I will be offering the wallpapers through my Flickr account from now on for better access and less confusion. To get to the file just click on the image and it will link you directly to the file on Flickr.

Have a great December!

 One of the greatest things about living on Vancouver Island is attending the Ladysmith Light Up every year at the end of November. The small town is swarmed by around 30 000 people to watch the downtown being lit up with thousands of Christmas lights, then there’s the parade and an amazing fireworks show.

Over the past few months the service that Apple rebranded from .Mac to MobileMe has gone through some insane growing pains, even a trip or two. But it has come out of its ugly duckling stage and is revealing its true potential. With the increase in storage from 10GB to 20GB with the rebranding and a monthly download limit of 200GB transfer it lends itself well to a great client based proofing service and downloads area. 

In a past post on MobileMe’s gallery potential I talked about how easy it is to now setup a great looking portfolio and now we’ll dive into a bit of how you can now use that to let your clients proof great images quickly and efficiently.

First as a recap - We need to remember that you no longer need the iLife suite to upload images to create the great albums, all you need is a MobileMe account. You can organize, rearrange, sort, even select whether you allow users to download the images, etc.

Another great feature to the MobileMe suite is it’s iDisk and how it allows users to upload large files to a server for download by clients, friends, family, etc. and with that large bandwidth limit per month, you don’t have to worry about your website being bogged down or server crashing because of large uploads and downloads. 

It’s turning out to be a great package for the average user and the photographer on a budget wanting a clean simple solution. If Apple continues to beef up the service with reliability and more storage, they’re going to start having an amazing tool set online. Did I mention it offers amazing “push” style capabilities for my iPhone with my contacts, calendar, and email? Another bonus of keeping track of clients while on the road.

Yours truly has been featured on Wallblank.com. We’ve decided to go with a four images and four different causes. There is a limit of 50 prints / picture so they will go like hotcakes! All prints are 13″x19″ in size so they’re going to look incredible on your walls. 

Spread the word, all the proceeds go to four amazing causes. Did I mention they make great Christmas presents? (Sorry I had to)

A couple of weeks ago a great website launched called Wallblank.com. It’s head up by a few people whom I know, so I will get that out in the open at the start. 

The basic premise of the website is to allow layman (normal people) purchase great art to fill their rooms, homes and offices. On a usual print they will have a limit print run, approx. 100-200. Once those are sold out then you’re out of luck so you have to act quickly. A great aspect to this startup is it’s focus on the artist, which I am always gun-ho about. They, unlike other nameless sellers don’t keep 99% of the profit from the prints, they allow the artists to afford something better then a PB and J sandwich. They also run non-profit Fridays (which I will hopefully be involved with on a regular basis) that raise 100% of the profits from the prints and send them to a select organization of the artists choice.

So now that you know, buy a print, support an artist and I will keep you posted when a print of mine comes up and you can support me or a non-profit organization that I will supporting. Let me eat better then PB and J, please!

When was the last time you stopped from taking pictures and just sat and talked with someone who you’ve wanted to or have photographed? Or when was the last time that you actually cared enough to stop and speak with someone, a stranger, a friend? 

I’ve often felt that we as photographers don’t care. We get involved in creating a masterpiece, a something, anything, that we completely lose our human touch of interaction and involvement. We’re often viewed as “snoops” stealing moments from others.

At this moment we, as photographers, need to finish being inhuman. We need to learn that putting down the camera is sometimes more important then using it as a barrier between us and our subjects. That our “subjects” are just as human as us, hurting, joyful, kind, wanting to share a story and feel a true intimate connection. Realizing that our cameras are nearly a means that we use to tell a story but the true connection happens when we put down the lens and interact. 

We need give before we expect others to relinquish their sense of personal barrier and stare down the barrel of camera. I believe photography is a tool to break down barriers, alas it has been used as form of personal “right” that allows the user to poke their noses into the lives of others without any questioning of whether it is an uplifting thing to do. 

Use this art form as a tool to build connections with others. The more I dive into photography the more I begin to realize it’s less about how technically good you are and more about how vulnerable you are with others. When you become vulnerable with others, they open up to you, and a connection is formed.

First learn to be human, then learn your craft. Stop and be more human.