They Had It Coming

Ritz Camera is bankrupt: Ritz Camera Centers Win Approval of $85 Million Loan

I used to frequent Ritz camera quite often to develop photos and buy junk for my camera, but I stopped due to lame service.

One time I brought in a memory card with 10 photos to develop. This lady in front of me had submitted about 500 photos for development through the developer kiosk. Because of this, the Ritz employee told me my wait time would be about 2 hours. Two hours!? I had 10 bloody photos to print! That should take no more than 5 minutes! I asked, “Is there any way to reprioritize the print jobs so that mine comes out first?” Obviously the lady submitted 500 photos and would be prepared for a long wait. What’s 5 extra minutes to her? Nope. Once the print job is in the queue, it cannot be adjusted… even by the operators of the store.

Also, they never have the lenses I want, when I want them. Last time I went to Ritz at the Santa Anita mall to buy an f/1.4. They didn’t have it but told me that they could get it sent to the store in about a week. A week? I’m not that patient. I ended up driving to Samy’s (yes Ritz owns Samy’s) in a neighboring city to get the lens. Ritz got my business. This time.

On another occasion I sent in a 1:3 landscape file to be printed through their new spangled poster printing service. A black and white landscape seemed like an easy enough job –I decided Ritz could probably do it. I drove to the Ritz store for pick-up. I looked at the print and found ugly, yellow streak marks stretching vertically down the landscape. I asked them to print it again (they did so gladly, upon seeing the defect. I give them credit for that). The second print had the same flaw, but in a different location. They told me to give them 30 minutes to fix the machine and reprint. Finally, on the third try, they got it right. As a customer I was pretty happy. I got one good copy and two almost-acceptable free copies of my photo. The whole process, however, probably lost Ritz money. They had to print my job three times, and the bottleneck slowed down other store operations.

I sent a photo to Ritz to be printed and shipped to my dorm. The photo had text on the lower right corner. Upon receiving the photo 2 weeks after submitting it (their ’standard’ printing and shipping option is slower than a dead snail), I inspected the photo and saw that a good chunk of text had been cut off! I called it in, and the customer service rep told me, “It’s well known that our machines may cut off an eighth of an inch around the border of your photos. I can have it reprinted for you with a white border, if you like.” I told her to forget it.

Ritz does have good customer service. They offered to reprint my failed jobs, which is probably why I continued to do business with them. But I would have given them more business if they had gotten the jobs right the first time. Instead of turning to Ritz, I turned to Flickr QOOP or other Flickr-based companies to do jobs. And Ritz would’ve saved a lot of money if they didn’t need to reprint my jobs over and over.

Ritz, I’m sorry you’re going bankrupt. But you had it coming.

Summer Photography

I decided a while ago that I would use this upcoming summer to pursue several side passions, artistic and otherwise. I would enjoy a summer internship, but I want to use one summer to immerse myself in art. Most of what I eat and breathe during the year is science and “practical” stuff (I consider these subjects art, just a different kind of art. You know what I mean.). School work takes priority over hobbies like photography. Of course I do maintain some balance during the year; I whip out my camera every so often to take shots. I go to jazz concerts and watch movies at the film archive. But I want to immerse myself in the stuff. Why? Because it’ll be fun.

I signed up for Visual Studies 181 with Professor Moisey, for the summer session. I’m really excited (though summer is still a long way away)! The class focuses on black and white, which is one of my favorite styles. We will also be doing a lot of darkroom work.

Visual Studies 181: Learn the classic methods of photography using film, paper, and the darkroom. The course will cover 35mm camera operation, black and white film, and print processing along with essential aesthetic considerations. There will be hands-on demonstrations, laboratory sessions, slide shows, and in-class critiques, all designed to facilitate progress of assigned projects. There will be an introduction to digital technology. Historical and contemporary issues in photography will be discussed. Each student will finish class with a portfolio of photographs.

Several professors are teaching different lectures. I chose the lecture with the younger prof. I think he’s only been teaching for 5 years, but he’s a pretty cool guy. He has an interesting style –mostly black and white photography with a Mamiya camera. Here’s his bio from the UC Berkeley site: Moisey Bio

Summer is going to be fun! I want to improve my harmonica playing skills too. Right now I am too lazy to practice!

All work and no play makes Mr. Turtle an angry turtle.

Inspiration From My Harmonica Teacher

In the summer of 2008 I took a harmonica class at the Jazz School in Berkeley. I didn’t learn that much since it was a beginner’s class, but I did become friends with one damn creative and friendly musician. He taught me the ins and outs of the harmonica and tried (to no avail) to get the circle of fifths hammered into my head.

Anyway, he sent an email to his mailing list. It contained the following message:

I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the economy lately, and all of the gloom and doom coming off the T.V. is enough to get really depressed over. I have to say, everyone I know has been talking about this economic bubble (these economic bubbles) we’ve been riding on for the past 20 years finally popping, and Americans having to start getting a little more realistic about how we’re going to continue to live here and with our neighbors. None of this is a surprise.

Maybe it’s because I was raised in a dysfunctional family, but crisis doesn’t worry me. Anything can happen, good or bad. It’s a time of possibilities, to find a newer and better way of doing things.

From my limited perspective, with all of the so called wealth flowing around, I’ve watched the music and arts world steadily fall into the crapper over the last 10 years. We should have known when “American Idol” took off, and taken it as an omen: The last time our economy was stalled like this, CBS aired “Star Search”, hosted by Ed McMahon. When people are more content singing karaoke or watching mediocre talent show programming, instead of spending a couple of minutes and dollars to go out and hear some real talent…. It’s not a good sign! If you check your local calendar, there are probably 10 to 20 things happening tonight, on a weekday. If you live in a big city, triple that number. Staying at home and watching TV is a bad, lazy habit. If you don’t have a lot of bread, many of these things cost little or nothing to do. There’s a whole exciting world out there….

