monday 13 july

After having to delay the Borneo trip a couple weeks ago it has been hard to restart the engine — my self diagnosed Delayed Departure Depression I wrote about. This past weekend I could feel the DDD lifting. I woke this morning with a renewed energy for the project and getting rescheduled for flying to Kalimantan. The weird part was a ‘need’ for shopping therapy. 

Feeling fully re-engaged I am committed to expanding my iPhone 6+ use in Borneo above that which I started in Cameroon. I have never thought of myself as a slave to shopping, but must confess after clicking the ‘buy’ button in the shopping cart on Moment’s website this morning there was a certain feeling of satisfaction. Maybe as a photographer it’s not really shopping therapy as much as new gear therapy—nothing like a new lens to make you want to get out and create.

The new lens is from Moment lens which designs and makes cinematic quality lenses for mobile devices. I have gravitated increasingly to filming with the 6+ — I especially love the slo-mo capabilities of the iPhone. Frustratingly the iPhone as it stands does not film wide enough for my creative needs (and despite Samsung’s new comparison ads, their device doesn’t film enough wider either.) The Moment lens is 18mm wide-angle equivalent (in 35mm formatting.) Supplemental lenses for the iPhone 6 series of devices have been slow to emerge, unlike the wealth of options for the iPhone 5s. So I’ll start with the 18mm, which should work beautifully in the rainforest and in the sanctuaries, and get wider as new lenses emerge. 

So, shopping maven I’m not, and I cringe at the thought of this shopping ‘need’ becoming addictive (probably nothing a few weeks in a distant rainforest won’t cure), but perhaps a wee bit of new gear therapy is what the doctor ordered.

I’ll post a few sample 18mm with iPhone 6+ filming as soon as the lens arrives.

2015-2016 Global research and reporting on great apes made possible in part through the generous financial support of the Philadelphia Zoo