Copyright Decision sounds ok to me

This seems like good news. Let's print it out and send to everyone we know.
Oh wait, that would be a violation of copyright. Still seems like good news though.

Appeals Court Confirms Photographer's Rights in Case - News | ImagingInfo.com:: "Said Jarvis, 'I am gratified by last week's ruling from the 9th Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. It is a welcome victory for the photographic community and creative artists everywhere. This sends a clear message about the importance of artists' rights and the value of our work.

'While the proceedings -- begun only as my last resort to gain compliance from K2 after a year of their ignoring my attempts to negotiate with them -- have been costly and challenging, they are not yet complete. I'm looking forward to their eventual and final resolution.'"

Nice Site Series: Mark Velasquez

I have found some sites that I think really take a new direction in Photography web site design. Mark Velasquez has a site that really caught my attention.

Here's what I like: Very easy to understand that Mark is a photographer by looking at his front page. He starts right out with a portfolio list and a cool "PHOTO of the Week". Keeping it fresh is very important. The site is also easy on the coding, being totally CSS based, it will be very easy for the search engines to index. Of particular note is the ultra simplicity of the site... no trance inducing Flash, long load times or precious navigation that doesn't seem to make sense. The site is quick loading and easy to navigate. It does have some fun in the portfolios when the pages switch up from horizontal to vertical display, and that can be somewhat distracting, but not in this case.

Overall, the site shows a forward look to the new web, and Mark has presented his work with a clarity and simplicity that lets the images speak for themselves.

Simple and Easy to Understand

Here you go... the difference between marketing, advertising, pr and brand.

Cool

This is Awful

Anywhere near Kansas City? Check this out and save a few books.

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (AP) -- Tom Wayne amassed thousands of books in a warehouse during the 10 years he has run his used book store, Prospero's Books.

His collection ranges from best sellers like Tom Clancy's "The Hunt for Red October" and Tom Wolfe's "Bonfire of the Vanities," to obscure titles like a bound report from the Fourth Pan-American Conference held in Buenos Aires in 1910. But wanting to thin out his collection, he found he couldn't even give away books to libraries or thrift shops, which said they were full.

So on Sunday, Wayne began burning his books protest what he sees as society's diminishing support for the printed word.

"This is the funeral pyre for thought in America today," Wayne told spectators outside his bookstore as he lit the first batch of books.

So How did this happen?

So we are expected to believe that Saatchi ran unapproved ads? How can that happen? I have worked around and in advertising for a lot of years, and cannot imagine how this could have happened. No client review. No account executive meetings? Art and AE's never discussed client wishes, comments, changes, and all the other things they do - all the friggin' time?

Really?

Heads should roll. On both sides.

Memorial Day 2007 Weekend

Absolutely amazing shot by Rick for today's Memorial Day celebration.

On Location With Rick Lee: Memorial Day 2007 Weekend: "It's traditional for me to take a photo of a daisy in the barbed wire at this location. I did the first one when I was in high school. "

It's Monday, Memorial Day 2007

My father was in the military and served in WWII in the Pacific. He never talked much about it, having served as a medic in at least 3 campaigns. I know that his dress uniform had a whole bunch - a whole bunch - of ribbons and decorations. He met McArthur and helped establish a medical center in Australia for the allied troops.

He never talked about it much, even though the three sons were fascinated by the military, as are kids. He would tell us about the kangaroos, and the time he was left on an island for three days by mistake, and about all the great guys he met there.

But my mom told me once why his neck would jump and twitch when I was younger. He was deployed over the side of a battleship (a rarity for sure) into landing craft. The guys on the beach came under fire and the captain of the ship turned the big guns over the side and commenced firing. Right over the heads of the guys in hanging on the ladders and the landing craft below. The concussions were agonizing and my dad told my mom that some guys actually died from the concussion. But he never talked much about it.

Once, when I was nearing 18 he and I were out hunting. Funny thing about my dad, he could hit a bullseye at amazing distances but never managed to shoot a deer. (Much later in life I realized that he didn't really want to kill an animal, he just enjoyed being out there "hunting".) We sat on the edge of the Mogollon Rim and I asked him point blank about the war. This was Vietnam and I had to register for the draft soon. My dad was a Lt. Colonel in the reserves.

He was quiet for awhile and then he told me about one deployment he did on some God-forsaken little Island near the Phillipines. It was awful and he was nearly killed twice. They ran out of medical supplies and he and another guy figured out a way to get some more sent in from one of the ships. His buddy was killed right next to my dad as they got the stuff. That is the only thing he told me about and I felt somewhat privileged to be told that.

Because, as I said, he never talked about it much. Being in the service, willing to die for something he believed in, willing to die for his kids yet conceived, willing to give it all for a bunch of guys that were pinned down even though he didn't know them. Some call it sacrifice. Others use bigger terms like heros and honor.

I don't know what my dad would have preferred, as he was a pretty self-deprecating guy with a chest full of medals and ribbons. He never talked about it much.

