New York City, New York
Rainbow Photo Tours of
"Even though the roads are rough, and a little hair-raising at times, the drivers are obviously well experienced professionals, safe, courteous and capable. "
—TripAdvisor Reviews of Rainbow Photo Tours
New York City, New York
"This tour was extraordinary for so many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it really wasn’t a tour, in the sense that, since we had our own car, driver and guide, we could go wherever we wanted and, even more important, we could stop the car at any time to take the pictures that WE wanted to take. We didn’t impose on anyone else in the tour and they didn’t impose on us.
This flexibility was especially important to us, as Sabbath-observing Jews, because we were able to stay Friday night and Saturday night at the same hotel and then catch up with the rest of the group on Sunday or Monday.
Of course, the best thing about the tour was the incredible country of Bhutan: spectacular scenery, interesting people and extraordinary culture, all of which translated into images of which we are very proud.
Our fellow photographers were very congenial, the drivers and guides were terrific and Robin and Cathy did a wonderful job of coordinating with an expert touch without in any way being overbearing.
We can only say that whoever is lucky enough to be able to go on Rainbow Tours trips to Bhutan will regard him- or herself as extraordinarily lucky: we’ve traveled a great deal and have taken a great many pictures during the 45 years we’ve been married, but this was the by far best photographic experience we’ve had.
The images we selected for Robin’s website are, for the most part, our "best of the unusual." That is to say, we know that others in our group will have taken great photographs of scenes that we all shot together, so we selected several of places and people that no one else is likely to have seen. Of course, that doesn’t apply to the images of the Ura Festival, which we all shot and of which we expect that the other photographers in our group will submit images, as did we."
Comments on the Bhutan Photo Tour, by Sue and Win Robins
Fujifilm Finepix S2 (with "Hoodman" cover attachment for LCD)
80-400mm AF Nikkor
35-70mm f2.8 AF Nikkor
20-35mm f2.8 AF Nikkor
SB28 Nikon flash
1GB microdrive (2 each)
Gateway laptop with 80GB Iomega HDD pportable hard drive
Efilm pocket reader (connected via USB to laptop)
Tripp Lite two socket auto cigarette lighter converter
Rayovac NIMH battery charger plus 12 batteries (110 volt)
220-110 adapter for using Rayovac charger in hotel
I shot in RAW throughout, which meant that I got 80 images on a 1GB microdrive. I shot some 3500 images in 11 days of photographing, which meant that, while I was in the car, it was necessary to download one microdrive's worth of pictures while shooting the other. At the Ura Festival, the driver stayed near the car and I would rush back, connect the laptop to the Tripp Lite, insert the microdrive in the pocket reader and go back to the Festival to shoot more. It was easy to do.
I didn't use the Nixvue Vista "wallet" which Robin used to download his images. Instead, for less than $200, I had an 80GB portable hard drive onto which I copied my images from the laptop every couple of days.
Of course, the laptop meant an extra 6lbs of baggage, but the system worked very well for me. If what I wrote isn't clear, or if anyone has any questions about how I managed, feel free to get in touch with me. Robin will give you my e-mail address.
"This tour was extraordinary for so many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that it really wasn’t a tour, in the sense that, since we had our own car, driver and guide, we could go wherever we wanted and, even more important, we could stop the car at any time to take the pictures that WE wanted to take. We didn’t impose on anyone else in the tour and they didn’t impose on us.
This flexibility was especially important to us, as Sabbath-observing Jews, because we were able to stay Friday night and Saturday night at the same hotel and then catch up with the rest of the group on Sunday or Monday.
Of course, the best thing about the tour was the incredible country of Bhutan: spectacular scenery, interesting people and extraordinary culture, all of which translated into images of which we are very proud.
Our fellow photographers were very congenial, the drivers and guides were terrific and Robin and Cathy did a wonderful job of coordinating with an expert touch without in any way being overbearing.
We can only say that whoever is lucky enough to be able to go on Rainbow Tours trips to Bhutan will regard him- or herself as extraordinarily lucky: we’ve traveled a great deal and have taken a great many pictures during the 45 years we’ve been married, but this was the by far best photographic experience we’ve had.
The images we selected for Robin’s website are, for the most part, our "best of the unusual." That is to say, we know that others in our group will have taken great photographs of scenes that we all shot together, so we selected several of places and people that no one else is likely to have seen. Of course, that doesn’t apply to the images of the Ura Festival, which we all shot and of which we expect that the other photographers in our group will submit images, as did we."
Comments on the Bhutan Photo Tour, by Sue and Win Robins