Over the weekend a lot has been going on here…and rather than regale you with the “honey do” list (like toting rocks around the yard), I’ll get to the more fun stuff that is likely more interesting (and also more photography related)… Continue reading “Blood, Sweat, and Tears”
Tag: blog
3 Years down! What’s Next?
In the blogging community, a year is a significant milestone, as most bloggers don’t make it to this point. Interests wax and wane, jobs and passions change, and audiences swell and sag as the community of readers often will gravitate toward new topics and content. The idea behind retention of readership is to change with the times. Here at CB/LDP, that has not been a problem. From the beginning, this blog has always been about sharing my experiences in photography with the larger community. So, as new technologies develop, and I learn about them, the writing reflects changes and advances in my knowledge base. Continue reading “3 Years down! What’s Next?”
The 700 Club
This post makes it officially 700 thoughts and musings on the blog. At an average of 250 posts per year (since I don’t normally post on weekends and occasional “no blog” days), that means we are closing in on the end of three full years of blogging!
To the readers who have been there with me since the beginning, I’d like to say thanks for all your patience as I’ve walked through several fires of growing pains. I’ve come to the realization that the more you write, the greater the chance you have to sound like either a fool, or a pure and simple $%^&. Hopefully I’ve minimized both of these occurrences enough to warrant another 700 posts!
There’s a couple things coming up on the horizon that are quite exciting, and a few fire irons already nice and hot (see contest #1 and contest #2 going on right now)! The biggest change is coming at the end of the month when CB gets a pretty serious face lift. Other upcoming things of interest include a podcast with none other than Martin Bailey on Monday, the 3rd Annual World Wide Photowalk in July, and the 2nd release of the 49 Photo Tips download! (The first is still available here…) All this is accompanied by the regular news, reviews, and photography experiences/insights that I share with you here daily. So, you’d think that with all that, there’s be nothing else of a “big news” item to announce at this time. After all, it’s just Friday, right?
Well, not to disappoint, but there is some news to share with you today on post #700! This is not only news, it’s pretty big news! In fact, it’s not just pretty big news – it’s super huge! Are you sitting down? Are you ready for this? (Cue “Jock Jams“…for those of you that did not experience the early 90’s, the link may be a #lame one…)
Actually, I’d better not just quite yet. But, I can let you know that Anaheim, Salt Lake City, Denver, Minneapolis, Seattle and Portland all have something in common (they make a nice circle…don’t ya think? 🙂 )…
More tk…happy friday and have a great weekend all! Get out and shoot ya some! 🙂
The Best Photo Blogs for 2010
As photographers we are always seeking out new sources of information that can help us with our work – whether it be pixel-crunching sites, creative inspiration sites, or news and trending information sites. As I go through my RSS feeds and Alltop favorites every day, over the past year, some were filtering to the top much more often. Naturally, this happens every year, as has been the case for the past 3 years now. When I started this annual event back in 2007, the number coincided with the year, so to wit, here are my TOP TEN PHOTO BLOGS FOR 2009. This may serve as a good starting point for 2010, so the blog post is titled accordingly, even though this is more of a “Year in Review” type of writing regarding photography blogs. As always, lists are subjective and others will have different thoughts and opinions, but nevertheless, here’s my faves (meaning these blogs are in my Alltop or RSS ):
- Joe McNally’s Blog – The perfect blend of tongue-in-cheek stories, and yet educational and fun to read! This quickly ratcheted up to the top of my preferred favorites, and it should be in your list too! (And his books are of the same ilk: read The Moment it Clicks and The Hotshoe Diaries as soon as possible if you haven’t already…)
- David DuChemin’s Blog – As David said it best – “Ahhh…..Vision!” If you are yearning to touch the intangible and learn about creativity, David DuChemin’s blog is a must read! (I hear he has a few books too!)
- Petapixel – Very similar to this one, in that it is informative, interesting, and almost always tied to photography. He wisely started without a vendor association though, and it’s paid off in spades (he’s been around less than a year, and has double the readership). Of course it could be that his content is pretty kick-butt and mine is just the meandering mind of an individual. Nevertheless, a great read and congrats to them for the content they are putting out!
- Strobist – If you don’t know about David Hobby’s site, then you are in the dark (literally!), because it’s all about light! Anything you want to know about photography lighting, this is the place to go. With workshops, and primers for both the beginners and advanced shooters, this is an absolute must-read!
- Canon Rumors – What can I say? I am a Canon guy, so I am always interested in the news and rumblings of Canon’s next great move in the digital photography realm, and this has become my premiere source of information on the web aside from Canon directly!
- Weekly Photo Tips – Authored by Scott Eccleston, this blog is a mixture of tips, tutorials, and personal thoughts on a variety of subjects to include gear, post processing, and such. Worth the read just for the human aspect of photography.
- Photowalk Pro – Jeff is the de facto master at organizing photo walks, and although I’ve been on walks since before discovering his blog – his insights have helped me to organize better walks, be a better organizer, and his subsequent foray into photography (HDR) tutorials and photo books (a review on his book about the 50D is forthcoming!). Definitely one worth adding to the reader!
- The Online Photographer – Not the usual fare, as TOP can get very professorial. I learn a lot though, and gain insights and get creative inspiration from the photographers and works they discuss here. The entire staff is great, but my favorite writers are Mike himself and Ctein!
- Photojojo – What a great blog, creative ways to use your photos all the time. Not only are the ideas cool, but almost always they are highly economical. Definitely for the DIY-er! They also have great photo montages periodically, so also great for inspiring some creative vision!
- Photoshop Insider – Want to get the latest scoop on Photoshop and photography in general? Scott has taken a a great Photoshop resource and in the last year, merged it into his own foray into photography from the perspective of being behind the camera.
