I now have just seven working days left before saying farewell to a more than two-decade-long career in journalism and embarking on a new chapter in my life. It's getting exciting, and quite intimidating at the same time. But at this stage I'd say the excitement outweighs the nervousness that results from a midstream career change. I am raring to get stuck into my photographic studies.
I received a letter from the head of the photographic school at UCOL at the end of last week impressing upon me the fact that, with 12 papers in the first year, next year is going to be a busy one. Of course, having worked in newspapers for many years, I am no stranger to being busy! And seeing that I did earn a four-year bachelor degree before, I know that fulltime tertiary study is no breeze. But I believe I am ready.
This will probably be my last post for this year, so let me take the opportunity to wish all the readers of this blog a very blessed Christmas. Be safe and remember the reason for the season! See you on the other side.
Here is my current main kit. I really cannot wait to begin the diploma! At this stage, I have 15 working days left, as I leave my job on New Year's Eve. I plan to use the equipment quite a bit between ceasing fulltime employment and the start of my studies on March 1, so hopefully I'll have some good photos to share and also be fully accustomed to the camera by the time I start at UCOL.
I've been getting quite a bit of practice in with my equipment ahead of my studies next year. The lenses are fantastic and I've been getting some rather pleasing results.
Here's a recent shot, of Ainslie Allen, a New Zealand singer/songwriter, who was performing at The Square here in Palmerston North at the weekend. The image here is low-res and watermarked (I have had photos stolen before, so I've had to take these measures).
Camera: Canon EOS 500D
Lens: Sigma 17-70mm
36.0mm; f4.0; 1/100sec.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
This morning I took another big step towards my career change.
During the morning I received notification from UCOL that I had been formally enrolled and was sent the invoice for my first year of the Diploma in Photographic Imaging. So I took the plunge and handed my resignation letter in, informing the company that I would leave on December 31.
In a sense, it is quite a relief now that it is done. It's public now, and my colleagues have been informed. So I can spend the next few weeks without the burden of keeping it secret.
Phew! Things are moving.
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
Since the photography equipment arrived, I have not had much opportunity to take serious photos because of work commitments, but I have been learning as much as I can about it all and have played around a little to familiarise myself with it all.
I am very impressed with both the camera and the lenses, and what little fiddling around with the flash I have done has impressed me too. I'll post some photos as soon as I have some time to do some serious shots.
In the meantime, I acquired, today, some new photography books I thought I'd mention. They're hardly professional, but they do offer some nice tricks and tips in a nontechnical way. I am looking forward to getting into them. They are a three-volume set by Scott Kelby and come highly recommended.
So far I have just browsed through them, and they certainly look promising - easy ways to get great pics without all the jargon that you read in so many other photography books, of which I have plenty.
I have also taken out a subscription to Practical Photography magazine. Can't do enough reading and learning ahead of the course next year!
Despite the dreadful delays and bad service, my goods arrived this afternoon!
I am thrilled, as you can imagine. This equipment is the seed that will, God willing, grow into a successful photography career once my studies are over.
Here's what came in the box:
Go forth and fill your libraries with media.
Seriously, thanks to everyone for being so amazing and patient. You are the reason I love Vox.
I am seriously regretting placing my camera and lens order through this particular company.
Remember, the order was placed on October 18. On Saturday, October 24, the money was deducted from my account. Then, on Tuesday, October 27, I received an email:
I thought I'd better send you a note to let you know where your order is as you may have noticed that we have charged your card. There was a mixup with the couriers so there has been a delay. Your order should reach you in full either on Thursday or Friday. My apologies for the delay.
Kind regards,
S
Notice how the courier company is blamed. The story changes in the next communication. Anyway, Thursday and Friday came and went. No delivery. So on Saturday, October 31, I sent an email asking what was going on and enquiring whether the order had in fact been dispatched.
This came back:
Absolutely, we had a mix up here and between S and I we made an error. The goods were redirected via a very good client of our in Wellington, he is trust worthy and we have paid him the extra courier tickets to send it to you. It should have been overnight. If it doesn't show Monday morning please let me know straight away and I will hunt it down.
Once again, our apologies, I addressed a Canon outfit to a regular at [a company name] and S saw what was in it and presumed it was yours ( it was yours ) I sealed the box up and sent it.
Too many chiefs, not enough indians.
Thanks for your patience.
G
Well, Monday (today) came and went, and still nothing. So this afternoon I sent another mail informing them it had not arrived and asking whether I would get a refund. I just received this response:
The camera is still waiting to be picked up. I've spoken with the Courier company and they are attempting to pick it up this afternoon. That would mean delivery would be early tomorrow morning. Otherwise it should reach you on Weds morning.
Kind regards,
S
Honestly, I should have gone with someone else. Will the delivery happen within the next two days? Time will tell.
