You sure do!Even if your digital cameras usage is sporadic and just around home, there is nothing worse than being caught out with a depleted battery when the good shots just start coming. Birthday parties do not slow down for you.Even worse - going away for a memorable vacation and running your battery down half-way through the first day. The rest of the tour bus passengers will not wait near a mains outlet while you try to recharge your one and only battery...
Those of you who have delicate constitutions and elegant ears may want to leave - we are going to open the box containing the photographic equipment and there may be language.Not every packaging designer wants you to get into the package. Some are jealous of the contents or the aesthetics or the zen or some damned thing and devise ways of excluding you. You don't just walk into Mordor...
The first of October is just over a week away - Thursday morning will dawn before you know it and you need to be prepared for it now. Here's a Camera Electronic checklist to ensure that you will be ready in time:1. Do you have that second camera body? If your first one fails on the evening of the 30th of September, will you have a second one ready to take over? Better call into the shop and purchase another one now and get the battery charged up in time for Thursday. A couple of spare lenses would be a good idea too.2. Is your camera set properly? If you have just been fooling around recently or experimenting with different settings you may lose valuable time on Thursday morning re-configuring it. best do it now and then attach a tag to the camera strap lugs with a ready-to-go code. Flouro colours work best for this.3. Have you remembered the grounding stake and connecting cable?4. No-one likes a card snatcher - when you suddenly need more memory it is really bad...
Well, you wanted to know what the manufacturers were doing with the packaging...
There's this movie in production about boxing. Not two Irishmen pummelling each other - boxing. Packaging cameras. I can hardly wait for the release.Now, this is going to be different from all the Yo' Tube videos of sad people taking their new camera out of the packaging while the rest of the world burns around them. This is going to be the inside story of the intrigues and murders in the Japanese packaging industry. If you don't believe they have them, consider these facts:1. Japan has a culture of wrapping and packaging. There is a Japanese cultural channel on Foxtel that has video reports from Japan and broadcasts whole shows on wrapping -foreigners watch Japanese retail sellers package different products for sale and ten comment on how it is done in their own country. The Japanese always do it better, and with more style.2. Japanese companies are quite competitive. Just like the feudal families used to be, They may not go round each other's head offices and shower the opposing office workers with arrows at lunchtime but the temptation is...
Polly Adler was right for many reasons...
We see many famous and successful professional photographers here in our shop. Award-winners, superstars, iconic ambassadors, and mentors. They are a wonderful experience and do us a great deal of good - not least in the matter of figuring out how much to charge for taking pictures. We don't have an exact number but their general advice is...
Not that you could tell that to the Japanese. Or my daughter.She currently uses a Fujifilm X-series compact camera and makes brilliant pictures with it...
Well, no. Or yes, if that would be better...
We all have slow periods in out photography - times when there seems to be no new thing to do or to photograph - times when the Latest New Look has been recycled from 1987. Our monthly visits to the camera club begin to pall and even a good argument late at night on a camera-fan forum seems to be unrewarding...