I’ve been writing quite a bit lately so today’s post is purposely short and simple. That doesn’t mean it was quick to create, though, it actually took about a year.

Over the course of a year I documented the twin Bradford Pear Trees in my front yard, following them through the seasons. Stepping outside my front door with a 24mm lens on a Nikon D70 “carry about” on the way to the studio, I would carefully place the center focusing spot on the house across the street to keep framing consistent.

The purpose? I like the old saying, “you don’t get the chicken out of the egg by breaking it, you have to wait for it to hatch”. Rather than always looking for the fast, easy way to do things, I often look for ways that reinforce discipline and the belief that patience is, indeed, a virtue. It’s my way of using photography to cope with a world accelerating ever faster.

Thank goodness for photography, it can be used in so many ways for so many purposes.

Last January I ran into my friend Stephanie Carson at Sitwell’s, a popular university area coffee shop here in Cincinnati. Stephanie is a very successful wedding photographer in the region (view her website here and fun blog here) and she’d just wrapped up her 2007 obligations and would soon be off to Europe for a few weeks. We promised to get together upon her return but our schedules never seemed to fit.

Months have passed and I knew she was in her busy season but last week in a random moment I gave Stephanie a call. She was just stepping into an engagement session, she said, but it looked like there’d be time for coffee next week.

Tonight was “next week” and we found time for a nice three hour chat about life and all things photography. Though our photographic disciplines are very different we’re dealing with many of the same concerns: a meandering economy, increased competition and evolving technologies. At some point the conversation turned to pricing and Stephanie shared her approach to making a living as a photographer after a recent revision to her approach. I asked if it would be okay to share that formula here on the blog. Stephanie is also a photographic instructor and believes in sharing her knowledge where it will strengthen the professional community, so she didn‘t hesitate to oblige.

At one point Stephanie thought of success as the number of weddings she could shoot in a year, she admitted. Fifty weddings in one year was her goal, in the early going. This involved training a couple of other lead photographers and a handful of photojournalists (secondary, candid shooters) to work for her. That seemed to be the established formula: grow the business by adding photographers.

After a few very successful years she decided to change her personal formula for future success. Last fall it seemed time to set a different course and, most importantly, to simplify. She gave her understudy photographers a boost into their own personal careers and pared down the operation to just herself and a couple of photojournalists. The office was moved to home and construction costs were traded for some (now) unneeded photo equipment. Then, rather than looking at what she’d charged in the past, Stephanie looked at the future with a blank piece of paper.

First, she defined what she needed to earn to survive…the bare minimum amount of income. Then Stephanie speculated on what might be a truly slow year of business and determined that to be a total of twelve wedding bookings. Dividing the survival amount by twelve gave her a bottom line number for each wedding.

Then Stephanie determined a number for what she would deem a truly great year, a goal for the future and something to work toward. She divided this amount by the maximum number of weddings she would care to book in a year, which was twenty-five. Again, she divide the goal amount by the number of weddings.

With these two numbers to work with she settled on the average and this became the starting price for a wedding under her new incarnation. The resulting price was higher than what she had been charging in the past. This assured that, at the least, all of her basic needs would be met and the business was now moving toward realizing future goals.

Yes, Stephanie was pleased to realize an increase. But don’t think this happened overnight or was purely “found money“. By reducing the number of weddings her clients now also enjoy benefits beyond what most of the competition can offer.

With a reduced schedule and smaller staff, each client now receives Stephanie’s experienced, personalized attention to every detail. She was also an early adopter of personal blogging and creates and maintains relationships that begin well in advance of a wedding date and continue long after. A combination business / casual dinner before the wedding is also part of the service, providing an unrushed, unhurried atmosphere in which to discuss wedding details and to gain familiarity. Stephanie also firmly believes in the mantra “under promise and over deliver”, a clear indicator of a service-first approach.

In a business with growing competition, Stephanie is still finding room to grow. Her process begins by providing professional, personalized services and ends with satisfied customers pleased with their investment. And, as we’ve often discussed, that results in good word of mouth advertising, vital to retail service providers.

How many megapixels do you need? Do most of your images remain in digital form, displayed on the web? Or do you create large prints for display?

As camera sensors grow in resolving power, greater demands are placed on lenses. A kit zoom lens that resolved just fine for a manufacturers 6 MP model might not rate so well on a 10 or 12 MP model. More resolution also means larger file sizes and increased data storage needs. With current cameras able to resolve well enough for many applications, is there a need for increasing numbers, other than for advertising purposes?

