dmitriy_babichenko

<p>Thank you guys for all your responses. I selected a few photographs and asked the couple if I could use them for advertising and they said no. Oh well. I'm disappointed, but I am going to honor their wishes.<br>

Thank you everyone </p>

<p>I use a MacBook Pro for 90% of my editing - when I'm at home, I just hook it up to a monitor. The ability to edit photographs on the go is much more important to me than the extra processing power of a desktop. My editing desktop mostly collects dust nowdays.</p>

<p>I have always respected my clients wishes and privacy - even though my contract explicitly states that I can use the photographs for pretty much anything (that includes advertising), I understand that some people feel uncomfortable with having their photographs on the web or in magazines. <br>

Last month I photographed the most amazing Goth beach wedding in South Carolina - that's right, a Goth beach wedding. I really want to use them at my next bridal show as well as on my website. However, the couple asked me not to use them for advertising. Because of how unusual the wedding was (I've never seen anything like that in 12 years), I've been going back and forth on whether or not to use the images.<br>

Any thoughts on the subject?</p>

<p>I recently bought a set of AlienBees CyberSynch transmitters and receivers to replace my stolen PocketWizards.<br /> <br /> For some reason, when I mount my flash on the camera's hot shoe and plug the CyberSynch transmitter into the PC socket, it won't fire remote flashes. If I turn off the hot-shoe mounted flash, the remote flash fires. I tried this setup with a Canon 40D, 50D and a 7D and with Canon 580EX and 430EX flashes, all with the same result. <br /> <br /> Anybody has any suggestions?<br /> <br /> Thank you</p>

<p>Ed,<br>

Unfortunately, I was not able to recreate any of the missed events. By the time I got in, the cake was carted away and sliced by the caterers and there were so many other events scheduled (like gift-giving, which took over an hour) that we had no time to go back and re-shoot staged scenes. I suggested that they redo the first dance (I event asked the DJ if we could fit it in), but with everything else that was going on the bride and the groom did not want to risk throwing off the schedule of the wedding. </p>

 

<p>Arie,<br>

Thank you for you suggestion. I just sent the bride an email suggesting that. The only problem is that if she files with me for refund on the venue, we would not be able to do it in small claims court - my refund to her was $900, but I'm sure she paid well over $10,000 for the venue. That's too much for a small-claims court.</p>

<p>I photographed a wedding a few weeks ago where the venue where they held their reception is causing me a lot of problems. The country club where the reception took place contacted me 2 weeks prior to the wedding and asked me to fax them a copy of my professional liability insurance policy and a copy of my health insurance policy. In my 12 years as a wedding photographer, no one ever asked me about health insurance, but OK. I scanned both documents and emailed copies to the country club. I called them back the next day to confirm that they received my email and they said that they did and that everything was in order.<br>

On the wedding day, as I start unloading my gear, the manager stopped me at the door and informed me that my attachment somehow got corrupted and that they could not open it. He told me that he cannot let me shoot the reception until he has proof of my insurance. I told him that I don't have a physical copy of my professional liability insurance with me, but I do have a scanned copy in my DropBox account and if he let me use their office computer to go online, I would be more happy to provide them with all the documents they need.<br>

The manager told me that "for security reasons" he cannot let me use their office computers. I had to call my wife, who at the time was taking my daughter to a play date. My wife had to rush home, pull up the documents and email them to the country club. To make a long story short, because of this I missed the first hour of the reception - the country club manager called a security guard to watch me and my assistant so that we did not go inside the banquet hall. <br>

The bride and the groom tried reasoning with them as well, but to no avail. Essentially, I missed photographing the tea ceremony, cake cutting and the first dance. The couple was really upset because their uncle came all the way from China to participate in the tea ceremony, and now they don't have any professional photos of that event. <br>

I showed the couple my "Sent Mail" folder to prove that I did email all the paperwork. Also, even though I was not at fault in this situation, I refunded the couple part of their payment - I got a lot of referrals from their family and wanted to keep them happy. The country club refuses to take any responsibility for their unprofessional and unreasonable behavior. Moreover, after I sent a very polite letter to the country club explaining the situation and requesting that they refund me the money that I paid back to the bride (I really was very polite and professional in the letter), they called me and informed me that I can never work at their venue again.<br>

I'm not sure how to handle this situation - any advice would be greatly appreciated.</p>

<p>Sorry, I did not realize that CyberSyncs were made by ALienBees.</p>

<p>What about AlienBees triggers - I have four of their AB-800 monolights and they've been extremely reliable so far (I've had them for 3 years now).</p>

