The Sony a7… it ALMOST made my every wish come true!

At Imaging USA, I got sucked into the gigantic Sony display when I realized that the tiny little camera on the counter was a full frame wolf hiding in teeny tiny sheep’s clothing. Hi-def video and an adapter for XLR inputs – check! Automatic face recognition focus while shooting video – check! 24 megapixel stills?!?! Unprecedented level of button and menu customization?!?!?! 25600 iso??! Adaptable to just about any lens under the sun?!?!? Battery grip?!?! All for a crazy good price I could buy two of them with battery grips and a flash each for less than my D4 body… and it’s TINY! This camera does so much and has so many customizable features that it took a day and a half of the tradeshow to get all of the details out of the sales reps. By the end, I was hooked and ordered a body, a battery grip, extra batteries, two flashes, the fancy Sony adapter and a 24-70 Alpha lens (to test the fancy adapter and lens’ focusing ability, which apparently is the same as found in the Alpha line of Sony’s pro series cameras).

Part of this decision was driven by my long standing frustration with the obvious strategy that both Nikon and Canon employ of dribbling out small improvements to different aspects of their systems in “brand new” camera models. They obviously have a huge amount of advanced tech already developed and they will introduce it, one small piece at a time, in different new models, forcing their customers to purchase new bodies every couple of years. So long as the tech they dribbled out was slightly better than what their opposition had dribbled out, that’s all they seem to care about.

I was so impressed to see Sony leapfrog all of that with a camera that was tiny and powerful and with a host of features that no other camera had. Finally! A full frame camera from a company that was trying to put the latest tech into the hands of its customers! It sounded like so many of the great things I had read about Fuji’s X-series cameras, but with a full frame sensor! On top of all of that, I absolutely, viscerally, loved the look and feel of the camera (most especially when the battery grip was attached).

I have been shooting with the camera, both out and about with my kids and in the studio, pushing it in low light, really low light, with studio strobes, and with the Sony flashes. What follows is not a complete review. There are now many of those out there, and they do a much better job of giving an in depth review than I can.

Instead, I will focus on some of the details that have not been addressed fully, or that are specific to someone like myself – a wedding shooter who would love to find the camera that is perfect for weddings, studio shots, as well as for travel and day to day shooting (I know, right?)

First, let’s talk about batteries and battery chargers. My first piece of advice is to anyone who intends to purchase an a7. Go ahead and order a couple of cheap after market chargers before you even buy the camera. It will save you the teeth grinding frustration of having a camera that morphs into the worlds most expensive battery charger when your battery needs to be charged.

Let me address my next comments about the lack of a battery charger to the folks at Sony. I do not know what committee of mindless mid level executives decided to save a few bucks by not including a battery charger, but it says quite a lot to your potential professional photographer customers. First, it tells your professional customers that you don’t really see this as a professional camera body for use by professionals. It also says very clearly that you didn’t bother to give the camera to any professionals to use before deciding to deprive them of a battery charger. This camera system could be quite attractive to wedding photographers. However, in a given wedding, I may shoot 1,200 images, which means that, to be safe, I will need six batteries for my battery grip. If I intend to charge the batteries using the provided USB cable for the body and nothing else, that would mean being unable to use my camera from eighteen to twenty four hours prior to the wedding, since the in-camera charging is slower than if I decided to build each battery by hand. The situation would be less absurd if the battery grip also acted as a charger – but no. Thus, if I only own two batteries, I still won’t be able to use my camera for three to eight hours as it slowly charges the two batteries. It also means that I will have to be present every three to four hours to swap batteries in the body for charging.

What could have been perceived by consumers as a possibly handy backup method of charging had a charger been included with the body (for example, if the charger were to be lost or forgotten while traveling), is instead seen as an annoying and frustrating slap in the face of serious photographers. Since the Sony charger for the battery doesn’t ship for three to five weeks, you then guarantee that your customers are forced to purchase a cheap after market charger. The impression you make on your customers is that you don’t take this camera or your customers seriously. Remember, serious photographers, professional or not, are investing in a camera system, not just a single piece of gear. To leave out such a seemingly small but crucial piece says that you don’t actually understand photographers all that well. What could be an incredibly attractive camera system to wedding photographers especially will instead leave potential customers (meaning customers that may want to switch from Nikon or Canon) with serious doubts about your commitment to the camera’s ecosystem. My final feedback to the folks at Sony – if you want to rectify the situation, offer a compact, high speed, dual battery charger that shows the battery’s progress as it charges.  Offer it at a low price with quick availability. That will go a long way to showing photographers that you understand their needs. By the way, start offering spare battery trays for the battery grip. That would be great too.

That said, it is easy to find battery chargers on Amazon, and the one I got works well and quickly. So, it is an annoyance, but not a deal breaker for the consumer. If you are a wedding shooter, and you needs lots of charged batteries, go ahead and buy multiple chargers. You can charge your batteries faster, and if a charger dies, you’re not totally up a creek.

I put the a7 through the situations that I consider to be specific to weddings and that demand the most of any camera used for weddings. The three crucial areas are low light focusing, high ISO noise, and the reliability of native flash TTL systems.

