Fly, Teach, Fly!

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The adrenaline has worn off, and the inaugural workshop for Learning Lightroom 3 came to an end in Anaheim yesterday!  It was a great workshop, and the feedback we got was just off the hook – 9’s and 10’s across the board.  What was everyone’s favorite part?  Naturally the prizes took the top notch, but a surprising second was our tips and tricks for how to get the most out of Lightroom 3.  People really seemed to feed off the suggestions we made for everything from backup recommendations to advanced retouching techniques, and catalog maintenance and image management.

Learning Lightroom 3 Workshop

It’s events like these that remind me of my previous career in teaching.  It’s so much fun to get out there and share tips and tricks with people – having them see the work flow advantages and the light bulb come on in a big way about what Lightroom 3 has going for it! The adrenaline rush has worn off though, so after nearly 48 hours of high energy, I am about ready to crash…we’ll be back tomorrow with more photo goodness and the next in the podcast series – episode #49!  Lots of good stuff there, so be sure to stop in for the show notes and all that has to offer.

Last but not least, there’s still time to register for the remaining workshops in Denver and Seattle, so don’t delay – register today!  These two still have the early bird discount of 20% off too, so it’s a super good deal!  Over $200 in retail merchandise that everyone gets just for attending, the instruction, the work books, and over $1000 in door prizes including a copy of Adobe Lightroom 3! With this kind of return on investment, it’d be a shame to miss it.  Grab seats while you still can!

Denver: Add to Cart

Seattle: Add to Cart

Happy shooting and we’ll see you here tomorrow!

The problem with words…

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Recently, I learned that the Isle of Palms (IOP) in South Carolina has made it illegal for photographers to take commercial photography onto the public beaches.  The specific phraseology of a recently posted page for IOP states that:

“Commercial activity, including photograpy, is prohibited on the Isle of Palms beach.  Unless a special exemption is granted by City Council, photographers who take portraits or photographs on the Isle of Palms beach as part of a commercial transaction are in violation of City ordinances.”

For now I will ignore the part where they mis-spelled photography as ‘photograpy’ (because it’s probably just a typo).  Instead I would like to take a moment to discuss the larger implication of making photography illegal.  It is noted further down that commercial photographers can “obtain an exemption” but this is far different from the traditional practice of “requiring a permit”.  This is basically making photography illegal.  You can be granted an exemption from legal enforcement if you request it from City Council, but that is entirely different than requiring a professional photographer to pay for a permit at City Hall.

IOP Laws on Commercial Photography

View the full page here

Keep in mind that coastal beaches are publicly owned and maintained by the state, and thus public access is required.  While restricting the nature of access is fine, the verbiage here presents serious problems and implications for photographers.  So, the burning questions in my mind are:

  • Can IOP do this?
  • Is this an acceptable practice?
  • Does the ASMP know about this?  If so, why aren’t they taking appropriate actions?

Why has no one come forward to challenge the legality of this law, because on prima facia grounds, it seems to run in direction contradiction with traditional practices toward permitting and banning of commercial activities.  Typically, commercial activity requires simply paying a fee at the local municipality, obtaining the permit to continue, and then continuing.  That is not the case here – they are requiring an exemption to be granted by the entire City Council!  Lastly, I also cannot help but wonder where organizations like the ASMP haven’t gotten involved or taken exception to this.

I understand what SC is trying to do, and don’t necessarily have a problem with the intent – what does appear to be problematic though…are the words.  Worded correctly, there would be absolutely no issue with this, but as it currently stands, there is a definite problem with the words!  What do you think?  Vote in the poll or sound off in the comments…

[poll id=”11“]

Lightroom 3 Contest Winner!

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After much deliberation over the fantastic compilation of images for the July contest, I’ve finally had to just make probably one of the toughest judging decisions I’ve had to make thus far in the history of the contest series.  However, in light of the theme of the contest (Slick), and the creativity that went into the image itself, I have to give the nod to Stephen Ludgate for his submission: Continue reading “Lightroom 3 Contest Winner!” →

Shooting From the Hip

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While recently taking a reality break and visiting family in my old stomping grounds, I had a chance to tour the Farmer’s Museum in Cooperstown, NY.  Viewing museums like these is a lot of fun for both kids and adults – kids because of the activities, and adults because I think as you get older, you can start to appreciate with more awareness just how tough things were (or how easy they are now). Continue reading “Shooting From the Hip” →

Blogging for Photographers

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With the huge expanding nature of blogging and sharing your photography through an online blog, there’s been a lot of photo-blog projects started, and while many are quite good (and also inspirational), others have been started and it’s pretty obvious from the start that while the photos may be decent – the blogging platform has left a little to be desired. Continue reading “Blogging for Photographers” →

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

eBooks on the iPad?