 

<p>I was wondering if anyone had experience with Impact radio trigger/receiver systems. I need to be able to trigger 10-12 flashes at the same time. Currently I have a pocket wizard transmitter and two receivers, but I cannot afford to buy 8 more pocket wizard recievers. The Impact ones are a lot cheaper, but I was wondering if they are reliable.</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Sheri,<br>

When I originally signed up with Stargate, they did not even offer yearly subscriptions (that was 5 years ago). To be honest, I did not even know that MidPhase was the one who ended up bying their servers until I started having problems.</p>

<p>Hal, different people have different priorities. While I love my job (and I take it very seriously, by the way), the vacation was paid for two months prior to this particular photoshoot. Postponing this vacation would have meant losing $3000.00 in airfare and hotel costs. Moreover, my wife is 5 months pregnant, and it was our last chance to take a vacation before the baby is born. Postponing was not an option. As I stated before, my only faux pas in this situation was not bringing the photos with me.<br>

Ultimately, the fact that I lost some money is not even the biggest issue here. I hate the way I was treated by MidPhase, I hate the fact that they refused to accept any responsibility. Yes, I may not be their biggest client. I do photography jobs that range between $100 and $5000 and I always do my best to treat my customers with the utmost respect no matter what they are paying me. <br>

I screwed up by not brining photos with me on my vacation, but I accepted responsibility for it and refunded money to my client (even though my contract specifically stipulates that I am not responsible for delays due to technical problems/failures). I felt that I was at fault by not having a backup solution and I admitted responsibility. MidPhase's billing and support departments, on the other hand, spent a week pointing fingers at one another.</p>

<p>Hal,<br>

My vacation was planned two months before I was approached by this client. He was aware of the very short notice, and of the fact that I was leaving on vacation. I warned the client that I was leaving two days after the shoot, and he told me that as long as he gets the photographs, it's not a problem. <br>

John - I read contracts very carefully. However, I never actually signed an agreement with MidPhase. I originally set up my website with Stargate, that was later bought out by US2, which was bought by MidPhase a year ago. You are absolutely right - I should have been more accurate with my backups. I should have taken my client's files with me on vacation. However, I've been running a successful photography business for 10 years, and have dealt with a multitude of different vendors. I have NEVER seen such disregard for customer needs and such disrespect as I did with MidPhase.</p>

<p>Ian,<br>

The client could not wait for the images until I get back home - they needed them for a press release. I do not have any relatives in Pittsburgh, so no one has keys to my house except for my wife and myself, so I could not ask anyone to retrieve the files and send them to my client. <br>

Thank you for your suggestions - from now on I'll always take files from recent jobs on my vacations just to avoid this kind of headache. I just really wish there was something I can do legally against MidPhase. Even if I cannot recover my money, they should learn not to treat their customers like they don't matter at all.</p>

<p>Three weeks ago I did a fairly high profile photoshoot for a local company - I got headshots of the CEO and some product shots for a press release. Since I had to leave for a vacation two days later, I told the CEO that he'll be able to download photos from my website.<br>

When I arrived to Florida, I got a call from him saying that my website was down. I called the hosting comapny (MidPhase) - they were very vague about the problem but told me it'd be fixed ASAP. Next day, the website was still down, so I called them again. After a few hours on the phone with billing and tech support, I found out that they moved to a new billing system and my automatic payment (charged monthly to my credit card) did not go through. So, instead of contacting me to rectify the problem, they simply deleted my website.<br>

To make the long story short, I had to refund the money to a client. I also lost another client because of the downtime - I met with a bride before my vacation and when I contacted her later she said that because my website was down for so long she thought that I went out of business and hired another photographer.<br>

MidPhase (the hosting company) was not able to restore my site - they could not find a backup of my database. I restored the files from my own backup and moved my website to GoDaddy. However, the database contained all photograph captions from the past 5 years and my blog entries from the last year. Essentially, not only did I lose clients and money, I also lost a ton of data. Not to mention that my vacation was totally shot because I spent hours on the phone with MidPhase and angry clients. <br>

I know that it's my fault for not backing up my database. However, two weeks of downtime is not acceptable by any standard. Moreover, MidPhase did even apologize. Instead, they simply stopped returning my emails. I contacted 4 separate attorneys and none of them want to pursue this case because the amount of damages is small - $800 that I had to refund and another $2000 that I could have made from a wedding. <br>

What should I do? I don't want to let this go, but I don't know where to turn.</p>

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Thank you very much for your responses and suggestions. The thing is, I've been shooting weddings for 10years, and never had an issue with not being discreet. The reason I posted this question here was because three people commented on the shutter noise of my cameras. For the record, in all cases I was shooting from the back of the church/temple, in the church I was using a 300mm 2.8 lens (it was an incredibly large Gothic church) and a 70-200 f4 in the synagogue (smaller sanctuary). Normally I wouldn't think of this as an issue, but since several people noticed the shutter noise, I decided to be on the safe side and ask a question on this forum. I think I like the suggestion of getting a G10 - I need a high-end PS camera anyway, and I could use it during those occasions when absolute silence is required. Once again, thank you very much for taking time to address my concern.

