Every year, anybody who is somebody in photography by money or by talent would congregate in this Photo Plus Expo, exchanging ideas and reminiscing what happened in the past year. Once again, yours truly was invited to host certain events and gave a few talks. They were to put me up in some fancy hotel overlooking Central Park. Anyway, I always want to stay independent so I kindly decline all the offers. Once you start accepting perks from vendors your objectivity and credibility begin to compromise, and objectivity and credibility are two assets I have and highly value both by myself and the millions of readers out there who seeks knowledge and insights from the photography posts....
Nikon and Canon have the biggest booths. And I was pretty impressed with the speakers from Nikon, Mike Corrado, he is I believe the product manager slash photographer, very good at his presentation. Yeah, I was the only one who answered his question correctly regarding matrix metering; Nikon FA was the first camera that came up with the 5-segment matrix metering. Man, that was a Kodak moment, I could see everyone around me in the audience was indefinitely impressed with my Google-like photographic knowledge, a few chicks were hitting on me later on, but that's another story. The other speaker who really brought down the house was nature photographer, sorry dude, can't even Google the name. But he was so very good, he was like on drug or something, very very animated. The Nikon "theatre" was so packed toward the end of his presentation. If he was not a photographer he could be a lecturer or a salesman. I didn't see his presentation from the very beginning but I was attracted by the commotion. So he was good, no doubt.
Then I got to meet my celebrities ... Moose Paterson and Vincent Laforet. My adulation knows no bound. I went to shake their hands and told them I admire their works.... If I did my research and knew they were the guest speakers I would have brought along some camera. Alas, I didn't even bring my camera phone. Again, I tried to be nonchalant and I missed taking pictures with the Moose and Laforet. Oh well, they would still be my heroes.
I like Kodak, and I like them like I always like them especially when they gave away their film. I got some of their 120 roll films, so that was great. Last year I didn't have any 120 film camera nor did I know about 120 roll film so I opted for the free 35mm films and one is still in my FE .... I got some 120 roll film this year. I like Fuji too, but they were stingy, no free samples at their booth, they needed to scan the name tag and presumably send you the samples; God knows what is going to happen. I will let you readers know if I indeed receive any sample from Fuji down the road. I actually sort of prefer Fuji's roll film but I just can't get them on the cheap, so far only used five, .... not even today in the Expo. Fuji, I am disappointed.
Before I wrap up my Expo report, I just like to say, being an ignorant photographer, if you allow me to indulge myself to be called a photographer, I didn't know about the ALPA camera until I met one today. That thing costs like a BMW or something and I was impressed the guy even bothered to entertain me because I certainly don't look like I can afford a BMW. OKAY, that's the kind of camera I need, forget about the Nikon and Canon; 35mm is really for girly men anyway. Any self respecting guy goes medium format or bigger.
Nikon and Canon have the biggest booths. And I was pretty impressed with the speakers from Nikon, Mike Corrado, he is I believe the product manager slash photographer, very good at his presentation. Yeah, I was the only one who answered his question correctly regarding matrix metering; Nikon FA was the first camera that came up with the 5-segment matrix metering. Man, that was a Kodak moment, I could see everyone around me in the audience was indefinitely impressed with my Google-like photographic knowledge, a few chicks were hitting on me later on, but that's another story. The other speaker who really brought down the house was nature photographer, sorry dude, can't even Google the name. But he was so very good, he was like on drug or something, very very animated. The Nikon "theatre" was so packed toward the end of his presentation. If he was not a photographer he could be a lecturer or a salesman. I didn't see his presentation from the very beginning but I was attracted by the commotion. So he was good, no doubt.
Then I got to meet my celebrities ... Moose Paterson and Vincent Laforet. My adulation knows no bound. I went to shake their hands and told them I admire their works.... If I did my research and knew they were the guest speakers I would have brought along some camera. Alas, I didn't even bring my camera phone. Again, I tried to be nonchalant and I missed taking pictures with the Moose and Laforet. Oh well, they would still be my heroes.
I like Kodak, and I like them like I always like them especially when they gave away their film. I got some of their 120 roll films, so that was great. Last year I didn't have any 120 film camera nor did I know about 120 roll film so I opted for the free 35mm films and one is still in my FE .... I got some 120 roll film this year. I like Fuji too, but they were stingy, no free samples at their booth, they needed to scan the name tag and presumably send you the samples; God knows what is going to happen. I will let you readers know if I indeed receive any sample from Fuji down the road. I actually sort of prefer Fuji's roll film but I just can't get them on the cheap, so far only used five, .... not even today in the Expo. Fuji, I am disappointed.
Before I wrap up my Expo report, I just like to say, being an ignorant photographer, if you allow me to indulge myself to be called a photographer, I didn't know about the ALPA camera until I met one today. That thing costs like a BMW or something and I was impressed the guy even bothered to entertain me because I certainly don't look like I can afford a BMW. OKAY, that's the kind of camera I need, forget about the Nikon and Canon; 35mm is really for girly men anyway. Any self respecting guy goes medium format or bigger.
You don't need to know or own a BMW to be a professional driver, I suppose. Nice to know that you have a chance to play with all the new toys there.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it was indeed pretty nice. It was a once a year experience. I always thought it would take much shorter for me to finish the round of gawking and wowing. I got there around 12PM and didn't leave until 4PM.
ReplyDelete