It will be interesting to see where Digital SLR design goes in the near future. Just a few years ago Nikon was fully committed to the smaller APS-C sized sensors and stated clearly that they had no intention of ever producing a full frame DSLR. Now they have two of them, the D3 and D700. Sony is not far behind with the coming release of their full-frame 24 MP sensor (watch Sony closely, folks, they’re a huge company with tons of resources). Olympus, on the other hand, has committed to a sensor half the size of full-frame with the 4/3 format. And they all produce high quality images.

Regardless of future directions taken by manufacturers, it’s assured we’ll be getting more impressive specifications with each new model release. Yes, some of the companies have taken a misstep here and there but, overall, the ball is rolling downhill pretty fast on innovation. Take Canon, for example, with the Digital Rebel.

Popular Photography has a current DSLR shootout: Five Top Cameras Compared, posted both on their website and featured in the August 2008 issue of the magazine. Just out of curiosity I looked at the specs of the Canon Digital Rebel XSi and then flipped through the popphoto.com archives in order to find a similar shootout from 2006. In January 2006 they called a similar article the Hotshot Shoot-Out, which featured the Canon Digital Rebel XT. In between these two versions there was also the XTi model from Canon.

So how much has this camera evolved in the two and a half years from XT to XSi? At a glance there don’t seem to be earth-shattering changes, just constant refinements. But, taken as a whole, the improvements are impressive. Let’s walk through some specs, courtesy of Pop Photo:

Canon Digital Rebel XT (Jan. 2006) vs. Canon Digital Rebel XSi (Aug. 2008)

Roughly the same list price: XT was $880 with the just adequate 18-55mm kit lens. The XSi is listed at $900 with a much improved 18-55mm lens with image stabilization. Very big improvement.

The LCD screen has tripled in size, going up from 1.8” to 3”. Major improvement.

The megapixel count, the thing most people look at first, has jumped from 8 MP to 12 MP, a sizeable step. Color depth has also jumped from 12-bit to 14-bit A/D conversion, a wonderful spec at this price.

The friendly sensor also cleans itself off now, saving post-production time spotting out dust. Nice.

A thing that doesn’t show on Canon’s spec sheets but does in created images is the resolving power of the sensor. According to Pop Photo, the best the XT could resolve was 1800 lines per inch. The XSi? 2265 lines, a 25 percent improvement. Heck, the XSi still resolves 2160 lines at ISO 1600, better than the XT’s best effort at ISO 100! Major gains have also been made in noise reduction.

Compared to 2006, the latest Canon Digital Rebel is easier and faster to use and creates sharper images with increased resolution and less noise…all for the same price. Adding up the individual feature improvements points out huge gains on paper. And we’re just talking a couple years here, not 4 or 5 or even 10 years.

But, at the end of the day, do these improvements result in better images for most photographers? Or maybe an improved user experience? The larger LCD screen certainly does make things nice.

What are the certain features and improvements that compel you to buy a new camera? Are megapixels the most important thing?

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For the next three weeks we’ll be looking at outdoor portraits, this is the first of three installments. It’s pretty timely, too, since DIYPhotography.net is running their Portrait Professional 8 Giveaway at the same time. If you’re looking for portrait inspiration, check out all the entries so far in the DIYPhotography.net flickr pool.

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The day of video shooting was perfect in most all respects except for one challenge we hadn’t encountered before: swarms of deafening locusts! If we were just shooting photos I could have blocked it out, but there was Bob, headphones on, shaking his head and laughing for a number of takes when the locusts would really kick it up. Sometimes ya just gotta plow on through. In the end it all worked out great but the things you learn along the way…

Notes:

The sun was low in the sky for these backlit images (it was mid-morning) and we shot around f5.6 - f8 with the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L USM Lens on our Canon 5D. With the lens around 100mm and the background way in the distance, we achieved a very out of focus background. I’ll mention that the floor below the subject was red in color and reflected a lot of red into the image, most of which was pulled out when the RAW files were processed. In next week’s video I mention how photographing around trees and bushes reflects a lot of green, so be aware of your surroundings in regards to the color and direction of the light.

The gallery of still images from this shoot may be viewed here. You’ll recognize the photo equipment used in this video from video episode 24, location lighting gear (laptop stand, reflector frame, battery powered strobe). I’m becoming addicted to the aluminum frame reflectors and use two of them next week for some really cool results. Having messed with the plastic ones “back in the day” these are a great leap forward. Complete info and links to the equipment are available after the jump below…

Equipment info:

Calumet 42×78″ Aluminum Frame with Translucent Fabric and Leg Set This lightweight, portable diffuser system offers fast and easy setup and unlimited light control. Each frame is hinged at the corners and dismantling joints, making setup and breakdown easy. Frames self-lock into position, forming rigid supports for a wide variety of light-control applications. While the durable nylon fabric quickly attaches with elastic corner straps. Kit Includes 42 x 78″ Aluminum Frame, 42 x 78″ Translucent Fabric, and PVC Leg Set.

42 x 78″ (107 x 198cm) Gold/White Panel Fabric This 42 x 42″ Gold/White Panel Fabric converts daylight flash into late-afternoon warm bronze tones. Features reflective white on back for soft, even results. Made of durable nylon, it quickly attaches with elastic corner straps to the Calumet Light Control Panel System.

Travelite 125 Travel Pak Kit Includes: one Travelite 125, a 9′ light stand, one umbrella reflector, a 35″ Silver/White Umbrella, a rolling Case and one Travel-Pak. The Travelite 125 opens up a host of new lighting possibilities, whether you are looking for your first serious flash or want to augment your existing Travelite flash system. This compact and lightweight self-contained flash, with its Guide Number of 135 (100 ISO), can be used as a one-light portrait studio. It also makes a great hairlight or background light in conjunction with other Travelites. Like its bigger siblings, the Travelite 125 features a single rotary control on the side of the unit that allows you to control power output from full to 1/4-power. It is capable of recycling to full power in just over a second and it produces flash durations as short as 1/1700. Other features include voltage stabilization, a built-in photo slave, ready-light indication and a bright 250w modeling lamp. One added bonus that makes this flash even more portable is its compatibility with the Calumet Travel-Pak battery unit that will provide over 500 full-power flashes from a single charge. This accessory, which is available here in a special lighting kit, makes it possible to open up a whole different lighting world for today’s portrait photographer.

I’ve been wandering around photoblogs.org lately, looking for inspiration. One of the first photo blogs I discovered was Neutral Hills Stills, photographs taken in the Neutral Hills of Alberta, Canada, by commercial and nature photographer Sean D. McCormick. Beautiful and varied, I’ve spent quite a while viewing these inspirational images. Sean has a wonderful vision.

Now memories are flooding back from my old photoblog, thirty seven seconds. For a year or so while photo blogging I would also post to the weekly Photo Friday challenge. Every week a new thematic word is revealed on Friday and hundreds of photographers post links to their images along that theme. Want to see how many different photographers interpret the same word / idea / theme? Photo Friday is the place to be. Better yet, get on the list and join in.

There have also been a couple of great business posts this week I wanted to share. The first one is from Rob Haggart’s A Photo Editor: Can Editorial Photographers Make A Living Anymore? This post has a lengthy list of comments, some from names that will be recognizable to those in the industry. Some comments are positive on the current state of editorial photography earnings potential and some are negative. If you shoot for magazines or want to shoot for magazines this is a ringside seat to a very frank discussion on the state of the industry.

The other post I’d like to mention is David Ziser’s (of Digital Pro Talk) article on Managing the Business to Manage Your Profits. There are couple of great links here, one on managing employees and the other on networking. The networking tips are what really hit home with me as I read them. They provide sound advice on not only being successful in business, but tips that will make all of your pursuits more fulfilling by simply trying to do “the right thing”.

On Monday I’ll have a new location portrait video to share and hope to see you then. Have a great weekend!

- Jim T.

The Good

I like the $599 Toshiba laptop: nice keyboard, build, webcam, screen, yada yada yada. Nothing to complain about with the hardware at this price. Actually, there are a LOAD of features for the price. It seems like prices continue to drop even further since I purchased this machine.

As for Vista, I honestly have no major complaints. Keep in mind that one of my first actions was to switch it to “classic mode”. As a result there are no fancy graphics but, I was told, those fancy graphics are a resource hog. So the computer interface pretty much looks like Windows 98, at least to my faint memory. That’s just fine because the primary task of this computer is to tap out the daily blog. This is a plain, vanilla, work box of a machine and in that respect it hasn’t let me down.

The Mediocre

Vista seems eager to help me, it’s always popping up little windows with questions and information. But in most cases these prompts are just a distraction. I’m learning how to turn them off but it’s a process.

