"I Love Your Blog Award" Nominees

Recently I received an I Love Your Blog Award from Jamee of Jonara Blu Maui. Thanks, Jamee!!

I want to pass it on to some other good bloggers who deserve recognition. My own list of I Love Your Blog Award winners is below.

The rules of this award are:

1. The award winner can put this logo on his/her blog
2. Link the blog of the person you received your award from
3. Nominate and link to at least 7 other blogs
4. Be sure to leave a message on the blogs of those you've nominated



My favorite blogs are hereby nominated for the "I Love Your Blog Award":

1. JonaraBlu Maui - beautiful custom beach jewelry from Hawaii

2. The Adventures of Woolgirl and Abby - fabulous quality yarns and first-class personal service

3. Jim Connelly's Blog - not your typical marketing blog, this one has seriously usable ideas

4. CameraDojo - photography podcasts plus excellent site for photo info of all kinds

5. Marjorie's Cracked for one-of-a-kind jewelry that will bring lots of compliments

6. Paul Burwell's Wildshots - a wildlife photography blog, this guy is one really good wildlife photographer. He's from Alberta, Canada, and is a contributing editor for Outdoor Photography Canada Magazine and a photography instructor at Metro Community College.

7. Writing Roads - be sure to check out Julie Roads new free LOVE e-book, available February 11 - 14

An English Wedding Photographer's Tutorial

Ran across this interesting teaching video on shooting weddings, thought some of you might enjoy seeing how it's done on the other side of the pond.

The vintage car used in this shoot is really fun, but throughout this video it appears the bride model would rather be anywhere else. Or, she just hates to smile.

It was pretty funny to see the instructor talk about blown skies when his videographer was having a difficult time with his light balance, but the tips in this tutorial are thoughtful and useful.

Animoto - for Fabulous & Free Custom Slide Shows

The guys at Animoto

When a photographer friend showed me his first attempt at creating his own video with Animoto, I have to admit I was impressed. He was just playing around with some images, and the end result was fabulous. I'm definitely sold on Animoto.

If you are looking for a quick and easy web application to put together your photos for a free short slide show, Animoto Productions is just what you need.

You can create a holiday greetings video - of your pets, your kids, your skiing trip, your office Christmas party - or just about anything else you'd like to share. You upload the photos, use either their music (and they have lots of licensed tunes to choose from) or your own uploaded music, and they'll put it all together in a customized short video that looks just like a movie trailer.

Like hip-hop? Punk? Mozart? Animoto's technology works with your images, taking into account the genre, energy, vocals and instrumentals your selected music needs to match your photos for a one-of-a-kind video.

Based in New York City, Animoto consists of a bunch of techie tv and film producers who create with a wide-screen format with a motion and energy "movie-feel" to them.

The same television and movie skills these veteran-techies used in the film and television industries make Animoto a perfect choice for both personal and business films. Their credentials include the 2003 and 2004 Video Music Awards (MTV); the Katrina Benefit (ABC, NBC, CBS); Worlds Aids Day Concert (MTV); Dr. Keith Albow (Warner Brothers); The Constitution (ABC); Alanis Morissette Concert (Viacom); Peter Jennings: The Kennedy Assassination - Beyond Conspiracy (ABC); Steep: A Documentary of Extreme Skiing (The Documentary Group), and many more industry works.

Animoto videos only take minutes to create, are never boring, and you can share them with family, friends, co-workers, customers or anyone you wish to send them to. Once you have chosen your photos, you can actually create a short video that's embed-able in your website, or can be downloaded or emailed, too. They can even be included in sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Make unlimited short films for free, or you can sign up for their business program. For commercial needs, Animoto creates dvd-qulaity videos for any kind of business. A wide variety of companies have used Animoto, including wineries, real estate brokers, wedding photographers, sports teams, and on-line retailers.

Animoto costs $99 for three months, or $249 for a full year. You can also purchase - or give as a gift - an all-access pass for $30. If you decide to sign in to Animoto, please click on the Animoto button at right, or use my referral number prjusnxl - thanks!

Here's just a few accolades:

"Sit back for a few minutes and let Animoto work its magic. You end up with a polished finished product." - Kyle Monson, PC Magazine

"Animoto will make any Joe look like a Hollywood Producer."- Alana Taylor, Mashable

"It's not just any ol' video... [it's] digital photos presented as a very compelling movie with music." - Chris Pirillo, Technology Tips, CNN.com

For those wishing to have some fun with the short videos, Animoto is a great place to make your own personalized production. And for business owners who need fast and easy fine-quality videos at a really reasonable price, Animoto is the best solution for professionals.

Great Pet Photography Tutorial!

