Moving Into 2010

I feel compelled to close out 2009 with sincere best wishes for all of you that have been part of my life’s journey. 2009 has been experienced with new friends, new finds, and sense of standing on firm ground. Whatever your circumstances, I hope the coming years uplift us all to a life of joy and prosperity. I have a few announcements to make…

1) I will be regularly posting excerpts from photographic essays I have prepared. I am kicking this off today.

2) I will be occasionally posting personal experience reviews with photo gear and vendors. Look for that very soon starting off with the x-rite color checker kit.

3) This blog will no longer contain pages that list my shows, training courses and gear. The pages will still be there but they will only contain links to the appropriate section of my main website www.bobkulonphoto.com. It is too complex to update this in two locations.

In closing, Happy New Year everybody!

My Art Fair Booth ~ Logan, Utah

Almost every weekend I take off to participate in Art Fairs/Shows. Some of these are local, like the Tuacahn Saturday Market. Some of them required jury selection and I travel a distance to set up my booth and vie for customers for my Fine Art Prints. I know that many of you that read this blog are personal friends. Today I thought I would give you a glimpse of my “on the road” setup.

Last weekend I was in Logan, Utah; about 300 miles north of my home base in St. George, Utah. I set up my current booth design and took some pictures before the crowds arrived…

  

New Website!

Friends, my new website is up and running. Please visit it and let me know your impression: www.bobkulonphoto.com. While you are there, you will note…

• My current commercial gallery is presented.
• My show listing has been updated. The current count is 7 with more announcements coming shortly.

All the best,
Bob

New Shows Added

Just a mention, as the days roll on, artists are now being alerted of their juried acceptance to fine art shows. I’ve just added three new listings on my Shows page. Changes will be occuring at a frequent pace now. Check back often.

Two crazy days with Jack Graham

My sidekick for Monday and Tuesday was Jack Graham – both of us formerly of NE Ohio. Jack now is located in Portland, Oregon and I am in St. George, Utah.

Anyhow…

Jack flew in to attend the PMA (Photo Marketing Association) Conference in Las Vegas for business and we thought we would take a leisurely day in the natural environs to do some touring, gaping, and shooting.

Monday we spent in Zion, visited three different photographer’s galleries including Michael Fatalli’s, and checked out the petrified dunes in Snow Canyon State Park. Although it was a whirlwind day, it was still relaxing and there were some excellent photo ops. (It is impossible to not find subject matter here.)

Here’s a few I put together from Monday… 

 

Small canyon detail in Zion NP

 

Checkerboard Mesa

 

Tuesday, was completely different. We headed down to Vegas early expecting massive crowds and delays at PMA. Surprise! Even at 10 AM opening we found a parking spot near the door. This was my first PMA, so I didn’t quite know if this was normal. Everyone I met assured me that this year was in the pits due to the economy. Tumbleweed city!

Here are some observations, rumors, and opinions I walked away with…

1. Every professional photographer should make an attempt to occasionally attend this event. You can’t get in unless you are in the biz; it is not open to the general public. It is an invigorating experience.
2. Don’t eat the chicken sandwiches (I’ll take Jack’s word for it).
3. Major DSLR manufactures (Nikon and Canon) had no new DSLR camera introductions.
4. It is rumored that a Nikon D400 is in the works for release in about a month.
5. It is rumored that a Nikon D700x is in the works closely thereafter. (D3x resolution).
6. No Canon DSLR body rumors, but one would assume something will shake loose by fall to keep pace.
7. Canon lenses: nothing new except the already announced Tilt-Shift wide angles.
8. Nikon lenses: I didn’t pay any attention, sorry.
9. Look out for Sony. They are making some serious attempt to rule the DSLR roost. Big threat!
10. The sweetest lens I ever saw in my life was the Sony 300mm f/2.8. Not much bigger than my Canon 300mm f/4 L IS. Painted “Canon Beige”. Hybrid Canon/Nikon metal work. A serious array of Canon-esque controls.
11. Sony also had the requisite 70-200 f/2.8 with the same styling.
12. Carl Zeiss is about to release Nikon and Canon mount lenses, perhaps with full automation. A new 21mm is on the way.
13. Canon has the Explorer’s of Light giving back-to-back presentations and live studio shoots on the Canon Stage. This was great stuff. Much to learn. Live video feeds from wireless remotes. Camera to print (24×36) in about 8 minutes. Amazing!
14. I saw the 5D Mk2 video capabilities. They quality is very high. The human interface needs a lot of work; but this is the start of something big – High Def video in a DSLR. Perfect for event shooters.
15. Canon and Nikon are both promoting their prosumer lines very heavily. This show was all about the Nikon D300 and D700 and the Canon 50D and 5D Mk2. The pro stuff (Nikon 3Dx and Canon 1Ds Mk3) as well as all the entry and consumer DSLRs took a back seat.
16. Vendors all had smiles and they all seemed phony. The bad economy has hit home.
17. This was the first year they charged an admission fee to the show floor.
18. Ilford is about to release a new series of papers in the Gallery line; an update to the Pearl surface. Rolls now; sheets by mid-year.
19. Some of the photography I saw used to demo products was amazingly second rate – I just can’t understand this
20. I’ll probably go back about every other year.
21. Conspicuous by their absense: Epson, Bogen, Manfrotto, Gitzo

The Future of HD Slide Show Presentations

Allow me to tell you about the results of a “test” I did last night. A while back, I upgraded to Photodex ProShow Gold 3.5. The drawing card was it’s ability to write BluRay disks in 1080p HD video. Proshow Gold has already established itself as the leading slide show software on the PC.

I needed a way of producing very high quality merchandising show for my Art Show booth. The concept is to allow all passers-by to glance at images as they cycle and be draw in by their quality. Everything I sell is in the slide show, including DSLR Boot Camp Training and Field Workshops.

Lacie D2 BluRay Drive

The missing piece of the puzzle was a decent BluRay burner. I wanted an external Firewire (no glitches!) unit because I want it to be portable between my different work computers.

At this point in time, there isn’t much that fits those requirements: External, Bluray, and Firewire.

The only device I could detemine that would do the job is the Lacie D2. In the past I have had better luck than most with Lacie drives. They basically package OEM drives and resell them.

Lo and behold, this D2 unit was built like a Sherman tank!

Installation was tedious, but all went well. After a reboot, I opened up Proshow Gold 3.5 and it immediately recognized the Lacie BluRay burner device.

ProShow Gold 3.5 supports BluRay

OK, now we’re getting somewhere! 

I originally built the entire presentation in PowerPoint to make use of its graphic layout capabilities.

I exported each of the 119 slides as a hi-rez 1920×1080 TIF file. In Proshow Gold, I loaded each TIF into a frame. (I preset the show parameters for 16:9 at 1080p resolution.)

Bingo! I burned the 18 minute show in about 12 minutes (rendering and burning at 2x) using my 4-core main PC. I played this back on my BluRay player and the results are astonishing.

Stop by the “Christmas In The Colonies” Show this weekend and see for yourself! I am in Booth #31. This show is in Medina at the Medina County Fairgrounds in the Medina Community Center. The address is 735 West Lafayette Road (US-42). Times are:

• Friday November 28 – 10 AM to 7 PM
• Saturday November 29 – 10 AM to 5 PM
• Sunday November 30 – 11 AM to 5 PM

I hope to see you there. A great time is planned!!!

Cheers,
Bob