PMA done and dusted

Well another year, another PMA and this one was a goodie! After flying first class on our private jet courtesy of Richard Branson we checked into the 6 star accommodation fitting of rockstars and royalty. I couldn’t wait to get into the conference so we had the limo drop us off right at the door. I must say getting down the red carpet took a whilst with all the autograph signing !!!

First person I saw was Benny Walton and Trev from Team Digital, after a quick look at the new Epson printer, which BTW is probably the ugliest inkjet printer ever made we ran into Tommy Putt or the Putster as he became known. He’s a great bloke and we never saw so many girls gravitating around someone before. They were PUTTy in his hands you could say.

I got stuck into browsing the new gear and headed to the Canon stand to catch up with Matt Beetson who is a Canon guy from Perth. Stupidly I asked when the new 5d would be out. The looks I got from all the Canon blokes was like ” piss off you pixel peeper” Apparently they get asked 500 times a day so I guess I was touching on a raw nerve. They also can’t talk about it when they still have stocks of the old 5d to sell. Makes sense I guess. Matt is a top bloke and I was introduced to Alan Brightman the head of pro sales in Australia, another top bloke.

The expo is just brilliant and I managed to walk around in circles for three days soaking it all up. Got some great ideas and met some of Australia’s top photographers including the big Kenny D, no not G, he didn’t have a mullet and a sax! Had a great chat and I asked him, why is he still living in the dark ages and using film. He said he was getting hold of a sietz 617 digital for a try soon. Will be interested in seeing his results. Also caught up with Pete Eastway and Tony “Tone” Hewitt in the APPA display area. Had a laugh with the boys before they headed off to judge. Tony introduced me to David Oliver, a photographer who I have known of for ever and always wanted to meet. He has just turned to the dark side and purchased a Nikon D3. He was showing some photos he took at a wedding, one in a church at iso 2000. There was no noise at all. Amazing if you are not a Canon fan.

Seeing the quality of the entries in the APPA’s was humbling, some simply stunning work including another gem from Peter Eastway that earned him a gold. There were so many others I met there like Graeme Barrett from Narrogin, David Anderson who is the photographer for top Australian musicians, Paulie “Paul” Maietta from Fitzies, Saul and Howard from Camera Electronics, Brendon and Paul from PRA, Jack McCoy the surf film maker to name a few. There was dancing girls, printing displays, guest speakers and more! Next year put it in your calendar.

I have already decided on what to buy this year including two new printers, and possibly a new camera body so I will be selling some gear on the blog very soon, just waiting for some things to be ironed out, like where the hell I can get the money.
Michael is finishing up a video of the conference, will post it soon.

~ by christianfletcher on June 4, 2008.