Just like Google, I guess.

Happy Birthday Peg!

Today is Peggy Lee's Birthday. The "Fever" girl is one of the hottest singers to ever have graced a note. Damn, you gotta listen to the way she takes melody and infuses a sense of swing and sexiness. Here are a few you will love.

Dinah Shore and Peggy Lee... what can I say - this is pretty cool.

Here's Peggy in 1983.

Here's her first real gig... the Benny Goodman band's 'girl singer'.

Man, she swings this. And that guitar player rocks!

And the sultriness that she brings to this standard is amazing.

Happy Birthday Peggy Lee, one of the worlds best song stylists.

Make Your Space More Organized

What a great little blog I stumbled over today. I know I tend to get very unorganized and then things get out of hand before I stop and take hours (days) to reorganize and get things together. The cycle then starts anew a few days later.

Unclutterer looks like a place I will be visiting often.

I have a few more portable electronic devices than I probably should. The numerous incompatible chargers for my iPod, mobile phone, Nintendo DS, and digital camera create what I consider to be an unacceptable amount of unsightly cable clutter and lately I’ve been trying to find a good solution to the problem.

Anybody Interested?

I think this would be a great little product to create. I don't necessarily want to rip anyone's design off, but if you are a product designer, this ringflash idea has a ton of opportunity. It should be able to fit in the bag and work with most speedlights. I have the marketing tools ready, and I think that we could create quite a nice little cottage industry with these and umbrella mounts for speedlights - single and double. Anyway...

Get One of These for Your Bag

As seen on Photo JOJO, this cool little 1 hour video camera is great for making movies of your setups, crew at work, models primping, clients having fun. They make great little movies for gifts and promotion... and for a little more than a hundred bucks... wow!

Jangle - VOIP with privacy

Note the little widget on the left. It is my new Jangle account. It allows VOIP computer to computer calling with protection for my info. You get an account (free) and it gives you a number that you use just for making the calls you want to the people you want. Yes, I use Yahoo, and am a big believer in Skype, but it doesn't hurt to have some very private contacts. Perfect for clients and on-going projects. You know when it rings that you have someone you need to talk to. Try it out here.

Not Your "Average" Joe?

Scott at Visualville recently posted this link to Joe Grisham's website. I think it is kinda cool too, Scott, but for more reasons that are unseen as well. The site is pure CSS, which means there are no tables, just positioning code that displays content. Lean? You betcha. This kind of site places it in a new breed of websites for photographers... ones who really are starting to understand the blend of technology, design and marketing that goes into a smart web presence. Sure, he coulda done it in Flash... then no search engine ranking would be had, and the updates would be expensive at least.

I hope to find some new examples of this modern site design on photographers sites and will post as many as I can find. It is important for visual people to have visually appealing web sites, that's for sure, but sometimes the tradeoff is too great. With this kind of flexibility, you can have the best of both worlds.

What a Shame...

Off Topic for this post, but since my wife is leaving teaching, the thing she loves the most, for similar reasons, it is worth a mention.

Marian has taught high school dance for nearly 30 years. She works tirelessly to provide her students a glimpse into an art form she feels passionate about. Well aware that the vast majority of her students will not be professional dancers, what she wants them to know is the discipline of working hard to achieve a goal, the teamwork that goes into choreography and presentation, and the exhilaration that comes from a performance that moves an audience to wild applause.

About 20 years ago she decided to teach in inner city schools, to help provide that kind of personal expansion to kids that may not have a chance to experience it. For 12 years or so, she was successful on so many levels. There were some kids that didn't want to dance, and a few trouble makers along the way, but it was way off balanced by the kids that blossomed, grew, became confident and changed little things about their lives.

About 8 years ago it started to change. Change a lot. The kids, the parents, the administration, the incredible level of incompetence that simply pervades every level of public schools.

She has received more than a few letters over the years thanking her for making a difference. Two even credited her with literally saving their lives. One girl decided against suicide after taking dance, and another decided to quit the path to gangdom she had been on... that girl is now a dance teacher in Texas.

Nowdays, well, it's different. Way different. The kids don't participate, they are argumentative, incapable of self control and seriously not interested in learning anything about dance. (Why do they sign up for the class you ask? If I had the answer, I would share.) They are coddled by an administration too fearful of lawsuits to impose any discipline and are so full of 'self-esteem' that they are not interested in taking any correction. Correction and teaching equal 'dissing' them. Combine this with an administration that has become increasingly more hostile toward teachers than ever before and youhave an untenable situation.

So a dedicated teacher of 30 years quits. Preferring taking a hit on lifestyle from decreased income to banging her head against an increasingly uncaring bureaucracy, disengaged parents and kids who think that school is where you listen to your iPods, hang out and text your buds. (Yes, it is an inner city school... yes, in one of her classes virtually every student has an iPod, they all have cell phones and the phone of choice is a Treo. Inner city.)

