A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed as a Featured Photographer for This is East Van – a community photography project that has its second book in production. As well, my web design company, 32spokes, was recently hired by Uprising Breads Bakery to provide some food photography. These things got me thinking about my camera equipment – and that it was high time for an upgrade. The last time I actually purchased professional gear was back in 2005 when I bagged a used Nikon D100.

I went to Mike Mander, the head of the digital department of Beau Photo in Vancouver, and spoke to him about my need for something with more going for it than my phone camera.

The new Fujifix X10

Mike told me about the Fuji X10, which he described as “The baby brother to the Fuji X100,” but with much better macro capabilities and the capacity to use the raw format. (Mike hasn’t lead me astray with any of his advice or suggestions in the past and it’s one of the reasons why my first stop is usually Beau Photo.) He piqued my interest and I asked if I could see one. Then he said it wasn’t going to be released for two months …

I put in a pre-order and waited, but not for long. In just shy of two weeks Mike called, saying my camera had arrived and it was one of only two in stock. I decided to take the X10 out for a test drive at the local Remembrance Day ceremonies in Sechelt.

The cenotaph and wreaths before the ceremony

My first impression was that it’s a small but solid body with a visual viewfinder that’s actually large enough to be usable, along with a shutter release and zoom dial that are in easy reach when the camera is brought up to your eye.

I find the twist on and off feature of the camera ingenious and problematic. I love it when I am using the camera but if I want to turn the camera on I can’t do that without exposing the lens. I just have to hold down the playback button for a few seconds. (and thanks to steve for the clarification in the comments.)

One thing that amazed me about the X10 was its frames per second capacity for a camera in its price range. I set it to capture both jpg and raw formats at medium speed, which the manual states to be about 3 fps and it wasn’t far off. My beloved FM2 with the motor drive was only 2.5 fps and my F90X topped out at 3.5 fps. The technology has certainly come a long way over last couple years.

The light and wind made for a beautiful ceremony

Once the Eye-Fi card was set up, I found the transfer process puzzling. It treats the raw and jpeg image types as different entities and wants to put them in different folders.

I ended up returning the Eye Fi card and just got a regular SD Card as it didn’t really work for me and it drained my battery quite quickly. I know Eye Fi works for other photographer I have talked with, but it just didn’t work for me.

A camera with very few minuses. But here are a few…

The NP-50 battery will last for an hour or two of shooting, but having a second battery on hand is certainly recommended.

The LH-X10 Lens hood does mount quite easily and accepts a standard 52mm filter. But once the lens hood is attached it does block the visual viewfinder a bit. Not a big miss, but worth a mention.

I also ended up returning the shoe mounted flash EF-42 and it was just far to large for the camera. I would say it is more like holding a feather and then putting a gorilla on top of. I felt it was completely unwieldy. I did some weight testing and the camera only weight 20mg more then the flash. I know a large flash can disrupt the balance of camera, but making a flash that weights almost as much camera is not well thought in my honest opinion by the folks at fuji.

I look forward to when Adobe and/or Apple add the X10 to their list of raw converters and to learning how to use the dynamic capture feature to its fullest potential. All in all, it feels great to have a new camera and I’m very pleased with the picture quality I’ve seen so far. I love the feeling of a real camera in my hands and I love the feeling of a shutter release with a hole in the middle. It is something that a phone just can’t deliver… the feel of a real camera in your hand.

PS: All the images displayed were captured on jpg and adjusted with Photoshop CS4.

Tags: digital camera, less we forget, Nov. 11, range finder, Remembrance Day, two thirds sensor

John Biehler's Thing-o-Matic TK-421 and a collection of objects he has made since he ordered the machine.

I was able to visit John Biehler and his  Thing-O-Matic by Maker Bot on Friday and I was pretty awestruck but the entire technology.

When I first saw John on Canada Day he only had a few samples with him from  his two weeks with the machine.

He is certainly the first and only person I know who owns on and, john correct me if I am wrong, but you ordered your bot he got his shortly after I saw it featured on the Colbert Report.

