Book advice for Annie Leibovitz

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

Howdy my photog friends. In trying to find something interesting to kick off this rather uneventful --quiet before the storm-ish-- fourth week of August post, I found myself remarkably surprised. Breezing through Encarta’s On This Day in History I found:

• That Pluto was determined not to be a planet in 2006
  
• Pete Rose was permanently suspended from baseball on this day in 1989
  
• The U.S. White House and Capitol in Washington D.C. was burnt down by the British in 1814
  
• and, Mount Vesuvius erupts in 79 burying three cities in Italy

I guess it’s not such a quiet day after all!

With that said, here are your photography industry headlines.

The iPhone is now the most popular camera on Flickr. The new 3GS skyrocketed past the Canon Rebel (which has been duking it out with the Nikon D80) this month. Goes to show you that Flickr photogs don’t need a flash or a zoom lens… which just seems strange to me… am I the only one that is perplexed that a phone add-on has taken over the online photography homestead? One explanation from the LA Times article, Apple doesn’t make distinction between models while camera manufacturers do.

New service verifies profile images for online daters and chatting kids. Loved this little piece (found at PMAI) about this company, CheckedProfile.com, that charges $1.99 (for men, free for women and children) to verify and stamp your online profile photo so that others know you are the real you. Apparently 80% of online daters suspect that their prospective pals are using fake photos among other lies. The process seems simple enough, just take a picture with a code they send you and they will determine if your profile picture is a match. If it is, they will “stamp” your photo as authentic, and thus indicating your trustworthiness and respect for due diligence.

Speaking of PMAI, their upcoming keynote, Jeremy Gutsche is letting you download the first chapter of his new book, Exploiting Chaos. The premise of the book, from what I can gather at first blush, is that more current Fortune 500 companies are evolutions created during down and dire economic times. By identifying new market needs, you can be primed to stand out ahead of the competition and do better than “just survive.” Click here to learn about his event at next year’s PMA. Click here for more on the book. I have no interest in “pimping” products and materials, but I think the hypothesis is interesting especially considering that the author can also claim they are a non-photog keynote at one of the biggest photography events of next year.

Annie Leibovitz is facing financial ruin, could lose her work. The most famous photographer of our time has put her work up as collateral to secure loans to cover the mismanagement of expenses. The artist behind some of the most remarked upon celebrity photography has “never been known for having a knack for finance.” Digging a little deeper, it gets a bit crazy and controversial. For one, she contends the loan company (that specializes in considering artistic property rights for collateral) is harassing her to simply get some publicity. Art Capital Group is suing both her and Getty Images (for interfering in this affair) contending that she is being completely uncooperative after receiving $24 million. (I sincerely hope it all works out and will try to keep this blog updated with news as it becomes available.)

Photos of the week, sports images from Beijing and other locales. I like these from Photo.net whenever they come my way (typically via Twitter) because they give details on the camera used and link to the photographer. All of these are by Damir Sencar.

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Drama and buzz in the photography market

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

August is half over my photography friends and with it, I hope, the blistering heat in Austin, Texas (cross your fingers).

Here are your headlines…

Did you see the new PhotoReflect logo and sneak peek? Pretty exciting stuff is coming down the pipe, I hear. Stay tuned.

Nikon Photo Contest Winners announced and displayed online. Considered the world’s largest and most prestigious photo contests, this year’s theme was: “At the heart of the image.” The event attracted over 50K entries from over 150 countries. (I am just sad that the website is so clunky… I know, pot calling the kettle black and such, but I want to see more!) Regardless of my case of “the Mondays” the winners are truly spectacular.

Three photo sharing and management sites are shutting down. BubbleShare, Riva and PicMe announced last week that they were shutting down and explaining that the consumer-photography industry is dominated by the some of the largest players on the net… whom, also make it impossible to charge for these services (because, for example, Facebook’s photosharing is free). Source, PMAI.org.

Drama over the Kelly Clarkson’s Self mag photoshopping experience. I post this, first, because if I can sneak in some pop drama into my blog, I normally do so. Secondly, anytime a famous magazine editor says, “Of course we do retouching,” I feel vindicated. Finally and more importantly, this is a very nice article explaining that it is pretty easy to blame photoshop in this situation but that it may actually be taking away some kudos from a very talented photographer. Take a good look and you will find some good tips on taking great portrait shots. Honestly, two of my favorite things (gossip and photography), why wouldn’t I post this?

Sears announces online-presale and text registration for the Samsung DualViews. I am predicting that these new consumer point and shoot cameras will be the “hot” purchase this holiday season for your picture taking, gadget lover. The new DualView cameras have front and back LCDs so the person in the picture can see how the look. Click here to learn about the DualViews. (They are the TL225 and TL220 with front and back LCD screens -- the link is for the TL220). Click here to go to pre-order from the Sears site. If you want to participate in their texting/online event, the phone number to text is 73277. Type “SAMSUNG” and you will get a link back to Sears2go.com where you can read more about the festivities.

Cool blog article: Are you going to your customers or are you waiting for them to come to you? You have to scroll down the weekend synopsis but when you do, there is a good article about how there is inherent success in discounting for your current customers to gain new business. Now, I think this is industry kismet simply because last week, in our monthly newsletter we provided a demonstration for a way for you to create promo codes, gift certificates and shipping discounts on your PhotoReflect websites. If you missed the step-by-step instructions, here is a link to an online copy of our August newsletter. Keep in mind we normally do not publish our newsletters for general view. I am simply posting it so you can take advantage of this buzz and do more this month to ensure greater profits. Sign up for the newsletter here for more of these tips which are typically exclusive to our readership.

