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Forum: General Photography 06-30-2015, 01:37 PM  
You know you're a photographer when...
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 150
Views: 14,664
You know you are a photographer when you open up a closet and realize that you have more cameras in there than you have shoes and more lenses than you have socks...
Forum: General Talk 06-20-2012, 05:24 AM  
Gearheads, Unite!
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 2,155
Views: 219,792
There's a guy driving around here lately in an antique two-tone silver Rolls. I have been trying to get a pic of that but I haven't seen him except on the main roads. I am dying to get a shot of that car. It is beyond amazing. I think it's probably a 30's car from the look of it and it's in just superb condition. It just gleams in the sun. I think it's a Phantom II but I'm not sure. It looks a lot like one. The whole car is a two-toned basic and sparkling and silver. It's so clean you could probably eat off the hood too. Around here keeping a car like that would take serious work.
Forum: Photographic Technique 03-12-2011, 01:10 PM  
Why is nature photography so boring?
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 227
Views: 50,248
One of the things that always amused me about being in SF was the signs everywhere that made a point of telling people to take scenic pictures HERE. I always avoided those spots like the plague because I didn't want anything in my portfolio that could have been taken by any one of another billion people.

Even when I go to popular photographic spots I try to find something to take pictures of at the time that isn't just like the 10,000 shots likely taken by people before me that same month. I can't even stand to wear the same shirt as someone else. Last thing I want is to have my photos look like those of someone else.

IMHO, you do have to study the work of other photographers. It's part of learning the craft, but blatantly going for the same look or photographing the same iconic things? Not if I can help it. I don't want to see Ansel Adam's work updated in my photos. I admire his work, and I've learned a lot from studying him, reading his books, but the last thing I want is BE him.

There are way too many things in this world to photograph to spend your time taking pics of things that have been photographed to death already. If you can't do it and do it differently? Then why even bother? Doing that, for me, that's a major part of what makes the difference between those who will go on forever doing simple snapshots of popular subjects and real photographers. I want very much to be the latter, not the former. I don't want to be someone who just copies art. I want to make it.

I don't mind the occasional snapshot of some place famous, so I can remember somewhere I have been, but even then I don't want that snapshot to look just like it came from some generic drug store post card. Might as well just spend the quarter and buy a post card if that's all I am aiming for....
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 08-06-2010, 06:50 PM  
Are we really THAT rare?
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 7,240
Views: 985,567
A while back a guy who ended up being my teacher for a while back invited me to a talk session he does with inexperienced wanna be photographers. In front of him on the table he had about 20 cameras including several SLR's and DSLR's of various types. At the end of his talk we were all invited up to view the cameras and to talk about them informally.

He did this little exercise where he asked us all to pick a camera and to explain why we went there. Something like 75% of the people there went to stand by the Nikon and Canon DSLR cameras. I was the lone Pentax fan.

He then asked what camera they thought was his favorite of the whole batch, the one he preferred. Of course, nearly everyone there pointed at the best Nikon which must have cost the guy a small fortune.

Much to the astonishment of nearly everyone there he shook his head, reached over to grab an old Pentax SLR, and put his hand on another, a Pentax DSLR, which I believe was the K10 or K100. (This was back when they were new.)

It was all I could do not to snicker because the looks he got were just priceless. FYI, this guy could afford any camera he wanted. He shoots for major magazines and is pretty high profile, has been in the business for many, many years. He does use Nikon, Canon, several other brands too, but he admits he just plain likes Pentax cameras and always has.

Afterward he invited me and one other guy back to his studio and we got to see his whole shelf of cameras and then we got to play with them for a bit. I was a Pentax fan before that, but honestly getting to look at his Pentax DSLR's and the rest, that was what did it for me.

Even if I could afford a 5K camera I'm still not too sure I wouldn't choose to get a K7 or a K-x. There are Nikons out there that I like too, but the Pentax is just "my" camera and I really think I'd be most comfortable with a Pentax DSLR.

It didn't bug me when all those people looked at me like I was nuts though, and honestly I don't care much when people give me heck for shooting with my SPII now. "I" know what a Pentax can do. I know how good the lenses are and that's enough of a reason for me to like and use them.

I have actually run into very few people who shoot Pentax, and yeah, I've had the Nikon and Canon people snicker at me, more than once, but it just rolls off. All I have to do is look at pics taken by any good Takumar and I know exactly "why" I'm saving up for a Pentax DSLR versus say a Canon or Nikon.

But you know I also figure if a guy who has been in the business since before I was born, a photographer who is probably making 100K plus a year has a Pentax or three on his shelf and likes them well enough to call them his favorite cameras? I must be doing something right in going with one. This guy can afford anything, and he does, but he still makes room on the shelf for his Pentax cameras. That really says something to me.
Forum: Photographic Technique 10-03-2013, 10:03 PM  
Perfect focus everytime
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 299
Views: 103,717
Grin. That was beautiful. You just said that a lot more eloquently and amusingly than I was about to. Mind you my eyes are not as good as they could be lately and I do have to rely some on AF these days when I am really having trouble with them, but if we're going to be like that, be obsessive with getting "perfect" focus every single time, why not just turn the damned AF OFF and actually learn to look through the VF and focus the camera lens without it? Honestly if I have to work that hard to get my AF to work then I'd rather just do it myself.

