Frecs for 3/19/2010

If you read last week’s Frec or follow me on Twitter you’ll know I turned my ankle pretty bad.  I’ve been stuck most of this week on the couch using elevation and ice to speed up the healing process.  Its been working as I can get around ok now, I just need to be careful.  This injury has put a crimp in my activities including my job search and photography.

Speaking of job search, I’m still actively in the hunt.  Its getting down to critical time to find something and I’m very appreciative of any referrals.  You can find more about my background on my social media resume.  Family and bills come first above all else so I may be parting with some camera gear soon.  First to go will probably be my 70-200 2.8L Canon lens.  Let me know if you are interested in it.

My blogging has suffered some this week as well.  I’m working on a post about Facebook and photography which I’ll probably wrap up this weekend.  I’m trying to get to three posts a week on this blog but being immobile has not helped that.  I’ve taken my daily photoblog down from 7 to 5 days a week as well since I do not want to pull too much from my archives and keep the content fresh.

Enough of the negatives. We did relaunch Photoblogging DC this week and our contributor’s photos are as great as ever.  Stop by and take a look at the site and let us know what you think.

The weather this weekend is supposed to be AWESOME.  My son has a hockey tournament that will take some of our time but I’m hoping we can get out in the sun some too.

Being on the couch did give me a lot of time to catch up on my RSS feeds.  I’ve found a number of great articles I hope you enjoy along with adding a couple of new features to this post.

Photoblog of the Week

Katie Harbath is a local photographer in the DC area.  She has a unique eye for capturing nature, architecture and other subjects of interest in and around the city.  Katie is also a co-editor of PhotoBlogging DC.  Check our her photoblog and say hi.

Links

Cloud Photography
How to Choose Your Next Camera – What and Where to Buy
Beach Photography
Digital Photography School

Photography, Its All Things to All People
Landscape, Nature and Travel Photography by Jim Goldstein

Lightroom’s Adjustment Brush Essentials
photofocus

First Looks at the New Canon 70-200mm f2.8 L IS II USM Lens
The-Digital-Picture.com

Clients Will Choose Trust Over Talent Every Time
Black Star Rising

A Brief HDR Tutorial
Beyond Megapixels

Why HTML5 is worth your time (This one is not directly photography related but its good to keep up with new technology, especially as it affects our online presence.)
O’Reilly Radar

Free Stuff and Contests

50 free photo frames and borders for Photoshop (and Elements) from PhotoRadar
Free iStockphoto Images for Google’s Blogger Template Designer from current photographer
Free Photoshop Plug-ins from onOne Software from current photographer
145 Free Photoshop Easter Brushes from All Day I Dream About Photography
Lightroom Presets – Hard Edgy Look from Lightroom Killer Tips
Win a Brand New Canon 1DMKIV from photofocus

The Friday Follow Five on Twitter

Michael Seneschal – @mike_seneschal
Joe McNally – @JoeMcNallyPhoto
PhotoBlogging DC – @photobloggingdc
Victoria Pickering – @vpickering
Jason D Moore – @JasonDMoore

For more recommendations check out my Twitter list of DC Area Photographers (updated weekly).

Upcoming DC Area Photography Events

Photowalk DC: Early Morning Cherry Blossom Photowalk
Shutterbug Excursions: Cherry Blossom Happy Hours
Washington Photography Meetup Group: Photowalk: Cherry Blossoms at Night

Now get outside and enjoy Spring.  Have a great week!

Tags: Digital Photography, follow friday, links, sharing, What I'm Reading This Week

8 Ways to Participate in the DC Area Photography Community

I was recently asked by a local photographer about our community and how he could become more involved.  I was tongue-tied for a second before I answered.  To me this has become habit and something I don’t really think about anymore.  So I stopped and gathered my thoughts on the matter and sent him back a list of some low hanging fruit ways of getting involved in our community.  I’ve taken that original email and expanded it below in the hope that it will offer some suggestions to you.

1. Blog

This is the no-brainer portion of the list.  Create a blog or photoblog and get your photos out there.  A quick search of Google will provide you with a plethora of resources on the how-to’s of blogging so I won’t cover that.

