Rarely Do I Lust for Gear and Things: But... an exception occasionally appears.

I really want one of these.

MacBook Pro - Apple Store (U.S.)

ASMP: The Accidental Photographer: Barbara Bordnick in Phoenix

© Barbara Bordnick

I have always been a huge Barbara Bordnick fan. I would look for her work first in Black Book and the magazines she worked for. I really love her total look.

And now you all in Phoenix get to spend an evening with her. That is so cool. Get on over and sign up. This may be a well spent evening with a people shooter extraordinaire. And when you get to the meeting, let them know you saw it in my blog. Seriously. Let 'em know.

ASMP: The Accidental Photographer:

"Barbara Bordnick's works are in the permanent collections of the International Center of Photography, the Gilman Paper Collection in New York, the Polaroid Collection in Massachusetts, George Eastman House in Rochester, NY, the Portland Museum of Art in Maine and the Hallmark Museum for Contemporary Photography in Massachusetts. Her book SEARCHINGS, Secret Landscapes of Flowers was published in the spring of 2003 to rave reviews; SEARCHINGS, Volume II was published May 2004 to even greater acclaim and Volume III was published in the fall of 2005. A traveling exhibition of these photographs is currently showing throughout the United States. Ms. Bordnick served three terms as the president of the Advertising Photographers of New York, and was the first woman president of the American Society of Magazine Photographers in 1977-78. On May 24, 2006 she was awarded the International Photographic Council's Leadership Award at the United Nations."

There's Us Little People, and There's Them Politicians

Sure glad that 'culture of corruption' thing is gone. Heh... Can you imagine the arrogant attitude of some people. My grandfather escaped fascism in Italy. Sorry Grampa...

He paid a dollar for his land and hasn't paid his taxes, his property taxes, or his mortgage. The point is that for some reason, he obviously didn't think he HAD to.

Burris' son got state job from Blago :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Roland Burris:
"The son of embattled Sen. Roland Burris is a federal tax deadbeat who landed a $75,000-a-year state job under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich five months ago, the Chicago Sun-Times has learned.

Blagojevich's administration hired Roland W. Burris II as a senior counsel for the state's housing authority Sept. 10 -- about six weeks after the Internal Revenue Service slapped a $34,163 tax lien on Burris II and three weeks after a mortgage company filed a foreclosure suit on his South Side house."

MediaShift . Laid-Off Arizona Journalists Start Online-Only Publications | PBS

Now this is cool. I hope they do a better job than the lame ol' publication they worked at before. You know... actually report instead of proselytize... it would be a welcome change. I hope they give it a shot.

MediaShift . Laid-Off Arizona Journalists Start Online-Only Publications | PBS:
"Why It's Innovative

These five journalists decided to keep doing their jobs even after being laid off.

Rather than turning to other newspapers, they began planning their online news sites when layoffs were announced in October. Both sites launched right after the layoffs were completed in early January.

At a time when newspapers are in trouble and the website is still, at many news organizations, an afterthought, these reporters took the brave new step and struck out online only -- on their own. If they succeed, they could be examples for scores of other journalists who have been laid off recently."

BorrowLenses.com - Camera Rental and Canon/Nikon Lens Rental

Wow. Max has one of these! You nature shooters can rent one now... far cheaper than buying one of these for the few times you need it. Sweet, Max!

BorrowLenses.com - Camera Rental and Canon/Nikon Lens Rental:

"The Nikon Telephoto AF-S Nikkor 600mm f/4G ED VR Lens is a premium ultrafast super telephoto lens, currently the longest in the Nikon autofocus lens system. It is a very robust and durable lens. Its lightweight construction incorporates a magnesium die-cast barrel, and professional-grade dust and moisture sealing allows it to be used in more rugged situations.

This lens features the improved Vibration Reduction (VR II) system that allows handheld telephoto shooting, even in less-than-ideally lit conditions. The VR system minimizes image blur caused by camera shake, and offers the equivalent of shooting at a shutter speed of about 4 stops faster. In addition, this lens also features the Tripod Detection mode, which reduces vibration that may occur due to shutter release, when mounted on a tripod."

Top Tools To Use When Starting A Web Business

I use a lot of these, and found a few I didn't know about. If you are really serious about online marketing, business and growing some presence there, you must... MUST... check out this site.

Top Tools To Use When Starting A Web Business (Part 1):

"For those of you just reading for this site for the first time, take note that Web Business Freedom has been online since early September 2008. So it’s a mere babe in the woods compared to many sites. And right now, the site is primarily a blog used to share information as I establish an online presence and credibility (both for you, kind reader, as well as the soul-less bots from Google and other machines that creep and crawl through the site regularly, finding nothing of substance in a rambling sentence like this).

The point is, I’m not using any software for e-commerce or other really advanced activities (yet). Nevertheless, I’m using some smart stuff behind the scenes. Here is the first round of my must-have apps:"

Here is Part Two:

I’m going to dive right in and list more applications I use on a daily basis. I’m on a Mac, so Windows users please bear this in mind. I’ve tried to find some equivalents out there for you.

The River Current - 23 Essential Resources for Business Card Design

So you think you have a cool business card, take a look at these. Thanks River Current, for a great little post of gems.

The River Current - 23 Essential Resources for Business Card Design:

"Before you blow this post off as just being another roundup of the same old cool business card designs, let me say to you that this is not one of those posts! This is a round up of some of the most useful resources on the web for creating a sweet business card design. This article includes some helpful articles from top graphic designers, high quality business card design tutorials, and of course, some business card inspiration."

