Photo travel
Robert B. GorrilNow that the summer travel season is rapidly approaching, it is important to ensure that cameras, lenses, and flash units are in good operating order.
Filters should be double-checked to ensure that there is no fading of the colors, and in the case of polarizing filters, that there is no separation of the material between the glass elements. Each lens should have a lens hood that should be used at all times to prevent extraneous light from striking the front surface of the lens that could cause loss of quality in the photographs that are being created.
Passports should also be up-to-date, and if required, photographers need to ensure that visas have been obtained well in advance of travels. Due to x-ray problems, many photographers are now shipping their unexposed film to their destination hotels via UPS or Federal Express to prevent their film from being exposed to high x-ray levels. When the film has been exposed, it is best to have it processed locally or ship it home or to a lab in the USA by UPS or Federal Express rather than chancing x-Ray damage. Film that has been processed cannot be harmed by x-rays; the quality of processing is very high at most of the travel destinations.
If you do carry your film with you, be sure to ask for hand inspection, but if refused, it is smart that you do not get angry: just let it pass as you might be pulled from line and possibly miss your flight. Do not have film loaded in your camera when boarding a plane as the inspectors need to look inside the body by opening the back and, if it is an interchangeable lens camera, removing the lens to inspect the mirror box.
Digital camera users do not have to worry about x-rays, but they do need to be concerned about going through metal detectors due to the strong electro-magnetic fields that could damage the data that has been recorded on their digital media. Let those articles pass through the x-ray machine, and you will not have to worry about losing your images. Be sure to have enough recording media (memory cards) to cover all of your shooting needs. If possible, transmit your images home on a daily basis via the Internet and, if you can, burn a copy of your files to CD before traveling on to another location.
The Photo Travel Division (PTD) will eventually add electronic sections to PTD exhibitions and will also add a Digital Travelette Competition to the existing Slide Travelette Competition. Rules are in the process of being developed, and it is hoped that these added features will be put in place in the near future, most likely in 2006.
Please send all Division news by e-mail to Robert_Gorrill@photone.com or mail to Robert B. Gorrill, APSA, 48 High Street, Damariscotta, ME 04543-4632.
Robert B. Gorrill, APSA, Editor
48 High Street, Damariscotta, ME 04543
(207) 563-7463; RGorrill@photo-ne.com
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