yay!

Not all of us are shitheads and despite what I said in the most recent article 99% of us are the nicest people you’ll meet. You have to be, even if you’re not a working photog it’s hard to get pictures of certain things without being nice. So for most of us, it comes naturally to be polite as possible.

I just want to share a little story to follow up on the last post about dickhead photographers, just to show that we’re not all bad.

This Saturday past I was working a wedding and as dinner approached I figured I’d better find my table. As I’m walking around, a young couple, about my age, with a Nikon D40x catche my eye and tell me I can sit next to them at their table as someone didn’t show up.

Normally I’d of gone out of my way to not sit next to someone who’s probably going to treat me like some sort of rock star but I thought ‘what the hell, the table is central at least’.

To clarify, it’s not because I’m a douche that I don’t want to converse with other photogs during work — it’s just that I’m working and I enjoy talking shop so much it can take me away from the task at hand. So I sit down and immediately he makes a joke about the size of his camera compared to mine and we laugh it up. They’re a great couple and even she takes the reigns of the camera sometimes. I ask him if he’d like to hold the D3 and 70-200. “Really??” he says, his eyes lighting up like a kid on Christmas morning.

I love that reaction and it’s something I always do simply because if the tables were turned, I would be dieing to hold that D3 & 70-200, it would make my day. Hell, it would make my year.

It turns out this guy is OK. He reads Ken Rockwell regularly and even some Thom Hogan. I noticed he had the original 18-200 as opposed to a crappy kit lens and then I realized he did his homework and wasn’t just “some dude with a camera”. We got into discussions; I sharing tips with him and answering his questions. He understood everything I was saying, which is a feat because I didn’t hold back. He knew all the terminology and lingo, because being a teacher himself, he knew how to learn. It was great to talk with someone who already knew what ISO, aperture and white balance was — as he didn’t need the primer lesson I’d skipped right to the advanced crash course.

Then the convo turned to low light photography and his desire to pick up a 50 1.4/8. It dawned on me, I’ve got a 50 in my bag that I won’t need tonight. I offered it to him to use for the night and he was thrilled. He spent half the night walking around like my second and since the building was real dark, he got all kinds of shots that he wouldn’t of even been able to pull focus on with the 18-200VR.

As I was leaving his wife came up to me and thanked me, just for keeping him occupied during the night I think. I thought the whole thing it was funny, I did nothing really but get my unused 50mm out and let him use it. Such a minimal amount of effort but the level of joy on his face made it worth it.

I had a lens, I wasn’t using it and he’d of loved to use it.

Why not, right?

Do you have any stories like this? Perhaps you went out of your way to help a tourist with a broken lens or maybe showed someone how to make a better picture while on a bus tour.

Let’s hear it in the comments.

As photographers, we steal souls for a living.

Am I right?

It’s a competitive market — even if the photographs themselves are not the common factor in a clients decision making — the business is highly competitive. Watch any media scrum for Tom Cruise and you’ll see countless photographers not giving a shit about another tog’s shot. Elbows and 500mm’s flying all over the place, it’s an interesting thing to watch for sure. However, you won’t see a hint of altruism in the gaggle of photogs.

Recently, a friend on the twitters mentioned that while shooting a wedding at The Rooms in St. John’s (due to rain), both he and his wedding party were met with an unhappy fellow photog with her own wedding, who felt she owned the third floor of The Rooms and his party were not allow to use it. With The Rooms about to close and the other party hogging all of the time, the groom from his party decided to interject. This of course, drew the a threat from her groom of “you better hope I don’t run into you downtown”.

Class.

As well, I recently shot the Wreckhouse Blues and Jazz Festival for Signalblog.ca and on countless occasions I watched as other photogs shooting for the various media outlets in town would stop what they’re doing, watch me and then after I finished with a spot or even while I was still in it, would follow right behind me and shoot from the exact same ‘newly’ found location or angle.

It got to a point that when I would think of a new spot, find a new angle through a curtain or a way to use the poor lights better, I would wait till they’d leave for another venue before shooting those pictures.

So all of this got me to thinking, is their no honor among thieves?

Do photographers have unwritten codes, things we all know that are acceptable or unacceptable when amongst other working photogs.

Let us know your thoughts and unwritten rules in the comments!

It’s been some time now since I received my Scottevest Evolution, in fact it’s been just about five months since that wonderful day when the doorbell rang. Ahh, the memories.

But I digress.

I’ve done everything from shooting casually, street shooting, worked light, smuggled gear in :), hiked with it, traveled with it and let me say this: it’s fantastic.

I could not live without it now. So much so, that I’ve been seriously debating buying another Evolution just so that when I wear out this one — and I will because I’ve worn out every jacket I’ve ever had — then I’ll have another. In the meantime, I can still wear the fresh one out to dinner without smelling of a hobo after a 15k hike in my other jacket.