FYI, I have never recalibrated a lens. Never really needed to, but if I am working with a lens that isn't giving me the best results with AF then I just turn it off and try to fine tune it by focusing manually. AF is a nice thing, but it's not perfect 100% of the time. No type of focusing is perfect all the time. No matter how good you are, or your AF is you will have the odd blurry shot. It's just inevitable and I refuse to worry about it. That's why I take a few shots of each subject, not just one.

FYI, my could keep rate is probably 85% of what I shoot. That's probably better than some people, maybe not as good as some, but I think that's mostly because I don't rely on the camera to do all my shooting FOR me. AF is a convenience. It's nice. It can help a lot under the right circumstances when my eyesight is crappy, but I believe in actually using my camera the old fashioned way. As bad as my eyes can be there are times when they are still just plain better at it than my camera's AF is and I would have to say that about every DSLR camera I've ever worked with no matter what the brand. Seeking perfect focus 100% of the time is just asking for miracles, I think.
Forum: Pentax Q 05-13-2015, 09:45 PM  
Q-isms: the language of Q owners
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 62
Views: 6,957
I am now officially a member of The Q Continuum. I have with due deference named my little QS1 "Q" in honor of Q The Magnificent, aka John de Lancie. I have entered the Quberty but do hope to be a fully fledged Qpert soon, grin.
Forum: Pentax Q 05-11-2015, 07:01 PM  
The Future Q -- what's your take?
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 177
Views: 22,316
One of the reasons I like the Q cameras is the simplicity of using them. If I wanted half the stuff mentioned above I'd be using my K-DSLR's. It's just too much function for such a little camera. I don't want to see using the Q's become as complicated as using a DSLR. I would appreciate a touch screen with touch focus like on my Olympus E-P3's. That feature is killer with my M43 cameras and it almost makes the use of my EVF unnecessary at times. It would be a huge help with the Q's. I will miss it working on my QS1. The QS1 not having that was one of the few things that kept me from getting one for a long time and why I went for my Oly M43's instead. One touch and BOOM, there's perfect focus nearly every time. Articulating the screen, might be nice, but it's not a must have for me. Otherwise all the other stuff above just doesn't appeal to me though I suppose I can see how wifi might be useful for people who are social media types.

The reason I wanted a Q was so that I could play and not have to think all the time because I wanted a camera that could still change a lens once in a while but that really could fit into a pocket, albeit maybe a larger one. I love my Oly M43 cameras but they're not as small as I'd like. I haven't actually held my QS1 as yet. I won't actually have my Q till tomorrow or Weds. It's still en route, but I was hoping it was significantly smaller with the kit lens than the E-P3's. The E-P3's as I love them they don't really fit into a pocket. The specs though, they're not as different as I'd hoped. The Oly's are a little bigger I think, but the QS1 is not as small as I thought it was it doesn't look like.

4.13 x 2.28 x1.33 (QS1)
4.80× 2.72 × 1.35 (E-P3)

The EP-3's are way lighter and easier to tote than a DSLR, credit due, but they're still not really what I consider compact. By the time I get a lens on one, except for the 17mm because that's a pancake basically, they're just a tiny bit too big to be portable every single day, thrown into my purse, or better yet slid into a pocket for a long walk sans heavy purse and all. They're kind of weighty for small cameras, solidly built and of course they're even a tad heavier because I did the bling thing. (Swarovski crystals don't weigh a ton but they do add a little bit of weight.) I thought I would be able to do that a lot, just carry one in my purse but I find I still end up using a neck strap or toting them in my smaller camera bag most of the time. I was hoping the Q would be tons smaller and lighter somewhere closer to a pocket P&S than my M43 cameras but I'm not sure, not yet. By the time I get the 02 zoom lens on it I think I'm looking at about the same dimensions. The difference is so minimal that I don't think it's going to make much difference for me. I think I am still going to end up using it pretty much the same way as I do my E-P3's.

Adding too much more I just think it would be a "bit much" as they say, but that's me. I don't want the Q's to be mini DSLR's. I just want them to be Q's if that makes any sense?
Forum: Film SLRs and Compact Film Cameras 03-03-2012, 11:20 PM  
Pentax repair by Eric Hendrickson
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 494
Views: 129,670
I'll probably send my Spottie F to him at some point if I can come up with the $100 to have it overhauled. It's not in very bad shape but I'm sure it needs a good work over by now. I really doubt it's had any work done since it left the factory in the 70's. I'll do what i can with it, give it new light seals and such, but eventually I'll want it done properly by him. One question though, seeing as the guy has been retired for a long while, and it's not like we can perpetually clone him does anyone know if he's training someone? Or someones? Seems a shame for all that knowledge to go to waste and for all our old cameras to go to rot if he ever gets to the point where he can't work on them anymore. I sure hope so. Tell me he's trained a few kids or grand kids to take over at some point? It will be sad one day if he hasn't.
Forum: General Talk 07-22-2015, 04:19 AM  
UH, OH, Don't Like This. No Thanks Microsoft!!!!
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 61
Views: 5,731
Well, I'm a total tech head, to the point where I can build and maintain my own machines, but still that would be me. I am to be counted among the masses in that I happen to LIKE stupid cat photos... ;)
Forum: General Photography 07-21-2015, 08:43 PM  
Are You A Camera SLU-Um, Hoarder?
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 24
Views: 2,574
That other too sexy thread got closed so I won't go there except to use this quote to start this one. It rather amused me in context and made me wonder just how many camera bodies some of you all actually have. I'm not talking just main bodies that you all use all the time. We all talk about how many lenses we have but what about bodies? Come on, fess up what's the actual body count?

