I’ve been a little bit chicken-with-head-cut-off this week, and it shows in the killer dust-bunnies rolling around at home. In the aftermath of the wedding show I’ve had meetings every day this week, watched a lighting workshop, finalizing details for the boudoir marathon, and doing lots of behind the scenes stuff to have all my systems in place before wedding season starts again. It feels a bit breathless, but I enjoy it.

In the midst of all that, I sat down to watch Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED talk. Until last year I didn’t know much about Gilbert except that “Eat, Pray, Love” was a success and cultural zeitgeist, and that a lot of people inexplicably find her annoying. Eventually I decided to read “Eat, Pray, Love” and was somewhat surprised to find that I enjoyed it. Really enjoyed it. I’m currently reading “Committed,” and I’m enjoying that too. My preconceptions duly corrected, I now have a lot of theories about why Gilbert doesn’t play well – they’re all tied to feminism and projection, so I’ll spare you – but here’s the TED talk. I liked it, too.

This has been quite the week. I finally made a big decision I’ve been thinking about for months, and set some plans in motion. It will be awhile yet before I really get to tell you about it, but I’m excited! I also booked my flight and hotel for WPPI/Las Vegas in February, got a clean bill of ocular health at the optometrist (important for a photographer!!), and it’s Friday the 13th, which is my lucky day… so I’m thinking it’s just about time for a dance party:

Reminder: don’t forgot to drop by the wedding showcase at the Crowne Plaza on Sunday; and to sign up for the boudoir marathon next weekend!

This week I’ve been plotting, planning, and… writing a formal, three-page, share-holder style report about my business in 2011. Exciting! It’s an important exercise, but not one that lends itself well to interesting blogs. Fortunately this is Friday, and Fridays are rarely about serious things. Hence, a new weekly blog feature: my favourite internet video of the week!

Now it’s my very first post like this and I’m already cheating because my favourite video of the week was actually this Battlestar Galactica RPG from CollegeHumor, but I’m skipping it in favour of a meme! Right now on Facebook everyone is posting the song that was #1 when you were born, and since my birthday is tomorrow, it couldn’t be more timely. Enjoy this hot hit of the 1980s…

I brought it! On Friday I did my shopping for Bring the Love Downtown – were you following along on Twitter? Did you figure out all the places I visited?

I had a very full afternoon, because I decided to get the most bang for my buck and to spread the love, highlighting shops that I already frequent on the regular. Ready? Let’s go!

Bring It Downtown from hibou photo on Vimeo.

Stop 1: Cedar Tree Café

First I needed to fuel up for an afternoon of shopping, and while there are several great options for eating downtown, I found myself making a beeline for Cedar Tree. I was fond of this place when it was up on York Street, but didn’t make the (short, really – I’m lazy) trek. Now that it’s downtown, though, it’s a much more regular stop for me – I’ve been three times this month! I love the chill atmosphere, the walls covered in art, and of course the food. AG and I met up for lunch and we shared a plate of fried halloom and a kibbeh wrap. Yum. I spent $10 Downtown Dollars at Cedar Tree Café.

Stop 2: Room 2 Remember

My first stop after seeing AG off was Room 2 Remember. This shop can always be counted on for some drool-worthy stuff, and while usually it’s the Le Creuset stuff that calls out “come on, touch me”, this time I was pretty interested in the SodaStream! I’m trying to kick the Diet Coke habit with carbonated water (I think it’s working!), and SodaStream allows you to make your own carbonated beverages at home. Pretty cool! Also, it needs to be pointed out that Room 2 Remember is one of at least 3 shops downtown with a live-in work puppy. <3 In the end, I purchased an item for AG’s stocking… I spent $5 Downtown Dollars at Room 2 Remember.

Stop 3: The Geek Chic Boutique

I love this store! This was the first time I had been to Geek Chic since the expansion, and I’m loving it. I didn’t end up buying anything on this trip, but I had to highlight a few things I saw there anyway: I love all the Einstein stuff; Settlers of Catan is pretty much the best game ever; and this Nikon-styled coffee mug would be perfect for that photographer in your life (the one with questionable taste). ;)

Stop 4: Ten Thousand Villages

I had to stop and check out Ten Thousand Villages because it’s novel, but we have a great store in downtown Fredericton – Cultures – that sells wares like this year-round!

Stop 5: Westminster Books

Being in libraries makes me want to read books; being in bookstores makes me want to own books. I really don’t know what the difference is or how they do it, but it’s true. Westminster Books is the oldest independent bookstore in Atlantic Canada, and they know their stuff. I love poring over the displays – and it was worth my while because I found gifts for two people on my list at Westminster! I spent $30 Downtown Dollars at Westminster Books.