For your first blog, the technology behind it should not be the main factor.  Whether its a hosted solution like Blogger, Wordpress.com, Posterous or your own self-hosted site using Joomla, Wordpress or a Flash solution doesn’t matter as long as its one you can work with.  What matters is getting a site up and running so you have somewhere to refer people to view your work.

Once you have your blog/photoblog up and running send out requests for link exchanges with some local photographers that run their own sites.  To get a jump on finding these people look to the right of this article to my Blogroll and you’ll find quite a few.  You can also find more listed on the photo pages of my photoblog.  Also consider submitting your site to a local blog directory such as DCBlogs.

2. Use a Photo Gallery Service

The most well known service of this type would be Flickr.  While Flickr is a worldwide service it provides local community support as well.  Search for Flickr groups using keywords that interest you or a local neighborhood to see whats available and then join a few.  You can also search their photo pool by tags to find photographers in your area that you can add as contacts.

Other services include Picasa and SmugMug, both of which provide ways to both promote yourself to a community and find local photographers to interface with.

3. Use Twitter and Facebook

Quite a few local photographers are active on Twitter and use it as a platform to share not only their works but the efforts of other photographers that impress them.  If you’re new to Twitter you can find many of DC’s photographers on my list of DC Area Photographers (if you don’t find yourself on my list let me know).  The fun part about Twitter lists is that they are ever growing.  Click a name from my list and chances are good they have a similar list with some different names  on it.

Facebook is an awesome way to show off your photography.  You can link your blog articles, Flickr uploads, or even upload a shot directly into Facebook to appear on your wall updates.  If you pursuing commercial photography consider making a Facebook fan page and inviting your friends to join.  There are also many local photography groups available (I’ll cover one of them in a few).

4. Contribute to Photoblogging DC

No, we’re not talking about contributing money but some photos instead.  PhotoBlogging DC (PBDC) is a site focused on displaying the works of some of the Greater DC Area’s talented photographers.  Their contributors include both professionals and enthusiasts.  If you’d like to become one of PBDC’s contributors you can reach them on Twitter or email the editors with a link to your online portfolio.

5. DCist and WeLoveDC

DCist and WeLoveDC are local blogs that cover the various happenings around town including politics, art, food and whatever else tickles their fancy.  Both blogs include user submitted photographs on many of their articles.  DCist has a Photo of the Day article while WeLoveDC has a Weekend Flashback that displays photos from their readers.  You can submit your photos to them by using their Flickr groups found at DCist Photos and We <3 DC.  Of course you’ll need a Flick account to do this.

6. Take a Photowalk Around DC

One of the best ways to interact with fellow photographers is to go on a photowalk.  Photowalk DC is a Facebook group with currently over 160 members.  They hold events on a monthly basis during the good weather months with some ad hoc walks scheduled in between.  Events are announced on Facebook and here on this blog.

Many local photographer’s like Rob Jones and  Shawn Duffy organize their own photowalks as well so keep your eyes open on Twitter and Facebook for these opportunities.

7. Meetup

Meetup.com is a great place to find photography clubs and events.  The Washington Photography Meetup Group has over 2,100 members and is extremely active with monthly meetups and more.  Another interesting meetup group is the When Everyone Else is Working Photography Meetup Group.  Their events occur Mon-Fri at different times of the day to try and accommodate as many people as possible.

8. Interact

No matter how many of the previous 7 items you choose to use, the most important step in becoming involved in DC photography is to interact with the rest of the community.  Leave comments on blogs/photoblogs, Flickr, photowalk wrapups, Twitter and Facebook.  Support the community and let them know you appreciate them and it will be returned.

This is the short list as there are many ways to interact with the DC photography community.  What would you add to this list?  I would greatly appreciate your comments.

Tags: community, dc photography, Digital Photography, interaction, washington dc

Canon Releases Software Updates for Multiple Cameras

Canon USA has issued a number of software updates for it’s DSLR and compact digital cameras on their site.

The updates vary by camera model and operating system, but includes the company’s Digital Photo Professional, EOS Utility, WFT Utility, Picture Style Editor and Original Data Security Tools applications. Almost all of the company’s EOS digital SLR models receive software updates, as do four of their compact cameras.

