Melbourne Meetup

[RobertMarks]

Melbourne meet up who are more central to the city keen to meet?

Im in for queens birthday!

Or any weekend really :)

[arthurking83]

Q'sB I'm off for a drive, but it has been ages since my last meetup(about 2years or more if memory serves me badly enough!!)

Trouble in Melb of course is the weather.
My real issue is managing time between work kids and work.

If others are up for a meet, I'd put my hand up too.

[Seabee]

I would love to but I am off to Hawaii over the queens birthday weekend until the end of June!! Keeping my eyes peeled, as I will get to one eventually :rolleyes:

[arthurking83]

Well, how about May 26-27 as a weekend day to aim for then?

Otherwise we can try a centralised Melb meetup on the Jun 2-3 weekend that coincides with the National meetup to celebrate AP's anniversary .. it's just that I have to drag two uninspired kids along as well on that weekend .. but they'll just have to 'get over it'.

Of course there's nothing to stop us from meeting up in May AND again the weekend after on the 2-3 Jun along with the other national meetups that appear to be happening.

We seem to be getting a regular pattern of ok weather during the week, and then miserable rainy weekends on a consistent basis(my overgrown front and rear yards are proof of that!) :rolleeys:

[Terri]

I can do weekend of 26-67 May - I'm assuming we mean in the city? That would be awesome. If we met in the arvo we could get some early evening low light shots too. Anyway, any time that weekend is good for me. We could also do coffee, and maybe a small camera shop visit too :D

Edited to change "low life" to "low light" :lol:

[arthurking83]

Low life, low lights and coffee .. all sounds good to me :D

It gets dark fairly early nowadays so this low light scenario sounds easy to do.

Coffee and camera shops are all along Elizabeth St, so this would make sense as a starting point .. say the GPO area .... Lt Bourke and Collins.

If all else fails and it rains(as expected) we can then quickly switch to 'plan B'(there's always a plan B!!) and do some long exposure/soft water effect water feature photography...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWKoTSuCa_A

[Eberbachl]

I'd certainly be interested :D

[David W]

The 26th or 27th May looks great for me. I'm new(ish) to photography and would really love to meet up with you guys to get some inspiration and advice and, obviously to take some pictures.

[Terri]

Yay! This is looking good, we might have some good numbers :th3:

Arthur, I remember that day but wasn't in the city - it's quite bizarre, isn't it? It would certainly be fun to photograph!

[arthurking83]

Also of note!!

I@M just alerted us to the fact that this http://This Digital Show Thingy (http://www.thedigitalshow.com.au/) is on, roughly speaking, at about the same time that we may be planning(or not!!) this potential meetup.

I suppose this show could be a point to mark on our GPS enabled smart phone calendars.
Bring a camera, bring a card, bring your partner if you must .. but hopefully there are samples to try out for ourselves.

It's at the MEC Southbank, so parking and transport is easy enough.

Plenty of coffee around the traps there too.

[Eberbachl]

Excellent idea. You can get free tickets for that show by emailing them or clicking the free registration button on their website. I'd be good for the 26th, but can't do the 27th :)

[Erin]

MEC... otherwise known as The Shed. LOL

I'll be there at the show... just look for the girl with the cam... oh. Oops.

LMAO.

There's good eats and drinks down along Southbank across the road.

I'm going to a couple of the keynote presentations so I might sort of flitter about the place in between acts. If you see me, say hi. I'll be wearing... um... clothes. Hmm. Red carnations, anyone?

[VladM]

Saturday afternoon, after the show is a good idea.
Will try to attend.
If it does rain like Feb 2011, will be a good test for my gear (Pentax - supposed to be weatherproof).

[Terri]

Yay! Looks like this is happening - Saturday arvo? :th3:

I best register for a ticket to this show - not sure it's my thing, but shopping is, and I'm sure there will be opportunities to pull out the credit card! :eek:

[jemm]

I am also interested in Sat 26th Avo including the show. Look forward to meeting people.

Cheers

Jane

:)

[arthurking83]

OK, as this appears to be next Sat, any hints from the interested parties as to what time (roughly) they'll be attending?

I'm betting that my energy levels on the day in question will see me there at somewhere between 11AM-1PM or so.

If others are happier to meet later than 1PM, that's also fine.
There's sufficient activity and interest in the that general location to keep us occupied for a few hours, even if we don't take the show into consideration.

[RobertMarks]

Registered for the event and rather keen :) What time is everyone getting there? Place to meet? Things to do during the day? Coffee would be lovely? Maybe dinner and a night shoot?

Im keen as and will go with the flow. Saturday i will try for 11am :)

[David W]

Where and what time does everybody want to meet?

