Stormy Sky and Bare Trees. Pittsburgh, PA November 2009

Stormy Sky and Bare Trees. Pittsburgh, PA November 2009, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

I really get attracted to texture, whether man made or in the world itself. This is a shot from very low... that is not a reflection back behind the trees, but more storm clouds and light. We don't see a lot of this thing in Phoenix so maybe that is what attracts me to it.

Hope and Change for Older Folks: News - ReviewJournal.com

Well there's some change and hope for ya... Can't wait for this kind of thing becomes part of the Government and the really professional bureaucrats get hold of health care. Whoohee... Hope and Change that we can be reallyfrigginscared of.

Elderly question flu shot controls - News - ReviewJournal.com:

"'The truth is,' the retired paper sales executive said last week, 'when I think about not being able to get a swine flu shot, I get real pissed off.'

Two months after H1N1 flu vaccine was first distributed to public health districts around the country, people 65 and older with serious medical conditions still can't get vaccinated.

Anter's doctors at Stanford University Hospital, where he received his transplant, tell him he has a compromised immune system and 'the H1N1 flu could do me in.'

He takes at least nine prescription medications daily to stay alive.

'But when I try to get a shot, I'm told I'm too old ' he said as he sat in the study of his Peccole Ranch home."

10 Reasons why brands fail on Twitter / Social Media - Daily SEO blog

So true true true. If you are trying to make sense of this social media thing, read and understand this post. You cannot think of Twitter or Facebook as another ad channel... it is a discussion - about things that are relative and possibly fringe of your product/service. Discuss the world of your product, NOT just your product.

10 Reasons why brands fail on Twitter / Social Media - Daily SEO blog:

"2. When they talk only about the product.

Some brands hop on to Twitter hoping that they can shout about their products, and get people interested. That’s fine as long as you are an established brand like Coke or Obama. People will keep waiting for your updates, and they are okay if you only talk about yourself. But if you’re a brand that’s struggling to get attention, you got to mix it up until you reach an authority."

Leaves in the path: Pittsburgh, PA. Near my hotel I found all kinds of little nooks and paths.

I love the light when the sun is playing behind the clouds. Little shafts of sunlight and shadow play across the stage like dancers. I had a great time in Pittsburgh. Looking forward to going back again sometime.

Don Giannatti: Designer / Photographer / Writer

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We Pay Them to Lie to Us

Sigh... small business is taking a beating. Is there a plan? Or is what we are seeing now 'the plan'?

RealClearPolitics - We Pay Them to Lie to Us:

"It's amazing how precise government gets when estimating the cost of 10 years of subsidized medical care. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's bill was scored not at $850 billion, but $849 billion. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said her bill would cost $871 billion.

How do they do that?

The key to magic is misdirection, fooling the audience into looking in the wrong direction."

Nine Inconvenient Business Facts for Aspiring Photographers | Black Star Rising Photography Blog

The other 7 are pretty good too!

Nine Inconvenient Business Facts for Aspiring Photographers | Black Star Rising Photography Blog:

"Fact #5. If you charge for your time at an hourly rate, the better you get at completing an assignment, the less you are being paid for your talents. Although an hourly rate may work when you are covering a luncheon or an all-day conference, it doesn’t work on most other assignments. Banish “day rate” from your vocabulary before it costs you.

Fact #6. Just because a client says they won’t pay for something, that doesn’t mean you must accept and work under those terms. You have the power to say no."

Charis Wilson, Edward Weston’s Photography Model, Dies at 95

She led a terribly interesting life. What a joy it was for us all that she met Weston and made some iconinc images.

Charis Wilson, Edward Weston’s Photography Model, Dies at 95

"In January 1934 Ms. Wilson was an intellectually inclined, brazenly adventurous young woman of 19 when she met Weston, who was then in his late 40s and a friend of her brother, Leon, at a concert in Carmel, Calif. They were drawn to each other instantly, and she began posing for him shortly thereafter.

