Link Love Express #8

This weekend I met up with fellow blogger Helene of Fashion Over Reason for a session of street style shooting. We had a lovely time in Williamsburg shooting and well shooting the proverbial you know what. We discussed photography, fashion and the changing blogging landscape. And so in this installment of Link Love Express I will be sharing photography based links and a link on how bloggers can be more supportive of one another as well as a link to reviews on Yelp in regards to a hosting company you should all stay away from. So let’s get started…

1) About that hosting company—In Motion, I called to set up service with them and two weeks later before my site had been transferred I cancelled. Their website states it takes 7-14 days for the transfer to complete. The sales person told me that I had plenty of time if I needed my site to be up on their servers up by November 8th—the date my current host would expire. I went out of my way to ask him…well buy the twelfth day as nothing had moved and my order was still sitting in a que. I called. This was after 19 emails back and forth with tech support regarding changing DNS servers and domain registration—each time getting a different answer. Then when I called tech support about when the transfer would be completed I was told it could take up to 18-20 days. Umm not what I was told when I signed up. Not what their website states in writing.

The tech support representative then offered to sell me expedited service for $29.99 which would be another 4-7 days with no garuntee that it would be done by the 8th. Ummm what?? I signed up October 22nd, the 8th would be the 17th day so why do I have to pay $29.99?? How is that expedited? And why didn’t the sales person mention this when I signed up on the 22nd? It would have been done in a week. I screamed and yelled-and remember I am a NEW customer, and can still cancel. He then offered to waive the fee, but only after I got mad. I agreed to the expedited service with the fee waived.

But now I would to pay for a full year with my current host and then call them a week later for a refund. Hmmm. I went back online and did more research and found reviews for In Motion on Yelp. WOW the reviews were horrendous. People having their sites hacked, having their sites shut down by In Motion claiming they were using too much band width. Data being lost forever due to the In Motion servers being hacked, and on and on, 104 reviews with ninety percent being one star reviews. I called back and cancelled. You can read the reviews here. But if you are looking for a new host stay away from In Motion. I seriously dodged a bullet.

2) This weekend when I was shooting with Helene it was the first time I used back button focus and I LOVE it. I found much easier then front button focus—or when the shutter button is also the focus button. Some people think it take some getting use to, but I found it much easier.  You just have to remember to keep the focus point on the subject you want in focus as it won’t always be lit up. But this  feature will totally come in handy when shooting Fashion Week. You can learn about back button focusing here and here.

3) I discovered another Fashion/street style photographer Tommy Ton. Known also for back stage photography and his eye for detail, it should be no surprise he is highly successful at what he does. So be sure to have a look a around at  TommyTon.com

4) And I also discovered that there is a new reality competition series on Andorama TV for competing photographers. Think ANTM behind the lens. And it is even hosted by Nigel Barker. Cool right? Plus the Andorama site has a ton of useful information for photographers as well as classes and tutorials.

5) And finally I am ending on the same note I stared on. And bringing attention to the changing landscape of blogging, and it seems I am not the only one who has noticed how commenting has dropped off. And that no one is taking the time to really read or look at blogs any more. And the worst part is? It is bloggers themselves that are fueling this shift. But at any rate you can read Ashley’s take on how to be more supportive at her blog HappyPrettySweet.com

Top image by TommyTon