When I was a child, I knew every other kid that lived on my block, and had been in almost all of their houses. If you come to my San Francisco neighborhood at any given time, it looks like a ghost town. Kailey, my 14 year old step daughter, does not know any of the children on her street, let alone the name of the girl next door, who is about her age. She’s been here 5 years! Culture can explain a lot of that, but I hear the same stories from people of all classes and cultures. Of course there is a downside to having a community, but this “leave me alone and I’ll leave you alone” mentality is not doing us humans any good.

So you’re out of a job… So your spouse left you because you lost all the family savings in the latest ponzy scheme… You have a lot of free time on your hands now! Get off your computer, leave your house and go do something creative, preferably with other people. Anything can happen! I’ll join you, just as soon as I finish typing this email….

Remember guys: Stay creative. They can take our money and our food, but they cannot take our minds. Photography is one of my creative outlets. Another is headbanging to some metalcore. Whatever you do, keep your mind active and fight on!

My music teacher’s website: http://www.damienmasterson.com

Reminding you to get off that bench and explore the world,

Nick.

A New Year, A New Perspective

Went to Samy’s Camera in Pasadena today (I HIGHLY recommend this store. They had at least 10 people staffing the shop, their inventory is kick ass, and they even refrigerate their film) and finally purchased that new lens I’ve been eyeing. I got the Nikon f/1.4D 50 mm lens. Yeah, I know they released the f/1.4G this past December, but for $130 extra, I ain’t buying. There really isn’t a good reason to buy the f/1.4G. The only new features are the silent wave motor and the more user-friendly manual focus ring.

My first test shots with the lens are on Flickr: f/1.4D First Shots

So far I am loving this lens. It’s responsive, and being able to go down to f/1.4 is amazing. I was able to take photos at ISO 200 inside the dimly lit camera store (without a tripod)! ISO 200!

Am I the only person excited about this? ISO 200, MY GOSH!

New year, new lens, new age group (I’m not a teenager anymore). Fun stuff.

Hunting at The Huntington (for photos)

I snooped around the Huntington Library gardens today. I went for several reasons:

1. Mom wanted to go somewhere with me before vacation ended, so I said, “Alright, how about the Huntington Library?”

2. I figured there would be a lot of stuff to photograph

3. I thought the varied lighting conditions would be a fun test for my new toy, the Whibal.

4. Perhaps there would be birds?

Alright, so my reasons for going aren’t that exciting, I admit. But I had a lot of fun. I saw a gazillion Monarch butterflies and one Sulfur butterfly (it’s yellow), some mallard ducks, a few squirrels, and a friggin egret!

Anyway, I took a bunch of photos. I’ll leave you with one of my favorites. I call it, “His Name was Ducky.”

Thanks for reading! My photos from today’s shoot can be found here – Flickr Collection: Huntington Library Exterior

PS: I’m actually quite disappointed with the Whibal. Lightroom’s whitebalance corrections, sampled from the Whibal, are almost always incorrect. In fact they tend to be about 300K + or – away from what looks good. I suspect my lens might be altering the color of the light that hits the sensor. As soon as I find my other lens I will test this hypothesis.

Bend the Bullet

I went to the LA Gun Club shooting range today and fired a gun for the first time. Three guns, actually. I had a really good time, and it turns out my aim is great. I fired nearly 200 rounds.

I was impressed by the facility. I expected a shooting range to be pretty ghetto, with a badass gun-owner behind a desk with crappy lighting. You know, shadiness. On the contrary, the facility was well lit, and the people at the front desk were nice people. Everyone handled their weapons with professionalism, and there were strict rules about where you could carry a loaded gun, what ammo you could use, etc. I did feel a bit uneasy seeing a guy walk into the room with a heavy semi-auto rifle, but he kept it pointed down and it was not loaded.

Guns are dangerous. But in the hands of responsible citizens we needn’t fear them. Go to the shooting range and exercise your 2nd Amendment right!

See that shot below the “5,” to the left? You can thank Wanted for that. “Bend the bullet.”

(Close-up of target, head region. Range: 25 feet)

Finally, I see the power of Flickr

In my boredom today I decided to venture into the depths of Flickr, Yahoo’s online photo hosting service. I have been using Flickr for two years now, but I had never used it to its full potential.

Flickr pro allows members to join online photography groups. You can upload your shots, get criticism from other photographers, and get your name out into the field. Plus, it’s fun to see the thousands of other photos uploaded on the site. You can improve your photography immensely by looking at what creative techniques other people are using.

I only used Flickr to upload and host photos, not to learn photography. I always thought of Flickr as a collection of amateurs who got a few lucky shots here and there. Nope! Professional photographers thrive on Flickr. There are even “invite only” Flickr photo groups where only the best can submit photos for critique.

When I first signed up for Flickr two years ago, the Flickr community was small and there wasn’t that much interaction between photographers. Today Flickr numbers have skyrocketed, and it is a lot of fun to participate in this online photo community.

The nerd part of me enjoys looking at trends in camera use . Flickr’s use of metadata is awesome!

Mmmmm… Flickr.

(I’m not paid by Flickr)

Hello world!

Hello world. My pal Josh Robins (blog: Josh’s Blog) told me about how cool WordPress is, so I thought I’d try it out.

To conclude this first post, I shall present a Doogus: