Ashanali

You missed the point Ravyk... there is definitely a place for cheap and crap photographers up to high-end photographers and all the places in between. The issue is when people with a decent level of work are grossly undercharging.

Do you know of any good animal photographers Ash? I find them hard to find unless I was looking for just wildlife photography.

Are you talking domestic animals or wild animals? Off the top of my head, Serena is the best domestic animal photographer that I know and she's currently building a strong reputation in the photographic community. I can't think of anyone else right now but let me get back to you on that...

that was a nice find.

Good photography is good photography. All these women are amazing.

Kelly Munce is awesome. I love the one of the little boy with the indian headpiece on and the red wagon.

Ainslie (Wild Spirit) is also super talented. A couple of her images are finalists in the Canon comp.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wildspirit/

Hahahaha! How did you know that Ainslie was coming next? You'd like her Huga, she has a pug and a german shepherd and she used to breed and show Am Staffs. Gotta love the doggy people!!

Bec, one of Barb's friends is a lady named Kelly Munce. Kelly's work is at the total other end of the spectrum in terms of use of light, processing and posing but still totally amazing. Check her out too, I think you'll like her.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Munce-...138173516203118

Barb Uil. Yep, she's great

nicely done DD

Apologies for the lateness, it's been a mad month here.

This month's theme is 'wide open'.

You need to shoot on your lens's most open aperture (remember, small number = wide open aperture)

This isn't always as easy as it sounds and some images will go horrible wrong along the way and quite often focus can be missed.

So get along and have some fun

huga... noice

I had fantastic customer service over the phone when I spoke to your guy, Alicia (after I mentioned you ) But when I dealt with the other staff yesterday, it was a bit of a different story. When I first went in there I said 'I'm here to pick up a D300s that I paid for over the phone yesterday. My name is Katie etc etc'. He comes back and says that there is no D3000 out there for me, and I said 'That's because it was a 300' He said 'Oh sorry, I thought you meant a D3000'. Then I tried to give him the trade in camera and he said 'Oh we actually don't take trade ins' So I explained the Nikon trade in deal and he went and got someone else for me to deal with. Then we went through the same thing before she made a phonecall to check that it was a current promotion and it was ok to trade in a drowned film SLR Then when we were going through all of that, another person came over and said that the deal was that it had to be a working camera to trade in. So he was reassured that it had all been checked with the big guy, but he was still pretty uncertain

Anyway, we got there in the end.

If only Cameron could work seven days a week we'd all be happy customers.

I hate that they automatically assume that because you're a woman, you want the D3000 and can't possibly mean the D300. I think I need to go in to camera stores holding my awards and wearing my AIPP shirt and badge saying I'm a committee member just to prove that women can take decent photos and be active members of the photographic community. Stupid male mentality! I hate it!

For future reference. If you order lenses through them, find out when Cameron is working so you get the proper treatment up front rather than dealing with henchmen.

you're dealing with Mr Attree and he will now look after you very well when you need new lenses in the future and he won't talk to you like you're just some pleb who wants a big camera, he'll treat you right.

I would hope he doesn't treat any customer or potential customer with that kind of disdain!!

No, this is why Huga was recommended to go to him. He is one of few sales staff that respects all customers no matter who they are.

I have complained about camera sales staff before and I'm sure I'll do it again - most recently put in a complaint to management about someone three weeks ago. They see a woman and automatically go into, "she's a mum with a camera and I'll treat her like a moron." Guy serving me ignored me to serve two other (male) customers then when he got to me he baby talked until I dropped the name of his manager and mentioned he was a facebook friend then all of a sudden he was lovely and gave me a discount. Unfortunately I've also been on the otherside selling the cameras and I hear the way that the staff go on about female customers so I know that what they are thinking is very real (and it's also the reason I kicked butt with sales figures because I was happy to sell to anyone and didn't treat them like idiots.)

Unfortunately some sales staff are stuck in the '50's

DAmmit Huga, I just saw your PM Im so sorry i didnt get back to you. Yes i still have it though

Oh bugger! I wasn't sure if you still had it, or whether you get on here much anymore. Not to worry, I got a pretty good deal anyway

Brand new is good and even better now you're dealing with Mr Attree and he will now look after you very well when you need new lenses in the future and he won't talk to you like you're just some pleb who wants a big camera, he'll treat you right.

Bumping - can any Brisbanites help??

Could anyone in Brisbane area recommend any repairers or camera stores in Brisbane who would reliably do a straightforward sensor-clean on a DSLR. Also separately anyone who could clean a lens that has possibly some mildew-mould on the inner glass. (For someone on holidays, driving through). (Not me, I wish). Grateful any recommendations in thread, or even PM of any stores you think better not to go to for this.

Anderson's camera repairs (you'll need to google them, I don't have their details).

...It really doesn't matter whether a judge handles a dog correctly or not, NO dog should retaliate with a bite, whether intended aggressively or whether a "mouthing" action.

Nothing more to add, this says it all.

ETA: ( I know it contradicts my post above!) it's not like the judge handled the dog poorly.

I agree with everyone that the owner shouldn't have had the dog at a show but this post above doesn't sit well with me.

I have a nice scar on my arm from aiding a dog who was injured. Dog didn't bite me when I first had hands on (and inadvertently hurt dog), but dog certainly did bite me when I went close the second time. Dog was terrified I was going to hurt again and was simply in protection mode. It's normal for a dog to defend itself when it feels cornered.

