IMG 2680

As a woman, I am so embarrassed by these fools. . . .

So, today, a heretofore unknown (and apparently, there was a good reason for that), representative from Illinois, got her name in the press today (although not much, so far.  Perhaps the main stream media realizes this was not an appropriate statement to make).   She took a page from the infamous Hillary rant of "what difference does it make?!" in reference to the attack in Benghazi and the murders of four brave American citizens.  Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), decided it was appropriate to tell her "colleagues" in Congress, who have the abominable nerve to question why a $93 million dollar contract for a simple website has ballooned to $600 million plus, and why the president lied as to the website being ready to go and the American people can keep their doctors and their preferred insurance policies, to "get over it!"  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/10/30/schakowsky-blasts-republicans-at-anti-obamacare-hearing-get-over-it/

And to add to the idiotic responses today, HHS Secretary Sibelius actually answered a question from a Congressman (now we know she doesn't think she works for taxpayers or Congress, but bear with me), the immature and wholly inappropriate response of "Whatever".    http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/30/21247012-miserably-frustrating-sebelius-apologizes-for-glitchy-obamacare-site  Um, like, yah, we seem to have a Valley Girl for HHS Secretary.

Good gracious, women like Abigail Adams must be rolling in their graves.  These are examples of the best women we have in this country to serve in public office?  For shame on all three of the aforementioned women.  I only wish Abigail Adams were able to read these three stooges the riot act.

Please, ladies, tell people who have lost their insurance plans and cannot afford the affordable insurance available under the so called ACA, "Whatev!" and "Get over it!" to their faces.  Be braver than Hillary, who, to my knowledge, has not yet had the poor taste to tell the family members of the four Benghazi victims "what difference does it make?!"  None of these three women are deserving of the honor of serving the United States of America in any capacity.

Great Deal Alert - Nations Photo Lab

Hi folks.  Long time, no see.  I could entertain you with all the potholes of my life which would explain my absence, but, why do that when I have a great deal for you:

Nations Photo Lab http://www.nationsphotolab.com , about which I have previously blogged, is having a sale on prints.  30% off.  Now, I can't say enough about their metallic prints - I think they just make the photos pop!  They use Kodak Professional Endura Metallic papers, and I was just absolutely thrilled when I saw my order.  Well worth the slightly higher costs.

In any case, by now, I am sure you  are saying, "Just give me the coupon code!"  Here it is:  ALLPHOTO gets you 30% off all prints now through 10/22/13 at 11:59 pm EST.

Enjoy!

And to make all the government busybees happy:  I am providing the information about a great deal that I found.  I have received no compensation for spreading the word, nor have I been asked to spread the work by Nations Photo Lab or anyone else.  I have and will not receive any compensation for this post, and the opinions are all mine and are simply that:  my opinions.

Zazzle deal alert - 65% off wrapped canvases!!!

Have that great picture you just want to see on canvas?  Zazzle can do it for you!  Have a blank wall just crying out for a gorgeous canvas?  Check out Zazzle!  There are designs by an untold number of artists for you.  And best of all, they are all on sale at 65% off if you have the right friends (me) and know the secret password!.

I'll give it to you in my tweet below, and all I ask is that you use my link (it will take you to my shop where you can feel free to look around or check out the work of others or create your own wrapped canvas).  I'd just appreciate it if you'd start with my link.  Also, if you are on twitter, I would love it if you would retweet the following:

Best deal on wrapped canvas prints - 65% off at Zazzle use link http://www.zazzle.com/aballenphotography?rf=238025147469164076 … … & code CANVASDEAL13 Please share/retweet thanks.

Thanks so much folks and happy spring! The offer is good through tomorrow.

Sorry to have been MIA - new camera alert

After losing my beloved 15+ year old Samoyed, life has been a little sad.  But then it got rather busy because I now have a 4 month old Samoyed.    this is Wonder - out playing in the snow today, taken with my iPhone 4S.  Yes, I finally got my hubby to break down and get me a smartphone so I have been playing with its camera.  Once you are used to DSLRs and high grade point and shoots, you can't be impressed with phone cameras, but they are handy and always available.

Now, speaking of high grade point and shoots, a new Sony came out and what I read of its specifications I would just love to give it a whirl.  It sounds similar to my DSC-H20 which is maybe 4 years old now, but so many upgrades - sounds like it could retire my Sony alpha and its many lenses.

I know, cut to the chase and tell you what it is.  Well, okay then.  It's the Sony DSC-H200.  It has amazing specifications.  Like what, you ask.  Well, what do you think of 20.1 megapixels?  How about 26x zoom?  Or 3.0" LCD screen and Picture and Beauty effects.