I could be at the main entrance of Jeff's Shed at 11:00 or alternatively I'm happy to meet up in the afternoon after visiting to expo.

Robert and Arthur, you two seem to be the main instigators of the event, what do you two want to do?

[RobertMarks]

I am more then happy to meet at 11:00 am out the front of Jeffs shed or we could decide to meet all at say 2pm. At a fairly common but less crowded spot near by. Reason i suggest somewhere else for meeting is im not quite sure what we all look like :P How about the giant red steps further along batman av. I think thats the name of the strip that runs alongside the yarra heading towards flinder street station. Its on the same side as Jeffs. Idea?

[Eberbachl]

I'm happy to go with the flow and meet morning or afternoon. I'm planning on being around all day.

;)

[David W]

Robert, by "the giant red steps" I assume you mean those red things across from the front entrance of the casino on Queensbridge St between it and the Old Sandridge Rail Bridge? See you there at 2PM.

I shall be at the exhibition beforehand and if you see a grey haired bloke with a brown and orange Crumpler camera bag and a monopod (hopefully they'll let me take that in) do say hello.

It does look like showers on Saturday so I'll also probably be wearing a blue waterproof jacket.

[arthurking83]

The street separating the the Crown Casino and Jeff's Shed is Clarendon St(technically South Melbourne(or South Bank.. same difference).
Batman Ave is much further along the Yarra, on the other side of the CBD area.

I'm not 100% sure but I think the name of the strip along the south side of the river towards the SouthBank/Flinders St station area may be called SouthBank Promenade or The Promenade .... or something :confused013

Considering the weather condition forecast, to keep out of the cold it may be best to meet up at the MEC entrance. It may be busy, but it'll provide shelter from both the expected rain and the cold southerlies too.

There is no reason we can't do multiple meets too.
Members may want to PM details to each other and arrange common transport, or to meet up somewhere convenient into small groups and subsequently meetup into a larger group.

I can PM my mobile number to anyone interested, as a point of reference, where we can all catch up in the hustle and bustle of the show itself.
Some folks may already have my number from previous meets .. I know I have a few from over the years.

If anyone requires transportation to or from an accommodating location, I may be able to provide this(not sure what I'll end up doing after the meetup tho), so this offer is not set in stone .. just a possibility.

[Terri]

Haha! I've been trying all day to think of where there are giant red steps - but now I know what you mean! I'm good to meet there at 2pm if that's the concensus - or even if it's not :D

I have a ticket for the digital show thingy, but probably won't go ... just not into digital stuff ... wish we all still used polaroids. (OMG! I just googled polaroid to check the spelling - it seems they're back! :eek:)

Edited to add: Actually, maybe they will be selling Polaroid cameras at the Digital Show? This may cost after all!

[Terri]

Ooops! Cross posted with Arthur... MEC entrance is good for me too :th3:

[Terri]

Good Morning Everyone!

Are we still meeting up today? What time is everyone thinking? :)

[Eberbachl]

Me too... Currently sitting on the tram wondering if there's a meet and if so, when and where.

;)

[Terri]

Maybe everyone is still at the digital show? I don't live far away, so if it's a go I can get to the city pretty quick

[David W]

Well, I was outside the Digital Show at 11:00 am. There where lots of people standing around but of those none had camera gear, apart from me, so I didn't approach anybody to give them the secret AP handshake. Seriously, obviously a waste of time standing there not knowing what anybody looked like.

I decided to go into the show (it was great) and meet everybody as had been suggested at 2:00 PM at the red steps on the Southbank. Stood there for 20 minutes, nobody showed. How disappointing!

I think twice about whether it's a waste of time before I try another meet.

[Eberbachl]

I enjoyed the show very much, but it's unfortunate a meet didn't eventuate. Maybe next time.

As expected, Nikon and Canon had a huge presence. A great pity about Pentax's poor excuse for a stand. I went shooting my K-5 and 18-55mm WR in the rain and loved it. :D

[Terri]

David, I hope you decide to give it another go. In hindsight, I should have gone to the red steps at 2pm - obviously there was somebody there! I wasn't sure about final decisions, what with the digital show / weather / etc.

Eberbachl, glad you liked the show and looking forward to seeing your pics. There's something about Melbourne city shots in the rain - they're my favourite shots, but unfortunately it does involve going out in the rain! :rolleyes:

Well, I'm up for trying again for another meet. I've been on a couple over the years and enjoyed them immensely.

[David W]

Thanks Terri. I'm sure I will join the next one where hopefully we'll have some great weather and a good turnout. I was just disappointed as I was so looking forward to today to meeting some like minded people with more experience than me.

The Show was really good. In fact I'm going back tomorrow to do a little shopping that I wish I'd done today.

