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05 Aug

Posted at 07:59h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Peering into cabinets at Camera Electronic has been a major part of photographic culture in Western Australia for nearly 50 years. In some cases it has been peering and lusting and in others peering and wondering. It doesn't matter which degree of interest you take, as long as you take a good close look. I used to do so in Angove Street, then Fitzgerald Street, then Stirling Street. Now I can take the train down to Perth and peer into Murray Street. The staff are good enough to let me do this unobstructed, though occasionally I catch them peering back at me. In any case, it is exactly what Ron Frank used to encourage when he was setting up a store - the photographer who stands and ponders is the photographer who eventually reaches for their wallet. The older cabinets at Fitzgerald and Stirling Street were ex-library structures fitted with glass sliding doors and key locks. There were wall cabinets and floor ones - the floor ones could be ranged out like little glass tower blocks on a housing estate. They had...

02 Aug

Posted at 09:01h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

And the last post of the recent PhotoLive 2019 series. Look at the heading picture and see if you can find yourself in it. If you do, remember that you are what make it all worthwhile for the staff and exhibitors at this annual event. Those halls was full...

01 Aug

Posted at 08:47h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Being the old guy in charge of the film and book desk was a good deal at Photo Live events - I got a chance to scoot off occasionally and look at the other exhibits. Now you'd think that I might have seen everything before in the shop, but remember that there are representatives of firms that I don't normally get to meet and they've brought the newest of their offerings. So even I can be wowed by things. Before I go, a word about the Analog Line - the film business. To the surprise of many and the delight of others, film sales are tootling right along very well. There were enquiries and sales all day from our stock box and a half dozen people seeking film and developing information. Of course, for a lot of this I referred them to Fitzgerald's Photo Laboratory - the third stand down - but I was delighted to talk to the two ladies who enquired about normal grain and plate grain films. They knew what they wanted to do and pretty much how...

31 Jul

Posted at 09:15h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Remember Sunday sessions when you had to go waaaay out of town to get a drink - WA laws being what they were? Well, thank goodness there are no laws about enjoying yourself with photography on a Sunday, and we could all go down the The Novotel Langley and go mad. Not bad mad - the good kind. The workshops and lectures were well attended, I am told. I saw evidence of them as people streamed into the main show floor in between the event as and then flowed out again for the next one. I am not sure if there were people who did every presentation there was, but I'll bet there were a few who tried to. And well worth it if your stamina held up as each one of the presenters was an expert in their field - a real, working, expert. As were the trade representatives on the main floor - interstate as well as locals. Note: the different firms  are represented by sales people who are basically in competition with each other for your dollars. But they...

24 Jul

Posted at 08:06h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

Photo Live is coming again this Sunday. The Camera Electronic team will be working all weekend - on the pre-show fashion shoot on Saturday night at the Novotel Langley, and then all day in the displayand lecture halls at the same venue.  You've been seeing advertisements in your email and Facebook feed for weeks about this and if you've not gone to one, this is a good year to start. The Expos have been very popular with Perth's photographers every time they have been held, as they are a combination of trade show, bargain market, and photographic conference - all in one day. It's not just us at the Langley - there are stalls from all the major wholesalers and a number of Perth's dedicated photo businesses and photography societies. And there is a lineup of topnotch photo personalities to talk on their specialities in the lectures and shows. But a warning: the entry is a gold coin donation to Telethon and you can cheap it out for the whole day if you want to...

23 Jul

Posted at 07:20h in Blog, Dick's Rant by

That's a good dog. Now just let me attach this harness to you and then we'll all have fun. You have to admire dogs for their love and their patience with their humans. They are far more tolerant of us than we of them. But you've also got to admit that they let themselves be put into the most embarrassing and difficult positions. Take the ones that haul milk carts in Belgium and the Netherlands. Or the malamutes and huskies that draw sleds in the Yukon and Alaska. Or the poor devils that were harnessed to machine gun carriages in WW1. Great job that - a dish of Alpo and a maxim bullet...