While wandering through the website of digital Photography
School, I noticed their tutorial on photographing pets.
Besides the great shots like this one by Buntekuh, also
known asSabine, her series of nearly 400 shots of cats on
her Flickr page is spectacular.

The dPS tutorial had several other excellent examples of
pets, and offered nine different ideas on how to achieve
great pet photos. This guest post on Pet Photography was
written by Antoine Khater at All Day I Dream about
Photography.

I've found a tremendous amount of great photo information
at dPS, and signed up a while ago for their daily updates.
Hardly a day goes by that I haven't found something fun or
useful - it's one of my favorite sites for quick and easy
photo info.

Photo of the white kitten (below) is by Jose' Luna. You
can click on this photo to see more of his work.

Doing It His Own Way - Terry Davis, Photographer

Photographers are an odd bunch of folks, and I mean that in a positive way.

Some are traditionalists - they shoot weddings, events, models, assignments for newspapers and magazines, and other things we tend to connect them with.

But some find a niche that is uncommon, like Terry Davis. Terry lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and specializes in photographing the mining industry.

He doesn't have a huge amount of competition.

Terry actively works the mining trade, always searching for new ways to improve his business. He attends trade conventions, makes sure to introduce himself to as many potential clients as he can, and shakes a lot of hands. He never knows how many new clients he might get out of a trade convention, but he knows it takes time to build up a niche business. If he can walk away with some good contacts, and maybe a job or two, it's been worthwhile.

The magazine cover at the right is one Terry recently completed - and he has two more covers scheduled.

He's also found some business in shooting for corporations which need head shots of their executives. When a company needs photos of new execs for it's website, they don't have time to schedule for studio shooting. Terry's learned to shoot on the fly, with some really good results. Take a look at his new blog.

He also has a website that shows off his work, and it links to his portfolio at Shutterstock, which shows many of his mining industry photos.

Terry's easy-going style makes him a perfect choice for those last-minute gigs in the mining and industrial field. He loves the work, and it shows.

Dominent Eye - Which One Do You Use?

All photographers find themselves squinting through their viewfinder with one eye. It's handy to know which is your dominant eye to be certain everything lines up properly.

Here's a quick test to determine which is your dominate eye:

> Place both hands at arm's length in front of your face, and place the hands together making a small triangle - about 1/2 to 3/4 inch per side - between your thumbs and knuckles as shown in the picture.

> With both eyes open, look through the triangle, centering something specific. I used my computer screen as my focal point, but just about anything usable as a target will work

> Close your left eye. If your target object remains in view, you are right eye dominant. If your hands seem to move off the object and move to the left, you are left eye dominant.

It's been suggested that for the shooting sports - firearms and archery - that right eye dominant shooters should participate as right-handers, and left-eye dominants as left-handers. Don't know if this applies to photographers or not, but it's an interesting concept.

I'm left eye dominant, and have been naturally squinting through the viewfinder with my left eye. But I'm right-handed, which seems sort of strange. Yet it works - I use my left hand for lens adjustment, right hand for f-stop and shutter speed adjustments. Some how it all works.

Rent Your Equipment - Pro Photo Rental

Need a specific lens, but can't afford to buy it? Want to try out a different camera body?

It's Pro Photo Rental to the rescue. Love the idea - professional photogs who recognize the need for equipment rental, and make it as simple as possible. You don't have to commit for a week on your rental - you can rent for as little as 4 days. And they offer their equipment at a discount if you want it for longer.

They ship equipment in nearly indestructible boxes, and - just in case you're worried - they offer optional insurance, too. Pro Photo offers Canon, Nikon and Olympus equipment, including lenses, bodies and flashes.

They even give you three-day shipping in both directions within the continental US for free! The rental is set up to arrive one day before the actual rental time period, so you'll get a half day or so extra on the front end, plus the portion of the day on the back end of the rental period when you ship it back.

Here's their latest popular rentals:

Top 10 Sellers
See our list below of this week's most rented equipment!

Canon - EOS 40D Body
Canon - 580 EX-II Speedlight
Canon - EF 24-70 f/2.8L
Nikon - D300 Body
Olympus - Zuiko Digital 7-14 f/4.0
Canon - EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS
Canon - EOS 5D Body
Nikon - Nikkor 70-200 f/2.8G VR
Nikon - SB-800 AF Speedlight
Canon - EF 16-35 f/2.8L II

There's definitely a couple of lenses I need to try . . .

Vintage Photography - Pinbacks and Mirrors

Not only do I love being a photographer, I also enjoy vintage photography, especially the 1880s through 1940s time period.

So much can be learned from early photos - the clothing people wore, the work they did, the homes they lived in, what was happening in their lives. Photos were sometimes used as "jewelry", like the pinback photo button above.

