Moment of madness

By the time you read this I may have already had a heart attack, possibly in the hospital recovering from a quadruple bypass (if that's even possible). No I'm not suicidal, but as I am writing this I'm trying to get into the website which reveals my uni results. After what seems like a million attempts of refreshing the page and retyping my password, I still haven't gotten in. There is a ridiculous amount of nervous energy and adrenaline flying through my limbs as I sit idly in this cold, wooden chair.

I think I'm in ... hold on

No ... wait the page didn't load properly

This must be what gameshow contestants and reality TV stars suffer through as they announce the correct answer (or the winner). Fuck, this is annoying.

Here we go, I'm in for real this time

FUCK YES!

Ladies and gentlemen, I stand undefeated.

If I was a boxer, this would have gone down to the wire, and it would have been a points decision. If this was basketball, it would have been like that 6OT game from the 09 NCAA Tourney.

The rush of relief when the letters P and C came up next to the subjects was comparable to hitting a game winning shot, or coaching a winning team.

Nerve wracking would have been an understatement.

Oh, and that photo above? That is the most correct representation of my mind through this state of affairs. No, not blurred (or bokeh), more like an organised mess. Please excuse the short, choppy sentences and the butchered english language. In this case, it seemed fitting :)

p.s. photo was shot at f/2, manual focus (deliberately out of focus) with the Panasonic LX-3

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What ... it doesn't come with a card?!

As a salesperson at Camera House, I get a lot of camera enquiries. Most of the time, the conversation goes well, and the customers leave either with a brand new camera or freshly learnt info about photography and what's right for them.

The end of the conversation typically goes like this (other salesmen will feel my pain)

Me: Yep so this seems like it'll do what you need. Good sized screen, Li-ion battery, 10x zoom.

Customer: Sounds great

Me: mmmhhhmm

Customer: So how big's the memory card that you get?

Me: It doesn't come with one, but it takes SD cards, and you can have a look at our range of SD cards over here *points to accessories cabinet*

....

and from here I generally get a variey of responses ranging from complete understanding to complete outrage. Depending on that response I'm either cracking jokes with the customer or left trying to defend the manufacturer (I seriously don't get paid enough to argue this every single time :P)

Today I had an absolutely brilliant classic from a customer during this conversation. When told that the Panasonic TZ-11 doesn't come with a card ... he said "But when you buy a car, it comes with batteries". I stood there and thought "This guy just threw the worst argument at me", but me being on the clock I restrained myself and politely said "Well when you buy this camera you get a battery too". Needless to say, this sequence of events left him wondering how on earth he lost that argument.

Everyday I wonder why people expect to get a memory card with the camera (free). I always tend to end up saying to the customer "When you bought your film camera, it didn't come with film either ... and I'm also pretty sure that it didn't come with free processing". This notion of NOT getting everything you need is not new, it's been around for ages ... so I just can't understand why people ONLY expect this kind of freebie when buying a camera.

To assist my argument I will come up with a list of examples (just off the top of my head) that I have/will use when people complain about not getting a card.

Customer: Well the camera's useless without a card, why don't they give you one?

Me: - Toasters don't come bundled with free bread, what good is a toaster if you don't have bread? Go complain to Myer about that before you ask me that again.

- Your CD burner didn't come with blank CDs

- That wallet you're holding didn't come with free money

- The toy that your kid's playing with ... I'm sure batteries weren't included

- Did your iron come with free shirts?

- These photo frames don't come with photos either

- My car didn't come with free air con ... and I didn't complain

- That $4000 camera over there *points at the 5D MkII*, that doesn't come with a card either

- Those professional photos you got printed a week ago, you had to pay extra to get the photos didn't you? That's what I thought ...

I can go on and on and on about this, and if you work in this industry you'll know the frustration so feel free to go ahead and use these arguments. If you are a customer, and have asked that question before, I hope you now know how annoying and how wrong you were (or still am). Since manufacturers (Nikon, Olympus, Canon, Sony etc) don't have to deal with these questions, I'll take one for the team (for FREE) and I hope I've changed your way of thinking with this blog. I guess what I'm saying is ... take this advice, it's FREE advice and it's good advice.

Tomorrow's blog will be less ranting and more reviewing, stay tuned for a preview of the much anticipated Olympus "Pen" E-P1 camera that even the layman can undestand.

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Like father, like son

Definition: Having the same characteristics as ones parents

There are also various resonance phrases such as "like mother like daughter" etc etc.

You hear it all the time, and not once do you actually think it could be true. Yet time after time, this tested theory of fortune telling proves us wrong.

Back in the days, the son or daughter would continue the family trade whether it be blacksmith, lumberjack, or royalty. Over the years this phrase has been true for even more aspects of life, even cars. For some reason, we never think that it would apply to us. Sometimes we think "nah, that's not me, I can't see myself doing that" or "I'm not good enough for that".

Dad (dinosaur years) in front of the camera cabinets full of filters, 35mm film cameras, and lenses

Me (2009) at Castle Hill Camera House

In front of DSLRs, L-series lenses, memory cards and digital photo frames

Well you can all see how different camera stores have become, but photography is photography, and the fundamentals are still the same. Just like me saying I didn't think I'd be taking photos like I do now (2 posts ago), I never considered this. Not that I thought I couldn't do it, it just never occurred to me. And the astounding similarities in that photo still surprise me.

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