Back From Indonesia

What a busy and hectic few months. Prepping for the Canon In Action Tour and starting the tour  has eaten up a lot of my time. But that's rolling smoothly now. Just got back from an unexpected trip to Indonesia for their International Photo Week. We started in Jakarta and then traveled to the islands of Buton, Labuan Bajo, and Lombok.

My start in Jakarta would have been smoother if Cathay Pacific didn't cancel my flight because of a rudder problem. I re-booked on another flight, which was good because my original flight was delayed 3 days before it left. I arrived in Jakarta  after 24 hours, NY to Hong Kong, Hong Kong to Jakarta, landing a little more than 2 hours before my presentation. And then gave my presentation at the National Museum after a rush through Jakarta traffic. I guess it went well, because it was well received. Let's just say I was a bit numb. I did get to do a lighting demo with my Canon Speedlite and a delegate from Sri Lanka, Bandu Gunaratne, that I "volunteered".

It was a great time meeting and shooting with some wonderful and accomplished photographers from all over the world. Twenty Six different countries were represented, with me being the USA representative and one of the two speakers. The other speaker was Reha Bilir from Turkey. Reha is a fantastic photographer and a wonderful educator. I was already  familiar with his work of the Whirling Dervishes in Turkey. We really hit it off, trading teaching methods. Below is a photo he took of me as we were riding back on a boat from Komodo Island at sunset, after photographing the famous Komodo Dragons. 

It was also fun and a surprise to see my friend Zeng Yi as the delegate from China. This event was an invitation only conference, so only one delegate from each country.

I'll be posting a lot of my Indonesia photos here in the blog and in a new gallery, right after I register the copyright.

BTW, after 25 hours flying back to JFK airport, it took less than a minute to get through immigration using the Global Entry kiosk, as I have Global Entry. It then took almost an hour (the longest hour of the trip) at the carousel waiting for my luggage to pop out.

On the boat coming back after a long day on Komodo Island. Photo ©Reha Bilir

CES On The Canon Stage

Just ended 4 days at CES. What a show. I think I walked around when I was free and saw 1% of CES. But thank goodness for Google Alerts, as I spotted a video of me that was uploaded to YouTube, while I was on stage in the Canon booth. I had two wonderful models to use in my demos, Lorenzo and Ming.

Did the video show me working and doing great things with the models? Of course not. The video is a fairly dull spot where I'm setting up an explanation of hard light and soft light. Didn't even know someone was video taping to put online. But it gives you a sense of the stage and me. You can view the video here.

Below are a few of the images of Lorenzo and Ming shot on stage in the hustle and bustle of CES. All the photos were shot with strobes on the Canon 70D. Great, light camera, with wonderful resolution. No hair and makeup, just the models, assistants, and the lights.

I got to go to a private shoot Thursday night after the show in an airplane hanger that held a private jet and about 25 or more collector cars. There were a bunch of us and some models. I'll post that series in a few days but for now, on to Phoenix and the next convention starting Sunday. Stay tuned.

Convention Season Starts

Convention season starts right away in January. I'll be at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas from January 7 to 10 in the Canon booth doing my dog and pony show. Well actually it will be my photographing kids and lighting shows.

Then the following week I'll be in Phoenix at PPA's Imaging USA convention, also in the Canon booth. If anyone is at either show, stop by and say "Hey!"

I'll upload some images later in the month, but until I register the copyrights. Nothing for me ever gets uploaded until I register it. Like seat belts, safety first.

Here I am in the Canon Booth at last year's CES Convention. This year I'll be photographing models on stage along with lecturing. What fun! For me at least. Thanks for this photo Steve. Hard to get selfies on stage.

Here I am at a charity event at last year's CES, catching up with actor/director Joe Regalbuto, who once took one of my lighting classes at Photoshop World. Let's see what this year brings.