Just after the turn of the 20th century, it was common to see photographs made into these buttons. I've had pinback photos of men, women and children - sometimes they are even hand-colored. They are usually of a single person, although I've had one very rare pinback which showed two young sisters. The children pinbacks are the most popular, and they seldom last long in my shop.

Pinbacks are becoming harder to find, and I buy just about every one I'm lucky to stumble across. They're a wonderful image to collect, since they are usually small and easy to display. The one shown above is a bit over one inch in diameter.

Below is a bit more unusual type of vintage photography known as a Mirror Back photo. They were popular during the 1920s, and were often used as gifts. I have a small collection from one family that shows several different daughters, the photos being taken around the engagement and wedding times of one of the girls. One of these mirrorbacks is shown below.

The wreath-style framing details added by the photographer are lovely - this mirrorback's style is classic 1920s, from her clothing and jewelry to the floral wreath used for framing the image. For those interested in historical information, the photographer's studio name and address are identified on the front of this mirror.

The mirrored back of this button is in excellent condition, showing good age in the glass. Often these mirrors are not found in good condition - over the years these buttons often ended up tossed into the backs of drawers or into sewing boxes, bumping up against all sorts of things that can cause breakage.

These different kinds of vintage photography are such a joy to own! They're inexpensive, one of a kind miniature works of art. If you find one, don't pass it up, for they are certain to be even harder to find in the future.

Learning at the Horse Show

Having never been to a horse show before, I decided to enjoy a morning of camera, horses and kids. Primarily I was there for practice, and after shooting nearly 150 photos, I ended up with just a handful of decent shots, none of which are stock-worthy.

Fog and low-light really made it difficult to shoot, and I tried both inside the show barn and outside in the show ring. But keeping in mind that this was a learning experience, I tried different ISOs and f-stops, and played with various shooting angles, trying to get more light into my camera. Still had lots of noise, since I started shooting at 1600 and moved downwards towards 200 on the outside shots.

The photo at left is a young girl - such a cutie with her pigtails with pink ribbons! - psyching up for her turn in the ring.

Photo at right gives you a perspective of how small these girls are compared to big horses!

Bottom pix are of young ladies and their mounts, one waiting to be called to the ring, and the other just finishing her round in the fog.

The photos seen here have been cleaned up with Neat Image, but they aren't as sharp as I'd like them to be. Had a great time, but still learning, learning, learning . . .

9-11-08 - A day of reflection

The past several years, I've used September 11 as a day of personal reflection. I specifically plan not to do anything in particular, but instead spend the day outdoors, peacefully thinking about what's happening in my life.

Doesn't matter what the weather is - I still go off on my day's journey, never knowing what the day will bring. It's my clear-thinking time, with no limitations - and considering how 9-11 initially started, it's definitely an opposite to all the violence and pain that sad day brought to so many thousands and thousands of people.

Today started with a lobster roll at my favorite carry-out shack. It wasn't cheap at $16, but it was packed full of just lobster, no fillers, and it was on a perfectly grilled Nissen bun. I meant to take a photo of it for stock, but was so hungry I forgot about it until it was three-quarters eaten, which definitely wouldn't have made for a good photo.

Then I wandered the shoreline, heading for one of my favorite think-places. ( I have several of them.) The first photo is of the Rachel Carson tidal pool down in Chamberlain, a regular haunt for this author many years ago, and named after her in 1970 .

This tidal pool is so peaceful, especially if you're lucky enough to be the only one there. I avoid it on weekends when the tourists are there, also in the early summer when school groups use it for their field trips just before school lets out.

Other times, there's usually only one or two folks there. One day I sat there for hours, watching the tide roll in, hunting for sea glass, loving the solitude, getting a really sore butt from sitting on rock.

Today the skies were gorgeous, the temps perfect at 70 degrees. There was a guy in a wet suit trying to scuba dive just beyond the pool, but he kept slipping on the seaweed and rocks. I finally gave up trying to shoot him, as every time I had him in focus he fell down again. I was beginning to feel guilty, like I was jinxing him.

The second shot is a few miles away, near New Harbor, off a backroad the locals use to get to a small bay of ocean, granite ledge and trees. Another great place with few people - today there were just a couple of artists, painting.

Don't know if I came to any magical conclusions today. But it was good for my head, and I came home feeling calm, serene, quietly content.

Audri and Jim Lanford's 7 Photography Questions - Interviews with Top Photographers

Not too long ago, I stumbled across the site 7 Photography Questions with Audri and Jim Lanford. This free site offers all sorts of digital photography information, and especially, tips and ideas from recognized photographers.