I would love to get my hands on one of these and they do seem reasonably priced - I've found it as low as $229 at one major online retailer.  I have so many cameras, I don't know if I can justify spending money on another one, but this one has me drooling.

If any of you get one, come back and leave your comments - would love to hear them.

This is not an endorsement - I have no personal knowledge of this camera and Sony did not provide me with any information, promotional items, etc.  I came across the camera on my own and thought I would share it with you.  Enjoy.

Another camera contest

pictureline inc. is giving away a Canon EOS 6D 24 - 105 f/4 kit.  Enter here http://bit.ly/TO4VxR and good luck!  Let me know if you are the lucky winner!

Cool photography giveaway!

There's a great giveaway going on.    pictureline.inc. is giving away lots of cool prizes  - today's was (I was too late) I believe a Nikon D3200.  Not bad.  Enter through this link http://bit.ly/PjiB2p  - it's a Facebook contest, if that matters to you.

Bargain alert

I understand that you can get a 5x7" softcover 20 page photo book for free (pay $1.99 shipping) from snapfish by using the code HPREWARD.  The code may be good until January 31, 2013; however, it can always be pulled before then.  I would also presume it's one use per person. www.snapfish.com   Have fun!

Deal time!

Here's a fast post for you - at Picaboo, you can buy one get one free with code.  Great for all the wedding, graduation, Father's Day, Mother's Day. and other family pictures you have hanging around and meant to get to the in-laws.  Use the code SUMMERTIME for BOGO on classic books and calendars, and 15% off other products.  http://www.picaboo.com/web/  expires June 27, at midnight, PST.

I received nothing for this - picaboo does not even know that I am passing the offer on.  Just helping out with spreading the news about good deals!  :-)

Have a great, picturesque, day!

Product review

Every so often, I think it's a good idea to let you know about products that are tangentially related to photography.  Now, given that we have all mostly moved over to digital photography, sometimes we like to take our laptops with us.  To protect my laptop, which is white and has a nice diamond shaped pattern, I decided to order a laptop sleeve from Slappa, a company that  recently sent me an email that indicated a clearance sale on laptop sleeves.

I checked out the email and, much to my surprise, they had, what they advertised as a white, diamond pattern sleeve for 15.4 inch laptops.  Score!  or so I thought.  I ordered  it this past Monday or Tuesday (I forget) and I received it yesterday with regular shipping.  Nice, speedy delivery.  But then you add in the fact that the box was open because when they taped it shut, they didn't seal both flaps of the box to keep it closed.  Add to it that FedEx threw the box at my open front door (beautiful weather here yesterday).

Okay, so the arrival was mixed.  I thought the box was rather large for a 15.4" laptop sleeve, but maybe they put packing material in there.  No.  I grab the sleeve and pull it out of this black bag (like the reusable grocery bag material) and I see this huge laptop sleeve.  At best you could call the color ivory - it really is closer to a light tan.  I attempt to put my laptop in it and it is just swimming in the sleeve - the corner elastics, meant to hold the laptop don't reach (oh, sure, you could apply them to one corner, but not the other four for the top/bottom).  Interestingly enough, I have an ancient 17 inch laptop and the sleeve fits it!  Now, I don't want to lug the 17 inch lappy around, so, no, not usable for that purpose.  Not usable for the smaller laptop either, for two reasons - one the fit 9or lack thereof) and two, the aesthetics - the ivory/tan color looks horrible against the white of my laptop.  Finally, it has a black mark right by their logo button on the front which mars it at well.

Due to their return policies and the fact that this was a clearance item (wit surprisingly glowing reviews), it's not worth it for me to return it.  This was my first experience with the company.  If you've shopped with Slappa, let us know your experience.  I don't think that I will be doing business again, given the packaging, color, size, mark issues.

UPDATE:  yesterday, I wrote a review of the product at the product website, and at this time, 24 hours later, the review has not been posted - only the two prior ones, giving the product 10/10 rating have been.  Makes me question the company even more.  Also, company did not respond to my feedback email in 24 hours (in my business, we always return emails within 24 hours, weekends/holidays excluded).


Second Update:  It's now weeks later.  Slappa NEVER answered my email to them about the product and the problems, never posted my review (only positive reviews are posted for the product I bought), and in fact, sent me a survey to fill out, including asking me to write a review of the product.  That second, negative review has not been posted, nor has Slappa contacted me with regards to my request for contact in the survey.  In my eyes, and experience, this is a poor way to treat customers, and I will not be shopping with them again - no doubt about it at this point.