"I'm actually more curious to know how many cameras a person has had instead." --- 6BQ5

I am admittedly a total camera slut. In the course of acquiring lenses I've probably given away 30 or 40 (mostly film) bodies I didn't want and I still have at least 35 currently in the house. Some work, some don't. I probably use about half pretty regularly, but I admit it, I'm a hoarder though I do purge once in a while...:o
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II 07-21-2015, 07:33 AM  
why I won't buy a k3 (Warning: Satire Thread)
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 102,939
Views: 4,796,632
If you really want to fight zombies you don't need a chainsaw. All you need is a big thing of salt to throw at them and something to light them on fire, like a torch. Salt immobilizes traditional zombies. Unless you have virus zombies they're done the moment you hit them with some. If they're virus zombies you're doomed even if you do torch them because they are carriers. Either way a good torch, preferably a blow torch, and they're gone. You can decapitate them but that doesn't always work very well as the bodies can keep on moving sans the heads for a while. Burning them right up, much better. :P
Forum: Pentax K-5 & K-5 II 07-16-2015, 04:42 AM  
Tarted Up My K5II & The World Didn't End, LOL
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 8
Views: 2,021
I got tired of basic black, sue me...

Yes, it's all removable, IF and whenever I want to. I didn't do any crystals for now. It's too humid for the glue to work well and I'm not feeling up to the challenge at the moment. The rubber rings on my K mount Chinons are rather ugly. I really don't like them. The other day I got to thinking about changing them all up using some thin leatherette, some decorative craft tape or waxed craft paper and last night I decided to try it with some craft paper that was striped like a zebra lens. My favorite 2" strap the Capturing Couture Rocker the one I use the most with the K5II is also white and black striped so this time I pretty much had that in mind.

Craft tape and paper, scissors, some little red glitter letters, that was all I used. I like the way it came out though. It's fun and will look great with the strap and my red camera bag. The lens has a 49mm thread so I can use this decorated cap on any number of my smaller prime lenses though I might make one with the black polka dot paper in 52mm just to have one that size that matches too. Sorry the pics are so dark. I took them at like 4 AM I think. I will do better ones later with the CC strap on. The wax paper grips pretty well actually. It has a bit more texture than the tape. That was too smooth. I tried it but I liked the feel of the waxed scrapbook paper better in the end. It was like using leatherette pretty much.
Forum: Pentax DSLR Discussion 07-07-2015, 01:29 AM  
What to choose between K5ii, K3 and K3ii
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 31
Views: 7,436
I work with 2 K-30's and a K5II. The K5II is the main workhorse camera, the camera I use the most to save wear and tear on my Red K-30 and my White K-30 because I want to keep them for a good LONG while. The K5II is more easily replaced, shrug. Honestly when I got it I did not plan on keeping it. It was bargain priced with the 18-135WR and a 50mm AF prime. I meant just to get it for the lenses and sell the K5II off. But a few days of playing with it and I realized it just wasn't going to happen. :P I really like the K5II. It's not complicated to use. It's a bit heavy for me at times but overall the ergonomics are good. The K3's they're just too damned much camera for me. I don't need half the bells and whistles. Maybe you do, but if you don't? The K5II is a really usable and economical alternative, IMHO. I would not trade mine for a K3 seriously. The more I read about the K3's the less I want one. It's just too much fussing compared to the K5II and my K-30's. I just don't need a whole new learning curve or that many pixels...
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II 07-13-2015, 06:04 PM  
why I won't buy a k3 (Warning: Satire Thread)
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 102,939
Views: 4,796,632
YUM, those look good. You're making me crave some ribs. Might have to hit the BBQ joint tomorrow, sigh...
Forum: General Photography 07-04-2015, 09:17 PM  
I think I really hate "setting up photos"
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 23
Views: 3,186
Nah, not me. I enjoy the process entirely too much actually. I've always had a thing for faces, for portraiture. Even as a kid I was snipping shots from fashion magazines and the nasty gossip magazines my Gran was hooked on and making scrapbooks and collages of pics I liked. I still do that. I am always collecting pics of people online, studying them. I'm actually pretty good at directing people and getting them to do what I need them to do.

