PixelatedImage Blog

My sponsors are awesome. One of the deals I’ve made with all of them at some point is that if I get something, so do my readers. Or at least one or two of you chosen completely randomly. When I left for India early last month I took my new Blackrapid Double Strap to test out, and Ron at Blackrapid said I could give one out too. For two-body shooting this Double Strap is great, and very comfortable. And I’m pleased to say that KarenJ, who was comment #50, and who tells me she’s stalking me, will get to test out her own DoubleStrap. Congrats, KarenJ!

Didn’t win? Well Blackrapid’s not the only sponsor that oozes generosity – DROBO is also putting out and I’ll give you more details on that tomorrow. This is a short post, the next couple days are full of me digging out from the pile that’s accumulated over the last month, and I have only so many hours of digging before the jetlag kicks my butt.

My second book, VisionMongers, Making a Life and a Living in Photography, is going to press in a week, earlier than originally planned. Why? Because y’all said you couldn’t wait and I’m not so patient myself. It means that the book will be released on November 16 and anyone who pre-ordered on Amazon.com will get theirs within a week of that. Possibly sooner.

Nobody told me about this (they like to keep me guessing!) but thanks to the power of Twitter I discovered some sample content on the Peachpit site HERE. Look for the Sample Content tab, it’ll give you a downloadable sample. Enjoy.

I landed at 2pm yesterday and now I’m finally home. Feels good to be unpacking and knowing I’ll be grounded for a while. It’s been a nutty month and I’m glad to be home and settled.

Going from India to Vegas was a mind-bender, and I have to tell you I’d very happily not ever do it again. The Vegas strip is large, loud, decadent, and pretty much everything I find hard to absorb. So while I had a blast at Photoshop World, I did it while fighting off jetlag and culture shock. If I never go back to the Las Vegas strip it’ll be too soon. Ok, I had to get that out, now let me tell you about Photoshop World.

PSW was awesome. I went to see friends, make some new ones, plug the books, and in general be part of things. I hung with the great folks at APC and Blackrapid, connected with a friend from B&H, and had some great time with my crew from Peachpit. They’re probably sick to death of me but they’re contractually obligated to pretend they aren’t. Matt Brandon was there and we spent a lot of time together too. And I got to meet people like the legendary Jay Maisel and touch base with Joe McNally – photographer and hero.

The other guy I met was my collaborator on the Neon Boneyard contest, Chris Orwig. Chris is the real deal and we hit it off immediately. We ended up shooting some promo portraits of each other while there because, hey, who can resist such cool backgrounds. What I love about Chris is what I love about his book Visual Poetry – he’s not a tricked-out uber-geek – he’s an artist that loves making images. He plays and he’s passionate about it, he just happens to have cameras in his hand when he does it. He gives off the vibe of one who’s more in love with the image, the story, than he is with the gear. And you just know I’m going to click with a guy like that. This is my shot of Chris (below) and the one above is Chris’ shot of me, complete with smart-ass shadow

This Neon Boneyard, by the way, was pretty cool. Easily my highlight of the trip for several reasons. 1. It got me out of Mandalay Bay to see real sunshine and breathe real air. 2. I got to hang with Chris and a host of others including Jeff Revell, Matt Kloskowski, Syl Arena, and my friends at Peachpit, as well as twenty other new friends who won the contest and came along to shoot, and 3. It’s just so colourful and full of decay. A guy could spend hours there!

Hey, one more update, then I’ll hit publish and go back to bed to see if I can’t squeeze in another hour’s sleep. Many of you have had problems with Lulu.com as you’ve tried to order the eBooks. You’ve been patient and at times indignant on my behalf, and several of you have urged me to consider other options. So the Legendary H is working his Corsican arse off right now and putting together a more integrated solution to this mess, one that’s powered on the back end by e-Junkie and should be much more friendly to use. The next eBook will go up around the third week of this month so as not to be overshadowed by the release of VisionMongers in the middle of November, and when it does it’ll go up – with the others – in a new bookstore here at Pixelatedimage. Thanks a bunch for always feeling so free to contribute and give me feedback. So long as it’s given kindly – and it always is – I’m all ears. So thank you.

Nice to be home. See you tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll announce the winner of the Blackrapid Double Strap, and later this week announce anther giveaway from the fine folks at Drobo who love to share the love. Stay tuned.

By the time you read this I’ll be hip-deep in Las Vegas at Photoshop World. If I’m still alive. Hey man, I’ve seen CSI, I know what goes on in that town. If I get a hotel room at the end of a hallway, I’m outta there!

I’ve been wanting to do a quick post about the whole eBook thing, so now’s my chance. Just over a month ago I released “Ten” and the reception it got was incredible. Then last week I released “Ten More” and the response has been as good, if not better. So at the end of this month I will release another one, this time without the word Ten in the title. It’s called Drawing The Eye, Creating Stronger Images Through Visual Mass, and it looks at the role of visual mass, or things that pull the eye, and how we can harness that to create more compelling images. I know, it sounds egg-headish and academic, but it’s not. Like the others, it’ll be offered for $5, it’s 32 pages long, and it’ll change the way you look at image-creation, both in-camera and in the digital darkroom.

I’ve also decided not to raise the price of “Ten” for another month. Then I’ll raise both Ten and Ten More to $10/each but also offer them together in a combined PDF for $15. For those of you worried about this whole money thing, I want you to know that I’m still, and always will be, a fan and champion of the amateur – the enthusiast who does this for love. My commitment is to produce great material, keep it cheap, and not let that pull me away from writing the blog and contributing to this growing community we’ve got going here. Putting these ebooks out is first a labour of love, but it’s also a way for me to begin earning a few dollars from the countless hours I put in on this thing. If you love this blog and want to support it financially, this gives you a way to do that. If you can’t afford it but still want to be part of things, then it’s still all yours for free. Except the books

Anyways, after Drawing The Eye, that’ll be it for a while. Visionmongers is due at the printers on October 15th, then released November 16th. So y’all should be getting them about a week-ish after that if you pre-ordered. Then I’ll be tucking into the third of the vision series (Within The Frame, VisionMongers, Vision&Voice) and giving that all my attention for a while. And I’ve still got clients to attend to, travel to do, and family to love and spend time with.

Wow, all that just to tell you what’s up and to tell you how grateful I am for your support, suggestions, and participation in this community. Thank you so much. See you when I’m back from Vegas, or on the next episode of CSI. Have a great weekend.

When I was in Seattle several weeks ago I spent an evening with the good folks at Blackrapid, makers of the R-strap. They plied me with local beer, sat me down on the couch and made me play twenty-questions. This is that interview, in 5 parts. You won’t be able to hear the questions really well, there were some sound issues. But I think I make up for it with lots of awkard moments and corny laughs and stuff. There’s a reason I now prefer to be behind the camera these days and not in front of it. Click here to go to the Blackrapid site and discover those reasons for yourself.

And while we’re on topic, be sure to enter to win a Blackrapid Double Strap. Read the post HERE and leave a comment. I’ll do a random draw when I am back from Vegas.