Alps and Med Day 0: IAD to BOS

From Boston …

Alps and Med? This tour is to Lucerne, Switzerland, Northern Italy, the South of France, and Barcelona. Simple one or word titles work best for the blog posts, so I’ve settled on the shorthand Alps and Med. And why Day 0? Because technically this trip starts tomorrow. But I flew to Boston today to make sure I’m in Boston and ready to go!

This morning I took United flight 641 from Dulles to Boston Logan. It was clear day with great views coming up the east coast.

Once in Boston I took an Uber to North Station. Dropped off my luggage at the Courtyard Boston Downtown. I had lunch in the North End, the did a walking tour of the neighborhood … including a stop at Mike’s Bakery. I meet Greg and Sophie for happy hour at Green Dragon Tavern, one of the oldest bars in the country, followed by a great dining experience at Assaggio. We will meet up tomorrow at Logan for the beginning of the trip.

Here is the itinerary …

And here is what I’m packing …

As expected, international travel requires careful consideration of what to pack to capture the best photos and video of a bucket list trip! Instead of the Nikon Z8 I decided to go a little smaller and lighter on this trip so I’m bringing the Nikon Z6ii mirrorless camera with the Nikkor Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR zoom lens. For a wider option I’m bringing the Nikkor Z 14-30mm f4 S zoom lens for landscapes and mountain peaks. I’ll be taking a graduation photo on this trip, so I’m bringing a Nikon SB-800 flash. Also in the bag is the DJI OSMO Pocket 3 for timelapse video and the DJI Mic for recording ambient audio tracks. I’ve got the Apple iPhone 16 with the SnapBridge and JetPack Mobile apps for updates to this blog while I’m on the go. For backup I’m bringing the Clouzen Tainer with 2TB of M.2 SSD capacity. In Italy and Greece I carried the Gura Gear Kiboko City Commuter 18L+  and for Iceland I brought the Shimoda Designs Urban Explore 25, but for this trip I’ve switched camera bags once again and this time I’m bringing the Think Tank Photo FocusPoint 30L. For Italy and Greece in the middle of summer I packed an assortment of shorts and t-shirts For the cool spring temps and wet weather conditions of Iceland I packed lightweight base layers, a fleece assortment for mid-layers, and a waterproof/windproof jacket and pants for the outer layer. From the peak of Mount Titlis to the oceansides of Cinque Terre and Monaco the average temps on this trip will range from 37°F (2.7°C) to 69°F (20.5°C). So I’ve packed warmer layers for the Swiss mountains and cooler layers for the warmer seaside days.

While I’m traveling I will post daily updates here on the blog. If you want to get an email when I post an update subscribe by entering your email address in the subscription box. I’m looking forward to sharing these updates with you!

Essential Travel Gear for Iceland

Usually, these post-trip gear and workflow overviews begin with a recounting of the number of years since the previous international trip. But in this case, it’s only been nine months since the Italy and Greece trip. Not surprisingly the gear I traveled with remains similar to what I brought on that prior trip, but there have been some changes. Read on for details …

Travel Gear and Workflow

So here is the Iceland gear and workflow update. Every trip requires a carefully considered pack list that balances the demands of international shooting locations with the willingness (and ability!) to carry a certain amount of equipment. At just one week this would my shortest international trip, but I spent a lot of time before the trip considering what to bring, how to carry it, and what I needed to do to ensure I came back from the trip with the photos and video I planned for.

As I did for Italy and Greece, Israel, Brazil, Southeast Asia, India, Cuba, Peru, South Africa, and Galapagos, here is an overview of the gear I carried to Iceland followed by the photo and video workflows I used to handle the media files when I returned.

Travel Gear

Nikon Z8 45.7MP Mirrorless Camera: My DSLR journey started in 2003 with the Nikon D100, then progressed to the Nikon D7000 (used for the Greece and Turkey trip), followed by the Nikon D600 (for the Galápagos Islands trip), then to the Nikon D750, with me in Brazil, Southeast Asia, India, Cuba, Peru, and South Africa. But I finally made the shift to Mirrorless with the Nikon Z6 (which never travelled) and then the Nikon Z6ii (used for the Israel trip). With each of these cameras I’ve relied on the RAW image file format to achieve the best image quality. I always thought the D750 RAW files were excellent, but everytime I download RAW files from the Z8 and the Z6ii, I am blown away. They look incredible! I spend significantly less time post-processing photos from these cameras. Switching to Mirrorless didn’t result in the weight savings I had initially expected for travel purposes. While the Z6ii weighed slightly less than the D750 – about 125 grams, the Z8 weighs 80 grams more than the D750 and 205 grams more than the Z6ii. But after carrying the Z8 through Italy and Greece for 3 weeks, and now Iceland for a week and numerous domestic trips I can confidently say the Z8 is a great travel camera! And paired with the 28-400mm the image quality for stills and video is outstanding, even if it’s a bit heavier!