When I visited his home and saw the apply named TK-421 Thing-O-Matic he had a huge assortment of stuff he has tried and showed me a few amazing samples of what the technology is capable of.

John is also making a second more advanced 3D printer called a Prusa Mendel and most of the pieces are made from his original Thing-O-Matic.

This tech is not for the faint of heart as you have to assemble it yourself and John spent some considerable time learning how too maintain and operate the machine properly but if you have some computer tech hardware knowledge along with about $1200 cdn you can start 3D printing too…

The loaded question I had for John was could he print me something I was looking for?

I was looking for a cable holder for my office at home. I hadn’t needed one until recently, but a quick catalog check and I didn’t want to pay $10 for a piece of plastic I knew only cost at most a buck to produce.

With in seconds john had found a design on thingiverse, a vast catalog of designs that you can print. You can find everything from busts of Yoda and Steven Colbert to that cable holder you always wanted…

The change I joking left on the table for the actual cost of the cable clips.

The software even tells John what it will cost him to produce the product.

“That be a total of 37 cents Robert, will that be Visa, Mastercard or Amex?”

Search in my pockets for some change I found 40 cents and left it on the table. We both had a chuckle over that… 20 minutes later I had the piece in my fingers.

John also has complete control over the density of the product and the speed it would be printed.

In closing 3-D printing is quite the technology and I Look forward to this technology advancing in the coming years. We’re along way away from having a Star Trek Replicator in our homes, but for the first time I seen something that can make a product upon request with in minutes…

The Cable Catcher s3 in both Green and Orange

Close up photo of cable holder Photo by John Biehler using his new iPhone 4s

Tags: 3d Printing, Maker Bot, open source, Thing-o-matic

Thank you… We have verified your cold call hard sell tactics and will never be using your services… Have a nice day

On Sunday October 9th my service provider site5. Was dealing with a Denial of service attack (DoS) attack on their Vancouver hosting location. As always they were on top of it.  So I tweeted that my website would be down and so would the website of the home based business I run 32spokes web design. Being that it was the Canadian Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend, it just gave me more of an excuse to watch the Winnipeg Jets in their first NHL game in 15 years. I wasn’t really doing any work, I was just fiddling around with something.

Once we were back up I tweeted that it was a DoS and we were back up and running. Hey great job site5! I like the hosting plan I have and it works for what I need at the moment. No more no less.

Monday rolled around and I got a phone call in the morning from California of which I didn’t answer (it is a holiday after all). In the afternoon they called again. The number was the same. I answered it just to keep the phone from ringing all bloody day.

Versign: Hi it’s Salesman from Verisign I see you had some problems with your website over the weekend can we talk about how we can help?

Me: Nope I am very happy with my hosting provider and don’t need any other services at the moment. You do know it is a holiday in Canada?

Versign: Oh I am sorry about that. Can I set up a call to talk later?

Me: Nope

Versign: Can I just give you my contact information.

Me: I know who you are your a big company, I’ll call you if I need anything. (patients wearing thin)

Versign: Just let me give you my contact information and maybe…

Me: Your really not getting this… No thank you good bye. Maybe you should check your calendar before cold calling next time.

Versign: No reason to get rude I am just asking…

An hour later…

Cell phone rings. I don’t answer I am doing the lunch dishes.

Answering machine message:

“Hi this is Salesman#2 from Verisign, I see you had a DoS attack on your website this weekend. Maybe we can set aside 10 minutes to talk about how we can provide a solution so your website is protected…”

Twenty minutes after the cell phone call:

Business line rings again: (now I am just pissed)

Versign: “Hi this is Salesman#2 from Verisign I see you had some issues with your website and I was wondering if we could set aside some time to talk about how…”

Me: Seriously? I am not interested stop calling me on a holiday weekend! Goodbye!

