Paladin by Charles McCubbin

A New Beginning

2011-04-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

For years I have tried to keep my loves (Photography, Computers, and Firearms) separate on the web. I thought it would be good business to give each their own brand name. Well it might be good business but it's not been good time management. So I am consolidating all of my various blogs under this banner. I'm making a new beginning.

Back to Computers Again - and - again

2009-05-18T20:23:00.000-07:00

I am fully and firmly convinced that the powers that be in photography have recently conspired with the powers that be in computers to drag me back and forth between the two subjects. I feel like the man without a country or perhaps the man with two countries.

For more than 20 years I traveled the US as a "hired gun" computer consultant and contractor building systems and networks for big companies and small companies alike. In 2000 I went into forced retirement from travel computers. You can read all about that elsewhere here on the blog.

Recently several amateur photographers have come to me with computer problems, and more computer problems where I work part time several days a week have lead me to believe this. In reality it's' no more than Murphy's Law at work. But it brings home a giant fact of life, a fact that photographers have seemingly either not learned or forgotten. You have to know the digital world as well as the photographic world if your going to survive in this business today. You have to be more than a good photographer, or a good business man, yo must also know computers or know someone who does and have some deep pockets computer service is not cheap, or if it's cheap it's subject to not being very good.

Like any good professional sports team I believe in depth. In the case of digital photography that means duplicate equipment in some areas, and always backups. After all you can never have too much RAM, to many Gigabytes, or too many backups!

How are your backups?

Next time well talk about your disaster plan.

A little Bit more Background

2009-04-28T11:17:00.001-07:00

I have been doing photography for more than 30 years. First as an amateur then in 2003 I started into digital and really got excited about it again. I have been a successful computer consultant / contractor, and project manager which forced me to become a very experienced and knowledgeable traveler. I have also taught business and technology courses, been a successful insurance marketing executive and broker, and owned and operated a number of small businesses. Currently I spend my days as a freelance photographer and teacher. I enjoy teaching both professional and amateur photographers about both computers and photography.

I grew up on a farm, had lots of pets (10 dogs at one time!!), even had a few heifers on the place. I learned how to swamp stables, ride a horse, and a few other things. But nothing prepared me for herding 6 cats! Although, in the last few months I have seen that dwindle down to 3 due to the death of my oldest two and one runaway.

I traveled around this US doing computers for more than 20 years, sometimes taking my cameras, many times not able to do so. I build computers for companies big (AT&T, Lucent, BellSouth)medium (Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant; Neighborhood Health Partnership) and small like Doctor's offices, travel agents, and many others.

From 1976-78 I worked with the US Small Business Administration as a consultant while getting my MBA. My job was to take companies that had government loans and analyze their problems and potentials then design and often implement a solution. So forgive me if I write more about the business of photography and less about the art/science of photography. There maybe 10,000 internet sites that will tell you about lighting, which camera or lens to buy, and what's great about each (or poor for that matter) Hopefully I'm going to be able to make you a better businessman-photographer.

Someday I'll post my entire resume - be a surprise to some people.

Travel Photography, Just What Is It?

2009-04-28T11:12:00.000-07:00

I think of travel photography as being a composite of several other styles or types of photography including - landscape, architecture, portrait, event, and photojournalism. Today I want to take a look at how each of these fits into travel photography.

Let's start with Landscape and Architecture photography. Every time a travel photographer grabs a snap of the pyramids, or the Vatican he's doing architectural photography - photography of buildings. The same is true of landscapes like the Gobi Dessert or the beach in the Bahamas. They are landscapes too.

The same can be said for portraits of interesting people, and of course those everyday shots of eating, sleeping and just being us are all examples of photojournalism because they tell the story of our life, and of this particular trip. truly that's journalism in pictures, photojournalism.

So being a travel photographer means being a little bit of all of these styles; or perhaps a lot of each one individually at any one time. This time we are going to talk about landscape and architecture and the design styles and challenges laid out in this area.

In short, and we'll talk more about each of these styles as we go along, Travel Photography is just a composite of any group of these different styles of photography. If you have learned to become comfortable with one or more of these styles then you are comfortable with that part of travel photography. Do you need to be comfortable and capable in all of these styles, no I don't think so. But it would help to become well rounded in more than one. The more different styles you know the broader your appeal to viewers. If your doing it commercially you'll have a boarder (read larger) market for your photography. And if your an amateur photographer who just shoots for his family and his own pleasure; well you'll get more out of each trip and have much better memories.

Welcome Aboard

2009-04-28T11:10:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Paladin Blogspot. This is my first post. I have wanted to do this for a long time, but only recently got to the point where I could actively make serious contributions. I hate people who start these blogs and then just drop off the face of the earth. Now, after years of computers and photography and travel I am finally sitting down with one website (I've had as many as four) for words and pictures. So here goes...

Here's Why "Paladin"

2009-04-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

Paladin: One of Charlemagne’s twelve peers, and by a similar description King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table. The word has been extended to be applied to any medieval champion or knight of distinctive virtue. These are the holy warriors of the realm. Dedicated to fighting for their deity, they are serious fighters with minor priestly powers. They can use any weapon or armor, but prefer swords. Most Paladins will actively help anyone in need, even risking their own lives to save the ones they aid. Compassion, determination, and devotion describe the nature of the paladin.
===============================
Endowed with tremendous gifts, paladins oppose the cruel and the malevolent wherever they are found. Paladins are champions of the innocent. Even the least experienced paladin can detect the presence of the arcane, and more experienced paladins can smite arcane foes and turn them away or turn them to the good. All paladins are members of the True Faith, but their intensely personal relationship with their God means they need not follow a specific tradition. Paladins are born, not made: nobody chooses to become a paladin, and you cannot become one through practice. It is possible to fail to recognise "the call", or to deny it. Most paladins, however, answer "the call" sooner or later, and find a more experienced paladin to teach them "the way". Knight: The word deriving from the Anglo-Saxon Cniht, that described the office arising out of the warrior of the 11th century into a class of the lower nobility charged with fighting for the liege lord and maintaining lordship over the demense, managing it and defending the people in exchange for scutage from the property that supported him. Originally a purely martial description from the Latin miles, the definition of what it meant to be a knight changed as the influences of an increasingly formal court and activist church added expectations to the behavior of real knights. Throughout the medieval period, the role of the knight was changing, stretched between the conflicting demands of lady, court, church and battlefield. But the ideal of chivalry, the virtues to which a knight was to aspire, remain a powerful evocation of the best of Western culture, and this power remains today.

Cut to My Life
In 1980 I started doing computers as part of my job as a marketing manager for a major property-casualty insurance company. When it was time to move on I got into computers full time. I became a traveling computer guru (geek if you will) and one day my supervisor called and asked how fast could I be in New York. I simply replied I.ve got a laptop, I can travel. So th elegend of Paladin, the computer guru, was born. I spent the next 15 years traveling around building networks, training up help desk personnel. Helping america's business, both large and small, to become computerized.

I've always been the guy who wanted to do things right, thebest way, the smart way. Sometimes the long way and sometimes the quick and dirty way. But always the right way - hence Paladin fits. I may not be delivering the King's Justice but I am still bringing good business practices to America's Businesses.