ARCHIVED ARTICLES
Pop’s Wallet. (Essay Four)
My dad passed in 2000. He lingered on in a kind of a funk for so long, and got a little... well... uncharitable toward the end. When we finally talked him into hospice, he was so thankful for their kindness and really enjoyed his time there. After he passed I was...
Roots. (Essay Three)
When I was in my early teens I happened upon some photographs by Weston, Cunningham and Adams. I had been making photographs for a few years. Just casually, no real intent in the work other than to have a keepsake of the place. Many of us start out taking images that...
My First (Real) Camera – Essay 2
I am not a camera geek. I don't get into all the machinations of new this and new that. Not a part of my DNA it seems. I tend to find something I like and stick to it as long as it works for me. I watch other cameras with shiny this and awesome that and think "wow,...
“Coming Home” – Essay 1
Today is August 8. An interesting day for me. It's some sort of milestone that people celebrate, but I usually spend some time to look over the next 12 months and make some plans. Recently someone told me about an '30 essays in thirty days' project. I have no idea if...
New “Magnum” Strobes from Aputure… and They Rock!
Remember Dirty Harry... he had a Magnum too. And when he pulled it out and asked the punk if he felt lucky, he created a legendary phrase that lives on and on. And now it is your turn to get lucky... with these pretty damn cool strobes from Aputure. Full disclosure:...
Anatomy of a Shoot in the Middle of Nowhere…
"Well, ya'll could ride with me if you want..." He was walking toward us from his pickup truck in the cold, early morning light of Florence, Arizona. Wide brimmed cowboy hat and real cowboy boots. And he was all smiles. Florence is a very small town southeast of...
In Tall Trees
I spent a couple of days in the forests and mountains around Seattle a few weeks ago. I hope to go again. I am a desert guy. Lived in the deserts most of my life, and I find them fascinating - maybe due to my design predilection for minimalism. Not sure really, but...
Increased Client Interaction is Better Than The Alternative…
Think about it... the more you interact with your clients, the more your clients see you as a part of their business. No, I am not talking about stalking, or going overboard with emails, mailers, phone calls, texts, tweets and facebook status thingies... I am talking...
On Workshops, Scams, Manners and Foolish Ideas
My friend Seshu, a photographer and owner of the Tiffinbox.org website, recently posted this article: "Gary Fong Wonders If Photo Workshop Instructors Can Handle The Truth" (link) (An admonition to the gentle reader - this is a very long post. There are some points...
The Olympian Image Dust Up… Are There Lessons?
Over the weekend a 'controversy' began with a small firestorm of criticism of the images of American Athletes taken at a "media event" in Dallas. The images show cut off limbs, torn background papers, shooting off the sweep, terrible lighting and a longer list of...
Hectic Weeks, Good Friends, and New Books
It has now been a full week since I did the creativeLIVE workshop on introduction to product and still life. It was so long in the making, and then it was there. Done. The weekend before I left for Seattle, I had a huge list of things that were to be done for the...
Product and Still Life Workshop – FREE at creativeLIVE
I am making my second appearance at creativeLIVE this coming weekend. And it will prove to be something totally different than what creativeLIVE normally does. We are going to be tackling the still life and product realms. And I have a few goals and plans for this...
Commlite Enters the Trigger Market with Some Cool Features
NOTE: These triggers were sent to me to test. My TOS is clear. I do not review items that are not interesting or do not live up to my standards. If I don't like something, I do no write about it. I like these triggers. Commlite is a company based in China, I believe,...
My New WordPress Theme and Info Site
WordpressThemesForPhotographers is a new site at the URL I used for selling my WP sites. We are no longer selling those sites, but will be offering customization and initial setups of Wordpress Themes for photographers, designers, artists and small business. I will be...
OT Sunday: Hot Shots, Drums, Books and Jazz
Hey Hot Shot is a photo competition held by the Jen Bekman Gallery in New York. Featuring the work of up and coming photographers, the competition introduces new ways of seeing to an ever widening audience. It is certainly one place to go on the internet to see work...
