Photo Tour to Papua New Guinea

Stunning photography in PNG
Jim Zuckerman

I haven’t posted a blog for the past couple of weeks because I was leading a photo tour to Papua New Guinea. In many of the places I visited, notably in the heart of the jungle, there was no Internet and at times no phone service at all. Below are a few of the shots I took, and during the next few days I’ll be posting many more on my website (jimuzuckerman.com) in the category “Papua New Guinea Sept, 2005”.

Traveling to PNG is like going back in time 20,000 years. The cultures there are right out of the stone age. The people were friendly and happy to be photographed; indeed, many thanked me for taking their pictures. It was a remarkable experience, and the entire tour group was overwhelmed by the amazing shots they got.

The big event we went to see and shoot was the annual Sing Sing in Goroka, situated in the Western Highlands. Sixty three tribes participated, many walking for days to get there (one tribe walked a week, barefoot, to compete in the festivities). It is an astounding riot of color and form and culture, and I think this is the most amazing photographic event anywhere on the planet.

Instead of carrying a laptop computer to download the images from my flash cards, I used instead the Epson P-2000, a 40 gig portable hard drive. In fact, I carried two of them, one used as a backup. In the digital world, it’s essential to always backup photos. The two hard drives are much smaller and lighter than carrying a laptop, and they fit into a smaller space. I was shooting the Canon 1Ds Mark II, and each 2 gig card gave me about 109 photos.

All of these pictures were taken in RAW mode. This is critical because it not only provides the highest resolution, but the highlights are protected from blowing out with no detail. The worst thing you can do to a photo besides making it out of focus is losing detail in the highlights. I also underexpose all my shots by –2/3 f/stop. In the RAW converter, I then lighten them to my satisfaction while paying special attention to the highlight detail. This is my insurance. Digital photography is great, but one of its vulnerabilities is the issue of retaining subtle detail in the highlights.

Comments

[JohnJo]

Those are fine photographs. The first, I think, is particularly strong.

I have to say I giggled when I read:
"In many of the places I visited, notably in the heart of the jungle, there was no Internet and at times no phone service at all"

How we have come to rely on these comforts. Indeed, not so many years ago this sentence would have confused and bemused even the technocrats of the day.