The Sony a7 had what I considered to be acceptable if not outstanding low light focusing, but, honestly, there are so many focusing variables that the photographer can set in a dizzying array of combinations, that I’m still not sure I’ve tested them all. So, there may be even better low light focusing settings. I have also not thoroughly tested the Alpha 24-70 with the adapter to see how well it handles low light. Once I’ve played with that some more, I’ll post an update. As for focusing speed in “normal” light levels, I was completely happy with the a7’s performance. Again, the many options available for focusing make it hard to say that I have hit upon the best combination of focusing options. A heads up to those of you thinking the manual will explain it all – it doesn’t. It doesn’t come close. It doesn’t even adequately explain the basic settings. It is the single most useless manual I have ever seen for a camera. It is as if the manual assumes you already know everything about the Sony system, and you might just check the manual occasionally to remind yourself. If you want to find out how to do just about anything with the a7, read the little bit that is in the manual, then go online and google or search youtube for details.

When it comes to high ISO noise, I’m comparing it to one of the low light champions in the industry – the Nikon D4. Without a doubt, the D4 has much less noise at 25600 ISO than the a7. While that probably shocks no one, it is worth noting. Up to at least 1600 ISO, the a7 does quite a good job. After more testing I’ll post updates for the ISO levels from 1600 on up.

The Sony wireless TTL flash system performs well indoors and around corners where the light can bounce back to the remote flash, but it does have some quirks. What I was hoping for was a flash system as straight forward and sensible as the Nikon system – you want a flash, any flash, brighter or dimmer, you tell that flash to do so from the camera mounted flash. If you want TTL, you set them to TTL. I love Nikon’s flash system design. Sony’s… is not quite so intuitive. In fact, it is in many ways something that I imagine only makes sense to a flash engineer. Photographers are not engineers. That said, once you watch a few Youtube videos and read some blogs posts with detailed instructions, it will make sense and then it becomes pretty straightforward. But it definitely takes some practice. The bottom line – if it weren’t for the awesomeness that is the a7, the Sony flash system would never appeal to me. Now that I have scratched the surface of it, I’ll say that I am lukewarm about it. It is not the arcane and seemingly uncontrollable mess that the Canon system was when I used to shoot Canon, but it is nowhere near the simple joy that the Nikon system is.

As for the quality of the light, I’ve been completely happy with on camera flash that has been bounced over my shoulder off of walls and ceilings. It fills quite nicely.

That is a scattershot review of items relevant to the a7 that I haven’t seen discussed in other reviews. All in all, I love the a7. It is absolutely a great pleasure to hold and shoot with and I carry it with me at all times. This camera excites me more than any camera I have purchased in the last four or five years. It will have a place in my wedding workflow, but it may not be good enough for low light receptions and departures. I’ll post follow ups as I test it further.

Keep Loving Life!

MHH

Imaging USA… definitely worth it!

As I wrote in an earlier post, I was really worried that a week away from my family, combined with the cost of a week in a hotel room (I did three days of pre-convention classes), would not be worth it when it was all said and done. I crossed my fingers that the classes and presentations at Imaging USA in Phoenix would be great. 

Now that I am home, I could not be happier with the time and money spent at Imaging. The pre-con classes were incredible and the regular convention “classes” were helpful. I got to see Gregory Heisler speak about his career, I was able to get an autographed copy of his new book, and he was kind enough and approachable enough that after the crowd dispersed (which took at least an hour and a half), we chatted briefly and took a picture together.

The unparalleled resource that PPA offers its members is the Studio Management Services and the research that they have conducted over the years into the managerial accounting analysis of successful, profitable studios. My advice to any photographer who has not taken their business classes – after you read this post, go sign up for the next SMS class near you. There is no other trade organization that I know of in any field that provides the kind and extent of financial planning tools and access to business savvy minds that PPA does. 

A run down of what I learned: A crash course in creating and running a successful (in this case, wedding) photography business; how to create, market, sell huge panoramic photographs and how doing so can have positive ripple effects in other areas of your photography business; a mind straining crash course further into branding. I’m still rereading those notes to attempt to grasp it further; how to utilize the PPA business resources through the web tools and the business research available online; and, finally, one of the classes that had less effect on my business plans and more effect on my gear led me to a new idea of how to make my strobe/lightstand/power source/camera gear far more mobile.

As for the tradeshow, I met great people ( shout out the the great folks from Bend, Oregon at the Asukabook booth), checked out lots of gear, was numbed by the somewhat pointless “celery-shooters” speaking at several of the larger booths, signed up for StickyAlbums, and got sucked in at the Sony booth by the new a7 and a7r. What? A full frame camera so small I thought it was a micro four thirds camera? Dripping with top shelf Sony techno-flashiness? Priced at…. wait for it… $1700 and $2300, respectively? WHAT? Yep, I’m sucked in.

So I was inspired in my business, inspired by an photography rock star, and had my techno fix filled.