Sorry We Were Away, Back Now… Hopefully for Good.
Looks like we had a server issue where one of my plugins was creating a huge CPU draw. The culprit was Contextual Related Posts which creates a little set of links at the bottom of each page to show you posts that may be related to the one you are reading. Problem was...
While Cleaning Up the Office, I Am Reminded of How Much I Miss Polaroid
Yeah, it happens. Once in a while I have to break down to clean the office. I find it is a great way to procrastinate from doing something that is not ready yet. Creative block - no problem... dig through the cabinets. Heh. This time I found my little box of...
OT Sunday: Travel, Freedom, Politics, and Donna Summer
Travel I simply love to travel. I want to do it much more. I am adding to my travel portfolio by doing some traveling this year just for portfolio work. On the agenda is: Vancouver and Western Canada, Toronto and Eastern Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, South...
Staying Involved and Staying Visible… Are You?
Photo District News has a great two part article on where art buyers are finding new talent. Consider it an absolute must to read... and take some time to hit ALL the links. There are many places we all know about... Flickr, 500Pixels, Yahoo, G+. And participation...
Emerging Photographer “Jump Start” Winner(s)
Update Info: We will be having dinner Friday evening at 7PM at Macayo's which is not very far away. If we need multiple cars, we will arrange it. Macayo's is a landmark restaurant in Phoenix and is where the Chimichanga was invented. Yes, it is Mexican food. I have...
The Black and White Portrait
I am an old school film guy. It's true. It's also true that I have embraced and love digital. Seems to me that photography gained a whole new set of tools with the addition of digital. Of course, many folks treat everything they do as some sort of 'team' affiliation...
Memorial Day, 2012. Some Thoughts.
Memorial Day... always comes on a Monday. The all important three day weekend. Sales on mattresses and big screen TV's. Beach, sun, the start of summer. I am rather quiet on these days. You see, there is another reason for this holiday. Long forgotten in the lowered...
Seat-o-the-Pants Shooting… Yeah, It Happens.
I am working on a big project with the Phoenix Children's Choir, and need to get some new shots of the kids and the choirs and the performances. So when last weekend's final concert came along, I knew I had to get some shots. The venue was amazing, and I checked it...
The “Bolt” – Small LED Packs a Punchy Light.
The "Bolt" LED light for photographers. LED lights are becoming more and more important as a tool for photographers. We are adding video and motion to our solutions, and continuous light that has color control as well as being able to run 'cool' is a great tool. This...
Some Exceptional Images from the Project 52 PRO Group
Project 52 is in its second year, and we added a PRO group. This group is focused on getting up to speed on the business, portfolio, website and marketing focus needed to go professional. Whether that professional is full time, part time or just for the fun of getting...
WordPress Themes that Rock: “Bloom”
I love this theme from Theme Forest. Bloom could be just what you are looking for. Clean, neat, responsive and full of custom features. This is a theme that would be a comfortable fit for a photographer, a designer or an illustrator. It would work for a small boutique...
creativeLIVE Workshop: “Table Top Product”
The great folks up at creativeLIVE produce new learning experiences for photographers, designers, illustrators and more. Their plan of delivering focused, intensive learning that is student centric instead of geography or school centric, is bold and, I think,...
WordPress Basics for Photographers: Part Four
One of the most powerful gifts of using Wordpress is the vast amount of Plugins and tools that are developed for it. These tools help you increase your productivity and interactivity without having to learn how to code. Simply push a button and install very powerful...
WordPress Basics for Photographers: Part Three
Once we have our theme worked out, we must get our materials ready. I suggest doing this before you start to build your Wordpress website. Flying by the seat of your pants is NOT the best way to organize your material, as well as write it, design it and get it into...
Workshops? A New Direction… After a Break. Maybe.
It's time. Actually it may be later than that. And that makes it all the more... more... Well, I don't really know how I feel about stopping the workshops. A little sad, I suppose. Possibly a tiny bit bitter (fuckit, I'm human... right?). But mostly I feel like I...
