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Got 8 photography gigs taking up 2.5 months this summer. All shooting Saskatchewan wildlife which is what I wanted to do this summer anyway. The above will pay for a 2 month self organized antarctic expedition in the winter of 2012 with 7 other photographers... finalized the antarctic contract today. WOOT... I'm excited

Chartered a Russian science vessel which is also an icebreaker. Pooling resources with some Canadian scientists so should be fun and educational.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

Congrats! That sounds like an incredible "job"

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Rebel T2I, Tamron 17-50 2.8, EF 70-300 f4-5.6, 50mm f 1.8

flickr

Fantastic! Congrats on the gigs and I wish you the best of luck in Antarctica! Can't wait to see what you shoot, especially after enjoying your Haida Gwai stuff

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Canon EOS 5D MkII | Canon EOS 7D | Canon Digital Rebel XSi | EF 35mm f/1.4L | EF 50mm f/1.8 II | EF 85mm f/1.8 | EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM | EF 135mm f/2L | EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS | 580EX II | LumoPro LP-120

My Flickr

awesome, have fun.
What camera gear and other gear will you need to organise?
What do you take on an expedition like that?

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 6D,7D, 24-70 2.8 Tamron VC, Canon 15-85, Canon 85 1.8, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L Macro, Canon 70-300L +Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

2012!!!
Antartica will have melted by then according to all the alarmists...

Awesome...looking fwd to pics and full story already!

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Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 17-70mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm

gear wise what I am taking... everything listed in my sig of course plus another 7D body, 400 prime and 600 prime. Idea will be to carry 50D with 24-105 and 7D with 100-400 on a dual holster black rapid setup and the other 7D with one of the two primes attached on tripod. This gives me quick access and also 2 I can loose 2 bodies and still shoot.

For cases of course its Pelican... no way a pack would survive this in my opinion.

2 laptops... yup even being safe here with a backup

2 tripods and a mono pod

10 - 8 gig cards and 2 - 16 gig cards ... there will be week long trips away from the mother ship.

3 batteries for each camera.

Lots of cloths of course

That's just off the top of my head.... I know it sounds like a lot but for that long out in such a remote place I dont wanna be in a position where I loose something or something breaks and I dont have backup.

The group is split evenly between nikon and canon shooters so worst case we can borrow off each other if something goes really wrong.

Part of the deal is that we chronicle everything for the scientists so we can't afford to loose gear as we will be going in teams of 2 with the different scientists on their outings.

Again.. this is just the tip of the iceburg in regards to logistics... it took me just over a year to hammer it all out and find compatable photographers capable of shooting pics suitable for science. 3 of the other 7 were actually with me on my great bear rain forest trip in the fall of 2010 and the others I know from previous outings so I'm confident it will work personality wise.

I am still looking for one more photographer... basically its a free trip but you need to get yourself to Australia and back.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

That equipment list makes me drool!

Do you plan to edit the photo's on the Laptops while your out there, or just use the laptops to to dump the sd cards?

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Rebel T2I, Tamron 17-50 2.8, EF 70-300 f4-5.6, 50mm f 1.8

flickr

Sounds like quite a trip! I would say "take me with you" but I'm not the middle-of-nowhere outdoors type.

Winter 2012... that's quite some time away. I'm not sure I can wait that long to see what photos you get!

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

laptops will be for dumping and basic field work... cropping and symple editing... ID shots and so on... the serious stuff will happen after our return... plan for me at least is to spend 12+ hrs a day shooting when we are on the spots we want to be... I don't foresee a lot of time on the comp. as I plan on doing a lot of kyaking as well to get away from the boat and croud... sounds funny but being around the same ppl 24/7 for several months wears on you.. well at least me. Each of us will be allotted 30 minutes a day sat. feed time.

One of the guys shooting all FF bodies will be bringing a 1200 F5.6 prime for albatros cliff shots... he already promised I can try it on one of my crop frames LMAO... that will be interesting.

One year popo.. almost to the day.. cant wait but still a lot of work to do... need to find a cook still as well as a few other positions... All I am contracting is the boat and operations crew... all other positions I need to fill. . never mind ordering all the food and everything else.. so yup a year but still lots to do. I'm basically putting my businesses on auto-pilot starting in May this year... they will have to do without me for the most part. This is something I have wanted to do for a long time and I'm actually contributing to science as well. If it works well and I don't get too burned out I plan on doing one of these every 3 years.... next one kinda in the works already... will be same idea but to the high arctic. I'll be using the same ship as this if we are all happy with it and there will also be a 3 week dog sledding part to the expedition for arctic wolf behaviour... at least that is the plan.

