Karl Stanton

My new toy!

I used to have the Canon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 DO IS USM that I bought just before we went and saw The Police at the MCG in Melbourne, Australia.

I found this lens to work pretty well for its size. The image stabilizer was definitely the strong point of the lens. Because it extended beyond it’s balance, it was pretty shaky at 300mm. It got me by for the most part. It worked excellently in the day light, and was a great companion because of its size and weight.

The only problem I found is that it wasn’t fast enough in low light.

This was one of those moments where you had to be quick. Normally I forget to adjust my camera settings (if I’m shooting still life I normally have it on A priority and the widest I can go), but the lens failed me for the last time. This was shot at f/4.6 at 800 ISO (from memory), and the capture was still blurry and random. I put this lens on eBay the following day.

I sold it for just under US $1000 (I bought it for AUD $1200 3 years ago), and was extremely happy with the resell value. Lenses, if cared for, hold their value! The first replacement lens I had on my radar was the Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM. Canon have recently released the MK II version of this lens, so there are a lot of portrait and wedding photographers selling their MK I’s, and this is what I picked up.

Overall, I am extremely happy with this lens. I spent the weekend getting to learn it’s strengths (fast aperture, with sharp, high-contrast results) and it’s weaknesses (weight, size), and I will share some of the better results with you soon.

Keep an eye on my Flickr for the latest shots as they come off the camera.

Manhattan

Taking a trip across from South Ferry over to Governor’s Island.

Manhattan, NYC, New York.

Sorry, it’s been a while…

Sorry it’s been so long. I’ve been busy, stressed, and more stressed. My company took us out to the Stockholm Archipelago last week, it was breath taking.

More news in the next few days…

My hood

Looking lovely in the Swedish sunset.

Impressive light & speed

My life for a studio, a light rig, some models, and a bucket of paint.

Make sure to check Iain Crawford’s portfolio .

Paris & Le Tour de France 2009!

Bienvenue à Paris!

I love Paris. Always have, always will. Such a beautiful old and enchanting city. I was here for only one purpose this time, Le Tour de France! I spent most of my time in the hostel cooking food, meeting other Australians and Americans who where here for the Tour as well. Since I have been here serveral times before, I wasn’t fussed about the sights, more so than saving money, eating and drinking well, and seeing the tour… but that didn’t get in the way of me having a little fun with the locals.

Everyone in the foreground (apart from the guy on the far right) were staying in the same hostel as me. Last time I was there I managed to wrangle a group of people together to head to the Sacré-Cœur to drink wine and watch the sun set. Seeing as I had such a great time doing it 3 years ago, I thought I would try and conjure up a group to do it all again.

We spent several hours drinking wine, eating cheese and discussing where we were from in Australia or America and life in general. Always good times spent on those steps, well, apart from the last night we were up there and we were almost robbed! Lucky 3 Australian blokes don’t take much nonsense from a lowly Parisian rat!

All of that aside, nothing could take the hype, excitement and thrill away from watching Le Tour de France live in the flesh. I am still coming to grips with the whole ordeal.

We got to the Place de la Concorde at about 12pm, ready and willing to wait the full 4.5 hours until the peloton screams by. It was already getting crowded and the streets were lined with people, also happy to sit the 4.5 hour wait. I was getting nervous at this point as I wasn’t yet willing to gamble on trying to squeeze in a spot on the Champs-Élysées, so my hostel friends went on without me while I tried to find a bank, some food, and a great spot for photos.

View Tour Nightmare in a larger map

Well, 30 minutes went by and I was on my own, playing chess on my iPhone with nobody to talk too. I figured that I couldn’t stand another 4 hours of this, so went on the mission to find my hostel companions. It was a decent 1km walk from where I was to one of the secure entrances to the Champs-Élysées, and by that time there was already litterally thousands of people storming their way around finding spots.

I knew I was screwed.

I walked towards the Arc de Triomphe, in hope to find my hostel mate (who was wearing a Le Tour de France 2009 gold shirt, like the 1000′s of others). It was shoulder-to-shoulder, step-by-step movements up the Champs-Élysées. At one point we were standing still waiting for the hordes of people to sort it out and keep moving.

I walked around the Arc de Triomphe, and back down the other side of the Champs-Élysées, this had taken an hour to walk 1km already, and as time was ticking closer, me without any sort of decent view of the street and no friends, I was getting rather annoyed with myself.

I ended up right down the other end of the Champs-Élysées, near the big monitors and finish line, when I decided to call my hostel friends one more time to see if I could get their where-a-bouts. Turns out they were on the exact opposite side of the Champs-Élysées as me, which meant I had to make some life changing decisions. 1, I walk all the way back, waste another hour and hope that by then I can squeeze to the front, or 2, try and get across the Champs-Élysées.

Some police walked by and after we both realised we don’t want to talk in our own respective languages, I managed to find out that the subway below the Champs-Élysées is my only hope. I walked into the subway, and of course, this subway doesn’t go under the street, you must ride the subway!

So, I took the subway back to Place de la Concorde, and there I was, back where I started, with little over 1 hour to get back to where my friends where.

I high-tailed it, managed to find my friends who were already 10 people deep (as you can see, and yes, that’s the Arc de Triomphe in the distance…)

We waited for another 30 minutes, however we were entertained by all the official sponsors of the Tour riding past in their floats. Lots of hilarity to be had, giant squirrels, giant cyclists, lots of off comments from the crowd and horrendous bad French breath!

