Information About Traveling Abroad with Camera Gear

[Nicole Mordecai]

All,

Nice to see those of you who came to the end-of-season event this evening. I was just catching up on some email when I got home and noticed the first section of this Aaron Hockley newsletter. You might recall he was one of our speakers. If you have any travel coming up that involves leaving the country, be sure to read the section on "Trump's Politics and Photographers."

Just FYI,
Nicole.

-------- Forwarded Message --------

Subject:	Focusing Photography 🔶 Topics to Avoid at the Office
Date:	Sun, 11 May 2025 23:05:19 +0000 (UTC)
From:	Aaron Hockley <aa...@techphotoguy.com>
To:	nic...@mordecai.ws

Focusing Photography ​ 🔶 Topics to Avoid at the Office This, and more: 🌎 Tariffs and Photographers 🧱 Lego What are we supposed to avoid when talking about business? Politics and religion? Trump's Politics and Photographers Sometimes, politics impacts business. Canon, Sigma, and Leica have announced price increases due to United States import tariffs. Fuji has said it's suspending some US gear orders until things settle. Amazon canceled orders for the Sony a1 II due to tariff uncertainty. Blackmagic was going to open a factory in Texas until it got spooked by Trump's tariffs. It's not just new gear that's affected, either. Are you traveling out of the United States? Taking any camera gear with you? Unless you can prove you had it with you when you left, it could be subject to tariffs when you return. You'll want to ensure you do the paperwork for what's known as a Merchandise Passport. More formally, it's known as Form 4457 - Certificate of Registration for Personal Effects Taken Abroad. The Phoblographer explained how it works and what you'll need to have (and do) to ensure that the Trump rules don't cost you money. As it stands, it'll cost you time, but that's better than money, right? Advertisement Topaz Photo AI 4 is Here! TOMORROW: May 12-18 there's a flash sale on the new Topaz Photo AI 4, featuring new dust & scratch removal and other AI tool enhancements. Get up to $30 off if you act this week. Get the Deal ▲ Triangulations Three things you ought to consider from the photographic world: Windows user? Check out the new advanced lighting tools just announced by Microsoft for Windows Photos. I've shared about the United States Copyright Claims Board several times, and one of the experts I frequently cite is Jonathan Bailey of Plagiarism Today. He recently provided formal feedback to the government and also shared his responses publicly. They're worth reading. Being found by search engines has been important for photographers (and others), but we might be seeing a shift start to take hold. Apple executive Eddy Cue recently testified that Google searches declined in Safari for the first time ever. Google issued a terse statement claiming that searches continue to increase. Anecdotally, I've started hearing folks who aren't necessarily tech nerds say that they're using tools like ChatGPT in place of searches fairly often. ◎ Social Sync We all hang out in various places. Are we connected where we could be? Here's where you can find my social presence online; I'd love to have you connect and follow along. ​YouTube​ ​Instagram​ ​Mastodon​ ​LinkedIn​ ​Glass​ ​Pinterest​ ​ Level Up Your AI Prowess Join me in Seattle on May 19th for a full-day workshop of photography image and business artificial intelligence goodness. AI is fun to play with, but it's even more fun to use it for creativity and profit. Register Now Through PPA (hit that button and scroll to the "Creative and Business Wins..." workshop) ​ ☛ A Photomusement As we wrap up for the week, smile as you see we're one step closer to getting a LEGO Apple Store. If you have any thoughts, please drop me a reply! I read every one… Chat with you next week… -Aaron, the Tech Photo Guy ​ This email is from TechPhotoGuy.com // 13504 NE 84th St Suite 103-101, Vancouver, WA 98682 You can unsubscribe or update your preferences​