LINKS
Linking to this site
Do you want to link to anything on this site? Please do! Go right ahead and THANKS!!! I appreciate it.
Always feel free encouraged to link to anything you find helpful. Of course never copy anything (its all copyrighted and registered), but link away and thanks!
Ken.
Links I Find Helpful
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Photo Stores Labs Cute Animals Live & Weird Clouds
Photo Clubs Other Artists Tech Resources
Charitable Organizations Pirate Radio Contests
Amazon
I use Amazon.com for everything from cameras and lenses to soap and hard drives. Their ease of ordering and customer service are the best I can imagine. Consumer Reports even confirmed that in their most recent ratings of where to buy electronics. Of course they have the best prices and I also usually have a month to return something if I just don't like it.
I was astounded by Amazon's service last time I returned something: I clicked a button and a pre-paid and addressed label printed out! I taped it to the box, handed it to my UPS man and never had to leave my house!
Adorama
I've used Adorama for my more exotic purchases for 30 years - since the late 1970's when I bought my Kodachrome from them.
Back in the 1980s I bought my Nikon gear from Adorama for less than my local camera store could have gotten it wholesale! Adorama does huge volume efficiently and passes the savings along to us.
Adorama is a huge New York City camera store that used to cater mostly to professionals. Adorama usually stocks just about any weird film or lens I can imagine. Pros and I use them because of the great prices and in-stock availability of even exotic gear. If you want homey, sit down and have some coffee and conversation-style-service you'll have to pay higher prices for it elsewhere, but if you know what you want, even if it's an exotic lens and want it from stock at the lowest possible price, then Adorama are your guys.
Adorama sure beats retail, where salespeople pretend they are doing me a favor by "special ordering" something at a higher price than I could get it from Adorama, from stock. Worse, local retail stores rarely give cash refunds if I simply don't like it. With Adorama I never get stuck with anything I don't like: I order it, try it, and if I don't like it, back it goes for a cash refund.
You can visit Adorama's store in Manhattan (tell them I sent you), although most of Adorama today is their online operation.
Ritz
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I've been buying my digital cameras and accessories from Ritz online and at retail since the 1990s. They offer great service and the most liberal return policy I've seen. They do like to push their own house brand, Quantaray, which I avoid. I prefer genuine Nikon and Canon lenses and Hoya filters. If cost is an issue, Nikon and Canon also make excellent inexpensive lenses.
B&H Photo-Video
B&H Photo-Video is another New York institution. I've also been buying from them since the 1970s. They have the biggest retail camera store in Manhattan. Look at their prices - once something has been out for a year, no one can touch Adorama's or B&H's prices. These are the lowest prices you can pay for things and actually get what you think you are ordering.
J&R
Another New York City landmark, J&R was where we all went to buy our music back when I worked in radio in the 1970s. They had every album in stock, something you couldn't find anywhere else back then.
They've always had cameras and superb service. They also have a huge selection of every consumer electronic item you can imagine, as well as hundreds of thousands of different CDs, DVDs, and yes, loads of vinyl LPs. They also are where I look next when my usual haunts for photo gear are out of stock, and for most people, always worth shopping for new gear. J&R doesn't always carry really weird things, like 43mm filter adapters for 50-year old cameras, in stock, so I tend to use the Adorama first, but for normal people, check out J&R along with the others.
Ebay is always a gamble. eBay is not a store, it's just a listing service for anyone to sell anything. You never know what you're going to get until it arrives.
Avoid eBay for new items, which are better bought from the guys we know above, but do try eBay for older and otherwise no longer available used gear.
The older, rarer or weirder the item for which you search, the better it is to look for it on eBay.
Retail
I'm amazed that people still write me agonizing over contemplated purchases. Retail is dead: I order it online, play with it, and send it back if I hate it. I've been doing that for decades! I rarely send things back, but knowing I can takes all the worry out of getting new or unfamiliar gear.
Why should I risk getting stuck with something I can't return by taking pictures inside a camera store for two minutes with an impatient clerk glaring at me, when I can pay less, have it arrive at my home and try it out for a week at my leisure? I send it back for a full refund if I don't like it.
Because of the prices, everything in stock, delivery and especially the liberal return policies I haven't bought at retail for a long time. Since I do my research on the internet, or with borrowed equipment from my friends, I have no need to walk into a store. Unlike the 1990s, things change so fast today that prices and products are already half-obsolete by the time Popular Photography hits my mailbox.
