Wow..

Last night was my first 'I'm the pro photographer' convention. Got the back drop set up, two light stands, broke out the light meter, tested, set camera and had at it. It's amazing how fast and accurate the photography is after you've prepared. All I had to do was crop, maintaining original aspect, to make sure some people were centered in the image.

I printed out the orders for 8x10s, and criminy they look great. I will have to get another magenta tank, but thems the breaks! :D Will also have to get slip covers for prints for transport.

Right now, I'm so fekking tired it's all I can do to type this out in an almost upright position in my chair. I did manage to stay to see SwanCon 2014 launch. Boo yah! It was the funniest con launch I've ever seen.

Not that I believed it for a nano second, but I did find it funny

Spammers should invest in proof readers or at least engage the spell checker, and lay off the capslock.

FBI Headquarters
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20535-0001

THE F.B.I ANTI DIPLOMATIC FRAUD UNIT ARE AWARE THAT YOU HAVE BEEN
DEFRAUDED BY FRAUDE STARS AND WILL BE READY TO RECORVER YOUR MONEY
ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD

Then, there was the rest of the message

JUST GIVE US THE DETAILS OF THE FRAUD STARS SUCH AS THEIR NAMES,COUNTRIES,
TELEPHONE NUMBER,EMAIL ADDRESS,AND DETAILS OF HOW MUCH YOU HAVE GIVEN THEM.
WE WILL USE OUR NETWORK WORLDWIDE TO GET TO THAT COUNTRY WITH THE PACT
REACHED WITH THE GORVERNMENT OF THAT COUNTRY AND GET TO THE FRAUDSTAR, FBI
WILL RECORVER YOUR MONEY AND TAKE TEN PERCENT [ 10% OF THE TOTAL AMOUNT
AND RETURN THE BALANCE TO YOU.JUST SUBMIT THEIR DETAILS AND YOUR CONTACT
INFORMATION,WE WILL GET BACK TO YOU AS SOON AS POSSIBLE .
REGARDS.
DANIEL MCMULLEN [ SPECIAL AGENT]
fexcomi@gmail.com

"Special" agent? Plastic helmet special, maybe.

Because they can

Adobe/Apple's excuses for grossly inflating the prices Aussies pay.



I opened my Adobe Account when I was living in the US. Little did I know I would end up at the receiving end of Adobe's price gouging geoblocking business model after moving to Australia.

It took a bit of effort on my part to bypass this, by way of a drop mail address, a really good trusted friend, and a proxy service that tells said geoblockers that I'm in their own back yard. And tech savvy people like me doing this is, in my opinion, why Adobe will no longer have boxed software for shipping, moving to downloads only. That's when having a good friend who you can give the money to pay for the software, then give you the serial number comes in handy. (did that twice, so far)

So, why do they charge such higher prices? There's only one answer. Because they can.

That was quick

Just got my Vista Print business card. I think the card stock used this time around is actually better than the first batch. I had to do some editing, as the association I was part of folded due to the founders' ill health. So glad that degree in graphic arts I got a few decades ago still comes in handy.

Got the 100-400 lens back, and have scanned both the repair order and repair receipt and sent it to the original owner of the lens, as he did say he would help defray the cost of the repairs. He didn't know that the jumping aperture numbers, and jumpy auto focus wasn't 'normal', and it wasn't his fault really. but still he did sell a faulty item. Just wish I had tested the lens more thoroughly before giving positive feedback on it.

A bit of goodish news

The 100-400 L lens is on its way back. I got a very polite email from Canon Repair AU.

What annoys me about this, is yes, I bought the lens 'used' (previous owner bought to photography his sons' soccer game, and after 6 months, sold it as he had no more use for it) it wasn't covered by warranty, even though the problem with it is a known issue, but not so wide spread that Canon issued a recall or would fix it gratis.

Oh well, even with the repair (I got an estimate) the lens cost me less than getting it brand new.

