P.I.X - Photo Imaging X-change 2007 - Less than impressed

[Sydney2K]

Attended the last day of PIX 2007 and in general was less than impressed with the level of the presentations by the various speakers.

The day started off on the wrong foot as Dominique James who was suppose to speak fell ill. His replacement, kudos to him did a good job under the circumstances coming in early to prep for his presentation and doing a 'live' photo shoot as well. I enjoyed his enthusiasm for his craft and his obvious passion for his work. Overall one of the better presentations (there were few) I attended and I actually learnt something.

The next presenter, Sebastian Tan was half an hour late for his hour presentation on "Managing a Commercial Production". Unforgivable. His presentation then started with a screening of several videos that they had done for major clients. Impressive, but how did you go about managing and arranging it so that everything fell in place? What does your team comprise off? How do you plan for it? How do you prep for it? I don't think these we covered in any depth to be off any use. Minimal knowledge gain on this one.

After lunch I planned on attending the session on "Adding zing to you Photoshop experience". A catchy title so I thought why not attend and see what comes out of it. Turns out the session was swapped with another on "Blending and Layers" and it had been presented earlier at 11am. No mention of this on the Conference Programme Board at all.

OK a waste of time, so I tried that session on "Achieving colour consistency and predictability". Except that was not the full title. The full title of the presentation was "Achiveving color consistency and predictability with HP LFPs". Now that changes things a bit doesn't it. I would like to know how to achieve colour consistency and predictability but I don't necessarily need to do that on large format printers do I. Andre Economou knows his stuff for sure, but he sure took his time getting going and had to rush at the end and session ended past the hour. Also, I don't really need to know how much better HP places a droplet on paper compared to say Epson or Canon. Or that HP's LFPs have a built in spectrophotometer. Wonderful. But how do I get colour consistency and predictability in my workflow. What are the pitfalls? Where does it all go wrong? How close can you get?

I stayed on for "Creative Commercial photography" expecting some cutting edge works. Caught my attention for about 10mins. After the photo on farming equipment on a white background, I was out of there.

I moved to the session on Travel Photography by Alec Ee. A technical glitch caused it to start late. I must say it a well thought out presentation. Clear points with appropriate photos to back his points. I liked it and I actually learnt for it. This is the point of this all isn't it. Good show Alec. Thanks for not making my day a complete waste.

The next session was "Flash photography - ways to make your shooting more creative using one or more flashes" by John Cosgrove. Mate. Who is the target audience in front of you. Professional photographers. Ask yourself, what more can I add to their knowledge. Do I really need to cover pre-flash, rear curtain sync etc. How much more creative can we be with just one flash or multiple flashes. Check out this out John, http://www.flickr.com/photos/31454864@N00/favorites/ that's how much more creative we need to be with lights..

The final session was "Wedding Photography - the right angle". It was more like what lens should I buy for Wedding Photography and what goes into lens production. How this has anything to do with the "right angle", I really have a hard time figuring out. Common on. I know my lens, I know what they can do. How to get more creative with them. OK there aren't any "right angles" but what's new? what's edgy? I left with a headache from his booming voice but with little knowledge gained. Overall the worst presentation for that day. I feel very sorry for the Philippine photog who came all this way to hear this.

The day was not lost. Went up to the Canon exhibition booth as I knew Ken Seet was doing a presentation. I always wanted to know how he post processed his photos. I was not disappointed, Ken shared his knowledge on his post processing technique. Quick and dirty, I know given the time constraints but I learnt a trick or two and it was free. Can't beat that.

Don't get me wrong here. PIX Singapore is a good concept. I'm sure a lot of fellow photogs learnt from it. Let's face it. There are photographers that can shoot a great picture but that does not necessarily translate to a person who can teach and pass on his knowledge. I'm very sure that the people who attended Byran Peterson's sessions went away with much more.

So to the organisers, let's make PIX Singapore 2008 a better event, let's get photographers with more enthusiasm and passion about work and with the ability to communicate. Most importantly they should be open to sharing their knowledge. If they are good, they are going to be a few steps ahead of the rest of us that are in the general pack and should not be afraid of sharing their knowledge. Because by the time we get to where they are, they would have already achieved a high level.

