Yesterday morning leaving for work I was surprised to see Mr. Coyote on the other side of the river. Note this is a non Sigma photo, we do take a Panasonic FZ18 home most nights for a point and shoot with a 18x zoom. I have learned living on the river you never know what you may see and having a camera near by is a good thing. Bill

Here is a photo with my Sigma Dp1. It was taken the other night while my mother and I were enjoying our glass of wine and watching the sun set over the river. Bill

I know it has been a long time from the last post and many of you have been checking back waiting for a update on the river. The river has been down since we have been back but I don't think we have seen the peak yet. The weather has turned warm again and it may rise. As well one of the reasons I update my blog is for my mother to see as she lives on Vancouver Island, actually not on the island but on another island close by. She is visiting right now and we have been sitting together with a glass of wine watching the river so there isn't the same need to post. Other excitement is today receiving the new Sigma 120-400 os lens today and this photo, I posted on the Sigma forum at DPreview. I think I was the first to post a photo taken with this lens on this forum but I am really not that kind of a competitive person. I do hope to sell many of these lenses though, because from what I have seen so far they are very good. I think it is time for another glass of wine. Bill

I am going to have to tear myself away from the river for four days. We are leaving tonight to attend Laura's university graduation. I can't think of a better reason. The river is still aways from a peak and I will update as soon as I return. This morning it broke through the channel on the other side and turned very brown. There has been some very large trees going by as well. Bill

Another update, this one taken from a lower level this morning. The river still can rise another meter or two and that can get really exciting. I am enjoying the wide angle view from the Sigma DP1 as it captures more of the sky. It nice when there is a cloud or two around when you need them. Bill

River update, after yesterdays 29 c the water is coming up. Today's forecast is for above 30. This photo is taken from our bedroom balcony with a 28 mm wide angle view so it does make it appear further away than it really is. The camera is of course my Sigma DP1. Bill

With this post I hope to begin this years river watch. The weather has been cool this year and the river slow to rise. I enjoy the river the most this time of the year, being close to all that power is very exciting. I plan on posting updates often but we will be away next week , Monday to Thursday. Also my mother is coming to visit next week so she can share in the excitement. I do understand some people may consider me not completely sane when I get excited by huge trees zooming by. Bill

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I may have started something with the pink hard hat photo, I keep seeing pink, while I was unpacking a new pink Panasonic camera, this vehicle appeared in front of our store. Some may think it is our new delivery vehicle, but we don't quite sell that many pink cameras. Bill

Grand Forks and pink hard hats. One of our local business owners, John Thomas, had this idea to help promote the Canadian Cancer Society's relay for life campaign. What if many Grand Forks residents donned a pink hard hat, and helped promote cancer research. My idea was, what if we could get them together and take a group photograph? So far, the hat idea is working better than the photo, There are more than 500 hats out there and about 100 people in the photo. I would like to try again. The city of Grand Forks has less than 5000 people or more than 10 % who are proud of their new pink hard hat. The camera Sigma SD14, photo by Bill

Max and I just had too much time on our hands Saturday. Here is Dp1 still life #3 taken with a Sigma Sd14 with factory 1.07 software installed. My new stock came that way last week which tells me they were fresh from the factory. As you can see I am trying to put together must have accessories for the Dp1. I have B+W close up filters coming and step up rings to fit them. I have seen some very good close ups on the forum at Dpreview so that might be next. Bill

Here is a update on my earlier post of IR photos. There was one I titled 'beware of dog' and was a B&W infrared photo taken with my Sigma Sd14. This one is with my Sigma Dp1 and wonderful light. I think I will call it "beware of dog two". People are presently cleaning up the yard in the photo and I am going to miss the photo opps. Bill

Here is a short story that I posted on the DPreview Sigma SLR forum. I thought I would copy it here for you, who may not read the forum every day as I do. I have posted my businesses card as well because someone reading the forum suggested that I might be a good sales person. I think so and that is one reason I gave myself the title super duper sales guy. Another reason is that a few years ago I sat through a presentation about how to encourage sales people and I thought I could use a reward with a new title. Also as you may know I like to see customers smile. Bill

Last Saturday I was working my way through an airport security line when a security officer asked me, 'is that an ordinary digital camera?' well before I could think what I was saying I explained,'no this was no ordinary digital camera, this was the new Sigma Dp1, the first compact camera with the foveon sensor and very good 28mm equivalent F4 prime lens with incredible image, and he stopped me there because I was holding up the line and asked, but is there film in it? If not move along. At that point I realized he must be one of the people who don't read this forum. I still smile to myself when I think back to it, I hope it makes you smile too. Bill Wilby salesperson

