Visit to Europe in Autumn

Fall 2022

Photographer / Sawako Minami

I always use Markins ball heads and L-plates when taking landscape photos.
This time, I'm using them to take street photos in Europe, so I prepared the Q3iTR-BK traveler model ball head and Sony α7 III to match the GITZO GT1541T traveler tripod.
Of course, I went around Belgium and France with the α7 III equipped with a dedicated L-plate (PS-A9+LS-A9), and I think this combination of equipment was very useful despite its compact size.
So, I first tried taking a video of this combination in Bruges, a famous tourist destination in Belgium. Unfortunately, it wasn't an external microphone, and there was also some noise from overtourism. Still, I hope you can get a taste of the atmosphere of the scene.

*If the video does not play, please watch it here.

The Markins L-plate is thinner than other companies' L-plates, but has excellent rigidity and no wasted space between the plate and the camera body. Therefore, it fits perfectly when held in the hand, so I like the one for the Sony α7R IV, but the L-plate for the α7 III that I added for this interview is also the best.
Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy, France, was very crowded when I went there before and I didn't feel like going inside, but this time it was empty so I walked around and took pictures inside, which was like a fortress.
Even I, who am not good at handheld shooting, was able to shoot without any trouble, and I was able to enjoy shooting without feeling any discomfort due to the plate, even when taking sudden shots or while walking.

Also, when shooting with a tripod, I could attach the camera to the head or change from horizontal to vertical position instantly without any hassle, so the overseas photographers around me looked at me and asked me many questions.
(This was a first for me, who never shoots in urban areas.)

The L-plate, which is an essential item for me as I love using Arca-Swiss compatible dovetail type ball heads, has the great advantage of being able to change from horizontal to vertical composition without changing the optical axis, but I felt that there are still many photographers who do not know this.

And one place I really wanted to visit this time was Pointe du Rât, located at the western tip of the Brittany Peninsula in France. However, when I arrived, it was raining heavily and the wind was blowing. Naturally, I got soaked, but I braised myself and walked for 20 minutes with my camera in my shoulder bag, until I reached the statue of Mary watching over the people stranded in the sea in front of me. Visiting this place and being able to capture this scene in photographs was the happiest thing for me.

The next day, I set up a GITZO Traveler tripod at the same spot, and of course the head was a Markins Traveler model, and I used a Sony α7R IV with a FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens to take a picture of the dawn at the sea. I was a little surprised that I was able to take a picture without any blurring even with this heavy combination, even in the wind. You can see what happened in the following video.

*If the video does not play, please watch it here.

Both the Gitzo tripod and Markins ball head are compact yet reliable, and I realized this again this time. If you are wondering what equipment to bring on a trip, this is the perfect combination.

Sawako Minami

Graduated from Keio University, currently living in Tokyo. While working as an English interpreter, he began taking landscape photographs in 2010. While competing in the bimonthly "Fuukei Shashin" magazine contest, he was fascinated by the natural beauty of Iceland and held a solo exhibition "Iceland: Drama at the End" at Fujifilm Photo Salon Tokyo in February 2019. The exhibition traveled to Osaka and Nagoya. At the same time, he published "Traveling with a Camera in Iceland" (Fuukei Shashin Publishing).
He is currently active as a landscape photographer. In Japan, he continues to take photographs of the natural scenery of eastern Hokkaido.
The solo exhibition "And Iceland Again" will be held at Nine Gallery (Tokyo) for six days from November 29, 2022.
URL : https://www.sawakominami.com/

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