So organisers. There's a whole year ahead to plan for the next one. Spend that time looking for people the likes or Byran Peterson, Alec Ee and lets get a few more good men.

 

[totoro17]

not impressed at all....

 

[skywalker28]

Surprise that not many PPL/photog turned up... where are SG's photogs??

 

[thw]

Surprise that not many PPL/photog turned up... where are SG's photogs??

When Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Olympus, Samsung and Panasonic are not present, what can we expect?

At IT show, we can at least handle the latest toys and decide how they feel in the hands.

Yes, there are some toys at this show, but not much.

 

[RichardSeah]

I think the show had an image problem!

It positioned itself as a trade show, which meant, eg, close at 6pm, everyone must register and my friend wearing bermudas and slippers was not allowed to register / enter.

Yet the show itself has some "attractions" and exhibits that were obviously aimed at the public rather than the trade - eg photo exhibitions, talks on how to improve photography, photo & photoshop courses, etc. There was even a booth by NTUC Club and one by Clubsnap.

Overall, it was a small (tiny) show with little to see.

Only two things really interested me: The Sigma S14 Camera and a lens cleaning brush that uses fine carbon to clean (and it has a version for computer keyboard and monitors too).

 

[theRBK]

Don't know about you guys but although the show was small (it is just starting out), I did find a fair bit to see and touch that otherwise i would have to knock on a lot of doors to get a close look, and which would not be present at the usual camera fairs... such as the Sinar Hy6, the Bowon, Broncolor and Profoto lights, the Hassey H3D, the HP 3100... and got to talk with people from the respective companies instead of just some local sales rep who may or may not know all about the products...

and the talks are aimed at a wide audience so the presenters try to cover as much ground at a basic level in the limited time they are given... if anyone has any queries, the presenters were certainly very approachable during the talks or after, and you get the chance to pick the brains of these pros and bounce ideas off them... and you can't really fault people for having technical failures can you...

as well, I enjoy not being crowded out by families with prams and children on tow...

 

[nightwolf75]

Don't know about you guys but although the show was small (it is just starting out), I did find a fair bit to see and touch that otherwise i would have to knock on a lot of doors to get a close look, and which would not be present at the usual camera fairs... such as the Sinar Hy6, the Bowon, Broncolor and Profoto lights, the Hassey H3D, the HP 3100... and got to talk with people from the respective companies instead of just some local sales rep who may or may not know all about the products...

and the talks are aimed at a wide audience so the presenters try to cover as much ground at a basic level in the limited time they are given... if anyone has any queries, the presenters were certainly very approachable during the talks or after, and you get the chance to pick the brains of these pros and bounce ideas off them... and you can't really fault people for having technical failures can you...

as well, I enjoy not being crowded out by families with prams and children on tow...

totally agree with u, esp ur last point.

this is a trade show, not ur IT fairs, folks. IMO, we are too used to the format of IT fairs where we have to squeeze with people, and bargain-hunt. yeah, i wished the big cam makers were all present with their latest toys... but, since this is the 1st ever show, i think we should applaud for the efforts made in organising the show.

 

[phoakm]

totally agree with u, esp ur last point.

this is a trade show, not ur IT fairs, folks. IMO, we are too used to the format of IT fairs where we have to squeeze with people, and bargain-hunt. yeah, i wished the big cam makers were all present with their latest toys... but, since this is the 1st ever show, i think we should applaud for the efforts made in organising the show.

Bro, same sentiment, which we should encourage such events more often.

 

[Cheesecake]

Attended the last day of PIX 2007 and in general was less than impressed with the level of the presentations by the various speakers.

The day started off on the wrong foot as Dominique James who was suppose to speak fell ill. His replacement, kudos to him did a good job under the circumstances coming in early to prep for his presentation and doing a 'live' photo shoot as well. I enjoyed his enthusiasm for his craft and his obvious passion for his work. Overall one of the better presentations (there were few) I attended and I actually learnt something.

