Feb 13

If You Thought The Digital Photography Market Was Getting Any Smaller…

...you were wrong. Household appliance manufacturing giant, General Electric, recently announced their entry into the digital photography game. Does that give any indication of how gi-normous this market is becoming? The name of their project is exactly what we'd expect: General Imaging.As an anecdote illustrating how big it's getting:I was recently on a dance floor in Manhattan at 2:30 in the morning with about 250 of my closest friends (ahem...). At one point, I pulled... read more ›
Feb 08

Tears of the Black Tiger!

Check out this trailer! The film was made some time ago (2000 by my quick check), but it's being released here in a limited fashion quite soon. I'm guessing it's going to make some waves if people can get out of their chairs to go see it. I'm loving how it's stylized. ...can't wait to try to wrap my mind around what looks to be a colorful, antention deficit, Thai, spaghetti-western, with 50's pastiche and... read more ›
Feb 07

Entertaining Video Highlighting Changes From Pen and Paper to Web 2.0 And Beyond

The nicest thing about the web these days, beyond email spam, file sharing, lovelygirl15, porn, and access to the latest NASDAQ numbers, is obviously the huge transfer of relevant information. I've written a fair bit on the somewhat-controversial (that's another issue...) term coined by Tim O'Reilly, Web 2.0, and what it means to the photography industry. I was happy to have been quoted or tracked back in some great blogs, by some talented journalists: Jay... read more ›
Feb 04

The Black Box of Advertising Photography Meets Business 101

This is not a rant. It's a page out of Business School 101.If you've ever seen/heard one of my speaking engagements, you've probably heard me talk about the Black Box. It's the name I've given to "what the world of advertising photography looks like to a new or aspiring photographer." Something goes it one end of the box (the request, the pitch, the job offer, etc) and something comes out the other end (finished images,... read more ›
Jan 30

Apple and ASMP, Adobe v. Apple?

So what am I, the frickin ASMP sales guy? Naw. Just found another good deal to pass your way: If you're an ASMP member, you can save up to 17% on stuff from Apple. Seems from this and my earlier post that Apple and Adobe are really going head to head on a couple angles: (1)connecting with the pro shooter (all these promos aimed at the pro market), and (2)fighting over marketshare between Aperture and... read more ›
Jan 30

Adobe Lightroom and ASMP

You may have heard the news today: Adobe Lightroom emerges from beta testing and is for sale beginning February 19th. If you're running the beta, it will expire on February 28th. It will be priced near $300 BUT I've just learned from my good friends at ASMP.org that if act now, you can save $100. Purchase Lightroom direct from Adobe here to get the discount.And, if you're a photographer and you're NOT already a member... read more ›
Jan 29

Predicting Weather For Outdoor Location Photography

I just returned from a location shoot in the Cascade Mountains, east of Seattle today. The weather had us guessing at several points during the day, but for the most part it went according to plan. Plan? That's right, as someone who is often hired to shoot outdoors, I've been forced to become quite the weatherman, doing my best to anticipate and plan for Mother Nature's ways. She always plays hard to get, but it... read more ›
Jan 20

David Lynch (And You and Me) On Creativity

I attended a gathering in Seattle this week to hear David Lynch speak about his creative process, filmmaking, and how his creative successes stem--according to him--in large part from his 33-year, twice-a-day commitment to transcendental meditation.Wow.What a trip this talk was! I adore many of Lynch's films: Mulholland Drive, Lost Highway, Blue Velvet, etc. Some classics, for sure. But I must say that I was deeply intrigued by how his meditation gets him to [paraphrase]... read more ›
Jan 16

Graffiti, Street-, and Public-Performance Art: Why It Matters

As as investment, I own a small commercial building not far from our studio in Seattle's historic Greenlake neighborhood. It's a quaint brick building from the 1920's with tons of character and charm and I've intentionally filled it with tenants with creative businesses: architects, 3-D designers, filmmakers, etc. You get the picture.It got vandalized today. Tagged. Basically spray paint for the sake of spray paint on bricks and metalwork. I admit, when my friend Marc... read more ›
Jan 15

Waiting For iPhone? Get Yours Here First.

UPDATE: If you have to wait till June, you might as well download this foldable paper template of the iPhone. It's cool - you can pass some time and you fool your friends too! ...next best thing to the real thing.Download the .pdf template here.(Thanks to iphonecountdown.com for the great fun and to my pals at creativetechs.com for pointing me in the right direction!)