“I knew I really didn’t look that good, and that Edward had glorified me,” Ms. Wilson said later, as recounted in “The Model Wife,” a 1999 study by Arthur Ollman of nine photographers and their images of their wives, “but it was a very pleasant thing to be glorified and I couldn’t wait to go back for more.'"

Great, Now Demi Moore's Torso Is Missing - The Consumerist

So when she said she wasn't Photoshopped:

The actress took to Twitter - and posted another version of the image as proof - to deny that the cover shot, for W's December issue, was altered in any way.

"Here is the original image people my hips were not touched don't let these people bulls--- you!" she tweeted Thursday afternoon.

She, well... LIED.

Great, Now Demi Moore's Torso Is Missing - The Consumerist:
"In all of the chatter surrounding the Demi Moore W cover controversy, many people have insisted that her vanished hip is part of a perfectly natural pose. They were correct. The photo shows the natural standing pose... of a runway model in her mid-twenties. It appears that Moore's head, legs, and arms were superimposed on the hips and torso of model Anja Rubik."

WooHoo: Hope and Change, Baby!

Super! We are on the right track now, folks. Let's add the fact that small businesses see it as a lose/lose to hire new people until there is some idea of what the congress is planning to do to small business, and the gone-forever financial, automotive, institutional and manufacturing jobs.

Hope and change, baby. Elections have consequences. Wooooot!

Goodbye jobs, hello mom and dad, say young adults - Yahoo! News:

"Among 16- to 24-year-olds, less than half, or 46.1 percent, are currently employed, the smallest share since the government began collecting such data in 1948. At the same time, a record high of about 11.5 million Americans ages 18 to 24, or nearly 40 percent, attended college in October 2008.

'Boomerang kids are a major trend, and they represent a shift in cultural norms,' said David Morrison, president and founder of Twentysomething Inc., a marketing and research firm. 'Young adults are the first to feel the brunt of a bad economy and the last to feel the benefits of a recovering economy. So the first way you hedge your bets is to minimize your expenses.'

Saying there is now less of a stigma in moving back home, Morrison predicted that the trend of boomerang kids may lessen somewhat but still continue after the economy recovers. That could create longer-term ripple effects in social relationships, from multigenerational family tensions to delayed marriage, he said."

The Lounge: Your Portfolios (or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Go Sleeveless) — HeatherMortonArt buyer

This is a follow up to the comments from last week’s post about the State of the Print Portfolio. Despite the fact that it’s a bit insane to look at print portfolios on-line, these shots do a good job of showing the possibility of life without sleeves. Thanks to everyone who sent in pics of their books.

via heathermorton.ca

Wonderful insight and a rare view of other photographers portfolios. I think Heather's blog is one of the hot ones now... because of posts like this. Thanks, for this, Heather.

Posted via web from Now This is Cool...

A Photo Editor - Frank W. Ockenfels 3 Interview

One of the best interviews I have ever read.

A Photo Editor - Frank W. Ockenfels 3 Interview:

"Rob: So, what do we do? Just say, “Screw it, we don’t need it?”

Frank: Everyone’s allowed themselves to be overtaken by the process, the imagery, the overdone insanity of making everyone happy and forgetting that there’s a subject."

Some fun images from the Toronto workshop. iPhone madness... bwahahaha

Toronto was a ton of fun. I snapped few of these while running all around Adam's studio and incredible location. Thanks to all who attended... photographers, models and of course, Adam who made the thing run smooth as glass.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

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Los Angeles News - Hollywood's Catered Stimulus - page 1

This should make EVERYONE mad. It isn't a blue/red thing... it is an American thing. Disgusting and criminal. It hurts ALL of us, regardless of party affiliation. And the economy getting back on its feet will help photographers get more work.

Los Angeles News - Hollywood's Catered Stimulus - page 1:

"But Hollywood is a different story entirely. Hollywood — the geographic Hollywood as found on Thomas Guide map page 593 — has received $23,338,327 in grants, loans and contracting. This money has created just 20.57 jobs. That’s $1,134,580.80 per job. And as interviews with recipients reveal, even that tiny jobs claim is clearly false, with many of the claims of newly created positions either impossible to verify or lower than reported.

