Follow-up To Maintenance Man Found in Balanced Exposure's Storage Area

I filed a police report with Schaumburg Police Department concerning the incident from June 26, 2015.

After emailing our building management again and determining that this maintenance person was with Harvard Maintenance as a cleaning staff and not hired by Hamilton Partners (who manages our building), I was told that he gave neither Harvard nor Hamilton Partners a valid reason as to why he was in our office either.

To me, it's pretty clear that his intentions was not in doing maintenance work but rather to check out our space to see what could be stolen.  Because of this, I felt it was important to call the police department so that a record of his intrusion into the Balanced Exposure's office space would be on file and that if he ever tried to do something like this again at another company's location, he'd have a record at the police department of having done this before in the past.

While Hamilton Partners have banned him from working at our building, he is not their employee, so there's no way to find out if his employer (Harvard Cleaning) has released him from their employ or not.

Hamilton Partners will be installing new locks for my office as a result of the incident.  In addition, I will now have security every day escorting me to my vehicle as I leave the building, thanks to Hamilton Partners.  Great!

"Maintenance Man" Caught In My Storage Room At Balanced Exposure

Well today was rather interesting.

I walked into my school, Balanced Exposure, around 1:45 PM to find a young hispanic male in the backroom of the school.  He took me by surprise as I was not expecting to see anyone in the office space at all.

I asked him what he was doing there and he said that he was with the maintenance company for our building.  Well, I've never met him, so how would I know if he was telling the truth or not?  Plus, I had never heard of the maintenance company that he claimed to work for.  I only know our building's maintenance person that's been with the building for years.

I questioned him over and over why he was in my office space.  All he could say was that he was checking things out.  Checking what out?  He couldn't tell me.  So all he said was that he was checking a lot of the other office spaces as well.  Checking for what?  He couldn't tell me.

I told him to leave and immediately called our building's Office Manager who did not answer her phone.  I called her assistant... no answer either.  So I decided to call the management company's security team.  I made my report to the person who answered and after checking a little, he called me back to say that the person does indeed work for the maintenance company hired by the building management.

After checking around my space, I could not find anything missing, but I still felt uneasy about finding someone in my private storage area without having had any advance notice from the building management.

I wrote an email message to our building manager reporting what happened and asked that the company look into the situation and to institute better security measures and procedures for maintenance people to let us know in advance when possible if someone is going to be in our office spaces.  While this person was indeed an employee hired by the building management, there was no way I would know this.  Am I to take anyone's word for it that they are in my space to check things out without my approval or knowledge?  How would I know if he wasn't in there just checking out what to steal later?  Or was he in there just to case the location to send someone else in there later to burglarize the space?

I received an email response about a half hour after my email complaint from the building manager stating the the employee will no longer have access to our building and that the building manager would contact me at the beginning of next week to discuss the situation.

Personally, I think I had walked in during a time period that the intruder did not think I would be there and I surprised him in the act of casing my location.  There's no reason for him to be in my private storage area.  Even if he was there to check the air conditioning , the thermostat is in the main classroom area.  There are no controls in the storage area.

I also keep my equipment case in the back room and place it in a specific location and angle every day before leaving the school.  It was moved slightly and not in the same position I normally leave it.  Why would maintenance need to move my equipment case?  Highly suspicious!

We'll see where all this leads.  Did they fire the employee or merely move him to another building?  We shall see.

(Image borrowed from the internet)

Swimming With Whales

You know, swimming with whales in the swimming pool of a cruise ship in Alaska might not be such a smart idea...

Still following him...

Alaska Aboard The Ruby Princess

I spent the past week aboard Princess Cruise's Ruby Princess as it headed towards Alaska!  We had 3157 passengers and approximately 1100 crew members onboard.

I took my trusty Nikon D4s along with several lenses... Nikon 24-70mm f2.8, Nikon 70-200mm f2.8 VRII with a 1.7x teleconverter and Nikon 16mm f2.8 fisheye.