The one huge frustration of the show was my (ongoing) interaction with Samy’s Camera. I placed an order for the Sony a7 with them at their booth, wanting the camera quickly and wanting to support a vendor. I assumed there was a good chance the camera would be waiting for me when I got home. I called them today, as I have received no email or any other communication from them. I was prepared to cancel my order and get one from Amazon, since, had I ordered from Amazon in the first place, I would definitely have my camera already. However, after wrestling my way through their almost useless phone tree, I spoke with a very friendly gentleman in their web orders division (I have no idea how I ended up there). He told me that the memory card (that they had included for free) was not in stock, so they had held my order… for four days… without contacting me. However, the guy told me he would give me two day shipping, and when I told him to forget the card, just send my camera, he promised me he would get back in touch with me today. He never called. I will call them first thing tomorrow. If the camera is not already on its way to me, I will cancel that order and get one through Amazon. That lack of service, combined with their nearly rude behavior at their booth guarantees that I will not be providing any more business to that company! I can’t stop thinking that, had I ordered the camera through Amazon, it literally may have gotten to my house before I did.

Other than the general unpleasantness that has been my dealings with Samys, I would say that Imaging was worth all the time and money. Kudos to the following instructors:

Carrie Wildes

John Hartman (his marketing and photography sites)

Bridget Jackson, CPA

Beth Taubner

Blair Phillips

Thanks to all of you for educating and inspiring me!

Keep loving life!

MHH

Imaging USA 2014, part two

Well, I am back on the blog! It is now Saturday evening, and the first three days of classes of Imaging USA (technically the pre-conference classes) are done. For the first two days I attended the Business Basics for Wedding Photographers class. It was all that I hoped it would be. Because attending these pre-conference classes adds four days to the amount of time I’m away from my wife and kids, I was really, really hoping that this class would give me hard financial facts about how to run a wedding photography business. It did all of that and more. Our primary instructor, Carrie Wilds, has a fantastic background in owning a very profitable wedding photography business combined with the prior experience of high level corporate engineering project management. She combined that knowledge with a fun, approachable teaching style to make it easy for us to learn. Her experience combined with the research and analysis the PPA has conducted over the last several years led me to sum it up this way: she showed us the bullseye and told us how to hit it. We learned about the resources the PPA website offers to help photographers hit the benchmarks and, most importantly, BE PROFITABLE. What more could any of us ask for out of that class!?

Today I attended John Hartman’s class, “How To Create, Market, and Sell Spectacular Panoramic Photos”. Again, I was worried that the class wouldn’t be very helpful, but my worries were unfounded! Not only did we learn a lot about doing the things in the title of the class, we also learned new ways to use panoramic shooting techniques in situations I would have never thought to use them in. It will give me tricks and techniques that I can use in weddings, family shoots, all kinds of circumstances. More tools in the toolbox. Gravy. While he did finish up with a small amount of soft selling of his products, it was very low key and there was no attempt to make the class a sales pitch. All in all, I was once again incredibly happy with what I learned. It was definitely worth my time and money.

So, the pre-conference classes are done and I feel I have gotten great value for my time and money. Tomorrow the regular conference begins. A few of the classes I’m attending are taught by the same people from my pre-conference classes. They promise that the material will be different but of equal value. We’ll see how things shake out. So far, so good.

Woohoo! The holidays!

For the next couple of weeks, we will be traveling doing Christmas-y things, and general being overwhelmed by the fun and madness of the holidays. Given that fact, I will warn you now that any posts that may hit this ol’ blog o’ mine will be even more sporadic and random than usual. So, at least until the middle of January, my incredibly precise blog posting schedule will be chucked out the window. I know it will be hard to survive without me, but you’ll make it. Merry Christmas or happy Winter Solstice,or pick your holiday of choice. Be well and stay sane!

Keep loving life!

MHH

Lightroom 5 Training with Kelby Training and Matt Kloskowski

The post today is late because I wanted to write a post about my experience with Kelby Training and Matt Kloskowski’s class on Lightroom 5 held in Jacksonville, Florida. After it was over, I decided to drive back to Charleston, so I am just now getting the chance to share my thoughts on the experience. I have known Matt for years. In typical photographer fashion, our remember that in the Photoshop class I took from him he spent part of the last day showing us a cool new Adobe product called “Lightroom” that was about to be released. So, it with a since of continuity that I am now taking a Lightroom 5 class from him. So, in Lightroom years its only been five years, but in human years. its been much longer. He is a super nice guy, a phenomenal teacher, and all around knowledgeable photo guru. His website, Lightroom Killer Tips, provides non stop tips and tricks that range from “oh that’s handy”, to the, “oh dear lord, that just made my entire workflow and my images better and/or easier!”.

This was my first taste of a class from the Kelby Media nuclear powered rocket that is Scott Kelby’s magazines, web shows, websites, blogs, classes, seminars, Facebook pages, twitter feeds, and industry organizations. I was previously a member of the NAPP and received Photoshop User magazine, but I never really took advantage of all the organization offered, but I got a taste of the Kelby juggernaut. Really, just watching how they cross sell an up sell things is an education in sales. If you want to learn how to sell to people in a way that people will enjoy and even welcome, pay attention to how Kelby Media does their thing. That is like getting a whole other class in the class!

