I have been around dogs for pretty much all of my life. Except for when I was at college, there has always been a dog in my home. I think the longest gap without a dog in my house has been maybe 6 months. Randall, the Bichon Frise pictured above, is the latest one to live in our home. Technically it belongs to our oldest daughter, but he lives here (as does she) and we all take care of him.

In taking photos of pets, I have seen a lot of similarities to kids. They can be incredibly cooperative, as Randall was above, or Schroeder, an Australian Shepherd we used to have. They can be extremely disinterested like Ozzie, one of our cats, or very excited like Daisy, our neighbor’s Weimaraner. Sometimes they don’t even mind an accidental finger in the eye. And much like kids, we don’t want them to be too far out of character when we get a photo of them. Just like anything else, we want the photo to reflect who they are, because that is what we love.

Rio (our German Shepherd) reminded us a few years ago that pets don’t live forever. I had her for about 8 years (I jokingly say I had her longer than my wife and kids), and she and I were pretty close. It wasn’t until she passed that I realized how few pictures I had of her. Being someone who likes to take pictures of anything and everything, it is a bit embarrassing to admit this. But I have precious few pictures of her, and it bothers me. Since then I have tried to capture more pictures of our animals. Or at least some signature photos that really bring their character to light. I am pretty satisfied with the results so far. The picture of Randall at the top was shot earlier this week, and I think captured him quite well. Possibly the best pet photo I have shot so far. I know my daughter will be happy to have it when Randall’s time comes, and that makes me both proud and happy.

I think it hit 70°F yesterday here in Lakewood, Colorado. While February and March are the snowiest months in Colorado, spring is right around the corner. And with that comes the time to start thinking about Senior Pictures for the class of 2010. If you like the work I have done, contact me today so we can start thinking about when and where we can get a start on the pictures for your Senior. If you haven’t seen my work yet, take a look at my portrait portfolio. My rates are reasonable, and I will make sure you are happy with the end result.

Canon just released information about yet another round of rebates – this time for better glass to put on any new bodies you may have purchased during the previous batch of discounts. I snagged my 5D using the rebates that allowed me to take $300 off the camera I now love. Now I’ve got my eyes on the Canon 24-70 2.8  and this might be the time to invest in it.

I have enjoyed my Sigma 24-70 2.8 for the past year, namely because I think it’s a great general use zoom lens. But when I tried to use it on my 5D, I had a devil of a time getting it to focus. I don’t know why…maybe it has something to do with incompatibility with the 5D’s full sensor.

I thought there was something wrong with the lens and it needed to be repaired. On a lark, I tried using it one more time on my Canon XTi, expecting the same results, but the resulting images from the XTi are just gorgeous and extremely sharp! While pleasantly surprised, that still left me without a general use lense for my 5D. Looks like the Canon 24-70 will have to be my next purchase, but it might be awhile even with the rebate since it retails from $1,029 to $1,543.

Rebates are valid from Oct. 19 2008- Jan. 17, 2009

Rather funny that ODOP author Chester would post up about his finding and possibly subscribing to Shutterbug magazine this week. I have found myself on the oppostie end of the spectrum on it…I have been a subscriber to Shutterbug for almost 2 years and just recently got my renewal notice for the magazine.

I doubt I will be re-upping. I currently have 2 years worth of magazines sitting around in various spots around my house…I can think of maybe 3 of them that I actually have picked up and read cover to cover in 2 years.

My beef with the mag is that its really not much more than a whole bunch of ads with a few articles tossed in for filler. And aside from the big product review articles, the rest of the articles are very light and not usually of any real worth to me.

When I was contemplating the switch to the D700, I went in search of the issue that did the full test review of that model. It was a very worthwhile read and really did almost have me hitting add to cart on B&H Photo.

But I really don’t think I am getting my $17.95 a year value out of it. There are so many other publications out there that do a better job and are more geared toward what I am doing and where I would like to go with my photography.

For instances, Rangefinder Magazine, which was posted on here you can get a free subscription, has been read cover to cover by me, many times twice, since I started receiving it. The articles in that mag are very in-depth and cover the gamut from beginner to pro without making my head sping or talking down to me. Real world photographers who are doing the same things I am or want to do are highlighted in this peridoical. If I had to pay for it, I would have no problem doing so as it has a true value to me.

Shutterbug unfortunately is just not cutting it with me and it’s time to let it go.

A few months ago I took some photos of a very corporate restroom, thinking (for some crazy reason) that they might make good stock photos. I put them up on iStockphoto and pretty much forgot about them. In fact , over the last several weeks, I pretty much forgot about stock photography altogether. I have been travelling for work, trying to figure out how I want to do the real estate photography thing, taking senior pictures of my daughter, taking pictures of the Lakewood High School cheerleaders, and still trying to have a family life. Yep, pretty busy, just like you.

Then I came across a blog post about fotoLibra. I checked it out. I liked what I saw. I made some uploads and then wrote about it briefly yesterday. And in that writing, I made a mistake.

I said I hadn’t made any money off of my stock photo endeavors so far. After I wrote that, I checked in at iStockphoto (haven’t done that for a very long time). Sure enough, I have had some sales. 3 to be exact, garnering me total commissions of $3.92. For the bathroom photos. That’s right - the bathroom photos. Not the pretty picture of golf carts all lined up in the morning, not the pretty cactus or the corporate biz jet. The bathrooms.

