Say Cheese!

Did you know that the famous photography quip "Say cheese", when you want people to make a facial expression for the camera does not work when translated? In Spanish "Decir quesos", French "Dire fromages", Italian "Dire formaggio",Swahili "Wanasema jibini", or even Hungarian "mondjuk sajt", it doesn't cut the mustard. The reason is that the words SAY CHEESE in English makes the lips move close to a smile formation.

What prompted this interesting tidbit? We had our 9th and next to last photography class last night. No, we did not learn about cheese,but we did have an excursion down to the river to take night photos. What I have learned most through the course of the course is that it is an expensive hobby. Last week, we used different lamps for lighting. Our instructor has four different types depending on what you are shooting. He also had these huge rolls of black and white paper that comes down the wall on a pulley system as huge sheets to cover the floor and behind a model as background. Not only do you need the money for such toys, but the space to store it. He is forfeiting one large room of his flat just for the equipment. 

What would have been handy for last night was a tripod. I have a full sized one in storage in NJ. All the good it will do me here. Since we did not have one, we had to use his. Thankfully, one of the other students bought her own. For the first half hour, it was only Ron and I sharing. Then my batteries finally gave out. I had another set already charged, but as we ran out the door, they did not shout out "take us along" from the wall charger, so they were left behind.

The three others in the class are teachers from the American School. They never show up on time! Thirty minutes into our class, they appear. Within the first ten minutes of their arrival, one of them drops her brand new $500 camera. That was the end of her participation. The camera refused to cooperate after that. The two of them decided to go drown their sorrows at a bar.

Ron decided he did not want to play nice with the rest of us, so went off trying to take night shots by holding the camera on the railing. All the while, I was not certain I really cared for my classmates. 

That brings me to the Advanced class this teacher is offering. Another 40,000 Huf is mucho dinero or sok pénz. I need more practice learning where all of the controls are on my Pentax K-x camera. Buying it here, I could not get an instruction manual in English, so I had to download it from the Internet. At 357 pages, I want to learn the basics and then print out the pages I will need to refer to most often.

I did get a couple of nice night shots, making me a happy camper. I have never been able to get a good one before. Hmm...tripod = good night shots. Okay, got it.

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Reader to Reader

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Kim Writes in...":

Coincidentally, another friend told me that he is interested in this same camera. I have owned Pentax (film) cameras in the past and been very happy with them.

Walker

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Kim Writes in...

Kim has left a new comment on your post "LIghts, Action, Ah, Where is the Camera?":

I would say NOPE... this is Hungary after all. And I am Hungarian. :-S I would go and get the camera from somewhere else where they physically give it to you. Hope you like your stay here though, I have had enough, moving straight back to the UK. 

Thanks Kim. Normally, I would follow that advice, but my US contacts have warned me that the camera is not available in stores in there either. It is only available online in most places, so this seems to be standard operating procedure. The other options for purchasing here, are also online stores only, but without the extra lens for the same cost. The extra lens is another 72,000 Huf, making the wait a real bargain. I have not put any money down on it and will not until the camera arrives, so I have nothing to lose except maybe exceptional photography for our upcoming trip.

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LIghts, Action, Ah, Where is the Camera?

The day before yesterday, I received an e-mail from the company where I ordered my camera acknowledging my order, thanking me for my business , yada, yada. Of course, it was in Hungarian, so it may have actually been yádá, yádá. Either way, I needed a student to translate it. The camera was promised in 1 1/2 weeks, both at the store when I ordered it and by this e-mail.

Yesterday, I received another e-mail, student translated of course. This one states, it has been 48 hours since your ordered this camera. Unfortunately, we are out of stock, but we will do our best to fill this order as soon as possible. 

My hope is that when the salesman was typing the camera into his computer, he or at least the computer knew they were out of stock at the time. When he quoted it would be 1 1/2 weeks, this was because the computer knew "Hey, we are out of stock of this camera, so it will take us 1.4 weeks to get another one in."

Will I or won't I have a new camera for vacation? Anyone work for the psychic hotline?

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Aye, I, Eye

 

I went for my month post surgery check-up today. Not only was I able to read the first screen of four lines, but I continued through the next three screens of progressively smaller letters. The doctor said I was at 100%, but in four weeks, I would be at 120% . It is astonishing to be able to see such distances that in the past I could not even imagine. The only issue is lights. Lights, especially indoors, have halos or at night look like star filters. She said that would clear also, it was normal. I have one more appointment before we leave on our trip and then not again for four months. 

One the way home, I ordered a new camera. I decided on the Pentax K-X after reading dozens of reviews. My current camera was top notch when I bought it, but now my mobile phone camera has more megapixels than the camera does. After contacting some former guests, who had great photos, the Pentax was the winner. After some hunting around, completely done by one of my students, I found a great deal. The camera body, an 18-55mm lens and an additional 50-200mm lens. Originally, I thought I wanted it in red to make it distinguishable, but later, I had second thoughts about a distinguishable camera when traveling. It is on order and will be in in under two weeks. Just enough time to play with it before leaving.

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