In Nikon’s camera lineup I’ve always owned one of the “prosumer” models and not one of the “professional” or “flagship” cameras. Seemed right for my capabilities and budget. But over the years as my photographic skills have improved I’ve become more interested in stepping up in the lineup. When the Z9 was released I knew it wasn’t for me. Too big and too heavy. In the Spring of 2023 when the Nikon Z8 was announced I took notice. Most of the capabilities of the Z9 in a smaller and lighter form factor. I made the leap in the summer of 2023 and the Z8 is easily the best camera I have ever owned!

NIKKOR Z 28-400mm f/4-8 VR Travel Zoom: After carrying the 28-300mm for many trips I finally switched to the 24-200mm for the Israel trip. Compared to the 28-300mm I was looking forward to working with a slightly wider lens for travel, but I was concerned that the limited reach of the 24-200mm might be a problem. Several months before the Italy and Greece trip Nikon announced the 28-400mm f/4-8 super telephoto lens. I immediately placed an order. There is no question that super zooms are compromise lenses, but this lens is superb for travel. When traveling a lot of photos are in strong daylight, so working with f/8 on the telephoto end isn’t much of a compromise. I really enjoy traveling with this lens. Great image quality and range from a single lens in a size that’s easy to carry on planes, buses, boats, and just walking down the street.

NIKKOR Z 24-120mm f/4 S All-Purpose Zoom: I had the previous F Mount version of this lens and didn’t really care for its image quality. Despite my previous experience, I purchased the Z Mount version several months before the Iceland trip. It is a significantly better lens! And although there was a lot of redundancy bringing this together with the 28-400mm, as a bit of an experiment, I packed the 24-120mm to see if it could serve as a lighter travel zoom on a future trip. For me the answer is no. I still needed the longer zoom on many occasions, but this might be an excellent option on a different kind of trip paired with the 100-400mm telephoto.

NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S Wide Angle Prime: I also packed the 20mm hoping to use it for astrophotography or the northern lights. Unfortunately too much daylight at this time of year, but I did use the 20mm at the Kolugljúfur Canyon waterfall for some variety, and I was pleased with the results …

DJI Osmo Pocket 3: I previously carried the original OSMO Pocket but upgraded to the newest iteration in the fall of 2023. This gimbal/stabilizer provides a great platform for silky smooth video, timelapse, and motionlapse sequences.  The tiny size of the Osmo Pocket 3 can’t be beat for travel.  It’s great for crowded street scenes, shooting from a vehicle while rolling down a bumpy highway, and getting a different video perspective than a mirrorless camera provides. I used the OSMO Pocket 3 for a couple of timelapse sequences and also our visit to the Víðgelmir Cave lava tunnel. The tight squeeze and damp conditions were perfect for the OSMO Pocket 3.

Apple iPhone 16:  I replaced the iPhone 12 mini with the iPhone 16 a few months before the Iceland trip. In addition to emails, texts, and phone calls, I use the iPhone with the Nikon SnapBridge app to download photos from the camera to the phone, the WordPress Jetpack app to write and post blog updates while on the road, and the DJI Mimo app for the DJI OSMO Pocket 3. While I really liked the smaller size of the iPhone 12 mini form factor, the smaller phones don’t have the battery life of their larger counterparts. Plenty of juice for every day use, but there is a lot of phone use while traveling. The larger battery of the iPhone 16 meant I never had to recharge during the day! And while I previously used an Aokatec AK-G2 GPS Receiver to add location data to photos, with the Nikon Z8 I connected to the SnapBridge app on the iPhone for GPS data on this trip. Works extremely well, with accurate GPS data captured on all but two photos from the trip.

