I HATE DECEIVERS AND CRIMINALS.....A very long post....

Those damn internet scammers.....I hate them with a passion.....about a month ago I was contacted by a gentleman that said he lived in the KC area, and while traveling (for business) he was trying to put together a surprise for his wife of 5 yrs.....a wedding recepting party for their 5th anniversary......Kool....I told him that I could recommend some really good photogs in the KC area and that I live In Wichita.
He fully realized that I lived in Wichita and all that and that it might cost him more to have me travel to KC but that was fine and he asked for a quote and gave me the date and hotel that the party was to be at.....He said that all the hotel reservations for booking the party hall was already done.
I did a map quest and google maps to compare the distance from my house to the even address in KC and took a quick look into booking a room at the same hotel for convenience.....got prices made a quote. All is good. He had more questions......and I GLADLY answered and he made reference to my website and the photos that had been published in the book "WICHITA VISIONS" and how he liked the photos.....How he liked what he saw in general on my Website and FlikR.......so I knew he was checking out my work........Then he made a mistake he sent me an email that did not have his name on it......it was some other guys name and the ending domain extension was no longer a hotmail.com the dot com had changed to a foreign country.......so I immediately called the hotel in KC and no hall booking for that day was on their books nor with any reservation center across the country.....so I played along and told him that I would payment in one of 2 forms....either by CASHIERS CHECK or wired by WESTERN UNION....no personal or business checks or money orders would be accepted and I put a deadline on it...........explaining I had done business this way for over 30 yrs........He wrote back saying his financial officer would be sending the money............
So I made one more demand.....real real name and I explained to him what made me leery of his requests and that the hotel in downtown KC had no bookings for that date for a wedding anniversary party.............I have never heard back from him......

I cannot believe that these criminals think all people that offer services on the web are so damn guilable......did this scammer not realize that any photog would check wit the Hotel for guidelines and floor plans and such that we need to know so we can set up and be ready for our work in advance......did he truly think I would drive almost 4 hours on the day of the shoot and jump out of my car with a camera and flash and just shoot away.....HOLY MOLY......not quite............

Also check IP addresses of all business related emails.......

Right after the above job went belly up...I get another offer for a wedding in California......ok great, I have shot in San Fran., Sacramento, Hollywood, and Santa Monica....not like it is my first time to be hired to travel for a photography shoot......and she was asking all the right questions wanting a detailed list for the quote....what type of equipment I used....actually stated she did not want a photog with an entry level camera....I explained that it was not the camera so much as it was the person behind it......I tried to get her to let me refer her to a few local California photos...... but no she was very satisfied with what she lad learned from talking to me and wanted me to make a quote.....so I did.....a week went by and then 2 and then a surprise an email that I would receive my fee on the following Tuesday......so I promptly replied to her....do not forget that money must be in the form of a CASHIERS CHECK or WESTERN UNION money transfer...no personal or business checks or money orders would be accepted..........Well on Thursday I received a overnight envelope with a return addy of KENNEDY SPACE CENTER SR405 ORLANDO FL 32899......NO NAME.....AND A CHECK FOR MORE THAN THE QUOTED AMOUNT.......$4k MORE THAN THE QUOTED PRICE....Methinks I smell a scam.....so off to the bank and tell the teller, whom I know from the years of banking there, of my suspicions ..... well they can't just scan the routing number to see if it is any good and then she has me take a seat while she does something else.....something else.....she smiles and disappears.....about 15 minutes later she comes back to inform me that this is a SCAM.....the account had been closed for a very long time.....so I came home and told the SCAMMER that the bank would have to hold the check for almost a month and as I had previously stated the funds had to be in the form of a CASHIERS CHECK OR WESTERN UNION money transfer.......I get a reply...go ahead and deposit the wedding has been postponed to later date and I was given a date.......How stupid do these people think other legitimate business people are.........I cannot believe this.....then she asked me to forward the overpayment to the caterer but did not give me a name or address for the caterer.....but being the nice guy I am I asked her for this info.....waiting for next email......

OH I have damn near unlimited email space and I do not throw away email pertaining to my business and I almost never discuss details by phone...only by email....that way we all have proof of what transpired during discussions..........
turned out this scammer all of a sudden had an IP address that I could check (all previous ones would not check at all thru what is my IP dot com) and it was a NIGERIAN IP for a yahoo.it (yahoo Italy) account.....Hmmmmmmmm

Another fatal mistake was she had been referencing Santa Monica Ca and then all of a sudden it was in Santos Montana CA.................

Have to hold all evidence just in Case the FBI should want to make a case...in other words they are not interested in to looking into how someone got the checks from a closed account or whoi actually sent it to me from........not Orlando Florida but Indianapolis IN.......yup it actually originated in Indianapolis........

GARY FONG STYLE DIFFUSERS

I really do not know how the Gary Fong style of diffusers have gotten so popular.....they really are:

1- very ugly...looks like a tupperware bowl attached to your flash

2- is heavy and will cause stress on the flash head over time

3- are made flash model specific....so if you have say an arsenal of flashes...lets say Nikon SB600, 800 and 900 and a Vivatar 285HV.....then it would take 4 gary fong styled diffusers to be able to have one to use on each flash......With a LumiQuest Soft box or a Bounce diffuser....one will fit all the flashes due to the way the difuser attaches to the flash head......by a velcro strap....and zI have never had one come loose in the many decades of using the original LumiQuest Softbox.

4-take up lot of room in a cam bag.....a least all of the LumiQuest line folds flat and take up vey little room, I actually slide mine between the padded cam bag wall and the outer shell.....so I do not loose any actual cam bag real Estate..............


I like the LumiQuest brand as they are well made and not really expensive.....a lot of people swear by the DO IT YOURSELF diffusers but I do not want a client questioning my abilities because they recognize a piece of equiptment as HOMEMADE.........just my 'umble opinon.

NEW LOGO FOR INTERNET

I just finished a new logo for internet use.

Here it is:














Let me have your comments......................