I don’t remember where I shot this, but I remember that it smelled awful when I leaned down (within a foot of the bird) to frame this shot.

As seen in an undisclosed location along the Eastern Waterfront.

More abandoned furniture here.

As seen on 4th Street in SoMa.

Kanye West, as seen in my office earlier today.

During his visit, he encouraged the world to be more creative and artistic in it’s approach to design and fashion. He also mentioned that he wished the mainstream media would get some better photographers.

Meta! You see a photo of me taking his portrait here.

As seen in Hayward, California.

A Sister of Perpetual Indulgence enjoys a borrowed cigarette at the Wild Side West bar in Bernal Heights.

Disclaimer: I had just left an all-day BBQ and was rather drunk when I took this photo. Alas.

Seen above, Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhán, sending a tweet. (English/Spanish).

This is the first published photo shot with my new Panasonic GF1 micro four/thirds camera. (The Amazon direct model arrived yesterday). I’m pretty pleased with the results, considering how compact the camera body is. I used a 20mm F/1.7 pancake lens for this portrait.

As seen in Chinatown.

For the past several months, my lower back has been producing sharp pains for hours at a time. It generally flares up after a long day of shooting, as my DSLR camera bag (with 3 lenses an an external flash) weighs about 18 lbs. Because of this, I’ve found myself carrying my camera bag a lot less in my day to day routine. It bothers me to no end, and I can’t even try to put a number on the amount of shots I’ve missed because I didn’t have a camera on me at the time.

This past Sunday, I decided to buy a Panasonic GF1 micro four-thirds camera. I had researched this particular model for a few hours and after reading rave review after rave review, I felt comfortable making the purchase. What sold me about this model was its compact size, packed with powerful features, and the option of interchangeable lenses.

My next step was deciding where to buy it from. My first choice, B&H (awesome online retailer) was out of stock, as was Calumet (another awesome online retailer). So, I started searching on Amazon. I found a model with the lens I wanted, read the reviews (97% positive) and added it to my shopping cart. As I made my way through checkout, I paid careful attention to the shipping window as it was important to have it arrive by this Friday, the 23rd. I was a bit skeptical of purchasing through a 3rd party affiliate as I’ve had problems with some vendors in the past. I reread the customer reviews and the majority were positive with a heavy emphasis on how fast the products were shipped. Moments later, I completed checkout and made my purchase.

The next morning I got an email from the vendor, Wall Street Photo, and after looking up the UPS tracking noticed that it would not arrive until Sunday the 26th. Hmmm. I emailed Wall Street Photo and asked what the reason for the delay was. No response. The next morning, I sent another email inquiring about the difference in shipping dates between checkout and delivery confirmation. Again, no response. A little ticked off, I called Amazon customer service and talked with Kathleen, explaining my frustration. Kathleen quickly realized I was upset and indicated that this was not the first, second, third, etc. complaint Amazon had received about Wall Street Photo. She advised me to purchase the same model from Amazon directly and contact the vendor yet again and to let them know I wanted to cancel my order. (Kathleen was awesome, Amazon customer service is lucky to have her on their team). I sent another email to Wall Street Photo and let them know I wanted to cancel my order, as the delivery window was misleading and I felt like I had been mislead.

A few hours later Wall Street Photo responded with the following:

We apologize if you misunderstood the these shipping terms set by Amazon. If you have any concerns feel free to hit [sic] us an email anytime.

I responded saying I felt that the confusion was actually on their end, but nevertheless, I simply wished to cancel my order and forget about it after being issued a full refund.

Moments later I received a second response:

Cancellations requested after your order has shipped will require your refusal of delivery acceptance when the shipping carrier delivers. We will process your refund after your shipment has been returned to us. A nominal $10.00 charge will be deducted from the refund. Shipping charges will also not be credited in this case. Likewise, shipments which have had 3 delivery attempts without success and have been returned to us by the shipping carrier will also have the above charge deducted. Cancellations which are accepted when delivered are subject to a 20% restocking fee.

