The Road to Mecca...

I love NYC - really, truly, love it. And I am so glad I had the opportunity to live there in my single years, and to visit frequently now. And one of the things I love about this city is stuff like this. Here we are, trying desperately to get to our destination...only to get stuck behind, of all things, a guy pushing a food cart down 9th Avenue! The people behind us were honking and this guy was just taking his time, right in the middle of the road. It was such a quintessential NY moment that I had to grab my iPhone and take a shot through my (embarrassingly) dirty car window. I faffed around with it a little in Paintshop and decided that I liked the selective color treatment.

You may be able to see B & H Photo just ahead in the picture - this is, for photographers, the equivalent of Mecca for Muslims. It is the photo store to beat all others. Yep, I love it. I bought my first DSLR (the beloved D90) at this very store, along with the now-gone 18-200 mm lens. I've since then purchased 4 other cameras here and 3 or 4 other lenses and who knows how much other "stuff". Today is the first time I've visited their "trade-in" desk up in a little cubby on the second floor, just above 34th Street. I must say that it was a very efficient process and they gave me a fair price for my gear. Considering that I had a brought in an old SLR camera with 4 non-digital lenses plus 3 DLSR lenses and one DSLR camera and some other miscellaneous stuff, the process too less then 10 minutes and I left with a store credit for $650 in my hot little hand!

Which I immediately took downstairs and spent towards a brand new Nikon D600, a Nikkor 28-300 lens, a UV filter, a carbon fiber Mononpod (that weighs only about a pound and compresses down to about 18 inches) and a really spiffy ball head mount. I opted to have it all shipped to me in order to save the 9% NY sales tax - shipping was $28 and the sales tax was WAY more than that! And it should be here Tuesday or Wednesday latest.

Now, a few words about B & H. Many of you have visited this store or at least ordered from them. They ship all over the world and are something of a destination for photographers visiting NYC where their "super store" is located. The store is owned by a Satmar Hasidic Jew, and he runs his business in complete accord with his beliefs. It is closed on Sabbat and all other Jewish holy days, including the entire week of Passover. Some may think that this is poor business decision but they've been operating this way since they opened in 1973. And, frankly, I find it really nice to see a business that is run in total alignment to the personal code of the owner. And I think it shows in their customer service - their employees are all highly knowledgeable - if you are shopping in their camera department, you will be talking to people who are photographers and who have hands-on knowledge and can answer your questions about the "real" stuff, not just the stuff in the brochure. The guy that helped me with the ball-head asked me a lot of questions about how I would use it so that he could understand what would work for me - you don't get this at most places.

So that's enough of my commercial about B & H and I'll climb down off my soapbox now.

By the way, I have an assortment of filters that I was not able to trade in. They are for 55mm, 49mm and 72 mm lenses. If anyone (probably only in the States) is interested in having any them, send me an email (see my About Me) and I'll give you the info. They are yours if you cover the cost of shipping. They weren't expensive filters so I don't feel right about charging anything for them.

Happy Sunday, blippers!

xxoo
Debbi