28 Incredible Photoshop Image Manipulation Techniques and Tutorials : Speckyboy Design Magazine

This list of Photoshop Tutorials has a lot to see. Some of it you will know, and some of it will make you rethink how you are currently doing things. This is a must bookmark page.

28 Incredible Photoshop Image Manipulation Techniques and Tutorials : Speckyboy Design Magazine:

"All of these tutorials will show you how to take the simplest image and create something eye-popping and professional. Each one uses different techniques to achieve the result, and I am sure you would agree they are all amazing."

Jeremy and Claire Weiss, Los Angeles

This is fun work. Visit this blog and subscribe. They do a hell of a job bringing these interviews to us. Support is always a good thing.

Jeremy and Claire Weiss, Los Angeles:
"Jeremy and Claire Weiss are an American photography team noted for their portraiture and documentary work of musicians, celebrities, and friends. They also have been known to go by the name of their photo studio, Day19. Jeremy and Claire’s work has appeared in the pages and covers of Nylon, Elle Magazine, as well as advertising campaigns for Nokia, Dell Computers, DirecTV, and Cit, among others."

Design A Fresh Blog Theme On The 960 Grid | My Ink Blog

This is a pretty cool little tutorial for using a CSS Framework. Check it out.

Design A Fresh Blog Theme On The 960 Grid | My Ink Blog:
"Up until a couple of weeks ago I never really understood the fascination with using CSS frameworks in web design. They just seemed very limiting and boring. Then I used one. My whole perspective on their usefulness has done a complete 180. I can thank Jeffrey Way for convincing me to give the 960 framework a try, after I read/listened to his post: A Detailed Look at the 960 CSS Framework.

If you have been hesitant to give CSS frameworks a try for similar reasons, I suggest you at least give them a fair shake before you write them off completely. I’m not saying they are for everyone, but most of the excuses for not trying them don’t hold any weight."

Portable Lighting | LIGHTING ESSENTIALS : For Photographers

You are gonna like this offering:

Portable Lighting | LIGHTING ESSENTIALS : For Photographers:
"We are so blessed with talent over at the Lighting Essentials Flickr Pool. This weeks selection is wonderful and exciting, cool and hot - all at the same time. This group has 27 very nice images to inspire you and lift your spirits.

Before we go down the pool to see some of the amazing work that has been collected here, I would like to mention a few things that are happening here at Lighting Essentials."

Former NiN Drummer Takes Album Promotion A Step Further

Now this is marketing. With a capital M. Whether or not anyone buys the $75K packages may be moot. The buzz that will be created by offering it will be amazing. Look... I'm talking about it and I don't think I have ever heard anything by "Nine Inch Nails". Ever.

Former NiN Drummer Takes Album Promotion A Step Further:
"You know how Nine Inch Nails tie the digital goods (which can be duplicated ad infinitum) to scarce goods (merch, collector’s items, signed items, etc) to engage their audience and give them a chance to choose how much they’re willing to spend and what exactly they’re getting for their money?

Well, their former drummer Josh Freese has a new album, and he has decided to take the concept a couple of steps further. I’m not sure whether he’s joking or is this for real, but what he’s offering to his fans is definitely funny as hell. Here goes (courtesy of soundcheck.freedomblogging.com):"

One of my favorites... you get his car.

$10,000 (limited edition of 1)

* Signed CD/DVD and digital download
* T-shirt
* Signed DW snare drum from A Perfect Circle’s 2003 tour
* Josh gives you a private drum lesson OR his and hers foot/back massage (couples welcome, discreet parking)
* Twiggy from Marilyn Manson’s band and Josh take you and a guest to Roscoe’s Chicken ‘n’ Waffles in Long Beach for dinner
* Josh takes you and a guest to Club 33 (the super-duper exclusive and private restaurant at Disneyland located above Pirates of the Caribbean) and then hit a couple rides afterward (preferably the Tiki Room, the Haunted Mansion and Tower of Terror)
* At the end of the day at Disneyland, drive away in Josh’s Volvo station wagon. It’s all yours … take it. Just drop him off on your way home, though, please.

Christina: an archive shot pulled for a beauty headshot review. It is a few years old, but I still like it. She is going to school to be a Vet somewhere in CA these days.

Christina: an archive shot pulled for a beauty headshot review. It is a few years old, but I still like it. She is going to school to be a Vet somewhere in CA these days., originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Another natural light shot.

Oh to be a song...

and to be sung by her...

New Work at Thomas Broening Photography

I am a big Thomas Broening fan. Love his work. He has changed up his website and added some very nice new work. Thomas seems to be moving away from the big Photoshopped look to a more granular, 'real' looking set of images. I love the new direction he is going in, and it makes for great inspiration.

Thomas Broening Photography

Michelle (again)

Michelle (again), originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Well, the client liked this one... also an old one from the same shoot with Michelle as the previous shot. Click on the image for more information.

40 Free Tutorials on Advanced Drawing Techniques - VECTORTUTS

Just like the Photoshop Inspiration post previous to this, this stuff rocks. Great work.

40 Free Tutorials on Advanced Drawing Techniques - VECTORTUTS:
"The traditional form of drawing and sketching is a highly sought after skill. Develop your personal drawing abilities by following this collection of 40 great tutorials on advanced drawing techniques, including general theory, useful tips, comic inspired art and some methods for transforming your creations into digital format."

