POTN Safari around South/West Africa - we are baaack :-)

BeccaNH wrote in post #2236099
Whooohooo!

hehe.. I feel like dancing!!.. this is possibly the coolest thing i've ever done.. now, how to speed up this winter?..

sari

What I will do is just forget it pretty much from now. I have some minor route improvements to do, but basically I need to register with a Doc and ask about 'shots', maybe Pat can double check the latest anti-malarial options, Becca can take her time with recipe's and provisions list, I'll get a new long lens around May time (Birthday!) and I might do a 4x4 refresher course. Not much else to sort until a month or so before, then confirm everything again, double check visa situation and then twiddle thumbs the last few weeks ... oh, during which time I will reduce and reduce my packing down to the perfect minimal amount that will work without undue hassle

I know! It seems sooooooooo far away, but I'm sure that its going to sneak up on us!

condyk wrote in post #2236168
What I will do is just forget it pretty much from now. I have some minor route improvements to do, but basically I need to register with a Doc and ask about 'shots', maybe Pat can double check the latest anti-malarial options, Becca can take her time with recipe's and provisions list, I'll get a new long lens around May time (Birthday!) and I might do a 4x4 refresher course. Not much else to sort until a month or so before, then confirm everything again, double check visa situation and then twiddle thumbs the last few weeks ... oh, during which time I will reduce and reduce my packing down to the perfect minimal amount that will work without undue hassle

oh dave forget about it.. sure ya will... I believe ya.. .. yep it is truly time to sit down with the doc and telling her what my plan/plot is and what her opinion would be.. now that i've bought the plane tickets there's no changing my mind.. .. see how that worked?.. pretty good huh?.. .. and ofcourse getting passport stuff sorted.. (my father is useless I tell you. useless ).. and slowly start buying the extras that i'll need for africa, I hardly have the wardrobe for it and ofcourse i'll continue to debate the telephoto lens situation.. (about that tokina?)... and wait around for summer. I absolutely have to have everything taken care of by May because after that I will be working more than what should be humanly possible until it's time to fly off to meet Beth in Denver..

sari

saravrose wrote in post #2236193
oh dave forget about it.. sure ya will... I believe ya.. .. yep it is truly time to sit down with the doc and telling her what my plan/plot is and what her opinion would be.. now that i've bought the plane tickets there's no changing my mind.. .. see how that worked?.. pretty good huh?.. .. and ofcourse getting passport stuff sorted.. (my father is useless I tell you. useless ).. and slowly start buying the extras that i'll need for africa, I hardly have the wardrobe for it and ofcourse i'll continue to debate the telephoto lens situation.. (about that tokina?)... and wait around for summer. I absolutely have to have everything taken care of by May because after that I will be working more than what should be humanly possible until it's time to fly off to meet Beth in Denver..

Yup ... a watched kettle never boils; we all know that. Clothes is something to think about too on my list. i think I already got a list of stuff together in my 'packing list' I posted a month or so back. I need to check. I think I have most of what I need. I just need to get a few tshirts and something to sleep in. Be embarassing to wake up and find your arse has been hanging out the tent and a Monkey is using it to peel a banana with

The Tokina is a decent lens. As I said in my review of it the Bigma is a better lens option because of range, HSM and IQ, but the Tokina is cheaper and much smaller and IQ is not that different if used well. It would suit safari as it'll be well supported on a beanbag. I only sold mine because I couldn't handhold it consistently and I wanted it for the next year or so and not just the safari. If you can still find the Mk II version cheap (B&H had them on offer a while back) then worth a go. Full price of the new 'D' model is too close to the Bigma to recommend I think.

and I come back to the bigma.. which, I will ultimately get I think.. that 500mm would be too good to resist and it really does perform well.. But, I have some time before I need to make a purchase, and who knows what the bigma will do in price from now to six months from now..

sari

condyk wrote in post #2233523
Nice saying there ...