I would try and buy camera bags at retail; but I haven't bought any since the 1990s. If you have a store you love, use them. San Diego has no professional camera dealers - we have no Samy's or Calumet like Santa Barbara or Los Angeles. Those are great stores.
All stores have cameras. A pro store is loaded with lights, strobes, rental gear, rigging and soft boxes while amateur stores feature frames, photo labs, batteries and off-brand accessories.
Today, newly-announced gear doesn't get to retail store counters until after ours has already arrived via an internet pre-order. Because of the great money-back satisfaction guarantees I never wonder about getting something; I just order it and send it back in the unlikely event that I hate it. Read the fine print at each site. Some things aren't returnable, and of course you need to save all the boxes and etc. I have a huge page about how and where to buy here.
MY FAVORITE LAB back to top
I've been using ChromeDigital.com for all my film developing since the 1980s. I just drop off my film in person in San Diego. They are happy to do mail order, in fact, I hear they run most of the film for the surf and skate magazines even via FedEx when the magazines are out shooting on location. They also do scanning and printing. Tell them I sent you if you call. If anything they are getting busier developing film as amateur labs close around the country. The prices are also good; back when I also worked in Hollywood in the 1990s I'd bring my film home on weekends since their prices were better.
CUTE ANIMALS back to top
La Jolla Friends of the Seals and Sealwatch.org.
If
you love little critters as much as I do you can register at FROGWATCH
USA and help scientists conserve frogs and toads. You can record
what you see in nature! Fun!!
Cute hummingbird nest 2003 Cute hummingbird nest 2005
Live Cloud Conditions for the Western USA
Click the map here to enlarge your area. Remember to wave to the satellite!
Many thanks to the United States Government's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service for providing these to our viewers.
This shows where the weather, and thus the photo opportunities, lie.
Weird Clouds
Check these out!
PHOTO CLUBS back to top
I've been very active with the San Diego Sierra Club Photo Section since the 1980s. We get out and create consistently great images! Join us! We love to share everything we know with beginners and we're all volunteers.
North County San Diego is graced with the NCPS, which meets in Encinitas monthly and has outings. They have a much better website than the San Diego Sierra Club Photo Section, because NCPS has a much better webmaster, Tom Scott. If you join NCPS Tom will put up a gallery for you for free on their site, a great deal from a generous guy.
OTHER ARTISTS back to top
OnExposure.net A site loaded with great work and no junk. I can spend hours looking around it. What makes it special is that its editors cull only the best work; it's not a free-for-all of unedited crap like most other collaboration sites.
Alethea Steingisser who hides the good stuff here
Ansel Adams California
Arnaud Frich extraordinary panoramic photography of France
Brian Garland Cars
Bruce Percy extraordinary landscapes worldwide
Carlo Terlizzi friend
Carr Clifton Landscape Master
Christopher Burkett optical Cibachrome prints
Clinton Smith Genius. Cibachrome prints, too
thecross-photo.com OK, really just a place that shows my work
Curlybean Scary underground photos from Australia
David Fokos Quiet landscapes.
Edward P. Richards Louisiana B/W Master
Galen Rowell Alpinist
Geoff Murray Tasmania
Gerald Hill Black & White master
Jack Dykinga Arizona
James Randklev Not only a neighbor on this list, but also was Jack Dykinga's neighbor in reality!
James Kay Uncommonly good treatments of the American Southwest
Jesse Speer Colorado, USA
Jim Cline Latin America
Jim Reed North American Weather
Joel Zak Color
Jonathan Fennell San Diego
Joseph Holmes California
Justin Black Central California
Karl Grobl Humanitarian Photojournalist
Kyle Cassidy also one of the world's foremost Leica authorities
Laurin Rinder Hollywood's artist to the stars
Leping Zha, Ph.D. Landscape master
Marc Adamus Landscape master
Michael Fatali Utah
Michael Johnson USA
Mike Ellis Hawaiian underwater
Monte Nagler USA
Muench Photography California
Nana Sousa Dias landscape nature nuances people urbanities
Paul Renner Native African wildlife artist
Pete Turner Color's Master.