Surprisingly, one thing that I’ve come to rely on most that I thought I would never use is the removable sleeves. I spent the whole of last week out in Gros Morne hiking, some 45km in total over the four days with a day off relaxing at Shallow Bay beach just for good measure. Every hike was done either without the coat entirely because of the heat or without the sleeves if it was a bit brisk.

Colin in the Tablelands with the Scottevest | Photo: Colin Peddle

While the coat did well in the cold months of February and March, it did pretty damn well so far through the warmer temps in June and now the hot weeks of July as a vest when I needed it. Looking back on it, without the sleeves the jacket, vest does breathe quite well while only sacrificing three pockets to do so.

The one thing I didn’t make use of is the big pouch on the lower back to hold my camel water pack. I’ll be sure to do that soon, but I’ve got a feeling it will be too lose to be comfortable. That back pouch does make a handy spot to put your sleeves, an extra pair of socks, pair of flipflops for crossing brooks or even a small Tupperware container with lunch.. The other thing is that while doing longer hikes, those which require that much water, I also tend to have a backpack which can handle the camel pack anyway, but the pocket is definitely useful in a lot of different ways beyond those which Scottevest’s website mention.

I did however make use of the handy goggles cloth in the right inside pocket… Holy crap did I make use of it. I’d done a hike with minimal gear and left BOTH of my lens pens back at camp. With crap all over my lens I was about to use my t-shirt to rub it clean when I remembered the cloth that came with the jacket was still attached to the tether inside the pocket. Hallelujah! Scottevest to save the day.

On to the other thing you’ve probably forgotten about with all this sun… Rain. On my final evening in the park, I decided to take a short 4km (return) hike back into the base of the main valley at the tablelands a.k.a: Winterhouse Brook Canyon. The storm clouds were brewing over the mountains and it was a perfect time to capture the evening light + storm clouds + barren landscape of the Tablelands.

After making the 2km walk into the bottom of the canyon, shooting a bit along the way, it decided it was time to rain.

And rain it did, very heavily for the entire 2km walk back to the truck. I want to point out that I had massive raindrops falling on me at a pretty good clip and although it isn’t a raincoat it kept me fairly dry (sleeves were on) for the entire 45minute, 2km shower back to the pickup. In a light rain you’d be completely dry for a considerable amount of time. The nicer bit was the next morning. Having done nothing more then lay the jacket on the back of a kitchen chair it was bone dry less then 6 hours later.

That big blast of wind, was when the rain suddenly hit.

With the thought of lightning, I was more concerned about the tripod on my backpack being the highest thing in a 100meter radius then being a little damp, so I boogied the hell out of there.

Hope this helps in your decision making process and now, a picture:

Storm clouds in the Tablelands | Photo: Colin Peddle

First off, I want to make sure everyone knows that Darrell Sharpe was the lead man on this one. I had a booking yesterday which prevented me from attending and organizing it but Darrell stepped up big frigging time and in less then 3 weeks organized a walk with just over 25 people.

Next year, we’ll be on the ball with this… more.. better… yeah and it’ll be awesomer again. If you walked with us and had any thoughts or comments to pass along for next year, let us know in the comments.

I hit up the twitters last night and in no time Darrell Edwards a.k.a lowercased, a.k.a the nightowl, a.k.a batman, had pics in my hand. Well, it was 6am (does that guy ever sleep? no, the answer is no) but they were waiting for me when I got up after going to bed at a normal time.

If you have pics from the walk and have them on flickr, add them to our group, they’ll show up over there –>

Here they are!

Worldwide Photowalk | Photo by: lowercased

Worldwide Photowalk | Photo by: lowercased

Worldwide Photowalk | Photo by: lowercased

Worldwide Photowalk | Photo by: lowercased

Hit the jump for more pics from the meet

LAST CHANCE TO REGISTER, WALK GOES TONIGHT AT 6PM to 8PM then grub at Smitty’s round the corner.

July 24th! 6pm to 8pm (with an optional bite to eat afterward at Smitty’s downtown)

That’s the date folks. After some technical issues on their end, we’ve finally got our approval to do the photowalk.

The deets are as follows:

We’ll meet at The Battery Hotel parking lot for 6pm, it’s better to be early then late, we’ll leave without you :). The walk will last 2~ hours, so remember to bring good shoes and a bottle of water in case it’s hot.

The walk will take us from the lot of hotel just down over the hill into the community that is “The Battery” with plenty of opportunities for short detours and photo ops along the way. After shooting

our way through the outer battery we’ll photograph at the beginning of the trail to Signal Hill, allowing us to take in Fort Amherst, including the lighthouse and marina. Turning around will present us with a fantastic view of the harbor and the jagged architecture that is “The Battery”. On the return leg we’ll take a detour, seemingly through someones backyard, which will take us to the top of Fort Waldergrave, another fantastic view, and then back up the short walk to the hotel parking lot.

