I read your comments posted at http://circlew.wordpress.com/tag/bh-photo/ and regret your inconvenience. It seems this package was originally sent via “Super Saver,” which is UPS’s “UPS Mail Innovations” program. This begins with shipping via UPS but culminates with delivery by the US post office. For this shipping method PO box addresses are permitted.

I am not sure why, but your package apparently was mis-routed to UPS ground at some point. I do not know if this was our error or UPS’s error. Either way, we apologize. UPS generally declines to hold or reroute packages from us once they’ve vbeen shipped because requests of this nature too often represent one or the other of two common piracy ploys:
Either the order was not legit at the outset and the pirate who originally provided a legitimate customer’s shipping info now wants the order rerouted so he can steal it, or
The order is legit but the pirate, who’s learned of it via one route or another, now wishes to intercept your legitimate order before it reaches you.

Neither of these outcomes would be tolerable.

In addition, the infortmation you received from our LiveChat employee was essentially correct. Because your order was originally paid via PayPal our options for handling this transaction once it’s been shipped are severely limited because PayPal wants to protect you from online piracy too. The result is that this order has to be returned to us, cancelled and then recrafted to reship to you.

Had I been aware of this unfurtunate situation I’d have been happy to arrange free rush shipping of the replacement order to you. As it is, I see our LiveChat employee did say, “We can give you free shipping on the new order, but you need to place the order again…”

At this point I am not sure if you want a refund or if you do want us to reship this. I see you provided a new ship to address in Albuquerque, but I also see a note to refund this. If you do want us to reconstitute and reship this, I’ll be happy to instruct customer service to use UPS 2-day rush at no charge to expedite getting this to your Albuquerque address.
— -
regards,
Henry Posner
Director of Corporate Communications
B&H Photo-Video, and Pro-Audio

I told him to reship the item to me. And B&H will continue to be my first choice in photo gear. This is based on my past experiences with them. They normally have items at the same or less prices as found elsewhere.

Thank you Henry Posner for correcting this experience.

I just got off the phone with UPS who didn’t hold the package as directed when they called me for a physical address, they sent it back to the shipper. And with B&H Photo who had the worst customer service rep that I believe I’ve ever spoke with. When giving the address I repeatedly had to spell Albuquerque for him. When I explained that I desired something for the extended wait since they shipped the original package out in error. His response was well we will cover the extra shipping. Duh!

At that point he went quite and I ask how about a discount on a future order or something. He remained quite. And I gave up.

After stewing for a few minutes I went to their online sales rep and here is the full transcript from that conversation. To sum it up B&H has went down as a source to use in my book. They use to want customers especially long term ones.

