Notes from the Field

2010 was a tough year for many in the workforce and 2011 looks to be starting very slow. If there is anything I have learned over the years, it is that education and knowledge is what can keep a person a float during tough times, if not make them very successful.

Once of the best parts of my day to day schedule is teaching and sharing information with people at the University of Nevada, Reno Extended Studies program. If you are looking to move forward in your job or start a new career, there is no better place to look.

Many students find they can get promotions or help their business by taking on design responsibilities, which are in increasing demand. I am taken back when looking at jobs, locally and nationally, that so many now are including Adobe programs as nice or must haves on the job requirement list. Don’t wait for your boss, or your new job to start asking for these programs, be proactive and sign up for a few classes today.

We also offer classes on using your digital camera, either point and shoot, or the more advanced DSLR class. Take it from me, learning on your own in the beginning can be overwhelming and you may not take full advantage of your camera’s features or worse, just give up.

New for 2011, Extended Studies is offering classes in Adobe Premiere Elements, a video editing program. Learn how to properly use this program, as well as good video editing skills that will apply to any program you use now or in the future. Learn how to make those videos you have been shooting, or wanting to shoot, sing and come alive.

Here is a great article on the power of video as a teaching and presentation tool and its growth on the Internet. After this, I am sure you will be asking when our next Premiere class is.

I look forward to seeing you in class and wish you the best in 2011.

A complete class schedule can be found in the side bar on the right hand side of the screen, as well as here.

Before I get into my review of Syl Arena’s The Speedliter’s Handbook, I must preface this review by reminding you, my fellow readers (all 12 of you), about my long standing friendship with Syl Arena. As you have read from previous posts on this blog, Syl and I are good friends, fellow photographers, and true Canonistas.

I have known about Syl’s endeavor from the most beginning of stages, having assisted on a few shoots that appear in the book. Syl and I have spent many times on the phone and in person talking about light, photography, and the pros and cons of the Canon system.

This might make you think that this review is bias, because of this personal relationship. And while I wish for nothing more than Syl to be successful, and this book to be a best seller, you must also understand that we have also had serious disagreements on all sorts of topics. While there is always respect, there are also times when we just don’t see eye to eye. If anyone is going to point out shortcomings about this book, I assure you, it will be me.

I can also say, from experience, that there are very few people who have worked as hard as Syl to create a book on photography. Everything in this Handbook is pretty much from scratch and designed for the purpose of the book. We would talk on a regular basis, and I was always be taken back, even doubting, the amount of work and information that Syl was putting into this. I must admit, at times, I never thought the book would be finished because of the daunting task that Syl had undertaken. I am so happy that those doubts were proven wrong.

So like all reviews I do about products, I like to get to the conclusion before I get into the details. This one is pretty simple. If you own a Canon camera and own, or are thinking about purchasing a Canon flash, this book is an absolute must buy. Period, end of review, go buy the book.

It is that good.
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2010 is a year that can be summed up in a simple phrase, bitter sweat. Like some sort of Dickens tale, it was the best of time and the worst of times, and like many others, I am glad that it is coming to an end.

It has been a year of very tough losses for myself and my friends. Many have lost loved ones, or had set backs in their lives. Others have had great successes, or the beginnings of great things yet to come.

I have found myself with both.
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When going to school, there are things your learn or see that just stick with you. Ideas, topics or experiences that you can’t or don’t want to forget. From dissecting your first frog in biology or learning about Plato, there are things we just don’t, or can’t get out of the gray matter.

For me, in photography terms, one of those ideas is photographing dancers.

When I attended my first photo workshop at the Santa Fe Workshops with Joe McNally, I was taken in by all of his photos. We all know his work, so I will spare the details of how great his portfolio is. But what stood out to me, possibly because of surprise and not being around it much myself, were Joe’s pictures of ballet dancers. And when he spoke about the shots, you could really hear his love for dance come through as he presented the images.

Also in class was a great shooter from Canada, David Cooper, who is an amazing photographer that specializes in dance himself. His images were breathtaking, and made me feel like the new kid in school who didn’t know where the cafeteria was.

Those images, and the men’s passion behind them, has stayed with me for years and after looking at the images, I put ballet dancers on my list of things to shoot as soon as I got back home.
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I hate terrible customer service, it pains and angers me so much. There is nothing worse than going to a place of business, or ordering a product online, give that company or person money, and get terrible service in return.

But the main reason that it bothers me so much is that in 99% of the cases, bad customer service should not happen. In fact, it is an opportunity for business to not only save a relationship with a customer, but the chance to create a more lasting bond with a customer and guarantee future business with them.

Sometime ago, I broke open my piggy bank and decided to purchase the Adobe’s CS5 Master Collection. This is the downside to working in all types of media; you have to have all the applications from Adobe to do this.

My initial experience with Adobe when purchasing the suite was actually very good. I found out that Adobe had finally created a purchasing plan for teachers that, like myself, not only teach Adobe apps, but also use them for their business. This allowed me to purchase the software at a reasonable discount and keep me on an upgrade path for future purposes, in case I stop teaching and work only in the private sector.

This was going to save me several hundreds of dollars, and immediately, I was thrilled with Adobe and their customer service. I found out all of this information through their chat service on their website, which is a feature I like more and more on companies websites.

But unfortunately, this would be the only good customer service that I would receive during this purchase.
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