Our family took the proverbial mega "summer vacation" back in 1970, driving from Miami Florida to Vancouver BC and back over a two month time period. I took several hundred Polaroid pictures on that trip. Unfortunately, all of the colors from the pictures had turned to various shades of brown and grey after a few years.
Three attributes/assumptions about me, all completely wrong. Wrong again.
I would never had noticed your opinion of the British, looking back you don't seem to like them, why is that?
PS,
I'm English.🙂
I just pulled out the Lumix G5 micro 4/3rds camera that I had bought my daughter about 6-7 years ago. She used it on a trip back then but as with everyone else just found using her phone to be good enough. There is a "standard" 14-42 zoom, and also a long zoom that went with it, plus I bought the adapter for Pentax film lenses that allowed a 50mm/F1.4 to be used in manual focus mode/auto-shutter mode. That Pentax lens took incredible pics with that camera. But she was more interested in point and shoot, which the zooms allowed, but it was still too big.
My son just bought himself a pocket size camera for shooting concerts where they won't allow anything big in. He said his iPhone just wasn't doing it well, but he hasn't had much luck with the camera yet either.
I still get emails from DPR, Digital Photography Review, and it feels like they are targeting a smaller and smaller audience.
My son just bought himself a pocket size camera for shooting concerts where they won't allow anything big in. He said his iPhone just wasn't doing it well, but he hasn't had much luck with the camera yet either.
I still get emails from DPR, Digital Photography Review, and it feels like they are targeting a smaller and smaller audience.
Impressive picture.
Besides the technical issues, such as perfect use of available very difficult high contrast lighting, I love the composition.
Those dominant converging lines (people - control panels - monitors - top window line) are perfect; with the extra bonus of the window line coming from the right intersecting it and the cherry on the cake: the top right wall area could have been boring plain flat light green and nothing else, but those vertical lines give it "interest" and a useful part of the composition.
Bonus points for the atmosphere: even if you had not said so in words, watching that picture makes me whisper too 😉
A true Masterpiece.
Who says "Commercial Art" isn´t also ART ????
It looks very close to the one we have for Christmas and with which the Canon sensor struggles. I changed lighting conditions and did White Balance calibration prior and it never works.
That's the first thing to check. What I did for my previous Powershot Canon was to install a free alternate firmware on the SDCard, and that allowed accessing the RAW format. There's alternate firmware for the Canon mirror-less cameras which looks interesting for movies.
From there, I was able to detect the location of dead pixels and create a map of this.
From the map, all pictures taken in RAW were able to be automatically properly corrected in post-processing.
Post processing nowadays is vastly more advanced than just a few years ago when I tried, thanks to Neural Nets and tons of data to work on. Changing things like Resolution and Frame Rate with very high quality is now possible, to the extent I think even cameras with less features (low res, low frame rate) can be used and the results can turn out great after AI post.
Thanks. It's nice to know you can appreciate my work.
A lot of people don't realize how difficult it is to "make" a shot on demand.
Once I accept an assignment, I have to deliver otherwise my reputation goes down the drain.
When that happens, nobody would give me the next job.
Advertising is a very small industry. Words travel fast.
That is so true.
That's why I only work with top art directors.
They are what I call "professional buyers".
They understand photography and equally important, they are experts in managing photographers.
Believe me, some can be very difficult to work with.
Like Divas, except it's the male version which known as Divos.
I've had a few of those self-proclaimed 'Divas" and 'Devos' come into my shop on rare occasions.
Except they weren't as smart as they believed they were.
Likely that they were internet-informed obsessed nutbags, common since the internet was born.
And trying to accomidate them was impossible, so I simply showed them the front door. 🤣
Except they weren't as smart as they believed they were.
Likely that they were internet-informed obsessed nutbags, common since the internet was born.
And trying to accomidate them was impossible, so I simply showed them the front door. 🤣
Since the top Argentine Musicians come to my shop, I had to adapt to them or lose sales/customers big time.
Funny thing is that the very best and most experienced ones are the easiest to work with. 😱
Funny, kind, amicable, they ask what they want, listen to suggestions, and in general demand real world results, not fairy dust sprinkled over.
I attribute it to their already being on the top, and for years; in general they don´t have to "prove" anything to anybody.
Now the would-bes, pyramid climbers, etc. ... oh my God!
Divas of the worst class, most unreasonable and conceited.
Oh well.
Funny thing is that the very best and most experienced ones are the easiest to work with. 😱
Funny, kind, amicable, they ask what they want, listen to suggestions, and in general demand real world results, not fairy dust sprinkled over.
I attribute it to their already being on the top, and for years; in general they don´t have to "prove" anything to anybody.
Now the would-bes, pyramid climbers, etc. ... oh my God!
Divas of the worst class, most unreasonable and conceited.
Oh well.
Spock(shakes head slowly and sadly)- "Humans..."
Seinfeld- "People! They're the worst!"
Seinfeld- "People! They're the worst!"
I don't envy you. I have no tolerance for such people.
Fortunately, I don't deal with the public. My main market was advertising agencies.
I had no issues with the art directors that I worked with.
Once in a while, corporations or state institutions call upon my services.
That's where it can get tricky.
One such example was a government board, one of the big ones.
I shot their annual report and the Managing Director was very pleased with the results.
One fine day, his secretary called saying that her boss would like to see me.
I thought maybe he would like to brief me on another project.
On the day of the meeting, he welcomed me in his office.
After some pleasantries, he told me that he will be leaving soon.
I heard later that one of the big corporations in the the private sector bought him out.
He went on to explain that he would like to introduce me to the guy that's taking over.
A few minutes later, the new guy came in.
So far so good.
Then something odd happened. This meeting had nothing to do with me.
He was actually briefing the new guy about the organization.
From where I was, it's obvious that he didn't think much of him.
I felt very uncomfortable because he more or less got a dressing down.
After the briefing, the guy left and the Managing Director thanked me for my time.
And that was it.
I wasn't sure what to make of this. A few hours of my time wasted and no assignments.
Mind you, the outgoing MD was a very nice chap and very bright. He was noted for his vision.
It occurred to me later that my presence during the briefing was to embarrass the new guy.
That was when I discovered how politics are played in the real world.
Obviously, this new guy hated me when he took over.
He could have continued to engage my services but instead he started to create trouble.
Maybe he expected me to suck-up to him now that he's the man.
That's just not me. I don't play games.
So I went on my way. This new guy is not my kind of customer. Best I stay away.
About 10 years later, he was arrested for fraud by the Corrupt Practices Investigative Unit.
This was a high profile case. Senior civil servant arrested.
He was found guilty and sentenced to jail.
I cannot remember how many years he did time.
Whatever it is, he's life is over.
Looking back, I think the outgoing MD must have identified that this new guy had some serious character flaws.
I never had the chance to find out. He died from some serious medical issues after he left the civil service.
He was one of the two people that made an impression on me during my years in photography.
I shall leave the other person for another time.
I worked in a TV repair shop for two years while still in high school. Then I ran the service department at the #1 (in sales $) Olson Electronics store in the country. The store was #1 for one and only one reason. It was next door to the ticket sales office for all events at the nearby University of Miami. Frat house row was right outside the back door of the store. My guess at the time was that about half of the students there were interested only in a 4 or more year long party on daddy's money, and some of the daddies had lots of money. A good percentage of these people could be VERY hard to deal with. Ever try to tell an engineering student why he can't connect six sets of speakers in parallel on a 1970 vintage solid state receiver? Most od the engineering students understood or wanted to learn. The "experts"......I learned to work with most of them and even made enough friends to be offered a partial scholarship to the UM school of music by getting some awesome sounds out of the ARP 2600 in their music lab, and I wasn't even a student.
You don't get there by being arrogant or showing potential customers the door. A change of management (for the worse) at Olson forced me to make an important decision, accept that 10% of your customers create 90% of your problems, and a crooked manager will steal a good percentage of your time and money, but I got to play at an expensive music school, or I could quit Olson and accept a job offer at Motorola as a tech on the assembly line for $3.57 / hr. Olson folded within 5 years, and I worked at Motorola for 41 years, collected two engineering degrees on their dime, and left as a principal staff research engineer making a bit more than $3.57 / hr. Some of the people at the UM music lab went on to become famous, but most did not.
Good for you.
Sometimes, the choices we make affect our future.