Here it is

You have been connected to Simon R.
M.D. White : I just got off the phone with your customer support and found it lacking in quality and felt you should know. About it. Also, I have worded a post for my blog about the incounter. Fact #1. Order placed to be shipped to my PO Box Fact #2. Order shipped UPS Fact#3. Ups doesn’t ship to PO Boxes Fact #4. UPS called for Physical Address. Told them to hold package and I would pick it up Tuesday the 24th. Fact #5. UPS sent the package back prior to Tuesday. Fact# 6. Called B&H photo to give them a physical address so the package Gould finally make it to me. Fact # 7. Customer service rep was lacking in his ability Fact # 8. I am very unhappy Here is the post I’m planning on posting if this is not resolved better to my satisfaction “I had ordered a Lexar express card and some gels from B&H Photo shipped to my PO Box. They sent it out UPS who will not deliver it to PO Boxes. I just got off the phone with UPS who didn’t hold the package as directed when they called me for a physical address, th
Simon R: Hello M.D. White. My name is Simon, and I will be glad to assist you. Please give me a few moments to begin working on your inquiry.
M.D. White: Ok let me know when you ready
Simon R: one moment please
Simon R: I am sorry for your trouble, but looks like this was supposed to be shipped via Super Saver which gets delivered by the US postal service and it ended shipping with UPS. Since this order was placed with Paypal we can only issue a refund once the package is returned.
Simon R: Please place a new order online with the correct address information and choose US mail if shipped to a P.O. box, UPS does not ship to P.O. boxes
Simon R: I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
M.D. White: I’m not want a refund I need the items. I just think since b& h shipped it wrong I am due something for having to wait. At a minimum the package should be forwarded to me overnight at b&hs cost. If not that a free shipping on my next order.
Simon R: We can give you free shipping on the new order, but you need to place the order again and this order will be refunded to your Paypal account once returned
Simon R: We can give you one upgrade on the shipping, but if you like overnight you will need to pay for the difference
M.D. White: Thanx for the free shipping on my next order but why do I need to replace the order? Why can’t it be shipped out when you get it. I do not have the funds for a duplicate order at this time.
Simon R: Since this order was originally placed with Paypal we cannot ship it to another address.
M.D. White: well I will find it elsewhere when I replace the order. I am not happy for several reasons.
M.D. White: You are amking interest off my money
M.D. White: the telephone rep didn’t state this and said that he would forward it, which really means someone doesn’t know their job.
M.D. White: and I will be having to find another r source for these items.
Simon R: he most probably over looked that you placed the order with Paypal
M.D. White: I cancelled the item from Adarama because it went backordered
M.D. White: well now I iwi,l amend my post to my web to add the additional info
M.D. White: ine unhappy/ dissatisfied customer
Simon R: I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
Simon R: Is there anything else I can help you with today?
M.D. White: nocustomers no but believe me the next order will not be anytime soon if I can get it elsewhere
Simon R: We appreciate your business. Have a wonderful day!
M.D. White has left the session.

The next person I asked was a waitress at the Albuquerque Buffalo Wild Wings. We set up the Shoot For Friday morning before she went in to work. We found a little park that was convenient for her.

I drove by the park the day prior. I wasn’t able to go a the same time of the day but I did notice where the shadow fell and knew they would be longer during the shoot. I found one location that I liked.

I arrived early to get the gear setup and ready. She arrived and we discussed the ideas for the shoot. We moved everything in to position and the shoot went well. I started with checking the ambient light. Added my main light. I was using a Strobies bracket to hold my Canon 580EX2 ans Pocket Wizard Flex,TTL5, behind my 16″ Beauty Dish with a white sock. It was on a Bogen 3333 light stand.

I shot everything with my Canon 40D with a Pocket Wizard Mini,TTL1, and the Pocket Wizard Zone Controller,AC3. The AC3 allowed me to adjust all the Speedlite settings from the camera. I could change the amount of light or the power of each Speedlite . I could also change the Speedlite modes from ETTL to manual and back right from the camera. The AC3 replaces the master Speedlite that would be attached to the camera. It is really small and light so you hardly notice it. I dial in this light using the ambient as an accent light from the subjects rear. One problem I noticed with this technique was if I allowed to much sunlight to hit the lens it created a very soft image. The light was set to zone A.

Next I added a Canon 580EX with a Pocket Wizard Flex,TTL5, on a Lastolite Joe McNally TrifFlash on another Bogen 3333 lite stand. I used a Zumbrella for the modifier for this light. All lights had a StoFen Dome Diffuser on them. I set this setup to zone B on the Flex.

The last light was set to Zone C. It was a Canon 550EX with another Pocket Wizard Flex. All three speedlites were set to ETTL Mode with HSS activated. The third lite was on a Photoflex light stand with a Photoflex Reflector Holder Boom arm. I used a Honl 8″ snoot on it.

This setup allowed me to turn on and off each light individually and vary to power for each light individually from the AC3 on the camera. The reason for the HSS setting was to allow me to shoot at shutter speeds faster than the 1/250 flash setting. I did this to reduce the amount of ambient in the shot. My typical f stop was f2.8 to blur the background.

Last thing I tried was using the Photoflex 42″ reflector with the sunfire cover on the Photoflex Reflector Holder to warm up some of the shots in almost a clamshell configuration.

