I've had quite a few people ask me recently about what happens with and who uses the photographs I shoot at NRL games. I have included clippings of the way major metro papers used my pics - they include the Sunday Mail & The Courier-Mail (QLD), Daily Telegraph (NSW) and the Herald Sun and the Sunday Herald Sun (VIC).
A colleague and I have been doing a simple "iPhone photo competition" over the past couple of months but with only the two of us involved it got a bit dull. :-(
The Cowboys cruised to an easy 42-14 win over the Wests Tigers in their first home game for season '09. Getting into the swing of a new season was pretty tricky - had a crappy night and only filed about 25 decent pics although in brighter news I debuted the 'custom photographers bench' which left other snappers and Fox Sports guys open mouthed in amazement! :-) (link)
A bevy of power-tools and a dozen beers with my mate Ian Hitchcock (pictured) from Getty Images and we knocked up this state-of-the-art photographers table. Laptops protected, power available, plenty of comfort - and all we have to do now is sell advertising space on the front (although I think the NRL might complain!)
Well, not really as I am pretty picky nowadays. See the below questionnare to see if you would qualify.
a. Is your wedding in the NQ area between 01 November and 31 May?
b. Do you object to me wearing short sleeves?
c. Do you want a big flashy super-expensive album filled with overpriced prints to stick in a drawer?
d. Would you object to just getting the well prepared high-resolution files on disc?
e. Do you want to spend your whole wedding reception being photographed rather than relaxing?
If you answered yes to any of these then I'm afraid that I am probably not your man [I could make exceptions for a. providing your whole wedding takes place in a climate controlled dome set at 23C and about 34% humidity :-)]
Want to see a few samples from a couple of recent wedding? Click here
Spent the day today chasing the Queensland premier around. 5.30am start too which is a real drag. Anyway, the day started with a run along Townsville's Strand.... and anyone who knows me knows that running isn't my thing as you will see below. Last thing I saw were all the other media racing for Toys R Us on scooter-buying missions!
I mentioned my favourite bag on a podcast I was part of last night so I thought I would give anyone who was interested (if anyone would be!) a quick look at the bag and how my standard work kit fits in it.
ThinkTankPhoto Urban Disguise 40 Demonstration from Cameron Laird - Photographer on Vimeo.
In early December last year I was sitting at my desk when my wife Kaya said "That's funny, a car with a Google sticker and a weird contraption on the roof just drove past". Being a news man and a geek I tore out the door and chased the car down the street and around a few corners and found it doing laps of our neighbourhood, its first outing in Australia. The guy was kind enough to stop after I had done a few pics and I did a few detail pics of the interior of the car. (I posted this on my blog at the time - http://blog.cameronlaird.com/2007/12/google-maps-zip-through-little-old.htm
It has been well reported in the past week that Google has now released this street view detail in Australia (http://maps.google.com) and I didn't think twice until a colleague remembered my pics of the Google car that were published locally and in metropolitan newspapers throughout the country. He called me up and asked for the address where it was shot. Sure enough - there I am! Not only in one place but two separate places!
See the pics in Google Maps at the links below
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Regatta+Cres,+Douglas,+QLD+4814,+Australia&sll=-19.312733,146.756744&sspn=0.005265,0.011201&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-19.314971,146.756715&spn=0.001316,0.0028&z=19&cbll=-19.315365,146.756482&panoid=Z_GXyaFjCwQhcxtGsUn7fQ&cbp=1,349.69474496472924,,0,10.895498463218464
and
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Regatta+Cres,+Douglas,+QLD+4814,+Australia&sll=-19.312733,146.756744&sspn=0.005265,0.011201&layer=c&ie=UTF8&ll=-19.31373,146.756339&spn=0.001316,0.0028&z=19&cbll=-19.314389,146.755824&panoid=WsdR5rVbQ97bdokGN83fBA&cbp=1,288.58024718843967,,0,2.978686241182244
The Singapore Slingers gave the Crocodiles a bit of a scare tonight in their NBL clash in Townsville. Whilst the Crocs prevailed 117-105 over a feisty Singapore lineup, their first half was woeful and something that coach Trevor Gleeson wouldn't want repeated anytime soon!
See my pics from the game at http://www.cameronlaird.com/gallery/1180378#229902843
Luke was back in the gym recently showing that he has fully recovered from a sickening 2007 injury that saw him miss much of the season. He looks to be back fitter than ever!
See my pics of Luke over his Cowboys years at http://www.cameronlaird.com/search/index.mg?searchWords=luke+o%27donnell&searchType=InUser&NickName=camlaird
What great news for the Cowboys! Matt Bowen signature on a new three year contract seeing him through until the end of the 2011 NRL season. Now we have the most exciting fullback in the game joining the best halfback in the game, what a great combination for the next couple of years at least!