I have studied posing some but it comes pretty naturally ordering people around and posing them as I like. I am actually into more natural looking poses. I like to see my people relaxed and having fun, no forced smiles or model/dancer hands. I'm pretty blunt about it too. I think I make people smile just by how I sass them when they start doing that. I'm like "Stop that stiff back nonsense. You look more like a zombie than a person!" Or "What do you think you're doing dancing for Bill Fosse? Knock it off with the jazz hands!" I'm terrible. I'm always cracking jokes and totally messing with people. Anything that gets people to laugh ends up relaxing them and making them smile.

I infinitely prefer photographing people to landscapes, shrug, but I do have my anti-social moments where I get tired of wrangling them and want to be off on my own photographing whatever. I limit my shoots with people, try to vary what kind of portrait shoots I am doing. That helps. I can't stand to be doing the same thing for weeks on end. One day I'm doing a kid or pet shoot, the next it's an entertainer's or model's book, then later that week it's a boudoir shoot. I have to shake it up, make it varied. I get cranky doing the same thing all the time. One month for some reason all I got was baby shoots. I actually like doing babies but by the end of the first week I was ready for a vacation. After that month I couldn't stand the idea of doing another one for a while and I didn't.

This is one of the major reasons I never do weddings. Besides all the time involved and the stress it's just plain boring to me the idea of shooting weddings all the time. Weddings are fun for the people in them. Being around them all the time, making it my job? I'd go stark raving. I'm way too much of a cynic when it comes to love and marriage and too well aware that statistically speaking half of the people I'd be shooting will be in divorce court before a decade has gone by. The thought, it's just plain depressing. I just can't take much joy from doing that kind of work.

Not to mention shooting huge crowds of people is tough. I've watched my one teacher do it. He does tons of them and I've second shot him a couple of times. Inevitably someone is going to spoil that shot. There's always some fool in the bridal party who can't help but smile like a toothy lunatic or who can't help but prank the bride and groom by putting his tongue out at just the wrong moment or something similarly idiotic. Weddings, they are too annoying. Even when I was just participating in them, as a bridesmaid or whatever I never did like them.

I had to shoot a very large family reunion too once. It was interesting that's for sure, but I doubt I'd take on another one. I like small, intimate studio shoots, with me and maybe 1-4 people, the fewer the better. That's it. I can shoot big groups, but I really don't like to.
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 07-04-2015, 10:00 PM  
Things Photographers Say
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 15
Views: 2,815
Up till about a year ago I had an acquaintance who was like this. She was all about the money. She couldn't relax for five seconds and she was always picking my brain for info, trying to maneuver me into doing something that would help her bottom line. She was selling toys, mostly dolls, something I know a lot about. I don't think I once even had a conversation with her where she didn't end up talking business. I knew her for about 4 years I guess. Towards the end I stopped calling her as much to chat. I didn't go out of my way to help her find things to sell, save things I didn't want for her as much. I swiftly went from being one of her so called favorite people to someone she thought she could still hussle when convenient and then to total non-person when she thought I was of no more use to her.

Last time I talked to her I actually called her up because I knew from a mutual friend that she was really struggling. Our area was getting really depressed economically at that point and there had not been lot of sales for while even with used stuff. I had a woman in my park who wanted 150 of the little dolls that she always had the most of. Her usual price was like $5 a doll but even at $3 a doll which is something she'd do for people willing to spend a lot it 150 dolls would have been a nice chunk of change for her. I called her up, started to talk to her about something else first. She totally blew me off, very rudely, said she had no time for talking with me, and then basically hung up the phone on me. I was like "Oooookay." For a second my nice side kicked in and I actually thought about calling her back, making a joke of her being rude, and letting her have the woman's number anyway, but then I just went "Nah..." and put the phone down. That was it. I'd just had it at that point with her. Enough was enough and I'm just not a doormat type. Instead I got in touch with the woman in my park, helped her find what she needed for her party myself and made myself a few bucks doing it.

Later that month I saw the mutual friend and she said pretty much the same thing that this woman was acting like a total b- to anyone who wasn't focused on making her money. It was backfiring on her big time too. She picked a fight with someone where she sold who also sold toys, told all kinds of lies apparently about her trying to get her into trouble so she'd get kicked out of there. She was trying to eliminate her competition. Turns out she was the problem, the management found out, and she got kicked out of where she'd been selling for several years. Knowing how much she relied on that situation for income I actually felt sorry for her but I wasn't about to try to make it up with her. Eventually what I had originally called her for got back to her and about a week later she left a sickly sweet message on my machine asking me what was up and why I hadn't called lately.

I called the mutual friend and I was like "You just told her about the lady who wanted dolls for her party didn't you?" She told me that yes she'd done so because some very snarky remarks about me were being made and that one outright lie was being told about me. I was like "What lie?" I found out that that my so called "friend" had been telling everyone in the place that I'd ripped her off. That I'd not been honest with her about pricing certain dolls and that as a result she'd lost hundreds of dollars. That I'd stolen "her" client and that party from her. It was the exact opposite of what was true and the mutual friend knew it. Truth, the doll seller, she had no clue as to who the lady in my park was and in the several years I knew her she'd probably made a lot of money picking my brain for info on dolls.