50 Mind-blowing Retro-style Photoshop Illustrations

These are just amazing. Great work to inspire you.

50 Mind-blowing Retro-style Photoshop Illustrations - PSDTUTS:
"Graphic design from the 70s, 80s and 90s has plenty to offer modern-day designers. Here we introduce a bunch of modern-day graphic designers using the best of retro-styles to create incredible and original work that melds the past, the present, and sometimes, the future!"

11 Free And Useful Open-Source Alternatives For Designers - Opensource, Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers

There are a lot of free, open source alternatives to be considered. I use Amaya a lot, and there are others that I am becoming more familiar with. I can tell you that there is a ton of stuff that can be done on this stuff. More importantly, as we all end up with more and more computers, it becomes a financial decision as we start to update programs across three or four computers.

With the open source stuff running on my laptops, I am able to be mobile and keep working.

11 Free And Useful Open-Source Alternatives For Designers - Opensource, Free and Useful Online Resources for Designers and Developers:
"We have lots of commercial software available to use on different platform to complete our different work, but they are not free and sometime we do not able to purchase. Don’t worry about it, today we are listing here 11 Free And Useful Open-Source Alternatives For Designers in which most of them are cross-platform. There are many alternative available for single software, but I just tried to list down some very similar and useful alternative. You might not be able to enjoy all the features as original software but it will really help you to perform your task in a better way when your pocket does not allow you to purchase commercial software."

Seth's Blog: The rational marketer (and the irrational customer)

Seth's Blog: The rational marketer (and the irrational customer):
"You know that your car is more aerodynamic. You know that your insulation is more effective. You know that your insurance has a higher ROI.

You've thought about it a lot because it's your job to think about it. It's your job to make those charts and tables and graphs and brochures. So you know it."

Slide Tips | SlideShare Blog

Presentations seem to be coming back with a vengeance. Learn how to make better ones here. Photographers may actually make presentations to show people how their work can create stories and more.

And that'd be kinda cool, ya know?

Slide Tips | SlideShare Blog:
"I’ve just hosted a passionate debate on my blog about the importance of design in a PowerPoint presentation. Some bloggers were adamant that design was a luxury that businesses could not afford. Others couldn’t understand why businesses didn’t accord the same design budget to PowerPoint presentations as they did to their annual reports and brochures."

18 Tools @ Fuel Your Creativity

This is a great list with some nice stuff for Mac as well.

18 Tools I use as a Designer & Blogger | Fuel Your Creativity:
"I’m always sharing what tools are useful to me via Twitter, but just incase you don’t use it - I wanted to share here! I always get asked what productivity tools and apps I use on a regular basis and I pretty much open all of these everyday. There are a few apps that are similar in type because some may be all in one tools or I’m just starting to use one more than the other. Check these out, they are ones I would recommend to a designer/blogger/creative type. If there is something missing from the list that you think should be on here, please share in the comments!"

50 Tutorials To Get You Started With Gimp | LinuxHaxor.net

I don't use Gimp. I know people who do, so it seems to be pretty good.

50 Tutorials To Get You Started With Gimp | LinuxHaxor.net:
"Gimp has been famously known as the “poor man’s Photoshop”, and perhaps rightfully so. That’s a complement Gimp won’t mind taking. While it would be an unfair comparison to make between Gimp and Photoshop, Gimp can easily meet needs of most amateur image editors out there and then some. Since its release in 1995 Gimp has come a long way in to being the most powerful image editing tool freely available out there. With these tutorials we hope to vanish some of the doubts you might have had about Gimp’s ability as a powerful image editor."

jQuery lightbox clone - prettyPhoto

I like jQuery. I like LightBox. I like this spirit of togetherness.

jQuery lightbox clone - prettyPhoto - by Stephane Caron:
"Here's my jQuery lightbox clone, I did it because those available are either not close enough to the real lightbox (lacking animations, not supporting galleries, etc ,etc) or were just not suiting my need."

This is a pretty cool way to integrate images into a web page. And now we have the jQuery version to work with.

If I was a Dead Head, I would love this...

Grateful Dead's "Wake Of The Flood" MP3 $2 - dealmac.com:
"The Amazon MP3 Store offers downloads of Grateful Dead's Wake Of The Flood for $1.99. That's the lowest price we could find for this 7-track, DRM-free album, released in 2008. (iTunes charges $9.99.)"

But I'm not. You may be though, so woohoo for this, eh?

42 Free Online Magazines for Designers | Graphics

Well, just what I need. Sleep is highly overrated anyway...

42 Free Online Magazines for Designers | Graphics:
"Art and design magazines are designers close companion. Not only it feeds us with latest trends and news in the design industry, it’s also a good source of inspiration, particularly useful for those who hit the design block frequently."

The Solo Photo Book Month

I just registered. I am so excited about this. A challenge means an opportunity. A community means a social reason. This is going to be a ton of fun. And the results will be something I will have and remember forever.

Take the challenge... go on, take the damn challenge!

SoFoBoMo - The Solo Photo Book Month:
"Paul Butzi is putting the finishing touches to the Solo Photo Book Month challenge. I want to urge you to take part. Not for me. Not for Paul. For you.

