Just some websites that I wanted to share…
findyourspot.com: Take a survey and find out what spot in the US meets your needs and interests. It told me Little Rock, Arkansas is my #1 happy place (ugh!), but Portland, OR was #2 and I can dig that. I love Portland and have considered moving there.
everyblock.com: If you live in a major city, you can type in your neighborhood or zip code and find out the latest happenings in your neighborhood including crimes, restaurant reviews, restaurant health and safety reviews (quite scary!), photos, and much more! Apparently vehicle break-ins and stolen cars are the thing in my neighborhood since I’ve been checking in the last month. Of course, knowing my luck, I’ll post this and my car will go missing tomorrow.
aftercapture.com: New photography magazine called AfterCapture. Published by the same people who publish Rangefinder magazine, which has been around for a while now. Rangefinder magazine is free to photographic professionals and so is AfterCapture. Go to the websites and click on “subscribe” to get your free subscriptions!
I went to Maryland for the weekend and just returned tonight. I’ll write more details about the trip in another post. My stomach has been a wreck since yesterday afternoon. I don’t know if it was food poisoning, something that just didn’t settle with my stomach, or something else. All I know is that my stomach has been fluctuating between ok and horrible. But that’s not the reason of this post.
One of my photos is free image of the week on the front page of istockphoto. So if you have an account on istock, get on over there and download it while it’s hot…and did I mention that it’s free? And if you don’t already have an account on istock, send me an email and I can hook you up with a referral and some free credits to use as well! Enjoy!
I’ve photographed people of all age groups in the studio and outside, but children are the biggest challenge…by far. I have incredible respect for child photographers who do studio shots for a living. I’d probably go crazy. It’s not like an adult model because you can’t give them direction; they do the exact opposite. Even pets listen better to direction on photo shoots! So when it comes to photo shoots with kids: they’re in control of the shoot and there’s no doubt about that. Forget about working out at the gym that day; you’ll get your workout on the photo shoot. Another perk: good birth control.
Anyway…don’t get me wrong…I love doing photo shoots with kids or I wouldn’t be doing them. I let them do their thing and I run around chasing them to get the shots. I’d imagine that it’s probably a pretty funny sight to the passerby. I like to candidly capture their random energy, curiosity, and goofiness. Doing the photo shoot and then looking at the photos afterwards really awakens something inside of me. Their expressions and actions are genuine. They’re not trying to impress anyone and they don’t give a crap about how they look on the camera. They’re just pure, raw, and full of life.
Some select photos from their show that happened last Tuesday, previously written about here.
This seems to be the year of broken equipment. Now my macro lens is in the shop. Guess I can’t complain because I’ve pushed that baby to its limits, it’s at least 10 years old, and I haven’t had a problem with it. It’s a workhorse. Sharp as a tack. My favorite lens. Hopefully fixable.
No macro photos for a while. 
That’s ok. I’m sure you were getting tired of seeing plants anyway.