April 21st and we received one of the largest snow falls of the year. It was very beautiful and changed very quickly with the first light of the morning. I did think to myself if this was a few years ago we could plan for a very busy morning with people dropping off their film. Now this event may only be remembered as long as our hard drives lasts. This is a nice way to enjoy the snow knowing that there is green grass under the melting layer of white. Bill

Finding the right bag for the Sigma Dp1. The bag I use for travel and carrying a SLR around is the Lowpro Slingshot. These bags are designed to be carried on your back, but slide to the front for easy access to your camera. The Dp1 is a much smaller camera but having a similar style bag for me is ideal. Now I like to call my camera bag my purse, because I use it for much more than just my camera. The bag I am modeling in the photo is a Roots bag and it is a sling that unlike the Lowpro can be worn over ether shoulder. There is enough room for the camera with the viewfinder, lens hood and lens shade attached. Also in the main compartment I put my sunglasses and a cleaning cloth. The side and front compartments will hold the battery charger and cables. There is a zippered pocket to fit my passport, tickets and boarding pass. Located on the strap is a pocket for your cell phone. Other items I would put in it are loose change, keys and a tooth brush. I am sure I could find a place for a map if I thought I might need it, most of us men don't need maps, right. I also like Roots bags because there is a picture of my friend Bob, on every bag. Here is a link for more details. Bill

Edmonton and the Sigma Dp1, the weather was great and even with all those meetings and dinner parties I still had time to use the camera. Bill

With spring here there is something new to see every day. We have two river otters that swim by, and Canada geese checking out the barn. While I was away this weekend Sandy kept the camera ready. Here is her goose on the roof photo. We have been using a Panasonic FZ18 for our point and shot camera and with its 18x zoom and excellent stabilization these shots are fun. Bill

Still life number two of my Sigma DP1s. As you can see I am going to be busy. Bill

Good news for people waiting for their Sigma DP1s as they are on their way. Actually this is the second shipment. My friend Max took this picture for our archives. This happens to be our busiest shipping day so far. Bill

Black and White and Dp1. am I having fun. Bill

Meet Martha, she is our motor home purchased in 1973. As you can see she has seen better days, most recently used as a play house. But even that was awhile ago. I have posted these photos for Leif by request. I took them yesterday in the afternoon sun with my new Sigma DP1. Bill

Sigma DP1 still life is the title I gave this photo that I posted on the Sigma forum at dpreview. I thought I would put it here for those of you who may not have seen it. As you may be able to tell I am really excited about this little camera and am enjoying using it. Bill

We woke up to a dusting of fresh snow this morning. Here is my first photo with the new Sigma Dp1. I am really going to enjoy using this camera. Bill

Update, March 20 the cameras are here but the Dp1 accessories must be on a truck, should be early next week.
Update, March 19th, my cameras have been shipped as well as all the DP1 accessories. This is very exciting.
The Dp1 is coming. We will have our stock next week. We would have had it Friday if it wasn't a holiday. This is a very exciting and I might even choose it over a day off if I had a choice. Photographers around the world are lining up to use this unique camera. We have very limited stock and have been taking pre-orders for the last month. There is a link on our home page www.contactphotoarts.com for DP1 info. Bill

I was watching for Bob this morning but didn't see him. I did photograph these two geese swimming by and was very surprised with the detail. The photo is hand held, I sold my monopod, the camera Sigma SD14 with a Sigma 70 to 300 APO lens at 300mm. Bill

New from Pentax, the K20d is now here. If you have been reading my blog you will have seen many photos taken last year with the Pentax K10d. Last year it was our best selling SLR and I was disappointed when we could no longer get them in December 07. The K20d is a very nice replacement and has many improvements over the K10d. There is no review that I have seen posted for this camera but info can be found at http://www.pentax.ca/ This photo I think sums up Spring in Grand Forks. The lens is Pentax's 10 to 17 wide Angle zoom. This lens is a lot of fun. Bill

Big news today for Sigma fans, a new price for the SD14. It is now 695.95 CD. I think this is good timing as there has been more interest because of the DP1. This photo taken with my Sd14 was in the small harbour in Vernazza our base for touring the Cinque Terre. Bill

These two photos are taken inside Pisa's cathedral Duomo. This building is the one along side the tower. One of my objectives with this trip was to use a mono pod as much as possible. These exposures are very long and would not be possible only hand held. Of the 300 photos I took on this trip about 280 of them were taken with a Manfrotto mono pod and a Slik AF 1100E head. A combination I know I will use often again. As well as the stability with using the mono pod, I very much enjoyed the experience of manually focusing the camera and taking time to enjoy composing each photo. This type of photography is very different than the point and shoot mode I see people now using their digital cameras for, but for me part of the enjoyment of travel. The Sigma Sd14 fits this style very well.