Versign: Oh umm…

Me: ‘click’

Seriously this is not how to do a effective marketing campaign. I understand that the hard sell works with some people. But I have never liked it and walk away from any company who employes it as fast as possible. I’d rather to figure whether I want to work with the other company  myself and it is usually comes down to excellent customer service and a good long track record. I had heard of VeriSign before they are a large SSL certificate company. But not taking no for an answer and calling multiple times a day makes me question your intention. They noticed my tweet, but didn’t reply to my tweet. They found my number on my website, but didn’t send a email. Both methods of contact would have got me just as quickly. But they wanted to do a cold call because it’s then harder to say no to.

The calling on the holiday monday was just more an annoyance then anything. But gave me in the impression that the company hadn’t done it’s homework before trying to sell me something…

The things I like about the companies I deal with is that they prove I should be their customer through the service they provide. Not because they told me they are great at what they do or I had to deal with them or I was going to be in trouble if I didn’t use them.

Did this interaction ruin my day? No, but this type of sell is happening far more often. This post is just to show what impression a company like verisign leaves me with after they try contact me. They did more pushing me away then attracting me any service they were offering.  When I switched hosting providers more then a year ago. I went looking for a company that had a good track record and didn’t try to sell me something I didn’t need or want. This is process of which I choose all the companies I choose to deal with.

Postscript >> All of this from one tweet on a sunday afternoon? Ya got me as to why I was targeted as a customer…

Tags: Fail, hard sell, how not to do, marketing, sales, Verisign

I was sad to hear of the passing of Steve Jobs. Ever since I was three we have had a Apple Computer in our house.

From the Apple //+, Macintosh Plus, iMac, iBook and the MacBook Pro I am currently writing this post on, Steve certainly had a direct effect on most of my life and currently provides a conduit to my lively hood as a web designer / developer.

And while I know we will survive after his passing. I can’t imagine what our tech life would be without his influence.  I will certainly be wearing my black turtleneck tomorrow (I own three).

I recently listen to a NPR fresh air interview from 1996 while he was still the CEO of NEXT and PIXAR and well before the big comeback of Apple with Steve at the helm. He talked about how the mouse was brought to the Macintosh and the graphical interface that we all think is common place. I’ll leave you with this quote from the interview…

“Our goal was to bring a liberal arts perspective and a liberal arts audience to what had traditional been a very geeky technology and a very geeky audience.”
~ Steve Jobs speaking about the invention of the Macintosh

RIP STEVE JOBS 1955 – 2011

Will miss you Steve

Tags: apple, mac, RIP, Steve Jobs

This is East Van 2

When I first submitted to the THIS IS EAST VAN project, (see previous blog post) I thought it was pretty cool. It was something that brought me back to why I love photography: it’s how I tell stories.

It turns out that lots of others liked the idea, too. THIS IS EAST VAN became a stunning book of photos by East Van community members; it conveys what East Vancouver means to them in a visually powerful format. Its success is reflected by its placement at many great Vancouver outlets, including the Vancouver Art Gallery.

If you missed out on being part of THIS IS EAST VAN, despair no more – they’re doing it again. Until September 15, you can submit your photos for inclusion in the upcoming THIS IS EAST VAN 2. (I love it when a good idea grows like that.) This time around TIEV has added the convenience of submitting via their website. And, they’re doing a film as well, so if you have video clips that show your East Van, have a look at the film guidelines, too.

As mentioned in an earlier post, there are few calls for submissions that I take the time to participate in. THIS IS EAST VAN (thanks Erin and Rob you guys rock) is one of the best that I have ever been involved with.

PS: East Vancouver is a community that I love and has fostered much of my growth in recent years. Partnering as a sponsor with the TIEV project is a natural for my web design company 32spokes Web Design.

Tags: book, Commercial Drive, community, East Vancouver, givingback, Photography

Update! Google has fixed the location of Sechelt after Rebecca Bollwitt posted the problem and 40-ish retweeters! Thanks to all who helped out! It took Social Media one day to fix what a community has tried to do for over a year!

Thanks to Rebecca Mrs. 604 for writing this article on putting Sechelt back on the map.