The next presenter, Sebastian Tan was half an hour late for his hour presentation on "Managing a Commercial Production". Unforgivable. His presentation then started with a screening of several videos that they had done for major clients. Impressive, but how did you go about managing and arranging it so that everything fell in place? What does your team comprise off? How do you plan for it? How do you prep for it? I don't think these we covered in any depth to be off any use. Minimal knowledge gain on this one.

After lunch I planned on attending the session on "Adding zing to you Photoshop experience". A catchy title so I thought why not attend and see what comes out of it. Turns out the session was swapped with another on "Blending and Layers" and it had been presented earlier at 11am. No mention of this on the Conference Programme Board at all.

OK a waste of time, so I tried that session on "Achieving colour consistency and predictability". Except that was not the full title. The full title of the presentation was "Achiveving color consistency and predictability with HP LFPs". Now that changes things a bit doesn't it. I would like to know how to achieve colour consistency and predictability but I don't necessarily need to do that on large format printers do I. Andre Economou knows his stuff for sure, but he sure took his time getting going and had to rush at the end and session ended past the hour. Also, I don't really need to know how much better HP places a droplet on paper compared to say Epson or Canon. Or that HP's LFPs have a built in spectrophotometer. Wonderful. But how do I get colour consistency and predictability in my workflow. What are the pitfalls? Where does it all go wrong? How close can you get?

I stayed on for "Creative Commercial photography" expecting some cutting edge works. Caught my attention for about 10mins. After the photo on farming equipment on a white background, I was out of there.

I moved to the session on Travel Photography by Alec Ee. A technical glitch caused it to start late. I must say it a well thought out presentation. Clear points with appropriate photos to back his points. I liked it and I actually learnt for it. This is the point of this all isn't it. Good show Alec. Thanks for not making my day a complete waste.

The next session was "Flash photography - ways to make your shooting more creative using one or more flashes" by John Cosgrove. Mate. Who is the target audience in front of you. Professional photographers. Ask yourself, what more can I add to their knowledge. Do I really need to cover pre-flash, rear curtain sync etc. How much more creative can we be with just one flash or multiple flashes. Check out this out John, http://www.flickr.com/photos/31454864@N00/favorites/ that's how much more creative we need to be with lights..

The final session was "Wedding Photography - the right angle". It was more like what lens should I buy for Wedding Photography and what goes into lens production. How this has anything to do with the "right angle", I really have a hard time figuring out. Common on. I know my lens, I know what they can do. How to get more creative with them. OK there aren't any "right angles" but what's new? what's edgy? I left with a headache from his booming voice but with little knowledge gained. Overall the worst presentation for that day. I feel very sorry for the Philippine photog who came all this way to hear this.

The day was not lost. Went up to the Canon exhibition booth as I knew Ken Seet was doing a presentation. I always wanted to know how he post processed his photos. I was not disappointed, Ken shared his knowledge on his post processing technique. Quick and dirty, I know given the time constraints but I learnt a trick or two and it was free. Can't beat that.

Don't get me wrong here. PIX Singapore is a good concept. I'm sure a lot of fellow photogs learnt from it. Let's face it. There are photographers that can shoot a great picture but that does not necessarily translate to a person who can teach and pass on his knowledge. I'm very sure that the people who attended Byran Peterson's sessions went away with much more.

So to the organisers, let's make PIX Singapore 2008 a better event, let's get photographers with more enthusiasm and passion about work and with the ability to communicate. Most importantly they should be open to sharing their knowledge. If they are good, they are going to be a few steps ahead of the rest of us that are in the general pack and should not be afraid of sharing their knowledge. Because by the time we get to where they are, they would have already achieved a high level.

So organisers. There's a whole year ahead to plan for the next one. Spend that time looking for people the likes or Byran Peterson, Alec Ee and lets get a few more good men.

:thumbsup: honest assessment. appreciate it.

i only attended 1 workshop, by Peter Eastway. am very impressed.

 

[xtemujin]

Nikon Singapore could have showcased the D3 and D300 for people to test it out and I believe that many people would have made their way to the Imaging Expo.

 

[RichardSeah]

When Nikon, Sony, Pentax, Olympus, Samsung and Panasonic are not present, what can we expect?

Would be great if the big camera makers can show their more serious stuffs - DSLRs and perhaps high end point-and-shoot - at a show like PIX and their mass market stuffs like sub $200 cameras at IT Fairs.

