The Digital Negative

I want my D2X!!!

Nikon officially launched the new D2X camera on February 25th. I have feverishly been watching the internet forums tracking the shipments of the cameras to try and judge when I'd be able to pick mine up. To my knowledge, I'm #2 on the list at my local camera shop. However, no one at the shop seems to know anything about anything. I called on Friday and they said they had no idea when they would be getting them and if I heard Feb. 25th, then I know more than they do. IDIOTS!! Nikon has been preaching the date for months now.

On Saturday I decided to stop in the shop and talk to someone face-to-face. Much good that did. They salesman said, nope, haven't heard anything. He then went on with some spiel about how Nikon usually lies and it would probably be about two months. TWO MONTHS!! Put down the crack pipe and step away from the counter.

Needless to say, I was pissed. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars at their store, the salesmen know nothing and they don't even remember my name. Usually retail businesses would go out of their way to find some information about the ship date of a $5000 product. Especially one that had a line of people wanting them.

Today, when I got back from lunch, I quickly scanned the forums to update myself on what stores are starting to get shipments and I notice someone just posted a message that B&H Photo is showing the D2X as "In Stock". The wise people at B&H had been saying all along that they were not taking pre-orders and they would sell them first-come-first-serve when they arrive. Their online site tracking inventory is real-time and only when the camera is in stock, does the site allow you to put one in your shopping cart and check-out.

Faster than a speeding bullet, I pulled up the B&H website, searched for the D2X, and sure enough it was showing in stock. Without blinking I added the camera to my shopping cart, hit the checkout button, auto-filled my username and password, picked overnight shipping, double checked my shipping & billing addresses, typed in my credit card number and hit submit. This all happened in the time span of about 3.51 seconds. I was so excited my heart was racing. Moments later, Entourage made that sweet sound of the confirmation email arriving in my inbox. I was a happy camper.

Fast forward a couple hours. I get another email from B&H saying they called my home phone and was unable to verify the order. OK, I've spent a lot of money at my local camera store, but compared to the amount of money I have spent at B&H, it's pocket change. Never has B&H tried to contact me to verify an order. Wonderful! All I could think was that they couldn't verify my order so they sold the camera to someone else. I quickly dialed the verification number on the email and waited on hold for 49 minutes. Finally, the never ending recording was interrupted by a verification employee who answered the phone and said, "please hold". A couple more minutes and the gentleman picked up again, took my order number and said I had to call the number they left on my answering machine at home... #!%@&!^@$@#!@#%&@

I call home, Sharon gives me the "special" number and I call. Guess what? Say damn recording and background hold music. However, a streak of luck and someone answers within a couple minutes. I eagerly give the guy on the other end of the phone my order number and he says, nothing to worry about Mr. Vreeland, your order is now confirmed and your camera will ship out tomorrow morning.

I should be really excited now shouldn't I be? I was for a couple hours until I went back to the B&H website to check my order status. It says "On Order". That's the nice way of saying, BACKORDERED. While this could just be a computer glitch, I'm not amused. The D2X is now listed as Out of Stock on their website. Word is that B&H sold 150 cameras in 10 minutes.

If you read this far, I'm impressed. Blogs really do work. I'll let you know if the camera really does ship tomorrow.

When it rains, it pours

I've been going nuts with all this crummy weather. It's already March and I barely have any nice shots so far this year. That's all about to change.

First, the swell is picking up and rumor has it the Maverick's Surf Contest might be happening this week. I've been waiting a year to get a chance to shoot Mavs again and this is my chance. I got a guaranteed spot on the back of a jet ski for front row seating of the event.

Next, I just finalized plans for four days of snow kiting in Salt Lake City. I leave for that in a couple weeks.

Finally, my annual trek to the dry lakes for Spring Break Buggy Blast (now officially called the NABX) happens at the end of the month.

Three huge events, back to back. This is going to be one busy month.

Limited Edition Prints

That's the idea I have been working on for a while.

I wanted to come up with a way to share some of my killer kiting photography with the world, and I decided on Limited Edition prints. I experimented with different sized prints and every time I made a poster sized print, I said, "Wow!". I wanted to plaster my whole house with them, but finally agreed on just a couple in my home office, and seven of them on the walls of my home-away-from-home office.

What would look even more cool? Signing each one with a thick metallic paint pen and an edition number. That probably doesn't mean much to most people, but for me, every time I go to sign my name to one of my photographs, it's an amazing experience. Hard to explain.

I chose ten of my favorite kiting images from 2004 (ok, one from 2005 slipped in there) and put an edition limit of an equal, ten. I think it makes them special. It's only possible for a hundred people in this world, to own one of the first Limited Edition prints I have ever made. And made them I did. These aren't prints that I had some lab make for me. I personally printed each and every one. I even had to stretch a cable across the ceiling of my office to hang the drying prints on before they are trimmed, signed, numbered and then packed in a tube.

So now, if you got this far, you owe it to yourself to go check the rest of the images that I chose. Then let me know how many you want to buy. :)

Limited Edition Kiting Photography, by Robert Vreeland

RIP - Jon Mozo

Jon Mozo, an icon in surf photography was found dead yesterday at Pipeline. Reports say that Jon suffered severe head trauma, most likely due to an impact with the reef while out photographing surfers.

Jon's surf photography is some of the best I have ever seen. His unique style of mixing fine art with surfing action is next to none.

Jon, you will be missed.

Who is Rob Vreeland?

That's exactly what the editors of Kitelife Magazine wanted to know. They contacted me about a month ago and asked if I wanted to do an interview about my kiting photography. I was instantly excited about the idea, so off I went to pick some of my favorite kiting images for the gallery and to begin answering the interview questions.

I've never really put much effort into putting my past on paper, so this was a great way to make me take a look back. Not sure if all the days of smelling photographic chemicals killed some of the memories, I think I remembered the most important.

So here it is, my first interview. I'd like to thank the guys at Kitelife for finding me interesting enough to do it.

Link to Kitelife Interview