So this is the second day of her last week of teaching. No more early mornings, late evenings, concert weeks, late night phone calls from angst driven students, papers to grade, Saturday rehearsals, late nights with the stereo blasting while she works out yet another choreographic masterpiece for her kids, choosing music (my favorite), and filling in those little bubbles for end of semester grades. And a lot more that makes her an incredible teacher. A lot more.

She starts retirement next week and is already planning to clean the garage. Sheesh... I want her to take a couple of weeks and just hang, listen to the stereo (we don't have an iPod) and text her buds...

Then it is off to chapter 3 for this amazing lady.

This post nearly made me cry because of how scary the situation is for the kids, the schools and the country...

A Dream Lay Dying
Still, I believed that with a real newsroom we were ready to make significant progress. Before my arrival at Stillman, my colleague Lucinda Coulter had produced the student newspaper on her home computer without charging the college a dime. With a campus newsroom, we assumed that our students would begin to take the profession seriously and would love hanging out in their own space.

We soon learned that we had been naive. Nothing changed. Students rarely came to the newsroom except for classes. The majority preferred to socialize with their friends during their spare time, and others knew that one way to avoid an assignment for the newspaper was to avoid the newsroom where story leads and tips were posted on the bulletin board.

My colleagues and I were witnessing the result of low admission standards. Were we expecting too much of young people who scored poorly on the SAT, who were rarely challenged to excel in high school, who were not motivated to take advantage of opportunities to learn, who could not imagine where a sound education could take them?

Another attack on Photography

Well, I am joking here of course. This is an astounding painting of a photograph. The point was to polish technique and see if it could be done. Note to Blair: Yep, it can.

Painting of Tica by Dru Blair: "After a couple of hours of color adjustment, I've reached the 10 hour mark. At this stage, detail has not been added to the face, because it is best to wait until all the colors are correct first.

There are many areas still to be corrected. For example, one of the front teeth is too dark. The arm is also to dark at the edges."

Smashing Magazine Delivers!

Here are some great scripts, widgets and CSS created slide shows, gallery presentations and image display tools. Most of these, if not all, require you to be a code warrior (well, not really, but you do have to have access to your page code) and require some basic knowledge of scripting, CSS and DHTML. That said, most of you can read the tutorials and build some cool little dynamic shows on your sites with these.

Of course, if you had a totally self-managed website that allowed you to add scripts, modify your CSS, add pages and control the meta content, this sort of thing would be easy... if you had one of those kind of sites. (More to follow on this... but just think about it.)

30 Scripts For Galleries, Slideshows and Lightboxes | Smashing Magazine: "here are literally hundreds of solutions for web-based galleries out there. We’ve selected 30 scripts of impressive slideshows, lightboxes and galleries you can use for effective presentations of your images. Most of them don’t have any technical requirements, so you can use them right away. Let’s take a look."

Four Fun Ideas

Don't you love it when someone does something totally new, makes something we are all so familiar with seem exciting and fresh. Well, check out these four sites that deliver eye candy, information, design and more...

Metropolis Media
If you like Flash done extremely well... You are gonna like this one.

Ethical Problems Ahead...
Here's an interesting take on the ethics of editing a photograph... is even interpolation evidence of image tampering? Where did the other 3 million pixels come from? Very thought provoking and make sure you read it all the way to the end.

BeHance
A place to read about creativity with an interesting twist. Check it out. Interviews, articles and more on creatives and the process.

Memento Press
Here's a new addition to the handmade, one-off book category. Unique, and handcrafted, the prices are really amazing for the quality. Check them out for possible client holiday gifts, momentos, personal monographs, or sitting on your conference table just ooooooozing credibility.

Spending the day working on a new project that may simply explode everything regarding web sites, personal sites and creativity. I will keep you posted. We are 1 week from Beta launch.

Blow up your home page! - Seth

This is something to think about. I have been working on a "home" page that isn't styled that way for a few months... It kinda is a whole personal site on one page... kinda cool, but I haven't launched it yet. Still working on some ideas for content switching that could make it custom based on which Google Ad was clicked. Seth has an interesting little post here.

Seth's Blog: Blow up your home page: "The problem with home page thinking is that it's a crutch. There's nothing wrong with an index, nothing wrong with a page for newbies, nothing wrong with a place that makes a first impression when you get the chance to control that encounter. But it's not your 'home'. It's not what the surfer/user wants, and when it doesn't match, they flee."

Signage

Poop Doc
Originally uploaded by fortyjames.

You gotta go to the site to see the tag line... www.poopdoc.com. Thanks for the tip, Adam.

One Hour of Spam...

This is my Gmail account spam page. It shows what I get in one hour on a good day. Bad days can bring almost double. Just in a foul mood and sharing what causes it. ARRRRRGGGGHHHHH

I love my job

Melissa 2
Originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Simple call for a shot and she needs it really fast. I get up at nearly 4:30 am every day, so shooting at 9:30 pm was kinda not exciting. Melissa was wonderful, witty and very good in front of the camera. It turned into a very quick, but very good session. I think she did really well, and her boyfriend will love the shots. Great job Melissa.

