What next, Jessops?!

I've just read on the Amateur Photographer website that the UK camera retailer Jessops has stopped stocking Pentax cameras and they're quoting customer needs in relation to prices. If people don't want Pentax cameras, so be it. Don't clog up your shelves with the stuff. Limit their choice to what they buy to what you want to sell them. If they don't see the cameras, they might never ask for them. Hey, wouldn't it be a good business plan to make a list of, say, your 10 best-selling products in each category and then drop all other items further down the line so you can concentrate on them. And as they're your best sellers, you can bulk-buy from the manufacturer with a great big whopping discount, lower your prices to the customers even further and before you know it, you're singing and dancing all the way to the bank. Not a bad business strategy if you're a web-based retailer specialising in best-sellers and discounts. Certainly a bad idea if you have zillions of stores dotted across the country. Now, let's make a list of your 10 best-selling retail outlets.

(NB: I think Pentax are a great photographic camera manufacturer.)

"Be Prepared!"

Unfortunately, I don't know the Latin translation for "be prepared" as I might make it my motto. It's a belts & braces approach to work and I rather be safe than sorry.

This week I had to do a studio shoot but call me psychic (or cynic), I kind of didn't quite think it was going to be an "inside" job. And I was right. Unfortunately, because I had to spend one long day in a bitterly cold winter garden taking make-up shots featuring casualty wounds. Luckily I had brought my Speedlite and my brolly kit and was able to use it in connection with my ST-E2 to trigger it. I hadn't used it this way before yet. This is what I did. I set my Speedlite to "manual" and used the F-stop my light meter gave me. Then I adjusted the shutter speed accordingly. Yes, everything in manual mode. Here are three sample pictures - no worries, it's just make-up and not real wounds. I have desaturated the pictures a little so they're not too gory.When my ST-E2 battery failed I had to put the Speedlite back on the camera. I tried to keep it in manual mode but because I kept changing the distance to the models a lot, I found it worked better in ETTL-mode (plus 1 stop) but I kept the camera on the same manual settings as before. It also worked but created some shadows behind the models.

So, next time, I better take a spare battery for the ST-E2.

Cobh 'n' Cork

Don't you know this feeling when you see a bargain? You just have to stick out your grubby little hands and make it yours forever. Cheap Ryanair fares is one of the things I cannot resist. Day trips is another. What better when both can be combined. In the past I've been to Florence, Rome, Dublin, Valencia and Venice for the day. This time I got hold of a return ticket to Cork in the Republic of Ireland for, wait for it, two pennies including taxes. The 10 Pounds credit card processing fee came as a bit of a shock. Getting to Stansted airport from North London is usually more expensive than the flight itself.

The sun isn't yet up when I'm on the airport bus into Cork. And eventually I realise that the sun rises in the east (okay, the sun doesn't rise, the Earth turns ... no need to be that picky) - I turn 180° and can now read the map perfectly well and manage to reach the rail station. So, basically, I go to Cork and the first thing I do is leave it straight away to go to Cobh. Cobh, pronounced "cove" is just a short ride away. It's a lovely little city - colourful houses, pubs, seafront, boats, harbour - that was made famous by the sinking of the Lusitania nearby and it was also the last stop of the Titanic before setting sail towards New York. St Coleman's cathedral towers over Cobh and I expect it to be closed. I'm in Ireland, stupid, it's not just open, a mass is being held. After a couple of hours I'm back in Cork.

I criss-cross the shopping area and follow the quays along the River Lee. It's busy, lots of shops are trying to lure money-laden Irishmen and women to their sales racks. I resist, not that I wouldn't want to but my backpack is already wearing me down. Enjoying a peaceful break by the River Lee, I'm abruptly awoken by an excited woman who had just spotted a seal swimming upstream. Or was it downstream? "So have I", I mutter back, "very nice." I just about manage to stretch my neck about an inch to get a glimpse but immediately slump back and hug the wooden bench I'm sitting on. I love benches. I wonder if there are any "bench aficionados" gathering in forums on the web. Surely not! Two more excited Irishmen share the seal news with me. Friendly people the Irish, but they do talk a lot. Now I only have one more wish, find a nice pub and sit down. If my feet manage to carry me that far. My shoulders are hurting like mad, only my credit card hurts more when I have to shell out €2.50 for half a pint of Guinness ...