But why would you want to put a book together ? All photographers seem to want to put a book together. It is a cool thing to do - to have a book of your images, in your hand. We print few enough images any more. Digital photographers have drives stuffed full of digital images and not enough printed. At least I fall in to that category and I suspect many of you do, too. Lots of unfinished images, cluttering up the place. Maybe some of them get released into the wild and end up on flickr. Even there though, they are seldom solid enough for you to really look at them. A single finished print teaches you a lot about the image that is hard to discover on a screen. A book is a different order of magnitude, again. Final. Solid. Scary.

That I think is why many of us don't do it. A book seems like such a big task. Daunting and also final. You have to commit to the content of it. Those pictures are there to last. So all the fears well up. I'm not good enough. I don't know how to do it. I don't think I can finish it. Who am I to be putting a book together? Well, why not ? Even if you are the only person who ever sees the finished book, you'll have achieved something. The end result is a completed, finished piece of work - as polished as you can make it. It might be a file generated with a free pdf printer from any word processor, or a presentation tool, even Microsoft works or Adobe InDesign. It could be a blurb.com or lulu.com print-on-demand work. Perhaps you use it as something to approach a publisher with. It might just stay on your hard drive, never to be seen by anyone other than you. But it would still be a finished book. With your name on the cover. How cool would that be?"

Michelle

Michelle, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

An older shot of Michelle reprocessed for an article I am writing. If only writing the article was as easy as taking a good picture of Michelle. Sheesh.

Stunning Examples of a great redesign

Sometimes a redesign is a good thing, eh?

Function Web Design & Development [ Blog ] » 50 Stunning Examples of a great redesign: My Top Picks:
"A redesign can be worth its weight in gold if you get it right. There is a thin line between freshening up your design, and taking a step backwards with a redesign. Sometimes a redesign can be subtle and simple, and other times it can be a huge re-vamp of a company and it’s goals. Here’s a look at some of my favourite re-designs in no particular order."

Creativity on Display

A list of creative stuff. From pillow design to cakes to pizza, there are people doing some amazingly creative things out there. This is fuel for the designer inside us.

Next time you make a cake at home, or go to buy sheets for the bed, you will remember that you indeed have choices that can knock you out. Think creative.

Toxel.com

10 Easy Steps To Advanced Photography Skills | How-To | Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazines got a great little Photography post.

10 Easy Steps To Advanced Photography Skills | How-To | Smashing Magazine:
"A camera does not work like an eye; film does not work like memory. There is a fine line between a photo that is quite nice and one that is quite breathtaking. At some unknown point, a photo can cross the Rubicon and be forever a piece of beautiful art. That hinterland between a regular photo and evocative art is a shifting area from person to person and taste to taste. However, that zone can be narrowed a bit once you start to consider the way the brain stores memories and emotions.

And yes, it gets a bit touchy-feely here trying to determine if your work has crossed that line. With rigorous practice and peer feedback, you can start to appreciate where that zone is and, consequently, improve your hit ratio."

FREE Xerox Phaser 8560 Solid Ink Color Printer

When you are in the business of selling copies, give the printer away and charge for the copies. Brilliant. About time... now, where are your ideas on changing things up. Adding value. Or closing a line of thinking that was a barrier to begin with?

Go2 Free Color Printer : FREE Xerox Phaser 8560 Solid Ink Color Printer:
"Looking for the convenience of a true MFP with print, copy, scan and fax capabilities all in color? The free color printer MFP, Xerox Phaser 8860MFP color multifunction printer allows you to print, copy, scan, and fax with stunning color output. Match that with its ease-of-use, consistency, quality and reliability and you have the ideal MFP for medium-size workgroups with high-volume print demands. The Phaser 8860MFP is $0.12 for the first 2,500 color pages, then $0.08 each color page after the initial 2,500 pages."

LIGHTING ESSENTIALS : For Photographers

Here is my newest post and Tech Sheet.

Portable Lighting | LIGHTING ESSENTIALS : For Photographers:
"Tilt-shift lenses provide the small camera shooter with the functionality of a view camera. At least some of the functionality of a view camera. The front half anyway.

The ability of the camera to change the relationship between lens placement and film or sensor placement can provide many different possibilities. Two of the most popular are the tilt lens and the ability to shift the lens above and below the sensor axis.

Let’s examine the tilt tool on the Tilt Shift lens. Tilting helps control the Depth of Field on images. By tilting the lens forward, the photographer can manipulate the amount of focus by increasing
the angle of the lens’ DOF."

28 of the Coolest Retro Style Photoshop Brush Sets : Speckyboy Design Magazine

These can come in really handy.

28 of the Coolest Retro Style Photoshop Brush Sets : Speckyboy Design Magazine:
"Retro is a style that is very popular with graphic and web designers, styled properly the effect is amazing. Here are some brush sets to help you with your designs."

10 great sites about Search Engine Optimization | 46SchoolStreet.com

Another useful list.

10 great sites about Search Engine Optimization | 46SchoolStreet.com:
"Today Search Engine Optimization is more important than ever. Learn how to optimize your site and become more successful. Here is a list with 10 great sites and blogs about SEO with useful facts, tips and tricks."

50 Free High-Quality Icon Sets | Graphics | Smashing Magazine

This is really cool. Smashing Magazine delivers some of the best things around. This is an amazing list of very cool icons.

50 Free High-Quality Icon Sets | Graphics | Smashing Magazine:
"When it comes to freebie designs, beautiful icons sets are tops. Designers scour for these free treasures more than anything else. You can use icon sets in Web applications, website designs and on your desktop. If well designed, they make a great impression on others. Beautifully designed icons also prove the quality of a designer’s work, so many designers make theirs freely available online, thus giving their work more exposure."

