Ashanali

Lots of people take their cameras and osmosis definitely works. A couple of years ago there were acrobats at the nikon stand so people could take photos. lots of fun.

Bec and kirislin- you'll love it! Check out at the pma site the speakers who will be there. Go and listen to all you can. You'll love it! Linda- trade days are awesome. Less packed and the staff on the stands aren't frazzled and can take more time to talk I'm excited. This is my Christmas for me. Trip away, no kids, functions/parties/dinners each night, get to see lots of photography friends, watch (and judge) the awards and take away some awesome inspiration, AND I get to play with photography toys :cheer: if you see me around, come and say hello. I'll be the tall chick with the long blonde/caramel hair that's hanging around the awards judging.

I've been a bit slack this year. Last year I posted this thread a month before. This year it's only a few days away so apologies to those who already have plans for the weekend. This year's Digital Life Expo/PMA event is being held in Melbourne. It's a must see for all photographic enthusiasts from hobbyist to professional. You can get hands on with all your favourite products, speak direct to suppliers, find new stuff that you would never have thought of and be overwhelmed by the awesomeness of the photographic/imaging world. If you're interested in seeing images from some of Australia's (and the world's) leading photographers, you can stick your head in to the Aust Professional Photography Awards judging and see the judging as it happens (I'm judging! I'm terrified. My first time.) and I know that myself, Rocco and another DOLer have prints that are entered in the awards also (all of ours will be judged on Friday afternoon/evening in the 'illustrative' category.) The expo isn't open to the general public on Friday or Saturday morning but the print judging is. The Expo is open to the general public from lunchtime on Saturday and all day Sunday. If you have any interest in photography, at any level, be sure to come along and check it out. (I think free registration is open still - follow the link below and save yourself $20 entry fee) http://www.pmaaustralia.com.au/ and as an added bonus, the good food and wine show is on next door at the same time http://www.goodfoodshow.com.au/

Your secret is safe with me (and the rest of the internet )

Well done Ripley on the photos. Great work I suck at landscape shots and it's something I REALLY want to understand... I need to hit up a few people for landscape lessons. (and I love the seals.)

Strobist groups are great for learning - lots and lots of tutorials and get togethers. You've already found the strobist blogspot... that's a good one.

Thanks Ruth I think I will wet myself if I see it on TV I have been away for work the last 2 weekends so only really picked the flash up yesterday. Got some rechargeable batteries and then realised they take forever to charge!! Also, my attention span isnt the best so reading a manual does my head in. I want to know it all NOW! Kept this weekend free to get stuck into it. Yep, put the rechargables on overnight. ;) Also as much as the battery companies like to tell you that they hold a charge, they don't. If you plan on shooting and you think the batteries will be okay, don't believe it. Just ensure that you charge them overnight before you plan on using them.

I read the OP and was going to say Ruth but it's already been said... a few times. I think the OP gets the hint.

Dog came back to me because the woman claimed she was a vegetarian and didn't like handling his food. Ummm... he's a dog. He eats MEAT

strangled chicken noise. I need to patent it and sell it.

I received an email last week from a lady who bought a puppy from me six years ago. She was just checking in (for the first time in six years) and letting me know what Florence had grown into a beautiful lady and she couldn't be happier with her. I love it. I always make sure I respond.

The bubble photo belongs to a Brisbane photographer that I have helped with a few images. Her name's Nicole. She's lovely.

It felt like fluid and when it was pressed it moved around. There was no hardness. Kayo had no temperature and was eating like a pig the whole time. The only change was the sudden appearance of the lump.

June is an open month. It's up to you to decide what you want to add, what you want to try or perhaps go back and revisit topics from past months. The only stipulation is that you tell us what you were hoping to achieve when shooting the image, then tell us if you feel your result was successful. This is a very useful exercise as if you can set out to do something and honestly critique your own work, it's a VERY important tool when trying to disect your own photography and skill. GOOD LUCK!

