General

Photo Review was represented in a group of approximately 40 journalists from the Asia-Pacific region who visited Sony’s Kohda TEC factory, where Cyber-shot digicams, camcorders, camera modules, printers and Memory Sticks are assembled. The factory is located in the Aichi prefecture, a little over an hour by bus from Nagoya city, which has the fourth largest urban population in Japan. The area, which is one of the three largest industrial centres in Honshu (Japan’s largest island), is home to well-known brand names like Toyota, Toshiba, Hitachi, Suzuki and Brother (see map).

Fountain pens have long appealed to me. In fact, this editorial started out as a series of disconnected thoughts and notes jotted down on the back of an envelope with a cheap, but functional, midnight blue plastic model.

Photographers who are confused about – or have yet to come to grips with – workflow management for digital printing should probably consider attending some kind of course that shows them the basics of a colour workflow. The type of course they attend will depend on their level of expertise, practical needs and, naturally, budget. While a lot can be learned about colour workflows through books and online, there’s nothing quite like hands-on experience to teach you how to control colour reproduction at all stages of the process from image capture to output as a print.

Machu Picchu, which was recently listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is a highlight on every visitor to Peru’s ‘must see’ list. Constructed on a mountain ridge 2,430 metres above sea level that sits between the valleys of the Apurimac and Uramba Rivers, it commands spectacular views of both valleys. Buildings on the site are believed to have been constructed around 1450, at the height of the Inca empire. However, the site was abandoned within a century when the empire collapsed during the Spanish conquest.

September 24-27, 2005: The most difficult thing about taking photographs in a strong wind is holding the camera steady enough to focus and frame the shot. The second most difficult thing – when the wind is gale force – is keeping your footing! We’ve had plenty of practice at doing both in the past few days.

Cusco is South America’s oldest continuously inhabited city and a delightful place to visit ø¢â‚¬” once you can handle the altitude. Located 3,350 metres above sea level in south-eastern Peru, it was the capital of the Inca Empire from the 12th century to the Spanish conquest of South America in 1532. Lying in a bowl-shaped valley, it has the dubious honour of having the highest levels of UV light of any city on Earth.

September 18-23, 2005: Shetland was in floor-to-ceiling cloud when we arrived on Saturday evening and it has remained mostly cloudy ever since, with intermittent drizzle. Fortunately we have been able to take advantage of occasional sunny breaks, although the wind strength has ranged from steady to strong and gusty. This isn’t abnormal weather for September up here and locals tell us the whole summer has been a bit disappointing weather-wise. However, as with Orkney, you never know what changes will occur so it’s best to carry on as normal.

Inca tradition has it that Manco Capac, the first of the Incas, rose from the waters of Lake Titicaca at Puno, under the orders of the Sun God, to start the Inca Empire, which would be centered in the neighboring region and city of Cuzco. As a consequence, an effective route of communication between the two cities was set up by the Incas more than 500 years ago. Our trip from Puno to Cusco retraced this route, which is part of a longer trail, popularly known as the ‘Royal Inca Trail’, that runs from Santiago in Chile to Guaca in Ecuador.

To complete our trip we had to return to Adelaide in the OKA, which had driven in from Birdsville at around 8 pm on the previous evening. As we had a considerable distance to cover, Brendan wanted an early start so we were up at first light to pack our trekking swags and leave them at the campsite for the next group of trekkers, who would arrive later in the day.