I sure wish I had learned this about 5 years ago

... when I let an unscrupulous louse of a man destroy something I had worked my whole life to achieve. But - that is as they say, another story. This one concerns JPG Magazine, something I have really enjoyed over the past few years. What a shame... but partners are a bitch, man. I have a ton to add to this as well... maybe someday I will.

Derek Powazek – The Real Story of JPG Magazine: "What I Learned

If it’s any help to other entrepreneurs, here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Make no assumptions when it comes to roles and responsibilities. Like my dad says: “Someone’s gotta call quittin’ time.”
2. Communication between partners is mandatory. And you cannot communicate with someone who is not communicating with you.
3. Decisions aren’t decisions if you have to keep making them. Set on the course and stick to it. If you keep talking about things that have already been decided, nothing will ever get done.
4. When someone says one thing, but acts in a contradictory way, you have a choice between believing their words or believing their deeds. Believe their deeds.
5. Never let anyone tell you what you want. When someone says, “You don’t want that,” what they really mean is, “I don’t want you to have that.”
6. Don’t stay where you’re not wanted, respected, or happy. Even if it’s your company."

Fair Use vs "Ripped Off"

Sounds like a win for fair use, and the guy who is ripping off images - well - he gonna get his handed to him on a platter. Jerk.

FindLaw's Writ -- Hilden: Perez Hilton, Michelle Malkin, and the "Fair Use" Exception to Copyright Law: "Hilton, meanwhile, has been sued by several photograph agencies, including the prominent X17, for posting copies of their photographs on his site. His attorney, Bryan Freedman, claims, however, that because Hilton writes words on, and/or embellishes, the photographs using white pen before he posts them, his use of the photographs is 'satire,' and thus 'fair use.'

In this column, I'll explain why Malkin prevailed, and Hilton probably will not."

The Darker Side of Big Gubment

Yes, I think that child molesters should be, well, beaten to death with something icky. However, when you have a bunch of morons deciding what is "art", "harmless" or "evil," you get this kind of crap. Look at the image and tell me if it looks like child porn. I can only imagine how dealing with a bunch of non-engaged bureaucrats hell bent on ruining your life so they can move into a bigger office must feel. Sheesh.

How a Photo Can Ruin Your Life - - PopPhotoJune 2007: "Lt. Williams acknowledges that there's a gray area when it comes to interpreting photos of children, and often the kids are taking pictures of each other without their parents' knowledge. His unit frequently determines that pictures referred to them are innocent artistic or family photos, 'but there's very little artistic value in a crotch shot of a 6-year-old girl.' He says his investigators are now seeing pictures of penetration on 2-year-olds.

'We're not trying to pry into people's lives,' he says. 'I wouldn't want the government sticking its nose into my photography, and I don't want to be the one doing it to someone else. But when a picture crosses the line into child abuse, then it's my business.'"

Social "Voting" sites forever suffer from...

... the human factor. Cheating, aggrandizing, self-serving, partisanship, bullys... That's why I am not enamored of the Digg thing. I think there may be something there in the structure that could work, especially in niches, but this kind of thing just gets in the way of finding what that is. I don't actively hate Digg, I just ignore it for now. (How many 'Cheney gets impeached' stories can you read anyway?)

Digg is Censoring Content by Burying Stories Internally: "We all know that the main reason why stories don't hit the Digg homepage is because they get buried. Some say the buries are caused by specific Digg users who have it out for us while others just blame it on the content saying it wasn't Digg worthy. Well last week we did a test on Pronet Advertising that shows Digg might be burying stories internally."

Lileks... I wish I could write like that...

iowahawk: Star Tribune Community News: "It was about two o’clock in the afternoon and I had just placed my size 11 EE brogues on my desk in the City Room. I uncorked a fifth of Old Crow I keep in the Steelcase’s third door left, hoping to cure a bad case of sobriety that had been nagging me since breakfast.

That’s when she walked in. Five feet two inches of trouble in sensible shoes with a master’s from Missouri J-School. Nancy Barnes, my editor.

“Got a light?” she purred, thumbing through her copy of Editor & Publisher.

“Sure, dollface,” I answered, handing her the hot end of my Lucky. “Your butt or mine?”

“Douse it, sleuth,” she sneered. “The Strib maintains a smoke-free environment. And call me ‘dollface’ again I’ll have the Harassment training boys downtown work you over.”"

The first amendment... ahhh - the good old days

You all remember the first amendment don't you. Great old-timer... used to keep us safe by allowing criticism, questioning and investigation without fear of the government. Well, seems he has just gotten too old and curmudgeonly and hasn't kept up with the times. So we have some calling for the "Fairness Doctrine", the inability to speak freely within a few days of an election, and now a city not allowing a blog to question what is going on.

What is going on? You know?

