As a working photographer, coming to agreement on expectation, contract, scope of work and pricing are all part of my job. I’ve heard and seen countless negotiation methods…so when I see this video on Youtube, I laughed my way through–especially the last line!!! Fortunately, I have not come across anything like this for a while…at least not in 2009. Have a good laugh and don’t forget the last line. (p/s special thanks to Shaolin Tiger who twitted about it)

Can you imagine someone asking me, “I’ll pay for this print but can you show me how you shot, edited & finessed it so I can actually do it on my own next time?”

Last Sunday, I spoke to a group of 30+ photographers on how WPPI membership, print competition and annual convention in Las Vegas can benefit their career. Special thanks goes to Grace who made the reservation for the venue and Alex who hauled his LCD projector from home.

I was just happy to share my own experience attending two WPPI conventions (in 2007 & 2009). I also worked out a realistic budget for the conventions. Quite a few of us have indicated that we would be attending WPPI 2010: Grace, Alex, Jenny, Ju, Zung, Patrick, Hafiz, Jasmine and I. It will be a cool experience to have so many of us there.

For most of the evening, I was catching up with old friends and getting to know new ones. The crowd really energized me with their enthusiasm for photography. Great meeting everyone!

Here is an excellent write-up on print competitions, written by David Beckstead, a great photographer and WPPI print judge.

Here are some pictures from the gathering courtesy of Amru:

Some new friends

Fired up the LCD projector

Some old friends…

4 out 5 of these guys were my ex-students!

new + old friends…

Somebody’s idea of a 3-point lighting

No idea what I was doing…

A group photo…we missed out some people who left earlier. Sorry!

I never understood why so many of my friends love visiting Taiwan until I spent 2 days there this week. It was largely a business trip so I didn’t have time to do much. I spent most of the time recovering from an exhausting weekend that saw me speaking 3 times in 2 days–including a full day workshop!!!

I was arranged to stay at Les Suites Taipei…and I recognized the Japanese influence right away. There is so much attention to details. Apart from free WIFI, I just wanna highlight some amazing services I received:

1. Each room came with a free cellular phone! All unanswered calls to my room are diverted to the cell phone so I won’t miss a single call. It comes with free local calls and thus it saves travelers plenty of roaming charges. WOW!

2. The other thing I enjoyed was the steam presser which made sure I walked into yesterday’s meeting with my suit in immaculate condition.

3. Personal attention & service. As I was about the walked out to a light drizzle, the front desk staff passed me an umbrella.

4. When I informed the hotel that I would be checking out at 5:30am, they asked if they could pack breakfast for me since the breakfast line wasn’t open till 7am. UNBELIEVABLE!

5. Great designs and use of space. While I’ve stayed in larger and more luxurious rooms, I’ve not stayed in a room that have better use of space & intelligent design. Then there is a set of iPod speakers. As if everything that I ever wanted/needed were presented to me before I asked for it! Amazing!

Excellent service didn’t happen accidentally. It was well planned and executed with genuine care. Wow, I’ve learned so much from a brief stay at the Les Suites Taipei.

The meeting was fruitful. I am excited about the new things that is being planned out. I’ll share more when they are finalized. It is good to venture out of my comfort zone. Hopefully I will come back to Taipei again…this time for a longer visit

The famous Raohe Street Night Market

Free cellular phone usage for hotel guests. It’s free to receive and call local fixed lines. Overseas and out of town calls are billed. This is a great convenience for business travelers.

The desk

Speakers set for iPods

A cylinder-shaped cabinet (on left) turns out the be a space saving cabinet for glasses, hot water, coffee and tea.

Facial treatment at Raohe Street Night Market

Love the ironing board and steam presser, strategically placed in a wall cabinet.

A cultural revelation to me…an example of Japanese influence in Taiwan.

Conducted a trial run of WIMAX (by Redtone) at my office this morning. Out of 3 bars (3 being strongest), the modem picked up 1 bar at my office in Likas Square. Downloading speed varied between 20kb/s to 70kb/s. Played a couple of Vimeo videos smoothly. Uploading speed was surprising fast at 80kb/s to 110kb/s. Overall, it was way more pleasant than Streamyx’s 1Mbps line.

When we moved the modem about 10 feet away from the office entrance, right next to our router, the modem failed to register a connection. It was disappointing. I was told that WIMAX works best if you could place the modem next to a window. So if like me, you have an office in the middle of a building WIMAX connectivity will suffer, a fact/myth which I find absurd! At the end, I found out that I can’t use WIMAX at the office. *SIGH*

DIGI’s broadband roll out was audacious and promising compared to its mediocre competitors out there. Judging from it simultaneous launch in Penang and KK, the company must have done its homework. Broadband in Kota Kinabalu is just woeful. If DIGI delivers as advertised, Maxis, Celcom & TM will lose a lot of business. Initial feedback on DIGI broadband has been very encouraging. Unfortunately it is not available in the Likas Bay area yet. I’ve filled out a service request form online to lobby for DIGI. If you live in this area, I suggest that you do the same so that we can finally enjoy decent broadband connection in the 21st century.

My search from Screamyx replacement continues.

I have been getting a lot of questions from photographers in this region about attending WPPI 2010. So I thought it’ll be nice to have a photographers get-together and talk about it.

I will share about:
1. WPPI membership: what it is and isn’t
2. How WPPI annual conventions have changed my art and business
3. Making sense of WPPI (what is Plus Class, MasterClass, Business Institute & Platform sessions)
4. WPPI events I think you must not missed
5. What is a realistic budget for WPPI 2010? (great deals on hotel, food, car rental & airfare)
6. How to prepare for WPPI print competition
7. Shoot breeze with KL-based photographers

Time & Date: 24 May 2009, 9pm
Address: 1st Floor, La Bodega
16 Jalan Telawi 2,
Bangsar (see map)

If you are attending or hoping to attend WPPI convention, this get together will probably be helpful to you. Even if you have no idea what this is all about but you just wanna hang out, please come! See you next Sunday!

P/S: Kindly RSVP @Shootdiva on Twitter or just leave your name on comments if you are coming. We need to know how much seats to reserve. This is an chill out time for fellow photogs as well.