An open letter to Calumet Photography

Dear Calumet Photography in Chicago,

I thank you for being having a local presence for Chicagoland photographers. Sometimes I visit your store when I need things in a pinch.

But for the most part, I avoid shopping at Calumet. I would much rather shop and ship everything — from sandbags to C stands  – at B&H Photo in NYC.

I stopped by the store yesterday, and I like to browse and then buy. That way, I typically buy something completely unrelated to my list, and it’s a win/win for both of us.

But I was so pissed off about how the store was in complete disarray, that I turned around and walked out. I hope you’re going out of business and that it was a going out of business sale. The place looked like a bomb went off.

It cheapens the shopping experience when the professional source I want to buy quality goods looks like a bad day at Big Lots. I want professional accommodations when buying professional products.

Furthermore, the sales help isn’t very accommodating, knowledgeable or helpful. I overheard a customer ask a representative, “What kind of gear do you shoot with?” The rep said, “I don’t have any gear.” Usually helps if the guy you’re buying from has a working knowledge (whether he owns gear or not) of the merchandise  he’s selling.

I’ve worked with reps at the store who had never used the equipment I was buying and admitted it outright.

Worse yet, there were products that I really wanted to price out that had no price tags. Does your policy require that I ask a rep for each product I want to buy? Why waste my time like that?

Like I said above, I require a professional experience, or you don’t get my business.

Best,

Jeremy Witteveen

Deleting your facebook account is a growing trend

There’s a movement to kill facebook.

Or at least there’s a movement to encourage you to delete your account. You can read about two different recommendations here and here.

I’ve been following the Gizmodo story for some time, and it’s all good except the guy who’s writing it owns a social network startup called “BorderStylo”

I’m not sure I’m completely behind the movement. I like facebook for having contact with friends and family whom I wouldn’t see otherwise.  Since I have a blog, I’m not really opposed to people knowing about my life anyway.

One of the biggest reasons for facebook deletion is because the “they” says that “they” have your profile tapped like a phone. The “they” can access and sell access to your profile.

Oddly enough, I’ve noticed that almost every site with advertising that I go to right now has ads for B&H Photo, which is the store that I buy almost all my camera equipment from. It’s a little freaky, and it makes me NOT want to shop there.

I think what worries me the most are photos that I’ve shared on there, but even those aren’t a big deal. I typically put my logo on all of them, unless I just don’t care. I also upload versions that would be difficult to print … which is also pretty stupid, because hardly anyone prints anything anymore.

Do you care? Do you know what facebook is? Do you do an alternative social network? If so, what is it?