Ignacio Palacios
Landscape | Last Updated: April 4, 2024
I am a Spanish photographer based in Sydney who is best known internationally for my travel and nature photography work. I have had the privilege of travelling around the world since 1998, gathering an extensive collection of images of people, places, wildlife and landscapes across more than seventy countries on five different continents.
In the last four years, I have been focusing on photographing Australia’s landscapes. I have received Australian and International awards and have been finalist in some prestigious competitions such as the Veolia Environment Wildlife Photographer, National Geographic, Australian Geographic, Eyes of Asia, Head On and the International Loupe awards. My work has also been published internationally in photographic magazines such as Australian Geographic, Australian Traveller and Better Photography Magazine.
For me, landscape photography requires a certain state of mind as well as craftsmanship and judicious use of Photoshop. Patience, dedication and a bit of luck are as important as the right camera, lenses, tripod and technical skill. I like the creativity and effects that Photoshop can add to the picture and use it together with other programs to capture the reality of a place.
Medium Format Equipment
With 40 megapixels, the Pentax 645D produces extra-sharp, super-high resolution images. This will be used exclusively for landscape photography, mainly at sunrise and sunset.
• Pentax 645D medium format
• PENTAX D FA645 55mm f/2.8 AL IF SDM AW
• PENTAX super wide angle lens D FA645 25mm f/4 AL
• PENTAX SMCP FA*645 300mm f/4 EDIF W/C – designed for film with some fine autofocus tuning works perfectly
• PENTAX SMCP FA645 macro 120mm f/4 w/c
• x1.4 teleconverter that I use with the 300mm when I want to reach very far
• Pentax shutter release cable
• 2 x Markins Plates P67U – to be able to put the camera vertically in the tripod
DSLR camera
I have been thinking of a good combination of cameras to take on the trip. I have all Nikon gear but I was not convinced by the quality of the Nikon D800E compared to the Pentax so I have decided to take the Pentax and to buy the Fuji XT-1 to shoot during the day. The Fuji XT-1 is small and light and I think it complements the Pentax perfectly. The camera is great to photograph people and travel shots. It is not intrusive and for people portraits and other travel shots I like to walk with the camera around my neck all the time. I can’t do this with the Pentax. So I will use the Pentax during sunrise and sunset and the rest of the time it will be in the car or in the hotel.
The XT-1 will be my video camera too.
• Fujifilm X-T1 body
• Fujifilm 18-55mm lens f/2.8-4 R LM OIS
• Fujifilm 10-24mm f/4 lens – not shown in the photograph but is coming with me
• Markins L-Bracket Camera L-Plate (PF-T1 + LF-T1) for Fujifilm X-T1
• Fuji XT-1 flash (comes with the camera)
Tripod and head
• Gitzo GT1542T Series 1 6X Carbon Fiber Tripod
• Markins head Q3 Emille Travel
This is the best combination of travel tripod I have found. It is very light and small and it holds my medium format. The photographs are tack sharp. I don’t need a bigger tripod when I am travelling for a long period of time. I probably don’t need a bigger tripod full stop. Too much hassle and weight. I will not bring my RRS Sliding Panoramic MPR-CL II NOdal Slice and PCL-1 Pannig Clamp. Too heavy to travel and not essential.
Bags
• f-stop Satori EXP with a small Fstop Pro ICU Internal Camera Unit – This is my check-in luggage and takes the 300mm, the 120mm lenses and the x1.4 teleconverter. A great hiking camera backpack.
• Lowepro Pro Runner 350 AW – will take most of the equipment in this bag – this is my hand luggage. It weight around 10.5kg. If I have issues, I put a lense and some weight in the f-stop Satori EXP
Other equipment
• Iphone 4s and charger – will be changing SIM cards in every country I visit
• Ipad and charger
• Laptop computer ASUS Inter Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 500 SSHD, charger and mini mouse with the following software installed:
Photoshop
Bridge
Lightroom
Nik Software
Helicon Focus
PTGui
Photomatix
Capture One
Adobe InDesign
ProShow
fotoQuote Pro 6
Adobe DNG converter
Microsoft Office
Nero
Filters
• Filter holder and 66 to 77 mm converter ring
• B+W 77mm 3.0 ND 110 Filter
• Neutral Density and Polarizing filters in two sizes to fit the Pentax 25mm and the 55mm lens
Batteries and battery chargers
• Jackery Giant Rechargeable Battery – for up to 220 hours extra of operation time. I can charge my batteries, iphone and ipad if I am on the road for a long time or in a remote location
• Belkin Travel Surge with USB – to be able to charge two/three devices if there is only one power point
• Fujifilm World Adaptor plus USB charger
• 2 x Pentax Battery chargers – I take two chargers and I keep one charger in the Lowepro and the other one in the Satori EXP. If you lose a charger, you might not find another one for a while so I always take two chargers
• 1 x Fuji XT-1 charger
• Three Pentax Batteries (One battery in the camera and the other batteries/chargers one in each bag)
• Two Fuji Batteries
Memory Cards and Storage
• 3x32GB SanDisk Extreme Pro SDHC 95MB 633X (2 for the Pentax and 1 for the Fuji)
• Cleaning equipment (sensor cleaning kit, blower etc.)
• 2 x 2 TB – WD My Passport Ultra 2TB Portable External USB 3.0 Hard Drive – I keep one in the Lowepro and the other one in the Satori EXP. The hard drives have a catalogue with high resolution photographs of my trips that I might need to send to clients, or to work on different projects.
• Pelican Memory Card Case
• 2 x Hard Drive Cases for protection – one soft and one hard/Pelican type. I keep the soft one in the Lowepro and the Pelican in the Satori
• 500 GB – Solid State Hard Drive Samsung – This one has a selection of photographs and videos and it is always in my pocket
• USB cables – different types
Other
• Headlamp
• Kindle with a few novels
• Business cards
• 1 year Travel Insurance with Columbus Travel
• 1 year Equipment Insurance with PPIB
www.iptravelphotography.com.au
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