I was furious but I let it go. It just wasn't worth it to me even dealing with her. The mutual friend, who by then was no longer a friend of hers, had set everyone straight and I gather she'd set the management straight on what this woman was actually like too. Others piped up and that and her lying about the other vendor I'm told is why she permanently lost her spot there. But I could not believe that she was so obsessed with making money that the mere fact that I'd declined to help her make any more of it was enough for her to turn on me like that. She had been absolutely viscous to me and over what? Not getting to pick my brain at will anymore? Not getting that party and the opportunity to sell some dolls? As far as I am concerned she bit herself right in the butt when she hung up on me and I'm no saint. I'm not going to keep trying to help her out when it's clear she's intent upon doing nothing but using me and dissing me when she can't. I doubt she will ever have six zero's in the bank, but if she does, good for her, but I won't be around to see it happen, that's for sure...

She's not the first person I've met who is like that. Probably won't be the last, but now I see someone like that coming I do my best to dodge. People like that they just drain and depress me with their avarice and the way they try to use everybody they meet. I feel sorry for that woman. She's so busy trying to make money off people, busy stabbing them in the back when she can't anymore that she totally misses the fact that she has no real friends left. All she has left is scratching in the dirt, trying to make it, working all the time. That's no life if you ask me. It's just sad...
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 07-03-2015, 07:33 PM  
Things Photographers Say
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 15
Views: 2,815
I have never liked people like Tony Robbins and that. I view them as elite level scam artists selling BS and I want nothing to do with attitudes like this. 99.99 of the people he teaches won't end up rich and the only reason he is rich is because he's scamming people into thinking they can be too. That's a real nice way to be successful, NOT.

There is more to life than making six figures. If I wanted to be making that I'd be making it. I can sell rings around most people when I'm motivated, and I used to when I worked for other people. Fact is I'm not that person anymore and I don't want to be. I don't want to be more focused on how many zeros I have in the bank than on what I am doing in my studio. Yes, a photography studio is a business and you do have to market your product, IE your photography, but IMHO if you're doing more marketing than you are shooting? You're not the kind of photographer I want to be.

I would honestly rather have 2 or 3 sessions a week and make $400-500 that week than have a business where 3/4 of my time is spent pushing my business and where I make 500K a year. Money is nice. I do like being able to pay my rent and I like going away now and again, but I don't need the big house, the fancy car, the million dollar retirement accounts. What I do like is actually having a personal relationship with the people I do shoot, taking my time on those shoots, and having a life outside my work.

Hard selling is not a zen thing for me. I can do it, and how, but hard selling hypes me up, makes me crazy, and sucks the enjoyment right out of working for me. I like the very soft sell. So do my clients usually. Most of my business is not coming from the ads I run. It's coming from people I've shot telling other people about me, about how relaxed shooting with me was and how much fun they or their kids had, about how good I made them feel about themselves. I love that.

I love being able to go into the shoot feeling relaxed and knowing it's going to be fun for us, not stressful. I don't want to come out of that lovely experience intent upon suckering my clients into buying more than they intended to. Before I even go into the studio all that is worked out, and I mean that in a very low key manner. My clients they know my focus is on THEM, not on how many different posed they want or how many prints/CD's I want to sell them.

This guy, he wants to run his studio more like a 100 million dollar real estate company, more power to him. But that's not why I got into doing photography. He can look down on little photographers like me all he wants. No doubt he'd consider me "unmotivated" given the relatively small bank account I usually have, but he would be wrong. I am motivated. I'm motivated by joy of my work, not the ultimate size of my wallet. For some people everything they do comes down to making money. I am not one of those people.

There was a time in my life when I could have "married up" as they say and probably ended up with more money than this guy will likely see in his lifetime. But when I looked at the strings attached to that money, the life I would be leading, how different I'd end up from the person I considered myself to be, I said "NOPE, SORRY." and I ran like a bat out of hell. It was the smartest thing I ever did. I still say that knowing now that unfortunately the way it would have ended up I'd been left a VERY rich widow...

"Money makes the world go round..."

For some people, yeah, but not for me. People like this guy they will never understand people like me. They believe making money is the main reason to do anything, and usually they don't care who they step on to get there. Anyone who doesn't want to "make it" like they do is their social inferior. They are not worth knowing because they can't contribute to their bottom line. If they can be used to make money, that's one thing, but they're definitely not to be invited into the potential billionaire's club. I believe making some money and paying my bills is just something that comes along with getting to work in a profession I love. They believe that making money is the most important reason they are doing what they do. Photographers like that they like making great photos, but it's more about ego and money than it is the work. Yeah, they are fussy about making sure it's 100% perfect, but that's because anything imperfect would hurt their bottom line. They have to be seen as extraordinary in everything they do if they want to keep the big bucks coming. They have to be seen as master photographers or no one will want to read their books or pay mega bucks to go to their seminars...

