Do they do it to you ? They do it to me - every time. I sit down in the chair and the barber asks me how I want my hair done. " Tapered back - quite short, please " is my standard answer. Then they ask me whether they should use clippers or scissors...
I am impressed by backpackers who set out to tackle the world with only what they can carry. More impressed with the ones who head out of town trudging on the side of the road than those who get aboard a jet airliner...
This one popped up on the radar in Murray Street - and it was completely unexpected - the online catalogue for the main Barbershop site did not list it at all. It was only when I looked at the images provided by or Australian wholesaler - C.R. Kennedy - that I was able to get details for this case. Well, this is magnificent. It is known and the " Heritage " and it surpasses even the " Quiff " as a period piece. Because make no mistake about it - this has gone well past the point of being a little handbag to haul to the shops - this is full-blown period travel luggage. The only other place you see things as wonderful as this are strapped to the rear of vintage cars. The term " Carry On " on the Kennedy site suggests that it is suitable for in-cabin packing on domestic flights. These specify either 105 or 115 cm as a linear total of length, width and height. The " Heritage " comes to 106.5...
I was sorely tempted when I saw the " Quiff " in the Barbershop online catalogue to choose it instead of the " Bob Cut " for my studio bag. Now that I have seen an example of the real thing in the Murray Street shop in grained black leather I am quite jealous...
As you'll no doubt pick up before the end of the week - the Barbershop bag company like to name their products after hairstyles or things to do with facial hair. It's a harmless fantasy, and one that I find charming. I note that when you get to their camera straps they use " Sideburns ", " Moustache " and " Full Beard " as names plus a wrist strap that is called the " Razor ". At present they do not seem to offer what is rather inelegantly termed a " bum bag ", but if they ever do, I am hanging out waiting for the name. I could suggest a few, but I'll bet they would ignore me...
This week I get to show you a line of products that have captured my imagination - the Barbershop range of camera and photographic bags. There are new stocks of these in Murray Street and Stirling Street - and you'll be well advised to visit each shop as there are different models in each one. The Murray Street shop was my first stop but I wasn't able to take any of the bags for illustration - I had ridden the train into town rather than the car and couldn't carry any of them back home with me. So I posed them in the shop and hoped that the colour temperatures of the various light sources would not clash too much. I mention this because people seeing the pictures might get a false impression of the colours of the canvas and leather used in the bags. Yet another reason for coming down and actually hefting the goods in-store and seeing them in their true hues. The basic display of the smaller bags is shown in the heading image. Barbershop make models ranging from compact shoulder...
Don't be sad, Kamahl. You may be lonesome but doesn't mean to say that you have to have distorted music. I discovered these headphones in the video cabinet at Stirling Street while reviewing rigs for adding monitors and lights onto DSLR cameras. As most modern cameras take decent video, and some take extremely decent stuff, there is more and more interest in the sound component of the show. Most cameras will have a basic microphone somewhere and the better ones have provisions for not only better microphones to be feeding sound in, but for some form of monitoring of that sound as it is going in there - or at least as it is being replayed. That's the function of this pair of Sony MDR 7506 sound monitors. They are extremely accurate as well as being extremely comfortable. I realise that anyone who has worn cans in the Western Australian summer might doubt this, but insofar as you can put up with the hot ear syndrome, at least you will not have to feel like your ears are being crushed. That padding is soft....
Well, I've teased you long enough...
Do we all remember Dr. No in the James Bond novel? Wasn't a very nice person, was he? His name was chosen for sinister overtones and because everyone reacts negatively to negativity. No? It's the same in the photo game and on the shelves of the camera shop. N0-name is not going to do you any good. It hasn't done the amateurs any good and it won't improve matters for professionals, either. Consider the case of the no-name off-brand products that used to be sold in Aden in the 60's. Aden was the stopping point at the bottom of the Red Sea where emigrant liners to Australia from Britain would call in to give their passengers a chance to be fleeced. Decades of 'em streamed into the shops and bazaars to be sold electrical and photographic goods - and presumably brass ware, rugs, and native daggers. The brass ware, rugs, and daggers may have been local products but the electrical goods and the slide projectors were from the recesses of Hong Kong or Taiwan and were likely to have been sent out...
So good to see you here - out on this limb, so far above the ground. Nice to have company. Don't jiggle, people. It's not that strong a limb. I've asked you all here to discuss the business of names in the photo trade - or more specifically, brand names. You may all be a little surprised to learn that each one of you has a brand name. You might not have it printed on the outside of your package or plastered on the back of a bus, but it is there for people to see nevertheless. And this applies to you whether you are making pictures for money, love, or to crush your enemies and drive them before you. The outright professional workers who run a business and sell a product have long recognised this. The smart ones make sure that everyone in town recognises them. They pay out a great deal of money to appear on the backs of buses and in as many publications as they can. Aside from the law court reports, nearly any publication is good news. They...