Kaboooom! Photobombs will cure what ails you.

Photography news that's fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

What a funny time of year. The kid in me is still high from all the Super Bowl revelry. The professional marketer in me is responsible for pushing love love love – since Valentine’s Day is a mere six days away. That said, I have found a great article about neither (I’m taking a stand!).

You see, J.D. Salinger passed last week. He was 91. And along with humorous homage (the Onion has a great headline: Bunch of Phonies Morn J. D. Salinger), the Slate has published a very fine article written by the person that had the strange honor of replying to Mr. Salinger’s fan mail. If looking for a nice read, please enjoy it here.

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This week’s spotlight is on: PhotoBombs!
Let’s celebrate the phenomenon that afflicts all photographers

Photography (pro and amateur alike) captures a very specific moment in time. You take the picture with hopes to convey the mood and moment and preserve that moment however you see fit, most often in some sort of semi-sacred way (an album, book, frame, special box, etcetera). So what happens when that perfect moment is marred by overt and often intentional silliness? You publish it online, of course!

The Huffington Post got me started in this new fandom of mine with three photo slideshows: The best celebrity photobombs of all time (my favorite is Paul McCartney bombing George Harrison, but there’s a few close seconds in this selection); The best little kid photobombs (where tikes are the subject of grimaces and general goofballiness); And, the best animal photobombs (where you will find more clever Photoshopping than the others, but darn it, animals are really cute).

For more bomb action, I encourage a quick Google search. I used Bing to find these additional links that are safe for work: Photobomb.net and I-Am-Bored.com. Be warned when doing your own photobomb research, however: Sometimes the funniest stuff is not very clean.

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More photography goodies (numbered for my sanity, but ranked in no particular order):

1. Very interesting. Did you know that USA Today’s PhotoBlog is tied to advertising revenue? Is this a statement about how photojournalism is just as relevant as viral videos? Now, I, like you, I assume, dislikes the commercialization of the internet beyond the mundane, but I do like this trend if it means that such photography gets treated a little better.

2. PhotoPreneur writes Getting Your Photography Business in the News. It’s a nice guide, with good ideas, and a great primer on guerilla marketing.

3. I’m speaking at PMA. Not that it’s best personified in this little blog… but… I happen to be well versed on photography, free online tools and marketing. Hence, I am co-chairing two sessions on these topics (all together) Saturday, February 20th in Anaheim during the SPAA (Sports Photography) and PSPA (School Photography) education sessions. Use this link and search by speaker (using my name: Kerry Raminiak) to learn more.

4. WPPI is one month away. Download your free exhibition badge here. Use the Te!! A Friend field to tweet about it, email to others, and/or do however it is you do to get the word out.

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Until next time my photog friends! XO.

Photography for a good cause

Photography news that fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

Today is February 1, and boy does it seem like it… rain, fog and terrible traffic ensures that you cannot disguise a terrible mood with soft and shiny hair. To kick off this frizz-tacular second month of the year, I dug up this link explaining why February not only has 28 days, but also has a bit of a bad reputation that has been accumulating for, oh, a little more than two thousand years. But, hey… let’s turn that frown upside down (well, until you read that LA Times article below… but until them, let’s buck up!)

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This week’s spotlight is on: Images Without Borders
Photography gets philanthropic with a great idea and tons of community support

Images Without Borders sells gallery-quality prints from images donated by renowned photographers with ALL profits going directly to Doctors Without Borders “in support of their work providing care and relief in Haiti and around the world.”

According to their website, each print is offered at a limit of ten purchases before being pulled from the collection and returned to the artist. Prices range from $50 to $100 for the print and $32 for the low resolution copy. This means if you are on the hunt for stunning, limited edition works, you can support the artistic photography community AND Doctors Without Borders at the same time. A huge two for one.

And if that, alone doesn’t give you a warm feeling, read their blog and join their Facebook page. There you can read about the painstaking work of the primary volunteers as well as educators, marketing folks and many others that have stepped up to this charge.