New Lighting Page on Lighting-Essentials.com

This is a nice little pair of movies that show you how to do some small, but important Photoshop fixes to make a shot just a little bit better... or way better depending on the shot.

Shooting in the shade is an excellent way to get some soft lighting. However, the light can create a flat capture that needs a little push to make it sparkle. In this shot the light was directional from a large light gray building that is over my right shoulder, and was giving a nice amount of light that was somewhat flat, but still with a bit of direction to it. You can see the shadows made by the directional light behind her legs.

Another Flickr Find

For Kirsten Jung
Originally uploaded by Harizma_Art.

Wow, this Flickrite will keep your interest for quite some time. Lovely, artistic and totally engaging images. It is so exciting to find this level of talent and just go through image after image.

The Power of Photoshop...

... and the incredible Liquify tool... May not be SFW - has the ladies, uh, ass in the shot. If you want to see extreme Photoshop, take a look at this. Sheesh.

Well, it could be refreshing...

... this kind of campaign could be exciting.

Rarely...

I mean RARELY do I ever bother with negative reviews and such. I just don't like doing it. However, I was doing some research for a client of mine and I came upon what I thought would be a good resource. "Selling Art on the Internet" was the name of the book, so I went to Amazon and found that it was no longer in print. So I jump over to Google to find some more information on the author and find this site.

The site is abysmally bad, but the art is very, very good. I wonder what is going on here? There is a book offered for sale, but absolutely no way to buy it. I nosed around and found a page that had about a dozen CD's of images for sale. Each had its own page and description... but no way to purchase them.

I guess it isn't a big deal, but this site is run by someone who wrote a book on selling art on the internet. I was a little shocked.

If the author sees this post and has comments, or if I inadvertently entered an old site, or was somewhere on a dead site that got held over by Google... please let me know and I will amend this post. It is not meant as a personal attack... I am simply confused by what I saw.

This looks like a good idea

I am looking for ways to monetize my sites, as many of you are. There are Google Ads and Textlinkads and all kinds of other things to use. I was intrigued by this little widget. It helps you define affiliate sales, then it will show an ad set similar to Google, but all the clicks go to items YOU make money on. Maybe a bit like Chitika, but on a level that lets you sell ebooks and such.

Take a look, but be aware that you will have to access your page code to insert the little widgets.

Selling Pics OnLine: A Perspective

This is a post from a forum I participate in. The question was about selling pictures online.

As an owner of one of the sites mentioned (the PHOTOtool) I would like to offer a few observations on online sales. I do have a unique insight as we see hundreds of different ways photogs do it. This gives me a bit of a catbird seat view. (This wont be an ad for the PHOTOtool, just observations of what I see happening with photogs who want to sell online.)

1. Photographers tend to think that putting an image online in any kind of tool is all there is to it. "It's online finally, now I can sell it." Uh... don't you believe it. Selling images online is a difficult road to take. Not impossible, but difficult for those who aren't willing to bust ass to sell the work.

2. Pricing an image online seems to sometimes take a very wide slice. I have seen photographers price their 8x10's at $900 and more and then wonder why they aren't selling. If you have never sold a print for $900 at a gallery, an auction or an art show or an... then chances are that you aint gonna get one sold online. Also selling 4x6's for a buck is, well, stupid.

3. Lack of credibility is the number one reason that images don't sell online. Putting a few images on the PHOTOtool or Smugmug or whatever can be a very disappointing endeavor. It takes time, interest and credibility to sell online. I have seen some wonderful shooters not sell a thing and some mediocre ones sell hundreds (literally).

4. Lack of marketing the image. There are some great ways to market images and lots of ways to not. (" I just don't have time." I don't have a blog." I don't want to enter descriptions." I don't - well - I hear a lot of excuses on why photogs don't have time to be, well, photogs.) There is a wonderful blog or two that I know of that have experienced significant print sales. Here's one:
www.durhamtownship.com/ - now go Google "A Walk Through Durham..." see that - over 250,000 returns.
Here's another one:
www.chromasia.com/ Technorati shows exceptional traffic. Both of these photographers started with print sale prices that were quite a bargain... now they make a pretty good fee per print. Believe me when I say you gotta go after it hard.

5. Lack of understanding of what sells. I really don't want to go down this path, but read it again. If you don't know what is selling, haven't done the research into trends and such... well. Ok.

Good news. There are some ways to increase sales. Research, creating buzz, building credibility, exploiting a niche... all so much easier to do with the internet. Here's how you do it. (NOTE: if you are the next Ansel Adams and are terribly sure that you are wildly sought after - they just don't know it yet... then stop reading now. This will be directed toward those of us who realize our realities.)

1. Create a blog and make sure it is interesting. Cat pictures, your babies first steps and assorted street scenes without releases... naww. Find a niche. Kill in it.

2. Enter gallery contests where ever you can find them. Jen Beckman's gallery in NY ( www.personism.com/ ) has the "Hey Hot Shot" contest a couple of times a year. Enter. Find out what others think.