An interesting thing (to me) is that Windows Media files never look great on my Macs but they play much nicer on this Windows machine. Conversely, Quicktime files are beautiful on the Macs but don’t look nearly as good on this Windows box. What’s up with that? Is it just me or do the companies do this on purpose?

The Bad

My iTunes music won’t play on this Vista machine, I’m told the computer isn’t authorized. So I authorize it and iTunes tells me it’s happy…until trying to play the music again and being told the machine isn’t authorized. I’ve chased the bug around in forums but don’t have it solved yet. Bummer.

The only really perplexing thing about Vista for me has been the Help Menu. Sometimes it’s accurate but sometimes the help paths get vague or they indicate making choices that I simply can’t find. It’s like restoring a ‘72 Jeep with the manual from a ‘76 model. Most of the information is the same but some of the components appear to have changed since the manual was written.

Overall

This machine was inexpensive and does what I hoped it would do. For the $599 purchase price I’m very happy. It doesn’t do anything more than I hoped but it also hasn’t disappointed in any great way. It’s a good machine and I’d buy it again.

But is it a Mac? Again, keep in mind I’m running this in Classic Mode so it’s “bare bones”. Mac OS X is a more enjoyable, more polished, more user-friendly experience, in my opinion. It works better straight out of the box and comes with a suite of more integrated, intuitive softwares that are powerful and easy to use. Windows is a bit clunky in comparison. When OS X encounters a problem it seems to offer an easy fix. When Windows encounters a problem it offers a bunch of choices that leave me at least as confused as when I started. That’s the honest perspective from this at least fairly computer-savvy photographer.

BUT…#1

In this particular case and application I’d still choose this $599 Windows machine over buying the more expensive Macbook. It does what I’ve needed it to do for the blog and has done so very affordably. I’m fully content. Plus it’s nice to have one PC machine to troubleshoot video on, so for that alone it‘s worth it.

Since I’m a tinkerer, though, the hard drive has been partitioned and is awaiting the loading of Ubuntu Linux for a dual-boot setup alongside Vista. I admit it, I’ve been missing Linux a bit (John B., I’m comin’ home to Linux).

BUT…#2

I’ve also had the pleasure(?) of trying out a Windows desktop machine for video editing recently, to see how it would handle these duties. The computer is outfitted for media purposes and the full CS3 suite is installed, including Premiere for video editing. To date I’ve been using OS X and Apple’s Final Cut Pro. This seems to be considered the current industry standard. If the Windows machine worked out well our studio could save considerably on a new video editing setup.

Premiere has an easy-to-use interface and the integration with After Effects, Photoshop, Soundbooth and Bridge is wonderful on the Vista machine. But I’ve encountered big problems with sound. Sometimes the sound drops out of clips, sometimes the audio and video get out of sync when importing. It’s been frustrating, to say the least, and has cost time and productivity.

Some people tell me the problem lies with Premiere. Some say it’s a problem with Vista and the Nvidia graphics card. All I know is that I can’t remember being slowed by such bugs on a Mac.

Check out the sweet flash-on-camera lighting on this setup! Nope, I’m not that orderly, nothing’s connected yet, it’s all waiting for a spare moment to get hooked up. Soon the papers and iced-tea-glass-rings will begin to collect on top of the fancy hollow core door tabletop .

In Conclusion

I’ve looked at two extremes here: normal, everyday computing and video editing on deadline. For writing this blog I’m perfectly content to save money and use a budget Windows laptop. For video editing I prefer my Mac and Final Cut.

Photo editing, I would imagine, falls somewhere in between these two extremes. I can see how people are divided on their allegiances. Right now I’m setting up an external monitor, film scanner, flatbed scanner and printer at home for use with the laptop. It will slide right in the middle of this setup and I’ll use it for my personal / fun photo duties for awhile. Hopefully the little budget laptop will continue to meet my expectations in this incarnation. But, if not, everything will already be in place if I ever have a desire to substitute a Mac in it’s stead.

As mentioned last week, we photograph a variety of assignments, from food to people to product. The area we promote and most actively pursue, though, is industrial photography. How did we find our way to this niche? First, a little history.

For years we have done work for both ad agencies and client direct (working with in-house designers). Ten years ago the majority of work we photographed was done for ad agencies, today the majority is done client direct. This has to do with both the evolution of the industry and our particular needs.