At this point I realized I was being swindled and was out $163. I wrote them back and explained that this response was unsatisfactory and asked them to give me a call so we could work this out. As of this posting I have not received a response from Wall Street Photo via phone or email.

Tomorrow, I look forward to receiving the second camera ordered directly from Amazon, and have no doubt it will arrive on time. I plan on working with Kathleen to try and reverse the various restocking and S&H charges, and am somewhat confident I will recoup some of my money. But it won’t come without headache, and will likely take several weeks until I see any of the monies from the first camera deposited back into my checking account.

I’ll update this post as the situation evolves, but in the meantime my advice is to be wary of a deal that seems to good to be true, because in the end it often is.

Update: (7/21/10) I received the camera from Amazon direct a few minutes ago. So, at least I have the camera for this weekend.

Upon further investigation (with the help of a friend) it seems that the vendor, Wall Street Photo, is not a licensed Panasonic seller, and is operating by selling refurbished and unauthorized merchandise. I have a note out to Amazon inquiring as to why they would do business with this vendor and am going to suggest that they discontinue the relationship.

Update #2 (7/21/10) The CEO of Wall Street Photo emailed me tonight, saying “Your email just reached the top of my inbox and its kind of late, so I’ll try to wrap this up tomorrow” but has not yet committed to a full refund (including S&H).

Update #3 (7/23/10) Still no word from Wall Street Photo. I contacted Amazon tonight, and let them know the seller has refused to return my emails. I also pointed out that numerous other buyers had made claims that their photography equipment was refurbished and unauthorized by the manufacturers. Amazon has committed to giving me a full refund (after I refuse shipment on Monday). Additionally, Amazon’s fraud investigation team is looking into multiple claims of fraud and general abuse of their Terms of Service.

Frank Chu in front of the Mac Dre tribute mural on Langton Alley

Thanks to everyone that came along on our SoMa photowalk today. It was great to meet so many Bay Area photographers! Extra thanks to SoMa Arts Cultural Center for hosting the event and Goat Hill Pizza for providing pizza for the attendees afterward.

If you came along on the walk and uploaded your photos to Flickr, pls tag them with calibersfpw071810. We’ll get a post up with some of your best photos in the next day or two. Feel free to leave links to your blog or Flickr stream in the comments below and we’ll make sure to include those as well.

(Also, SOMArts has their own flickr group and they’d love for you to join and add some of your photos to their pool as well, and tag appropriate photos with SOMArts. Thank you!)

As seen on Market Street.

As seen in South of Market.

Close-up of the street level here. Photo of me taking this picture here.

As seen in South of Market.

As seen in Union Square.

As seen in the Tenderloin district.

Tony, as seen in the Tenderloin district this past weekend.

I was out shooting with Brad (City Snaps) and Travis, walking west on Post Street, when we ran into Tony. He asked me for a cigarette, I gave him one, and he offered to do a set of one handed push-ups.

An officer from the Oakland Police Department prepares to move protesters by any means necessary

A crowd of 1000s listens to Oscar Grant’s grandfather pleading for peace

You can see my images from the protest/riot here and more from the group I was shooting with here.

“Untitled” by It’s The E

Angry protesters in Oakland expressing frustration with the Oakland Police Department after the verdict dropped in the slaying of an unarmed Oakland man by BART police.

As a reminder, on Flickr Friday we choose a shot that we like from the Calibersf Flickr Pool. Thanks for submitting!

As seen in SoMa.

This is the first photo I’ve made in two weeks; smack dab in the middle of a photographic rut.

I shot this about 20 minutes ago. I hope to shoot quite a few more in the coming days, as the aforementioned rut is starting to wear thin on my constitution.

As seen in the Financial District.

As seen along the Eastern Waterfront.

As seen in Oakland, California.

As seen at Civic Center’s United Nations Plaza.

As seen in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.