I would like to announced that I’ve started a new blog for users and enthusiasts of the Panasonic AF100 HD video camera. It can be found at http://AF100Central.com
Please come by and share in the knowledge. If you would like to send a link to AF100 footage for inclusion, send an email with your link to AF100Central (at) gmail (daht) com.
Panasonic AF100 users, if you haven’t already heard, there is a firmware update available for your camera. The upgrade improves the color displayed in the LCD, as well as some problem with Mac operation. Something about a hidden file that Macs use. But the most important update is this: When you are using the camera in VFR (variable frame rate) mode, now there will be an icon in your viewfinder that tells you that audio is NOT being recorded. In case you weren’t aware, before the update, your audio meters would function as normal, even though your camera was not recording audio in VFR mode. This is a VERY important fix, because even if you are recording at the standard frame rate for your scene file when in VFR mode, the camera will still not record audio, UNLIKE the HPX170, which WOULD record audio when you put it back to your scene file’s frame rate after over or undercranking it. With the AF100, you actually have to go into the menu and turn off VFR mode in the scene file.
Click here to download the firmware update from Panasonic:
It’s been a long time since I’ve made any new entries on this particular blog, and the main reason seems to be an occurrence of blog-tool-overload. There are a lot of blogging platforms and tools available these days and my experimental nature makes me want to try all of them.
This WordPress blog was my first “real” attempt at maintaining a legitimate online journal presence, although chronologically, there was a livejournal page before this one. That was ten years ago, though, before I really hit my stride as a professional photographer, and I didn’t really have a lot of interesting photo posts — something this blog is centered around. So, I just won’t count the livejournal page. It was just a bunch of whining anyway, I’m pretty sure. I don’t remember.
In my absence from regular WordPress posts, I’ve tried other platforms like Uber (awesome, but now defunct), deviantART (useful but over-run with bad anime artists and amateur photogs who are addicted to their own page view count), Facebook (useful for keeping up with friends, but the worst blogging platform imaginable), Myspace (a vicious lie; I never tried keeping an active blog on myspace — I’m not in a band, or sixteen years old, or both), Blogspot and TypePad (suck and suck), and who knows what else.
Of all the blogging platforms I’ve tried, I’ve yet to find one that can match WordPress in the amount of great tools available, ease-of-use, and awesome PageRank when it comes to getting my blog entries seen in relevant Google searches. WP wins, and I’m back. This blog is once again active as the main outlet for my net-based wisdom, which I’m sure you’re all clamoring for right about now. Please try to contain yourselves; I’ll be posting soon.
There is a new photo post at my new permanent blog site, TheShooter.net. Come have a look! And be sure to subscribe to the new RSS feed once you’re there to receive automatic updates!
This has been a good day.
We were given a reprieve from our week of Rain, and enjoyed a brisk sunny day; the weather was perfect for a memorial. Today, we celebrated the life of Robert “Mac” McLeroy, master photographer and friend and inspiration to many, myself included. Mac passed just before Christmas, due to complications from a stroke. Today, friends, colleagues, and family gathered to remember him.
J. Michael Short spoke, and spoke well:
Photographer and friend, J. Michael Short, speaks during the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Kevin Geil sang, beautifully:
Kevin Geil sings during the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Many friends and colleagues came to the service.
Atmosphere as seen during the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Atmosphere as seen during the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Guests view a slideshow featuring photos of Mac during the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Atmosphere as seen during the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
A therapy dog who visited Mac in the hospital was a special guest at the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Mac’s gear rested on the sign-in table. This made me sad; he had it around his neck the last time I saw him, when we ran into each other in Alamo Plaza as we were covering Luminaria last year.
Mac's gear rests on the sign-in table during the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
A portrait of Mac adorned the cover of the service program. It’s a fantastic image.
A portrait of Mac is printed on the program of the memorial service for photographer Robert "Mac" McLeroy, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2010 in San Antonio. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Rest in Peace, Mac. Your influence will live on.
I think the best thing about CES may have been the fact that it kept me so busy I couldn’t gamble. Well, being broke in the first place also helps for keeping one from the tables, but I’ll go ahead and blame it on the convention, since I don’t care to dwell on the “broke” part. There is so much going on, that daily publications are distributed so the enthusiastic techie can keep abreast of the latest and greatest.