I was first told about this Google Map mishap at WordCamp last week. Local web designer Robert Dall explained that over the last few years members of the community have tried pretty much everything to get their town listed. These efforts include hundreds of people reporting the issue to Google, tweeting about it @GoogleMaps on Twitter, and the Mayor of Sechelt, Darren Inkster, has even written an official letter to Google – all to no avail.

You can help out the cause by tweeting  @GoogleMaps with the tag #PutSecheltOnTheMap And hopefully we can get Sechelt, BC put back where it belongs.

Sechelt is actually located where the black arrow is pointing.

Tags: error, Google maps, sechelt, Sunshine Coast, twitter

This is East Van

I have entered very few photo contest. I have submitted to even fewer “call’s for submissions”. I’d either disagreed with the terms of the submission or just have a lack of interest in the actual project.

This was different…  This is East Vancouver. The neighbourhood I have lived in (abet somewhat part-time at the moment) for almost 3 years. The unique nature of the independent vibe and creative culture I found in East Vancouver and especially Commercial Drive really fed my soul and has given me a lot of food for thought ( It gave me a lot of great coffee as well).

Buskers on The Drive

So when I heard about the This is East Van call for submissions it peaked my interest and I checked out the site. My interest was completely captivated when I read it was two creative types (not unlike myself) who live and work in the community and that “with reckless abandonment” had an idea to make a book about a community they live in.

Saturday Morning

Well I don’t think I have ever submitted my photos fast then I have to this project. It was everything a community photography project should be and I am lucky enough to have three photos accepted into the book.

Flipping through the book as I wrote this post I see many photos that spark memories of an event or a time of the year. Other images are foreign, a part of the city I have yet to explore.

Snow Day

I think Erin Sinclair and Jason Uglanica have really done an amazing job on this project and to celebrate the launch of This is East Van they are having a party. I am attending… You should too.

The Waldorf Hotel
1489 East Hastings
Downstairs: THE CABARET
May 5th, 2011
Doors Open at: 8PM

Where can I get this book you say?

• Barefoot Contessa
• The Waldorf
• The Wilder Snail
• Mintage
• People’s Co-Op Book Store
• Sharks and Hammers
• Antisocial
• Make
• Les Amis du Fromage

Also you can order the book online from the This is East Van website and I have been told on good authority that if you live in the community you might get the book hand delivered by either Erin or Jason themselves.

Will leave you with this teaser video from the This is East Van Website.

Tags: book, Commercial Drive, community, East Vancouver, giving back, opening, photo, Photography

The movie Short Circuit

With that Homage to the 1986 movie Short Circuit about robot #5 who is electrocuted and suddenly gains consciousness. The number 5 is very much alive and doing very well.

But I am actually referring to Site5.com a hosting company based in Denver, CO… And yes Site5 is very much alive as well. (site5 has no relation to the movie I am just trying to be funny)

See, back about a year ago when I was first working with Bikes on the Drive they were hosted with Site5 and it was my first experience with them. I was still with my old host (who will remain nameless, this post isn’t about them) at this time. As the summer drew on I noticed considerable service differences between site5 and my old host, I also noticed the down time I was getting compared to Bikes on the drive at how quickly any service request I had with site5.com was answered quickly.

Come August 09 my old hosting provider server was completely bailing after 8 years of almost uninterrupted service. I decided to jump ship and move every site I had over to site5 and I really haven’t looked back.

What has kept me with site5 after the first year?

• With out a doubt the customer service I have gotten from the site5 team and their ability to answer questions, sometimes complete out of scope for a hosting provider has been remarkable.

• Reliability, only a few times have I had a customer support request that was critical to my sites performance keep me and my clients from their websites for more then a couple minutes.

• Easy to use control panel for me and the clients who want access to it.

• Google has started including how fast the server delivers the site in it’s search engine ranking it has become important for the site operate as fast as it can.