The whale's tail is from a Humpback Whale.  The seagull is just a seagull.  :)

The icebergs were rather small as they poked through the water.  Surprisingly, parts of the icebergs were blue!  While all of the color spectrum of light is there, the blue is seen most promenently.

Tracy Arm Fjord was a highlight of the trip for me along with just sitting on the deck at night to watch the ocean go by!

No cruise is complete without eating every few hours!  There goes my diet!  Believe it or not, I had three of these lobster tails along with four huge prawns all at one sitting!  Fine dining at it's best!

Graduation Images

Congratulations to my daughter on her graduation!  She received her Doctor of Pharmacy degree from the St Louis College of Pharmacy on May 3, 2015.

She and several of her professional Fraternity sisters gathered at the St Louis Arch to get their photo taken.  Because the Arch was having a lot of construction going on, there were only a few angles to take the photo to avoid the construction activities from being included in the photo.

The image was taken with a Nikon D4s camera and a Nikon 16mm fisheye lens because we had to be really close to the Arch.  To include the tall Arch, the fisheye lens gave me the ability to shoot close to the girls and also the Arch.  But the distortion of the fisheye lens required me to correct the distortion within Adobe Lightroom CC.  I also combined three exposures with the HDR processing in Lightroom CC to get a full range of brightness levels.

The second image was taken at Forrest Park.  I've taken a lot of "jump shots" when I was photographing weddings, but the girls wanted one, so I took it for them.  The image was taken with a Nikon D4s and a Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

More Updates on Using the Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display

An update on my experiences with an Apple Macbook Pro computer... I'm getting faster using it! After living with it now for several months, I'm finding I can do things a lot faster than when I first got it. Does that mean it's better than a PC? No. It's just different.

I think those who have used a PC as their main computer for years will always struggle initially when trying out an Apple computer.  It's not easy to use and figure out without spending more time on it.

I believe the main problem I was having using Microsoft Excel and Word on it is an issue with the Microsoft program on Apple computers. I don't think it's the Apple computer itself. Copy and pasting cells in Excel just is not fast enough. But this issue is not a problem if you use Apple's "Numbers" spreadsheet. So this tells me it's a software issue, not a computer issue. Still, for those of us that use Microsoft programs on an Apple computer, it's just terrible!

I still find that file manipulation is just painful to do on an Apple computer. There's no real fast way to move things around! It's a LOT FASTER to move files around on a PC. For that, I don't like Apple's approach!

So am I a full convert to Apple computers yet? No. I doubt I will ever be fully converted. But, I do like how I have had little to no problems so far with viruses, popups and other things that plague PC use. The computer starts up lightning fast. I never have to turn it off... I just close the display lid on the computer and put it away. Then when I want to use it, I open the lid and it's up and running! Battery life is amazing on this computer too!

I'm getting faster with the touchpad as well. The new Force Touch trackpad on my computer is amazingly good. You can click anywhere on the pad and it feels and works great! It's much better than the previous version of trackpads on 13" MacBook Pros. I'm glad the Apple store in Woodfield Mall let me swap my computer out for the newer version with this new trackpad!

More updates as I continue to learn the Apple operating system...

Century Egg - aka 100 Year Old Egg

The Century Egg, also known as the 100 year old egg or 1000 year old egg, is actually a preserved duck egg.  I recall contestants on the TV show, "Fear Factor" had to endure eating these.

For many Asians, this egg is actually eaten often!  It is usually combined with rice congee when served.  Would I dare eat them?  Absolutely!  I've been eating these eggs since I was a young boy!

The toughest part about eating these eggs is the egg yolk.  The smell and taste can put you off if you've never tried it before.  They definitely have an ammonia smell to them and the texture can be a bit surprising.  But, if you've grown up eating these, they actually are quite tasty.  I actually look forward to them when eating a bowl of congee! (Images borrowed from the internet)

Would you try these?  Post your comments!

