Re: [Leica] Back from Ecuador

[Henning Wulff <henningw@archiphoto.com>]

At 8:54 AM -0500 1/22/04, Tina Manley wrote:
>Hi, Y'all -
>
>I'm back from Ecuador and wading through over 7,000 e-mails that I 
>got while I was gone.  If I haven't answered one you sent me, I'll 
>get to it soon!  My computer is grinding away, converting RAW to 
>tiffs and jpegs.  My slide film is drying in the darkroom.  I used 
>the Canon 10D most of the time with Canon and Leica lenses, but also 
>the R6.2 with my 400/6.8.  My son dropped his M4 and knocked it out 
>of alignment so he used my Digilux.
>
>Ecuador is a photographer's paradise.  We spent the first three 
>weeks in the Andes, visiting Indian villages.  I mountain biked, 
>rode horses and hiked with my new knees and they worked great. 
>Nobody ever objected to having their photo made. I'd be hiking along 
>in the mountains taking photos and people would come up and ask me 
>to take their photos!  They invited me into their houses!  I think 
>I'll retire there.
>
>The last week we spent in a small sailboat in the Galapagos Islands. 
>That's where I used the 400 to photograph blue-footed boobies and 
>red-throated frigate birds.  We went snorkeling and I wished for an 
>underwater camera.  We had a couple of disposable ones that worked 
>surprisingly well, but next time I'll take underwater housing of 
>some kind.
>
>I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and that your new year is 
>even better!
>
>Tina
>
>Tina Manley, ASMP
>www.tinamanley.com

And a very Happy New Year and Gung Hay Fat Choy to you!

We were in Ecuador a couple of years ago and found it to be 
outstanding. Truly a wonderful place. In Quito we were met and shown 
around by Duane Birkey, a sometime LUG member and a very 
knowledgeable person around Quito. A fantastic day, and another 
reminder of the benefits of the LUG. Thanks again, Duane.

The Galapagos were just amazing. I shot pictures of frigate and 
tropic birds with a 400 and 1.4x converter, and I shot pictures of 
red-footed boobies sitting in the bushes with a 12mm lens! 30cm from 
the beak. If you have a 400, bring it, but you can get great pictures 
of most of the wildlife with a 90. I shot a lot with a 35.

I had an EWA-Marine housing and took a lot of underwater shots as 
well, but I'm not a very good UW photographer, so not that many were 
keepers. I've had various EWA-marine housings since the 70's, so I 
should be better by now, but I haven't invested the time required to 
really learn it. The surface-and-above stuff was better.

We were supposed to, and paid for a fairly basic cruise, but due to 
accidents and ships that weren't finished being renovated in time, we 
were bumped up a number to steps to a very posh ship, where some 
people dressed semi-formally for dinner. As our trip to SA had 
included the Inca trail hike in Peru and Amazon jungle as well, our 
wardrobe was geared more to hiking gear. Some of the other passengers 
didn't want to have much to do with us, but we still got served :-).

All in all, the Galapagos were one of the most amazing and rewarding 
places I've ever been to.

- -- 
    *            Henning J. Wulff
   /|\      Wulff Photography & Design
  /###\   mailto:henningw@archiphoto.com
  |[ ]|     http://www.archiphoto.com
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