Interim Re-potting

Although I have been asking to go to Bunnings to get some new plant pots, and potting soil for 2 weeks, never seem to get there. So, found and repurposed one planter as a temporary home for my two new chili plants

A Hungarian Blue (mild) and a Hungarian Hot Carrot (hot hot hot)




And I already have a live in pest controller.



Still have to get a large pot for the chili plant that has now become a chili tree.

Trying to stay awake until around 9:30pm

Got up at 4:30 this morning to get to Cottesloe Beach before the mad rush, and to catch early morning light to take photos of this years Sculpture By the Sea. Got some fantastic photos. Of all of them, I think these are my favorite ones:

"Defying Gravity"




"Diving with a Whale Shark" - this one, you view it with the sun behind it, it looks like you're having underwater encounter with a whale shark.



Beat to all get out, now. Been a long day, coupled with 3 hrs walking all around the beach.

Now this is tech strangeness

I've been using the built in Dgital TV tuner in my computer for years. No problems. For some odd reason, Channel 9 started becoming intermittent. Viewable at during the day, disappearing in the evening. Then yesterday, it disappeared all together. Same thing with SBS.

The strangeness is this: if I use the DTV Tuner stick on my laptop, channel nine and SBS comes in perfectly. Now, I don't want to keep two computers running. So, I pinched the tuner stick, plugged it into my desktop, installed drivers, software, did the prerequisite reboots, scanned, and got several channels listed.

So, I am now using two programs to watch TV. Oy.

Sent this to Canon Australia.. and they liked it!

Loki, Canon "Spokescat" showcasing a Canon 5DMkIII, 70-200 EF IS USM with a 2xMkIII extender.

We interrupt your fantasy for a bit of factual data

Fact: The Federal Deficit is shrinking. And it's projected to hit a 5 year low this year.

Citations: Bloomberg; American Back Spedning-cute Delay Amid Budget Deal Push.
Congressional Budget office: The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal years 2013-2023.

But 90% of Americans believe that the deficit is either the same or increasing

You might ask, how could the public be so misinformed about this. You can thank the media, with FAUX News leading the way.

The deficit was $1.4 trillion on the day President Obama was first inaugurated. Today it's $900 billion. Not great but going in the right direction. Why aren't they CROWING that the deficit has been cut by $500 billion?

That was an odd email

Someone was going through my photos on RedBubble, and sent me an email asking me "Do you have any of the fish locks like the one on the chest??"

Yes, they're on the chest, and no, they aren't coming off.

Nice long weekend

Last year, I wanted to get a camera I could use when I didn't want to use my bigger Canon Kit. I had looked at the Olympus E-P3 last year, but it was way over what I had budgeted. Last month, Camera Electronic had the E-P3 twin kit for sale, at about half price. So picked up one.

My purchase curse struck, and the first one had a flaw (a hot red pixel and blue pixel on the sensor). Exchanged it)

Yesterday, Wing and I went to the Perth Zoo so I could give the E-P3 a test drive. Discounting the flubs from me not being used to the controls, it performed marvelously. It does have its issues (not too good in low light situations, but I would use Canon in that situation) Blazingly fast focus, clear sharp images.










Over all, I'm every impressed. Yes, this is an 'old' camera (a little over a year old in the Tech world is positively ANCIENT ;) ) but wow does it work great!

Last night at King's Park

Wing and I managed to see the "Scattered Light" art display in King's Park. I brought my 5D and E-P3 to take photos. The E-P3 did 'ok', but did suffer from noise.

I took two photos of the lights from a really low perspective, with wide open aperture to get a nice bokeh look. I posted them on Facebook, and was asked if I would be uploading them to my Redbubble site, as he wanted to buy a print of it.

Now, I've heard this before, sort of smiled, nodded at the message and said yes, it would be.

I uploaded it, and less than 10 mins later I get an email notifying me that someone bought a print.

Less than one hour after I'd taken the photo, I sold a print of this:





This was the other photograph I took.