3. Create a local buzz. Here is a partial list of places to show your work: Hospitals, Medical Plazas, bookstores, insurance offices, small galleries, coop galleries, restaurants... Get your work out there.

4. Do a book, or two... hell, three of them. Print them at LuLu. Press release the heck out of them. Offer them for sale on your blog, your website, your local bookstore, restaurants... whatever. Credibility.

That said the best reason for online sales is direct client work. Portraits, weddings, sports events... that is where a good online sales tool can really work for you. And that means people coming to your site. And they buy prints. And they see your images for sale, and your books, and your blog... hmmm - I see a strategy developing.

Three success stories on the PHOTOtool involve a gentleman desperate to leave his awful 9-5 job finally making that leap - in a town of less than 70,000 from shooting sports teams and posting the images - now he is getting assignments and being called to shoot events all over the county. Another husband/wife team started shooting motocross bikes for their friends. Now they shoot every weekend all over the west and he has left his 70k corporate gig for this full time. Assignments are starting to come in now from cycle manufactures and parts folks. A retired schoolteacher now makes more than she ever made as a teacher shooting pets and pet owner portraits on location. Her consistent work ethic and diligent use of online sales has made her work much sought after.

I know a guy who sells a ton from his Exposure Manager account, and a woman who does nearly 30k from her sales tool (cannot remember which it is, may be EM...). My concern has always been keeping the sales tool I use professional looking and my own. I personally could never send a client of mine to anything called Smug Mug, or Yahoo pictures... ya know.

One last thing... I am predicting Flickr will introduce a sales tool this summer. They have all the parts, about a gazillion images, and a way to fulfill print and stock... look for it.

Just thought I would share this post with you all.

She's just 18...

Originally uploaded by JosieLee.

and what an eye she has for portraiture. Check out this young ladies work and be inspired. I find it refreshing and solidly unique. Flickr has lots of junk, but when you find talent like this it can be quite exhilerating. Keep on shooting Josielee, I can only imagine what is to come.

I love formula 1

GEPA-1205074401
Originally uploaded by LCPN-photoz.

... whatever the heck that is.

This Blog could help

Personal branding is a very important part of what we all do. This is a blog devoted to helping you do that. It looks interesting and should be on your daily check out list. I added it to my Netvibes and will be coming back later to read the archives.

On Neil’s Success - What I’ve observed from the sidelines: "Always have something to offer others
Neil makes it a point to always have something of value to offer other people. Whether it’s advice on how to reach the Digg homepage or some quick SEO tips for your blog, the point is that Neil always has something valuable to offer to others.

Give before you expect to receive
Neil will never let anyone do a favor for him or anything unless he has done something for that person first. He will even go as far as doing a few favors for that person before he lets them do one for him. Neil has done favors for some of the biggest rock stars on the web; people like Guy Kawasaki and Michael Arrington. These are very powerful people and have the ability to call a favor into when you need it."

Attention Photographers!

This seems quite useful. And it is free! Today only at GAOTD. Check it out.
Giveaway of the Day » Elprime Media Recovery: "Elprime Media Recovery is the professional data recovery software for scratched, damaged or defective CD and DVD disks, USB flash drives, memory cards, floppy disks and other storage media.

It uses an advanced data recovery technology to access and recover inaccessible files in Windows operating system. Elprime Media Recovery can recover all known file types and allows preview of recovered files too."

I am not all a 'twitter'

It seems to me that with all the distractions one has these days, adding a messaging system that updates every few seconds with short messages of personal indulgences: "I have to run to get my laundry," "Someone's at the door," I love Jordin," - well you get the idea. I don't get it. But that is just me. Now we have marketers looking at it as a, uh, tool for reaching markets. So now the messages will contain juicy tidbits like "Save 20% at Verizon," "Meet us today at IHOP for a very special price on pancakes." Sheesh.

Maybe I will get it someday, but for now, I pass. Read this if you are not sure about what Twitter is.

iMedia Connection: What Twitter Means for Marketers: "Some of you may share the healthy dose of skepticism this space inspires, so I'll try to share what's got me all atwitter with this new platform and why I think it's a game changer for marketers/communicators. I'll break it down by taking a quick look at how it's defined, what people are saying, what the digital marketing implications are and what innovative applications are already in use, and I'll wrap up with some of my picks of people to watch in the Twitterverse."

Good group to check out

Here's a new Flickr Group devoted to discussing and working toward some solutions to the crazy copyright world we find ourselves in these days.

Welcome! We are not lawyers. We are a collection of amateur and professional photographers on Flickr who are concerned about the fair and legal use of our creative work. We encourage awareness about copyright and creative commons. We are not here to police Flickr or the Internet -- just to bring awareness to this important issue.

A Little Big Band Sunday Concert

The Buddy Rich Big Band featuring several great contemporary drummers. We all miss Buddy, however these guys do some amazing sit-in work. The ultimate jam session.
Marvin "Smitty" Smith (Leno Show) and the BRBB.