There’s my top ten blogs for 2010. It’s certainly not definitive, definitely biased, and subject to change at a moments notice, but as of today, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it! What are your favorite photo-related blogs? Now’s a chance to shamelessly promote your work (or your friends work) in the comments!
A Look Ahead…
Just a few news nuggets today of some things that have been going on and simmering on the proverbial stove for the past few weeks. Many of these are now starting to bubble up to the surface, so here’s a little hint as to what I’ve been up to, and what is ahead for the blog and podcast… Continue reading “A Look Ahead…”
In the interests of full disclosure…
It recently came to my attention that the FTC commission has taken an interest in the reviews that bloggers provide as unbiased information on the products. I guess this came about due to some people that gave reviews of products that were actually paid endorsements, and did not disclose this information to their readership. The FTC is now apparently requiring that all reviewers release and disclose their relationship with the vendors of the products for which they are reviewing by December 1st.
So, in the interests of full disclosure, I have compiled a page to disclose exactly what I get for the review of products written here. As most of you are already aware, the answer to that is nothing, with a few notable exceptions. The products that I have reviewed here on the blog are entirely done via donations from vendors (where the products are then put up for giveaways in the monthly contests), or on loaner programs where the products are reviewed and then returned to the company. The rest of the products I have reviewed are of my own gear which I have already purchased with my own money!
For those interested in viewing the page, it’s titled “Supporters of the Blog and Podcast and is displayed in the sidebar.
*****
Okay, with the legalities out of the way, just a couple other blog maintenance things to mention:
- The next podcast is going live tomorrow!
- The latest contest is underway over at Flickr (you can win a free copy of Noise Ninja from PictureCode – the theme this month is Fall)
- The 2nd issue of the monthly newsletter is also under construction, so if you are interested in being a featured artist, let me know!
Wow – what a bunch of “official” sounding stuff – so unlike me! Let’s change that up – share with me your thoughts on the FTC position. Do you like it? Agree? Disagree? Think they are off their rocker? Call me the fence sitter, but I can see why they are doing it, but I think they’ve taken it too far. What do you think? Got any of your own bureaucratic wonders to share? Sound off – maybe if we get enough feedback saying that no one likes it, they will reconsider their position on “all bloggers”! 🙂 (Kind of like “rocking the vote”!)
Anyway, that’s about it for today, so Happy Shooting and we’ll see you back here again tomorrow!
Post #500: Celebrating a Milestone!
Not sure where to begin really – this is all kind of surreal, because I really didn’t think that this milestone would see me where things are today with the blog. Needless to say, the blog has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations, so thanks to everyone who’s made that possible. Without further ado, here’s the big news (via YouTube video, so feed readers, stop in and get the news by taking a few minutes out of your day for this exciting video news bulletin!):
For the data hounds, here’s a rundown of some of the stats for a snapshot of what’s that’s happened thus far on the blog:
- Posts = 500
- Comments = 1107
- 107 Categries
- 544 Tags
- Total Visitors = 231,000
- Single Highest Traffic Day: Thursday, April 10, 2008
- Subscribers: 1006
- Highest Subscriber Count Ever: 1018 (4 days ago)
That’s a lot of stuff when you think about it. So, for all the thousands of you that have been tuning in regularly, thanks so much for all your kind thoughts, words, and contributions over all this time. Tune in to the YouTube video for the contest news and some other fun stuff! In the meantime, keep on shooting – you know what’s coming up in the next 500 posts! Happy shooting everyone. Have an awesome weekend and we’ll see you back here on Monday for post #501!
Holiday Photography…
I recently agreed to put together an article for the December issue of the PhotographyBB magazine on “How to Shoot the Holidays”. With the compilation of that nearing completion, I subsequently got an email from Towner Jones Photography to write a guest post over at his blog! Egad! A guest post?!?! Never been asked that before! I was floored.
About all I could muddle out was “Well..uuh, I am writing an article for a free online magazine…would that work?” Again, I was floored when he said that’d be great! You could have knocked me over with a feather! So, my post for today is actually to say thanks to Rob for the vote of confidence! The scariest part of it all though, is not having to deal with my bantering, but he asked for a pic too! So, here’s your chance to see my mug on the other side of the lens. Go check out Towner Jones Photography today. Make sure you tell him thanks for me too!
I’ll return next week with a new edition of Thursday Thoughts…let’s see, who can I ask for an interview? Any ideas? 🙂 thanks again go out to Rob, and remember, it’s all about the photo, so get out there and get ya some! Happy shooting everyone and we’ll see you back here tomorrow!
The new blog headers
As we head into the weekend, for those who are picking up the blog via RSS feeds and never made it over to the site, I had enough email from you requesting to share these in a dedicated blog post. So, a little addendum post to get you through the weekend, here are the headers from this past week:
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Any in particular jump out at anyone? Feel free to share your thoughts, views, etc. in the comments. In the meantime, Happy Shooting, and we’ll see you back here again on Monday!
No Blog Wednesday
As suspected, the long day yesterday prevented putting together any sort of coherent post for today, so it’s official – today is “No Blog Wednesday”.
I will officially share the “What’s This?” answer from last week (Week 8). That was a shot of a candy wrapped in plastic. I captured that at Hammonds Candy Factory here in Denver when we visited in the spring before deciding to make the move out. COngrats to those that got it right and thanks to all who shared their thoughts in the comments. I’ll have a “What’s This?” later this evening if all goes well. Otherwise, it’ll get posted tomorrow along with the Thursday Thoughts. Until then, happy shooting and watch those apertures!