Street: Miami, Arizona

Street: Miami, Arizona, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

From some of the new work.

Carrer Blog: Sketchbook for web designers

Carrer Blog: Sketchbook for web designers:
"Recently I saw one cool sketchbook for designing web site mockups. The problem was I couldn't find out how to order one copy. The idea of that sketchbook was to simulate web browser on paper.
So I decided to build one."

And so he did.

Making it Easy: Part 2

Making it Easy: Part 2, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Christina from the Apricot Lane shoot at CityCenter.

Making It Easy: Part One

Making It Easy: Part One, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

I have a great client, Apricot Lane. We have been doing a marketing project for them that is really, really rockin'. We are near totally new media on this project. We are creating a very successful campaign that is bringing her amazing results. Where others are spending 10K+ a month in magazine ads, we are spending waaaaaaay less. And producing a store that is number two in the franchise...

This is from our photoshoot today. We spent a great afternoon working on shots for the store, direct mail, website, facebook, flickr, twitter and just plain fun.

Working with talent like Briana, Christina and Megan make it way more fun than work.

10 things a web designer would never tell you : Boagworld web design podcast

10 things a web designer would never tell you : Boagworld web design podcast:
"Working with web designers is a nightmare. You will never meet a more opinionated bunch of snobs. They are always going on about 'white space', 'composition' and how they went to art college (like that counts as a proper education!). When it comes to choosing the design of your site, they are the last people you should listen to.

What follows are 10 things you need to know about managing a web design project, that no web designer will ever tell you!"

What now? | Avisualsociety

This blog is by a rep in NYC. A real rep, not a wannabe. Real deal.

He has a great blog, but as you can imagine, things are a little rock and roll right now. He took the time to write this great article for photographers, reps and interested parties. I am proud to link it here. It is well written, heartfelt and although he is wrong about the middle class and Bush, I still love the guy. Read it all.

What now? | Avisualsociety:
"Obviously everyone is adapting to lower budgets - for production, for fees, for marketing (PDN did a great piece on how photographers can stretch their personal promotion budgets) and whatever else they have to do to survive. As someone who works on the representation side of the business I wanted to write my first substantial post of the year with a less than Harvard Business School approved survey of our business.

Below are my (completely unscientific, and probably not particularly profound) observations of what rep agencies are doing to survive beyond simply trying to adapt to lower budgets.

1) A lot of photography agencies will re-organise their rosters.

By this I mean that a lot of agencies will take a long hard look at the talent they represent and end their relationships with the artists who aren’t doing as well financially, or are frankly of questionable temperament and are no longer worth dealing with. The smaller boutique agencies who represent fewer artists may be more averse to doing this. Representing talent involves many costs (there’s more to just putting a name on a website) and many agents will be making business decisions to part ways with talent."

50 Photoblogs @ Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine is my go-to for inspiration and those times when I want to find a cool design or a CSS/Javascript gallery code that will work for a client or an idea.

Ideas. That is Smashing Magazines most important stock. Ideas. These guys do a smashing job of finding some incredible sites, code, fonts, and more. Check them out.

But today's post... well, that is right up the alley for photographers. Incredible work and inspiring photography. Grab a cold one (or a hot one for the folks back east) and sit for a while. Probably a long while.

50 Wonderful, Inspiring Photoblogs | Inspiration | Smashing Magazine:
"A photoblog is a very specific type of blog. Its focus is photography, and there are typically few words beyond a caption and comments. Photoblogs are easy to set up and maintain, and they make great photo galleries for photographers who are put off by the complexity of HTML coding or installing a CMS such as WordPress.

It’s because of this simplicity, not to mention the development of free yet sophisticated tools like Pixelpost, that photoblogging has exploded in popularity over the last few years. Photoblogs.org, for example, lists over 32,000 photoblogs! That’s a lot of photos, and a lot of photographers vying for your attention."

Ya gotta love Dean...

I put Dean and Frank and Sammy on when I'm cookin'. Occasionally at the studio when it is quiet and I am working on a project, they keep me company. I woulda liked to hang wit dose guys... seriously.

ONE DAY ONLY... for Dean's Love Songs - $2. If you aren't seeing this on Valentines day... 's too late for you.

Amazon.com: Love Songs: MP3 Downloads: Dean Martin: "Love Songs
by Dean Martin
Price: $1.99"

A Photo Editor - Magazines Try To Save Newspapers

They can try. But I don't think they will.

Newspapers and their delivery are decidedly not with the times. Creating a bloated mechanism upon which to sell advertising around stories that I have already either heard or read earlier in the day makes it viable no more. Magazines should probably worry about saving their own sorry asses. Cutting down trees to make a lot of yesterday's news on paper... naw...

Niche magazines will be with us for a while. Interior Design, Art, Nature, Cigars, Boating... they have a market that is more about the content on a longer draw. But the news magazines? Naw... screw 'em.

Like Rob says... I couldn't care less if Time or Newsweek make it. They have an out of date delivery system of material that is stale by the time I get it. And the advertisers are paying hundreds of thousands for the chance to sit on a coffee table in a dentists waiting room. Fools. For the kind of money that is spent on one months ad run, a company could present a multiplicity of online games, surveys, town halls... a ton of things. All built to engage instead of sitting there for eyeballs to glance at.

Rob at APE has some thoughts as well. Read them all.

