water we played the good old team race game to apply the right of way rules.
I like to do the team race exercise during trainings, first off all you can practice rules in a funny way as the goal is not anymore to win but not to have the fourth position in the race if you do 2 teams of 2 boats.
Now I’m back in Switzerland and I working on 3 main projects, setting up the Laser Europa Cup 2008 for Lugano, then the Lugano Nautica where some of my sailing photos will be exposed and the with great pleasure we can finally start the preparation of a great sailing event which will be hold again in Lugano with some big 40 ft multihull. But details about that in a few days.
10
Dec
07
go4image.com at the Photo 07
Tomorrow it’s travel time, but sometimes the last days before flying away for a longer period are a bit busy. Even this time isn’t different but tomorrow I sit in the plan with a great smile. Thanks to Peter from Blofeld Entertainment in Zurich some of my images are on display during the Photo 07 here in Zurich from the 27 -30 December 07. This guys do a great job by giving this chance to more or less known photographers.
So for those who stay in town during Christmas days why not visiting the Photo 07 ?
07
Dec
07
The first cover page
There is a first time for everything, today with a great pleasure I bought the sailing magazine SwissBoat Yachting and guess what? It’s my first cover page with Temenos a few hours after the start of the Barceloan world race taken out of the helicopter.
Thank’s to Daniel, the pilot in Barcelona and the Temenos team.
See more Temenos images from the Barcelona world race
Read more about Temenos boat.
Photo from Bruno Huber / Pilot Tiziano Ponti
This has always been a bit a dream to me as it represents a milestone in my learning curve. Not that I have hundreds of hours of experience but in the last two weeks I was up there twice. There are many big guys who know better than me , however I’m happy to share my expirience.
Besides being a great feeling sitting in a chopper with to open door, legs out, headset on and having a excellent position to take pictures I also feel a certain pressure and responsibility of what we are doing.
Time counts so there is no much time to touch setting on the camera and every image should be the one. Sure with the digital cameras you can soot as much as you like but the composition must be ok, the deep of field must fit your image and it have to be sharp.
Over the past I made a little checklist to make sure I don’t forget anything:
1: Expected images and flight plan agreed with the pilot and other photographers
2: Warm cloth, harness on, hooked in, position tested, headset on and working
3: One camera around the neck(70 -200mm lens), the other connected to the chopper (normally the body with the big lens 300mm as this is less used)
4: Settings: ISO value ~250, AF mode, VR on active, lens aperture 6, shutter single, focus priority (it’s a good starting point as the shutter speed should be high)
5: Ready to take off
6: Mental walk trough images composition (normally before shooting you have a few minutes and I use this time concentrate about my expected images)
A few months ago I bought my own climbing harness for top mast shootings and this turned out to be a good deal. I feel comfortable and I can get ready quickly. Sometimes jumping in the chopper and fixing everything has to be efficient.
The shooting itself is always a great experience, I think it’s one of the best photo shooting experience possible, you just go to the position where you need by talking with the pilot.
Vibration is one of the subject who I haven’t really solved, in every shooting I get great images with a outstanding composition but not sharp, specially when I start to work too much with the deep of field by going up with the aperture however I think that the VR functions on my Nikon lens is a big help.
If someone have some more good tipp’s let me know.
Take care and enjoy your airtime
Jürg