The wait was over, and it was worth every second. We were watching the super giant TV of the live race coverage, and the excitement of the crowd as the peloton rode into Paris erupted. The crowd surged forward about 10 meters, and we all waited silently for the peloton to reach the Champs-Élysées. You could have closed your eyes and seen the peloton scream past, as there was a thunderous roar from the crowd following them throughout the entire 7 laps. Silence, then as they approach, cheers, screams and applause for the 5 seconds you see them, and then the roar moves up the Champs-Élysées like a mexican wave. Like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before! Incredible!

We did that 7 times, I tried my best to get close and take photos, however my wandering of the Champs-Élysées for 2 hours rendered that exercise useless, and I was just happy to be there at the end of it all.

Turns out our position was right in front of the podium, and we got to witness the top riders of our lifetime graciously accepting awards from the Tour organisers etc.

Until next year, Vive Le Tour!!!!

Luzern & Interlaken

Visa större karta

First up, Luzern.

Yesterday, I was exhausted after the mission out to Mount Säntis, and I wanted to explore Zürich a little more. After covering this tiny town within a few hours, I decided to take the advice of Al & Jules and head to Luzern.

I was very surprised when I walked out of the station to find a buzzing, charismatic and alive city. Zurich is a sleepy sea-side town compared to Luzern. It was absolutely packed with tourists, and it was also the middle of the Blue Ball Festival (beware, the website is hideous, but worth a laugh).

The harbor was lined with eateries, markets and music all with breathtaking views of the alps that surrounds the normally sleepy hollow.

Like most Europian cities, it has an old town, and once you’ve seen one old town, you’ve seen them all, so I spent my time looking for food and taking photos of the lakes. Unfortunately I was too late to catch the cable car to the top of the peak that overlooks the city, so I made a hike back to Zurich and bunked down for the night.

Visa större karta

Interlakin! (That’s some of the alps you can see at the bottom of that map).

Last night I was scrambling to find one last day of hiking and photography. I remembered a friend in London mentioning Interlaken, which is kind of in the middle of Switzerland, only 2 hours from Zurich (I really forget how small it is between major Europian cities compared to Australia!).

Well, it wasn’t the most exciting day. There was a horrid sky packed with clouds, high winds and humidity. I wanted to get to the top of Jungfraujoch, which is the highest rail in Europe, and take amazing photos of the alps, however it was a complete wipe-out and at CHF$185 (AUS$200), that was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.

So, I ended up walking around Interlaken until the weather cleared up a bit, turns out it was really patchy, so I bit the bullet and went up the Harder Bahn to Harder Kulm, which is about 600m above sea level and shows the amazing view of Jungfrau and the surrounding regions.

I ate lunch, had a beer and trekked through the mountain forest until I couldn’t bare the heat no more. I came packing jeans and warm clothes expecting to spend the day at 3ºc, but it was not to be.

I am no back in my hotel, getting ready for the next step of my Tour de Europe, Paris tomorrow! The weather looks shaky, but should be clear enough for some action shots of the Tour de France on Sunday!

Can’t wait.

x

Mount Säntis

View Larger Map

That’s my mission from Zürich to Säntis, and back again today. It looks far, and it actually covers almost half of Switzerland, but it’s only 105km’s according to Google. My, what an amazing view.

The mountain is 2500+ meters straight up, and don’t go if you’re scared of heights, the cable car is out of this world! Pretty much going straight up. Very scary! The country side is picturesque, the the train running all the way down Lake Zürich and into the hills. The weather is warm and the sky is a lovely deep blue. The air was so fresh out there that I was almost choking (no thanks to the London air I had been breathing for 10 days before hand).

It’s hot as well, 30º as I sit here at 11pm with my doors and windows open. My hotel has a lack of fridge and air-conditioning so I’m drinking warm beer with the fan blasting… not my real idea of a Swiss holiday, but it is summer in Europe! They forecast this week to be the hottest week of the year, with Spain spilling into the 40º zone. Hense the fires in Barcelona at the moment.

I plan to check out the town some more tomorrow. I want to sleep in and relax a little. Apparently there is a beautiful old town and a peak with a lovely view of the city that I’m keen to check out. The public transport system here is unbelievable with trains and trams leaving on the second, going all over the city and the country, so getting around is super easy.

I will head to the alps on the other side of the country (where the Tour de France passed through) on Thursday and probably hit Mürren or the like, somewhere close to the French border.

I fly to Paris on Friday and I can’t wait to see Le Tour de France. Al & Jules will hopefully be joining me on the Champs-Élysées, which I hope happens as I’m going a little crazy not talking to anybody, though the time out is enjoyable.

More news as it comes to hand! Make sure you check my Flickr stream for more photos! Speak soon.

Zürich!

Hello from sunny Zürich! I arrived this afternoon from London and immediately fell in love with what I now consider one of the most picturesque cities I’ve seen. 28 degrees, people swimming in Lake Zurich, quiet & peaceful streets with lots of well dressed and lovely looking Swiss enjoying the easy life. I think I chose a great post-London destination. It was almost like heaven. Green parks with people relaxing and enjoying the sun, with deep blue skies, the snow capped Alps dominating the horizon, and everybody is simply happy.

Anyway… this is a quick update to say hi to all and that I’m safe and sound. I’m going to hit the Alps tomorrow (after doing my laundry and other catching up bits), so expect lots of photos and other spellbound jabber.

I am in a lovely hotel which is on the outside of the main town overlooking everything, nice staff, nice room. Nice!

Looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow and recharging my body for the trek to the Alps.

x

Peter Funch

Photographer Peter Funch spends weeks taking photos on Manhattan street corners and then pastes them together into single photographs.

A wonderful idea I wish I had time to execute here in Stockholm, as it’s something best left for the weekend or retirement, me thinks.