Shimoda Designs Urban Explore 25 Camera Backpack: After years of traveling with the brilliant Vanguard Kinray Lite 45 backpack it was time to make a change as the Kinray was showing signs of wear. I tried the GuraGear Kiboko City Commuter 18L on the Italy and Greece trip, but found the bag to be too bulky and the roll-top access to be too inconvenient. I researched a number of possible replacements from all the major photo backpack manufacturers before settling on the Urban Explorer 25. It’s not perfect. It was tricky to fit the Z8 and three lenses. The 24-120mm ended up in the top compartment, but realistically I will rarely travel with anything other than a camera and two lenses. I had intended to use the side access for removing the Z8 from the bag, but found the rear camera compartment access very convenient with the bag on the bus seat next to me and rear of the bag facing up.

Anker 525 PowerCore Essential PD: I bought this power bank with PD capability (Power Delivery USB charging technology) that can directly charge the Nikon Z8. At 20,000 mAh, it has enormous capacity and can fully charge the iPhone, Watch, Air Pods, and Z8 several times. The Anker is a great addition to the traveling kit and other instances when I need portable power.

MINIX NEO P3 100W GaN Wall Charger: The MINIX NEO P3 is a 4 port charger that features a couple of 100w ports, supports PD charging, includes a foldable plug, and supports 100-240V voltage for worldwide use. With a collection of 6-inch USB cables I can easily setup an overnight charging station in a hotel room to quickly charge the Nikon Z8 EN-EL15 batteries with the Nitecore UNK2 Dual Slot USB Charger, the iPhone 16, Apple Watch 8, Apple AirPods Pro 2, the Anker 525 PowerCell, and the DJI OSMO Pocket 3. This charging setup is compact and light for travel, and everything is recharged after a few hours.

DJI Mic Transmitter: After years of bringing the Nikon ME-1 Microphone, but not really using it, I switched to a DJI mic transmitter with a specific purpose in mind. When touring with a group of people there is always a certain amount of ambient sound from among members of the group. When editing I’m always looking for audio with clean ambient sound … free of any commentary or camera shutter sounds. So I brought the tiny DJI Mic transmitter and at each site we visited I stepped away from the group to record 30 seconds of clean audio. 

Clouzen Tainer: The newest addition to the kit. It’s always concerned me that while traveling I don’t have a good file backup method to ensure the safety of the photo and video media. At home I use the basic backup method of primary and secondary copies onsite with a third copy backed up offsite. Using the Clouzen Tainer I can make backup copies of media files from the CFexpress and SDXC cards in a matter of minutes. I quickly got into the habit of backing up files at the end of each day or sometimes on a bus transfer day. It worked very well and this is a good addition to the travel gear!

Memory Cards and File Management

For this trip I brought two Delkin Devices Black 150GB CFexpress Type B cards and two Delkin Devices Black 128GB UHS-II SDXC cards. I previously used SanDisk 128GB Extreme Pro CFexpress cards and, not surprisingly, experienced a number of ‘Hot Card’ warnings in the extreme heat of Athens, Greece last summer. I replaced the SanDisk cards with the Delkin Blacks and haven’t had a ‘Hot Card’ warning since. But admittedly, the 40F/4.4C daytime temps in Iceland were never going to result in a hot CF express card!

Each 150GB CFexpress card holds about 1,800 14-bit NEF files. I setup the Nikon Z8 with a 150GB CFexpress card in slot 1 to store the NEF raw photo files with a 128GB SDXC card in slot 2 as the destination for 4k 24fps H.265 10-bit MOV files. About halfway through the trip, as is my usual practice, I swapped out the initial set of memory cards for the second set. At the end of the trip, between the Z8, the DJI OSMO Pocket 3. and the iPhone 16, I ended up with 617 picture files totaling 27.74GB. Not counting travel days, that’s a shooting rate of about 102.8 per day – right on my average of about 100 photos per day on international trips.

Between the Z8, the DJI Osmo Pocket 3, the iPhone 16, and the DJI Mic transmitter I ended up with 271 movie and audio files totaling 41.93GB with a running time of about 50 minutes.

Shooting Guidelines

Like I did for Italy and Greece, I developed a series of shooting rules or guidelines based on my previous experience working with media after trips. Here are the guidelines and how I did …

• Record 30 seconds ambience at each site using the DJI Mic Transmitter … I did this and boosted the audio gain on the mic +6dB for a better audio level compared to the Italy and Greece ambience recordings.
• Capture all photos and video with Nikon Z8 … I did not do this. I thought it would be helpful to work with media from a single source after the trip. While the OSMO Pocket 3 captures great stills it doesn’t record GPS positioning or account for time zone changes. But in the Víðgelmir Cave lava tunnel it seemed the better choice. And sometimes the best camera is the one you have easiest access to, so inevitably there are iPhone photos.
• Capture interstitial timelapses with the DJI OSMO Pocket 3 … I do this. I captured a couple of timelapse sequences, but nothing really great. Not sure if they will make it into the final video.
• No iPhone photos or video … I did not do this. See second bullet above.

