This last month has been trying - the weblog dashboard would not open for business because of IT security mechanisms - and nothing was going to come out in the morning from CE.
This might be a relief for some - no three columns per week to worry about - but for this writer it has been a frustrating time. Hopefully the blockage is cleared and we should be able to carry on.
In the interim, Isabelle has posted several good columns from the shop computer - one about Leica cameras and one about Marcus Bell, the renowned wedding photographer. Good writing, Isabelle, good rescue, and a good evening at the Marcus Bell event.
I attended it and learned a lot. Marcus is far better at the wedding business than I ever could have been - and his images showed this. But the real lessons for a weblog reporter were different:
a. Do not go to an event under-gunned. I did, and was sorry.
I normally take a Fujifilm camera to shop events. The size of the weblog images I need is small, and an APS-C sensor with a fast lens can cope with most sights. Even if I boost the ISO shamelessly, I can lock the Fujifilm on a Sirui mini-tripod and get good shots.
But for Marcus's talk at the Friday Studio I took a small point and shoot that someone willed to me. I was tempted to see if it would cope. If the studio had been lit well, it might have - as it was, it struggled to deliver anything without the flash and nothing would have been acceptable for publication.
There was a reason we shot with 4 x 5 Speed Graphics in the day...
b. Take that tripod - I did have small table-topper with me and was able to do the old trick of holding it against the wall to get a steady result. See heading image.
c. Get to the buffet before anyone else. The spread was magnificent, so I snapped it before the eaters descended. Good tip for any catered affair - even if you are not pocketing the olives for later, everything looks better undisturbed.
d. If ever I give a photo talk, I'm going to make sure that while the audience is in the dark, I am lit up. And I don't mean the wine - I mean I want to be seen as I speak...
Sorry about that, Marcus. I'll do better next time...
e. When all else fails, and the files look like something from Seurat, resort to either making them monochrome, passing them through an art program, or putting on some text. If you dance fast enough no-one can see your bare feet...