Sunrise at Racine Harbor - April 14, 2015

Sunrise at Racine Harbor, Racine, Wisconsin.  Went fishing from 4:15 AM to 7:30 AM... not a single bite!  At least I got a decent photo!  Image taken with a Lumix DMC - LX5 point and shoot camera.  Image taken on manual mode, ISO 80, 1/250 second, f4.0.  Four Thirds image sensor.  Shot at 5:16 AM.

New Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display (and new Trackforce trackpad)

The saga of my journey into Apple computers continues...

I recently contacted the Apple Store in Woodfield Mall about the discounts set up for my students and during my discussion with my product specialist, I was offered the chance to swap my new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display for an even NEWER one that has the latest TrackForce trackpad.  Kudos to Apple for offering this to me!

I had just purchased the MacBook Pro just shy of two months ago, but recently, Apple announced an improved version with a new Intel processor, an SSD (solid state drive) that is twice as fast as the old one and also a new trackpad that makes it easier to click and has secondary functions.  Apple's product specialist decided that I should be using the latest version of the machine since it is one that I will use to evaluate their computers with for recommendations to my students.  He felt that if I had a better experience with my machine, I'd be happier with my laptop and ultimately refer more potential computer users to them!  Smart move on his part and great customer service!

I have to say, this is how business should be run!  While it was not something that needed to be done, the gesture was a smart one.  If only other companies would recognize that a little bending of the rules often go a long way to gaining more satisfied customers and also more business because of it!

The Problem With PCs...

Back in 2011, I purchased a new Dell XPS 17" laptop with an i7 processor.  It has served me well until this past year where it has started to really slow down.  It's a problem common to any PC.

With the last two days off of work, I decided it was time to wipe the hard drive and do a clean install of the Windows 7 operating system and reinstall all of the programs.  I've done this type of thing many times to other PC computers, so it was easy to do.

The problem though is that you HAVE to do it eventually.  PC's seem to really start slowing down the more you use them.  Perhaps this is a MAJOR reason users of Apple Macs really prefer using a Mac!

I've heard that this isn't necessary to do on a Mac.  Time will tell as I continue using my new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display.

I also defragment the hard drive of my PC's regularly.  Again, I've heard that this is not necessary on a Mac.  Not really sure why though!  Also, since my drive on my MacBook Pro is a flash drive, it's been said that you definitely do not want to do a defrag of this kind of drive.

I use McAfee anti-virus software with my PC's and also Malwarebytes for controlling malware.  Does anyone know if this is necessary for Macs?  If so, what antivirus programs are best for a Mac?

By the way, after reloading the Windows 7 operating system, I have well over 200 software updates reloading back in as well.  Some started to have problems reloading and so I simply stopped the auto-update function of Windows 7 to control having to sit at the computer all day trying to get the updates to work.  It's just another issue with PC use!

So far my experiences with an Apple Mac have been mixed.  I like some things, but not others.  But I will say this... PC's are a pain to deal with when they start slowing down!  Apples win in this regard!

Oh... the PC is blazing fast again since the reinstallation!

(Image borrowed from the Internet)

Daughter and Mother

Special thanks to one of my former brides... Monica, for letting her daughter Brianna model for my "Balancing The Light" class tonight!  It was fun!

One Month Update On Owning An Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display

Well it's been one month since I purchased a new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

I purchased this computer with the intent to learn the Apple Operating System (OS) so that I could help my students in my Photoshop and Lightroom classes while they navigated their computers while taking class.  Here's my observations so far:

1. I like how lightweight the new computer is compared to my heavy 17" Dell XPS laptop.
2. I like that it is whisper quiet.  No loud fans blowing while working with it!
3. I like that the computer has a solid-state flash drive to store my programs and data.
4. I never turn off the computer!  Because of this, it's always immediately ready to use.  No start up time!
5. I like how fast my emails come in!
6. Surfing the web is really nice and fast.
7. NO POP-UPS!  Great!
8. No viruses!  Well, at least that's what they tell me.  But so far, nothing.
9. I don't like how the operating system deals with working with Microsoft Excel and Word.  Simple "Cut and Paste" or "Copy and Paste" is very slow on the computer!  I have to wait a couple of seconds after copying before I can even paste.  Not good!  (4-8-15 Edit Update:  Found out that this slow cut and paste or copy and paste issue is not the Apple Computer... it is the Microsoft Office!  Seems it is the software that is not reacting quickly.  When doing cut and paste or copy and paste with Apple's "Numbers" spreadsheet, it moves very fast.)
10. I don't like that there is no Backspace key, only a delete key!  You have to line up your cursor perfectly before you can start deleting.  That's SLOW and often inaccurate.  (Edit: I was told that if you hold the Fn key while depressing the "delete" key, that becomes your backspace.  Why couldn't they just put a backspace key on the keyboard??)
11. I don't like that Apple seems to purposely want to do everything 180 degrees opposite of how it is done in the PC world!  Of course you can say that Microsoft tries to do everything opposite of Apple... it depends on your perspective.  But just like camera companies, it seems these two big companies purposely make it hard for the user to transition from one operating system to the next.  NOT COOL!
12. Apple IS NOT the cure all for all problems with a computer!
13. I still do not understand why everyone says you need a Mac if you do graphics or photography.  To me, working on the PC or Mac is the same in terms of using Photography programs.  I don't see much difference.

While many people who buy a new Apple are totally excited with their purchase, I was not.  I only purchased it because I had to in order to help my classes move along faster.  Because of this, I'm not swayed by the hype often associated with a new Apple purchase.  I wanted to see if Apple lives up to the hype and so far, I'd say it doesn't.

It has a lot of great things going for it as I've outlined above.  But it also has its own quirks that makes me wonder why there is so much hype about it.  It's almost like a cult!  But I'm here to say, I'm not convinced it's the cure-all for everyone.  If you want style (it's a beautiful design), lightweight, fast turn-on times (I never turn it off), long battery life and no viruses, it's the best out there!  But if you need to manipulate files by easily moving them around quickly, I'd say the PC has it beat.

Perhaps I still need more time to see if I move quicker with the Apple OS.  I will say I'm a lot faster than I was when I first got the machine.  Only time will tell if I become a full Apple convert.  But so far, indications say I won't be fully converted.  I still like the PC better for many things.

To be fair, here's what I don't like about a PC...

1. Use the computer long enough, you will get viruses unless you have an anti-virus protection program.  Even that doesn't guarantee you won't end up with a virus.
2. Use the computer long enough and you'll notice it will start slowing down to a crawl.  The registry gets mucked up in time and that's a major problem.  Often you might need to wipe the hard drive and totally do a clean install of all programs to get the computer back to the speed it was when you first bought it!
3. Blue screen crashes can happen and that can spell disaster!

Here's what I like about PC's...

1. You can build your own PC if you know a little about computers.  Buying mother boards, RAM, power supplies, chassis'... it's easy to make your own or upgrade your own computer.
2. You have lots of manufacturers who make parts for your computer!  You aren't stuck with just one brand of parts.
3. They cost a LOT less than an Apple computer!  Apple often is a lot more money for most everything they make.
4.You can usually find someone who can help you if you don't know something about the computer or the program you are working with.  Why?  There are likely more PC users in the business world than Apple users (although Apple is starting to gain a lot more devoted users now).

2015 Chicago Field Museum with Balanced Exposure Students

 Went to the Chicago Field Museum on Friday, February 20, 2015 with several Balanced Exposure Students.  While it was not an "official" field trip, we all went just to take some photos and to enjoy the day.  The Field Museum offered the entire month of February with free admission for Illinois residents, so we all took advantage of that.

All of my images were taken with a Nikon D4s camera and a Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.  This camera and lens combination is my most used set up!  The images speak for themselves.