They cover many different topics - lighting, nature, pets (some good stuff on dogs), children, fashion, just to name a few - and they have a new one coming up on shooting kids at holiday parties.

I've listened to several of their podcasts, and have picked up some good tips.

They offer a free email sign-up, and they're pretty regular with their offerings - I usually get a few a week. Some I can use, some I'm not so interested in, but I scan them all, since it's good info. Best of all, they don't spam you - no advertising is included in their emails.

Take a look - there's bound to be something useful to you!

Talk-Micro

For those who enjoy selling photography on micro-stock websites, there's a really good forum to share ideas and information on a site called Talk Micro.

The site is TalkMicro. It's a place where photogs can say what they think, get good input from those who have been there, and can learn all sorts of great techniques.

You don't have to sign up as a member, although you'll be glad you did. Joining TalkMicro is free, and allows you to directly participate in the forms. Take a peek!

The Blue Angels Let Me Down!!!

Something's missing in this photo.

It sounded like such a wonderful opportunity. Local tv news stations reported that the Blue Angels Navy flying team had come into Maine a few days early before their scheduled show this weekend at Brunswick Naval Station, and would be doing a special fly-by near three different Maine lighthouses.

It isn't everyday one has the chance to shoot the magnificent Blue Angels low flying past the most historic lighthouse in Maine. The Pemaquid Lighthouse is so important to Maine history that it is featured on the new Maine quarters.

So I headed down to the lighthouse, a 30 mile trip, even got there a bit early so I could pick a favorite spot. A hundred people were there, but it's a big place and there was plenty of room. The estimated time of arrival was 10:30 - 11:30 am, not particularly great for lighting, but beggars can't be choosers, so I just waited and played with various settings.

And waited. And waited. Several hundred more people showed up. Families, tourist, dogs (with owners in tow), seniors, mothers with babies, people in wheelchairs, just about every kind of human you can imagine had arrived. I found that it was not only getting really crowded, but that I needed to stand in one place to reserve the spot for my shot; I even moved a couple feet in various directions, otherwise my spot would be filled with a zillion people. After all, a free Blue Angels show was a really big deal for rural Maine, even if would be a 30 second show.

Of course, I had no way of knowing if the Blue Angels would be flying by the lighthouse at the specific angle I needed to get the shot. But I'd carefully chosen a place that covered the lighthouse up close yet still allowed a lot of sky, and then kept my fingers crossed.

After two hours, still no Blue Angels. The officially designated hour had come and gone, and all those people were still patiently waiting. Toddlers were tired and whiny, dogs were having spats, and people were becoming grumpy and unfriendly. Finally, a man with a megaphone came out of the lighthouse's guardhouse, and politely announced that the Blue Angels would not be coming, something about a fuel issue. (And then he quickly ducked back into the guardhouse, probably anticipating things being thrown at him . . . )

A few boos and hisses, plus a lot of very disappointed commentary - and then everyone rushed for their cars. The weather was beautiful, and if the Angels weren't coming, they knew they all had other places to be.

So now I have a whole lot of test pix of the lighthouse, but no Blue Angels.

Dear Angels - you let me (and hundreds of fans) down!!!!

Chasing a Five Year Old

This is Shannon, my friends Miriam and Dan's granddaughter. She is so adorable, she makes your heart melt.

She's wise far beyond her years. Talking with her is like talking with an adult - her speech is impeccable, and her language skills are amazing. She's quite serious in her discussions. She's definitely not your typical five year old.

Except in one category - she has non-stop energy. This kid never slows down. I chased her around the black berry patch the other day with my camera, hoping to get some good photos. She ran me around that patch four times!

She's so fast, I had a difficult time keeping up with her. She's not particularly good on focusing on a single task, normal for a five year old, so it was a challenge to keep up with her as she picked a berry here, then moved 10 feet to pick "better" berries, then backed up three feet because she had missed two "really big berries!"

So much for camera focus. I changed to Plan B - hope that she's distracted enough by berry picking that she'd stay in one spot for more than 2 seconds. She was very aware of the camera, and kept attempting to pose, which didn't work at all.

Of course, all this continual motion kept me hopping around. I was trying to focus and adjust for lighting, as she just did her normal five year old stuff. It wasn't too long before I realized I was probably only going to get a few good shots - if I was lucky.

And that's exactly how it turned out - I have lots of blurs (she moves SO fast!), and plenty of other unusable shots. Out of more than 50 shots, there might be five that are acceptable.

But we sure had fun picking berries . . .

Photo of the Day from Dreamstime - August 13, 2008

From my Dreamstime portfolio - garlic, garlic, garlic fresh at the local farmer's market.