Non-US Reader? Consider GPP.

In America, we are lucky enough to have a near-continual smorgasbord of photo workshops and seminars from which to choose. Unfortunately, this is not always the case for those of you who live elsewhere.

If you are reading this from Europe, the Middle East, the Subcontinent or even the Far East, make the jump to see several reasons to strongly consider making a trip to Dubai this March.

If there is no way in heck you would ever jump on a plane to the Middle East, probably best to skip the jump and avoid the temptation. Read more »

Shoot the Bloggers: John E. McIntyre

One of the best things about spending 20 years in newspapers is getting to work with people like copy editor John E. McIntyre. He worked at The Sun for 23 years, including 14 years as head of the copy desk.

John was the last line of defense against errors -- or outright stupidity -- getting into print. And that line of defense was well-fortified.

It was not at all unusual to get a midnight call from the copy desk, beginning with, " We have a little question about something in your caption..."

And more often than not, it was your sleepy butt they were saving. Read more »

Strobist is Now Powered by Light, too

On a kinda-related note, as of late last week Strobist's HQ began running on solar power. We only had enough roof space to offset about half of the juice we were suckin'. But it's a start.

If you are on the fence about solar, take a look at some of the incentives that are being thrown around. We got a 30% federal tax credit, a Maryland state rebate, a county property tax rebate and are selling the renewable energy credits.

All in all, that knocked nearly 70% off of the bill. It made the numbers a no-brainer. (We used Greenspring Energy, if you want more info.)

We went with a solar water heater, too. So most any time Strobist finds itself in hot water, it will be because of light. Fitting, I think.
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EDITOR'S NOTE: If you are getting ready to launch into some kind of political manifesto in the comments about how incentives to go green are BS, please don't bother.

(Sun-catching photo by Strobist reader Wirehead.)

Kevin Cooley's Scrounged Light

Redux Pictures has begun dropping in some of the individual photographer promo videos that have been in the works for the last few months.

These are great viewing, on several levels. First, props to Redux for taking the initiative to brand its individual photographers so effectively. For a boutique agency, they sure are making sophisticated use of the web. The video series is the latest iteration of a spot-on social media presence.

Second, why doesn't every photographer have a promo video like this? It says so much more about a photographer than does a slideshow on a portfolio page.

Lastly, Kevin Cooley surprised me with several ways of using/exploiting light in the video above. To great end, too.

Redux is doling the videos out one at a time on their excellent blog, but you could blow a good hour viewing them in advance on their Vimeo page. Just sayin'.

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Twenty Questions

Some people have all of the answers. Today, none of those -- just questions.

What follows are some of the things I run down in my mind when I am deciding what to shoot, why to shoot it, how to shoot it, etc.

This is the more general version of the very specific post on pre-planning earlier. If that was a specific game plan, this is more of a general playbook.

Not saying that these are the same questions you would ask. But maybe there is something in this list that you might not be considering. Read more »

Know Your Sync

Pop quiz: What is your camera's maximum sync speed?

Much like the interstate highway at 3:00am, in some situations your max sync speed is not so much a law as a suggestion.

And by the same token, sometimes your instruction manual can lie: Your camera may not be able to truly hit its advertised sync speed at all. Read more »

OCF Mags at Imaging USA

Headed to Nashville this weekend?

Don't forget to drop by the ExpoImaging and/or Zenfolio booths. They have some of the last remaining easy-to-get OCF magnets. No code words needed this time -- but it is first come, first served.

The others are all distributed (either already placed or awaiting orders) at sleeper cells around the world.

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