• You can email the CEO directly (or follow him on twitter) and he will email you back. (try that with go-daddy)

Site5 Logo

All of the customer service reps I have recently had contact with have been good but I really have to commend the support from Dawn. She doesn’t just provided the answers to questions, but more wants to know why your asking the question. Dawn seem have this uncanny way to understand the level of server knowledge you have and then provide you the easiest course of action to your level of expertise.

This one little thing is crucial to support. In my schooling I was never taught a thing about how servers work and the commands you may or many not need to perform the daily tasks in setting up a site and most tech support center’s don’t seem to understand this.

This also reduces my needs for service levels in the future as many support personal at site5 take the time to explain what I need to do instead of just doing it for me. I don’t have to ask again. Nor am I sent down the wrong path not knowing why I am doing this and what it will do.

I have also been asked why don’t you host with servers in Canada?

I wanted something larger then the mom and pop shop I had came from, but I didn’t have any need dedicated hosting and after a searching around a bit I couldn’t really find anything in Canada that matched the just right hosting I got from Site5.

So yes, number 5 is very much alive!

Tags: Comendation, customer service, server, site5, website hosting

Is the year almost over? Just yesterday I waited with anticipation for the 2010 Olympics, anxious to begin volunteering at the short track venue.

Since that memorable, hectic, time, I’ve said a sad goodbye to East Vancouver and Commercial Drive, one of the great little neighbourhoods in Canada. I met phenomenal people there, friends and neighbours with whom I shared ideas and initiated collaborations.

Pondering how to turn an economic downturn into a personal upturn, I moved back to the Sunshine Coast. I applied for and was accepted into the Aspire Program, which will help me shape my experiences with web design, marketing, art direction and photography into my own business.

There is trepidation, as the path chosen comes with a steep learning curve; but no one ever promised it would be easy. I’m comforted by the security of living at home as well as this program’s 15 years of proven success. Knowing the number of graduates still operating their businesses, and learning of the program’s reputation among coastal residents, I know I’ve made the right choice, and I’ll be launching my business come this late November.

Tags: aspire program, business, self-employment, Sunshine Coast

Their is a beast on the coast, it haunts all residents, it is a necessary evil but yet to most it is our livelihood. It is big and white and travels Howe Sound and it doesn’t like to be messed with.

If you haven’t already guessed I am talking about the Queen of Surrey and our tragic relationship with BC Ferries.

The beauty of the trip is often over shadowed by the second class citizen I feel from the Ferry Corp.

First the Facts

Queen of Surrey using a C-Class ferry which can carry some 362 cars and over 1,500 passengers. The Surrey is Cowichan Class and was put into service in 1981 It and the Queen of Oak Bay were the last two of the C-Class build in North Vancouver. Other then some help over the summer from the Queen of Coquitlam it is the only boat the runs on route 3 which travels between Langdale and Horseshoe Bay. The ship provides bi-hourly service, with a route of 9.7 nautical miles taking approximately 40 minutes to making the crossing.

Some History

The Sunshine Coast has been serviced by ferries since it’s inception as a community. With a number of vessels making the route. One vessel of particular note was the Sunshine Coast Queen nicknamed Suzy Q. After the Suzy Q was retired in 1976 the coast was serviced by two double ended Ferries that would travel back and fourth. A decision was made in the early 80′s to switch to one larger C Class ferry that was larger faster and could handle all of the traffic. But the trade off was it would only run every two hours.

And from what I can recall (I was quite young at the time) Their was a lot of grumbling and discontent that the frequency of ferry service was decreasing. But BC Ferries vowed that this would be cheaper to operate with the same amount of traffic.

Other improvements were included a new ramp for loading the 3rd car deck at the Langdale terminal and a new gantry at Horseshoe Bay to allow walk on passengers to board directly on to the passenger area of the vessel. Both of these decreased loading time of the vessel.

The Langdale Terminal also got a new parking lot, drop off area, coffee shop and bus stop along with a new layout at the Langdale Terminal to adjust for increasing capacity.