A Photo Editor - Magazines Try To Save Newspapers:
"I have several thoughts to contribute:

1. The monopoly is over. The cost of delivering advertising to to consumers along with words and pictures is now nearly zero. Advertisers paid whatever you told them to pay because the delivery method was expensive and complicated. Nobody gives a rats ass if the billionaire owners go somewhere else. Turning journalism into a break even industry is perfectly fine with editors, writers and photographers. I could go on and on about the decisions that are made by owners that put advertising and attracting easy readers first. My reasons for not reading Time Magazine anymore is certainly tied to their attempts to attract more readers (to serve to advertisers) at the expense of the quality of the product."

Another Movie from Last Years Mexico Trip

We have another one coming up the end of April.Visit the site here:

Natural Light: Natural Beauty

Natural Light: Natural Beauty, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Classic Black and White. Classic Natural Light. Classic Beauty.

A Good Post by Nick Onken

Nick's Blog is one of the best around on behind the scenes photo knowledge.

nickonkenShoptalk:
"In photography, part of the hard work is developing your eye to see, hence crafting your artistic vision, and that only happens through practice. As you grow, you begin to see things that you neglected to see before. That is only learned by going through the artistic journey.

That said, if you want it then make the decisions to work hard and succeed. I don't think the fairy will come sprinkling her dust. Success is the result of putting in the time and hard work."

MEXICO Workshop is Taking Names and Signing Up

We are excited as heck to be going back to the Las Palmas for our Spring Lighting Essentials Workshop. This one is looking even more amazing than the last one. We will have so many opportunities for shooting, the models are released, the location is amazing and we will shoot / edit / and produce amazing images.

Here is a little video from last time.

Free E-Book on Social Media Marketing

This looks pretty cool. I have skimmed it and will be reading it tomorrow and making notes. Hmmm... you could do that to. That's also cool.

PR Squared: E-Book on Social Media Marketing:
"Big news! I wrote an e-book comprised of my “best thinking” of the past 5 years.

If you want to skip right to the good stuff, click here for the e-book.

If you’ve been reading this blog since its launch in June 2004, there won’t be a whole lot of surprises … but the tale of the blog stats suggests that most PR-Squared readers did not discover this blog until fairly recently.

The e-book packages up all the “best stuff” nicely, and more importantly it’s in a user-friendly PDF format that allows you to FORWARD TO A FRIEND."

Please Feed The Animals › The Future Of Advertising Is On Main Street, Not Wall Street

Woo Hoo... this is EXACTLY what I been sayin'. Off to Borders... gonna buy me this book!

Please Feed The Animals › The Future Of Advertising Is On Main Street, Not Wall Street: "

The Future Of Advertising Is On Main Street, Not Wall Street

Uber-smart economist and author David C. Korten postulates that the nation’s economic model needs to pay more attention to mom and pop and less attention to Wall Street. He argues that too many institutions generate “phantom wealth” – things like speculative trading, asset bubbles, debt pyramids, and predatory lending. Contrast that with Main Street, where actual stuff is made by actual businesses. This, Korten argues, is the sweet spot for economic recovery"

WP WebHost - A Web Hosting for WordPress Users | WordPress Blogging | Blog Perfume

Specialized WordPress hosting. Hmmm... Hope they host better than they write. But for $5 per month, it would be worth a shot.

WP WebHost - A Web Hosting for WordPress Users | WordPress Blogging | Blog Perfume: "You can install new WordPress on your site with just a click of your mouse through their Control Panel. They also invest heavily in ensuring our servers are not overloaded, have the fastest network connections, and guarantee 99.9% of network uptime. If you are not, within 100 days from when your initial order was placed, you’ll get your money back."

Black Fur, Purple Dress, Bring the heat...

Black Fur, Purple Dress, Bring the heat..., originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Portrait of a young woman in a purple dress.

SURPRISE! Dems Break Promise: Stimulus Bill to Floor Friday - HUMAN EVENTS

So on something so important, so 'country shaking' as this Trillion Dollar bill can't even get a weekend for people, us people, to look at it? Two stinking days to read nearly 800 pages?

Why? What on earth would be the reason to ram this down our throats with less scrutiny than the naming of a National Park, or a bridge in Washington? We can't look at it for a lousy weekend?

We were promised transparency and light. We were promised an 'open process' where, we, the little people could be involved. We were promised legitimacy. We were promised...

"Meet the new boss, same as the old boss..."

Fuckin' Liars. Just lying sacks of shit.

SURPRISE! Dems Break Promise: Stimulus Bill to Floor Friday - HUMAN EVENTS:
"In a press conference Thursday, the House Republican leadership spoke candidly about being kept out of the House-Senate conference on the Obama-Pelosi-Reid so-called “economic stimulus” bill. They confirmed they had not yet seen the text of the bill as of 4 p.m.

Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he was unsure how many Democrats would vote with Republicans again on this bill but that he thought Republicans “may get a few” Democrats to side with them. The fact that the Demos have now broken their promise to have the public able to see the bill for 48 hours may drive more Dems into the Republican camp."

Boomer bust: Gulp...