Steve Gadd and the band...

Greg Bissonette swings the band well...

And one from Buddy and the guys.

New Site Launched for Strength Doc

John Tuitele is a personal trainer with an absolute grasp on entrepreneurship. He understands a market and is going after it with a determination we could all learn from. I built his site with some interesting little twists.

John needed to be able to update the content, classes, schedules etc... so we built the site for Contribute management. Instead of creating a nightmare "photo gallery" that would require him to do a lot of work, we linked to his Flickr gallery (more ranking points). He wants to keep his site fresh, but doesn't want the site to take up too much of his time. We found a great little site that lets his Blog posts appear on the home page of his site, and now he has actively dynamic content. (Unfortunately, Google wont see it as it is a script, but John is making additional text additions / modifications on a bi-weekly schedule. That should work fine.)

The site is keyworded, quick loading and modern. Thanks for the opportunity to work on "Strengthdoc.com" for you, John. Now about my biceps... hey - you quit laughing right now....

This guy just knocks me out.

His weekly post on produce shopping images is a must-see. Check out his amazing photos whenever you can. Rick, youdaman!

HeyHotShot Quarterly Competition Announcement

This is a great way to get your work in front of people who can help your career. If you are a photographer with aspirtations for the art world, you should check this competition out. And fast. It is quickly becoming one of the most talked about shows around.

Hey, Hot Shot! (www.heyhotshot.com) is jen bekman 's quarterly photo competition - hundreds of photographers vie for spots in the seasonal showcases. Those quarterly winners are all featured in jen bekman's New Photographers Annual (aka the HHS! Yearbook) but they also have their eye on the big prize: representation by jen bekman through 2008 and spot in the 2007 Ne Plus Ultra exhibition with just three other photographers. Throughout the year the Hey, Hot Shot blog (www.heyhotshot.com/blog) keeps you up to date emerging photographers from all over the world - it features entries from contenders, news + updates from the Hot Shot Alumni and intell on their amazing panel. The Spring 2007 Edition is on now - you have until Monday May 14th to get your entry in, so apply now:
http://www.heyhotshot.com/enter

Now this is awesome

Here is a list of freelance tools available on the web. Man, this list is amazing. If you are a freelance shooter, designer or writer... check this list of 100 web-based tools.

Codswallop » The Freelancer’s Toolset: 100 Web Apps for Everything You Will Possibly Need: "Running a business for yourself means you have to be inventive and always on the lookout for a new and better way to get things done. Innovation junkies, take note: the Internet has a lot to offer. From invoicing to marketing, these are tools that freelancers need to know about."

Free Cool Charting Software

This is kinda cool. At Giveawayoftheday.com they are giving out this very nice charting tool. If you ever have to create a site, or a flow-chart or some kind of flexible concept graph, this tool will come in very handy. Did I mention it is Free.

Giveaway of the Day » ConceptDraw VI Standard: "ConceptDraw VI is designed for professional flowcharting, diagramming and illustrating. Its flexible, handy drawing tools help business and technical users quickly document complex structures, systems and processes.

ConceptDraw VI charts can be shared as a variety of graphics files, MS Visio XML files and MS PowerPoint presentations. Owing to the advanced libraries of pre-drawn shapes, ConceptDraw VI is perfect for most of the charting tasks. Requiring little skills and efforts to create high-quality graphics the software will become your efficient assistant."

A discussion of Flash as a Web platform

I cannot see the post that instigated this discussion (looks like the fame was too much for his servers), but it is interesting to see the diversity of opinion on Flash as a platform for a total site. There are those (designers) who feel that what it looks like is far more important than what it does and those on the other side of the fence: what it does is more important than finely kerned typography.

I fall directly on the side that says that the sites usefullness is far more important in most cases than what it looks like from a micro level. Do I advocate ugly sites? Not at all, just a judicious use of Flash as an accent, or as a tool for development. Flash (and Flex) are excellent tools for developing parts of a site, but as a total platform it is a bust on many levels.

79 Percent Of Americans Missing The Point Entirely | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

LOL... what can you do. It is so close to the truth!

"WASHINGTON, DC—According to a Georgetown University study released Tuesday, 79 percent of Americans are missing the point entirely with regard to such wide-ranging topics as politics, consumerism, taxes, entertainment, fashion, and professional wrestling."

I blush sometimes...

... but, you know... it is a great workshop and I am very proud of it.

As I've said before, my hometown of Phoenix Arizona is home to some incredibly talented photographers and Don Giannatti proves my point. This past weekend I attended another great lighting workshop led by Don.

Thanks Scott, your computers rock too!

Ok, ok... I laughed a bit

This is pretty funny. Awww... shutup, you woulda liked it if you had found it.

