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What The Fuck Is Wrong With HP (and Everyone Else)

August 23rd, 2011 | 1 Comment

HP is a company I have always loved, whose products are well engineered and who have some of the brightest minds in Silicon Valley. So just what has got into HP and all the other computer makers, except Apple? The recent news that HP has dropped the TouchPad a month after the US release and four days after the Australian one, the effective dropping of WebOS and the plans to follow IBM into a software and service future by offloading their PC business has amazed so many, me included. If you believe the commentary going on, part of the blame is that companies like HP have very low profit margins on PC gear, whereas Apple does much better. And this might be the reason, but, if it is, no one has learned … Read entire article »

Filed under: Apple Mac, Business, Communications, Computer, Consumer, Creativity, Design, iPad, iPhone

Integrating Other Passions with Your Photography Makes Sense

March 29th, 2011 | Add a Comment

My latest post on the HP Professional Photography blog is on finding ways to integrate the other passions you have in your life with your photography. Doing so adds many benefits. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Photography

Experimental Digital Photography Book Review

March 27th, 2011 | 1 Comment

Experimental Digital Photography By Rick Doble Lark Photography Books, 2010 ISBN 978-1-60059-517-2 Rick Doble’s Experimental Digital Photography is a timely and excellent book for loosening people up and helping them to break out. The book focuses on the more expressive and creative forms of photography, from using slow shutter speeds and creating extreme blur to night and low light photography. Organised into nine chapters, it covers: Getting Started: the technical side of experimental photography Shooting at slow shutter speeds Movement Light and white balance Night … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Photography

iPhone Photography: Reinvigorating Some Photographers

March 17th, 2011 | Add a Comment

As I look around the web I see so many photographers, including serious, well-respected professional photographers, getting all excited about photography with their iPhones. What’s going on? Well, in the spirit of scientific investigation I have downloaded a bunch of photography apps for my iPhone and will start shooting with them and see for myself. What I think is going on is a combination of nostalgia for a simpler time in photography, a reappraisal of just how “perfect” an image needs to be effective and a wish to reconnect with personal photography in what are often busy professional shooting lives. Nostalgia in photography with a widespread thing. We see that in the passion for old photographic processes whose look can frankly be recreated far more easily and often in a more environmentally friendly … Read entire article »

Filed under: Cameras, Creativity, iPhone, Photography

Phoozl on Facebook a Photo Challenge

January 31st, 2011 | 1 Comment

Phoozl Launches Unique “Alphabetography Photo Challenge” on Facebook Photo games site Phoozl.com has announced the launch of its new, seasonal “Alphabetography Photo Challenge: the Four Seasons” contest as a Facebook Application. The first “Winter” challenge or contest has just begun after the start of the Winter 2010/11 season (in the Northern Hemisphere), and it runs for approximately 45 days to its conclusion in early March. A Unique Alphabet Photo Concept During each season’s contest (using “Winter” as the … Read entire article »

Filed under: Competitions, Creativity, Photography

Passionate Photography

January 3rd, 2011 | Add a Comment

My latest article on the HP Professional Photography blog is on passion, what it is, why it matters and how to find it. Passionate Photography article   … Read entire article »

Filed under: Business, Creativity, Photography

Getting Creative Things Done

November 28th, 2010 | Add a Comment

Cal Newport has written a great piece on a process for getting things of a creative nature done when there are other demands on your time. I recommend reading it here. His ideas draw from those of Paul Graham and David Allen and basically revolve around scheduling blocks of time through the week to do the creative work (1 to 3 hour blocks) and scheduling everything else around those like they were locked in appointments. Read Cal’s full article to get the full richness of this. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Business, Creativity

Making Images is Good for Your Health

December 23rd, 2009 | 3 Comments

For us creative types there is a real compulsion to create. Exercising our creativity is also a key to maintaining our balance and harmony. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Cameras, Creativity, dSLR, Infrared, Landscape Photography, Lens, Lensbaby, Photography

On the Benefits of Combining Your Other Interests with Photography

September 1st, 2009 | Add a Comment

My next post on the HP Pro Photography blog is on the value of integrating photography with your other interests, whether professional or hobby. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Business, Creativity, Photography

Book + Art – A book that covers making artist books

August 19th, 2009 | 1 Comment

Dorothy Simpson Krause’s latest book is a gem. Not specifically about digital processes, but a gem never the less. It is a book about how to make your own artist books. It covers a whole range of techniques and applications and is illustrated bya great selection of artist books. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Digital Fine Art, Fine Art, Fine Art Photography, Paper, Photo Books, Photography, Print

Printing on Metal Inkjet Transfers DVD

August 18th, 2009 | Add a Comment

If you want to understand how to do inkjet transfers onto metal there is no better way than this DVD. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Digital Fine Art, Fine Art, Fine Art Photography, Photography, Photoshop, Print

Creativity is a Double-Edged Sword

March 18th, 2009 | 4 Comments

As photographers, we are creative people, though how fully in touch with it we are can vary greatly. For many it defines us, but it can also have a negative side. … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Digital Fine Art, Fine Art, Photography, The Dark Side

Push Yourself That Bit More, and Thus Push Your Photography

August 25th, 2008 | Add a Comment

Do you give up when out photographing just a little too soon or do you give up when you have a succession of failures with a new technique? If so, you need to read this. You may be tired and decide to pack it in for the day. And of course as soon as you pack up and leave the light will turn wonderful. Do you give up on trying that night photography technique you have told yourself you are keen to try just because it is a bit cold or your favorite show will be starting on TV? Or you may have put all your stuff away ready to try a new location and an opportunity presents itself. Do you get it all out again or do you go home … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Digital Fine Art, Fine Art Photography, Photography

Shoot Smart

July 1st, 2008 | Add a Comment

Just because you are creative, it doesn’t mean you have an excuse not to use the rational part of your brain. Photography and art are both intellectual and creative pursuits and benefit greatly from the application of both. Photography and art are complex and varied disciplines. They are both creative and technical. Depending on the type of photography and art you do, you may be required to understand chemistry, physics, optics, light behavior, thermal characteristics, psychology, business, accounting, web search engine optimization, computers, software, composition, design, color theory, decoration, nature survival skills, mathematics and more and more. This is one of the things I really love about photography and the visual arts in general: you can well exercise both sides of your brain. So how do you engage the intellect? Learn, read, study, … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Photography

Every Image Has a Story

June 23rd, 2008 | Add a Comment

When it comes to selling your photography and art there is one great aid. Make sure that you have a story about or involving each image. People love a story. One of the things that those of us who are serious about making images forget, whether photography or art, is why other people buy images. We are focused on the beauty of the image, or its symbolic meaning or whatever. So why do people buy art? Well there are, of course, many reasons. Some will buy purely for their own enjoyment, some from a collector’s mentality and others to enhance their surroundings. No matter the personal motivation, most people who buy art will, in some way, share it with other people in their lives. It may be a conversation with a friend over … Read entire article »

Filed under: Creativity, Digital Fine Art, Fine Art Photography, ImageMaker Tips, Photography