Hello everyone, just thought I'd upload a few shots from our first annual Pentax Days.

Here is the rundown of the event:

We had our regional Pentax Sales rep come to the store, ran a bunch of specials and hosted some classes. Friday we ran a beginners K10D class with myself as the speaker and on Saturday we ran a Nature and Marco session with guest speak Marc Langille aka 35mmfilm_user. No Marc doesn't live anywhere near Rockford Illinois, but we did make it worth his while and also made sure he had a lot of fun being here.

We had 30 people in the store for the K10D class and the macro and nature classes varied from 20 to 25 people. We had a blast putting on the show and making sure everyone left with questions answered and new skills learned.

Here is a little story put together from some of the images I took while Marc was giving his presentation and hopefully he doesn't mind these shots coming up, but they are so good!

(David) I better hurry and put this together before the class starts...


(Marc) Don't worry David I'm downloading the manual right now!


(Marc) Man, this is harder than I thought...


(Marc) It says here step one is to make sure we've read the manual!


(Marc) Man this manual is confusing...


(Chris) Looks like you got it to work Marc!


(Chris) Too bad you're not going home with this lens... ::EVIL LAUGH::


Well thats all folks, but it truly was honour having Marc come and speak and we all left learning a little bit more. Thank you again Marc and if you see this just know that you're an awesome guy and we're all glad you are as passionate about your work as you are a kind and generous person.

This one is for you Marc and thanks for letting me go overboard with the off camera lighting...

[little laker]

It looks like a fun time Chris,
I wish that I could have made it there. If you need a landscaper there next year let me know

I'll have to show this thread to my local dealer and see if he can arrange something like it.
I don't know if Pentax Canada would be interested in a small town venue
Although Bill does sell quite a bit.

[Mike Cash]

That last picture is the best of the lot. How can I get my manhood to sparkle like that?

[little laker]

Mike,
Aren't those glow sticks easily available around this time of the year
Although I don't know if you'll find any around Japan.

[LaRee]

Great photos, I love the ones of Marc at the computer. Too bad it was so far away from me. I would have loved to been there for the classes. Maybe someone will pay Marc to come out to my neck of the woods and give some classes. One can dream eh?
Thank you for sharing these Chris.

[Mike Cash]

Mike,
Aren't those glow sticks easily available around this time of the year
Although I don't know if you'll find any around Japan.

Glow sticks! I have some lying around and they're easily available. I use them for hanging from the line when flying kites at night. Sometimes I rig them up inside paper lanterns and suspend them from the line.

[hamidlmt]

What a fun day it must have been!

[Mechan1k]

Damn ... so far away ... we need to do something like this out here as well.

[SCGushue]

Chris....

I really like the way that you put this little slide show together. I must say that you have shown your dedication to Pentax in so many ways through your forum posts on this forum.

I'm glad that Marc was there and hope that your class attendees learned something valuable and more importantly, bought Pentax gear.

I would be interested to know.... were there many purchases or conversions and defectors from other camera manufacturer's?

And on the manhood thingy...

Stephen

[vievetrick]

Chris, so cool and wish we had such a great Pentax willing camera shop in our area. If ever in your neck of the woods you can bet I will stop in.

[ericc]

Wow, Marc is getting around a lot these days. I wonder if he has time for his day job.

[Peter Zack]

That would have been a blast. Me being at the end of the earth as far as Pentax is concerned, no dealers and rarely see a Pentax body unless around the neck of a tourist. I'd enjoy meeting and learning from you guys.

Seems as if Marc blew a little "sunshine" up yer butt in that last shot, Chris!!

[Mike Cash]

That would have been a blast. Me being at the end of the earth as far as Pentax is concerned, no dealers and rarely see a Pentax body unless around the neck of a tourist. I'd enjoy meeting and learning from you guys.

Peter, I live in what folks would reasonably consider The Motherland and I've only seen ONE person out with a Pentax (D)SLR. I feel like the Maytag repairman.

[codiac2600]

It looks like a fun time Chris,
I wish that I could have made it there. If you need a landscaper there next year let me know

I'll have to show this thread to my local dealer and see if he can arrange something like it.
I don't know if Pentax Canada would be interested in a small town venue
Although Bill does sell quite a bit.

Oh Stu it was a blast, couldn't have been better for the store or for Pentax. The Power Point I made with all the images collected from you guys made such an impression the sales rep wanted a copy to show his bosses.

Heck we are more than willing to take on more and more photographers to talk about anything camera related, it's so difficult to find people who want to chat and give away those "trade secrets".

Definitely show this thread and don't forget I'll be sending you a copy of the powerpoint ASAP plus make an image version of it to show here on the net so everyone can have a look see. Oh, out town is fairly small as well, only about 130,000 people with over 200 people with a Pentax camera.

That last picture is the best of the lot. How can I get my manhood to sparkle like that?

LOL, thanks Mike and the proper method is to make sure Marc is somewhere nearby and doesn't stop you from using too many accessory lights.

Great photos, I love the ones of Marc at the computer. Too bad it was so far away from me. I would have loved to been there for the classes. Maybe someone will pay Marc to come out to my neck of the woods and give some classes. One can dream eh?
Thank you for sharing these Chris.

Thanks LaRee and if you're serious about getting something started talk to your local camera store and see what they can do. The Pentax rep for that store should be more than willing to get something started and just get that ball rolling and set decent expectations.

What a fun day it must have been!

It was a blast and thanks again for the images, I just nabbed them from your smug mug and will be sending you a copy of the presentation ASAP.

Damn ... so far away ... we need to do something like this out here as well.

Definitely and if you need ideas hit me up and I'll try and help as much as possible.

[codiac2600]

Chris....

I really like the way that you put this little slide show together. I must say that you have shown your dedication to Pentax in so many ways through your forum posts on this forum.

I'm glad that Marc was there and hope that your class attendees learned something valuable and more importantly, bought Pentax gear.

I would be interested to know.... were there many purchases or conversions and defectors from other camera manufacturer's?

And on the manhood thingy...

Stephen

Thank you Stephen I'm humbled.

Marc was very good and the presentation was wonderful plus we did sell 5 K10D's and 4 K100D Supers.

We had a lot of Marc's work up on the wall before all the shows began and there was a lot of "Wow that Pentax does take awesome photos... DARN!" Too bad it's 100% the photographer, but hey we know the equipment does help now and again.

Chris, so cool and wish we had such a great Pentax willing camera shop in our area. If ever in your neck of the woods you can bet I will stop in.

Awesome and just let me know in advance so we can take some of the day to shoot.

Wow, Marc is getting around a lot these days. I wonder if he has time for his day job.

Hmmm, no he has no day job

That would have been a blast. Me being at the end of the earth as far as Pentax is concerned, no dealers and rarely see a Pentax body unless around the neck of a tourist. I'd enjoy meeting and learning from you guys.

Seems as if Marc blew a little "sunshine" up yer butt in that last shot, Chris!!

LMAO, nice Peter, love that last quote there.

Well, we're working on a May 1st Pentax Days for next year so make your calendar clear because oh boy will we have some stuff for everyone!