Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1

September 9, 2010
Just got a new Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1. These are shots from my first weekend with it. This is a great little camera. The GF1 is a micro four thirds camera with a sensor that's about a fourth the size of a 35mm negative (18mm x 13.5mm vs 36mm x 24mm), but the idea of M4/3 cameras is to give us something closer to a point & shoot with all of the benefits of a larger format camera; interchangeable lenses, full control over aperture and shutter speed, etc. The M4/3 sensor is about 9 times the size of a typical P&S.

I still love my Nikon D300, but for a smaller, lighter camera that I can grab in any situation this little guy is very nice.

Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk 2010

July 24, 2010
So, once again this year I participated in the worldwide photowalk. This year was better than last year. The leader was a bit more engaged and interested in all of us having a good experience. We went to Mt. Rainier, which is always a good spot to take pictures. The distance away from town made it an all day event rather than the normal two hours of most of the other walks around the globe. There were 1112 different walks and over 33,000 people signed walk around in groups and take pictures all on the same day! The idea is pretty interesting. The picture above is the one I entered in the contest that is associated with the walk. It did not get chosen to represent our group, but there's always next year.

Last year's post Scott Kelby's Worldwide Photowalk.

Rio de Janeiro

May 23-June 1, 2010
Another business trip that allowed me to venture out and see a place I had not been to before. I started off in Campinas and Sao Paulo arriving on a Monday morning and heading straight to work. After the 18 hours of flying and layovers to get there that wasn't the best way to start the day, but I would have had to leave Seattle on Saturday afternoon to get to Brazil on Sunday so I decided to give it a shot.

There weren't too many picture opportunities in either Campinas and Sao Paulo, but I can think of a couple of things I might have captured had I had a smaller camera (see GF1 entry above).

However, that all changed when I got to Rio de Janeiro. What a great place. I was there at the end of summer so it wasn't as crowded as I am sure it gets at the height of summer. My hotel was about a block from Ipanema Beach. I took a city tour on Saturday that went to all the regular spots you should see in Rio and I would highly recommend doing it. The one I did was called All Day in Rio. We went to the Christo Redemptor statue on a high hill overlooking Rio. Unfortunately, when I was there the statue had scaffolding surrounding it. I guess they have to clean it up once in a while. We also went to the top of Sugarloaf, an enormous rock outcropping that provided tremendous views of the city and beaches. The other very interesting stop was the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí or simply Sambadrome. It is a purpose-built parade area in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where samba schools parade competitively each year during Carnival. When you see Carnival on TV you are seeing the Sambadrome.

One of the funnier things that happened was having to have a translator to translate the English the tour guide was speaking. She spoke good enough English, but with a very heavy accent. Harry, a Swiss guy I met on the tour, had been in Brazil for six months and had gotten used to the Portuguese accent and apparently saw the look of confusion on my face so he translated for me most of the day. It was hilarious.

There was a lagoon that has a 7.5km walking/bike path around it very near the hotel so I was able to get out and get a bit of exercise (not always easy on these trips). I was about halfway around on Sunday morning and was getting thirsty so I stopped and got a coconut. I had not drunk coconut juice straight out of the coconut before. It was pretty tasty.

The food was great and the weather was incredible.

New Zealand & Australia

April 16-30, 2010
I just got back from a business trip to New Zealand and Australia. Two weeks, 4 cities, a 3 day weekend and 22,588 miles in the air.

The first week was the quick part of the trip with a departure on Friday evening from Seattle and an arrival in Auckland on Sunday afternoon around 3:00... I missed Saturday altogether. Since I was pretty tired when I arrived I didn't do allot and with only two days there and two days in Melbourne (stop two on the trip) I didn't see a lot in either city. I did have a couple of good days at work in Auckland and had a great meal where I ate Ostrich for the first time.

Melbourne wasn't terribly interesting this trip since I was there on a Wednesday and Thursday. The only place I have seen kangaroos in the wild was in Melbourne on a previous trip, but we did not have time this trip to drive out to the spot where they hang out.

Since I had not been to Perth, on the west coast of Australia, on previous trips "down under" I was looking forward to this stop the most. I was not disappointed. Perth is an Oil and Gas town with almost everyone in town and practically every visitor having some connection to the industry. Our office there does a lot of business with several of the big oil and gas companies. So, I did not imagine such a beautiful city. The Swan River runs through it and has parks and running trails as well as some pretty nice homes along both sides. The sunrise above was taken from my hotel room window looking out across South Cove to the river beyond the bridge.

Friday was a work day, but on Saturday I took a 30 minute ferry ride to Rottnest Island. Rottnest was named for a marsupial called a Quokka which resembles a kangaroo and rat combination. They have a pouch, a rat like tail and stand about 20 inches tall. In 1696 Willem de Vlamingh mistook them for rats and named the island "Rottenest", Dutch for "rat nest". The island is 11KM long and the only transportation is bicycles so I "hired" a bike and off I went in search of cool scenery and quokkas. It is believed about 10,000 quokkas inhabit Rottnest Island. I saw 6.

As you'll see in the pictures there are some very nice beaches around the island. The water is crystal clear. I saw a 4' sand shark from one overlook, but it was moving away from me and I couldn't get a recognizable picture of it.

On Sunday I flew to Sydney. When I planned this trip I was unaware that Monday the 26th was going to be a public holiday called Anzac Day. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand, and is commemorated by both countries on 25 April every year to honor members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) who fought at Gallipoli in Turkey during World War I. In fact, nobody at our offices in Australia knew it was going to be a holiday either since in the past they did not receive a day off if Anzac Day fell on the weekend. So on Monday a friend from work took me on a "bushwalk" from Spit Bridge to Manly. 12.5 KM of trail with spectacular views of Sydney Harbor. Then a 30 minute ferry ride back into Sydney. I spent 5 days in Sydney and had a very nice time. I also got a couple of nice pictures of the Opera House from a different angle than previous trips.

If you click on the sunrise picture you'll be taken to my Flickr site and can look at the rest of the pictures from this trip.