Peter Lik Panoramas
Peter van Nugteren a great seer of light
Peter De Smidt another great seer of light
Phillip Colla Sea and Surf
Sean McHugh Stunning images of Cambridge, UK, at dusk. Added here December 2005
SFPhotoArts Photo Blog San Francisco
Troy Paiva Crazy night stuff! He has patience!
William Neill California
Wilson Tsoi, who can create world-class work with an obsolete $200 Canon A620
GREAT COMMERCIAL PHOTOS:
Bahamas.com Check out the incredible 360 degree panoramas!
FRIENDS
Harve Alan Media Consultant
TECHNICAL RESOURCES back to top
Photodo.com the only useful objective, scientific lens tests I've ever found
More Nikon information you may need to scroll down to the links
Schneider Optics large format lenses
largeformatphotography.info a good place for more info, and they also have a discussion board where you can find answers to anything
Oceanside Photo & Telescope Our local astronomy store whose site is loaded with astronomy info and links
Old Cameras
I've never visited or bought from these guys, but they have a ton of old cameras cheap and have photos of most of them, too. CollectibleCameras.com
See CameraEccentric.com for old literature.
Organizations to which I Donate and/or Belong
The National Wildlife Federation works to protect the wildlife we all love to photograph.
The Surfrider Foundation works with legislators to keep the oceans and beaches we love to photograph clean.
The National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society is working is to end the devastating effects of Multiple Sclerosis, which strikes down people in their prime. They have made some significant breakthroughs in the past few years that are really starting to help those with MS.
The Monarch Program studies the monarch butterfly's phenomenal migration patterns. Every year these butterflies flutter many thousands of miles to return to the very same wintering spots their ancestors did last year. No one knows how they navigate nor how this information is passed down through the several generations that pass in a year. The Monarch Program was mentioned in the June, 2003 issue of Sunset Magazine. I do their website as a volunteer.
Sushi Performance and Visual Art is San Diego's non-profit contemporary dance and visual art performance center.
The Salvation Army provides emergency services and rehabilitation to everyone. Unlike more familiar groups seen on TV and getting in our way pandering to us in our workplaces, the Salvation Army spends its resources actually helping people instead of on self-promotion. A photographer friend's grandfather worked with the Salvation Army in WWII bringing much needed aid to our soldiers out in combat. He was over there volunteering for weeks without any real rest or much of anything. One day a shiny Jeep drives up with a big red cross on the side. Two guys get out: one guy handing out cigarettes to some troops, and a photographer documenting this for publicity. The two drove off a few minutes later, never to be seen out there again. I always believe in donating directly to the people who need help or who give it, never to organizations that are just middlemen deciding to what groups they would like to donate while keeping a cut for themselves. The Salvation Army is out helping hurricane victims in the US right now, but do you see them on TV? No; they're too busy helping to stop and talk about it.
Goodwill Industries trains and provides job placement for disadvantaged and disabled people.
Paws'itive Teams volunteers train service dogs for the handicapped. They need a new facility in the San Diego area and are seeking help finding it. They'd like to hear from property owners, commercial real estate brokers and leaders of other non profits who might be interested in sharing space, public officials with information about potential government space, and philanthropically minded individuals who appreciate the importance of their mission serving people with disabilities. Please contact Carol Birch at (858) 458-9375 or Carol Davis at (858) 674-0845 if you can help.
RADIO back to top
Too busy to make your own website? Then make your own pirate FM radio station here!
Ever since being a kid I wanted my own station. I've worked in broadcasting since I was in high school, and a secret desire of all off us was to get on the air by ourselves. Not to worry: this website gets so many readers I no longer have any intentions of firing up at 88.5 FM over the holidays.
A guy I know did operate a very successful pirate station in Los Angeles for years, and even covered the Rose Bowl live each year!
His key was he worked at a place which made jingles, so he had the same (or better) professional bumpers as every other real radio station. He sounded legitimate, so no one ever noticed that he had no licence. He did great until he got too bold and went on the air on shortwave which made it to the FCC in Washington DC.
Today anyone can get more listeners over the Internet, and even do video, so have at your own website and avoid federal prison for communications crimes, which is where you go for pirate radio.
Photo Contests back to top
National Wildlife Federation's (NWF) annual contest. Deadline: 01 July 2008.
The NWF is a serious contest each year. The NWF not only has loads of real prizes, more importantly, the NWF winners are usually the most extraordinary photos I see each year.
Milk-Bone's 100th Anniversary. Deadline: 18 September 2008.