What a beautiful weekend for beautiful pictures!

It's been a while, I know.  Life catches up on you sometimes, you know?  I actually dusted off my two Sony cameras (the alpha DSLR and the DSC-H20) and took lots of pictures with both.  Things are really blooming around here.

I also learned a wonderful trick.  You see, we have well water, so I have not allowed my hubby to use pesticides or herbicides on out lawn.  Well, after years of that, dandelions and lamb's ear (?) have taken over a good portion of our lawn (if we can still call it a lawn).  Earlier last week I heard that you could kill weeds by taking white vinegar + spray bottle + sunshine, and when sprayed directly on weeds, dead weeds!  Well, I had to try it.  Well, guess what?  It works (don't do a mass spraying, just directly on weeds themselves as it will kill other plants.).  And, it provides almost instant gratification.  Take a look at these once live dandelions a few hours after spraying:

The grass was already sunburned in this area - so the vinegar did not hurt the grass - it was already in that condition.  I am just so happy to have a natural way to kill the weeds in my yard.  And my husband is thrilled to see way fewer dandelion seeds blowing in the wind.

I also managed to catch a few pictures or a beautiful hawk that appears to have made a nest in my yard somewhere - in a few days you may be able to catch a few pictures of it o my zazzle site.

So, what did you take pictures of this weekend?

Kodak and Polaroid

Raise your hands - was anyone really surprised that Kodak filed for bankruptcy this week?  A company must really be mismanaged if it can't manage to sell its patents. . . .

On the flip side, here's a company that's done a remarkable job adapting - Polaroid.  During the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas last week, it showed off the Polaroid Z340.  Yes, it gives you instant photos with no ink.  But, it stores the photos in memory, so if you lose the instant photo, you can print it again.  According to the description, it's a full function digital camera and an integrated printer.   http://store.polaroid.com/product/9/356223/Z340/_/Instant_Digital_Camera  It retails for $299 although I would expect deals should be coming down the pike.  Zink paper, with 30 pages per pack, presently runs at $19.99 at the Polaroid site - again shop around for deals.  14.0 MP camera, add borders to your photos before you print, and SD expandable.  I have not seen or tried this camera out, but it does look cool!

Have fun!

So, how were the holidays?

Hope everyone got what they wanted?  Any good holiday pictures?

We went out for a drive to see the holiday lights.  We live on the state border, so we went to the next state and drove past one of those places where the entire house must look like Christmas land inside, or else they rent multiple storage facilities to store their display.  It was awesome, and yes, I took pictures.  But, I have been tired and lazy and haven't uploaded to my computer yet.  The folks were truly in the holiday spirit - they even piped in music and had a radio station coordinate the music.  Well worth the 20 minute drive.  :-)

On to photo news.  I'm sure everyone has heard about Kodak's and Olympus' woes.  There are even some reports that Kodak will not survive the year.  I agree that might be the case, but during a bankruptcy sale, I'm sure certain products, such as paper and printing, and, to some extent, even film (yes, some photographers shoot with film still), will survive even if owned by other companies - and the Kodak name will probably be part of the sale of the products.  Given their behavior at the PDN show in October, I can see why Kodak is failing - the employees there were certainly not interested in showing off or promoting their product - they were surly at best.

Now, Olympus, that I will really miss if it goes under.  I haven't paid too much attention, but there seems to be some sort of scandal brewing and accounting problems.  Olympus put out great products, and, if I weren't such a Sony/Minolta fan, Olympus would be my next brand of choice.  Would love to try the Olympus PEN camera - there's an ad that shows Olympus was giving them away on city streets to people to try - why, or why was I not lucky enough to snag one?  :-)  Unfortunately, although there were signs up at PDN 2011 showing Olympus as a sponsor, we didn't see a booth there - perhaps because of the company turmoil.  Hopefully, Olympus can recover.

I even hope Kodak can recover, but it needs better management that will look to the future and not to the past.  Innovation, Kodak.  Seriously!

So, what do you think?

Will smart phones put point and shoot digital cameras in the dustbin of history?  That's the scuttlebutt lately.  It seems the iPhone 4S has a 8 MP camera that takes decent pictures (hoping to get an iPhone later next year when my contract is up for renewal - who knows, but then ,we may be up to the iPhone 5!).