Las Vegas Weekly : - Boomer bust:
"Even as one of their own, Barack Obama, prepares to tackle this economic crisis, don’t be optimistic those in their early 40s will do better. They have been long misguided, ferried as they were from school to soccer games to karate lessons. The wisdom best passed on to Gen X is that there is no Great Indoors and never was. Not even the bones of a Swell Indoors will be left as a metaphor for Baby Boomer failure. Start change by ridding the language of the word “great,” discard it along with “awesome” and all words associated with the Dr. Spock syndrome. Revive the language of the generation that won WWII. Restore humble words such as “grit,” “integrity,” “diligence,” “honor,” “responsibility,” “sacrifice” and especially “accountability” to the social vocabulary. Let Boomer hyperbole vanish along with the merchandise the scavengers fled with when The Great Indoors finally closed."

Headshot in the studio. One main light and a back light for separation

Headshot in the studio. One main light and a back light for separation, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

One night we decided to invite people we didn't know over for pictures. It worked out pretty well.

The Roma Journeys

Wow. Just wow. Grab a beer or a favorite beverage and be prepared to be wowed.

The Roma Journeys:
"Between 2000 and 2006 I together with writer Cia Rinne undertook travels in seven different countries with a view to gaining an insight into the life of the Roma and the conditions they face. We always tried to spend a considerable length of time among the people whom we wanted to learn about and, if possible, to live with them for a while.

It was our own interest that initially took us to the Roma streets in Hevesaranyos in northeast Hungary, where we spent four months at the home of Magda, an elderly Roma. The other journeys to Romania, India and our travels in Finland came about through personal contact, while in Greece and Russia we were initially assisted by human rights organizations and in France by the Centre de recherches tsiganes in Paris."

I Gotta Get into Illustrator More...

These are flat out gorgeous designs. A great collection.

50 Insanely Good Vector-based Web Designs - VECTORTUTS:

"Implementing bright and crisp vector graphics into your web designs can really add some visual kick. This collection of 50 insanely good vector-based web designs showcases the best examples of vector use including landscapes illustrations, abstract collages and character/mascot designs."

gallery - multi page mk2 - this is cool

Here is a great little tool to show images on a blog or a website. I like its simplicity and the way that users can browse the images. Sweet, Stu.

stu nicholls dot com | gallery - multi page mk2:

"With the popularity of my previous multi-page gallery demonstrations I have had feedback from many users asking for the facility to have some descriptive text to accompany each large image and also several requests for a method of having a further clickable area to show an even bigger image on another page.

Well this demonstration covers both these requirements.

As with the previous version you can select from three different sets of images, this can be expanded to as many as you like but the more images there are the more the page load time goes up. You can then click on any of the thumbnail images to see a larger image and there will be a line of descriptive text to accompany each large image in the bottom border of the 'projector screen'."

14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users - Kenny Hyder

This is a great list. Take a few moments and see what you can use.

14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users - Kenny Hyder:
"14 Tools of Highly Effective Twitter Users
A collection of the 14 best tools available to help you manage and maximize twitter in alphabetical order!"

Sony's New, uh, Release: This Thing Kicks Ass, It Has Like a Gazillion, Megawhateverthehelltheyare's

Sony Releases New Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work

Use Light to create different looks in a single location. Strobe, natural, blend and bounce.

Use Light to create different looks in a single location. Strobe, natural, blend and bounce., originally uploaded by Wizwow.

A new post at Lighting Essentials on utilizing a single location for many different looks by using light differently.

Enjoy

28 Days to Improved Results with Social Media: Week Two | Traffikd

28 Days to Improved Results with Social Media: Week Two | Traffikd:

"28 Days to Improved Results with Social Media: Week Two

Last week I started a four-week series of posts that is intended to help readers who are new to social media (or those who are just looking for better results) to have an organized and focused approach that will lead to some success. If you missed the first post in the series, you may want to read that one, as the contents of this post will pick up where that one ended.

In effort to make this series as practical and usable as possible, the activities for each week will be broken down into specific steps that should be taken. This week we’ll focus on taking action and moving towards that first successful social media post. So let’s start week two’s activities."

Doug Menuez ON CHAOS, FEAR, SURVIVAL & LUCK: LONGEVITY IS THE ANSWER

Still one of the best articles on photography, the real guts of photography, that I have read in quite a while. If you haven't read it, take the time to do so. It is amazing. And Doug is one hell of a photographer.

EP Resources - Doug Menuez ON CHAOS, FEAR, SURVIVAL & LUCK: LONGEVITY IS THE ANSWER:

"THE FREELANCE DILEMMA

We are like swimmers lost on a vast, dark sea. Lightning streaks out from a distant storm to show us a direction and off we go, furiously slashing the waves toward the light and hopefully land. Too soon, darkness settles back down around us and we lose our way again. Occasionally, we lose our faith in ourselves.

At least for me, that's how it sometimes feels to be a photographer, as I struggle to find my true path. A few years ago I took a serious break to reflect on my goals and choices. This was tough; reflection involves actual thinking, as opposed to jumping on another flight to whereverland. Although blessed with outward success and a richly varied career over 30 years of non-stop travel, it slowly dawned on me that inwardly I was deeply unhappy.

Soon I had three epiphanies that opened my eyes to obvious truths I had ignored in my chaotic life. Based on these revelations I developed a set of new principals by which to live and re-direct my career. Almost overnight I was free of fear and felt true happiness probably for the first time in my life. Not everything was perfect but I had a plan and a renewed sense of purpose and belief in myself."