Years ago I actually turned down a job making 3X what I was making because I just loved doing the job I had at the time. I was beading, something I love doing, for pay. My money oriented roomie at the time she was horrified. I was making enough to pay my bills, eat well, and put some away, enough that I could work and still take off sometimes do some theater now and again. My boss was cool with that, and that was enough for me. But she was just flabbergasted that I wanted to keep that job over the one offered. Unfortunately I let her bully me into doing it eventually. After a while the constant arguing just wore me down and I left the job I liked and that worked for me to go into that other company and make more money. HUGE mistake. I was bored and miserable and they knew it. I was a hard worker regardless. They liked me and they wanted to keep me but in the end I left there and went to work somewhere else where I was a bit happier and yes, making less money. What I really wanted was to go back to my original job but that unfortunately wasn't possible because at that company once you left they wouldn't rehire you...

What I learned from that experience and from dating that guy was that no amount of money is worth spending your whole life chasing it or trying to keep up with it in other ways. For people like me it's just not healthy trying. It took a long time for that lesson to stick. Despite my resolve to do otherwise I ended up chasing the almighty dollar for years even though I knew I'd never be happy doing it. I ran that race for the gold for a long, long time. In the end I paid for it too. If I had kept to that resolve I'd have likely ended up a lot healthier than I am now. I'm finally happy, but I will likely never get back my health and in my mind that way way too heavy a price to pay for the money I made back then. I honestly wish I'd quit, scaled back, done this 20 years ago. If I had? I really doubt I'd be in the situation am health-wise that I am now. being intent upon making that kind of money, living head up and always trying to make more? It means making a lot of stress too. It ultimately changes you in ways I just don't like.

My ultimate goals right now are very simple. I want to get through this tough time of living here and taking care of Dad. I want to end up doing as much photographic work as I need to to be able to pay bills and put some $$$ by if at all possible. When Dad is gone I want to travel to the UK and maybe Europe a bit, then move out to the West Coast, find a simple place of my own to live that affords me a space to work in, write and do my crafts in. I may expand my crafts business a bit and I'll likely focus more on the niche markets for my photography out there as well, but I don't plan on changing things all that much really. I will likely never make more than 75K a year and you know what?

That's OKAY...

This guy, he'd probably scratch his head at that, at my thinking, but whatever...

:)
Forum: Pentax K-3 & K-3 II 07-03-2015, 02:39 AM  
why I won't buy a k3 (Warning: Satire Thread)
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 102,939
Views: 4,796,632
That was lovely fun, and yes, I can. I just sat here and did it. If you take it slowly and really think about what you are saying it's not that hard. This one would be good one for training speech recognition software...
Forum: Ricoh GR 06-24-2015, 11:32 PM  
A question about post production vs actual image captured.
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 71
Views: 7,362
Actually, what's on a camera screen isn't quite what you'd see with your eyes. Even before you take the photo you've got something unrealistic going on. The camera is not as sophisticated as the human eye and probably never will be. The eye can see a lot more and to me what happens when I take a photo is I get something a bit less interesting than my eyes see. I shoot RAW most of the time so I can adjust the picture to be more like what I saw, but also so I can improve upon what the sensor can capture when the results are less appealing than I'd like. Part of learning about composition is learning about what is appealing ascetically versus what the camera thinks is real.

Our cameras are getting better and better, but ultimately they can't quite capture the vision our eyes can, at least not often. You may think you're seeing exactly what your eyes see on that screen and in the resulting photo but I'd bet that's your mind telling you that and a bit of an afterthought illusion rather than what's really going on. Our memory tends to do that adjust what we think we saw while taking a photo to matching what we see later in the resulting image. I'm not saying that every image needs a ton of post work because that is not so. My experience is most need very little but still I don't tend to like my images straight from the camera as shot in RAW most of the time. Sometimes I barely touch them. Sometimes I spend 20 minutes in post trying to match my eye's vision of what that photo should look like versus what I got.

There are a lot of people out there who will batch adjust photos with several actions in Photoshop and think nothing of it. I hardly ever do that. For me, each photo is a whole mystery unto itself and I usually have to adjust each individually to suit me. I can't mechanize my post work to that extent. It just doesn't suit how I work or see my work at all. I don't think 100% untouched photos are all that attractive most of the time or more pure than photos that have been. There is a difference between reasonable post adjusting and photo art of course, but adjusting minor things like sharpness or white balance I think nothing of doing that. You start cloning objects in, changing colors, then I start thinking of the result more as photo art but until then, no.

Even in the darkroom era photographers used to do minor corrections all the time. It's the same corrections it's just a lot easier with image editors like Photoshop, that's all. What used to take someone like Ansel Adams 60 minutes to do I can now do it in less than 2 minutes probably but that doesn't mean he wasn't doing the very same thing all those years ago. You'd be surprised at how much altering was going on back then. There was a museum photography exhibit a few years ago I went to where for each historical photo they showed an exact copy of the original negatives as a slide projected onto a screen on a wall and the photo as printed by the photographer back in the day. That was the first time I ever realized just how much correcting and altering you could do back then sans a digital image editor. I was amazed and that's when I stopped worrying so much about being so "accurate" in my work and started learning more about digital imaging sans any kind of guilt about using it.

