Speak Softly And Carry A Big Camera Bag

I'm leaving tonight for Australia on the Adobe Lightroom/Photoshop Adventure 2008: Tasmania! My good friend Mikkel Aaland, author of O'Reilly's Lightroom Adventure is leading another photo expedition; this time it's to Tasmania with a bunch of the world's top photographers for the next edition of his book and he invited me to come. I couldn't resist even though I'm no photo pro. (They're billing me as a "special media guest.") I do apologize to my friends on the mainland - the itinerary is limited to Tassie: A week in Hobart and a week in the wild. Our Qantas flight does stopover for seven hours in Sydney, so thanks to Aussie Mike, we'll do an impromptu meetup at the Starbucks at Terminal 3, Sydney Airport, 11a-1p on Tuesday. (It's a 12-hour flight and we cross the International Date Line so even though I'm leaving Sunday night I won't arrive in Sydney until Tuesday morning!) If there are any fans in Hobart who want to set up a meet up on Thursday or Friday let me know. I'll be doing my radio show from Sea FM/Heart 107.3 Hobart Sunday and Monday morning 4-7a local time (Tasmania is UTC +11 but it'll be live in the States). The following week I won't have access to a studio so we'll air two shows I've recorded ahead of time with all new material. I'm bringing enough gear to equip a multimedia army.

• Canon 5D digital SLR with 24-105mm, 50mm f1.2, 70-200 f4, 180mm Macro, and Lensbaby 3G lenses
• Pentax K20D DSLR (my backup camera, on loan from Pentax) with 50mm Macro and16-200 Zoom lenses
• The new Canon HV30 Vixia Hi-Def Video Camera with wide angle converter and Canon shotgun mic
• HHB FlashMic flash audio recorder
• Marantz PMD-660 flash audio recorder with Shure SM-58 mic (as backup)
• Apple MacBook with 250GB internal and a 160GB external backup drive, equipped with Final Cut Express 4, Amadeus Pro, Adobe Photoshop CS3, and Lightroom

All this fits into my Lowepro CompuTrekker Plus AW backpack (it's huge) but I'm also bringing a Lowepro Slingshot 200 AW to carry into the field. And a change of underwear. Thank goodness I'm not going by ship. I think I'd sink it. There's a reason for all this gear. I'll be blogging the whole time I'm Down Under, including photos (on Smugmug and Flickr), audio (here), and video (on Smugmug and Viddler) so watch this space. Many of the other photographers will be blogging as well on the O'Reilly blog site.

Comments

[Iain]

You might also note, Leo, that daylight savings ends on Saturday night here, at which time we return to +10..

[Matthew Kopelke]

Hey Leo - just another Australian fan chiming in to wish you all the very best for your trip. If all goes well, you'll be touching down tomorrow morning our time, so hope tomorrow's Sydney meet up goes well.

Sadly, I live in Hervey Bay in Queensland, so while I could easily jump on a quick Virgin plane from the Bay to Sydney to meet you, sadly my work wouldn't allow it. But hopefully you can make another trip to mainland Australia sometime soon, and we can all have a big TWiT Army conference or something!

Take care, and hope it all goes well. I look forward to seeing your blogging over the next 2 weeks. :)

[Tony]

Glad you're finally making it to Tassie - I'm sure you'll love this part of the world. How about that meet-up on Thursday or Friday? There's at least one fan here!

[Brayden Leckie]

Hi Leo, such a bummer you're not doing a road trip around our great country. Next time you come back you must do the rounds because you have many many friends here in Oz. Have a great trip and keep us posted on when you'll be returning....I personally need your here, I'm surrounded by wine and I need your assistance in keeping the wine industry flourishing :)

[Gordon]

Hey Leo,

Love that your coming Tassie!!!!! I'd also love to come to a meet-up in Hobart if your willing to give us your time.

[sumodirjo]

Leo if you have finished the advanture why don't you go to Indonesia for a while (if your schedule permit).

[Brian]

Just listening to the latest MBW and I heard you were coming to Australia. Can't make it to the airport for the meetup alas, however I'm sure you'll love Tassie. I finally visited last year and there's so much to do for a little island. For me one of the highlights was Cradle Mountain - fantastic scenery. I have some photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/briangrinter/sets/72157601866958642/" rel="nofollow">Flikr (I'm sure they'll pale in comparison to yours).

