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Busy times …

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The last couple weeks have been quite busy for me, on March 24th I flew off to New York City for nearly a week of working out of the NY office.  The trip started by getting collected at home around 7am for a Noon flight out of LHR.  I went for that flight as it would get me into JFK early enough to still get out around the city in the afternoon but yet not need me to get up stupid o’clock (like the previous trip over there). 

On Sunday (25th) I walked to B&H to check out the shop and buy some photography equipment.  B&H is simply amazing.  The way they operate is how all big stores should operate if you ask me.  They had so many staff on hand it was crazy, but what makes that a good thing is that they all seemed to know what they were talking about, easy to find and talk to, and not pushy sales people like so many stores have.  I like that you get to touch and play with pretty much everything they sell.  I also love the fact that you can shop until your credit card drops but never have to carry anything around the store, everything makes it’s way to the front desk for you by way of series of conveyor belt/roller systems.  My experience at B&H on the Sunday was marred only by the fact I went on a Sunday.  The company is run by traditional Jews, as such it’s shut on Saturday’s so Sunday their big day.  The place was packed, totally heaving on Sunday.  I felt too intimidated by the new experience and their processes to even try and buy or look at anything haha

Sunday afternoon I was booked to be an Observer with the FDNY EMS, Station 8 at Bellevue Hospital in Manhattan.  This was an 8 hr shift from 2pm – 10pm.  I was assigned to a BLS (Basic Life Support) Ambulance.  These units are manned by non-Paramedic staff.  The Paramedics operate the ALS (Advanced Life Support) units.  The crew I was with were great, friendly and professional folks.  As we were in a BLS unit we had mostly routine cases.  The day went smoothly and rather quickly, but it was still a good experience.  Many thanks to the folks at FDNY for letting me go out with them. (That’s not the Ambulance I was riding in, just one from the FDNY website)

Monday through Wednesday really was just working in the office from 9am-6pm then out for dinner and drinks with the group after hours.  A couple of the dinners were “sponsored” by vendors so that was nice.  Good times.

Wednesday night though I went back to B&H after work to get the bits I wanted to get on Sunday.  I’m glad I went back.  It was busy there but nothing like it was on Sunday.  So, what did I buy .. first thing was my Upgrade for Adobe Lightroom 4

Then it was off to the Lens counter.  The thing I like about B&H is that you can try any lens you like on YOUR camera so you can really get a feel for it.  I never got the feeling of being rushed either while I played.  The lens I bought was the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8G DX.  A nice fast lens but will take a bit to master it .. it’s pretty easy to get some funky shots from it (but not funky in a cool nifty way hah). 

The final purchase was a new camera bag.  I went with the Tamrac Rally  4 Camera Bag.  It holds my Nikon D7000 with the 18-105mm lens attached plus room for both my 50mm and 35mm lenses plus a bunch of bits in the front pocket.  It also fits nicely in my regular laptop backpack too so that’s a bonus.

I spent most of Thursday in the office before heading off to JFK to get the red eye back to Heathrow.

Friday, I got home showered and sort of unpacked then headed into The Grafton Centre to snap some pics for the FAB (Fashion And Beauty) Weekend fashion show. Took a ton of photos then headed home before I fell down from exhaustion and go through the pics.  Saturday it was back to the shopping again for a second day of photos.  I was getting photos for a competition they were running.  The winning photo would be featured in a fashion magazine and receive a £50 gift voucher from the mall.  Sadly, I didn’t win, but sure was fun.

You can see the gallery of my best images (well, what I consider to be my best ones) from the 2 days of shows, CLICK HERE.

Here are a couple samples from the day, but check out the others.

AliceYang

LornaRobyn

I’ve also uploaded a few to my portfolio over at 500px.com. Check out that site and like my photos (if you do) Smile

Now we’ve got 2 short work weeks because of Good Friday and Easter Monday, so that’s nice.  I really should have booked a few days holiday while the kids are off.. still not too late I suppose, might have to book a day or 2 off next week.

I’ve booked myself for a 2 hour Models Location Workshop run by Tracey Robinson over at Red Fish Photography.

I’ll be sure to blog about that afterwards.