While there is a lot of flash to Kelby media, there is also one hell of a lot of substance. In our one day class, Matt was able to cover every single part of Lightroom, and, I think, touch on every single Lightroom tool. By the nature of a one day class, some things received lighter treatment than others, but he nonetheless managed an incredibly helpful instructional run down of all that Lightroom has to offer. To his credit, he also made himself available at all the breaks and at lunch to anyone who had questions (although he did ask that he be allowed to go to the bathroom without being questioned… fair enough!)

If you are an experienced Lightroom user and you have educated yourself on the features of Lightroom 5 (I sorta, kinda put myself in that category), you won’t find any mind blowing revelations in this class. After all, one of the beauties of Lightroom is that it is far more comprehensible than the labyrinthian, down-the-rabbit-hole experience of Photoshop! But, as is always the case when Matt is dropping knowledge, there will probably be a few nuggets of golden “oooohh!” and “aaahhhh!” moments that will make the day worthwhile.

You will get the “give even more of your money to Scott Kelby’s media empire!” sales push on many fronts, but it is done in such a friendly way, and does, in fact, offer value for the money, that it is hard to feel irked by the experience. And, truthfully, they put out so much information for free, that I can’t begrudge them more of my dollars. Admittedly, much of the information about Lightroom 5 is available online for free (including Matt’s site!), but in this class, you get all the tips and tricks in one go, in one day, and you get access to one of the Photoshop/Lightroom studs for a whole day. There is a lot to be said for that.

As seems to be the case with anything Scott Kelby touches, there is a lot of value in this (or, probably, any) of Kelby Training’s one day workshops. If you are new or newish to Lightroom and you know there is more to the program that you aren’t utilizing, you won’t regret a day spent with Matt K learning how to put Lightroom through its paces. If it is coming to a town near you, go for it.

For Photographers… Is Imaging USA worth it?

I am, by no means, an old hand in the world of professional photography. I’m not even a middle aged hand. I am, perhaps a pre-teen hand? Anyway! I have dabbled in photography for decades. I spent a few years shooting weddings professionally, but it was not my primary source of income (which is probably the real definition of “professional photographer”, so I probably didn’t qualify even then as a “professional”).

Perhaps “high end dabbler” would be a better description of the role I played. I provided a very professional end product to my clients – images and albums that I am still quite proud of.

And now, I want to restart and commit to the photography business again, and at a higher level. So, I am interested in attending Imaging USA, the annual convention of the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). I attended once, several years ago, and left moderately unimpressed. However, at the time I was without a specific direction, and my experience probably suffered from my scattershot pick of classes as well. So, while some of my mixed experience with Imaging USA is entirely my own fault, I found that much of the conference was fluff. Interesting fluff, sometimes exciting fluff, but still fluff. The kind of fluff that leaves you feeling empowered, but with not much in the way of concrete information.

I have continued to received Professional Photographer magazine (the official publication of the PPA) over the last several years, and, again, the magazine has been a mixed bag. Issues from a few years ago were consistently filled with some of the worst over-photoshopped crap I’ve ever seen and the articles weren’t much better. Over the last few years, the flavor of the magazine has changed and the issues have been engaging and of very high quality with many eye opening business focused articles, lots of examples of successful studios and how they achieved that success, that sort of thing. So, now that I am ready to restart the photo business, I turned my attention to the PPA and their annual conference, Imaging USA.

After a bit of back and forth with myself, and some clarifying conversations with my wife, I have signed up for the 2014 Imaging USA conference in Phoenix. And this time I go with a purpose – to learn as much about the business of a successful studio as I can. I’ve signed up for pre-convention business classes as well as a class about marketing and selling big panoramic photos (next summer we are moving to Bend, Oregon, a place with a stunningly beautiful landscape and lots of tourists and second home owners, so selling giant panos could be a real possibility).

As for the convention itself, I haven’t yet settled on all of the classes I want to take, but I am heartened to see class offerings like “Forget the fluff and let’s make money” and “What’s your number”, a class focused on determining what amount of business you need in order to achieve profitability, just in day one. Not so many years ago, the focus of Imaging USA (and, in fairness, other conferences that I looked at or attended) seemed to be on the rock star speakers – all flash, sizzle, and attaboys. It’s good to see that the focus is now almost fully on technical and business proficiency (although this Imaging USA has spent a lot of time talking about “MUSIC LEGEND KENNY ROGERS WILL BE THERE!”, which is fine. It sounds like the man is a committed and skilled photographer, but that’s the sort of thing that would leave me uninterested if it were the focus of the conference.)

The one area that PPA has always impressed me with is their nuts and bolts analysis of the business of photography businesses. Their behind the scenes work on understanding the accounting and economics of how to be profitable in the photography industry at the individual and small business level has always impressed me. My intention is to learn what I can at Imaging USA to further clarify my business focus, then utilize those PPA resources down the road to make sure I’m not making mistakes that have been made by so many others before me and allow me to create a fun business.

We’ll see if the Imaging USA conference will kickstart that process or leave me disappointed.