I am reminded of a fellow photographer I met when I was just starting out. He was a couple of years older but had already made a name for himself.
He was a nice guy, easy to get along with and funny. One day, he confided in me that he couldn't shoot the model yesterday.
He was so exited he just wanted to bed her.
I was quite taken aback. I thought he was joking but no, he was serious.
I said to him "you've got to get your act together. This can destroy your career".
But he said he couldn't resist. Every time he sees a beautiful girl, he just wants to bed her.
Honestly, I've never met anyone like that.
As photographers, meeting beautiful and sexy women are part and parcel of the job.
That doesn't mean it gets to your head and sex takes over.
I don't think he was able to overcome his sexual urges.
In the few years that followed, I was way ahead of him in the business.
He was still floundering in the past, kind of stagnant, going nowhere.
That was in the early 80s. Fast forward 30 yrs, One day, I was told he died from COPD.
It was quite sad to see him bedridden, with tubes in his nose. His breathing was labored and he could hardly talk.
I guess all the "good" life, the drinking, smoking and who knows what else, finally caught up with him.
It's a shame. He had a good eye for women but his personal life was a mess.
At my shop, I maintained being 'reasonable' and personable every day.
If you, as a customer, came in for service, it was because you don't have the resources to repair the equipment you just put on my front counter.
It kept me in business for decades, and I aquired quite a following, along with a splendid reputation.
Our services were diversified, and kept pace with current technology.
From a 1929 era radio, up to the current flatscreen sets, and everything in between.
We rarely had a 'slow spell' in traffic. besides, we liked to keep busy.
But if someone came in with an attitude, and demanded that they were more knowlegable, basically insulting our abilities - the door was their quick way out.
After the production lines moved offshore, I worked in a facility that had nearly 1000 engineers and a few thousand other people mostly college educated. Some were average people, and some were genuine rocket scientists. There was one of the rocket scientists who was about 50 years old at the time, and married with kids who had the same problem. By all accounts he was hugely successful with 57 US patents and several other technical achievements. There was an on site fitness center where he was one of the big guys. A young blonde girl, probably about 30 years old got a job in that gym and he couldn't say no. Within a year he had left his wife and kids and was living in an apartment with the girl and her daughter. Now he is in prison because he was caught in bed with the daughter. It happens everywhere.
One of the mid level managers that I was friends with also abandoned his wife for a younger woman. When things took a downturn Motorola offered buyouts to certain groups. Mr. Manager and his new girlfriend took the buyouts and went off to party together in about 2003. Between the two they probably had between $100K and $150K just from the severance package. We heard that the younger woman left hem when the money ran out, and when the economy tanked in 2007 we found a little article in the Ft. Lauderdale newspaper, our friend was broke and living under a bridge in a nasty neighborhood where someone had murdered him for his tennis shoes. It happens everywhere.
Unfortunately, the Olson Electronics store was highly dependent on the University of Miami. Sales and repairs were really slow in the summer when the school was half empty. It got even slower when the discount HiFi stores opened nearby, but I was working at Motorola by then.
The ones that wiseoldtech showed the door weren’t going to pay the damn bill anyway, so nothing is lost.
Once, a long time ago, I remember a woman came in with a 1940's Bendix brand AM table radio.
She got it from ebay, and during shipping, it was damaged, bakelite case was cracked.
I could tell by her attitude that she was gonna be a problem.
It was agreed that I was to look the set over, and give her a call with an estimate.
Well, the radio needed a complete restoration as they all do, and the cracked case was repairable.
In original condition, it was not safe to even power up, with frayed cord and wiring.
She came in to further haggle over the estimate, and insisted that the radio worked.
She also insisted that I plug the set in at the counter to confirm her so-called findings, against my firm recomending that it wasn't wise to do.
So I explained that if it got damaged I wouldn't be liable - anything to shut her up.
Yeah, the radio powered up, and static was all it got, then she yelled that the dial lamp (a single #47 bulb in the middle of the dial) was not right, and that the whole dial should light up evenly.
Which I know was impossible for that model.
This was getting too much to deal with.
She accused me of not installing the bulb properly - even though there was no other way it could be mounted.
At this point I knew this wench was a goonbag, and told her to get the hell out of my shop.
There comes a point when you have to use foul language.