Questions or comments? Leave a comment.

Click for larger view!

Yep, you read that right. Henry’s Photo/Video, [www.henrys.com] have all but built their new store in St. John’s. It’s been rumored for a while now, about 1-2 years or so but as reported first on our forums by Geoff Ash it seems fantasy has become reality.

This is a big deal. Nay, this is a massive frigging deal. When it comes to photography shops in St. John’s (or Newfoundland in general) we’ve not got a lot. Specifically, we don’t have a massive photography chain which is able to stock uber expensive kit without going tits up. NL Camera and Phototec are too small to stock 500mm VRII’s or properly rent lenses and Futureshop is Futureshop and while they could handle having $100k in stock sitting in the warehouse, they don’t and never will.

What this means to NL:

Well outside of the Northeast Avalon not much except that everyone around the bay knows how to get stuff from town to their community in less then 12 hours. So even though the shop is in St. John’s, it will be a huge benefit to people all over the island. Especially when your lens breaks on Friday and you need one for Saturday.

For us ‘townies’ it means massive stock and the ability to rent rare lenses locally (not confirmed, but you have to assume they’ll be renting). Up till now, we’ve been dependent on the local shops, which stock minimal supplies OR online. Further, it means a larger array of items. Instead of just one brand of compactflash brand to choose from, you’ll have a few. Instead of just Nikon and Canon mount lenses, you’ll have Sigma-Nikon mount and Sigma-Canon mount available locally. Things like that, nothing major but it’s what we’ve been missing.

Having a Henry’s locally means we might actually have a really fun used department to browse. It also means we might also have a sweet film fridge to sample. Again, things that the smaller guys cannot afford to do but Henry’s…. hell yeah.

Henry’s, like all good massive corporate bricks & mortar franchises really values having good CSRs in store. Now, don’t confuse this with know-it-all salespeople who know more about the lens then you do, the nerds amongst us will always know more about what we’re buying then the sales rep, but in the very least, they’ll be up to speed and be polite when advised about an error in their ways. Reason being, most big corp. franchises like this do not stand for shitty attitudes or dickheads roaming the floor. Look at Futureshop’s Mac department. Imagine how many additional sales they’ve done simply because of the attitude of their salespeople.

The details:

Over on the forums, Terrance advises that so far as he knows it’s going up at Stavanger Drive and the plans are for it to be larger then the Henry’s in Halifax.

Where exactly it’s going to go in that mess that is Stavanger Drive, I don’t know but yeah. The other possibility would be somewhere downtown (which I personally doubt) or over on Kelsy Drive, which is just as likely as Stavanger Drive.

Todd on our message board informs us that they will NOT be doing on-site photofinishing but WILL be stocking darkroom supplies *YES!*

You can check out their Facebook marketplace job offers here, so far there’s a couple positions for imaging advisers, sales associate and store manager.

Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

In case the G20 summit this past weekend in Toronto didn’t open your eyes to it, the police for some reason have it in their head they can tell anyone with a camera what they can and cannot take a photo of.

This is bullshit.

100% bullshit. In no civilized country in the world — well OK the big three so far as we’re concerned: Canada, USA and England — is it illegal in ANY circumstance to take a photo of ANYONE doing ANYTHING so long as THEY are on public grounds and it’s against your (as a Canadian) Charter of Rights and Freedoms for anyone to limit your ability to do so.

That means police, military, heads of state, dirty MP’s, filthy lawyers, pill selling doctors, children, naked people, dead people are all open for business so far as photography is concerned, so long as it’s on public grounds.

Public grounds are sidewalks, streets, roads, etc. etc.

The police do NOT have the ability to restrict you from documenting events as they occur. If an officer asks you to “hand over your memory card” or “delete that photo” just say no. Don’t ask him ‘why’ or get into any type of discussion that they can then use against you to further oppress you. Just respectfully say “no” and carry on with your work.

He knows the charter, probably better then you and when they ask those questions, they’re hoping you don’t.

If you follow the blog at all, you’ll know I’ve had quite a few run ins with the police or toy-cops (i.e townie security guards who just couldn’t quite get past that entrance exam), both local and abroad. That’s why this youtube recording of an photographer in Romford, England (near London) really and I mean, really pisses me off.

It makes me happy that the photog a) hit the record button b) kept shooting pictures and c) refused their orders and questioned their authority.

It doesn’t make me happy that they detained her, essentially assaulted her without provocation or just cause to do so and THEN pushed her down a flight of stairs.

This complete “war on photography” is only steadily getting worse as more.