Do I have it wrong? Is Imaging USA awesome or worthless? Any tips you more experienced  attendees have, please share in the comments! I would love to get it right this time around, with both the conference and my business, so any pro info I can gather would be appreciated. Either way, I hope to see you at Imaging in January.

the 2014 Imaging USA conference will be in Phoenix, Arizona from January 9th to the 14th.

If you would like to find out more about the conference, click here – Imaging USA

If you would like to know more about the Professional Photographers of America, click here – PPA

If you own a camera…

My friend Matt Kloskowski, the uber-photo demigod (Scott Kelby playing the role of actual deity in this pantheon) behind www.lightroomkillertips.com recently gave a heads-up to the photo community that Adobe is offering Lightroom and the full version of Photoshop, plus 20GB of cloud storage for $9.99, but only until December 3rd. If you are a pro photographer, you’ve probably already heard about this, but if you take digital photos at any level, this is an incredible deal. Lightroom and Photoshop are extraordinary photo management and manipulation tools, and this price is pretty mind-blowing. You can find the details at Lightroom Killer Tips, or go straight to the source at Adobe.com. The price is only good until December 3rd, so jump on it!

(By the way, while I wish Abode was paying me money or bribing me to write this, I get nothing from them. But, ahem, if they read this and want to start giving me free stuff to write about their products, I will happily do so!)

Happy Thanksgiving to folks in the U.S., and have a great day to everyone else!

Here is your somewhat random photo: A picture of me as a unicycling elf, ready for the local Christmas parade.

Keep loving life!

MHH

The awesomeness that is funny writers

Books are awesome. Different authors, genres, characters, settings, concepts – we live in an age of the literary cornucopia… Which is kind of the problem when I go looking for authors across genres that share one thing in common – they make me laugh. There are several really good websites that will help you find a good book based on what you like to read, but none of them can help me when what I want to find is an author who makes me laugh. And by laugh, I mean books and authors that make me laugh out loud in public, that will have me shaking silently as I read in bed while my wife sleeps, that will make my face turn red and tears run down my cheeks. The beauty of these writers is that, not only can they bring the funny, they also create characters that you will come to care about. And, as is often the case with the best writers, they will often make me see the world in a new way.

John Scalzi – A phenomenal science fiction author (and long time blogger), he has moments of real hilarity mixed into fantastic writing. Even within the genre, his books vary a lot so it would be hard to recommend the perfect starter book, but a good place to start is Old Man’s War. His blog is also worth checking out for often hilarious posts.

Christopher Brookmyre is a Scottish author with a brilliant, funny, and somewhat dark and very skewed perspective on the world. His wikipedia page says his writing, “mix comedy, politics, social comment and action with a strong narrative”. Yes, but that is a dry and boring description of what is some of the funniest, biting humor in fiction writing, much less in the crime genre. One thing to note for us American readers – you will be occasionally dunked up to you neck in Scottish slang and references. The downside is there will be a few moments when you’re not sure exactly what the character is saying or what is being referred to (but you’ll quickly figure it out). The upside is you will be exposed to awesome curse words that are far more imaginative and fun to use than any you’ve heard here in the U.S. of A.

Terry Pratchett is a a genius. A warped, insightful, and hilarious evil genius of the best kind. I’ve loved almost everything he has ever written. He is most famous for his Discworld a fantasy world that has reflects our own, warts and all. Not only will you laugh, you will find yourself drawing comparisons in your real world to the absurd and goofy things Pratchett writes about. My one recommendation – don’t start with The Color of Magic, Pratchett’s first Discworld book. “Guards! Guards!” is a pretty good place to start. For younger readers (although they are some of my favorite books of his) he wrote the Bromeliad Trilogy and the books that focus on the character of Tiffany Aching (Wee Free Men, A Hat Full Of Sky, I Shall Wear Midnight, and The Wintersmith), but really, they are just as great for the rest of us.

Jim Butcher’s series The Dresden Files follow the exploits of Private Investigator Harry Dresden… who also happens to be an extremely powerful wizard. Why is that funny, you ask? Because Harry is a smart ass who never takes himself too seriously. He also, especially when dealing with life and death situations (as well as intensely absurd situations), loves to be snarky. Mr. Butcher has done a brilliant job of having his main characters grow and change over the course of the books, something that many series writers do not have the courage to do. His secondary characters are well developed and become fully realized people (even if they aren’t human). That too keeps me coming back, book after book. There are currently fourteen books in the series, so if you are meeting Harry for the first time, start at the first book and get ready for a wild ride.

A warm place in my reading heart is reserved for Douglas Adams. I read The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy way back in high school, and it altered my perception of what I wanted in this life. It also made me laugh my arse off. The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy series was brilliant and awesome. The movie was crap. If you saw the movie and haven’t read the books, you may be irreparably tainted. Try to read the books without picturing the movie.

One final book by Steve Martin – Pure Drivel. I last read that book over fifteen years ago, and there are parts of it that I still laugh out loud over when I just think about them. Obviously a genius on many fronts, Mr. Martin is a man to follow through all of his exploits.

