Photokina 2016 - Amateur Visitors' View

I was in a way lucky to be in this part of the world when Photokina 2016 happened last month (September 2016).
When I made my visit to the worlds' largest exhibition on Photography, I was just curious to see what forms part of such large scale exhibitions and of course, I went with just a digi cam & open mind to see what it has to offer.

7 full halls of exhibitors starting with the who is who of the industry!  We went through hall by hall, row by row to see what all were on exhibition and didn't want to miss anything that might of interest.

Although to many this exhibition was primarily about cameras & lenses, there was enough for other aspect of the industry to explore, such as printing, albums, software, backdrops etc.

There were camera rentals to shoot inside but I didn't bother to get one!  Here is some big names stalls to start with - #Canon, #Panasonic. #Lumix, #Elinchrom, #Sony, #Alpha, #Broncolor

Profoto had a live demonstration session happening

And of course there was the ultimate name!

Did you think they had just stalls & equipments displayed??  Not really, they had set up created for some of their latest products to be tried & tested.

Here is what Lumix had as setup for checking out the #4KLumix!

#Drones played a major attraction this year and here is some sample:

There were also other action setups done to showcase concepts and here is some from them

Here is a showcase to highlight the sunset to sunrise with lights & settings

With all that main aspects visited, here is something else from the other side of the industry:

#Props play in important role in photography & we found stalls on that too!

And here is something on the #backdrops

While props & backdrops had their share, There were rental stands to hire Cameras to shoot inside but I used an old digi cam.   Never mind, #decorations weren't left behind.  There was a dedicated section on Decorations of your photographs, albums etc. and even visitors were encouraged to give a try to their creative side.

Interestingly, #mobilephotography had its share in the fair and look what I found on it

Different types of photography such as food, adventure etc. had their share of representation as well and of course there were even book on photography for kids!

#Jaworskyj is a professional adventure photographer & you can check out his site here

Some of the interesting things that I came across:

Camera Holster

The image below is not so clear but you can see the Spider Camera Holster on the sides of the man and how he was able to carry the complete Camera & lens in that holster.

How would it be if you had something extra to get your shot right, just like a bridge stick in billiards! 
And here is what I found on those lines!

Walkstool

3D for any Camera

RED Camera

360 Degree Camera System

MIOPS Trigger

Oh! I did find stalls even for Photo Gifting options like these gift boxes below

Last but not least, there was a future attraction for many visitors and that was #instaxsquare, as part of the instant pictures world 

and look who is lauching it :)

To top it all, it seems the photography world is a bit annoyed with the concept of "mobile photography" ! Oh no! I am not exaggerating...see for yourself!!

Other interesting points that this fair had was that it had something for anyone visiting and look how they were kind enough to even impress the kids visiting them!!! They had Camera chocolates! Yummmm!

With that sweet note, if you are a photographer or someone interested to visit, do plan your visit for the next fair which will happen after 2 years! This fair happens only every two years.

Kick Off Support, Maintenance & Managed Services

It is always a “dreaded and challenging“ job these days to be part of “Support & Maintenance“ projects and fixing incidents / bugs / defects that are caused by someone else, while the rest of the world is boasting of working with “new & über cool technologies”.

 

Before you read ahead, if your intention is to work with Uber cool technologies and you are using this project / team / company as a stop-over to find your grip, then refrain from reading further and motivate yourself to move on to find that “dream job”.  Suggest spending all your initial stop-over efforts there J

 

Alternatively, if you are here in the “Keeping the lights ON” team, that works on “Incidents”, “Problems” and you still want to challenge yourself further then keep reading further.  Of course, it’s not everyone’s cup of soup to kick start their career off in a Support Project/team, so please be reminded that your efforts are always lauded.

 

And if it’s neither of the above, then you deserve a better gig J

 

What Support & Maintenance / Managed Services Project are NOT?

 

1)    Well, these are NOT dreaded projects or those that are like “Left-over” parts of the meal, as many would view it.

2)    They are NOT in the least term “boring” or “monotonous” unless you force yourself to think that way 

3)    They are NOT about “on-calls" and “Weekend Spoilers” 

4)    They are NOT about “being in the line of fire or an opportunity to be finger-pointed” always – if you change the way you perceive

5)    They are NOT always about “Staying late & running batch jobs” or “waiting for something to fail /abort to provide support, but nothing happens & you go home, thinking you haven’t achieved anything

6)    They are NOT always about “cleaning someone else’s mess” – as long as you understand that the code could have been written by an enthusiastic developer like you who wanted to be part of “Dev project” & worked on the “then” uber cool technology bound by unrealistic timelines, but was not lucky enough to support his own work;)

7)    They are NOT the ones that offer limited or no scope for exploring technologies - if you look in the right direction with an open mind.

Achievers - 2015 - I

As the first month of 2015 is nearing its completion, already the year is buzzing with happenings around me. This year I decided to record them here in my blog and not just as FB posts which gets lost with the updates.

I decided to pen about the achievements - of whoever - that I like to share under the title - 'Achievers 2015' and I shall keep numbering them to different between posts.

So here goes, the first month of achievements that I am ready to share with you :) Without much doubt, this comes from my running team fraternity - AUsomers.

Our, Super Randonneur from last year - Gokul Raju has opened his account for this year achievement with completion of 400 Kms Brevet!  Now that he has opened his account for the year, what is going to follow is quite predictable :)  Congratulations Goks!  And today, as I write this blog post, he has also completed his Heritage ride to Pondy - Cycling!

Here is someone who stretched himself to scale new heights and that he put some of us to shame is no exaggeration.  Today, this man, stands in our midst after completing his 100kms Oxfam Trail Walk and that he did it at his age is no ordinary feat.  Of course, such things are common in the running fraternity, where most often you find the most elderly people finishing way faster than many of us youngsters! 

When he first announced that he is going to do this event, I personally had inhibition if he is well prepared for it.  [Don't ask me why? I have no answer probably or may be I was jus too stupid to think he won't be!]  Yet, his responses were quite confident & determined and he was sure he will finish it and that's what he did.  Mogo opened his 2015 achievement with this giant leap forward :)

Congratulations to Moorthy Govindarajan (fondly called as Mogo in our AUsomers circle). Keep inspiring us Mogo!

Next is our own Giri (fondly called as Cheetah in our circles) who finished his Half Marathon in Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCCM) 2015 with a timing of 01:24:16.  Every time he is out there on the event running, we feel that he just wants to prove true to his name!   Knowing Cheetah, what else to expect that he is just roaring on the roads!

Congratulations Giri Bhai! :)

With that starts the year of achievers for 2015!

Note:  Images are from the FB albums of the achievers