Two new workshop dates

We are pleased to announce that there are two new workshops planned for May. The first will be in Phoenix on Sunday, May 20, and the second is in Tucson, Saturday, May 26th. We are hoping for a good turnout, and it will be a lot of fun. Lots of new ideas to share with the workshop attendees and I now have a small handout of lighting diagrams for the students to take with them and use. If you are interested in the workshops, take a look at the site here.

This is happening too much... everywhere

It is terribly sad when restrictions become so linear that they cross into an area that removes taste, context and common sense. Such it is at so many public schools where kids are kicked out because mommy put a plastic knife for the peanut butter in her lunchbox.

Your Dojc is a fantastic shooter whom I have followed for many years. His participation on Flickr was one of the reasons I got so excited about it. Now we have this:

This is text from Flickr morality police:
Hello yuridojc,

We wanted to let you know that your account status has been
changed to "restricted". As per our Community Guidelines,
frontal nudity is inappropriate for "safe" areas of Flickr.

So There is not point to be here anymore for me.
Good by my friends and we may see each other on more liberal sites. Flickr was fun , but no more. Enjoy flowers and dogs.

So Flickr loses an avid advocate and a shooter who was really a fantastic asset. But, now that we have to be protected... you know, from words, from DJ "hate", from inappropriate news anchors, from books that may challenge, from the evils of thought, and now... pitchers of nekkid ladies.

I feel so safe now. Empty, but, you know, safe.

GMail Power... Flex it

Gmail is my chosen mail tool and I love it. I wish it had some other features... and - shazaaaam - here is an extension for FireFox that gives me some of the ones on my list. Cool.

Gmail's good, but it could be better. We've featured several Greasemonkey scripts that enhance Gmail in lots of different ways - like adding saved searches, attachment icons, label colors, keyboard macros, a filter assistant and right-click conversation previews. But not everyone wants to install Greasemonkey and hunt down all those scripts.

Check this out: a demo on using it. Thanks Gina!

It's Wednesday... What's on TV?

Seth points out a big flaw in startup thinking... that if you ain't livin' large then it isn't, you know, as cool. This last graph of the post sums up a lot of new think on how to start a business, a 'muse' income and more.

When I talk to people who want to become marketers, I almost always tell them to go start something and go market something. The same advice for 15 year olds and seniors. Turning off the TV and building a Cafe Press store is not only free, but it starts to build a professional-skills asset for the long haul. Pay as much as you need to for things that matter, and as little as you can for things that don't. And never borrow money to pay for something that goes down in value.

Read the whole thing, and make some changes, even if it is slowly and deliberately achieved and see what you can come up with.

What if:
Instead of watching TV we had written for 1 hour a day. Fiction, non-fiction - whatever. At the rate of 2 pages per hour, we would have written over 700 pages (taking a few days off for weekends and such...). That's a book.

Instead of watching TV we had taken out two images and photoshopped them, got them web ready, put them in our Flickr account, made an email campaign. Maybe purchase Dreamweaver and learn how to maintain our own sites. What if we photographed one hour per day... personal work, or photoshopped art or... or... well, you know.

What if we had built a Cafe' Press store 3 years ago selling posters, art, t-shirts - whatever.

What if we had started a forum on something we are passionate about, and built it into something with over 10,000 users (strobist).

That'd be pretty cool compared to knowing every character on Greys Anatomy or who got kicked off the island. I bet it would have put more money in our pockets as well.

One more for us Artists

Wouldn't you like to get Free Google Ads? I know that would decrease my PPC bill for my wedding site and the www.lighting-essentials.com site.

This handy little E-book has some ideas that are very interesting. I am going to try a few of them and see how they work. Looks promising. It isn't expensive, so I have my antennae up. However, it seems like the techniques work, so I am gonna give it a go.

It is time to get serious about creating income

One of the things that I am working on now is creating "Muse" income. If you have read the book "The 4 Hour Work Week", then you know what I mean. I am not looking to work 14 hours a day for the rest of my life. I am also not going to work 14 hours a day for a lot of money. I know how much I need for a good lifestyle, and now I am looking for ways to put some income into that auto-pilot stream. My review of this book will be online tomorrow. It is a moving and exciting new way of looking at life, money and time.

What that means is that there are some things you can do in the internet world that can generate income. It may not be super high income, but it can add up when you start working toward having multiple items. But even more importantly, it has to run on auto-pilot or at least be as hands-off as possible. Passive income. Making money without direct effort.

I am a designer and a photographer. That's great and all, but if I have to take a week off for illness, or to work with my daughters or wife on a project, then I don't make any money. Selling something online, without having to have product or inventory or even shipping, is what is called "Muse" income. My goal is easily obtainable and realistic.

This e-book, "Who Likes Money", is the best thing in this area I have found in a while. It is brand new, and of course will be imitated within weeks (days?). Get a copy of it and apply a few of the ideas in there to build a passive income for yourself. It is a very good read and great for those who are new to this internet marketing endeavor. Photogs and designers... take a look and think about it. It comes with a full money-back guarantee, so nothing ventured, nothing lost... take a jump toward building passive income.