There is my short list of the truly funny. But here’s the thing – I want more. Please, I’m begging ya, if there are books and authors that make you laugh out loud – please post them in the comments. I’m always looking for great authors and great books.

Keep reading, and keep loving life!

MHH

P.S. – This is what our younger daughter thinks of books that aren’t funny.

The low down on man underwear

Forget religion, forget politics, forget foreign policy, health care, and the economy. Here it is, another hard hitting, deeply researched post on the topic that men and women REALLY care about! Men’s underwear! The type, the fit, and my choices for the top two styles and brands that will do the job. (By the way, even though I usually incude a few photos in my posts, there will be no photos of me in my underwear in this post. So you can relax now).

Let me begin by saying that in the course of my life I have worn tighty-whiteys, I have worn boxers, I have worn boxer-briefs, I have worn any and all variations of all of the above, and I have gone commando. What I have realized is that I have a fundamental belief that men’s underwear should actually do the job of supporting my man parts. My underwear should hold my bits and pieces in a supportive and moderately restrained place and way.

I started life wearing plain old fruit-o-the-loom or Hanes or whatever tighty whiteys I picked up at Wal-Mart. They are, at first glance, designed to fulfill the primary responsibility of men’s underwear – support the package. However, they fail at this job after only a few washings by becoming saggy, baggy and generally unattractive. You not only don’t get the benefit of support, you also look really unappealing with your clothes off. If you are two or three percent body fat, you’re still going to do ok in the clothes-removed phase of nakedness, but even then your saggy not-so-tighty-and-probably-dingy-whiteys will be doing you no favors, either aesthetically or supportively.

Can I also discuss the front flap area of tighty-whiteys? What is that for? Does any man, anywhere in the world, actually attempt to extract their penis through the overlapping layers of fabric in order to pee? If so, how can you pee when your penis in bent into the shape of the letter “Z” by the flaps of fabric? Pro tip – just pull the waistband down.

Boxers were next for me. Looking back at that period, boxers serve one purpose – so you can still look fashionable when you take your clothes off in front of someone you want to impress in the not-wearing-clothes department. Boxers are simply thin shorts. Perhaps if you are wearing sandpaper pants, they will help with chafing. Otherwise? Pointless affectation. Either don’t wear underwear or accept that you’re just wearing shorts under your shorts. Zero man support. I’ve know guys that wear boxers under workout clothes, even to run in. That’s like a girl wearing a tanktop for support while jogging. And, let’s be honest, sitting down in boxers requires an undignified amount of self adjustment or uncomfortable sitting. About the only thing boxers are good for is sleeping in. One final thing I dislike about boxers, just like with regular briefs – why do they have a slit in the front? We men are, in fact, capable of figuring out how to pull the waistband down when we need to free ourselves from our underwear for whatever purposes do not require full underwear removal.

Boxer briefs are supposed to be the perfect combination – cooler looking than tighty whiteys, more supportive than boxers. Not quite. The truth of the matter is that boxer briefs are more like wearing a cardigan sweater on your crotch. Some support, yes, but not really all that much. Yet for some reason, most boxer briefs are made of thicker material. Even if they don’t bunch up on your legs (which many types do) it is still the sweater-on-your-crotch effect. Some newer boxer briefs are essentially compression shorts. They do a fine job, but not really anything a good pair of briefs won’t do, and often still suffer from the problem of bunching up.

What is has come down to for me is a variation on the briefs concept.  They aren’t white, thankfully, but they are of roughly the same design. The big improvements are in the fabric and the details of the underwear. Light weight, more breathable, more fitted. They still may not be super cool when you are at the pants off moment with the one you are trying to impress, but they will fit in the front and in the back far better than your typical pair of briefs.

The two brands that I have found that fit best are Patagonia and Ex Officio.

The Patagonia Lightweight Brief is, according to their website, “Formfitting, lightweight, quick-drying briefs underwear made of a recycled polyester double-knit rib for softness and stretch.” Yeah. What they said. They really are fitted, breathable, comfortable, and, importantly, supportive. And, also importantly, they stay that way over time. The other nice touch is the Patagonia briefs are a much lower waisted design from any other briefs I have tried. Thanks to that, they recover quite a lot of cool points that you lose by wearing briefs. They also prove to be way, way more comfortable that way. I have no idea why most briefs are designed to have their waistbands ride just under the bellybutton (or at least they feel that way to me), but the Patagonia ones, thankfully, ride much lower. The Patagonia briefs come in black, gray, or blue; a huge improvement over white, for sure. The one drawback to the Patagonia briefs is that lack of durability over time. I guess the thinner, light weight, breathability of the Patagonia briefs pay for those benefits in not being quite so durable. They last for quite a while, years in my case, but for the money, I would like them to be indestructible forever, thank you very much.