 

 

2015 Chicago Auto Show

I attended the 2015 Chicago Auto Show with one of my students from Balanced Exposure and also with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law.

We went on a Thursday morning which meant the show floor had a lot less people than on a weekend morning.  This made it a lot easier for me to get around on my scooter and for us to cover the show without too many people getting in our way as we took photos.

Like many other years, I concentrated on taking photos of concept cars and prototypes, but I also look for models to photograph as well.  Many of them realize I'm taking a photo and usually will pose for me as the model above did.

My goal at this show was to go with students, but only one student went with me.  Being a mid-week morning and afternoon made it difficult for those who work to go with me, but I wanted less of a crowd to contend with.  I mounted an orange bicycle flag on a fiberglass pole to my scooter so that it would be easier to spot me should we separate.  It really came in handy a couple of times!  Believe me, if you take one wrong turn, you can easily lose the other person!  But looking for the tall flag, it was a lot easier to reconnect.

The images above were taken with a Nikon D4s camera and Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 lens.

Out of Chicago Event - June 26-28, 2015

Right click to download this image to read the details of the Out of Chicago event.  Receive a $50 discount by using the code: balancedexposure

Apple 13" MacBook Pro with Retina Display

After years of working only with a PC, I decided it was time to purchase an Apple Mac computer.

I bought an 13" Apple MacBook Pro with Retina display at the Apple store in Woodfield Mall.

So why did I finally decide to get a Mac after all these years?  Well, students have been coming in with their computers for the past several years and I just could not help them figure out their MAC issues while they were in my Photoshop or Lightroom classes.  While the goal of these classes is not for me to teach the students how to use a computer, sometimes students just do not know enough about their operating systems to do basic functions like copying files and moving them to their desktops.  I often needed to rely on the other Mac users in the class to help them out.  I can teach them Photoshop and Lightroom, but I can't teach them how to use a Mac.

Getting this new computer should help me learn a little more about how things are done on an Apple computer.  Sure, it cost around $2000 with tax to buy this, but on the long run, it's an investment in helping my students.  Yes, I spend a lot of money on their behalf!

I'll post more about my learning experiences with the Mac in the coming weeks.  But so far, I find it more difficult to use than a PC simply because I am used to how things work on a PC.  File manipulation seems laborious to me so far.  It's not as easy as everyone makes it out to be if you are coming from the PC world.  That should improve as I get more up to speed on it.

Stay tuned!

(Image taken with a Nikon D4s, Nikon 24-70mm f2.8 and Alien Bees B400 studio lights with umbrellas.)

Batteries for Dirt Cheap

 

How Do They Make Any Money????

I ordered ten of these Lithium CR2032 batteries on eBay for $1.98 including shipping... from China!

How do they make any money selling ten of these batteries AND also pay for shipping all the way from China to the United States?

It was possible for me to have ordered just five batteries for $0.99 including shipping.  They would have shipped it all the way here too for that price!  How do they make any money doing this?

I ordered these batteries for my Carson SM-44 lighted 5x SensorMag Magnifier.  I use this device to see dust particles on the image sensor of my cameras.  They take two of these lithium CR2032 batteries.  But rather than buy them at a higher price here in the US, I thought I'd take a chance for $1.98 to see if this company in China would actually ship it here for that low of a price.  They did!

I've ordered other things from eBay in the past that came from other countries.  I purchased a Mamiya RB67 medium format camera from Japan on eBay.  Took only 3 days to get it here!  I also purchased a Mamiya lens from Hong Kong.  Took four days!  Each time, the shipping was fast and the prices were a lot lower than items I could have purchased here in the USA.

For small items like these batteries, do yourself a favor and try ordering on eBay.  If it doesn't come, you are only out a small amount of money.  But if it comes, you are saving a LOT of money.  I think it's worth the risk. 

A Solution To Improve Nikon Df's Low Light Focusing

I figured out a work around to improve the  low light focusing on the Nikon Df and for any other Nikon that needs better low light focusing.  (By the way, the Df's focusing is based on the same focusing as is on the Nikon D600, D610, D7100 cameras...)

