Chris Nixon Mini Blog

Photo by Spikeale

I've spent much of the week playing with the Gorillapod SLR, a very cool alternative to a small tripod. It's not unusual with such gadgets that the idea sounds brilliant, but it never really translates to real-life use. So it was with a little bit of trepidation that I cracked open the packaging on my birthday present. I'm very happy to say my doubt was unfounded.

The flexible legs on the Gorillapod also have a great deal of grip, meaning that you can mount your camera on just about anything. A swing, a tree, your car's wing mirror, the handlebars of your kid's bike. Wrap it round and you're ready to go. I've been having a blast, especially when combined with my camera's wireless remote. I also used it in 'sensible' ways. To get that tripod sturdiness, but really low down, and I even used it as a brace to hold the camera steady on my chest.

This is no replacement for a tripod, it's something new...and it's fun. It's also inexpensive, so well worth adding to your arsenal. It will repay you by allowing you to do more with your camera. [amazon uk]

Up until recently, Photobox have been my photo printing company of choice. They were very quick, and the quality of their prints was brilliant. When ever somebody asked me about photo printing, I would send them to Photobox.

A couple of months ago, they relaunched the site, and gave it a snazzy new look. The interface really was vastly improved, and it had a much cooler and updated feel. Unfortunately, this is where things went wrong with my Photobox experience. When it came to placing my first order under the new interface things kept going missing from my basket. It would show 32 items on the page, but when I clicked through to the basket, there would now only be 21 items. I would try again, and completely different things would go missing.

It was a fairly complicated order, so I gave up after three attempts. I emailed to alert Photobox about the issues, and they replied saying that a lot of their customers were experiencing similar issues due to a technical problem with their server, and that I should try again in a few days. I left it a couple of weeks, and tried again. This time success...or so I thought. In the past, Photobox quickly got their orders out by 4pm the same day. In this case the dispatch took six days. Far too long, but OK, they must have been busy catching up with their server issues. However, that order has still not arrived over two weeks later.

What annoys me most is that I have emailed their customer service three times without any sort of reply. Each time a little more angry than the previous, but still polite. Today I'm furious. I've asked them if they could recommend a good photo printing site, written this piece, and I'm going to cancel the credit card transaction. I can only presume that the reason they can't be bothered to respond to my small problem is that they have much bigger problems to deal with. In the mean time, I'll turn the question over to you guys.

Can anybody recommend a good UK online photo printing service? I'm looking for good quality printing at a fair price.

While I think the photography of Thomas Hawk is great, I think this is his secondary skill. He is a man with vision. Thomas first hit my radar when I bought a Tivo back in 2001(?). I went online looking for more information about the more unofficial things that could be done with my shiny new box. I did a search on Google, and his blog popped up.

Later on when I bought a Media Center, he was already there with valuable advice on how to make the most of it. I have always loved photography. My dad and his dad were amateur photographers, so I knew a fair bit about the art. I was never hugely inspired to get my own camera and do it myself though. That said, I was the first person I know who bought a digital camera. It was horrible. The resolution was bad, and the sensor was so poor. But I was smitten. When I found Flickr in January 2006, guess who was there before me showing the way. You guessed it...Mr. Thomas Hawk.

Over the years, his blog has changed from a predominantly technology based blog to one that is about sharing ideas. I put the emphasis on sharing. While many want to keep their ideas to themselves, in order to make the most of their page views, faves or likes, Thomas spreads his around, using them as starting points for discussion and providing inspiration to others. I've lost count of the amount of ideas I've taken from Thomas. Not once has it felt like stealing. I always feel like they have been given to me to do with what I want, and to take forward in any direction that pleases me.

Last week he came up with the idea of keeping $2 in his wallet so that when he's asked for money in the street, he can give them the money in exchange for a photograph. The idea was innundated with positive comments on FriendFeed. Almost universally people wanted to use the idea for themselves. This happens regularly on his FriendFeed, Flickr and his blog. His ideas flow, and this has become more obvious since he joined FriendFeed. Mr Hawk, please consider this a hearty hand shake and a thank-you.