Artistic vision and accuracy they don't always work hand in hand. Even back at the beginnings of photography photographers were trying to alter their work to match their personal vision and they often did. The only place it's usually not tolerated is in journalism and even then it's only when it's work for say the newspaper or evening news. Take a look at a magazine like say National Geographic and you will see plenty of altering and improving going on. If doing nothing in post suits you, fine, to each his or her own, but if you occasionally do feel the need to do some post I wouldn't get worried about doing it. So long as it looks like what you THINK you saw in the end you're doing fine...
Forum: General Photography 06-23-2015, 08:01 AM  
You know you're a photographer when...
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 150
Views: 14,664
I had to laugh at this one because this is definitely me. I always talk to the lizards, rabbits, bugs, and birds in the yard like they were supermodels and I'm always climbing things like trees and fountains to get a good shot, and yes, often in a dress, though down here you have to be VERY careful about where you rest yourself. I can't just lay down on the pavement or ground here. I'd be covered in fire ants in seconds. Also, in the afternoon here during most of the year you literally can fry an egg on the pavement. Me, I always want to get my best shot, but not if it means indulging in unnecessary masochism. Pain is so NOT my thing...
Forum: General Talk 06-01-2015, 10:19 AM  
What's your preferred mosquito repellent?
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 52
Views: 4,107
Don't use Vicks on large portions of your body. It can make you quite sick if you do. Too much camphor and petrolium. I did that once at camp when I was a kid because I was desperate to keep them off and we had no more deet. I got so sick they had to take me to the ER. Turns out you can't cover large areas of your body with it. It's fine on your chest or as liniment on one leg or something, but your body can't take if if you completely cover yourself with it. I got the chills real bad and then I began to overheat and vomit. It wasn't pretty. The doctor told me this and told me never to use it that way again. Only in limited amounts. Same with Tiger Balm and that.
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 06-19-2015, 08:46 AM  
How many lenses do you have?
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 2,024
Views: 188,876
Probably for the same reason anyone has more than one, shrug. They came with cameras and I haven't sold them as yet. The WR model I will probably keep though I don't really need it now that I have the 18-135WR. The other two I would sell but so far there's been little interest when I've tried. The list is for insurance purposes actually. I keep it all the time. I just add or subtract as I need to. I edited out the bodies because they were irrelevant to the topic at hand. Otherwise it would have been twice as long. :lol:

---------- Post added 06-19-15 at 12:03 PM ----------



They're all stored in Ammo 50 boxes and/or o-sealed food containers, dry boxes etc with desiccant. I wish I could afford a proper lens cabinet for them all but alas a 5K case is beyond my finances at the moment. This is a lot of years collecting lenses though and most of it was done via thrift or used. I don't buy lenses new very often. I think there are maybe three in the whole collection that were. It's not as much money invested as you might think. I've got far more $5, $10 lenses than I do $150 lenses.

My 18-135WR I think is the most expensive lens I've ever gotten and even that was in a used kit with my K5II and the DA 50. I think it only cost me around $150-200 if I split it up. I'd been eying one but at $299 and up used at the time it was a bit out of my budget range. It wasn't till I saw that whole kit going for a song that I deemed it worth it. I probably wouldn't have ever gone there if it hadn't come with the DA 50 and the K5II but that kit price was just too sweet and it was the holidays so I splurged and broke out the plastic. The guy that sold that kit was playing Santa because he practically gave it away....

I'm a working photographer though so at least I've got some excuse for having tons of lenses and more than a few bodies. If I was just a hobbyist I'd feel a bit guilty probably, lol, but they do see action quite a bit, most of them. Note, I have probably given away almost as much equipment as I own. I run an impromptu photography class for kids and I often will donate extra gear that I come across to my local community center and community college for their classes so students who cannot easily afford a decent kit can have one to learn with. These days most of them are not wanting film bodies as much because the schools here have gone digital but lenses of any kind are always welcome...
Forum: Photographic Industry and Professionals 06-19-2015, 09:37 PM  
Guide to Growing a Large Online Audience for Photographers
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 38
Views: 3,557
The use of "monetize" as a word came about in the 19th century and it had nothing to do with the internet and everything to do with trade and the banking industry. It's not a new made up word or a particularly "smart" word it's just a general term long used to describe marketing and the making of money. You know I absolutely loathe it when people who are too lazy to use good English demand we all speak in "plain English" meaning dumbed down English. If there is one thing I am grateful to my Mom for it's that she never insisted I not use words she or my Dad might not know. The rule in our house was hear a word you don't know, look it up, learn something new. That's what dictionaries are for. There is nothing wrong with having an extensive vocabulary or using it. On the contrary learning should be a life long pursuit. Even now as an adult if I see a word I don't know I look it up. Learning, it keeps the brain young. :P
Forum: Pentax SLR Lens Discussion 06-18-2015, 10:30 PM  
How many lenses do you have?
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 2,024
Views: 188,876
Headcount, uh... 74....as of today....6/9/2015 and yeah, I do use them. :o

Vivitar M42

35mm 1:2.8 Auto Wide Angle #3705707
Auto 1.1.9 50MM (Japan)
100mm Auto-Tele 1:2.8
200mm Auto-Tele 1.3.5
300mm TX 5.6
400mm/6.3 Lens w/ Lens Caps
Vivitar Close Focus Zoom 1:3.8 75-150mm/2X Custom Tele-Conv/2x1
Auto Telephoto-Zoom 1:4.5-5.6 75-260

