November 2014 Newsletter
Ah, it’s November and the Christmas ads have started!
There has been a lot of controversy over the new Sainsbury’s Xmas advert. To those that think it is wrong, don’t shop at Salisbury’s. Simple. Personally, forgetting the fact that it has an obvious commercial undertone (albeit with a charitable side), I think the ad is brilliantly done and very moving.
Workload
I don’t know, I leave my business group Network Dorset for a few months to hold back on the work whilst I catch up with everything else and even more work pours in! I am not complaining as the work coming in is excellent and what I love doing. However, it does stop me from doing as much with ATP these days.
One thing in particular is VERY exciting and will play a large part of my business next year and beyond. I don’t want to say anything just yet. Very excited.
Update 2018: I can say now that the contract was with a team from Pinewood studios. I was part of a 4 week shoot in both Dorset and North Yorkshire. The whole experience was incredibly exciting and scary at times. Think abseiling one handed down a windy, muddy cliff with a huge drone case my other hand. That has now led on to more work in 2018 with the same team and a Netflix documentary. Watch this space...
France
My family and I had a trip to France during the October half term and had a ball. We took the Eurostar to Paris and then drove all the way to Cannes on the Mediterranean coast.
We also visited Nice (we cycled the 7km beach and back) and the amazing Monaco/Monte Carlo where we walked the Formula 1 track. It’s not that big you know but very cool.
This relaxing break gave me a real, uninterrupted chance to play with the Panasonic GH4 (review below). Also the Go Pro HD Hero 4 (review next month) and an amazing new gadget for the Go Pro 3, 3+ and 4. Review next month. This thing is so much fun and creates the most amazing footage.
New Workstation
It has been a busy time at Freefly Multimedia Ltd and after 6 years or so, my old PC had taken a bit of a battering. The CPU fan had died and during the replacement, part of the motherboard was damaged. This rendered half of my RAM useless. It became frustratingly slow.
This coupled with everything else prompted me to bite the bullet and go for broke on a new one.
I went online to the great site at PC Specialist and built my own. I set all the specs to "ridiculously high". Their cool site spat out one of the most powerful computers known to man.
Update 2018: I am still using this PC today and it is still powerful enough to edit "RAW", 10-bit, 4K footage!
They gave some great advice and even told me where I had chosen one item that was not needed. Then they explained about another component that I could downgrade a touch for now.
When the machine arrived, it started flawlessly, runs incredibly quiet (has 2 solid state hard drives and liquid cooling)…and it is fast! Photoshop loads in less than two seconds and a complete reboot takes around 30 seconds in total.
I have justified this expense with my wife, bank manager and accountant as I will be doing a lot of processing and pretty intensive 4k video work next year. Plus, by having higher specs, this thing should last a long time before needing an upgrade…
This month…
Like I said, I haven’t had a chance to add much to the site but what I have done is:
Inatek Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review
Inatek sent me this small Bluetooth speaker for review last month. Normally I find these types of gadgets "tinny" in their overall sound quality and not too well built. Coming in at around £13, would this speaker fall into that category?
Inatek Portable Bluetooth Speaker Review
Switronix Go Pro Battery Eliminator USB
With Go Pro cameras having a reputation for poor battery life, I am always ready to check out new solutions. Tech that will enable them to run for longer without overheating.
Again, I got sent a review product last month that addresses this issue pretty well. Check it out in our review below.
Switronix Go Pro Battery Eliminator USB
Aputure LED Lighting
I have been a fan of LED lighting for a while now as they run cool and for a long time on battery power. How did I get on with these offerings from Aputure when I took them on a commercial job in Lanzarote earlier in the summer?
Panasonic GH4 Review
I bought this camera in May after reading so many good things about it so after 6 months of use, how does it fair against other DSLR’s or video cameras that I own?
Pretty well as it goes and it is making me want to go mirrorless for all my photography and video work. This is a rather long review which hopefully you will find useful if you are thinking of buying this camera.
Past Student Success
I love teaching others about photography and business and get a real kick when I get feedback saying they are doing well. Here is a prime example of that with Jo, a past student of mine who came on three of my courses including wedding photography and business…
Super Micro Photography
Check out these amazing images from the tiny world of micro photography…a whole new place to discover new things, new techniques and new challenges!
Next Month…
That’s pretty much it for this relatively short newsletter. I have around 4 websites to build on a tight deadline. 20 more waiting in the wings. A property shoot on Monday. A commercial shoot on Wednesday and meetings to discuss next years plans.
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter so please add your comments below and share with your friends.
All the best and see you next month, Nick - All Things Photography
