Surf Photography Legend Art Brewer at the Annenberg Space

Renowned as one of the world’s premiere surf photographers, Art Brewer will lead this specially designed workshop focusing on action surf photography and all of its’ elements.This intensive one-day course is not only a unique opportunity to learn the technical skills and equipment necessary to shoot surfing and other water related sports, but also acts as an opportunity to become immersed in a day in the life of Art Brewer.

The workshop will take place Feb. 27th, on site at the Annenberg Space for Photography and will be demonstration based using a multitude of media including video, slides, prints and a selection of equipment that is pertinent to the surf industry. Details.

Random Excellence: Michael Paul Smith

At first glance it appears to be a simple 50's era scene. Follow the link below to reveal the reality. What started out as an exercise in model building and photography, ended up as a dream-like reconstruction of a town by Michael Paul Smith.
Link.

Quote of the Week

“Without passion, all the skill in the world won’t lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.” ~ Twyla Tharp

DSLR Toolkit for Dummies now on iPhone

The "For Dummies" series is a great way to gain a basic working knowledge on any subject. Beginning Jan. 28th, the iPhone app DSLR Photography Toolkit for Dummies is available for ninety-nine cents.

Camera Controls section gives you a closer look at the buttons, dials, and symbols found on some of the most popular digital SLR models. Checklists Feature helps you choose the essential equipment you need to take along for common shooting scenarios like weddings, vacations and more.
Interactive Shoot Diary records and stores info about photo sessions; view other pictures taken from the same location and share your diary entries. Glossary cuts through the jargon and reveals the plain-English definition for over 200 of the most common digital photography terms. Read more here.

There have been lots of rumors running through the photo journalistic community about the picture that was the cover of TIME magazine, showing Monica Lewinsky, her red lips glowing, her eyes closed in anticipation, being embraced by President Clinton at a fund raising event in October of 1996.

Read the whole story told by Dirck Halstead, the photographer who took the now famous image.

Read more here...

Quote of the Week

"All children are artists. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." ~Pablo Picasso

How Much Money Do Commercial Photographers Make?

Rob Haggart of A Photo Editor (link) is kicking off a new column called “Ask Anything.” Two Former Art Buyers and current photography consultants Amanda Sosa Stone and Suzanne Sease have agreed to answer anonymous questions from photographers and not only give their expert advice but put it out to a wide range of photographers, reps and art buyers to gather a variety of opinions.
Read more here.

Epson Signature paper

Epson America is now shipping an expanded offering of Signature Worthy papers to professional photographers and fine artists. This expanded collection includes new Epson Hot Press and Cold Press Papers and Epson Exhibition Fiber Paper, all of which are optimized for use with award-winning Epson Stylus Pro printers.

Offering advanced capabilities, these media types are poised to redefine fine art markets in unique ways. Epson Signature Worthy papers enable photographers to achieve images with richer blacks, wider color gamuts and smoother tonal transitions that define the ultimate expression in print making. Visit www.proimaging.epson.com.for more info.

26 Gigapixel Image

A media company in Dresden, Germany, has created a 26 gigapixel image. It is made up of 1665 images (each 21.4 megapixels) shot with an EOS 5D Mark II and 400mm lens. A photo-robot moved the camera between each exposure. Converting the 102GB of RAW data on a computer took 92 hours. If you go to: http://www.dresden-26-gigapixels.com/dresden26GP you will be able to see the final image. Be sure to zoom in using the thumbnails along the bottom of the full image to reveal detail not visible when the full image is shown.You WILL be amazed!
Link to video showing creation of the image.

PhotoLA

Returning to the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, photo l.a. 2010, the 19th Annual International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition moves back to it's former home at 1855 Main Street, Santa Monica, California. Conveniently located, just off of the 10 Freeway and two blocks from the beach.

Fair Hours
Friday, January 15th	11am - 7pm: Public Hours
Saturday, January 16th	11am - 7pm: Public Hours
Sunday, January 17th	11am - 6pm: Public Hours

Over the past eighteen years photo l.a. has earned a reputation as one of the foremost art fairs and the leading photo-based events in the country. Presenting the finest galleries from around the globe, this 19th edition of photo l.a. promises to be the best ever. We are very proud to be presenting a preview installation of the upcoming Museum of Latin American Art (MoLAA) exhibition: Changing the Focus: Latin American Photography (1990-2005), the first survey exhibition to be presented in the Los Angeles area of Latin American photography and photo-based art generated between 1990 and 2005. The curator, Idurre Alonso, will give a talk about the exhibition and will lead an on-site collecting seminar. Gordon Baldwin, former Curator of Photography at the Getty Institute, will also conduct an on-site collecting seminar.

Read more here...

Quote of the Week

“Once the amateur's naive approach and humble willingness to learn fades away, the creative spirit of good photography dies with it. Every professional should remain always in his heart an amateur.” ~ Alfred Eisenstaedt

Website Sizing for Optimum Viewing

Google has just released a tool that tells you how many people can see
how much of your website page without scrolling: http://browsersize.googlelabs.com/
Enter your website URL and sit back.

The percentages are not based on screen resolution statistics, but on the actual browser sizes of visitors to google.com. In other words the figures take into account the fact that some
people don't maximize their browsers.

Carl Zeiss launches photo contest ‘digital culture’

Each year, optics manufacturer Carl Zeiss holds a worldwide photo contest. This year’s competition, which opens on December 15, has the theme “digital culture”. Photographers and photo enthusiasts are invited to explore and capture this broad theme from their own unique perspective. Anyone can participate, provided the pictures are shot with a Carl Zeiss lens. Pictures can be taken with any type of camera, from an SLR reflex camera to the camera of a mobile phone.

First prize is a ZEISS SLR-lens, which the winner can select. The second prize is a set of Cinemizer plus video glasses, including an iPod touch 8 GB. Third prize is a Nokia N 86 mobile telephone.

Details.

Joby's GorillaCam Enhances the iPhone Camera

Joby just launched the GorillaCam App on the iPhone App store, a feature packed free app to enable some excellent photo taking utilities into your iPhone.

• 3 Shot Burst - With one tap, the iPhone will take 3 consecutive photos and save them to the photo library.
  
• Self Timer - The self-timer allows you to get into the shot. The timer can be set for intervals between 3 and 90 seconds.
• Time Lapse - Allows you to take multiple photos spaced at certain intervals. You can set the number of shots between 3 to 200 and the time interval between 1 and 120 seconds.
• Press Anywhere - Instead of tapping the camera icon at the bottom of the screen, you can tap anywhere on the screen to take a photo.
  
• Grid Overlay - The grid overlay allows you to apply the rule of thirds to your photo composition.

You can download the GorillaCam app for free here: Link

Tethered Shooting Now Available With Epson's Multimedia Photo Viewers

Epson America announced new tethering capabilities for its line of multimedia photo viewers - the Epson P-6000 and P-7000. This new photo viewer feature allows photographers to instantly view and save images to the viewer as they are shot, streamlining the process of creating backup files and evaluating images in studio or on location.

Tether the photo viewer to your camera via an extra-long USB cord and you can let the art director or client follow along during a shoot while keeping them a safe distance from the subject.

The tethering feature is a free download from Epson.com while the viewers, themselves, are now retailing for $600 for the P-6000 (80 gb) and $800 for the P-7000 (160 gb).

The latest firmware for the P-6000 and P-7000 also includes a remote shutter release function so you can trigger your DSLR directly from the photo viewer.

Cost: Free firmware download

Further information: www.epson.com