As photographers, we have the coolest job in the world don’t we? There is one thing that is the opposite of cool though. It is the fanny pack wearing photographer. Yes, I know you it might be convenient, but please, just use a normal bag. If you like wearing your gear then I would highly suggest a shoulder bag or a backpack. Anything but a fanny pack.
Following the aftermath of the tremendously successful Flash Bus Tour with Joe McNally and David Hobby last year, I can only assume that we will now be seeing many of our other favorite photogs going out on tour in the near future. First on the list is Jeremy Cowart. Jeremy has announced a 3 week, 7 stop tour that INCLUDES a copy of his L I F E F I N D E R DVD and a ticket for a friend that needs it most. All this for $179 … are you hearing this? The workshop is 8 hours long and you get a copy of his DVD too, insane! I just bought my ticket for December 5th in NYC, so all my NYC photog friends out there better start washing my car and buying me lunch, cuz I have a free ticket to give away ;) Check out the full details and buy your ticket at the tour’s website.
I Just ran across and funny picture on 9gag.com. I didn’t go to school for photography so it’s easy for me to pick on the system. What do you guys think? Is paying to go to school for 4 years to learn photography worth it?
When someone turns us onto a product or service we really enjoy we like to spread the word. Our friends over at Novum Studios just recently launched the new site design for BorrowLenses.com and it looks great. The Novum team was responsible for the site design you see on Fstoppers.com, and since we are not web designers, they have been instrumental in helping us turn our ideas into working realities. I can’t really say enough about Case Sandberg and his team so if you need any custom wordpress design work check them out. Also check out Borrow Lenses new site especially if you want to test or rent gear for an upcoming project.
Patrick and I are in London England. Tonight, Wednesday October 26 we are going to throw another get-together at Opal Bar. The Address is Hungerford House,Victoria Embankment,London, WC2N 6PA and the party begins at 8pm. Help spread the news and if you plan to come please let us know in the comments below so we can get a basic head count.
For some people, Halloween can be a stressful time as you panic to come up with that perfect costume that will impress all your friends and help you score big with the opposite sex. Photographer Tyler Card decide to one up everyone by creating his own lifesize working Nikon D3 which can capture all of his trick or treating fun. Check out the demo below and then head to the full post to see how Tyler made it in his BTS video.
The random winner of the Fstoppers Twitter Macbook Air giveaway is… Travis Lawton! You can congratulate him on Twitter at “@TheLawtographer“. I scoped out his website (and stole his bio pic for this post) and he has really great work. Travis is a Seattle based shooter specializing in weddings, portraits, and music photography. This contest was a big success meaning that we can continue to do them so don’t be bummed out if you didn’t win. There will be plenty more to come.
Let’s congratulate Travis in the comments below, and if you are Travis, send us a note at contactfstoppers@gmail.com.
Let me warn you, this video has nothing to do with photography directly. Chances are you have probably heard the opening parable before, but when paired up with the training video of an aspiring football player the message is pretty powerful. How bad do you want success and what are you willing to go through to possess it? I think everyday as photographers, we struggle with staying motivated, finding inspiration, working towards our goals, and expanding our skill set. I find this especially true with my own work since I compete with myself which often leads to less motivation than competing directly with someone else. Reaching the point of wanting success more than the desire to breathe is probably unrealistic so let me ask this: how much sleep, time, and short term gratification are you willing to give up in order to achieve long term success?
This is by no means a BTSV but it fooled me so I thought I’d post it. The censor on cellphone cameras are so small that everything appears in focus. Many cell phone cameras don’t even have to focus because of this and optical illusions like the one below are possible. Obviously this could also be possible with an SLR but you would have to shoot around F22.
We’ve all seen huge gigapixel images and their boring sidebars that allow us to navigate through them. But what if you could scroll through a photograph Minority Report style? The good people over at the University of Lincoln in the UK have put together an exhibit that combines huge gigapixel images with gestures based on the Xbox Kinect gaming console. The next step seems obvious: combine this technology with Photoshop! If you are near the univeristy, check out the Gigalinc page for future shows of this interesting concept. And if you know how to hack the Kinect, someone please hook this up to CS5!
Senior portrait photographer Jennifer McKendrick has been making quite a name for herself over the last few days. The Pennsylvania photographer recently refused to photograph a few of her clients because she caught them bullying other students on Facebook. Jennifer wrote on her website that she will not photograph any ugly people by saying “If you are ugly on the inside, I’m sorry but I won’t take your photos to make you look pretty on the outside!” An overwhelming amount of support for Jennifer’s actions have been filling up the blogs and social media outlets so it made me think, would you cancel a photo session with someone who was “ugly on the inside”? I have to agree with the comment made at 2:40 in the video below….do people actually spend a great deal of time screening their clients on facebook?
A few months back we posted a hilarious video by CollegeHumor.com that was called “The Photoshop Rap.” The video was a huge hit and they just released part two. If you need to spice up your cat photography, look no further.
It should not be shocking to hear another story about a police officer wrongly accusing a photographer of breaking the law. These stories have become pretty common place lately. However, recently police in Long Beach California have been reprimanding individuals who have been caught photographing locations with no apparent aesthetic value. Back in June, Long Beach Post contributor Sander Roscoe Wolff was detained after photographing a refinery on North Long Beach. Long Beach Police Chief Jim McDonnell has publicly stated that his officers have the responsibility to detain photographers who are not engaging in “regular tourist behavior”. This story is an unfortunate consequence of the post homeland security world we live in and probably will not be the last infringement on individuals’ rights. To read more about this story, head over to the original article on the Long Beach Post.
If you have followed Fstoppers for any amount of time, you know we are big advocates of photographers having great looking websites. Most photographers love the look of a flash site but more and more companies are starting to offer both flash and HTML versions of their sites. Creative Motion Design has been hard at work creating flashy looking websites that are coded in HTML so your potential clients can check out your work while browsing on their mobile devices and tablet computers. This week CMD released their first fully customizable HTML websites Rosie and Ethan with more designs coming out throughout the rest of 2011. I love the look of Ethan, and the prices on these sites are reasonable especially since CMD’s customer service is leagues above many other website design companies. As soon as Lee and I have some free time, we are planning on converting our sites so they load up easier for potential clients.
Whenever a great deal comes along, we try to help out and share them when we hear about them. Today only there is a great deal on Canon DSLRs bundled with the Canon Pixma Pro 9000 MKII printer. Basically if you buy any Canon DSLR camera with the Canon Pro 9000 printer (currently on sale for $350), you get a $400 AMEX Card which means the printer becomes free and the camera is $50 off. Not bad if you are in the market for a camera or just need the free printer. Lee and I both use this printer for the few photo prints we make and it’s amazing what it can do with some good paper. I’ve heard there are not many of these in stock so once they go they are gone. Simply head over to the Printer Page to see both the instant rebate and the mail-in rebate form. Just make sure you have a camera and the printer all on one transaction. Easy as pie :)