I culled the images so far and played with one shot but I’m not totally happy with it so as soon as I tweak tem I wil post them here for your review so come back and check them out.

“Tell us with a single paragraph what you want to be able to do with your images. Tell us what you do without telling us you are a photographer. Accompany that message with a single image taken around your home. Inside or out, make a photograph that adds insight into the mission statement you will be writing.”

Good thing I am blogging about this, and one of the reasons I am, I misunderstood the assignment in a way.

Ok for the written part of the assignment.

I’m one who wish to become a master light writer. Being of the left brain variety, technically motivated instead go the creative right brain type, I look at the how things are done with interest over the why of it. I look at others finish product and try to figure out what tools and how they were used. Learning from those who came before me and using the tools of the trade appropriately to create the idea final product. In using these tools correctly to craft the perfect final product I will become closer to becoming a master light writer.

Here comes some ideas on the photo part.

It is supposed to be a self portrait. I’m thinking of a photo with all the tools of lighting the stands, modifiers, grip, cables and such wrapped, laying on and attacking me. Or have everything on my left side organized with the stuff on the right in a shamble. What you think?

I will include any and all photo taken that I am considering on submitting here when they are produced.

For photography I will be trying to follow a project52 from Lighting Essentials for Photographers. Each week they post an assignment for those who wish to participate that week or every week or anywhere in between. He has posted the first two assignments already. Week one is a photograph representing your vision for where you want your photography to go, IIRC. And week two was to photograph a stranger. I plan on commenting more on these later here, basically one day I will comment on what my goal or intentions are for each assignment. Then I will post some behind the scene info and if possible photos hopefully with a blue print of each setup. And then a post on what I got out of the assignment and what I would do differently next time I am confronted with the same assignment. Sort of a lesson learned post. I will also post the full and unedited feedback on my assignment each week when I get it. So that should keep thing fresh around here with the other things I will posting like comments on my new gear that I purchase this year. I got a backlog of gear to post about. From my xmas and recent b-day stuff I bought.

I also will be working on a self imposed project. More on this later. Plus the normal stuff on the VA, motorcycling, and cowboy action shooting. So keep tuned.

Here is what the bike looks like now, with the motor removed.

A little history first. Back in June, I was busy running around taking taking care of things to get ready for shooting SASS’s EOT. Instead of moving the camper from Enchanted Trails and dry camping at the ranch for the week, I planned to stage my gear at the ranch with friends and only take the truck with the gear on the first day, warmup day for each match.

To start off with I planned to take the truck over with my Wild Bunch gear and my scooter/gun cart over on the WB warmup day shoot the warmup, stage my gear with a friend, bring the truck home. Nthen during the WB match ride the bike across the mountian each day. Then take the truck back over on the side match day shoot the side matches, pick up the WB gear and stage the Cowboy gear for that match. The ride the bike until the last day of the match. Then bring home all the gear. So IIRC (If I Remember Correctly) that may require me to drive the truck three days sand the bike five or six days.

As I was scheduling the bike for some prevented maintenance at Thunderbird for the week following EOT I went to leave an the oil light came on and the bike wasn’t running right so I pulled a U -Turn and back to the dealer. Well it looks like the problem that I was scheduling the bike to be repaired broke a week and a feedays early. Bad luck.

Well, it was closing time and the match stated the ext day. I eft the bike, called for a ride home and left the bike at Thubderbird. Jack, called me the next day a confirmed the suspensions that we had the previous day. The timing chain tensioner was severely worn and the chain took out the oil pump. And on a air cooled motor no oil is a very bad thing. It sounded like there was a knock in the lower end. The motor has around 35K miles on it. A little early for such things to wear out. I was aware that some motors were in need of rebuilding at 45K-60K. And was thinking I would tear it down replace the wore parts ad put it back together. I do have over a decade of aircraft maintenance experience and the shop manual. But when the knock occurred I felt it was above my abilities. So I got a quote for the repair.