Emily Chang - eHub: Getting Things Done with Twitter

Bet you thought that twitter was just about sending messages about the pimples on your butt. Nope... micro-blogging can really help you get things done. Emily has quite a list here:

Emily Chang - eHub: Getting Things Done with Twitter:

"FEATURE: Getting Things Done with Twitter

Written by Kim Lau and posted in Organizing and cataloging • Statistics, tracking, testing • Twitter

After three years on the web, Twitter has become more than just another micro-blogging client. A whole industry of web applications have sprung up to extend and capitalize on Twitter’s capabilities, from the ridiculously silly, to the gobsmackingly useful. If Twitter is not already a part of your daily life, these applications can give you a whole new perspective on the idea of Getting Things Done. There’s a lot you didn’t know you could do with 140 character spurts."

The Year in Pictures: Happy Pre-Valentine's Day Competition!

Have you ever tried to recreate something that you have seen? Or a great image, even an iconic image? I recently saw a set of BBC videos of a photographer recreating some of the greatest fashion shots of the last 40 years. It was very inspiring.

Then there's this post today at "The Year in Pictures". It is an homage to one of my favorite photographers, Harry Callahan. Callahan photographed his wife as a subject for decades. The images transcend excellence and are in a place all their own. The emotion, insight, intensity and intimacy is amazing.

There's a competition going on there too.

The Year in Pictures: Happy Pre-Valentine's Day Competition!:

"As is our tradition at this time of year, our thoughts turn to that great Valentine of photography – Harry Callahan’s photographs of his wife Eleanor.

This year I was reminded by a review of Callahan’s Eleanor pictures on The College Hill Independent – a lively alternative weekly webzine written, designed and illustrated by Brown and RISD students for the Providence community. I was particularly impressed by the articulate and thoughtful writing of Min Wu ('09) and delighted by the serendipity of the fact that the High Museum’s acclaimed show “Harry Callahan: Eleanor” is currently on view at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art through February 15. So if you happen to be in the Providence area – run, don't walk!"

Digital Photo News - Make Thicker Eyelashes in Photoshop

I think the title is pretty self-explanatory.

Digital Photo News - Your view in digital photography:

"Make eyelashes thicker"

smush.it! : This looks very cool

Firefox Extension. Bulk Uploader. Behind the scenes optimization. Man, this is pretty darn cool!

smush.it!:

"Image optimization is an art that not many people master. There are many good image editing tools that allow us to get the best visual result for a certain file size but 'under the hood' a lot more optimization can be done.

Smushit.com is a service that goes beyond the limitations of Photoshop, Fireworks & Co. It uses image format specific non-lossy image optimization tools to squeeze the last bytes out of your images - without changing their look or visual quality. You'll get a report of how many bytes you can save by optimizing your images and all the changed images as a single zip for download."

10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites @ Smashing Magazine

This is one of the best posts I have ever read. If you are in a corporation, or work with a corporation, take a read of this. Print it out. Read it. Read it again. This is one of the best posts I have ever read... oh, I said that before. That's OK. It's that good.

10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Websites | How-To | Smashing Magazine: "We all make mistakes running our websites. However, the nature of those mistakes varies depending on the size of your company. As your organization grows, the mistakes change. This post addresses common mistakes among large organizations.

Most of the clients I work with are large organizations: universities, large charities, public sector institutions and large companies. Over the last 7 years, I have noticed certain recurring misconceptions among these organizations. This post aims to dispel these illusions and encourage people to face the harsh reality."

Basin Found Camera!

This is great news. If you aren't familiar with this story, go read it.

I am very happy to let everyone know that the camera's owner has been found!

This evening, a mere eight days after setting up this blog, I received the email that I--and lots of other folks here--was hoping for! I will be sending the family's photos and movie clips back to them this week. I will leave this blog site up until the end of February, just for folks that might be checking back in to see the great news!

@ A Photo Editor - Andy Anderson Interview

If you live in a small market, you are going to love this interview. And for those of us who don't shoot every possible moment, it is a reminder of what we should be doing.

A Photo Editor - Andy Anderson Interview: "APE: You really do shoot a lot of personal projects. Have you always done all this self financed personal work?

Yes, always. I love to take pictures. I just got back from Cuba where I shot baseball players and transvestites. I also used to shoot a lot of pro bono work back in the day to get into the award books. I have a saying. Musicians don’t just play when they have a gig. Photographer need to do the same so they can evolve and look at things differently. Everyone wants to see new work in your book."

The Year in Pictures: "I Object."

Me too, sir. Me too. Read the whole thing.

The Year in Pictures:

"In these situations (not all of which went to court) - Jeff Koons and Andrea Blanch, Richard Prince and the original photographers of the Marlboro Men campaign, Warhol and Frank Powolny (who took the Marilyn Monroe photograph), and now Fairey and Garcia - there's an implication that defining yourself as an 'artist' as opposed to a 'photographer' makes you more important and gives you special privilege. It also implies that a straightforward photograph is of lesser significance or value than a painting or conceptual work of art.

I object."

A Problem With Shepard Fairey's Lawsuit

So S. Fairey is a liar as well as a thief and a vandal err, 'street artist'... Good lord. The things these people do when they think they have some power. What at fraud. Why he can't tell the truth? I guess it is all part of the world we now live in.

PDNPulse: A Problem With Shepard Fairey's Lawsuit: "A Problem With Shepard Fairey's Lawsuit

This post will interest you only if you're totally obsessed with the Shepard Fairey Fair Use case, as we are.

Last month, photographer/blogger Tom Gralish (with help from other bloggers) identified the source photo of Fairey's Obama poster as a very specific Associated Press image by Mannie Garcia. Here's a look at the photograph and the poster:"