sagephotoworld.com

Where I got my bridal shower - I read and replied to posts on camera club boards. I'm doing the shower free in the hope that it'll be getting my name around rather than anything else. Already a lot of people say they like my website. I need to get more photos on it hence I'm doing this free but getting the organiser to make sure everybody signs my release so I can get people's photos on my website.

It's nothing to do with you. It's that she met her love. She and he chose a photographer together. She probably completely forgot about what you agreed or her husband had a different preference.

 

Whatever the reason was, you need to loosen up. You're dwelling so much upon the past that it's eating you up. As somebody else says - let it go. You have your life. Live your life and when you find your perfect woman, you'll forget or laugh at the emotional tangles you wove for yourself.

I have umbrellas although i wonder whether a small flash unit with a carboard reflector might not have been a better, more economical idea. I also have 4 light stands and a background stand and wonder whether I was right in tooling up with all that lot too.

It's a shame but scams are ever more popular. I won some lottery or other every day or so. Last time it was the Coca Cola lottery. That was interesting because they asked me to send money to South Africa as opposed to Nigeria. I know it's not true for the same reason I know it's not true when loads of banks tell me there's a problem with my account...

 

I never enter lotteries so I never collect winnings on something I never entered. I never give banks my email address because I change my email address occasionally and cannot be bothered to remember to whom I gave which address. Thus I know all bank emails are fake.

My wife wants to run my business for me - lol.

 

She said she wants me to charge either 50% before and 50% before delivery of the images or she said 1/3 on booking, 1/3 on the day and 1/3 before delivery of the images.

I'll sell you my roll for $1000 or a 70-200 F4L IS in mint condition.

I'd just print it out on my printer - editing it with Open Office or NeoOffice or whatever your favourite WP is.

 

When it's seen in a photo it's not possible to assess whether it's a piece of card or the real thing.

"When Hitler attacked the Jews ﾅ I was not a Jew, therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the Catholics, I was not a Catholic, and therefore, I was not concerned. And when Hitler attacked the unions and the industrialists, I was not a member of the unions and I was not concerned. Then, Hitler attacked me and the Protestant churchﾗand there was nobody left to be concerned. " Martin Niemöller

 

Where will the oppression go next?

One of the things that annoys me is not that the government tries to fulfill its role in keeping us safe. It's that they do so in completely the wrong way.

 

In the old days Britain would send a few warships to a naughty country and sink all the ships in the harbours, demolish all the area around the docks and then sack the capital city. That would keep the riff-raff in check for quite a few years. When they got uppety we'd go and do it again. It worked.

 

These days the villains have better weapons and more of them so the old ways don't work any more. The way that will work but which will take time is to remove the reasons these people have to attack us. That does not mean capitulating.

 

The current wave of terrorism is nothing to do with Islam. Islam is the excuse the terror masters use in order to recruit the weak-willed to do their bidding. What the terror masters want is simply to become boss; to have what we have in the west and to have control over their lives and of those of others.

 

Beating that is all about winning hearts and minds and bringing up the standard of living in other countries. It is not about aid. It is about education and encouragement.

 

The emphasis on chasing people who act suspiciously or who take photos seems to me to be painting over the paper over the crack! Having said that, it is something we will have to endure while the current wave of terrorists continues and until we have won the hearts and minds of the rest of the world.

 

With luck and a fair wind, if travelling photographers can produce photos of the misery and suffering in the rest of the world and bring it to the attention of the public then public pressure might get more change underway. I don't mean pretty National Geographic photos that make poverty, misery and disease look cute. I mean photos that show the brutal reality of the situation.

None of those tripods are good enough.

 

You need a decent tripod. I would recommend as a minimum the Manfrotto/Bogen 3021 series. Add a 3D head - I have a $50 ProMaster 3D head and it;s rock solid.

 

A flimsy tripod is something you will regret buying and will have to toss in the trash before buying a decent one. Buy wisely and it works out better than buying on price.

Best Buy, WalMart and Circuit city are good places to look at gear but rotten places to buy it. I recommend buying from B&H.

 

The XTi has a fairly inexpensive cable remote. There is a radio remote but it's horribly expensive.

The whole point is not that the governments of the world are actually being successful about combating terrorism. The whole point is that they are seen to be doing something to combat terrorism.