The only other brand I have found that come close are the Ex Officio “give n go” briefs. Not quite as breathable, but super comfy. The big drawback – for some reason, ex officio designers decided that the men who buy ex officio underwear want them to be so high waisted that they are the overalls version of “performance” underwear. They are as high waisted as any regular underwear you find at Wal-Mart. Great material, far more durable than the Patagonia underwear, but really, really too high waisted for my tastes (and for contemporary fashion). I have two minor quibbles I have with them is the slight sheen some of the colors have. It may be no big deal to some, but I prefer the flat black, gray, or blue of the Patagonia lines. The black Ex Officio underwear seem to have less sheen to me, so stick with those if you care. The second quibble is the waistband. Patagonia waistbands are perfect – snug but not tight, and they stay that way over time. Ex Officio waistbands tend to be just too far into the the snug category. Not uncomfortably so, but enough to notice it when you change out of them. The Ex Officio underwear are available in a surprising TEN different colors! Regrettably, they offer white as one of those choices. Please, please, don’t buy white. Briefs are unfashionable enough. White briefs just push you right into the utter goob category.

A third option that may be worth your time and money trying out is the REI briefs. They at first seemed to be the very best briefs I have tried. Better, even, than the Patagonia briefs. The best combination of lightweight, comfort, snugness, seemed to be all wrapped up in REI’s product. Alas, within an hour, the elastic around the butt cheek areas had relaxed and the fabric around the cheek areas had crept its way up until it felt like I was wearing a Victoria’s Secret product, not REI. The next time I wore them, the same uncomfortable problem crept up (sorry, I couldn’t resist) even faster. In all fairness to REI, I chose the medium size, and my waist puts me in grey area between Medium and Large, leaning toward Large (do they not think 35″ waisted people exist?!). But, as I discuss below, I found the medium size to be perfect for snugness, support and fit, at least initially. If you want to give them a shot, they come in blue, black, gray (they call it “sharkskin” which is not a great name for underwear, in my opinion, as it is not a surface I would want to wear on my nether regions) and black. Yes, they list black twice. Go figure.

One thing about all three products – they still have the “escape hatch” design in the front. Why? I have no idea. It doesn’t noticeably add weight or thickness, so it’s no big deal. Patagonia does offer the Capilene Stretch Brief, which does not have an airlock in the front, but my experience has been that when companies take away the stupid front flap, they also make the front more, um, pouch-like, which pretty much eliminates the support factor of briefs.

The drawback of these underwear – the cost. Patagonia briefs retail for $30, the Ex Officio underwear retail for $20, and the REI briefs go for $16.50. A huge price increase compared to your everyday briefs, but, in my opinion, its worth it, considering they are the only underwear that actually do the job they are supposed to do, do it with some flair and style, and last far, far longer than your average pair of Wal-Mart underwear.

One more thing to factor into your buying decision. I am typically in the 35-36 inch waistband size range. That puts me solidly in the Large size for Patagonia and in a slightly gray area leaning to Large for Ex Officio. I’m athletic, flat stomached, but not super lean. I usually purchase the medium size. That works out perfectly for snugness in front and fit in back, but may be the reason the Ex Offcio waistbands are slightly too snug. You can make your own call on that. I think Large underwear in either brand would defeat the desire for support in the front and lack of sagginess in the arse area. If waist height (and snugness) doesn’t bother you, the Ex Officio underwear are much more durable, offer more colors, and are ten bucks cheaper. If you want a lower waist, lighter weight, and a not-quite-as-tight fit in the waist, go for the Patagonia.

If you ask me which ones I will buy more of, I will be sticking with the Patagonia briefs. When I get dressed, if both are in my underwear drawer (I threw away the REI pair), I always choose the Patagonia underwear.

So there you have it! More information about underwear than most people want, but if you read this far, you care as much about your underwear as I care about mine. Go forth and be supported by your underwear!

Keep Loving Life!

MHH

—- UPDATE, JANUARY 29TH, 2014 —-

Now that we are a little further down the road, I thought that an underwear update would be beneficial. The long term winner of the underwear wars is… Ex Officio! I have since purchased a pair of large Ex Officio underwear and found them to still be comfortable, but a little bit too roomy. The more recent pairs of Patagonia underwear I have purchased have a less comfortable fit on the backside. Newer pairs of Ex Officio underwear do seem to have a lower waistband. Whether they read my blog and completely changed their product, I can’t say (wishful thinking, right). Ex Officio offers the best combination of comfort, price, durability, and color variety (please don’t buy white – be bold!)

In the process of writing this post, I checked the Ex Officio website and I see that they now offer a low rise, flyless brief. If it stays true to the overall fit of their other briefs, then we could have a real winner! I’ve ordered a few pairs (black and gray – call me crazy, but some Patagonia colors fit differently than other colors), so once I have worn them for a while, I’ll come back and post an update with the results.

Keep Loving Life (and wearing good underwear)!