Not even 20 full-time jobs have been created in Hollywood proper.

In fact, Hollywood’s portion of the stimulus package reveals an important factor of the Recovery Act: The money is not going to areas that would more directly stimulate the economy but instead to provide ongoing life support to deficit-ridden federal, state and local agencies."

Kirsten Dunst: 'Wow, America Is So Poor' - A-Line: the celebrity style blog - omg! on Yahoo

Uhhh... shouldn't that be Kirsten Dunce?

Poor? OMG... a poster child for the idiocracy that is hollywood. Thanks for like the insight, Dunce. Go back to your protected coffin of ignorance and rest assured that most of us 'poor' people don't give a rat's shit about your opinion of us. Or you either. Like.

Kirsten Dunst: 'Wow, America Is So Poor' - A-Line: the celebrity style blog - omg! on Yahoo:

"'After we were done, I was like, 'Wow, America is so poor,'' she notes. 'You don't think about it. Just the towns you come across -- all that's there are restaurants and gas stations. There are beautiful stretches of pasture, but for the most part, people live simply. The East and West Coast are so different from the rest of America.'"

Never Undervalue Yourself - ArtBistro.com

Good advice to photographers as well.

Never Undervalue Yourself - ArtBistro.com:

"At this point you’re probably thinking to yourself, if working for free isn’t an option, then how much should I charge? Well, I can’t answer this question for you but I can point you in the right direction. To help you decide, let’s do a little math. How much money did you spend on your computer? How much money did you spend on software? Adobe Creative Suite costs a fortune but what about other software such as Microsoft Office or any third party plug-ins that you own? Do you have a big screen monitor? What about a pen tablet? And let’s not even forget the cost of your education. As I am sure that you know the cost of becoming a designer is enormous and at some point you will have to start making all the money you spent back. Working for free or for cheap will never help you succeed in that."

Wizwow at 100. No, not my age, but how many images I have in Explore. Thanks to everyone for this!

Wizwow at 100. No, not my age, but how many images I have in Explore. Thanks to everyone for this!, originally uploaded by Wizwow.

Well, I got to one hundred "Explores" on Flickr. Not sure how they choose, but I am very happy to have reached this milestone. Thanks to everyone who has ever looked at my pics!

Tom Grill on Changes in the RM Stock Field

Tom Grill - stock shooter:
"In the current downturn in stock sales, shooting what I call “me-too” images won’t make the cut. To be successful a stock photographer will have to go back to RM roots to produce unique images. It doesn’t matter if the images are intended for placement in RF or micro. It only matters that they are produced with an RM attitude.

I used to tell potential RM stock shooters that they needed to picture the sales process involved in the selling of their images. The selling price of an RM image is negotiated between a salesperson and a client. If the image is unique, for whatever reason, the salesperson could demand a high price and stick to it. On the other hand, if the image was good but something similar could be procured elsewhere, the negotiation process would stagger and the sales person would have to back down. Both the sales person and the client know the uniqueness of the images. That uniqueness is the crux of the negotiating process. Successful RM is a unique image."

Best of Business Stationary, Letterhead & Business Cards : Inspirational Corporate Identity Design : Graphic Design Blog & Graphics News Blog

If you are getting ready to redesign your identity for next year... check this post out.

Best of Business Stationary, Letterhead & Business Cards : Inspirational Corporate Identity Design : Graphic Design Blog & Graphics News Blog:

"Letterhead, envelopes, and business cards can be incredible works of art. Throw away the ideas of simple, plain white sheets of paper that you call stationary and look at these inspirational design pieces to move your concepts of identity design forward. Below you will find cool id designs ... feel free to comment about corporate identity design projects that we have missed."

25 Awesome Tools for Choosing a Website Color Scheme | Design Shack

Well this is a wonderful list of tools for those who are looking for some color tools.