I shoot weddings and bar mitzvahs with a 5D and a 40D. I've never had complaints about the shutter noise of my

cameras until about 2 months ago. I photographed a wedding and a bar mitzvah where the priest and the rabbi

(respectively) complained about the noise of my 5D (clicking of the shutter and mirror slap). This Saturday I

was stuck in the back of the church next to the videographer and he complained that my 40D shutter noise

interfears with his audio recording.

 

Since I cannot justify buying a digital rangefinder, I was thinking about picking up a Canon Rebel XSi (450D) - I

heard that they are much quieter than their bigger brothers. Has anyone used 450D for professional wedding work?

How's low light performance?

I am a professional wedding photographer. For years, I've been using Quantum battery packs with my flashes. In

January of this year (2008), I decided to try the Sunpak TR-2000 battery pack because unlike Quantum, it has a

user-replaceable battery. I used the pack for about 2 months (shot 5 weddings with it). Then the pack stopped

charging. I sent it to ToCad America, Sunpak's representative in the US. I called their customer service 5

times and every time they'd tell me that they'll send a replacement at the beginning of next month. It's been 10

months, and I still don't have a replacement. I wrote an email to Sunpak Japan as well as sent them a letter of

complaint. No response and no replacement battery pack. This summer I had to buy another pack since battery

packs are critical for my work. Now I'm out $250 for the Sunpak battery pack and $300 for the Quantum. And I

still cannot get an answer from either Sunpak or ToCad.

 

What should I do?

I agree with Mathew Rossi. I split my time about 50/50 between software engineering and photography. This way if one career goes down the toilet, I'll have the other career as a backup. Stick with computer science, my advice would be to get an internship before you graduate. At the same time, find a professional photographer who might need an assistant on weekends and try to learn as much as you can about photography business.

If you want an out-of-the-box solution, go with Crumpler - they make high-quality bags that look like regular messenger bags. I bought 4 different Domke inserts and I can put them in any shoulder/messenger bag when I need to be inconspicuous.

Ed,

 

I had a similar problem with one of my Feds. Even though the back seems to be pretty tight, a broken latch causes light leaks. I ended up buying a broken Fed (the same model) on ebay for $5 to replace the back. Until I found a cheap body for replacement part, I used two strips of velcro (one over the broken latch, another one on the body).

I have a confession to make - I am obsessed with Soviet-era cameras - Smenas, Zenits, Feds, Zorkis, etc... I

grew up with those cameras and even though I shoot digital for my commercial work, I cannot seem to abandon those

clunky metal ugly ducklings. Over the years I've accumulated about 30 Soviet cameras. Most of them are in a

working condition and a few of them have been professionally CLA'd (the ones that I grew up with). However, I

still have 5 or 6 cameras that are broken. I don't want to invest money into repairs but would like to learn how

to repair them myself, especially since I am hoping to collect every Soviet camera model ever made.

 

I was wondering if you guys could recommend some resources for learning how to repair mechanical cameras.

 

Thank you

 

Dmitriy

I charge separately for a second photographer so it doesn't affect my bottom line. The only time when I absolutely require a second photographer is when there are more than 200 guests and the couple wants a lot of guest photographs. Otherwise, a second photographer is optional and will cost extra.

A few years ago I did a documentary about the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl. Because of many security issues I was only allowed to bring one camera and no camera bag. I shot the whole thing almost exclusively with a Canon 17-85 (I also had a 50mm 1.4 lens in my pocket and used that for a few shots). While I own better lenses and would never use 17-85 for wedding/commercial work, I was happy with this lens as a one-for-all solution. The images were more than acceptable and my clients were happy with the results.

Last weekend I photographed a wedding where the bride was a bit overweight. She wore an open-shoulders dress and

stretchmarks on her shoulders are clearly visible in all photographs. Photoshoping stretchmarks out would take

many hours of work. All you wedding photographers out there - would you remove the stretchmarks or just hand

over photographs as is.