Stop 6: Yarns on York

Ah. My kryptonite. The only store in town where the owner (Trish) knows me by name. (And you see it goes both ways.) Since I moved to Fredericton 2.5 years ago, YoY has had a complete inventory overhaul, because Trish is an evil temptress. I’m incapable of leaving this place empty-handed, and this time was no different – I walked away with a delicious skein of bright-red hand-painted madelinetosh merino… sigh. If there’s a knitter in your life, anything on the wall of knitting notions will make a great stocking stuffer. Or just get them a gift certificate. It will be the best gift they ever got. I spent $20 Downtown Dollars at Yarns on York.

Stop 7: Strange Adventures

Compatriot in nerdery to Geek Chic Boutique, I enjoy leafing through the wares at Strange Adventures from time to time. Whether you’re looking for a gift for someone but not entirely sure what to get, or a serious enthusiast looking for something new, the super-knowledgeable staff can point you in the right direction. Mostly I stick to my Buffy comics, but I’ve also found little treasures like a softer world (and plenty other webcomics), and this trip I found another gift for someone on my list…  I spent $10 Downtown Dollars at Strange Adventures.

Stop 8: The Urban Almanac General Store

My heart skipped a beat when I saw that Urban Almanac has an Eames Lounge Chair in stock. Once I recovered and remembered that it was a little bit out of the budget of my remaining Downtown Dollars, I refocused and found many other treasures! The iSi is another carbonator (apparently I am obsessed with these), and how cute are those owl kitchen timers? In the end, sucker for decorations that I am, I came away with one of the gold sequined Christmas decorations, which is now sitting pretty in my office…  I spent $5 Downtown Dollars at Urban Almanac.

Stop 9: Reads

By this time my feet were starting to hurt and I was in need of a refreshment, so I stopped in at Reads for a caffeine break and rest. Now I don’t drink coffee on a regular basis, but that doesn’t mean I can resist a dark chocolate latté when the occasion calls for it. I checked out the issue of HERE with my profile in it (and took a few copies, let’s be honest), but somehow managed to avoid the lure of the other magazines. I love magazines…

Stop 10: River Valley Footwear

Remember how I said my feet hurt? Yeah, somehow that ended in me going directly to the shoe store, with memories of last year’s soaked feet in nolongerwaterproofboots. It’s only been in recent years that I’ve accepted that my wide feet and high arches, while providing me with Olympic-level balancing abilities, require quality shoes so that I’m not miserable. Rosie has the patience of a saint and stood by while I tried on a half-dozen pairs before finally settling on the first pair I’d tried… so armed with plenty of self-justifying thoughts about cold weather, and how crazy and snowy New Brunswick winters are compared to Nova Scotia winters, and how much walking I do, and how last year I fell on the sidewalk and cried two different times… I laid down the rest of my downtown dollars (and plenty more of my own), and took home my new winter boots. I’ve already added an alpaca insole to them, because I am a crazy yarn person, and now I’m going to be so snug! I spent $20 Downtown Dollars at River Valley Footwear.

Stop 11: Savour Décor

Wait what? But I already spent all of my Downtown Dollars! Yep. But I still wanted to stop in. I love the subway scroll-inspired canvas art, and I’ve been obsessed with the blue slipper chair for months now. It would look so beautiful in my office… finally, I would not be upset to find some of those super adorable fabric flower headbands under the tree. (Hint, hint!) I took home two more Christmas decorations with my own money, and finally called it quits on my shopping spree.

Summary: I spent $100 in Downtown Dollars with ease, and easily could have done it a dozen times over. There were so many stores I didn’t get a chance to visit, and so many classes I could have taken… I had a great afternoon talking to people and soaking up the holiday atmosphere, and I’m so happy that Downtown Fredericton included me in this promotion! This year when you are doing your holiday shopping, consider buying from local and independent shops and artists. We need your patronage to survive!

I’m up to my neck in photo editing and catching up on the various other things that accumulated while I was away, as well as starting to plan the next steps for my business (excitement!), but instead of talking about that I wanted to share a little video from the weekend. On Sunday I finally made it to the Small Craft Aquatic Centre to go kayaking… the first time all season! And it turns out, it was the last day they were open for the season, so I felt extremely lucky – I’d never been kayaking before moving to Fredericton and it quickly emerged as one of my favourite activities,  so I’m so glad that the year didn’t pass without a trip out on the water.