25 Awesome Tools for Choosing a Website Color Scheme | Design Shack:

"As a designer, color management should be an integral part of your workflow. A website’s color scheme helps shape its identity and therefore should not be carelessly thrown together. Here are 25 online, desktop and iPhone applications to help you live and breathe color management no matter where you are."

Checkt out these 50 Awesome Examples Of Out Of Bounds Photos

Lets talk about Out of bounds photos (OOB). These are the photos in which the content of the photos are taken outside the boundaries and presented in 3D perspective. This 3D effect will give the photos a real touch and an ability to mesmerize its viewer. Here We are presenting 50 dazzling Out of Bounds Photos. These are the wonder creations of designers who used their creativity with a different angle and approach to get the result that makes a difference.

via smashingapps.com

These are nicely done. Inspiration for the minds eye.

Posted via web from Now This is Cool...

Two New WP Site Themes for Photographers: Web Site Design with Portfolios and Blog

More a blend of websites and blog. We take the power of WordPress and make a fully functioning web site with a real HOME page, content pages, portfolio pages and of course the blog... all in one site. Design stays constant from website to blog. All are with the power of WP so widgets can be applied for stats, SEO, calendars and more. If you are a photographer looking for an inexpensive, totally cool site with a blog, take a look at our WP Themes for Photographers.

Don Giannatti: Designer / Photographer / Writer
www.dongiannatti.com / www.lighting-essentials.com / www.learntolight.com / 602 434 1765

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Now This is Cool...

Writers and Financial Woes: What’s Going On « Whatever

I would imagine that photographers could be substituted for writers. I do. Read it all.

Writers and Financial Woes: What’s Going On « Whatever:

"8. Writers are often attracted to other creative folks, including other writers. Nothing wrong with this in a general sense, mind you. We all love who we love, and what’s not to love about another witty, smart and talented person? The problem financially speaking, however, is that other writers very often have the same basic financial issues: low, irregular pay, no benefits, poor finance skills, tendencies toward flakiness and risk-taking, and such. Two incomes are theoretically better than one, but two sporadic incomes accompanied by everything else that comes attached to the writing life isn’t necessarily as much better than one would expect. And don’t forget: Kids may happen. They often do."

Image of Illia in Las Vegas: an interesting young man from Ukraine in some interesting natural light.

I love late day light... ya know.

Don Giannatti: Designer / Photographer / Writer
www.dongiannatti.com / www.lighting-essentials.com / www.learntolight.com

Posted via email from Now This is Cool...

The Visual Science Lab: Combatting the Oppressive Sense of Isolation Many Freelance Photographers Feel

Nice little post on being Isolated.

The Visual Science Lab: Combatting the Oppressive Sense of Isolation Many Freelance Photographers Feel:

"Our logic driven (but totally misguided) demand for the lowest price on everything we bought for our businesses effectively killed off most of the good camera stores. With the labs and the retailers gone we lost two points of intersection that were part of the fabric of the freelance life.

Now the recession has taken away a large percentage of our human contact with clients. I don't know about you but we're booking fewer jobs and the ones that come in seem to be produced and negotiated and delivered all on the web. Once again diminishing human contact."

In video form, Kirk tells us:


Read the whole thing. It will help you take back a bit of your life.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Special techniques

On working in a war zone with P&S cameras. Seriously.

Rob Galbraith DPI: Special techniques:

"He carried two C-5050 cameras on straps around his neck, with one strap cinched shorter than the other, so that the cameras hung at slightly different heights on his chest. The cameras were set for 3-shot burst mode. When a long sequence of shots was called for, Majoli fired a 3-shot burst with one camera, dropped it, grabbed the other and shot a burst with it. The first camera wrote its images to the card, thereby clearing its buffer, while Majoli shot with the second. He just kept rotating from one to the other for as long as the action in front of him continued.

'That was my way to shoot in Iraq,' he says. 'I'm talking about for news. In other situations, I don't need this.' Majoli says he can't think of any shots he missed while trading cameras and points out that the overall system is faster than manually winding a Leica, his pre-digital practice."