I can say this - I have three Sony digital cameras:  a point & shoot (12.2 MP); a "medium level" camera, as I like to call them (DSC-H20 - 10.1 MP) and a Sony Alpha (10.2 MP).  In my previous reviews, I believe I indicated that, although it has more megapixels, the quality of the pictures taken by the point & shoot just does not compare favorably with the H20 or the Alpha - they latter are still my "go to" cameras (that's why hubby has been "gifted" the point & shoot!).  The point & shoot is mainly for banging around (when we are hiking or going to sporting events and we don't care what happens to the camera); the others are for more sedate/important times - travel, sightseeing, parties, etc.  But, once you have 8MP and up cameras in cell phones, do you need a point & shoot, or is a point & shoot something you would just rather not carry around anymore?

What do you think?

Sorry for the delay!

As you may have heard, my part of the country was hit by the crazy pre-Halloween snowstorm!  We got 20 inches of snow in my city and we lost power for ~6 days.  Brr was it cold trying to sleep in 20 degree weather with no heat.  Add to that no telephones, no cell phones, no water, no Internet!  It was stir-crazy-ville!

We have been busy cleaning up (lots of tree damage), and so no time to tell you yet about the PDN photo show in NYC.  Good thing I had already planned to go that Friday, because had we gone Saturday, we would have been snowed in in NYC for a couple of days as the trains were not running to CT for a day or two.

I will tell you about it as soon as I have some real time to write.  I'll give you a preview though - although it was bigger - with the addition of the Wedding Professional photographers hall to the expo, it was disappointing.  Olympus chose not to have a booth (although it was a sponsor of the show!); Pentax's booth was so small we missed it - didn't see a Panasonic booth.  And the folks at the Kodak booth were just downright nasty - no wonder they are struggling in the market - if you are nasty to your biggest customers, why should we buy from you?

Anyway, after those tidbits, I'll be back soon with more info.

PDN New York City

The big photo show is coming up in less than two weeks in NYC and I'm planning to go to the EXPO (if they ever send my passes!).  I last attended in 2009, and there was lots of interesting information on new products,  cameras, techniques, printing, etc.  Very exciting!  And, this year they are combining the regular photo show with the wedding professionals photo show - two shows in one!


Unfortunately, I am not allowed to take photos in the exhibition hall (boo!), but I'll be sure to share with you what I saw and found to be of interests, and any products I was able to try.  


On a personal note, I finally started selling my photos online through zazzle - please give a look, and if you feel like  it, let me know what you like, or if there is anything you's lime to see.  Thanks!   zazzle.com/ABAllenPhotography*

Steve Jobs

Few people have had such a profound effect upon the world.  Although Apple wasn't known much for photography (okay, it had some cameras on its iPhones and iPads), Apple revolutionized what we could DO with our digital photos and videos.

I've said I was a Sony girl once Sony bought Minolta from Konica (it allowed me to use my Minolta lenses - very expensive - on my new Sony alpha camera without having to shell out for new lenses).  In fact, I am now typing this on my new Sony Vaio (replacing an HP that died a premature and apparently HP-the-company couldn't care less death), but don't think I didn't consider Macs.

My first computer was a Mac SE - wish I had kept it - some enterprising people turned theirs into aquariums - very cute.  But, I traded it in (yes Apple had a trade-in program then) for an Apple LC II in 1992.  That I still have and it still works - but it can't connect to the internet and I have to use the old dot-matrix printer with it!  LOL!  Then, I met and married a Windows guy, and, for family harmony (although he reluctantly looked at Apples with me a few months ago), I have been a Windows person.  Let me tell you though, I win the lottery, and I will be buying myself the most souped-up Apple that I can find.

Thanks for all the innovation, Steve.  I'm sorry you had to go via pancreatic cancer - my family lost two women to that dreaded disease.  They, unfortunately, went very quickly (5-6 weeks from diagnosis).  I'm glad that you were able to be treated (although I can only imagine how painful and grueling it must have been).  I hope what the medical professionals learned from your case can be used to help others.  RIP, Steve.

Check out this post

If you are in the market for a new computer, check this out before buying:  An Independent Connecticut Yankee: Bad customer service alert

A Zazzle creation

Just a quick idea of what you can do with your photos at Zazzle.  I've been having fun turning my memories into useful and/or pretty objects.


make custom gifts at Zazzle

Photography online

I've only just started to post some of my works online for sale.  If you are interested, check out my store .  Thanks for looking.  And there will be much more posted in the days to come!  If you join as an associate, and post links to stores (hopefully mine!  :-) ) on your blog, you can earn a commission as well.  Check out the information here .  If they ask, please tell them that I sent you (store name ABAllenPhotography).


Thanks a bunch!