CES attendees read daily news about the convention in the foyer of the Las Vegas convention center. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Ed (@elozano on Twitter) and I were at CES for only two days, which simply wasn’t enough. To really take in what CES has to offer, you need to go for all four days. Bring a good pair of walking shoes and eat a good breakfast, because even if you rush it, I’m not sure if four days is enough time to see everything. It probably isn’t.
This was our view leaving CES on the first night. Not bad, I don't think. The taxis even add character. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Another really cool thing about covering a tech convention like CES is that they realize how important blogging and other types of social media are to the industry. Technology is really one area where citizen journalists can make a big difference. Manufacturers and designers have learned that the voice of the People is the best way to let them know what they should be doing, and the new social media has made it easier than ever for them to hear us. And they do listen.
Sign outside the blogger lounge at CES in Las Vegas. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
I was impressed with the fact that the organizers established a blogger lounge, with free WiFi, charging stations, fast LAN access, public terminals with a printer, couches, TVs, and free coffee and snacks to boot. Nice touch! I hope that next year they make the room a little larger though because once the show started that place was packed. It looked like a squatters’ rally, with people camped out on every flat surface available. Needless to say this really choked up the WiFi as well which wasn’t a big deal for writers but when one is trying to move video stories across the net like we were, things got a bit frustrating at times. It didn’t help that Ed’s 4G Sprint service was a joke, and my AT&T iPhone access was even worse. Yes, AT&T, even though the iPhone is the best thing ever, you still suck.
I managed to get my focus right as I snapped this self portrait as the sun set through the window of the Las Vegas convention center
The big theme for this year – and I mean big – seemed to be new technologies in television. All the big manufacturers, and a lot I’d never heard of, were seriously representing with their dazzling new screens. There were hundreds of awesome flat panel units on display and the quality of all of them was amazing. The Samsung display was just crazy. I had to document it with the iPhone video because the lens on my GF1 wasn’t wide enough to get it all in one shot.
Television was definitely the top buzz once you were in the show. Outside the show, it was probably tablets, but inside, there were awesome TVs everywhere. Yes, television, and now, 3D Television. New 3D systems and their corresponding goggles were all the rage on the display floor. I’m sorry, but not even the best models look good wearing these things.
A model at the Panasonic booth models 3D glasses for use with new 3D TV displays. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Here are some more TVs:
Attendees at CES 2010 look at the latest in television technology on the show floor. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
I think my favorite display was the Intel Infoscape cube, which was, essentially, a seven-foot glass wall that displays 500 real-time streams of just about anything you like, mapped onto cubes that one can interact with. Here’s a short video I shot on my way out of the hall, which will explain it much better than I can:
It’s always cool to run into someone nice who is happy to help you out. When Ed and I showed up at the LVCC today to pick up our credentials for CES, it wasn’t obviously evident where we should go, but we found it, after spending a few minutes outside getting some b-roll of the convention center and people walking in and out. Once in the registration area, a VERY nice lady helped us out and got us on our way. I don’t know her name, but here she is:
The very nice lady who helped us register. She made me promise not to post her on America's Most Wanted... As if I have that kind of power. 
After geting our press credentials in order, and picking up the very nice canvas shoulder bag (gotta love press swag) they gave us, we headed up to the blogger lounge, which is where we are now.
View from our table in the blogger lounge at CES in Las Vegas (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
We’re about the head back downstairs to get some more b-roll of the convention floor as they’re setting up for the opening of the show tomorrow. Then it’s time for a quick lunch before we go to the Panasonic presser, which we should be streaming live on Ustream. We will tweet the URL when we go live. Be sure to follow @peakaction @elozano @newmediascoop for all the latest tweets from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas!
I think in all we spent about 12 hours in airports or on planes today. The route to vegas for CES, although free, was long. We learned a very valuable lesson today: Don’t fly standby the week of the Texas/Alabama Championship game. We came from San Antonio to Vegas, and every nutcase fan from Texas and Alabama as well was flying the same route on their way to the game. Planes were overbooked like I’ve never seen, and the idea of flying on standby seems absolutely insane to me now that we’ve already done it. It’s a goof thing for free WiFi or I would have gone bonkers. This is how we spent the entire day:
Ed (@elozano) works on his computer at Phoenix Sky Harbor airport
We finally made it to Vegas and after a thirty-five-dollar cab ride, checked into our room at Circus Circus. I’ve never stayed at Circus Circus before, but the rooms were dirt cheap, so how could we say no? After checking in, however, I know exactly how we should have said no. N-O. No. I will only mention the jet engine living in the air conditioner and the pre-existing stain on my bed sheet, and leave it at that.