The bill was for taking the motor out sending it to HD in Milwaukee. Have them tear it down. And rebuild it. Ship it back. And have Thunderbird reinstall it. This would give me a one year warranty on the motor and basically a new motor. This sounded great. I got Athens quote nd my jaw dropped. $3800 give or take depending if they found anything else wrong when they took it out.
I don’t have that laying around and ask if it would be ok to leave the bike there in the mean time. The answer was yes. I ask if there would be a fee for keeping the bike until if could come up with the money, no. So the bike has been there since June. I stopped by to put somea couple hounded down and start send some money every chance I could and was told that that wasn’t enough to to open a ticket it would take $2700. I didn’t have that much and have been thinking how to get that much money on my fixed income. nothing was coming to mind short or refinancing my house or selling some stuff.

Well, back to the future or actually yesterday. Jack called from Thunderbird HD and they ran the VIN from the bike and found out that I have an extended warranty until 2015.. And the repair job is only going to cost me $50. Yee ha,problem solved. If possible I have a policy of purchasing extended warrenties for high end items like laptops and vehicles. With my luck they pay off. But I forgot that i got one for the bike since I got it used. And hadn’t needed it I the year I had the bike.

So, I am very happy. I things go right I might have it back before I head to Arizona in few weeks.
I will request that they upgrade the tensioners to the better hydrollyic ones. And serif any other parts need to be upgraded to give the motor a better chance to make 100Kbefore need to be torn down again.

That’s it for today and here is a shot of me on it last year in Atlanta during one off there colder days.

The first things I got for the iPad was the camera connection kit and the only mil-spec case the – Survivor, made by Griffin. The only draw back to it is that the connector for the USB to iPad from the camera connection kit will not for the area allowed by the case. So I called Griffin and spoke with them as to making that correction in the next version of the case hoping that it already available but the case was not to be.

I then went about adding all the apps from my iPhone to the iPad. Most were real easy to add and sync but one. Two required and upgrade to the iPad version or a off line storage or external sync apps like Pocket Money. And then some there was no way to transfer the data and I will be manually adding the data later..

Now let’s review month by month what 2011 held for me

January.. I went to Joe NcNally’s Kelby training event in Atlanta. It wasn’t my first training session with the great Mr. McNally. I took almost all of his courses at Photoshop World West a couple of years ago and his class online at KelbyTraining.com

February.. I do not recall much happening except watching the Super Bowl and a lot of ice in the mountains of NE Georgia.

March.. Well that was an bad month for me. While visiting my Dad in Athens Georgia my kidneys shut down and I took a ride to the ER in an ambulance. Awaking a couple of days later to find out that I broke two bones in my right foot and came within minutes of having to go on dialysis. Then spending a few days up on the ward not feeling well as well as sleeping and eating very little.

April.. Moved the rig to Albuquerque for the first of three SASS matches at the Founders Ranch outside of Edgewood NM. Since there was little of no practice prior to shooting and very little prep I had a good time and shot as expected.

May.. Very little happened in May that I recall.

June.. This month held the second annual match for Fiunders Ranch the grand daddy SASS match the world championship of SASS. Known to its followers as End of Trail or EOT. I shot the Wild Bunch match to be DQed on the 2nd stage. Then I went on to the SASS Match will some prep but not enough to make the top ten in my category. I felt that the first day of stages we too slow to be competitive. The second day was better but still I was lacking and had several ammo problems that I had to correct my hand loading enough ammo for the last day that evening. The third day was my best day by far of both matches.

Also in June was when my bloke went down. The timing chain tensioners went, allowing the timing chain to take out the oil pump and so on. And it continues to sit until I either give the $2700 to remove the motor and send it back to the factory to be rebuilt, and returned where they want the remaining balance to finish everything.

July…a few tips to the VA.

August…

September..

October.. I had surgery on my foot.m I wasn’t prepared for the toll it took on me.

November…still recovering..

December…I finally start to gather my energy and start to be able to function.