Links to the updates for each camera:

EOS Digital Rebel EOS Digital Rebel XT EOS Digital Rebel XTi EOS Rebel T1i EOS Rebel T2i EOS Rebel XS EOS Rebel XSi EOS-1D EOS-1D Mark II EOS-1D Mark II N

EOS-1D Mark III EOS-1D Mark IV EOS-1Ds EOS-1Ds Mark II EOS-1Ds Mark III EOS 10D EOS 20D EOS 20Da EOS 30D EOS 40D

EOS 50D EOS 5D EOS 5D Mark II EOS 7D EOS D60 PowerShot G10 PowerShot G11 PowerShot S90 PowerShot SX1 IS

Tags: canon, digital photo professional, digital photo tools, Digital Photography, eos rebel, EOS Utility, Original Data Security Tools, Picture Style Editor, WFT Utility

Add a Daguerréotype Giroux to your camera bag

Are you bored with your photography lately?  Think you’ve mastered all your gear and looking for a new challenge?  Instead of upgrading your body and glass think about taking a step backwards with your gear.  Way back to 1839!

In 1839 no one had heard of Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Kodak and the other manufacturers that we are familiar with today.  Then, for a very short time, the only source of professional photography was from Alphonse Giroux and his brother-in-law, Jacques Daguerre.  From this pair came the world’s first commercially produced camera, the Daguerréotype Giroux.  It is credited with “the initial spark that began the worldwide spread of photography”.

There are only a few of these cameras known to be in existence and all are stored in public museums…except one recent find.  For the first time one of these cameras will be presented at auction, by the Viennese auction house WestLicht. The sale is scheduled for May 29, 2010 at their location in Vienna, Austria.  WestLicht does not state who the owner of the camera, only that it belonged to a family in northern Germany and was passed to the current owner by his father as a gift for passing his final apprenticeship as an optician. They also state it is in beautiful original condition, even coming with the original written instructions.

The outstanding original condition of the 170 year-old apparatus is remarkable. Every detail including the lens, the plaque signed by Daguerre himself, the black velvet interior and the ground-glass screen are in their original state.

The unique camera comes with the extremely rare original instructions in German with the title: “Praktische Beschreibung des Daguerreotyp’s”; published by Georg Gropius, Berlin 1839, 12×20cm, 24 pages with 18 illustrations in 5 plates showing the equipment used for producing Daguerreotypes in accordance with Daguerre’s invention. On the back of the little book there are two handwritten notes from 1840 with details of the process.

For comparison, a similar camera built by Susse Frères, also in 1839, was auctioned by WestLicht Auctions in 2007 for 576,000 Euros (~$800k) and set a record price for any camera at auction.  This auction is set to break this record.  It is estimated to bring in 500.000 – 700.00 Euros (~$700,000 – $1,000,000).

Hey!  We all knew this photography hobby was going to be expensive so buck up and make a bid.

A quick search of the term daguerreotype in the WorthPoint Worthopedia, a collection of over 50 million auctioned items,  returns quite a number of interesting items.  Daguerreotype photos, cameras, tripods, and even lens seem to have been a popular collectible over the past few years.  Photos from subsequent versions of the daguerreotype cameras are especially collectible like the image below taken during the Civil War sometime in the late 1850s or early 1860s.

If you are interested in more on the background, history and the science behind the Daguerréotype Giroux, I’ve included information from the WestLicht’’s press release after the jump.

Continue reading »

Tags: Alphonse Giroux, auction, camera, camera history, daguerreotype, Daguerréotype Giroux, Digital Photography, Jacques Daguerre, WestLicht, WorthPoint

ITS COLD

…up to the elbow you say Dianne?  Oh, we’re back…and now to Ollie Williams for our Blaccueather report.  Ollie is on the road in Columbus, OH. How’s the weather out there Ollie?
ITS COLD!!!
Thank you for that riveting report Ollie.  Lets move on to Asian reporter Trisha Takanawa’s photos of Columbus and Dublin (insert racial sterotype here):

Stay warm everyone and most importantly…be safe!

Tags: cold, Columbus, Digital Photography, Humor, Ohio, Photos, snow, weather