At Comex in September, I was hoping to see / handle cameras like Fuji S5Pro, Nikon D300, Lumix L10 etc but all not there, although some others were, eg Pentax K10D, the Canon range and lower end Nikon DSLRs.

So the good thing about PIX was, eg, the chance to see / handle Sigma SD14 (but which I and some others found disappointing... but at least we appreciate the opportunity) and some other cameras, printers, etc.

And yes, good that PIX had no huge crowds, children, prams, etc.

 

[theRBK]

:thumbsup: honest assessment. appreciate it.

i only attended 1 workshop, by Peter Eastway. am very impressed.

are you talking about the lunch/session 2 of the talk? free food...

 

[Cheesecake]

are you talking about the lunch/session 2 of the talk? free food...

the free food takes the credit. :bsmilie:

well its always good to know the workflow of the top notch fotographers and to see their works. very interesting n informative. :thumbsup:

 

[Cheesecake]

Nikon Singapore could have showcased the D3 and D300 for people to test it out and I believe that many people would have made their way to the Imaging Expo.

Nikon S'pore has other plans.

 

[LazerLordz]

I went in for a peek, left for the PhotoshopWorld seminar below.

 

[ahbian]

There are feedback forms to be filled up at the end of each workshop, hope the organisers and speakers take that into consideration when planning for the next one.

My personal opinion is that allocating only 1 hour for many of the workshops is not sufficient, but I guess its a fight between quality and quantity.

Some of the workshops that stood out for me was that from Alec Ee (pity the shortage of time) and bryan peterson.

Ken Seet was also really good, pity I only managed to catch the tail end of his presentation. Would be really interested in him demostrating his workflow again.

 

[diver-hloc]

I think this is the 1st one lah..... maybe given time, it might get better.

But I do agree it was quite sad. Was thinking of getting some hard to find lowepro lens bag.... and can't even find the shop....

 

[theRBK]

the free food takes the credit. :bsmilie:

well its always good to know the workflow of the top notch fotographers and to see their works. very interesting n informative. :thumbsup:

I got his calendar as well :thumbsup:

I agree that the 1hr per seminar is a bit too short... wrote it down a few times in those feedback forms... Peter Eastway could tell us so much more with his extended "2nd session"... many thanks to Ruby Imaging for that... hup hup hurray to Ruby Imaging and Seng Fai

 

[Cheesecake]

I got his calendar as well :thumbsup:

I agree that the 1hr per seminar is a bit too short... wrote it down a few times in those feedback forms... Peter Eastway could tell us so much more with his extended "2nd session"... many thanks to Ruby Imaging for that... hup hup hurray to Ruby Imaging and Seng Fai

yaaaa

a pity it is TOO SHORT a session!!

 

[mangojar]

when i read this comment, i guess it is easy for us to criticise about how and what they should do etc irregardless whether you are paying, but less hurtful when u are not paying
http://forums.clubsnap.org/images/cs/smilies/smile.gif.

i was there too but wasnt bothered by all this, instead, i am able to mingle with other photographers and exhibitors and got to learn and share experiences.

At the end of the day, u should ask yourself, the purpose of your attendance, to learn or to comment etc, perhaps direct your comments to the organiser will help everyone, so that a better show will occur in the future.

i guess all presentators would like to give more info even to the real basics, it may hurt awhile, like what the hack i already know that, cant u share others?? that's where question and answers comes in, likely our locals will ask question, shy etc, just like I Not Stupid, we just cant open our mouth and ask. this is very common as from what i see from previous talks, seminars by local or foreign speakers. In a roomful of attendees, the level of knowledge of each attendees various, some better, some middle, some so so etc.

as u have mentioned, they are experts but not are educators that really make a difference and in whatever show, seminar or workshop, technical glitches will likely to surface irregardless how much prep has been planned for, Murphy's law, let's be forgiving. No presentors would like to come unprepared!

if u have not written your insights to the organisers, hope they are reading this.
http://forums.clubsnap.org/images/cs/smilies/smile.gif

Attended the last day of PIX 2007 and in general was less than impressed with the level of the presentations by the various speakers.