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Our photography newsline... a great and quick way to get in the know:

*** Guess where I found this article called: Social Media for Photographers? Yep, Twitter (more specifically @EventPortraits). You have to submit your email address to get the 52-page report, but if you are at all lost in the cloud of social media and you are a photographer, the report is pretty darn comprehensive. ***

*** PhotoReflect got a beautiful review in Bright Hub (yeah us!). Check it out if you are not already a fan of “turning your photos to cash.” ***

*** Hot topic! The LA Times details the pain felt by professional photographers who “are among those who found out most painfully what happens when their work (or a reasonable facsimile) becomes readily available online at little or no cost.” The morel of the story we took from it… see the PhotoReflect link above and maybe, just maybe, we can all look back at these days recognizing that there are good guys out there ready, willing and able to help. ***

*** Personello, the German photo gift specialty company, announced record-increases in holiday photo gift orders for the past holiday season. Their press release indicates they saw an 18% increase in photo gift sales in the two weeks leading up to Christmas (translated and published on PMA Newsline here). Why is this big news you ask? Because, as we first published in November of 2009, all research, at that time, indicated that personal photo gifts were poised for the best season in history, and, well, this report substantiates that claim. ***

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Stay warm and frizz-free my photog friends and see ya next week!

Would you like to swing on a star?

Photography news that fit to blog (this week)
by Kerry Raminiak

Howdy from Texas… where the weather is splendid (for the time being) and energizing. January, by the way, is named after Janus, the god of the doorway (of Roman mythology) and was adopted in the calendar as "the open door of the new year." I am often inspired by the originations of terms, especially this time of year when we are thinking so diligently on new resolutions, both personally and professionally. I hope you are too when you read our little blog, which is designed to invigorate your photography business senses.

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This week’s spotlight is on:

Funky photography insights are found in surprising places

Last week a couple of PhotoReflect engineers and I were at lunch. They started a conversation based on an NPR piece that used landmark photography to superimpose this visual: What if the earth had rings like Saturn? What would it look like from us earthling dwellers? (I say affectionately, that when our engineers, a fantastic cross between brilliants and eccentrics, tell me to check something out, I have always found it worthy of further investigation.)

Well, that had me pop right over to NPR’s website for personal examination which then lead me to read about how Charles Darwin was the first person to move from drawings and in to photography to illustrate in publications of his studies.

Who knew that when in need of “photography news” a quick visit to the news source would be so plentiful? I had no idea until today, and thusly have since put their home page in my “favorites” folder whenever I need a good, albeit funky, source.

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More fun fun photography stuffs

Going to a dinner party or networking with photographers and need some good conversations starters? Try these (and be sure to bookmark our blog if ever in need):

*** Haiti relief is using high-tech photography to map the disaster zone in order to aid in crisis management. Funded by the World Bank, scientists from the Rochester Institute of Technology are sweeping the leveled city with imaging systems attached to a Piper Navajo (a small airplane). Read more about the initiative here. See the interactive visuals here. ***

*** Winners have been selected for the Hasselblad Masters Awards. They are exquisite illustrations of professional photography. They doubled the number of entries this year to 3K, which is why their press release states, “Given the exceptional talents of the 100 finalists, though, it was very difficult for the…panel to select only 10…” The winners get the title and a bunch of great gear. Click here to read more and see winning entries. ***

*** Here is a great editorial on how a South Cheshire (UK) studio went to the Focus tradeshow in order to find a solution that would not require them own a full lab set-up to conduct their school photography contract. New Photo Digest reached out to me via Twitter to tell me, that while Fujifilm developed this piece, the software solution detailed was indeed DARKROOM. If you see the conversation on Twitter between me (@ExpressDigital) and @NewPhotoDigest you will see our chat on the sadness of DARKROOM going un-credited in this piece. Oh well… any good news of small businesses profiting by using our software is still great news. ***

*** If you ever wanted to know how easy it is to sell your photography online (and for free!) check out the PhotoReflect webinar series. This week there is a “Getting Started” session on Tuesday and an “Advanced” session on Thursday. ***

*** Extensive DARKROOM training is one week away in Las Vegas! If you ever wanted to learn the ins-and-outs of the software, we highly recommend you attend, even if you don't own the software. Click here for some details. ***

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See ya’ next week!