My Mom's little quips are frequently based on some sort of literature... she's a voracious reader.... so I wondered where "full of piss and vinegar" may have come from and found this:

Meaning
Rowdy, boisterous, full of youthful energy.
Origin

The earliest citation we've found is from 1938 in John Steinbeck's, The Grapes of Wrath:

Grampa walked up and slapped Tom on the chest, and his eyes grinned with affection and pride. "How are ya, Tommy?"

"O.K.," said Tom. "How ya keepin' yaself?"

"Full a piss an' vinegar," said Grampa.

There are other similar phrases that came long before that which may be the source though. In 1922 Joyce has this in Ulysses - "All wind and piss like a tanyard cat."
As far back as 1602, in Return from Parnassas - "They are pestilent fellowes, they speake nothing but bodkins, and pisse vinegar."
Those earlier citations appear to indicate a more negative meaning to the phrase. 'Wind and piss', or as it is more often given 'piss and wind' is usually taken to mean empty talk, full of bombast. Vinegar is associated with sourness and acidity in many other citations.
Vinegar has been in the language as the name of the familiar liquid since the 12th century. During the 1920s vinegar was used to mean vitality and energy. That's the meaning in 'piss and vinegar'. At that time many phrases indicating a general perkiness and vitality entered the language, often for no other reason than linguistic exuberance. It's most likely that the phrase originated around then, possibly as an adaptation of the existing 'vig and vigour', which means much the same.

saravrose wrote in post #2235527
MY PLANE TICKETS ARE HERE!!!.. Ryan know officially thinks i've lost my marbles.. but they are here.. in my own little hands!! (putting my head between my legs to calm down)...

sari

YAY!!!!!!!

saravrose wrote in post #2236193
...until it's time to fly off to meet Beth in Denver..

sari

Oh boy!!!!

condyk wrote in post #2236257
Clothes is something to think about too on my list. i think I already got a list of stuff together in my 'packing list' I posted a month or so back. I need to check.

I think I need to print out and review that list and then practice packing. Oh. And a bag. I guess I need to go out and buy a bag. I *really* want to try to avoid a bunch of last minute purchases...

eenorton wrote in post #2236426
... 'piss and wind' is usually taken to mean empty talk, full of bombast.

Good term for the lens forum me thinks

I am new to this site and this thread, but ... when is this safari suppose to occur?

August/september 2007.

I got a really crazy idea for when we are back.

How about a book like the POTN book that is being worked on.

Wouldn't it be cool to have a book with photos by the 6 of us from this trip? For $40 we could have a book with as much as 23 full page photos per person.

tommykjensen wrote in post #2246960
I got a really crazy idea for when we are back.

Not so crazy ... I was thinking about that. One problem is that if all my shots suck then it will spoil the book for everyone else. Also, I dunno if I would make much use of it. For example, I have some Safari shots mounted but I don't really look at them. I also have a good printer and lots of expensive paper but I never print Another option is to get a book of ones own shots as definately be easier to show than viewing on screen when people visit, but I guess the cost would be high to do that. I guess I like shooting and safari more than looking at the shots afterwards Even so, I would consider it if the quality of shots and print/paper was good.

I am going to make a test book with 20 pages (smallest book) and see how my photos will look.

tommykjensen wrote in post #2247028
I am going to make a test book with 20 pages (smallest book) and see how my photos will look.

Perfect

I suppose worst thing that could happen is that I get a book done of my shots and I realise that it isn't bad, but it isn't that good either and I never set out to be average at anything Maybe I need to hone my PP. I keep saying it but don't do it. I am fine with my eye, exposure and composition but for wildlife shots to go that extra mile you need outstanding PP. Maybe that should be my next project - less shooting and more PPing. I got a great fat PP book but never read it

I would love to get a book of shots from all of us. I'm sure that all of you are going to have much better photos than I am, so at least I will have some nice pictures to show people from our trip!