Takumar M42

SMC Takumar 28mm/3.5 Lens w/ Lens Cap
SMC Takumar 1:1.4 50mm (VCG, but non-original caps, no case.)
Auto-Takumar 1:1.8 55MM (Good/VGC but with non-original caps and no case...)
Super-Takumar 1:2.8 105mm (VGC to Mint with original caps and case.)
Takumar SMC 1:4.2 200mm (Fair to good condition, came with caps and case, but not perfect.)
Takumar 135mm/3.5 Lens w/ Lens Caps & Lens Case
SMC Takumar 200mm
Super-Takumar 55mm/1.8 Lens w/ Lens Caps & Lens Case

Chinon:

Chinon Auto 55mm 1:1.7 (M42)
Chinon Auto 50mm F1.9 (K)
Chinon 135mm/F2.8 (M42)

Minolta

Minolta Rokkor 45mm f2.8 x2
Sears MC 135mm 1:2.8
MD 50mm 1:2

Misc M42

Auto Capesco 2.8 135mm (Might be Tokina. Nice lens. It's a long closed NYC's store rebranded
lens...)
Cambron Wide-Tele 1:3.5 38-95mm (A Coke bottle bottom would shoot better.)
Auto Super Lentar 1:2.8 (Fair to Ugly Conditon, cleaning marks, dust. Shoots okay, but...)
Auto Rikenon 1:2.8 135mm
Accura Diamatic 1:2.8 28mm
Rikenon 135mm

Pentax K

5 Star 1:3.5-4.8 35-75 MC Auto Zoom
Sears/Ricoh 28-70mm 1:3.5 Auto Zoom (Ricoh Pin Removed)
Sears/Ricoh Auto Zoom MC 28-70 1.35-4.5 (Ricoh Pin Removed, A-KR pin removed, fully manual.)
Sears/Ricoh Auto Zoom 1:3.5-4.5 35-75 (No Ricoh pin...)
Vivitar MC Close Focus Wide Angle SMS 28mm 1:2.8
Takumar Bayonet 1.2.5 135mm (Cosmetically challenged, but shoots okay.)
SMC-Pentax-M 1:2 50mm X2
Ricoh-Rikenon 1:2 50mm (No Ricoh pin...)
Ricoh/Auto Sears MC 1:2.8 135mm
Chinar 1:2.8 28mm
SMC Pentax-M 1:3.5 135mm
SMC Pentax-M 1:1.7 50mm
JC Penny Multi-Coated Optics 1:4.5 f=80-200mm
Albinar ADG 80-200mm 1:3.9 MC
Pentax-A 1.1.7 50mm

Pentax Auto 110/Q Kit

A110 18mmx2
A110 24mmx2
A110 50mmx2
A110 70mmx2
All matching A110 filters present and accounted for, lens hoods also.
Q-02 Zoom 5-15mm F2.8-4.5

Pentax K Digital Auto Focus Lenses

Sigma 28-105MM F/3.8-5.6 UC III
Sigma 18-50 1:3.5-5.6 DC
Sigma DL Macro 1:4-5.6 70-300mm
Tamron AF-Aspherical 1:3.5-5.6 28-80
Tamron AF-Aspherical XR-Macro 1:3.8-5.6 28-200
Tamron AF Aspherical 75-300mm
SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL x2
SMC Pentax-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL WR
SMC Pentax-DA 50-200mm F4-5.6 ED WR
SMC DA 18-135WR AL F3.5-5.6
SMC DA 50mm F1.8

Yashica (C/Y)

Tamron-F MC 28mm 1:2.8 (Aperture Ring Issues)
YUS Auto 1:2.8 28mm (Rough looks, but works fine.)
ML 50mm 1.17
ML 135mm 2.8
DSB 1:19 50mm (x2)

Canon

FD 50mm 1:18

Teleconverters

Vivitar 3X-1 Auto Custom TC (M42)
Vivitar 3X-8 Auto Custom TC (M42)
Vivitar 2X-24 Auto TC (C/Y)
RMC Tokina Doubler for PK


E-series 50mm 1:1.8 (X2)
Ananuma Auto Zoom 1:3.5 75-200

Micro 4/3

Lenses

Sigma 19,30
Olympus 17mm, 40-150mm
Fotodiox Macro Extension Tube Set
Forum: General Photography 06-01-2015, 06:21 AM  
PF Interviews Eric Hendrickson
Posted By magkelly
Replies: 47
Views: 6,099
I second asking about whether or not you are currently training the next generation. I totally dread the idea that you won't be around someday. I sincerely wish you the longest and healthiest life ever but nobody lives forever and who will there be to clean and repair these fine old cameras if not you? Also, how are you doing these days? Whenever I see a post about or for you I wonder and hope you are doing okay. It was very hard for my Dad when he lost my Mom. I have a lot of respect for you the way you have carried on since. You are a true professional, sir...
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