Recently in Travel Category

P1000843 - JPEG, originally uploaded by karlo.

Just finished a great Memorial Day weekend with Marissa and friends out in Vegas. This shot is from the top of Calico Tanks, the terminus of a moderate hike and rock scramble in Red Rock Canyon. Behind us is the Strip (off to the upper left.) Considering it was almost June, the late morning, three hour hike was surprisingly comfortable.

Red Rock is only 30 minutes from the Strip and perfect for anyone visiting Vegas and looking for a morning away from the gawking crowds and faux landmarks.

“The GF1 is a near perfect travel camera.”

Craig Mod’s fantastic travelogue / photo-essay / camera review. Earlier this year I wrote why I suspect I’m not going to travel with an SLR any more; getting this camera would just seal the deal.

Over the Falls, originally uploaded by karlo.

From my trip to Oregon a few weeks ago - this one was left forgotten in the camera in the middle of all the chaos of moving to LA.

IMG_1017, originally uploaded by karlo.

At the summit of the Sleeping Beauty Trail, with Mt. Adams in the distance.

_PIC2492, originally uploaded by karlo.

A few minutes before the sun rising over the archipelagos of the Rio Negro, north of Manaus.

Turns out a few shots were left in my camera from the trip, don't know how I missed them.

Yeah, there's solid ground on this Amazon archipelago. It's just 50 feet underwater right now. Mind that first step with your $5000 worth of camera gear.

Almost all of my photography is urban or indoors - these are a few tips gleaned from my recent vacation down to the Rio Negro in Brazil, in the Amazon rain forest. You may find them useful if you're a semi-serious photographer planning a trip to a tropical, non-beach destination.

On my recent trip to Brazil to visit the rain forest and Rio de Janiero, I carried a lot of photo gear by some standards, and very little by others. It'll sound like a lot when I list it out; in comparison to previous extended overseas trips, it was actually less than usual.

Just a quick thought this morning - if you combine the new Verizon MiFi portable access point with an Eye-Fi Explore memory card with its built-in wifi, you can have your digital camera upload photos from the field (anywhere there is 3G signal) as you're shooting, without any computer on-site. Could make for a very interesting setup, especially if traveling within the US. The added bonus, of course, is that having the MeFi means that you, and everyone you're traveling with, has access to the Internet (and, via Skype, voice calls) from their laptop in the car, hotel or wherever you are.

I've carried the Timbuk2 Commute laptop bag for at least 5 or 6 years, since it was given to me by my buddy Stef. About the only complaint I could have is that the ballistic nylon exterior just never gets that "broken-in" look, because it's so tough. Maybe if I was a bike messenger and exposing to sun and rain every day, but for an desk-job guy like me, the bag still looks pretty much like it did when it came out of the box.

I guess I'm not the only one who occasionally wishes they could "break in" these bags, because Timbuk2 has come out with a limited edition run of "lived-in" messenger bags, that have been treated for a more worn look. I'm usually a huge skeptic of "distressed" products when it comes to things like blue jeans that would wear-in naturally anyway, but these bags are so tough that I can understand the need.

These are their medium-sized bags, which are plenty big for non-messengers. With summer coming, these seem like a great all-purpose "beach/weekend/picnic/camera" bag. And there's no doubt they'll last for years, unlike a lot of lesser bags