Among the things I brought back from my trip were a new G12 camera and waterproof case for my off-land adventures, so I was excited to play with that, and I had fun taking plenty of photos of the trip. The camera also shoots video, and I haven’t had a camera that shoots video since 2009, how novel! All this is to say, here’s a little moving picture.

Kayaking from hibou photo on Vimeo.

This is so cool.

MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

From the video description on Vimeo: 3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage…

Well this is the most terrifying video I’ve seen all week.

So I haven’t typically been posting stuff like this but it does interest me and is relevant, and more importantly will keep me from bouncing off the wall as I wait for my order from Adorama to be shipped. The following are two videos which are recently viral in the photography world and my comments thereupon.

In this video, Judge Joe Brown rips apart a photographer for their “unprofessional” job of shooting a wedding. Now I’ll admit that the first time I watched this video I laughed gleefully, I love schadenfreude as much as anyone. But even discarding the fact that Judge Joe Brown is hardly precedent setting law, the evidence presented and the judgment borne don’t really bear up under repeat viewing. I’ve rethought it, and now I feel bad for ever having laughed at all!

Yes the photographer was rude in the court.

Yes the equipment the photographer used is widely considered entry-level.

(And yes I wonder why, if the photographer has photographed “hundreds” of weddings have they not reinvested in better gear…)

BUT! As far as the Canon Digital Rebel XTi is concerned, it’s a fine camera capable of taking excellent pictures, and yes it can print enlargements. The 8×10 Joe holds up is an enlargement, for that matter. Joe asks the photographer “what happened to your 1-series”? To which I say “hahahaha!” Lest any brides-to-be get the wrong idea about what equipment they can reasonably expect, let me tell you Frederictonians, the 1D series of Canon digital cameras is the best of the best. Absolutely the best line of digital cameras money can buy. The pro-est of the pro. And if there is a single photographer in all of New Brunswick using one to shoot weddings, I will… well, not eat my camera as I nearly wrote, but I would be absolutely shocked.  

The 5D series of cameras is the gold standard of modern wedding photography. The photographers who get featured on Style Me Pretty daily? The Jasmine Stars, the Jessica Claires, people closer to home like Red Leaf Studios,  Applehead Studio, and my personal favourite photographer in Canada, Pink Sugar Photography – they all use the 5D Mk II. And you won’t book any of them for $1300 all-inclusive. Manage your expectations.

(A little bit of eye candy for you there, by the way)

You don’t go to the dollar store to buy diamond rings. Why should you expect a discount photographer to have high-end equipment? And before I go letting any more assumptions out into the wild, just because the 5D series is the standard (as far as Canon is concerned) doesn’t mean that other cameras aren’t up to the task. The 7D is the new hotness, and XXD is also excellent. As with anything, you need to know your equipment and how to use it to achieve the desired result. Giving a puppy a 1D Mark IV won’t turn him into Richard Avedon.

As for the lenses mentioned, yes they are slow. However, I actually use the EF-S 18-55 surprisingly frequently. It does limit me. I have recently invested in its replacement (see above re: order. Eeieee!). BUT. There are photos in my portfolio right now shot with the EF-S 18-55 and I would challenge anyone to identify which ones, or to determine that they are collectively worse than the photos shot with other lenses. The only part of this line of questioning that I would consider damning is when Brown asks the photographer how fast her lens is and she replies that she “doesn’t know.” I wouldn’t expect, as Brown does, a photographer to “note the f-stop” of every photo taken, but I would expect a photographer to at least know the names of the pieces of equipment they use.

The main question I have after watching this video is a line of questioning that Judge Joe Brown never pursues. What photographs did the bride see in the photographer’s portfolio before signing the contract? The bride did say that she saw good work, but was it actually better than what she received? Did she see the photos of someone else entirely? Given that the photographer stated that she and the bride met in advance of the wedding (and another question, why can’t the bride and photographer agree on how they met?), and that the bride was made aware of the equipment used by the photographer, and given that the photographer showed up to the wedding, took the photos, behaved professionally, processed the photos according to the bride’s wishes, and provided them to the bride… well I just fail to see what part of the contract was not delivered.

At the end of all this my advice to brides is simple. Examine the porfolios of your photographers closely, because their photos are not going to magically get better on your wedding day. Be clear and specific about what you want. And if what you want involves high-quality, original photographs shot with professional equipment, be prepared to pay.

Which segues nicely into my next video.

Unlike the previous video which was something of a teachable moment, this one is simply a 100% accurate representation of my views on the matter. Having just deflected yet another request for use of one of my photos – all-media, world-wide, in perpetuity, attribution-free use of a photo OF ME for FREE, replace every instance of “writer” in this video with “photographer,” and I salute you, Mr. Harlan Ellison.