I purchased a Nikon SU-800 flash commander (see image above).  This device is used to control multiple Nikon Flashes so you can set up a portable multiple flash studio.  But, the unit also has an infrared focusing beam, just like what a Nikon SB-800 speedlight has.

What I do is put this SU-800 on the Nikon Df's flash hot shoe but instead of having it trigger a flash, I just use it for its infrared focusing beam for shooting low ambient light photos!  I can now shoot in near pitch black darkness with the Nikon Df!

The only issue using the SU-800 is that it is always trying to fire a flash that's actually not being used, so your camera's shutter speed automatically drops to a predetermined sync shutter speed, which is likely not to be the shutter speed you need for the metered shot.  To fix this, I reassigned the Nikon Df's AE/AF Lock button to "Flash Off".  By holding the reassigned AE-AF lock button while taking the photo, essentially I get the SU-800's infrared focusing beam to help shoot in near darkness and also trick the camera to shoot it like there was no flash or commander connected to the hotshoe.  I get perfectly focused and perfectly exposed ambient light photos!  You can do the same thing using a standard Nikon speedlight flash like the SB-700, SB-800, SB-910, but these units are larger and heavier than the SU-800.

The hassle with this setup is requiring a Nikon SU-800 unit to always having to sit on top of the Nikon Df and having to hold the reassigned AE/AF Lock button when taking a photo.  Luckily, the SU-800 is very lightweight and also smaller than a typical flash unit.  It can be left on the top of the camera all the time and just turned on whenever I need to use it.  Only when the power to the unit is on do I need to hold the AE/AF Lock button when taking a photo.

Now I can shoot the Nikon Df without fear of it not focusing in dark environments!  If I think I may need a flash every now and then, I can substitute using the SU-800 with the SB-800 or any other Nikon flash that has an infra-red focusing beam.

Nikon D750

After playing with the Nikon D750 this past week, let me just say this... the Nikon D750 could very well be one of the best full frame cameras for the money today.  At a retail price of just under $2300 (body only), the camera offers a lot for the price.

It's 24.3 MP full frame image sensor offers a native ISO range of 100 - 12,800 and extends to 51,200 although nobody would really want to do that since it's quite noisy at that high of an ISO.  The camera's continuous shooting ability goes to 6.5 frames per second which isn't the fastest on the market, but reasonable enough for many types of action events.

It's a relatively small camera body and while it is considered an "enthusiast" camera, I'd say a pro can easily use it for professional use.  Would I use it for a wedding?  Absolutely!  Many pros are now buying this camera as both their main camera and also as their backup camera.

You can read all about the camera through the various reviews on the internet, but let me just tell you my impressions:

1.  I like the smaller body and lighter weight.
2.  The high ISO ability in low light is adequate, but not as good as a Nikon Df or Nikon D4s.
3.  The shutter sound is quieter than a Nikon D4s, but not as quiet as a Nikon Df or Nikon D810.
4.  It's full frame!  You can get shallower depth of field with full frame image sensors and it handles low light better too!
5.  The video ability allows for full HD recording at 1920 x 1080 / 60 frames per second... great for slow motion.
6.  It is the first full frame camera with a tilting LCD screen.
7.  It has built-in WiFi which works great!  You can control the camera to take photos remotely with your smart phone or tablet.  You can even transfer images in JPG to your device too!  It will also take a RAW image amd convert it to a small JPG for upload to Facebook or emailing purposes!
8.  The new face detection matrix metering helps get proper exposure if it detects a person's face in the image!
9.  The shutter is rated to 150,000 actuations.

There are a lot of features on this camera, but most importantly, the images look great!

If you are looking for a full frame camera, this is one I would highly recommend.  While not as high of a resolution as the 36.3 MP on a Nikon D810, it has plenty of resolution for most applications.