[Terri]

The Show was really good. In fact I'm going back tomorrow to do a little shopping that I wish I'd done today.

Well I have a ticket but haven't been yet, I think I'll go have a look tomorrow. I'm trying to decide if the budget can stretch to one of those new polaroids - I wonder if they have them at the show.

[David W]

I'm trying to decide if the budget can stretch to one of those new polaroids - I wonder if they have them at the show.

I'm pretty sure I saw them however I got side-tracked and didn't get on the stand. Polaroid (the company) aren't exhibiting but a distributor may be at there.

[fastr1red]

I'm going to be there tomorrow. I was actually on my way today and got side tracked and ended up on a photo shoot LOL. Pics going up shortly.

[arthurking83]

Sorry guys for not actually arranging to all meet up properly.

Andrew and I were also at the show .. about 10:30ish.
It was a bit annoying having to queue up to get a pass to get in.
Even tho you were registered, you still had to queue up to get this 'other' entry pass .... :confused013 so that they could scan it as you entered.

I didn't see anyone paying to get in. There was also a registration booth where you could simply get this same registration pass as you got from online, and then walk to the opposite end of the entrance to then use this reg paper to get your registered pass.

So, this online registration slip you get is only really going to save you a minute or two out of the process of getting in.
Even tho you had this registered slip of paper, you then had to queue up to get this register slip scanned, so that they could give you the pass you needed to get in!
Why not just give you a printable copy of the register slip, that allows you to get into the exhibition hall in the first place?

If that's not the most convoluted method of allowing people free entry, I have no idea what is?

Anyhow, once it, it all seemed fairly reasonable.
I forgot my phone, so of course couldn't see what was happening in terms of the meetup in real time, and who was where and so forth.

Played with a few nice lenses(mostly Nikon of course) got a bit disappointed in that Sigma and Tamron didn't have the Nikon versions of a few lenses I wanted to try out.
Andrew had very good go at one of the Olympus reps about the validity or worth of their claims... made me laugh, and many of the onlookers seemed to agree about what it was that they were trying to prove.

It was all good .... found lots of info about printing processes, some of the pitfalls and some of the hidden facts that are always nice to know beforehand.

Some hilarious gear to get a feel for too.
Found some completely unknown brand of tripod that looked quite sturdy at first appearance. It looked quite slick in it's apparent build quality, and finish.
It had one of those long lens gimbal heads, which made it hard to assess properly, but just seeing the way the top plate flexed and twisted just using a small amount hand force almost made me burst into laughter... Andrew was suitably amused by my amusement.
Thanks .. but NO thanks basically.
Just some stuff to look out for when trying to assess peripheral gear I suppose.

While Andrew was busy with some chatter about stuff I know nothing about with a rep, I watched for a few minutes as this poor lady was trying to mount a D3s onto a completely inadequate tripod and ballhead.
The quick release plate had to be the most ridiculous fit and removal process I'd seen in any tripod gear, and once she finally had it fitted to the ballhead, the level of instability had even me worried that it was going to fall off the ballhead. It had the solidity and rigidity of a bowl of porridge!

Even tho the bulk of the show was more to do with printing services, and way too much space was allocated for 'processing seminars' and photography exhibitions and competitions.

Sony didn't have a stand, neither did Panasonic(the two notable absentees that I noticed) and there may have been others, that I didn't notice either.

Had there been an entrance fee, I'd have been disappointed in the show in an overall manner.
Suffering the queuing up for a free show was a mild annoyance, and an easier method could have easily been applied .. but once through that hurdle, it was quickly forgotten.

Once again, apologies for not planning for the contingency of ill planning! :D

Any next meet will surely be easier and more thorough in it's planning and execution.

[Eberbachl]

It's interesting about what you mention regarding the queuing up process and having to get some kind of entry pass after registering.

I just printed my free ticket received via email with the barcode on it at home, and walked straight through the doors when I arrived. They scanned my ticket as I passed - I didn't even have to stop walking. I did arrive later though, but there was still a steady stream of folk entering.

;)


Eberbachl, glad you liked the show and looking forward to seeing your pics. There's something about Melbourne city shots in the rain - they're my favourite shots, but unfortunately it does involve going out in the rain!

Thanks Terri,

I'll post some in the critique section in a few minutes. Nothing award winning I'm afraid - all hand held walk about snaps, mostly in low light and all with the slow kit lens on my K-5, but a few I'm happy with.

Cheers,

Luke.

[I @ M]

Was a pleasant day for a drive, in the doors of the show at 10.30 am and home by 10.00 pm and didn't even manage to dent the credit card -- much. :D
Sorry we didn't get to meet a few people, it was only around about 11.00 that his lordship and I woke up to the fact that the others might be outside. :o