Langdale Ferry Terminal

The Black sheep of the Mainland Routes

Their was always trade offs in this smaller route. For example we don’t have traffic that the island routes do. But we also don’t have the weather storm delays or volume delays of the island routes either. The Howe Sound route is claimer then crossing the Strait of Georgia and when other sailing were canceled ours was still running. So when I was a kid I would always see these huge line ups for the Nanaimo route and be glad it wasn’t our route.

But and it is a big but… like a little brother or sister we always got the discards from the larger route. When the ferry was refit we were the last to get it, They would take our boat give it a refit and then it would sail the Nanaimo route. We always grumbled about this but other then a nicer boat for better for worse it still relatively decent service.

Coast not the secret it use to be

Queen of Surrey

Once I was a teenager the coast had it’s own transit bus and their was something called the commuter who would work in Vancouver and travel by ferry to the Coast. A lot of people said it was more enjoyable then being stuck in a traffic jam. But with that came added traffic to the coast and the ferry. These commuters would leave for the 6:20am ferry arriving for work at 8:30am in Vancouver and then return on the 5:30pm ferry getting you back into Sechelt around 7:00pm. And a lot of people start to do this. Living in Gibsons was a lot easier then further up the coast. But I knew people in Halfmoon Bay who would do this 4 to 5 days a week. Again this only worked when the ferry ran on time and for more or less it did. But commuting via ferry was never for me. I don’t think it ever will be.

The Summer hit the coast and all hands are on deck for the busy season, And much like the rest of the coast you can feel the increased traffic and to give BC Ferries some credit service has certainly increased during the summer months adding another C class vessel.

But it is here that lies the problem in my opinion

With every two hour service and a crossing time of forty minutes. You only have 10 minutes on either side to load/unload and leave for the other side. But this only works when the boat is 2/3rds full. The time it takes to stuff the boat will always leave the boat running late. (You can usually see this on the Saturday 8:20 ferry) But the boat can usually catch up on the next run. But with the summer traffic being what it is. They have has additional sailing to keep the traffic smooth.

Problem number one: We have enough traffic to constantly make only one ferry late and but not enough to need a second ferry of duplicate size and capacity. (eg. Queen of Coquitlam or variation of that)

Problem number two: We only have one big boat, their is no robustness or scalability to any issue we might have. So for example a dock problem = delays, 50 extra cars? = delays, Anything out of the ordinary traffic = Delays.  And unlike years gone past it is getting increasing hard to keep this demanding schedule.

Problem number three: When the Queen of Surrey was in dry dock for most of the summer as it had broken down a number of time in the early summer the Queen of Coquitlam took over and it couldn’t keep pace with the schedule and yet is the same class and size of boat with a slightly different layout and been put into service 5 years previous. The only thing I can see from this is that if the Queen of Surrey can barely keep up with the demanding schedule it is beyond the scope of a boat five years older.

Problem number four: Except for the MV Skeena Queen and MV Island Sky who have dedicated routes.  Every other mid-sized ferry was build before the 1980′s with high maintenance cost and antiquated technology on the boats.

I don’t doubt BC Ferries has known this for years and I don’t doubt the complexity of the problem with a route that is constantly changing in traffic capacity. But this current setup just isn’t working and it is troubling. It is hitting the core customers now and it has a huge trickle down effect. Like the coastal transit system which tries so hard to meeting the ferries and even alter it’s schedule to co-ordinate with the ferries.

I am not going to comment on some of the surely staff you find (notice I said some), the expensive food and the really horrible coffee. Because at the end of the day I just really want the ferry to run on a manageable schedule that is robust enough to deal with heaver traffic demands when needed.

I wouldn’t have spent the entire morning writing this post if I felt this was a useless pursuit and nothing could be done. But that is biggest concern I have, is that this little route isn’t little anymore and makes quite the profit for the ferries and yet I still feel like a second class citizen who’s opinions don’t matter in the eyes of the Ferry corp.

Follow up

When I tried to contact BC Ferries, both the 1-800 number and the head office. I was put on hold, told their phones couldn’t transfer. The person you need to talk to is on lunch and will call you back. So far nothing…

Tags: accountability, BC Ferries, Sunshine Coast