Won't You Be My Neighbor?

It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.

Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

It's a neighborly day in this beauty wood,
A neighborly day for a beauty.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

I've always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you.

So, let's make the most of this beautiful day.
Since we're together we might as well say:

Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?

Won't you be my neighbor?
Won't you please,

Won't you please?
Please won't you be my neighbor?

-- Lyrics by Fred M. Rogers

Good Day to Die Gallery

All images are Copyright Terry Smith, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Turks and Caicos - Part 2

More photography from the Turks and Caicos islands...











You can view more of my Turks and Caicos stock photography collection here.

This image is Copyright Terry Smith, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Turks and Caicos - Part 1

Three of my friends are vacationing at Club Med in Turks and Caicos on Providenciales island this week, so this two-part blog post is dedicated to them. I hope they're having a horrible, sun-burned time! ;-) Actually, two of them will be spending so much time scuba diving and doing underwater photography that they'll probably not even come back with the slightest tan.

I've photographed Turks and Caicos a couple of times in the past few years and wish no one else would "discover" it so that it would stay just like it is.

You can view more of my Turks and Caicos stock photography collection here.

This image is Copyright Terry Smith, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Arkansas State Capitol Pictures

A few weeks ago I was driving back into Little Rock on a late Sunday afternoon after having been gone over the weekend, and I decided to drop by the Arkansas State Capitol since I was so close. The light looked decent but turned out to be even better than I thought. The pictures below only are a few of the many selects from the shoot, all with good potential to be used for textbooks as well as regional advertisements for the state and local businesses. It was well worth the time!

Shooting a state capitol like this is not the most adventurous form of photography, but it's fundamental to developing a deep stock photography archive. These images will become apart of my Arkansas Picture Library.

It's also great practice in shooting LARGE SCALE architecture! Plus, I don't have to beg for a property release.

This image is Copyright Terry Smith, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

Abe's of Maine - My first and likely last order

Abe's of Maine is one of the largest camera and electronics dealers. They have advertised in the back of the photography magazines for years, though always a second-class competitor to B&H or Adorama. (I always prefer B&H and try to avoid Adorama. Sometimes Adorama is significantly cheaper on an item though, and I have no choice.)

I'm upgrading my point-and-shoot camera to a Canon G9 with the Canon WP-DC21 Underwater Waterproof Housing. I think the duo will be a great combination and profitable investment for some underwater snorkeling photography, kayaking shots, and other lifestyle and concept shots which I have in mind in and around water. Prices vary widely on equipment like this, so it pays to shop around. Gateway actually had the cheapest base price on the camera but not so after adding the sales tax they were going to charge. B&H was out of stock on both of them! One of the price compare websites led me to Abe's of Maine who I thought was a reputable dealer, so I placed my order with them two days ago.

Today I received a phone message and email to call them to confirm something on the order. I did so, and the guy asked me if knew that the battery that ships with the camera doesn't last very long and asked if I wanted to upgraded to the extended life battery. I was immediately suspicious.

"Well, I've read tons of reviews and blogs about the camera and haven't heard of any complaints with the battery. How much is it? Is it a Canon battery?"

"Yes, it's Canon. We have a special right now, and if you order it now you get $20 off the price. It's regular $69, and it would $49 today."

First off, I had done enough research to know an additional Canon battery runs about $50 anyway.

With a Jersey accent that I could barely understand, "The battery that comes with the camera lasts only about 45 minutes.... (in a muffled voice) of shooting video."

Video!!!

Uuggghhh! I knew I was "had" at this point. Other than the occasional short clip, if I wanted to shoot video I would be buying an HD video camera, not a 12MP camera with tons of features and RAW file ability.

"No Thanks."

"Would I like to purchase a memory card for the camera? It doesn't come with one."

"No Thanks. I have some." It's actually supposed to arrive with a tiny, and useless, 32MB SD card. At least, that was included on every other website I look at this camera on.

"Would I like to purchase an extended warranty? It's valid for two years, blah, blah, blah..."

"NO THANKS!!!"

The whole "please confirm some information" phone call turned out to be nothing but a sales pitch to up-sell me on more products!

At least they did ship it out today. I finally received a shipping confirmation with tracking number ten hours later.

In conclusion, this was my first and very likely LAST order I will ever place with Abe's of Maine, which is apparently based in New Jersey after all!!! I should have known better from the beginning!