We are back and it is good to be back. It was very hard to find a photo to post from our trip, there are just too many and many stories to go with then. Here are two photos and two high lights. I very much enjoyed the tower in Pisa. We had a view of the tower from our hotel window and climbing the tower for me was one of many high lights from the trip. The other photo is two of the many cats in Vernazza, a small coastal village in the Cingue Terre that we made a base to walk from. This village has many cats and few people. I am planning on posting a gallery from our trip but it will take awhile, we have lots of catching up to do. These were taken with my Sigma SD14. In another posting I will up date my experience with this wonderful camera. Bill

May be the last day for the tree. Here is Bob, or it may be Betty as we saw two beavers yesterday, swimming by the tree. We are leaving for our break on Sunday so it will be two weeks before you get to see Bob again. I'll have to bring him back a treat, I wonder if he would like a piece of olive bark. Bill

In the Sigma world most of the talk is about the new compact camera the DP1. It was shown last week at PMA. If you look back to June 06 you find a post by Max regarding this camera, Sigma and foveon sensors. This is what got me started in this direction and resulted in us being the only Canadian stocking dealer. I think that means we are the only Canadian dealer that I know of that takes Sigma cameras and foveon sensors seriously. It is down a different road than other cameras, and not for everyone, but a road that I have been enjoying very much. I am looking forward to using the DP1 and selling it. I was hoping to have one to field test in Italy this month on our short break but it looks like that won't happen. The most I know is that I will have stock in the Spring and at this time the price will be 849.00 cd Here is a link to the Dp1

Sandy and I went for a walk and a drive today with our cameras. We thought we would practice for our up coming trip. Here is a photo from down river. We are leaving here on the 17th and heading for Italy for a short break. We are going to be taking photos, eating good food, drinking fine wine and walking. This camera is the Sigma SD14 with a little spot in the bottom left corner. I have been busy cleaning other peoples sensors I guess it is time I did mine. Bill

With the cold weather I was able to carry on a the Christmas tree tradition this year. A week ago this didn't seem possible but on Sunday I planted the tree in the river to wait for breakup. I will keep you posted. Camera: Sigma SD14. Lens: 17 to 70. Bill

Six nights of -20 c and the river is very frozen. Here are two photos from this morning and needless to say I have not seen Bob lately. Bill

Here's Bob, I took these Sunday morning as Bob was swimming up river. I didn't see him this morning but I left for work earlier than his usual time. It was also -20 this morning so I would understand if he slept in a little. It was warmer yesterday when I took these photos with my Sigma SD 14 and 70 to 300 APO lens. The photos have been cropped and edited in ACDSEE pro which I find very quick and easy. Bill

If you have read my previous post this photo will make more sense. The photo was taken on our last trip to Europe in Bruge Belgium. I was reminded of this photo last summer while helping a family from France with their travel photos of western Canada. They also had a photo of a display of treats taken in one of our North American super stores. Most likely they were on sale. I asked her why and told her of the above photo. She struggled to find the right English words for me but in the end I understood. Her description,"play dough" made me smile. The treats and I cup of coffee that morning in Bruge, I can't remember what they cost but I can sure remember the taste.

In an earlier post I mentioned that I had been thinking of pricing. These thoughts have more to do with my 25 years of retail experience than photography. I don't want this to sound like a rant, but here goes. There is that old saying you get what you pay for. I think it applies more today than ever before. I think the trend in retailing for the lowest price being the most important part of buying something has had its effect. I don't think it is by accident that most things purchased today are from an underpaid sales clerk with no product knowledge and training. The product you buy may not be the right one for what you need, and it may not last very long. It's more important to come back and buy again and again. How many coffee pots does a person buy in a life time? I think most consumers today are under sold. For a sales person this may mean the person could have been sold something that cost more with more profit. It also means they were not sold what they really needed, will be unhappy with the purchase, and did not get value for their money. Do you think the box store or that on-line store that gives you a less than satisfying sales experience, with the lowest price cares? I don't think so, they only care if you come back soon for more of the same, good deals for things you may not need. And the money we save, another old saying, there is no free lunch. Because we have been convinced that we have to pay the lowest price, we drive for hours, we pay to ship things around the world, we put our neighbour out of work and we fill our landfills with waste. As a sales person I see my job as helping people make good buying decisions. To do this I need product knowledge, I need to understand my customers needs, I need to find ways to make the buying experience pleasant. I also need the support from my suppliers and I need quality products. As a consumer I am willing to pay more than the lowest price to get the best value. As a sales person providing good value can be challenging. I address this challenge with my passion for photography and sales. My reward is the feeling one gets when a job is well done and the smiles I receive from happy customers.
With that I am going to hop down off my soap box and hope this is something you may think about when someone tells you they just paid the lowest price. Bill Wilby