It was all totally my doing. The dog gave me the warning signs and I didn't follow them. I do not blame the dog whatsoever as they were just protecting themselves against 'pain'.

*tries not to laugh*

We used to eat white bread here. Changed to wholemeal during the year. Now whenever I eat white bread I think it tastes like glue. (true story)

Point is, things change and sometimes you learn to like it.

I don't shoot in jpg, however I'm not the one who is trying to get super awesome files on a seriously small budget. If you were a customer when I was working in retail you would be the type of person I would talk about during a lunch break then start bashing my head against the table. Yes, it is more than likely possible to find what you want, but it's frustrating as hell getting to the decision (and you keep ignoring reasonable advice along the way.)

You have a compromise to make - go the canon and spend more money or go the olympus and use AA's.

Now for some advice that I'm sure will be ignored, There's nothing wrong with rechargeable AA's. They will last a full day of shooting just make sure you have a spare set ready to roll. However if you hate them that much, spend the extra money and get the camera that will make you happy. If you were a customer, I would be telling you to spend the extra money, not because it's a bigger sale but because you seem like the type of person who would come back to the store constantly to complain about the horrible camera you were sold that takes AA batteries and that it wasn't what you wanted but you bought it anyway.

The dog should have been taken home.

I was at the Ekka a couple of years ago and suddenly one of my dogs started having gastro issues. He had obviously had a sudden onset of a bug and it was bad. I had to kick and scream a little but the powers that be ended up letting me take the dog home to get him better. (and he was fine to go back in a couple of days later... he must have eaten something bad).

Common sense. No matter what show it is, it's just not worth it.

where you at the Ekka this year by any chance

yes, as were many people. I fail to see what that has to do with anything when the issue with my dog happened years ago?

The dog should have been taken home.

I was at the Ekka a couple of years ago and suddenly one of my dogs started having gastro issues. He had obviously had a sudden onset of a bug and it was bad. I had to kick and scream a little but the powers that be ended up letting me take the dog home to get him better. (and he was fine to go back in a couple of days later... he must have eaten something bad).

Common sense. No matter what show it is, it's just not worth it.

All this talk over jpg not being good enough.

Tell that to Shireen Hammond and Ian Golding (google them) two photographers who shoot only jpg (yes on SLR, but it's still just a jpg image).

Oh goody. Does that mean I don't have to do it anymore?

I shoot RAW because I'm not Ian Golding or Shireen Hammond

All this talk over jpg not being good enough.

Tell that to Shireen Hammond and Ian Golding (google them) two photographers who shoot only jpg (yes on SLR, but it's still just a jpg image).

Ah, ok, that's what I thought was the problem.

But I'm just not sure it's a real problem. Annoying, yes. Frustrating, maybe. But if the tog is happy and the people he/she is serving are happy - what exactly is the problem? I'm pretty sure that people at the top of the pile aren't losing business to these people - and if they are, then they seriously need to rethink their business plan. People like me are probably losing business to this sort of thing, but again, if that's the case and it worries me, then I need to rethink my approach. In my case there is another local shooter who charges far far far less than I do. No skin off my nose - I don't want to work for nothing and I set my sights on those clients who can see or learn the difference. I'll bet the other shooter shoots more than I do - I'll bet I spend far less hours for the same (or more) income. That's my choice.

Would it be nice to have everyone claiming to be a pro really be a pro? Maybe again. Since no one seems to be able to pin down a definition, this might be tough. Since I'm not a huge fan of over-regulation, I see this as a very thin line to walk.

Yes, seeing bad photography being applauded is frustrating and annoying to me. So is seeing people charge too much for their output or too little for their output - but I can't run another man's business.

There is a definite decline in the majority of photos shown thanks to such easy access to very nice equipment, learning resources and simply being able to disseminate one's photos to such a broad audience so quickly - one can always find an audience to applaud, whether there is truly merit or not. On the other hand, I think it makes a huge push in the other direction, too - many are getting far better far faster than before because they want to excel and see other images that are better than what one is shooting at the moment.

I think I am missing the actual problem problem itself.

No, we just go back to the start of the thread and play it all over again

But that is part of the problem,

What exactly is the actual problem?

People putting themselves out there without appropriate skill, business knowledge etc (before they are well and truly ready).

ETA: How many facebook pages do you stumble over where people are applauding images that shouldn't even see the light of day? Sure, photography is subjective but sometimes people just simply are consistently bad and they honestly don't see it.

JS- I think I love you.

I can't type a long response because I'm on my iPhone at the moment, but your post is exactly what I need to show a certain group of people. I'll explain more later and hopefully you'll give me permission to use it.

If you're serious, find a mentor whose work you respect and ask them to give you an honest critique.

Quite honestly, newbie photographers get snapped up by established photographers in a heartbeat if the work they show is good. If you have absolutely nobody willing to even give you an opinion you are either extremely unlucky with who you approach OR you haven't shown the best images in your folio OR maybe you really do need to evaluate your skill level objectively (as much as possible).

Reveluating your skill level doesn't mean you're bad either. It could be like the person blacklab mentioned. I have seen their work and it's quite average but the photographer honestly believes they are at the top of their game. Photographer may simply need a slap back to reality and to look at their own work through fresh eyes and look at what they can adjust or refine to take them to the next level.