Chris McLennan in Alaska in 2010

Loweprofessional photographer Chris McLennan is about to embark on yet another adventure — one we will be following closely over the next 15-20 days.

Last year, Chris photographed portions of the 2010 Iditarod Race, capturing stunning images of solitary sledders and their dog teams gliding through the frozen wilderness. This year, he has upped the ante and will be covering ~1200 km through the territory between Galena to Nome in order to tell the real story — the story of what happens in between check points when it’s just the dogs and their mushers braving blizzards, sub-zero temperatures and some of the harshest conditions on earth.

So he’s off to Alaska again to photograph the 2011 Iditarod Race, but this time with a twist. While shooting the race, he will be the subject of a documentary film and pilot for a proposed TV series. Over the course of the 15-day race, Chris and local guide and former Iditarod competitor Jon Korta will follow the teams along the race course, sleeping in arctic tents and Eskimo villages. They’ll not only be subjected to -40° to -60° Celsius temperatures, they’ll encounter the same challenges and hazards the racers face when traversing this hostile but beautiful expanse.

Read a the full story about this amazing adventure on Chris’ blog — and then watch for posts and updates here and on our Facebook page as the race gets underway on March 5th.

Safe travels, Chris!

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.

Australian photographer Stephen Dupont, a long-time Lowepro Featured Photographer, has recently updated his protective carrying systems to respond to both changing equipment, and the opportunities for smaller lighter solutions.

Stephen, co-founder of Australia’s Reportage Festival in 1999, and an award-winning photojournalist in the World Press Photo Awards, has authored four books, and produced a number of collector-edition limited print volumes. He has exhibited extensively around the globe, and is already well advanced with projects for 2011. His first will be a two-month documentary assignment in Papua New Guinea. 

For this assignment the need for flexibility, freedom of movement and rugged protection for the high humidity, hot temperature work, has led him quickly to Lowepro’s new S&F Series system. Stephen will use the S&F Deluxe Technical Belt and Audio Utility bag to support the high video workload of the upcoming assignment, in combination with his Canon EOS 5 Mk II camera system. He will be coupling it to the lightweight Technical Harness, with the Utility Bag 100AW for a spare camera body, and use the SlipLock™ loop system, to attach up to four Lens Pouches, Memory and S&F Lens Exchange cases to the main Harness.

“A key advantage of this new system is its flexible sizing and adjustable harness, along with its really strong materials,” says Dupont.

“When I return to Afghanistan later in 2011, it will be its ability to work over a flak jacket, yet still allowing for rapid equipment changes.” Stephen has been documenting the evolution of the country since 1993, nearly a decade before the shocking 9/11 events of New York.

“In the many situations I’ve found myself covering military confrontations, you just can’t use a conventional shoulder bag or even a backpack. I may often have both a film and digital camera and just a few lenses with me, but it’s vital I can gain access for rapid changes, or switch from stills to video shooting, requiring different shooting styles and different gear.”

Safe travels, Stephen.

John Swainston is the Senior Vice President of DayMen’s Asia/Oceania activities and Managing Director of Maxwell International, the Lowepro subsidiary in Australia. His background includes professional photography as well as sales, marketing and import/export experience.

The 2011 WPPI tradeshow is right around the corner, and we are feverishly getting ready for all the festivities. We’ve got some exciting things we will be unveiling, so if your not able to attend in person, you’ll definitely want to stay tuned to our blog and our Facebook page.

We are partnering with SanDisk and Pictage (they provide a platform for marketing, selling and fulfilling professional photo products online) to give away some cool prizes at the show, so be sure to stop by our booth and ask about the details.

And then there of course is the awesome product. We will have a ton of our hottest gear on hand for you to play with. If you haven’t had a chance to see our new Street and Field product yet, it will be there for you to put through the paces.  This modular system features the Lens Exchange 200 which has been getting amazing feedback from professionals around the world.

We will also be showing off the new Pro Roller Attache x50 which was just awarded Professional Photographer’s “Hot One” award for 2010. This is a killer product that gives professionals the versatility they need to be able to travel easily and comfortably.

We can wait to see you at the show!

Frank Filice is the Marketing Manager for Lowepro USA

I received an interesting email from Lowepro photographer Julie Dermansky about her travels to Egypt to cover the transition from former president Mubarak to the new leadership. I thought you’d find her comments interesting on many levels.

“I got to Cairo just in time for the key moment when Mubarak stepped down,” writes Julie. “Unfortunately my gear was confiscated at the airport. I managed to bring in a flipcam and a pocket camera, having hid them in advance, knowing that my gear might not make it past customs. I’m shooting with a point and shoot, but longing for my SLR. It’s hard to rely on limited gear in such an electric situation. That being said, I’m up for the challenge at hand.”

“The Embassy wrote a letter on my behalf to help get my gear back. There’s a room at the airport with over 100 confiscated bags/boxes of camera equipment.”

Tahrir Square in Cairo after Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman stated Hosni Mubarak's stepped down. Photo by Julie Dermansky.

I responded to Julie asking her to please keep me updated. The next day I received this note from her:

“I recovered the gear today with a dose of tenacity and luck! There are still hundreds of bags of confiscated gear — some nice Lowepro models among them.”

Yaay for happy endings! If you want to know more about the reporting of the event, here is a piece on The Atlantic website with video clips shot just after the VP announced Mubarak had resigned.

Derrick Story is the Photography Evangelist for Lowepro.