There was a time when working with ad agencies meant we would receive a fairly regular variety of assignments, from small to large. Whether a small package needed photographed or a large production was required, professional photographers were called on to complete the work. With the advent of digital photography that has changed somewhat. Simple photography needs may possibly be handled by someone in-house at the agency. Stock photography is called upon to handle more needs and some image needs may be filled by 3D rendering programs.

At first we were quite content to see the lower end work begin to fade. It really was the more “down and dirty” type work and clients promised to still bring the higher end work. Great! No more messing about with shooting a single box of “whatever” on a white sweep.

It turns out we really needed the regularity of the smaller jobs. Making payroll was becoming difficult. At this point we began to think of our client base as an investment portfolio. I believe it was Warren Buffett (the great investor) who suggested thinking of investment returns as hits on a baseball field: smaller, steader gains were “single hits” and the largest, least frequent gains were “home runs”. We needed to find more singles and doubles, the jobs to keep our cash flow more regular. Where to turn?

Well, we looked at our neighbors. Since we are located in an industrial park in northern Cincinnati, we began contacting the many area businesses in manufacturing. It turns out there were many such businesses and many of them had photography needs. A number of clients we now work with are far from household names (Super Systems, A-T Controls, AddisonMckee) but they are well-respected leaders in their particular industries. Our strength in the industrial photography market has continued to grow because it is a good fit for Daylight Photo in a number of ways:

1. Personality - I enjoy the manufacturing process. As a former mechanic and garage fabricator, I’m genuinely interested in our clients’ heat treating, machining and welding processes. They sometimes expect a new photographer to show up acting like an artist with a capital “A”. Instead they get me, wearing my Doc Martens and safety glasses and offering to drive the scissor lift. I’m comfortable in both their front offices and on the shop floor and they‘re comfortable with having me there.

2. Direct Communication - Here’s a really cool thing: because I recognize my clients as craftsmen and respect what they create they also see me as a craftsman. We enjoy a no-nonsense, direct line of communication where we can talk openly and honestly about how to get the job done the best way.

3. Cash Flow - Working client direct means our invoices get paid faster than when they go through the agency process. Agencies often wait to get paid by their client before they pay suppliers. If they wait a month to bill their client and their client pays in 45-90 days and…well, it can take a while. Getting job advances are quite common now, and that’s good, but it’s really (really) nice to get paid in 30 days and call it done.

4. Word of Mouth - local manufacturers work with and talk to other local manufacturers. The word of mouth advertising from working client direct in the industrial market has been wonderful for us. It does mean, of course, that we have to do a good job each and every time out in order to maintain that reputation.

5. Competition - there’s far more glamour in pursuing national consumer advertising, so that’s where many commercial photographers concentrate their efforts. I admit, photographing a suction cup catalog isn’t very glamorous. Okay, not hardly at all. But it satisfies my mechanical curiosities and I really enjoy the way these industrial clients satisfy their own clients’ needs. I’ve seen how suction cups transport everything from micro-electronics to snack cakes to LCD screens. Every industrial job is like a new episode of “How It’s Made”.

6. Stability - consumer spending is down? Our clients produce products for a global market, enjoying large contracts from developing foreign countries. Because their specialties are spread across various market sectors it takes a little of the bumpiness out of the economic ride.

7. Custom Products - custom products require custom photography. A typical scenario: a client has designed a multi-million dollar automated production cell that has been in production for months. It’s finally ready and the truck will be there to pick it up in two days. They need photography to capture the capabilities of the machine, it’s a one of a kind project and it’s only going to be around for 48 hours. They trust us to come through for them.

8. The Future - as many of you know, our studio has begun shooting video, also. Industrial clients understand the value of having video footage of their capabilities, processes and products. It’s been a natural addition to our services and an area where we identify future growth.

Those are seven reasons why we chose to pursue our current niche and why it is a good fit. But don’t think that’s all we photograph, we still enjoy a wide variety of work that runs the gamut of specialties. Specifically targeting industrial work has provided the type of steady work that keeps our studio clock ticking.

We began by looking for work close to home geographically, identifying our personal interests and strengths, and also identifying the current needs of our company. The results have been satisfying, for both Daylight Photo and for our clients.

Why does this interest me so much?

1. If you haven’t shot film this is an excuse to do so without breaking the bank
2. If you have shot film it’s an excuse to buy a reasonably priced new toy
3. The resulting camera reviews will be a lasting resource for all photographers

There are many other good reasons, those are the highlights. For many this is a nostalgic trip and for others it will be their first time around with film. That should make it interesting.