Nikon D300, today Nikon announced they are increasing production of this camera to 70,000 per month. I also noticed most stores are taking orders. We have them in stock and will ship anywhere, maybe even deliver if it is somewhere warm. Bill P.S. with that in mind we will be in Italy the last two weeks in Feb. field testing ? camera

I have been learning how to test for back and front focusing in SLRs. I have decided to do this as well as checking for dust on the sensor when selling a SLR. I also upgrade the cameras firm ware. For those of you using a DSLR you will understand how important this can be. Checking for dust is easy enough, cleaning it if there is some a little harder. After finding two new out of the box SLR's with dust I think this is a important thing to do. Checking focus required a good camera stand with precise alignment to feel confident in the test results. I had my friend John the machinist build the stand you see in the photo and it works wonderfull. I have more to learn but I have got past the feeling I have opened a can of worms and this will be a usefull tool. Bill

This is the longest print we have made here at Contact Photo Arts. It is 2.15 meters long, printed on canvas, and stretched on a frame. Stu Brown with me in the photo is the photographer and made the 190 degree composite. Max was the printer who was able to convince our Epson that it could make a print that long. Shelly from Framing Solutions stretched it on a frame that Stu made. Me, I stood around and watched and posed for the photo op. Maybe I should be in politics. The photo was taken at Jewel Lake B.C. The printed canvas is now hanging on a wall in Calgary. Here is a link to Stu's web site. http://bcscenicwonder.com/

One more, this is my beware of dog photo. This house is across the road and out our back door, as I think of the side of our house facing the river as the front. The house has been vacant for awhile and gives me much pleasure with its appearance. This may not be shared with some of my neighbours. The infrared photos were taken with the Sigma Sd14 by removing the uv filer that is located just behind the lens. This filter is also a dust protector for the sensor. The images have been taken in a raw file and processed very quickly in the Sigma software.

One of the unique things you can do with the Sigma Sd14 is capture infrared photos. This is new to me and over the holidays I had some time to play. I used a R72 visible light filter and also two linear polarize filters stacked together. It was cold out, about minus 10 so I didn't spent too much time or thought. I need to find out more about where to focus. There is info on the Sigma SLR forum found at dpreivew.

Merry Christmas, here is a view you have seen before many times, the view from our deck and the river in front of our house. It is nice to have time at home to enjoy the view. Camera is my SigmaSd14 on a tripod with a remote release, mirror locked up and with my new liner polarizing filter. I hope you enjoy your holiday as much as I will. Bill Wilby

It is nice to get comments and to hear from people who read my blog. The comment below is very interesting to me because yes, the photo the person is asking about is a photo that I took in 1976. It was taken just out side of Alert Bay, my home town, and is looking toward the mouth of the Nimkish River. The person seen on the boat is David Uhl, Alert Bay fisherman proud of his new seiner. I only sold or gave away a few of these photos so I would be curious as to where it may have been the last 3o years. It was taken during the winter maybe in January as there is snow on the hills. As to the name Pictures, Prints and Promises, that was the name of my photography business at that time. I owned and operated a small gallery and frame shop in Alert Bay and sold my photos.This may not be the right photo, I took one shortly after with Malcolm Island in the back ground and the seiner is captured from the bow. Bill Wilby

No time to post these days with the Christmas rush, but I have lots to say. You will have to wait until things slow down but what is on my mind is pricing. I read DPreview Sigma forum every day because of my interest in using and selling the Sigma SD14. Our name has been there and many people from around the world have been checking our site and my blog. Please check back and I will put my thoughts together. Right now and for the last 25 years I am helping people find the right camera at the right price. I would like to share some of this experience with you. Thanks Bill