Riding the tram to pick up our bags at McCarran International
After dropping our crap in the room, we headed downstairs to eat at a cafe that Ed said was good, but they ended up being closed. So, we ate at the buffet. How was it? If you want to recreate the experience of the Circus Circus buffet, you simply need to go to your local supermarket and buy every low quality frozen food item in their freezers. Then microwave them for about half the required time and serve on chipped cafeteria plates.
And throw in one dish that features a completely unidentifiable meat product. At first, I thought I was eating chicken. Then, after I had eaten most of it (I was hungry, dammit), I decided that it was in fact some variety of red meat. I actually did not know what kind of meat I was consuming. Regardless, I’d eaten worse-tasting things in my life, and like I said, I was hungry. I stopped eating, however, when what looked like a small knuckle assembly surfaced next to the obviously-instant mashed potatoes. This is not food for eating; it is food for laying down and avoiding.
If I survive my next trek through the lobby, I’ll tell you more about the hotel itself.
Tomorrow morning, we may actually make it to the actual show.
My day started off very early. Ed picked me up at my house at 6 a.m. and we set off for the airport to catch a flight to Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). To save a few bucks, we flew standby, which worked fine until we reached Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. It seems that a lot of people also want to get to Vegas today and all the flights are full. It looks like we have at least a six hour wait ahead, so here I sit, writing this blog entry to kill some time. The bright side is that, if you have to get stuck at an airport, Sky Harbor is a good one; there’s free WiFi and they have a Nathan’s hot dog stand with free soda refills.
Sunrise at San Antonio International, waiting for our flight to Vegas. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
I ate a chili dog to kill some time, which as it turned out, only took about five minutes. I was hungrier than I thought. Now I’m resisting the urge for a waffle cone.
With any luck at all, we’ll land in Vegas by 9 p.m. local time and get to our hotel. Circus Circus. Not the best, but once again, cheap. You gotta do what you gotta do. We had hoped to attend the CES Unveiled presentation tonight, but there is no way we’ll make it there in time. Hopefully we won’t miss too much.
If you want to follow our CES adventures, follow @newmediascoop on Twitter, as well as myself, @peakaction and Ed, @elozano We’ll be tweeting everything that happens, and you can expect one or two blog posts per day. We’ll be reporting on all the best gadgets and announcements.
Folk rock musicians Crosby, Stills and Nash perform during their 2009 tour, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, at Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio, Texas. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
Classic and familiar sounds filled the Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio tonight as folk rock supergroup Crosby, Stills and Nash played live for a packed house. The trio made a stop in the Alamo City as part of their 2009 US tour.
I was invited to come photograph the show by a client of mine, who was handling PR for the event. I was only allowed to shoot the first two songs, as is the norm, and then I had to put the cameras down. I could have stayed to catch the rest of the show, but I didn’t want to sit there with two bodies, a 300/2.8 and a 70-200/2.8 in my lap the whole time. Plus, I was starving, so after the second song, it was dinner time.
Folk rock musicians Crosby, Stills and Nash perform during their 2009 tour, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2009, at Municipal Auditorium in San Antonio, Texas. (Darren Abate/pressphotointl.com)
I have to say, they weren’t sounding too strong in the pipes. The tunes seemed a little thin in intensity, but it’s not like I could do any better. But then again, I’m not on stage trying to do so. My friend Dave saw them somewhere up north a couple weeks ago, and he said it was the same there. I guess the years really do take their toll on a singer. Dave told me that the first set was all acoustic, and then they come back and play a rock set. I do wish I could have seen that, just to see what the difference was. I hear they have lasers, which would explain the non-marijuana-generated-fog that filled the venue.
Truth be told, I wanted to get some more exciting photos, but in retrospect, I was in the wrong place for that. The first two songs, they stood and sang. I don’t know why I was expecting more than that; it’s Crosby Stills and Nash, not Rush. I was pretty sure there would be no Rocking. Regardless, it was a cool experience to see them on stage, which was the first time I’d seen them live.
But, then again, I didn’t see the second set.
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