The day started off on the wrong foot as Dominique James who was suppose to speak fell ill. His replacement, kudos to him did a good job under the circumstances coming in early to prep for his presentation and doing a 'live' photo shoot as well. I enjoyed his enthusiasm for his craft and his obvious passion for his work. Overall one of the better presentations (there were few) I attended and I actually learnt something.

The next presenter, Sebastian Tan was half an hour late for his hour presentation on "Managing a Commercial Production". Unforgivable. His presentation then started with a screening of several videos that they had done for major clients. Impressive, but how did you go about managing and arranging it so that everything fell in place? What does your team comprise off? How do you plan for it? How do you prep for it? I don't think these we covered in any depth to be off any use. Minimal knowledge gain on this one.

After lunch I planned on attending the session on "Adding zing to you Photoshop experience". A catchy title so I thought why not attend and see what comes out of it. Turns out the session was swapped with another on "Blending and Layers" and it had been presented earlier at 11am. No mention of this on the Conference Programme Board at all.

OK a waste of time, so I tried that session on "Achieving colour consistency and predictability". Except that was not the full title. The full title of the presentation was "Achiveving color consistency and predictability with HP LFPs". Now that changes things a bit doesn't it. I would like to know how to achieve colour consistency and predictability but I don't necessarily need to do that on large format printers do I. Andre Economou knows his stuff for sure, but he sure took his time getting going and had to rush at the end and session ended past the hour. Also, I don't really need to know how much better HP places a droplet on paper compared to say Epson or Canon. Or that HP's LFPs have a built in spectrophotometer. Wonderful. But how do I get colour consistency and predictability in my workflow. What are the pitfalls? Where does it all go wrong? How close can you get?

I stayed on for "Creative Commercial photography" expecting some cutting edge works. Caught my attention for about 10mins. After the photo on farming equipment on a white background, I was out of there.

I moved to the session on Travel Photography by Alec Ee. A technical glitch caused it to start late. I must say it a well thought out presentation. Clear points with appropriate photos to back his points. I liked it and I actually learnt for it. This is the point of this all isn't it. Good show Alec. Thanks for not making my day a complete waste.

The next session was "Flash photography - ways to make your shooting more creative using one or more flashes" by John Cosgrove. Mate. Who is the target audience in front of you. Professional photographers. Ask yourself, what more can I add to their knowledge. Do I really need to cover pre-flash, rear curtain sync etc. How much more creative can we be with just one flash or multiple flashes. Check out this out John, http://www.flickr.com/photos/31454864@N00/favorites/ that's how much more creative we need to be with lights..

The final session was "Wedding Photography - the right angle". It was more like what lens should I buy for Wedding Photography and what goes into lens production. How this has anything to do with the "right angle", I really have a hard time figuring out. Common on. I know my lens, I know what they can do. How to get more creative with them. OK there aren't any "right angles" but what's new? what's edgy? I left with a headache from his booming voice but with little knowledge gained. Overall the worst presentation for that day. I feel very sorry for the Philippine photog who came all this way to hear this.

The day was not lost. Went up to the Canon exhibition booth as I knew Ken Seet was doing a presentation. I always wanted to know how he post processed his photos. I was not disappointed, Ken shared his knowledge on his post processing technique. Quick and dirty, I know given the time constraints but I learnt a trick or two and it was free. Can't beat that.

Don't get me wrong here. PIX Singapore is a good concept. I'm sure a lot of fellow photogs learnt from it. Let's face it. There are photographers that can shoot a great picture but that does not necessarily translate to a person who can teach and pass on his knowledge. I'm very sure that the people who attended Byran Peterson's sessions went away with much more.

So to the organisers, let's make PIX Singapore 2008 a better event, let's get photographers with more enthusiasm and passion about work and with the ability to communicate. Most importantly they should be open to sharing their knowledge. If they are good, they are going to be a few steps ahead of the rest of us that are in the general pack and should not be afraid of sharing their knowledge. Because by the time we get to where they are, they would have already achieved a high level.

So organisers. There's a whole year ahead to plan for the next one. Spend that time looking for people the likes or Byran Peterson, Alec Ee and lets get a few more good men.