I was up in Phoenix this last weekend to attend an educational photographic seminar. I am hoping it will jump start me to get busy and start taking photos again as I feel like I am in a dry spell. Oh creative muse where art thou?
It was a good training session and the model shoot was an opportunity I would not otherwise be able to manage. Where I am going to be able to rent equipment needed to do something like this and in this economy - looking at likely being out of work in the next few months, not something I can invest in either. While indoor model shots are not my thing, all knowledge in and of itself has value.
Digital days was the name of the seminar. Info for their upcoming classes can be found at : www.digitaldaysphoto.com
The presenters were good. Engaging, knowledgeable, and funny.
At the end of the second session the presenter John Omvik spent time going over the functionality of Lightroom. I do almost all my PP work in Lightroom and was very happy to get some tips from his lecture. One or two of which I used in developing the head shots of this lovely young lady. I am pleased with how these came out.
The real story of my weekend in Phoenix is all about my motel. The seminar was held at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix. Now the basic room starts at $299 a night so needless to say I was not going to be staying there. There seemed to be plenty of other motels and hotels in the area so after a bit of searching I found a 3 star place within a few blocks of the event venue and the price was right - just over a hundred dollars including taxes.
So about 5:30 on Saturday I find my hotel, pull into the parking lot to find a building that does not look at all like the picture on the Internet and the postage stamp parking lot has several parked off duty taxi cabs, and one old police cruiser with for sale written all over the windows in some sort of marker. That should have been my first clue. I go to the office to check in with more than just a little concern that this is not going to work out well. The office is minuscule and the clerk who is from India, obviously lives in the little apartment connected to the office. The smell of cooking curry fills the air and I wish I was coming to dinner, but I am not. He gets me set for a ground floor room but by this point my gut is talking to me and for securities sake I ask for a second floor room. No problem as he smiles, makes the change and tells me it will be less noisy away from the street.
I make my way up the stairs, under the 'newly remodeled' banner and unlock the door.
The smell of Fabreze and old sex about knocks me over. The room has a connecting door to the next suite, however the hasty repair on the door frame and the tiny brass hinge lock are not increasing my sense of safety. The half a dozen paper matches on the bathroom window sill tell the tale of the previous occupants drug habits and I realize that I need to walk off on this reservation and find a safer place to stay.
So I go back to the office and ask to use the 'business center' computer with WiFi that I recall from the Internet search on the place. The look of confusion, and well surprise on the clerks face was almost funny. So back to my room and the phone book. Lots of the yellow pages are missing in my phone book but not those for hotels and motels. Gideon's bible I discover has been stolen long since. It will not be helping poor Rocky recover in any event.
Two hours later I am armed with added information. It is peek tourist season. There are several conventions in town as well as tourist activities. Other than a room for over 350 dollars a night I am stuck in my rat trap motel room. So I decide to make the best of it. I run out and grab some fast food, grab my emergency blanket from the car, phone home, and settle in for the night - or so I thought.
Around 11 I get a neighbor on the other side of my room. Luck is with me as it looks like the connecting suite will be empty for the night. I however already have chairs propped under the door knobs of the connecting suite and the front door. My new neighbor is very busy. She showers at 11:30 goes out, returns, showers at 1AM, goes back out, returns and showers again at 3AM. At this point I am guessing she calls it a night. I, on the other hand, am not sure what to call it.
I was up and gone by 6AM, just happy to see the the truck was where I left it the night before. I head back to the Hyatt glad to spend almost 20 dollars on breakfast. What the heck the newspaper was free, and the story only cost me a night's sleep and a hundred bucks.