Fitness Data

While I’m sharing media data captured during the trip, I’m also sharing some of the fitness data captured by the Apple Watch as we made our way across Iceland. Over 9 days of travel there were 102,691 steps, 44.6 miles, and 136 flights of stairs!

WordPress Blog Updates

For the daily blog updates I use the Z8’s built-in Wi-Fi to connect via the SnapBridge app installed on the iPhone 16.  Once connected it’s easy to select pictures to transfer to the phone, and then incorporate those photos in the daily trip blog updates using the Jetpack for WordPress mobile app.  Several times a day while traveling, I open SnapBridge, browse through the available pictures on the Z8, and download a couple for use in that day’s post. With Jetpack it’s easy to draft new text, insert photos, make edits, and move paragraphs. Internet access in Iceland was good. Between uploading photos and drafting the content – the daily blog updates take about an hour each day to complete … usually on the bus between locations … or maybe at dinner at the end of the day! 

Photo Workflow

My stan­dard work­flow for pho­tos and video remains the same. I’m working with Adobe Photoshop Light­room Classic for photo man­age­ment and editing – using the Creative Cloud Photography plan.

Several years ago I dropped keywording as a workflow step and substituted sorting into collections. I find using collections really helps to identify the best images – those I want to focus on for post-processing. The simplified version of the photo workflow is:

• Import as DNG to fold­ers named by date and loca­tion
• Delete dupli­cates and rejects … photos that are out of focus or the inevitable inadvertent photos of the ground
• Geoencode
• Rename by date with sequen­tial num­bers
• Collections for Full Shoot, Picks, and Selects
• Post-process
• Cap­tion
• Output using Jeffrey Friedl’s Metadata Wrangler Lightroom Plugin to format captions to include caption text along with city, country, GPS location, camera, lens, and exposure information
• Import to WordPress with Katsushi Kawamori’s Upload Media Exif Date so that uploads to the Media Library are sorted chronologically by date and time captured. 

Video Workflow

Video files are dig­i­tized using Apple Final Cut Pro to events named by date and loca­tion.  After import files are renamed by date and time.

With all trip photo and video files transferred I con­firm onsite and off­site back­ups are com­plete (using CrashPlan for Small Business to manage both backups) and then refor­mat the CFexpress and SDXC cards for use on the next project and then figure out when I’ll actually edit the video!

In the meantime, time to start planning and preparing for the next trip!

Iceland Day 9: Reykjavik to NYC to DC

From Home …

At 7a we check out of Hotel Cabin and board the bus to Reykjavik International Airport. The Boston group is on an Icelandair direct departing at 10a. I’m with Sue and Don on Delta Flight 247 from Reykjavik to JFK leaving 90 minutes later. In New York we pass through customs. Then we’re on Delta Flight 5699 from JFK to Washington National. Collect bags. Get Uber. And home.

There’s a huge amount of planning that goes into these trips to figure out what to wear, how to pack, and what photographic gear to bring. But the best laid plans can sometimes go awry. This one got off to a rough start due to problems with our departing flights. We rescheduled for the next day and arrived on Monday morning instead of Sunday morning. We did miss the first day in Reykjavík, but we were able to catch up with the rest of the group.

And it was great to catch up with Mickey and Donna. It’s been a few years since our last trip to Israel together.

A few thoughts about this trip …

Seeing the northern side of the island is worth it. By bus, with stops every so often, it takes most of the day to get there. But along the way the scenery is incredible and spending a few days in Akureyri was a really great travel experience!.

Tour guides are storytellers whether the story is about the history of the place you are visiting or an interesting anecdote. Kolfinna is a gifted storyteller weaving the telling of the Icelandic Sagas with descriptions of day-to-day life in modern Iceland. She has a background in journalism and as a documentarian, so this makes sense! And the logistics of this tour go smoothly with very little wasted time. Ya, ya!!

Of course our coach driver, Jacob, got the bus safely down the road, but he also added commentary on the information about Iceland from Kolfinna, and suggested beautiful stops along the way!