It just so happens I shot a roll of Fuji 400 color neg film this past weekend in my Nikon FE. I plan to follow the contest closely and right now I’m setting up my home film scanning setup. In coming weeks I’ll write about how I’m setting up the scanning operation. I also have strong feelings about shooting film (and film cameras) and running that roll through this past weekend brought it all home. Thanks to Brian for giving me an excuse to break all of this stuff back out.

Attached to this post are some initial scanned images from the recent roll. They were scanned with my Nikon Coolscan V ED on automatic, pretty much (so this is what scanned Fuji 400 Superia color neg film looks like). As mentioned in a prior post, I’m setting about documenting “my town” and will be posting those images to my Flickr account.

Why do I seem to end up in downtown alleyways photographing patterns on walls? Honestly, I don’t see decay, I see very subtle colors and perfect impressionist compositions, the very things I wish I could use a paintbrush to create. But, sadly lacking in painting skills, I’m at least able to spot patterns and colors I like and am able to capture them in a photograph. It’s not something everyone finds appealing, but to me it’s urban and impressionistic and feels like a slideshow for a classic Coltrane jazz track. The colors, tonalities, grain and mechanics of 35mm film just seem so right for this application.

That’s one of the things that makes photography so cool. It gives us all a way to express ourselves, how we feel and the things we enjoy. Whether we strive to take pretty pictures, preserve memories or express a feeling, it’s all a matter of mastering the skills necessary to tell our particular story, a never ending journey of discovery. And it never hurts to (re)discover the old tools and ways of doing things.

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If you’re not yet familiar with his videos, David has a whole bunch of informative, original videos available on his blog. Lots of cool stuff and problem solving! He also shares his lighting skills through the Small Strobes Big Results workshops.

I remember when lighting instruction could only be found on VHS tapes (if you could find them) and it wasn’t that long ago. Times have changed immensely. Feel free to post any other links to your favorite instructional videos below, it’s always cool to see recommendations.

I’ve mentioned we’ll be creating some new prophotolife videos next week. Some friends are pitching in to help out with four new episodes over the course of next Monday and Tuesday. Want a sneak peek? Here are the planned subjects:

1. The outdoor, natural light portrait
2. Outdoor family portraits
3. Business / executive portrait
4. A fun, retro glamour style portrait shoot

So expect to see those in following weeks. With all of this production going on (and hectic deadlines at the studio) that means I’ll miss posting a new video this coming Monday (for the first time in a looooong time). Instead, next Monday’s post will take a look at what other photographers are doing with video.

Anybody want to join in a photo project? Since that discussion started there have been some great suggestions. My first thought was to do something up big, try and find some project sponsors and create the “mother of all photo projects”. Well, reality tapped on the shoulder and said, “hey, buddy, you just need to get out and create some new personal work…now”.

After reading suggestions and thinking about recent posts, I’ve decided to document my town (Cincinnati) from now till (at least) September 30. There are things about Cincinnati I’ve wanted to seek out and haven’t and things I pass by most every day that I’ve never photographed. Before we know it, the things we once recognized have disappeared from the landscape, whether we live in / near a small town or a big city (when’s the last time you saw a telephone booth?).

The upcoming Cincinnati Photo Walk will provide an opportunity to look closely at some details. It was probably the recent post on the Farm Security Administration that put me in a documentary mood. If you’d like to join along photographing your own town (and I hope you will), post your images to the prophotolife Flickr discussion group and tag them “my town” to share your progress.

I plan to weekly document what I’m learning from the process here on prophotolife and encourage you to do the same. If you join in and have a blog / website please let me know and I’ll be happy to link to your progress, too.

Any interest in reading an amazingly detailed digital workflow for fine art photographers? It doesn’t get any better than this post from Micheal Ezra on photo.net.

As mentioned, the past couple weeks have involved really long hours. Blogging at the end of every day is something I look forward to, an important part of the day. Some days time runs out, though, before I can respond to all of the email questions in my various inboxes. All deserve thoughtful responses, so I hope you’ll consider posting them in the discussion forum. That way a number of knowledgeable responses can be counted on for your ideas and questions and I’ll be sure to join in. Sharing knowledge is what it’s all about.

Have a great weekend and we’ll get together again on Monday!

- Jim T.