The time has come, the Walrus (err.. Penguin) said, to depart for the white contingent of Antarctica. In just a few minutes, I am piling into the car with my luggage and camera gear and making my way to the airport for flights to South America and the subsequent journey down to Antarctica. This will be my last blog post until I return at the conclusion of the expedition on the 21st of December (post-Antarctic, I will have a few days on Easter Island to scout a potential workshop location). I am excited to be travelling back to Antarctica and guiding a group of passionate photographers to this miraculous continent on this dedicated charter. The eve of an expedition is always an incredibly exciting time and I am both keen and eager to get underway. See you in South America and Antarctica!

As predicted, Apple’s latest Sonoma 14.1.2 (update December 1st 2023) once again breaks the Canon Pro1000 Printer driver by overwriting the print system, which causes a double profiling error. Apple has continuously messed with the printing system on every significant OS update in recent years and has continually broken the Canon Pro1000 printer driver in each update. Apple’s need to continually mess with colour management and their need to try and control ‘everything’ has proven highly frustrating for those of us who print with Canon Pro1000 printers and who care about accurate colour. Each update necessitates a deletion of the corrupt Canon driver, followed by a hard reset of the entire printing system and re-installation of the Canon Pro1000 printer driver. There are many things I love about Apple products, but Apple! Please leave the printing system alone! We do not want your stupid Air Print un colour-managed system! Leave our third-party drivers alone!

Perhaps the worst part of Apple’s need to control the print system and 3rd party drivers (such as those for the Canon printers) is that many people will not even be aware of the issue and may not recognise the problem or know what caused it, or how to rectify it. Double profiling errors can be some of the hardest to diagnose, and Apple’s need to control the entire print system (including third-party drivers) is causing many unnecessary headaches. My advice for those of you working with Apple computers and Canon Pro1000 printers is NOT to install any subsequent updates to your OS once you have your printing system functioning in a stable and reliable manner. Lock your system down and ignore all but critical security updates. Or, be prepared to continually reset your printing system with each Apple update, reinstall your printer driver and start from scratch.

The photograph of the month for December 2023 comes from my recent Finland extension (Read the Trip Report) and is of a Blue Tit on an Autumn branch during a light rain shower. This photograph was set up using a hide, and the specially chosen branch (for its fiery colour) was deliberately placed next to a nearby feeder station. It was then simply a matter of patience to wait for the bird to stage onto the branch. The branch location was chosen with great care for the dark, clean background to help emphasise the colour in the leaves and colour of the bird.