Commemorating Dog Days, MJ, Farrah and Kodachrome

Photography News that's Fit to Blog (This Week)
by Kerry Raminiak

July (for the purposes of this Monday news round-up) is here. In the Northern Hemisphere July 3 kicks off Dog Days. Yah, I know! Not only is it real but the term has been around for 12,000 years and the Farmer’s Almanac mentions that formal kick off marks the 40 hottest days of the year when the dog star, Sirius, is the brightest star in the sky --between July 3 and August 11. Who knew? (I mean other than the kind folks that post to Wikipedia.)

To commemorate, I am reposting these interviews with prominent pet portrait photographers Sarah Zemunski and Li Ward. Beware adorableness abounds.


Sad news.

On a much much heavier note, the past week in June 2009 will forever be associated with the untimely passing of two icons. PDNPulse has done a very nice job of summing up how hard it is to simply put pictures up in commemoration of Michael Jackson and so they link out Friday’s front (newspaper) pages. The South Florida Sun Sentinel has published this beautiful slideshow of Farrah Fawcett.

Although it seems trivial now, last week we also saw the end of Kodachrome. To our photography industry this marks a significant death nail for film photography as the giant not-so-quietly goes away. Pretty much every major photography news outlet has done a spotlight on the influence and impact of Kodachrome. Our favorites come from NPR (with smart audio including that snappy Paul Simon tune) and PhotoJojo, who invokes you to take one more turn with the format while you still can.


Getting buzz.

Did you read this article from the NYTimes last week? It is about how you can go to Flickr find some great images, print them yourself, frame them and decorate your home with awesome photography. Needless to say, such an idea is an affront to our hard work and I do believe it got nasty on their forum and Twitter. On Thursday the article was reposted and revised with this little note: Updates to this post address the controversy surrounding the use and reuse of other people’s content on the Internet. Congrats photo friends for getting them to change their stance a bit.

UPDATE. Late Friday night the original post got an even newer note: We’ve published a followup post addressing the legal and ethical issues raised by readers. We welcome your feedback on that post. Comments on this one are now closed. It is my opinion that the new post opens up a whole new can of worms by defensively arguing, with attorney purview no less, that publishing online does not guarantee rights with no mention of taking the high ground and having some integrity. I get the feeling that this is not the final word. I'll keep you posted (as I am a bit miffed).

Last week our CEO posted a note about how much he is enjoying Microsoft’s latest search engine Bing (read about it below or click here). Needless to say, the daily update of stunning professional photography as marketing tool is one we approve of. Now we are happy to announce that Bing wants YOUR PHOTOS to be a part of their “Summer Travel” daily expositions. Imaging Resource has posted the announcement from Microsoft with contest rules and restrictions. We couldn’t be more pleased!


News from my desk.

Today, June 29 at 3:00pm Central there will be a Getting Started with PhotoReflect webinar. If you are looking for a refresher course or simply need to get online with PhotoReflect’s free tools join in. They’re interesting and interactive.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009 is the last day to take advantage of the DARKROOM price slash. If you need workflow software or additional licenses now is the time to act. Here is the how-to. Here is where you can download a free trial of version 8.91.1678.