See all my pics of Matt over the years at http://www.cameronlaird.com/search/index.mg?searchWords=matt+bowen&searchType=InUser&NickName=camlaird
I thought I would do a bit of my own research into the difference in speeds between various card readers as I have been a bit disappointed in the transfer speeds of my photos when working on deadlines on my laptop. My test consisted of an arbitrary 1.36Gb of files transferred using three different card readers. A Sandisk Extreme USB2.0 reader, an Apacer MegaSteno USB2.0 all-in-one reader and another badged "mrgadget.com.au" 12-in-1 USB2.0 reader. I did all the tests using a brand new Sandisk Extreme IV 4Gb CF card.
| Transfer files to computer using | (seconds) |
| Sandisk Extreme USB2.0 | 88 |
| Apacer MegaSteno USB2.0 | 174 |
| "mrgadget.com.au" 12-in-1 USB2.0 | 207 |
| Transfer files to CF card using | |
| Sandisk Extreme USB2.0 | 139 |
| Apacer MegaSteno USB2.0 | 171 |
| "mrgadget.com.au" 12-in-1 USB2.0 | 265 |
I also gave the quickest reader (Sandisk Extreme USB2.0) a try with a Sandisk Ultra II CF Card with the results listed below.
| Transfer files to computer using | (seconds) |
| Sandisk Extreme USB2.0 | 136 |
| Transfer files to CF card using | |
| Sandisk Extreme USB2.0 | 154 |
So all in all, pretty happy with the transfer speed of the Extreme card reader when combined with the Extreme IV CF card. The Extreme Firewire reader is quite a lot quicker however unfortunately it only works with 6 pin and 9 pin firewire connections which rules out a LOT of laptops on the market (those equipped with only 4 pin connections)
See my pics from the match at http://www.cameronlaird.com/gallery/2572467/37/193427802#193428334
See all my Johnathan Thurston pics at http://www.cameronlaird.com/search/index.mg?searchWords=johnathan+thurston&searchType=UserImage&NickName=camlaird&SortBy=Recent
Whilst Cowboys stars Johnathan Thurston and Matt Bowen were offered the opportunity to sit out tomorrow nights dead-rubber clash with the Bulldogs they refused, wanting to take part in Paul Bowman's 200th game with the Cowboys. "Bear" has been with the Cowboys since their inception in 1995 and he is sure to get a mighty roar when he steps onto the paddock tomorrow night.
Nikon are due to announce a replacement to the D2X and its subsequent update, the D2Xs anytime in the next few days. I won't be adding any of the rumours I have been hearing but I can tell you some of the things I personally hope it will have.
1. Greatly improved low light / high iso image quality.
2. Elimination of any back-focus problems.
3. SD & CF card options (like Canon).
4. Rubber body covers that don't fall off.
That is pretty much all I need improved. I know it will have higher resolution, faster fps, better metering and faster AF so if all of my wishes were included as well I would be a happy snapper!
There is one thing however that I hope/dream someone will build/design in the near future.
I wish someone would come up with a simple remote transmit unit that would eliminate the need for a laptop or pda and would allow you to SIMPLY transmit INSTANTLY from the sideline without an assistant or tech. No need to stop shooting, download cards, select images, caption, edit and transmit. This would ALL be done in camera with a simple setup before an assignment.
It could either screw underneath the body or sit on the hotshoe (like a pocketwizard) and connect to the camera via the 10 pin plug. Better still, how about Nikon and Canon build bluetooth into their next models! Then the bluetooth enabled transmit unit could go in a pocket or waistpack and not get in the way at all.It would be designed to work with participating high-speed cellular data networks, like Australia's NextG network and would require the relevent sim card inserted. Imagine something about the size of a cigarette pack with an lcd display.
I might be able to easily explain its use by describing how it would operate.
Before commencing assignment the unit can be plugged in to a laptop (even better, use a portable bluetooth keyboard and enter info straight into the unit via the lcd display) and data added to an "iptc stationary pad". IPTC details like job name, photographer info, relevent generic caption details, copyright info etc. that are automatically added to images sent via the unit. The unit could also hold numerous ftp connection details which could be edited and saved. How about built in smtp mail software if your client doesn't support ftp? Include the smtp server details, email address, message and max message size and your images will send via email.
What about specific captions with particular players names I hear you ask? Well, if you record a voice caption in the camera (which all pro models now offer) it will be uploaded alongside the picture file so the client can adjust the caption at their end.
What about filesize? Well, you could set options like quality of jpg compression, resize to specific pixels on the longest side, max file size.
Finally, how would it know what pics to send? Well, this would have to be done in a similar fashion to the old Canon D2000/Kodak DCS520 where you 'tag' a file in camera. Once the file is tagged it is automatically sent and a confirmation would appear on the transmit unit lcd when the file had been uploaded.
Ok you tech companies, feel free to steal my idea and get to work on this. I am SURE that tens of thousands of these units would sell all around the world to companies like AP, Reuters, Getty, AFP and all newspaper publishers.
By the way, I want a freebee!
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