Today was a very interesting day. At 1:30 a.m., I ran out to a Diner with some of the folks from the convention. We had a good chat and lots of laughs. I came back to the hotel and posted my day's blog, which was sadly a bit late. Nonetheless, it got posted. Then I spent some time putting together the Belly Dancing video in Final Cut Pro and then ran the pictures through Adobe Lightroom 2, which I also posted to the blog. I truly feel I'm getting quicker at this video editing stuff. I am no Martin Scorses (never will be), but I accomplished the meat-and-potatoes in time for my presentation...which I'll get to in a minute.
Before my presentation, however, I met with Amy Kosh of Leica Cameras USA. She and I sat down and talked about the S-Series of cameras and she actually let me shoot it. Pretty neat. I'm pretty sure I have convinced her to come to the Charleston Center for Photography to give a one-day workshop about her cameras. She said that we could go on a little photo safari in the historic district and let students take some photos with her equipment. Sounds like fun. Keep an eye out for the dates because we are going to make this happen. PROMISE.
Ms. Amy also interviewed me for the Professional Women Photographers Magazine. We talked for a long time and I really enjoyed her company. I'm not 100% sure when the article will publish, but I'll keep you posted. By the way, if your a female photographer, you should look into joining this organization.
After our interview, I had to jam so I could give me presentation at the Manfrotto Distribution awards dinner. Initially, I hooked up my computer to ops check it and see how the projection looked. It was flat and the color was off. So my new best buddy, Joshua Fischer, from Datacolor helped get me on track. He hooked up his Spyder and in 5 minutes my show was perfect!! Thank heavens for tech-minded people, because I'm NOT gifted in that department. You know what's strange? I have patrons of CCforP ask me all the time what they should use. I never had an answer for them. After seeing this product in action... now I do.
Okay, back to me presentation. Based on everyone's reaction and words of appreciation, I believed they liked it. My fellow EAW pal, Evan Parker, is currently deployed to Afghanistan with the Army. His dad, Teague Parker, works for Manfrotto Distribution and just happened to be at the dinner. What's even cooler is that he won an award for being the biggest rock star representative for the company! KUDOS to Teague! Anyway, it was really touching when he thanked me for my presentation; I was humbled. In the end, it's nice to know that the work I've done means something to others. I just hope that I can keep having that impact for years to come.
All in all, my first trip to New York City was fun. I really enjoyed hanging out with my old friends from Manfrotto Distribution, Mark Astmann and Kriss Brunngraber, as well as Alyssa Adams (Eddie Adams Workshop) and Mirjam Evers (Photo Quest Adventures).
But I also got to make some new friends too like Michael Clark (pro photographer) and Joshua Fischer (Datacolor representative). Both Mark and Josh are going to come to the Charleston Center for Photography to hang out. Mark's going to bring some lighting gear from Elinchrom and Lite Panel for one of my photo workshops... and maybe some other fun stuff too like Lastolite modifiers... should be fun. Josh is going to help teach me how to keep my stuff color calibrated (VERY IMPORTANT) with my new Spyder! Hurray! Let's see, if he can do it in 5 minutes, I might be able to swing it too. (wink)
Did I mention I met the folks from Kata and Manfrotto? WOW! They are such nice people. As you know from past posts, I use both Kata and Manfrotto religiously. I have a dedicated Kata bag that I use to hold my Nikon SB900's and accessories. I also have a plethora of tripods and monopods stacked in my storage room, which I use daily. However, I've never had the opportunity to meet the folks that make these photo tools. Well, I love their products and I love the people who stand behind them. So, I am totally brand loyal from here on in! Just on a personal note, those Italian gentlemen from Manfrotto really know how to dress. I felt like a bum next to those sharp dressed guys! LOL! By the way, I think I am going to get their new fluid head and tripod to use when I do multimedia. I got to use that for the shoot at the Bathhouse and I LOVED it. I guess I should start pinching my pennies now if I want to get it though.
I can't wait to share-and-tell these great products with you when I get home. What's even better is you get to see their products up close at CCforP for yourself. I also can't wait for the representatives to come and share their extensive knowledge with you too. This is really shaping up to be a great year for learning!
Here's a quick little video I did of Josh explaining the Spyder. This was when he was saving me from a disastrous off-color presentation. LOL!
So much more to come,
Stacy
Spyder Datacolor Video from Stacy Pearsall on Vimeo.
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