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More Inspiration Than We Know What To Do With

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

Greetings. Things are pretty crazy here over the new hubbub coming the way of ExpressDigital customers that I have to keep things a little short… So without further ado, here is your weekly roundup for the second week of August.

Social Networking Sites Ripe for Digital Sales
(ahem, PhotoReflect Users)
We are plugging away to get our newsletter out this week that features a sneak peek of the new PhotoReflect when we found this from InfoTrends:

Social Networking and Photo Sharing Study Points to Opportunities in Photo Printing, Viewing, and Storage

In summary, their comprehensive study indicates that over two-thirds of social networking site users engage in photo sharing and that the disparity between the actual purchase and use of those photos represents a 50 million dollar market for sites or photographers willing and able to take advantage of it. (Click here to read more.)

Two months ago, we published in our monthly newsletter how to be able to sell low, medium and high resolution digital images via your PhotoReflect site with the idea that the low-resolution images are a great way to sell limited rights of your professional photography so that your customers can promote you and your prints and products with this simple offering. (In case you missed it, here a link of step-by-step directions on how to program your free PhotoReflect site to do so -- give it a second to load if you find there is a lag... I will fix it as soon as I can.)

That all said, if you are not using the free PhotoReflect service and you want to sell your photography online, now is the time to get on board. Next month we will be completely re-launching the service with a complete facelift to photographer sites and the internal dashboard and because of so our training sessions and tutorial sessions will likely fill up very quickly. If you want to learn more about this new update, you should sign up for our newsletter for special access.

Ansel Adams on Visualization
Mark Silber of SilberStudios has uncovered this footage of Ansel Adams discussing his key to photography, “Visualization.” It is a simple concept and a short video worth your time. Basically, when you hear Mr. Adam’s talk about how he captures a big “aha” comes over you. Thanks to @PetaPixel via Twitter for passing this along.

10 Ways to Break Photo Block
PhotoCritic.org has posted this very helpful article on how to get out of a photo rut with a number of quick projects to get you inspired and back with your lens up. Under Try Something New, may we suggest trying greenscreen (for your DARKROOM Pro Users) – many don’t have an explicit purpose for greenscreen tools but when you play around with it, we have learned it is quite addicting.

The Art of Photography Show to Debute August 29
From PMAI: The fifth annual Art of Photography Show, an international competition and exhibition of photographic art, will debut the top 111 photographs chosen from 16,000 entries from 57 countries on Aug. 29 at the Lyceum Theatre Gallery in San Diego, Calif. The exhibit will run through Nov. 1, and is expected to attract 25,000 viewers. Charlotte Cotton, the curator and head of the Photography Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, judged the entries.

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David v Goliath for digital rights + PhotoReflect sneak preview

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

Happy first week of August our photog friends.

Understandably things are getting a bit busier for a bunch of reasons… School photographers are gearing up for the new year. Wedding photographers have their second busiest season right around the corner.

… and, if you happen to work at ExpressDigital, the rumblings of the new and improved PhotoReflect are starting to take over (due for launch in September). As promised to our loyal fans we are launching a sneak peek next week in our monthly newsletter. You are welcome to sign up for this special access if you haven't done so already.

Speaking of PhotoReflect, there are two webinars scheduled this week on how to use the free tool to sell your photography online:

Getting Started: Wed, August 5 at 3:00pm Central

For Advanced Users: Thur, August 6 at 3:00pm Central

That all said, here is the industry’s weekly news round-up.

Sherry Martin Photography is suing ESPN / Walt Disney Corp for infringement
The sport and portrait photographer is taking on the giant because they did not honor the rights she maintained of a shoot of the Solano Beach Triathlon. Please forgive that we do not have all the details but as it is written in PMAI.org, Competitor Magazine attempted to negotiate with the commissioning company and herself to use an image of a triathlete whom has since passed away. When negotiations failed, it is challenged that Competitor Magazine (owned by ESPN) went over her head and worked a deal with the commissioning company directly for the tune of a paltry $50. According to Ms. Martin’s attorney, “[The Defendant] knew that Martin was a young professional photographer without the deep pockets usually needed to protect intellectual property rights. With that knowledge, they made the conscious decision to infringe her copyrights.” Sherry Martin has also released a statement: “Regardless of the amount of this judgment, I feel that this lawsuit gives me a platform to defend my rights and the rights of other photographers and artists.” Obviously such a topic is very dear to our hearts. We’ll keep you posted as this unfolds and if details are openly available.

Weather Underground receives its one millionth photo submission
Beautiful pictures submitted by professionals and enthusiasts have been uploaded to the online, real time weather report service. They have encouraged photo submissions, obviously, for some time now but the response to this section to their website has been incredible. According to their president, “The one-millionth WunderPhoto is a true testament to the power of enabling your users to drive content on your website.” The implications and impact are widespread in our community and we hope to see these types of viral online photography locations become even more prevalent.

Favorite photos of the week comes courtesy of Twitter
Check out these photos of an incredible art installation on the beaches of San Francisco. After spending countless hours making beautiful sand art that will ultimately be swept away by the tide, Andres Amador then takes a picture of his work to make a statement about self-awareness; “The art I create is intended as a reflection and a reminder of the grandeur that exists within every viewer and the beauty that abounds in our world everywhere we look.” Thanks to @AmazingPics on Twitter for sending this item our way.

Infamous Air Force One photos gets more press
A couple of weeks ago there was a funny segment about these pictures on Saturday Night Live (I tried for the life of me to find the video but NBC makes it tough) inferring that to reduce the hubbub Photoshop would have been a suitable solution. Now, PDN has a copy of the images and an email from Air Force General Arthur Lichte whom jokingly writes, “I recommend we just photo shop (sic) it in the next time. This became way too hard :)”

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