The Joys of Post-Processing

NOT! Dust spotting can be quite therapeutic some may say but if you have to plow through 1000 selected images, you quickly begin to loathe it. Before Christmas I had done some portfolio shoots for zillions of models at a make-up college and I had only colour-balanced and selected the images so far. A task in itself. Argh! The CD with images will have to go in the post tomorrow. I shot with one studio strobe but couldn't light the background at the same time. My 1Ds is notorious for dust spots. Really bad and as my sensor has got a tiny scratch, I need to adjust every frigging image. It was bodypainting shots mainly, and some of the make-up girls are real artists.





NB: Today (14th) they showed me some enlargements they've laminated and will put on the wall. It's not exactly the ones I would've chosen because my favourite ones are big close-ups and not the full lengths ones they selected. But I'm happy, no dust spots visible on the enlargements. Big smiles all around.

"I have a cunning plan!"

Or rather, "I had a cunning plan" because I just didn't quite get it together. The intention had been to take at least one photo a day - a kind of 365-day project - and on 2 January I already falter. I blame it on the flu. It's so good to apportion blame on someone or something. De dum. I feel better now.

But on 3 January I'm back out in force. Because of the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip, a huge demonstration has been called. I almost run over Tony Benn at the head of the march who suddenly appeared behind me with a woolly hat and no pipe. However, I manage to save the situation by uttering a faint "hello, how are you?" Pushing and shoving is on order and the lighting situation under Hungerford Bridge is awful. People are either half in shadow or half in bright sunlight or both. After a while the march begins to snake its way to the Houses of Parliament and the Cenotaph. Just behind the monument, a small group of photographers has set up shop. I see Marc V. again. He gets the shot of a burning Israeli flag. I don't. There's also Edmond T. with three Canons dangling from his neck and Jeff M. is also around. As the protest march slowly passes, shoes are thrown towards Downing Street. We probably all get the same shots. Shoes, the police cordon protecting the Prime Minister, irate protesters. When the demonstration has wound its way past me, I walk across the field of shoes and get a few more snaps as some people have left personal messages with them. I find them moving. Of course, I get late to the Trafalgar Square rally and circle the square a few times. Just no space of diving in. When the crowd finally disperses, I can see that a group of hassidic jews is holding up placards for a "free Palestine" and a tiny Palestinian boy, towering over the masses by sitting on his father's shoulders, is proudly making the "victory sign". Sweet. He has got a great big smile on his face. He is way too young to understand what is going on around him. Later I take pictures at the embassy in the High Street Ken area but I feel it's time to go home.

Here is a link to some images which I have posted on Photoshelter: http://pa.photoshelter.com/gallery-show/G0000LKTxw2ZsKS0

New Year's Day

So I eventually decided to get out of bed. Flu had started to hit me the night before and I was in two minds about what to do. But then, pictures don't come to you, you have to go out and get them. I had always missed the New Year's Day parade in London and didn't even know that it was called "London Parade". I really wanted to be good. New year, new start, new whatever. I wrapped up warm, gulped down half a cup of lemsip and embarked on the first photo op of the year. Yeah, it could've been on New Year's Eve but I had snuggled up to the warm radiator in my local pub in Highgate and didn't let go of it until the obligatory holding of hands during "Auld Lang Syne" and the traditional exchange of germs thereafter. I was in bed by 00:20.

I got to Westminster quite early and wandered through the parade as the participants where getting ready. The first people I stumbled upon where a group of clowns. Or would that be a "giggle of clowns"? I don't really like clowns but these guys were so very nice and friendly and cheered me up. Especially Dez with his "2009 glasses". Further on, I pitied the American cheerleaders in their skimpy costumes and was almost gassed by some ancient Morris Minor fumes. As it's the "London Parade", it couldn't happen without proper London royalty. The Pearly Kings and Queens of the various boroughs. I even found the Pearly King & Queen of Highgate. Surely not. In the end, I didn't stay long but I was glad that I did get out of bed to accomplish something.

Happy New Year everyone!