Trial Shoot an Overall Success

First of all let me say that we are so thankful to everyone at Adventure Christian Church who waited in line to have their picture taken and then waited again to purchase a print. It was amazing to have so many people participate in our practice shoot in preparation for our trip to Africa.

Things went smoothly considering that we were operating off a last-minute back up system that barely resembled the setup we intended to use because every piece of equipment that could have had issues did. Let me recap the adventures of last week's prep for the shoot. A word of caution: I apologize for the length and technical specificity of this post, but you have to appreciate the details of the madness that ensued last week.

We are using two Nikon D200 cameras with WT3a wireless transmitters. For all the non-gearheads out there, our plan was to use a camera with an a attachment that would transmit the images we shot wirelessly to a nearby computer attached to a printer. At the beginning of the week I made a call to Nikon to for assistance in setting up the network between camera and computer and we were able to get it working. But when it came to connecting the second camera there was a simple miscommunication with Nikon and the system no longer worked. By "simple" I mean profoundly simple--one strand of numbers associated with the camera was entered into the wrong place and we could not send images.

I spent hours (literally 12 hours total) on the phone with Nikon trying to sort this out. Twice in conversations with service reps their shifts ended and I had to call back. It was not that I call at just the right time; I was spending the length of the shifts at their call center trying to make this thing work. It was really hilarious, let me tell you. I shot about 100 test pictures over the course of my conversations with them. Each shot represents an attempt to completely reconfigure the system which involves setting up a separate wireless network on the Mac and then configuring the camera to recognize and communicate across this network.

(Side Note: The test shots are really terrible photography, but each is an ironic expression of just how surreal the process was. I am trying to figure out how to make a flip book out of all of them because most are pictures of the computer screen in front of me or my water bottle with the backgrounds of the multiple places I was working over those three days. The angles of the shots are so similar that when you scroll through them it looks like animation. I 'll post this little art project once I complete it!)

So, when it became undeniably apparent that we were not going to be able to transfer images wirelessly at our trial shoot (I really tried to deny it for a long time--just ask Elizabeth), we shifted gears and focused on the printer. I went through the installation process only to find that the printer was not immediately Mac compatible. This is not normally and issue because of how Macs operate, but it was last week! I went through another two days of installing and reinstalling anything and everything that I (and everyone else I sought for advice) thought would work. By this time it was Saturday and Shinko does not have 24/7 support like Nikon. At 10:30 on Saturday night I drove to my sister's to borrow her Windows-based laptop, but still could not get the printer to work.

When the Shinko printer did not work I thought we were toast. As a last-ditch, contingency plan we were able to hook up Elizabeth's Canon printer as a back up and we planned to shoot half the group and then trade out memory cards for the printing. This was the next-to worst-case-scenario (worst-case being having to postpone the whole thing). If you remember back to the entry about the printer, the reason we purchased the Shinko was that it is a lab-quality printer that prints archival 8X10's (water/dust resistant, lasting up to 100 years) in 30 seconds. The Canon printer on the other hand, prints a nice, but lesser quality 8X10 in an amazingly less than lightning-fast 4 1/2 minutes. Think of it this way: I was able to refill my coffee while timing the test print--not what you are looking for when trying to move a couple hundred people through a photo shoot and provide them with prints while they wait.

Here is where the patience and support of the people at Adventure shines brightest. Most all who could waited for their prints with no complaints (at least not within my earshot)! The atmosphere was like elementary school yearbook portraits mixed into a huge photo booth. People were laughing and making snide remarks at those having their portrait made. Some with hungry kids asked if they could pick up their prints next week, which worked out great because otherwise we would still be there printing today, but most of the families stuck around and talked and the kids played. We got to talk with a lot of people about what we are trying to accomplish in Africa (4 1/2 minutes at a time) while waiting for the prints. The atmosphere was fun and laid back and we were very encouraged by the kind words and interest people had for our work.

This week I called Shinko and made the necessary upgrades to get it printing and, WOW, you should see these prints. I have never seen digital images printed so beautifully and fast! First of all they look like they came from a film camera having been processed in a darkroom. Secondly, they literally shoot out in 30 seconds! This thing is a workhorse. I am proud to be able to take this ability to Africa and give these families not just their first family portrait, but the best print they could get even in America.

After this I came home and was able to go back through the set up instructions given to me by the original service rep with Nikon. Following these steps, I was able to connect BOTH cameras and wirelessly transmit images from over 50 ft!!! With the extended antenna we should be able to get 500 ft of range, but I have not tested this yet. I am happy with what I have at this point.

The long and short of it--we are up in running with our primary setup for shooting, transferring, and printing images on the field. Our makeup session for Adventure will be this weekend after the church service again, so anyone who wishes to have their picture retaken or reprinted is welcome participate this weekend. We need the practice shooting and printing with our primary system, so we would literally be willing to shoot the whole church again.

Needless to say, we have renewed excitement in the wake of an almost disasterous week. I don't want to theologize too much about what was going on with our equipment. It does seem strange that everything failed at once and right before our practice shoot. On the front end of this we were really dumbfounded and we questioned if the whole idea of shooting family portraits in Africa was really going to work. In hindsight, I belief we were being tested. Those of you who know me well, will attest that I am not one to be hard and fast about who exactly was testing us. I will say the whole experience caused us to focus on of our willingness to be faithful in providing these people with family photos no matter what it took to do it. At one point during all this equipment failure I said to Elizabeth only half joking, "You know, maybe we should just pack Polaroid cameras and a lot of film to Africa." We laughed about this at the time, but only because we knew without saying it that we would do that if it came to it.

Family photos are important and have great potential for generating hope and memories where these things are otherwise scarce. Whether it is through a cheap Polaroid or the clearest 8X10 ever printed the memory is there and especially now we are excited to use this technology to bring a little light to such difficult situations.