Pro shooter Ed Heaton just sent us an update about his latest adventure in upstate PA. As you can see, the conditions were rather icy. Fortunately, Ed’s gear was protected in a Pro Trekker 400 AW backpack. Here’s what Ed had to say about the adventure.

As a professional landscape photographer and workshop instructor, I spend a ton of time in the outdoors. Whether it’s making images for clients, my website or creating new images to use as teaching aids, I always have my gear in my Lowepro Pro Trekker 400 AW. It’s comfortable to carry fully loaded, and I feel pretty good knowing that my gear is protected from the elements.

Ed Heaton with Lowepro Pro Trekker 400 AW

My latest adventure was a visit to Rickett’s Glen Natural Area, a national landmark that boasts a series of wild, free-flowing waterfalls, which this time of year are frozen! The 94-foot Ganoga Falls is the highest of 22 named waterfalls in Ricketts Glen State Park, and it’s one of the most scenic areas in Pennsylvania. In order to hike into the falls area in winter, you’ll need a good set of ice crampons and a solid nerve. With the mist from the falls combining with the below-freezing temperatures, it’s a winter wonderland.

Thanks Ed for the update. You look great with that backpack. Photo credit: Michael Lawrence (a friend of Ed’s).

Derrick Story is the Photography Evangelist for Lowepro.

Greg Lowe at Photokina, 2010

Greg Lowe, 1967

Folks are often curious about Greg Lowe, the original founder of Lowepro. Is he a real person or just part of the corporate story?  And if he is real, what’s he up to these days?

Greg Lowe is definitely a real person — and an amazing one at that. He is the ultimate entrepreneur, founder of both Lowepro and Lowe Alpine, an accomplished mountain climber, photographer, Adacemy Award nominated cinematographer — in other words, larger than life.

Jeff Lowe on the Eiger, 1991

Greg’s brother, Jeff Lowe, is famous in his own right. As a legendary mountain climber, he has the distinction of being the first — and only — person to climb the nearly impossible route up the very center of the Eiger Nordwand in Switzerland. The story behind this incredible feat has become legend. For nine days in the winter of 1991, Jeff’s climb was all the more amazing because he was totally alone — no partner, no assistance from ropes or bolts left by previous climbers. Near the end, out of food, wet and chilled to the bone, he underwent a transformation that literally changed his life.

Jeff Lowe in the Alps, 2010

Now, 19 years later, the brothers are teaming up to film Metanoia, an inspirational, feature-length documentary about Jeff’s life and climbs. With Greg directing and their eyes set on the late summer deadline for submissions to the Sundance Film Festival, they will soon be heading back to the Eiger to film Swiss climber Ueli Steck as he attempts to recreate Jeff’s historic climb.

Today, Jeff is confined to a wheel chair due to a rare, degenerative neurological disease. But as this project suggests, nothing has dampened his spirit. He is hard at work, raising funds to complete this project and will be right in the thick of things as the team films in Switzerland — getting back up in a helicopter to oversee the aerial shots and, in his own words, “having the most fun he’s had since the disease forced him to quit climbing seven years ago.”

So now you know. There is definitely a Greg Lowe, and he’s part of a family who continue to leave their mark  on the world.

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.

Imagine traveling all the way to Churchill, Canada — a tiny little town on the banks of the Hudson Bay, and finding connections almost every time you turn around. That’s exactly what happened on my trip there last November. In Winnipeg the  first night, I was having dinner and started talking with the two women seated next to me – only to find out they were on the same Tundra Buggy Adventure I was. As we talked a bit more, I discovered one of them, Val D’Elia is a videographer for the NY1 News and the other, Alison Wright, is a National Geographic photographer. It gets better. Alison is also working on a project with one of our featured 2011 Loweprofessional photographers, Ami Vitale, documenting the impact of climate change on women in under- developed countries. This project is sponsored by Ripple Effect Images. Watch for upcoming articles about the work they are doing. 

2009 Project Polar Bear Winners on Tundra Buggy 1: Top l-r: Sam Liest, Kaitlin O'Bryan, Miranda Vickery, Madison Vickery. Middle l-r: Rebekah Vickery, Rachael Vickery, Emily Goldstein. Front: Robert Buchanan, Sam Marsh

As we were chatting, along came one of the Project Polar Bear teams, There for Tomorrow — Emily Goldstein, Sam Leist and Kaitlin O’Bryan — from Louisville, Kentucky. The co-winners of the 2009 contest were here for their grand prize trip — a project sponsored by Polar Bears International and co-sponsored by Lowepro.

At lunch the next day, we found ourselves running into the rest of the Project Polar Bear team — The Vickery sisters: Rebekah, Miranda, Rachael and Madison — from Winnipeg. The last time I had seen any of the kids was at the awards ceremonies last April at the San Dego Zoo. It was great to see everyone — and to also find out that their projects are ongoing and the impact to their communities continues to grow.

To top it off, at dinner that night I noticed a women at the next table wearing a jacket with our Lowepro 40th Anniversary logo. I stopped by to say hello, and it turns out she had come all the way from the UK where she had found her jacket in a local camera shop. Not sure of it was Lowepro or the polar bear that prompted her to buy it — but it was great to see!

It was fascinating to experience the global reach this small, remote community had — and all because of the polar bears.

Sam is the PR and Photographer Relations Manager for Lowepro’s Worldwide Marketing team.