[Steve]

Tasmania's great. That and Western Australia are my wife and my favorite areas of Australia. Hopefully you will get to the Cradle Mountains. We loved it. There's a great animal rescue place on the northern route into the park called the Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary. It's a great opportunity to get up close and personal with the Tasmania Devil, a very misunderstood creature. Have a great time. Looking forward to the pictures.

[morgan]

Yeh id be keen to meet in Hobart depending what time on thurs/fri
let me know

[Alex]

You can get to the Starbucks in Terminal 1 without a flight ticket.

You can approach security and they will screen you and let you through. I've done it dozens of times. I'm tempted to take the day off work to drop in and say G'day to Leo.

Also, I'm sure I'm not the only Aussie that is not happy with the "How To" Channel.

[Matthew Rossi]

Hi Leo. I am the host of The Full Circle Podcast and The Penguin Central Podcast who is based in Melbourne, Australia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne). I have always used the Ecamm Skype Call Recorder for Mac to record my podcasts. Maybe you could try that to record your shows when away from your home studio?

And next time, please please please come down to Melbourne. That would be fantastic. If I could arrange it, i would but sadly i can't :(

[Stephen R]

Welcome down under, I hope you realise that we really are the lucky country. Tasmania is such a beautiful place, I spent the last year of my military career there and lived in the centre of Hobart at Anglesea Barracks. Make sure you get some great photos of the apple isle.

[Jason]

It is a shame you're not spending longer in Australia nor making your way anywhere else in the country.

Next time you're heading this way try to get to the west coast and the Perth TWiTs will show you around our great city, and I'm sure there rural TWiTs past the metro limits who'd enjoy the meet-ups.

Given the isolation in Western Australia I find we're keen technology adopters, to make sure we're not being left behind the rest of the world.

Cheers, hope to meet the next time you're 'down under'.

[John Arnold]

Oh maaan. When you said on TWiT you were going on a photo safari but you couldn't talk about the details I was *sure* it was going to be another Lightroom adventure. I'm just so incredibly jealous! You better blog, shoot and record a whole ton of stuff so we can enjoy it with you!

And please mention me and my photography podcast to the guys who run it for next year ok? ;-)

[mark]

stopping in sydney on the way back?

[Valerie]

Hi Leo,
I only just listened to TWIT and realised that I've missed your Sydney window at Starbucks! Anyhow, have fun in Tassie,

If you are going to stopover in Sydney on your way back, let us know!
Valerie

[Howard Fore]

I love the Tasmania map image, very old school National Geographic looking, much nicer than the Google Maps look.

[Raena]

Hi Leo,

I figure you've all already heard about shooting the devils and going to Port Arthur and rah rah rah. Here are some cool things to do/shoot in Hobart that *aren't* touristy:

- The suburb of Glebe is full of cool old houses. I have heard that of the few existing examples of that style/period of architecture, the best are some of the hilly bits of San Francisco that you see in all the movies, and Glebe.

- If ooky spooky gravestones are your thing check out the cemetery at Cornelian Bay (and then look at the yummy Cornelian Bay boathouse)

- North Hobart, for yummy awesome good food and tops coffee.

- See some local bands. The Fringe Festival is on now and there's a great show Saturday at the Alley Cat, North Hobart.

Have a great time. :) I miss Hobart a lot and I'm so glad you're loving it.

[Paige]

Hi Leo,

You lucky dog! Tassie is so beautiful. I would be interested in helping to promote sales of the book if some of the proceeds are going to save the Tasmanian devil. My shop specializes in Australian wines, so we have a captive audience of Aussie-philes to promote it to. Please let me know who to contact.

Have a great time!

[Dean]

Leo, sorry to hear about The Lab being cancelled. With all the technology now available for video production, a Lab style show could be produced for the web. People could still call in for advice using Skype. One show a week would be enough to get our fix!

[cooper]

Hay leo that really sucks your not doing the lab any more cant wait to see what s up next..i can help use up some time.grab a fly rod and i will take ya fishin on the BOW RIVER. later leo

[Frank]

Just want to say, Thanks for sharing this trip with us, enjoy all the pictures...

I have a suggestion for your next trip...The Azores Islands...

[Ron]

any chance of posting some video with the new canon. love your show. nice pics

[Dennis C Carey]

thanks for the post