$500us This is a great lens, I just want something a little wider for my crop sensor camera. It's a year old and comes with the box, and all the accessories that came with it. Good color and contrast for a non-L lens.

I believe Canon is run by asshat's. Thats right, ass hats. (in case your wondering what exactly an asshat is [link]) If you don't know Canon has released the specs on the 1dmkIV, or 1d4 as I call it. Vince Laforet [link] made a killer video called Nocturne with a pre-release camera that went viral over the last couple days to the tune of almost 800,000 unique hits before Canon asked that it be taken down. THIS IS FREE ADVERTISING YOU NIMRODS! I sent a link to a friend of mine who does a lot of video work. He was pulling the checkbook out for a pre-order before the video was even over. ASSHATS! I don't know what else to call it but utter stupidity. From what I hear it's politics between the Japan division and Canon USA [link] screwing the pooch.

By the way Canon your customer service sucks on a legendary scale too.

So have you ever been shooting and had a stranger come up to you and start asking a bunch of questions? Carry a camera around long enough and it's going to happen if it doesn't all the time already. Maybe they are fellow photographers, interested in your gear, or are just nosy. Sometimes they can be downright annoying. But whatever you do always take the time to give them a little of your time; you never know what it leads to. For example:
A month or so ago I was shooting a class reunion. Not a glamorous job that you brag about; but the kind we all do for some extra spending money. As happens from time to time a guy comes up and starts asking me about my camera and lens choice, flash, etc. Nice enough guy. By this time I've wrapped up most of what I need so I don't cut the conversation short. Come to find out he lives just a couple miles down the road from me in the same small community I'm from and does some photography too. He asks me if I'd be interested in working on a project he has coming up in a few weeks. Sure, why not. I'm always game for something new.

That project happens to be the local county fair. He's the web master and has done all the photos and videos for the event for nearly ten years and was looking for a little help. Not a problem for me. I've been at it steady for the past two weekends and wrapped it all up on Saturday night. Met and photographed a number of musicians (and scored a couple free CD's), several days of rodeo, was run down by a herd of greased pigs and the kids chasing them, made some of the best long exposure shots I've ever done at the carnival, have dozens of photos on the county website with thousands of hits, had four photos run in last weeks local paper and some more to run this coming week, and never even noticed when I put in 12-20 hour days. All that because I took the time to talk to someone.

But there's more. He asked me about my outlook on our community and what I thought about how the arts are handled in the local school system (I have a daughter in high school. In a nutshell we have a backwards thinking majority in charge. It's not 1950 anymore. He has an idea of creating a youth photo and video education project to pick up the failings of our local school. I've wanted to do something similar to this myself, I just didn't know where to begin. He has a few grants in mind that might apply, and a building that someone is looking to rent to a community minded project. A huge beautiful building that could house a couple small the middle sized studios, and office space, and a gallery/presentation area. What he needs is someone who knows he photography end of it and is willing to put forth the effort to help make it happen. So now a have a place to work, a purpose to work toward, and a way to help others at the same time.

All that for taking a few minutes to talk to a stranger. Try it sometime.

I helped a lady out judging a Regional 4H photo contest a couple months ago. I had a great time doing so and saw some amazing work from the kids. She asked me if I had a couple photos she could use to help demonstrate to the kids what judges are looking at and how the critique process works. So four nature shots, and four people shots later I called her up. I delivered all of them matted and ready to go this morning. Some were great shots, some were horrible. Matting ranged from very professional to ragged and a butt ugly lime green thing surrounding a beautiful HDR.

Work to teach by; the good and the bad. She offered to pay for materials and such. But how could I take that? What price is there on the chance to be able to help someone achieve their potential? That is truly a great gift for the cost of a little giving.

This time tomorrow I should be aboard the battleship Texas for a tour and shoot. We're spending the night on the ship, shooting it at night and in the morning light. The foundation that cares for the Texas hasn't really done anything like this before so it will be interesting to see if they "get it". Hopefully they do and we get to spend some quality time getting shots.

They need a ton of money for upkeep and upgrades on the ship. It's almost 100 years old now and it's starting to show. At least they got some AC working in the sleeping quarters. I think I'd fight the misquotes on deck before the heat in the bottom of the boat. If all goes well I can help them generate a little more cash flow with some workshop ideas I have.