Charger problems

I will be posting photos, as soon as I get around to actually processing them. I've been shooting a little bit, but most of it has been getting my name out there. It takes a lot to get a business started up and everything that could go wrong seems to. Sometimes it's things going right that take up time too, but right now it seems to be things going wrong.

I have an assignment lined up for tomorrow. I just got back from Arizona yesterday, after being there for two weeks, and sometime before I got to Arizona to being in Arizona my battery charger went on me. I had to wait until I got home where I had my Canon Professional services info, before I could deal with it.

The charge and refresh lights started flashing rapidly at the same time when the batteries are plugged in. The batteries don't charge. Now that I have gotten back, I found a good friend to loan me a charger and the batteries are charging fine.

The best explanation I could find is that the charger will do that if the batteries overheat. Both the batteries charge fine on another charger. Canon Professional Services said they don't work on chargers and unless it's under warranty they won't replace it. They didn't give me any explanation.

I'm assuming it was just random chance, but if it's preventable I want to make sure that I don't do it again. The only thing I can think of is that it may of been in some heat somewhere. Has anyone else had problems with leaving a charger in blistering heat and the charger not working?

To add to my list, I found out I need to update my CPS membership.

I don't think I'm going to be able to get this one working, so I'm probably going to have to get a new one. Anyone have one they are looking to get rid of?

Crazy Situations

I'm in Arizona right now, I just helped my dad finish a move. I'm supposed to fly back into Orlando at 6:10p. Right now a hurricane (At the moment it is Tropical Storm Fay) is supposed to hit Tampa at 8p. Now I know most people would want to run away from a hurricane, but even though I no longer have a job at a newspaper, my instinct is to get back there in front of it.

This eagerness comes from the urge to be with my wife and dogs, but some of it is the possibility that there may be something to cover. Some of it is I don't want to be stuck at an airport on a layover, when I could be with family in either Arizona or home.

Hopefully many people won't be sharing my urge to head to Florida, and I may be able to book and earlier flight. Looks like I'll be on the phone to Southwest tomorrow figuring things out.

And don't forget that if you need photos when the hurricane hits, I'm available for freelance!

b-cleaning: Stern Magazines Olympic Gallery

I've been glancing through some amazing Olympic blogs, but Stern Magazine truly has the best Gallery that I have seen. I can't understand a word of the captions, but the photos are the ones that are out of the box from everyone else.

Quirky, but me...

Welcome to whoever finds this. Since I was recently laid off from shooting at a newspaper I need a new output for my photography, my rants and my pleas for help. I worked with a newspaper for six years and before that I was in school. When I was in school I always said I would go freelance in five years, but I had become very comfortable at the newspaper. Be careful where you set your goals.

At Eddie Adams, an amazing workshop in upstate New York, a director of photography looked at my book and told me it was "weird but cool." A light came on and I thought that really fit me. I love to find the quirky.

I hope to give my views from a starting freelancer and a chance to see some of the work that I've enjoyed making.
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I hate to do this, but I'm going to start with a rant, because it frustrated me tremendously.

Over the years I've taken a freelance job here and there and tried to keep up with the right way to do things. The way to keep my rights and the way not to take money out of the pockets of my colleagues who were making a living off of freelance.

The NPPA is putting their foot in the door to help freelancers and that's great, but it doesn't help when no one is listening. I was just negotiating an assignment to shoot one month of a calendar for a magazine. I made my mistakes in one of my first freelance negotiations (I'm sure I'll get better with practice). I still created a contract with one-time print use, so that I will keep the rights. Then they wanted unlimited use for the promotion of the calendar on the web. They told me I was the only one of 12 photographers that even used a contract!!!!!!!!

How am I even supposed to negotiate when 11 of my colleagues are just giving away their rights??? How can I even ask for the cost of doing business, when 11 others say yes to these terms without even thinking. They told me they got my name from the NPPA.org, so I am sure that other newspaper photographers were contacted. Even if you are going to give away all of your rights for a day rate, make the client sign a contract! It's not hard and it's even easier if you use a program like BlinkBid (Which is just a fraction of what you would of been paid to do this assignment, and worth much more).

This protects you when you get an advertising agency calling to ask to use your photo they saw in a calendar and they are ready to pay you 5 figures for it. Even if the contract is as simple as saying, you have unlimited usage rights in your magazine and on the web (Which I don't recommend). This may sound like a lot, but this is what you are giving them without a contract. It still limits publishers and it get's them in a pattern of signing a contract. It get's them in a pattern of what is acceptable to the rest of the industry!

11 photographers!!!

I'm sorry, I had to vent.