When you are with group of people 24/7 for a week or longer it’s important that everyone is in sync and gets along. That certainly was the case with this group. A combination of new and previous travelers, the conversation was always engaging … and everyone wanted to hear about bread baking!

These trips are always a blur! And I’ll be honest, in the last few days before I depart for a trip I don’t look forward to the work necessary to post these daily updates. But once I get to a destination, see some incredible places, and start taking pictures I really enjoy the process of sharing these posts. I hope you enjoyed reading. Thank you for following along. Some of my favorite photos from this trip …

Iceland Day 8: Golden Circle

From Reykjavik …

Today we visit the Golden Circle, a popular tourist loop circling about 140 miles near Reykjavik. We’re going to Þingvellir National Park, Strokkur Geysir and the Great Geysir, Gullfoss waterfall, and a couple of other interesting stops.

Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park is geologically significant as it lies at the rift between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates and politically significant as the site of the world’s first parliament in 930 AD … you can add your own joke about political rifts between the US and Europe. The Öxarárfoss waterfall is also here with a beautiful rainbow today.

Efstidalur is a family run dairy farm dating back to the 1750s! Now run by seventh-generation siblings Guðrún, Sölvi, Linda and Halla, the farm features a farm-to-table restaurant, horse rentals, and a hotel. We are visiting for lunch and to sample the homemade ice cream. Both are excellent!

Next we visit the Strokkur geothermal area. This is the location of the original Great Geysir, the namsake of all geysers. While the Great Geysir is less active now, every 5-10 minutes Strokkur erupts sending hot water 100 feet (30 meters) up in the air. I get a good sequence of Strokkur a few minutes after we get to the geyser. Then I spend an hour trying to get the full eruption sequence on video. It’s a fail. And the camera battery is dead. I go back to the bus for a fresh battery and we’re on to the next stop.

And our last waterfall of the trip! A visit to Gullfoss Waterfall, one of the most iconic in Iceland. This dramatic waterfall plunges down two-tiers into the canyon below. This rainbow is pretty spectacular!

Our next stop is Friðheimar (Fridheimar) a tomato farm run by Knútur and Helena, and their five children: Dóróthea, Karítas, Matthías Jens, Tómas Ingi, and Arnaldur. Despite a farming in an environment that seems too harsh, they farm tomatoes in greenhouses under artificial lighting, all year round. We learn about the greenhouse farming process the enjoy a cocktail in the greenhouse bar!

It’s an hour drive back to Reykjavik for our last sightseeing destination this trip … the Hallgrimskirkja Church observation tower. Earlier this week we missed seeing the city and surrounding mountains from Hallgrímsjirkja’s 73-meter height so it’s good that we made it back to Reykjavik to get in before the 5p closing time!

Dinner is catch of the day back at Brasserie Askur and tomorrow we head home!

Iceland Day 7: Akureyri to Reykjavik

On the road Reykjavik …

Last night’s cod dinner at the Lamb Inn was delicious! After dinner Jóhannes, Jacob (our driver), Kolfinna (our guide), and Larry serenaded the group with a selection of songs. The perfect way to wrap up our stay at the Lamb Inn!

Overnight, with a slight chance of seeing the northern lights, Mickey, Donna, and Carol are up at 1:30a for a two mile hike to look up at the sky. Too many clouds to see the Aurora Borealis, but the city lights make the clouds glow above Akureyri!

At 9:30a we’re back on the bus departing Akureyri and heading south towards Reykjavik on a grey overcast day. It’s an all day drive from Akureyri but we’ve got some stops along the way. About an hour outside of Akureyri the road goes up to 600 meters through a mountain pass during a snow shower.

Around 10:30a we stop in Varmahlíð for a mid-morning coffee. A little farther down the road we make a quick stop at a farm to see some Icelandic Horses.

A little after noon we pull off the main road and head several kilometers down a gravel road to see the falls at Kolugljúfur Canyon. I dig out the 20mm lens for a little wider view of these falls.

We stop for lunch at a roadside Nesti near Norðurlandsvegur. Another hour down the road we reach the Grábrók Crater volcano and lava field. After last erupting three thousand years ago the volcano now looms 550 feet over the surrounding lava field. It takes about 45 minutes to walk to the top to look into the crater then walk around the crater rim and back down. It’s very windy! And it is a great vantage point to the see the nearby landscape.

We leave Grábrók Crater and have about a two hour drive to Reykjavik. We’ll do a quick check-in at the hotel then head out for a lamb dinner. Tomorrow we explore the Golden Circle.