MHH

—-Breaking Update! February 7, 2014—-

We have  a new winner! The Ex Officio Give-N-Go Low Rise Flyless Brief! Finally! The underwear gods (or at least the designers at Ex Officio) have answered my prayers for a fitted, comfortable, long lasting, flyless, low waisted brief! Hosanna! Throw all of your other underwear away, this is the real deal. Firstly, I have no idea why the Ex Officio marketing department felt that naming briefs “Give-n-Go” would be a good idea. Personally, I don’t want my underwear to do either of those things. Rest assured, they do not live up to their name! Offered only in sensible gray, black, and white, these underwear fit perfectly in all areas. They are supportive without being overly snug anywhere. As I said before, I’m about a 35″ waist and bought the medium size. I couldn’t be happier. Don’t be thrown off by the “Low Rise” part of their name either. They are only low rise relative to their other briefs, which, as I mentioned earlier, are sort of the overalls of underwear. The low rise version is just right – comfortable coverage without feeling like you might smother your belly button.

Huge kudos to the folks at Ex Officio for getting it right! Now, my only plea is that they don’t change factories or supplies or whatever and keep the things fitting exactly the same for as long as possible (the drawback of Patagonia underwear, which sometimes fit perfectly, sometimes are too tight in the waist, and sometimes don’t have enough backside coverage).

The perfect underwear award goes to Ex Officio and their perfect low rise flyless briefs! $20 at Ex Officio’s website. Ex Officio, feel free to contact me to receive your trophy.

Thoughts On Parenting (part one)

Let’s start with this – I am not a doctor, psychiatrist, pediatrician, or any other professional that is in any way certified or professionally qualified to give advice on being a parent. I am a parent, though. My wife and I have two cool kids. Two girls, five and two. Which means for the past six years we have been in the trenches of parenting. Which makes us more qualified than some and less qualified than others to give folks input on parenting. So, why write this series of posts? Because there is so much information out there about parenting and so little of it that talks about the day to reality of parenting – the bad as well as the good and great.

But bear this in mind too – every parent and every child and every circumstance is unique. One of the things that irks me to no end is the this-worked-for-us-so-it-is-guaranteed-to-work-for-you attitude found in so many parenting books, articles, blog posts, ad nauseam. My perspective and our experiences may be helpful to you. And they may not. Our approach and my input may also serve only as a warning of how you do not want to do things. But at least it will help you – the new, or soon to be, parent to deal with the soul sucking low moments that often accompany being a parent. With that in mind, other parents (and even those that aren’t parents) can help by chiming in in the comments. When I have turned to the internet, usually in moments of desperation over the last six years, I have taken information and consolation from whatever sources I could find.

The final caveat is this – having kids, being a parent, raising children, is on the whole, incredible. If you are reading this at one of those low moments where you are sleep deprived and wrung out, hang in there. For the most part, the refrain I heard over and over is true – it gets better.

Let’s start at the beginning – you and your significant other are going to have a baby. Woohoo! The general attitude toward parenting in the United States is that it is rainbows and twee and twinkly happiness filled with children running through fields of flowers while you attend your yoga class and/or go for a run with your jogging stroller as you seamlessly balance your work duties and your new found joyful parenting responsibilities while seamlessly and successfully maintaining your full work load while reveling in your new found parental responsibilities. When we got pregnant, we didn’t think it would be quite that idyllic, but the “classes” we took at the hospital taught us nothing useful (a useless swaddling technique and how to put on a diaper is all I remember), and we had no clear picture of what becoming a parent did entail, so we just quietly got nervous and hoped we would figure it out. What I remember of the first few weeks with our first daughter was that everything was of defcon 1, full scale shock and awe kind of response. We were going to the store? RIGHT! I’ll go bring the car around, turn on the air conditioning, assemble enough diapers and wipes to clean and change the baby for a week, then drive like I was transporting an unstable bomb while cursing all the other half blind idiots on the road who seemed intent on wiping out my newly born child. A week of that kind of behavior, along with a almost no sleep, was enough to put me on the road to physical ruin. So, calm down. Stay cool. You’re in this for the long haul, so conserve your energy. The first few days and weeks with your first child, if you don’t have a lot of experience with kids (like us), and you don’t have more experienced family members around you to help out and guide you (like us) may be incredibly stressful. Combine the stress with a lack of sleep and you will both be stretched beyond capacity before you know it. So, take this advice: talk to your pediatrician whenever you are scared or have questions, or just need reassurance. Call on your friends to bring you food or take you to lunch or just to come by and keep an eye on the baby while you take a nap. Stock up for the birth. Buy a giant thing of paper plates, and disposable silverware. Not very eco-friendly, but the last thing you want to deal with when you have a baby is washing dishes. Stock up on frozen meals, and easy to make food. Your life will be easier if you don’t have to think too hard about feeding yourself. Again, recruit your friends to help. If you can afford it, hire a cleaning service for a while to come in weekly. Cleaning is just one more thing you don’t want to have to deal with. If you can’t afford it, let things get a bit messy. It’s ok. But just remember that you and your spouse and your baby will make it through somehow. Take a few deep breaths. You may be overwhelmed. Call on friends to help. Talk honestly and openly with your spouse about all of it, but be gentle with each other. You’re both tired and emotionally drained. Speak gently. Support each other. Give each other hugs. Step back and look at that amazing new life you two created together. Remember to hang on to how cool that fact is. And remember, no matter how tough it is right now, even though it feels like it will never improve, it will get easier. Being a parent can be tough, but it is worth it.

Here’s an example of exhausted but awesome.