First time I have ever done anything on this scale... but have a lot of help so I know it will work. And heck... 1/2 the fun for me is seeing if I can actually accomplish something like this

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

I can cook, live in Australia and pretty handy in a Kayak. **** photographer, but I am trying, I am a much better cook.
Unfortunately I wouldn`t be able to go on a trip like that with young family.
Also getting that sort of time off from work would be rather difficult.

Keen to follow this, might be able to catch up when you get over here.

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Canon Powershot S95, Canon 6D,7D, 24-70 2.8 Tamron VC, Canon 15-85, Canon 85 1.8, Sigma 30 1.4, 50mm 1.8, Canon 100 2.8L Macro, Canon 70-300L +Kenko 1.4 Pro 300DGX, Canon 430EX II and RS 4 Classic

that would be cool maxjj. I along with 2 of the scientific crew and one other photographer and ship and ship crew will be there 10 days prior to departure to finish all the details and to ensure everything is set and the ship is ready to go. For me this is a 3 month outing.

We will be gearing up in and sailing out of Melbourne so who knows... and it will be our home port as well.. not sure you wanna be around us though after that long out.. it wont be a pretty sight LOL

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

just adding.. the reason for 2 photographers for each scientific group is for one to shoot the boring scientific stuff and the other to do what they want in regards to thier photography interests. Deal is to swap off every 2 hours... the scientific excursions will be 8 hours long each day so each person will get 4 hours doing what they want in regards to photography and also doing what they want after the excursions are over as long as everything you do involves a minimum of 4 people and a proposal with a detailed outline is submitted to the leadership for approval no less than 24 hrs in advance.

Lots of rules to put in place besides this seeing we are litterally in the middle of nowhere but we cannot afford accidents and everyone agrees.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

Hey you can keep me in mind for the artic.
I should be retired by then I can double duty as your medic and bear guard and can even do some ship watches in case I've forgotten what thats like by then or why I like being retired so much

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Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 17-70mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm

LOL kpr.. your always welcome to come along.. funny thing .. we still looking for a doctor/medic for this one.

If I remember right we still need Medic/doc, cook, deck hand, and one more computer geek. The computer geek will be supplied by the science end of things.. prob a graduate student. They will have 3 overall.

We are trying to offer a lot of these jobs to photo enthusiasts. All these jobs only require 5 hours a day work... rest of the time can be spent tagging along on field trips taking pics or doing whatever you like.

The next one I will prob put a post up here well in advance to see if there is any interest... for this one we have 9 positions total where we needed people.

And your right about the bear patrols when we do one in the arctic... it will definately be needed but they will have to be locals from what I understand of the regulations oin the high arctic.

For me this was always meant to be a way to get people on to these extended outings without paying the outragious prices you see for even week long trips like this. As far as the other photographers go they/we are putting in 7.5 grand a piece.... anyone willing to become part of the working crew, 5 hrs a day 6 days a week gets it for free except for transportation to and from starting point. Docof course is on duty 24/7 but hopefully he/she never is needed.

Only thing we ask for is previous experience on the water and experience in remote areas and long outings. Don't want to get out there and find out someone can't handle it or gets home sick... and yes... people tell me its happened quite regularly. I know that wouldn,t be an issue for you.

Seeing the work that went into this though I plan on making the next one free for me as well.

The single biggest piece to this puzzle is finding a university or scientific organization studying an area but lacking funding which is becoming easier and easier to do these days. Once you have that its just a matter of ones credentials and hammering out a working plan. Good news is that piece is already in place for the arctic that is why I am fairly certain that one will be a go as well in 3 years... summer of 2014 actually.

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Canon 7D + 50D + EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM + EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM + EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Pelican // Black Rapid // Think Tank // Manfrotto // Garmin

Reflections On Canadian Wildlife
My Flickr

"All these jobs only require 5 hours a day work...
Only thing we ask for is previous experience on the water and experience in remote areas and long outings."

Pfffft...kpr is a shoe in for any of them...lmao!!!

My first aid certification is geared specifically for marine emergencies/shorter term trauma care for the most part
but you may find Canada Ship Safety will require a full MD or at least nurse practitioner for a trip and distance of that length.
Certainly an asset but not sure mine would..fill the bill..for them.



Well ...we'll have to find a local that won't mind me going twd the bears instead of running from them

How big is the ship and how many people?

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Pentax K-5
Pentax 18-55mm,Pentax 50-200mm,Sigma 17-70mm,Sigma 70-300mm, Sigma 50-500mm