 

I will liken this to Margaret Thatcher in the UK who blamed all of societies ills on an unidentifiable and defenceless group called "the unemployed" (most of whom her government's policies helped to become unemployed). Later John Major's government realised that "the unemployed" had become a tired argument that nobody believed any more so he blamed societies ills on "single mothers". My dad calls this policy: "papering over the cracks".

 

At this point in time, most people have mobile telephones. Most mobile telephones have a video and photography facility. It's possible to take photos with a mobile phone under the pretext of making a phonecall. It's possible to set the phone down on a bench while sitting and reading a newspaper, thus videoing the target installation to get a good recording of security procedures. Heck - you don't even have to be facing it - you could just use the reflection in a car door or a shop window - that's how I used to check if I was being followed when I was working in the Baltics.

 

The whole point is that however useless the policy, the government feels more powerful in people's eyes if it is to be seen to be doing something. This is really a thinly-veiled disguise over what they're really doing. What they're really doing is introducing an element of fear into society. When people are afraid of being snatched off the streets and incarcerated without trial for a couple of months (currently the case in the UK) and robustly interrogated then they will fear their own shadows and won't want to step outside their front doors. This makes the government's life easier as it keeps the honest people off the streets and out of what's left they can pick and choose who the real terrorists are.

I encountered an Epson rep in Staples today. We had quite a long chat about

Epson printers. About 3 months ago I was mis-sold an Epson CX 9400 Fax (this is

not the same as the CX 9400 F) . I was told it would network (which it doesn't).

I also discovered it will not give me a B&W print or B&W photocopy when it's out

of magenta ink! So - the rep got to hear of the issues so it'll be interesting

to see what effect if any this has on Epson. Speaking of which I guess I really

should contact Epson directly.

 

I know everybody told me not to buy an all-in-one but with its built-in card

reader and scanner, it's an irresistable item. The print quality is decent

enough too. What kills this for me is the non-performance when an irrelevant ink

is empty and the non-networking problem. If anybody wants to give me $130 for

this $190 printer then I'll be happy.

I don't "add" sales tax. I just take it out of what I charge. The customer doesn't see me go through the tacky-act of adding sales tax at the point of sale - unless I'm charging them next to nothing. In that case I add it. In most cases I just don't see the point and just charge enough anyway.

Yes. Why not supply what others do not such as Contax/Yashica or Pentax/Olympus or Praktika/Zenith?

Just having fun, Mary.

 

So... how do you get the shampoo off a lens - it tends to be thick and gunky. I was wondering whether spraying silicone on the front element would help?

The Nikonos V should be fine. The soap running down the front of the lens could be a problem though.

Steve, Eneloop type batteries could be better. My NiMh batteries are old and creaky 1700mah and I'm getting 2000mah Duracell low-discharge instead.

I was emphasising that it's a business. I see many people thinking ooh a paying hobby but it;s very different. It is 90% business and 10% photography. That reminds me I need to register my sales for last month!

I started out with a contract but decided to go for just a group release. With no contract, it'll be hard for them to sue if something goes wrong. Plus I'll be there with one body, one lens and one flash. My spares will be safely locked away.

Macro tubes?

I think that since one of the people I'm dealing with is in the attorney general's office, I shouldn't be led far astray :d

Ok. Well, I just emailed the person with whom I am communicating with a group release. I downloaded an Ithica College release and modified it.

My problems with Amazon were - as far as I know - directly with Amazon.

 

1. A book bought new and allegedly in-stock took 8 weeks to arrive when the alleged delivery time (I paid for 3 day delivery) was 3 days. I even specified I needed it within 2 weeks. I chased them 3 times then initiated a chargeback. Only when they had the chargeback communication did they even bother shipping the book.

 

2. A charger ordered that was supposed to be in stock was mysteriously out of stock a few days later and the delivery date was changed to three weeks hence. They then changed it again and again. After almost 6 weeks I cancelled the order and issued a chargeback. They clearly were not going to supply although they had charged me when I ordered!

 

3. A book arrived that was supposed to be new. It was the most dog-eared tatty piece of trash I'd ever seen. I sent it straight back and demanded a refund.

How does that cover wedding photos though?