Jason5 Comments

A few people have asked if I had plans to make the eBooks iPad-compatible. I hadn’t considered that before (the iPad prefers the epub format over PDF), but am willing to entertain the option, depending on interest (it’s a little pricier of a proposition, so the cost would have to be justifiable). So – you tell me…do you think it’s worth getting the ISBN, converting to ePUB and distributing through the iBookstore channels as well? Sound off in the weekend poll: Continue reading “eBooks on the iPad?” →

Inner Reflection: The What vs The Why

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Hello CanonBloggers! First off, I’d like to thank Jason for the flattering acceptance of my offer to guest blog this post. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not the most eloquent when it comes to introductions, so for those of you who aren’t familiar with myself or PhotographyBB, I’m Dave Seeram, Editor of the PhotographyBB Online Magazine. As I am sure most of you are aware, Jason has been a contributing author for the PhotographyBB Online Magazine since our first year (now into our third). I thought that after all the hard work Jason has done for us and the entire photo-community, this would be a small opportunity to give back to Jason what he has done for us. Continue reading “Inner Reflection: The What vs The Why” →

49 Photo Tips – The Sequel

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About eight months ago, I cobbled together a laundry list of almost 50 photo tips and tricks to help with everything from gear to composition, photoshop, and more.  Given the penchant for sharing these things online, I decided to launch it as an eBook – but in the interests of keeping it simple, didn’t add much of anything.  It was basically a spreadsheet with a category on the left and the tip or trick on the right.  Given the minimal overhead I had put into the design, decided on a bargain basement price – $1.99.  Half a cup of coffee, and easily digestible!

After a few months of feedback and suggestions, it seemed the idea was pretty good, but people wanted examples, or at least something to liven things up a bit – the “spreadsheet style” was a little tedious on the eyes.  So began the latest project for me (as if I don’t have enough projects, according to Tracy)!  Well, after 6 months of blood, sweat and tears, it’s finally here – 49 Tips, The Sequel!

49 Photo Tips - The SequelAll the tips are new, just as useful, and even more in-depth, but here’s the best part – it’s really an eBook now!  With a cover page, a prologue, epilogue and, as you can see, there’s a photo for every tip! Okay, so some are screen captures so technically not photos, but each one gets the point across quite well (I think anyway).  A few of these tips have been shared out via Twitter and Facebook in recent weeks to give everyone a sneak peek of sorts, but it’s “out there” now, and very excited to see what people think.

So, let me know what you think of the new style and layout!  It’s only $4.99 , which is less than a grande white mocha at Starbucks (at least that’s what I’ve heard…b/c I don’t drink Starbucks…right?)!  And for the time being (through the end of July, anyway), there’s an additional discount code for $1 off if you use it in your shopping cart:  “Sequel“

Since it was 6 months between Part One and The Sequel, my guess is it will be another 6 months before I come up with a third installment, so feedback, thoughts and input are always welcome!  There’s a link in the feature product are on the blog, or you can go to the full store here to see all three product downloads! 🙂

Apparently the WordPress eCommerce does not work as advertised as several people have gone through the process and not received their digital download email.  So, to hopefully make things easier for everyone, I’ve signed up with a company friends have used called eJunkie, and after a little configuration and setup, it’s available for purchase through their system (still using Paypal).  My apologies for the hassles initially, here’s the new download location:

49 Photo Tips - The Sequel

Add to Cart

Enjoy, and we’ll see you back here again next week!

Book winners!

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I’ve been a little remiss in doing the comment drawings, so without further delay, here’s the video where I randomly picked the three lucky winners for “Taking Stock” by Rob Sylvan:

[display_podcast]

For the winners – you know who you are, so drop me an email and I’ll get your mailing info over to Scott at Peachpit Press!  Thanks to everyone who commented and thanks to Scott for his generous offer to sponsor this spur-of-the-moment giveaway.  And for those that haven’t checked out the podcast with Rob Sylvan where we talk about (among other things), his forthcoming book, check it out here:  Rob Sylvan Podcast