It’s kind of funny really. Some friends of mine thought I was crazy taking a photo of a bathroom, much less a few of them. But you never really know what people want (which is why I like fotoLibra), but apparently I must have at least a little bit of an eye for it. To the tune of almost $4 right now. Woohoo. I might go buy a Chai at Starbucks. That’s only enough to pay for a small though.

Hopefully this is the start of something wonderful. Hopefully fotoLibra is more successful. I really want them to succeed. But as long as my photos are selling somewhere, I guess I am happy.

Trying to determine where to host an online gallery is a pretty big deal. There are a plethora of choices, from software to host your own on your own website, to full fledged service offerings that will host all your images, maybe do some marketing for them, and offer a shopping cart system. It seems that every day a new one crops up, and one or two fold. It’s pretty difficult to keep up with them. On top of that, they all have different pricing, which factors into decisions as well.

So, what is an up and coming photographer to do? I have sat back for as long as I could and watched how other people built their sites and learned from them regarding what they did and didn’t like about certain sites. And then I decided to wait until I had to make a decision. For normal hosting of my photos, along with the community features, I really like Flickr. But Flickr doesn’t offer any ecommerce capabilities, and that site isn’t really geared towards sales at all.

Then I stumbled across Imagekind (via Flickr). They have an entry level offering that is free, so I put some pictures on it to see what happened. I linked to it from this site (”Prints For Sale“). I have 16 images there, and they have garnered 96 views, 3 comments, and 0 sales. Certainly I was hoping something would sell, but so far, nada.

Then I did the Lakewood High School cheerleader shoot last weekend, and I needed substantially more capacity, along with some other features. I took this as an opportunity to try out another service - Zenfolio. They have a two week free trial offer that gives you all of the features of the top level account, but limits you to 1GB of storage. There are some pro’s and con’s to the service, but all in all I am happy with it. So much so, that I have subscribed to it for a year. I am not 100% sure how I am going to market my prints on this site, but it definitely made it easy for me to keep the cheerleader pictures private for each girl. Additionally, I was commissioned earlier this week (at the last minute) to do a corporate headshot. I was able to quickly setup a “gallery” for the headshot proofs to go into. After the shoot, I uploaded the pics, my watermark was automatically applied, and the company was able to choose which image they wanted to buy. The bonus? That commission covered the cost of the Zenfolio site for the year. Now, anything I make off of print sales from the cheerleaders will be profit. Not too bad a deal at all.

I am aware that Smugmug is the heavy hitter in this industry, but for some reason I didn’t like what I saw there. I certainly have some issues with the Zenfolio people, but I have taken it up with them and it sounds like they are working on things. I’ll continue on there for the duration of my subscription, but I will also keep an eye out on the competition. If someone clearly does it better, at a similar price point, it would make sense to move. But if Zenfolio proves they can meet my needs, I’ll stay on, and likely become a strong advocate (for whatever that is worth). I work in a customer service type of industry too, and I know what my standards are. Let’s see if Zenfolio can keep up.

BTW - I am probably giving up on Imagekind for now. I’ll still keep the WordPress plugin for Imagekind up and running. I don’t know for sure if anyone is using it, but I suspect some are. Let me know if you do.

I came across this free subscription to Rangefinder Magazine a while ago, had forgotten about it…and was reminded today when my first issue showed up in the mail.

From the website:

Rangefinder is the premier monthly magazine for the professional photographer. The editorial content of Rangefinder will assist professional photographers in producing better images while increasing profits. Rangefinder’s in-depth features include product and new equipment reviews; lighting and technical pieces; promotion and management issues; digital imaging tips; information for portrait, wedding, and commercial photographers; black-and-white shooting; and processing techniques.

Regular columns from top photographic professionals include Profiles, Problems and Solutions, Digital Photography, and the RF Cookbook, which has a wealth of how-to information to help you fine-tune your craft. Rangefinder also offers information on competitions and instruction, workshops, industry news, a calendar of events, and future trends.

This being my first issue, I can’t help but think how the heck are they giving this amazingly high quality magazine away for free? The issue I received is the Portrait Issue so the majority of the articles are, obviously, about portraits and portrait photographers. 202 pages of full-color glossy images and articles.

One of the articles that really caught my eye is “Proactive Tips for Fighting Through the Recession“. Very cool, a magazine that is truly timely and coming with the tips to help the pros keep afloat when economic tmes get tough.

So take advantage while the taking is there and get your FREE SUBSCRIPTION to Rangefinder Magazine today!

So you were blessed this holiday season with a new digital camera, but you don’t have any idea how to make it work? Local camera-specific instructional classes and web forums have got you covered no matter what brand you are packing. Read the rest of this entry »

Still stressing about what to get for that budding photographer in your life? Give the gift of knowledge by surprising them with a gift certificate for a photography class. Local schools are offering exciting workshops that will inspire your photographic friends for months or even years to come. Fess up — you know you can’t really afford all the specialized equipment photogs want anyway since all their “junk is expensive” according to one colleague.

Check out these offerings:

The Denver Darkroom gift certificate can be purchased in any denomination and applied toward classes, workshops and darkroom rental.

Digital Photo Academy’s local instructors Russ Burden and Allen Birnbach teach beginning, intermediate and advanced classes.

Working with Artists offers adult and children photography programs just in case you want to get them hooked to the craft when they are young.