I'm posting this for two reasons. The first is that I had to google over the weekend to find out if what I was dealing with was urgent or not. DOL comes up as a resource for most dog related questions on the internet but there was only a vague talk about seratomas in a thread and it didn't help me much... so I had to do more googling. The second reason is that the video is gross and some people like that. However it's also intersting (aside from the gross factor) So what's the story? Three weeks ago Kayo had a litter of pups then two weeks ago she tried to jump out of the window and ended up hanging from the window bolt by the skin on her back leg. It tok a little over an hour and a couple of hundred stitches to fix her up but the vet couldn't add a compression bandage because of the position of the wound and her need to feed puppies. Her healing was going very well until the weekend when her leg suddenly ballooned as it was filling with fluid. I googled to find out if it was something that needed to be dealt with urgently or if it could wait for the vet who was treating her. All sources that I eventually found said that if it's a small amount of fluid it could be treated with heat packs and compression however a large amount of fluid needs to be drained. It's only urgent if the subject is showing signs of infection. Kayo had no signs of infection and was perfectly happy, so we waited until we could see the vet who treated her initially. The suggestion is that the internal stitches dissolved faster than her skin healed and it left an open pocket internally that she has probably bumped and this has started the swelling. A seratoma usually occurs when gravity forces fluid to a pocket lower than the surgery site and there is no drain in place to allow the fluid to escape the body. It is often seen in amputees post-surgery. So here is a gross video showing Kayo's seratoma being drained, it starts with the vet trying to make a hole with the scalpel rather than slicing as he wanted to avoid having to put another stitch into her. *she has had a local anaesthetic before filming started*

Why would you need PI (i.e. professional indemnity) insurance - this is for people like lawyers, accountants and engineers who provide professional services. PL insurance is public liability insurance and you don't need that to take photos. I am really interested for more information on that the VCA thinks the law is re taking photos. Anyway - on topic. Unless they are a professional photographer (or someone portfolio building) then they should not be charging for photos. If they are going to charge then this must be disclosed up front (basic contract law). I would expect to receive the photos within a couple of days. Actually we do. Although most "photographers" aren't aware of this and just shoot without it. If someone trips over their camera bag, I hope they're prepared to lose their home! From a professional point of view (and just following on from what Danois says up there.) People who are portfolio building have every right to charge. It just shouldn't be a 'full rate' particularly if the work isn't at a consistent level. Personally, if I offer to take photos for someone for whatever reason (and I do this ocassionally), I NEVER charge. That's just rude! If I offer it's because I want to take a photo, not because I want to make money. If someone asks me to take a photo, I tell them it will be x amount and make arrangements for getting the images to them that suit us all. If they want the photo, they'll pay, if they don't want to pay, they'll ask someone else to take a photo.

Considering how new you are to photography, do you consider yourself a photographer or are you still in the portfolio building phase? When portfolio building (and I would hope that you are still portfolio building because while your work is strong, I still wouldn't say it's consistent enough at this point to sell it as a full priced product), you can get away with a basic site to showcase your work and potentially pull in more work to build your folio. btw - don't get me wrong, you still charge when PBing, you just don't charge full price and you always tell clients that you are cheaper because you are PBing. When you have people sign their session contract, make sure they sign a model release which means you can use the images for your folio. No model release signed, they can pay a 'full rate' - the whole point of having it a little cheaper is to use the images, if they won't sign, they don't get your PB prices. Some people only PB for 6-8 months, others for 2 years or more. The PB phase finishes when you are 100% confident in your skill and abilities to produce consistent work to a high standard. A facebook page isn't enough of a base to work from. People want to visit a website somewhere and get a feel for you and make sure you're 'real'. Fly by night people use facebook only - never a good thing to do. Visit bludomain and you can see a variety of templates. There are even a couple of $50 templates that are neat and clean and easy to navigate. As for business cards. Both of those are fine. Black cards without images seem to work for us.

It's all good Erin. He was honestly thrilled that he got to handle a Basset. It couldn't have worked out any better. Thanks for the suggestion as I would never have thought of it myself.

YAY! Congratulations You must be thrilled

This doesn't denegrate anyone. It's a vaild warning. Let me put it in another example for another industry and a warning that we repeat on an almost daily basis, "Be sure to choose a wedding photographer who knows what they're doing. A wedding day is a once in a lifetime event and not the sort of thing you leave up to people with little experience." Is this comment running anyone down? Nope. But it IS letting people know they should do a little research. That's what I got from SBT's statement.

She has a lot of very happy customers, what's wrong with that? Nothing whatsoever, just find it amusing that's all given that one of the "happy customers" then has to denigrate other lead makers. I came in to find out who was recommended and read all of this... I didn't realise anyone 'denigrated' you?? Also I have no idea who TeamSnag is but if they have happy customers what's the problem? I don't go around in the photography threads and get upset when people point out that they like the photos that someone else takes. There's enough work to go around for everyone and not everyone is going to like the same things. It's nice to have options! (off to check out some of the links. I need new leads because all my show leads have gone walkies... again )

I'm with Gretel!! I've supported lots of dog clubs over the years, but I've also saved a lot of petrol money.....consequently my dog's titles are never achieved all that fast......no idea how to energise you Ash... read my latest post. the OP was made back in November

Ronin is. We live near a main road so it's almost a daily occurence.

"Never argue with a fool, they will knock you down and beat you with experience." Mas - I hope your friend gets their papers.