I am a voyeur. A peeping tom.
I see in the dark and I reign in the light.
I view the things that are, and imagine those that cannot be.
I look and I truly see.

I wear the hats of many.
I am a climber, a diver, a driver, a miner.
A mother, a father, a son, and a daughter.
An artist.

I sail the seven seas.
I walk across deserts and brave the arctic breeze.
I march through jungles. I trek airy peaks.
Just to try and look and see.

I contort, I wedge, I bend, I pose.
I crawl through sand, dirt, fire, the snows.
I shoot the mountains large, the smallest of rose.
I frequent the places where no one else will go.

Famine, fires, floods, wars, earthquakes.
Their prints sit beside those of pristine lakes.
The lens unflinching at the horror, the horror.
It is only there to look and see.

I chronicle our time, the history of earth and man.
I record my life in portions of seconds.
Till that final shutter closes.
My images will remain when I am gone.
Reminding others that I was here.
That I was unafraid to look and see.
I was a photographer.

A few months after my order with Mpix I was in need of some more prints. Having just purchased some gear from Adorama, they had hit up my Inbox with an email detailing their print service. I ended up ordering several prints on their True B/W Paper (Ilford) and Metallic paper (Kodak). All I can say is WOW. The prints were excellent, richly colored and the paper just felt better in the hands. Having a background as an Art Director in Graphic Design, I know paper quality when I feel it. No need for a caliper here! Overall, the only Con I have for AdoramaPix is their sizes in True B/W Matte paper are a little too limited in my opinion. I’d like to see a solid 11″ x 14″ and maybe even a 16″ x 20″.

My prints arrived via USPS (although faster methods are available) in seriously sturdy packaging. In fact, I often deliver my prints to buyers in this packaging (always be sure to recycle them once you’ve worn them out!). Each print job was individually wrapped and back boarded. Larger prints include corner protection “bumpers” to eliminate crushed corners.
Overall, packaging from AdoramaPix get a 5 out of 5. The boxes get a 6 out of 5, 1 extra for being able to reuse them.

Other than the one small issue of True B/W Matte print sizes, I have had no serious issues with AdoramaPix. If you DO need larger True B/W Matte prints, drop AdoramaPix a note asking them to carry bigger sizes, until then you’re stuck with going elsewhere. All in all, I HIGHLY recommend you try out AdormamPix. I use them as my primary source for prints and Im sure you’ll be happy with your results as well.

UPDATE: I’m getting some increased web traffic after being mentioned on AdoramaPix.com’s blog. I just thought I would update this review with my most recent dealings with AdoramaPix.com. Three weeks ago I placed an order which included a 20″ x 30″ print on Kodak Lustre paper.

In all honesty, this print was a bilateral test. One, I wanted to test just how far I could push some of my earlier, lower megapixel/resolution, shots. Two, I wanted to see the 20″ x 30″ quality from AdoramaPix prior to offering the option for a project that I hope will turn into some name recognition within my home state. When I received my order it was perfect, as usual, however the 20″ x 30″ print had been creased during shipping.

I was literally on my way out the door for a shoot in a neighboring state when I dropped AdoramaPix a quick email detailing what had happened. BEFORE I GOT OUT TO MY SUV, I had a response from AdoramaPix telling me they would reprint the image and ship it out, Rush Order, at no charge. By that evening I had a shipping notice and the print was sitting on my porch when I returned home.

I can’t begin to explain how impressed I have been with AdoramaPix. From quality prints, excellent color correction (by request), top notch paper (the Kodak Metallic is simply breathtaking), and now super customer service. AdoramaPix is an excellent choice for all those needing prints, from a mom needing prints for Grandma, to the casual photographer, and to the dedicated professional. Nothing from my original review has changed and I continue to highly recommend AdoramaPix.com for all your photographic printing needs, as well as Adorama.com for everything else. Cheers!

Occasionally, however, photography can land you in a spot where you have reached an apex. A point in time and space where the cosmos/nature are prepared to give you a rare Jackpot payout. To send a message, as if to say, “We’re watching you, keep up the good work.” For me, this happened yesterday.

After driving through No Where, South Eastern Kentucky for over an hour we arrived at the top of a small mountain. 2200 feet in elevation. Small by Rockies’ standards, but approaching the top of the world in this area of the country. Last time we were here we got to see the elusive elk that meander around these parts. This time there were no elk, but the wild horses that roam the area were hanging out for a mid-morning snack. We snuck around leaving quite a distance so as not to spook them.

After a few minutes the “Alpha” male amongst them began to make his way towards us. His actions weren’t hostile so we stayed put. He came up to my friend first, putting his nose into the hood of my friends 400mm Canon lens. The horse noticed me taking a few shots of him and my friend, and came over to me. Highlight of my day. Petting him for those few moments, I felt connected to something WAY bigger than me. Miles from civilization, in the wild, 2200 feet up, 360 degrees views, super cold, and windy. Just us and our new friend. Don’t worry nature … I got the message, loud and clear.

Photo by Daniel Boggs

http://peterphun.com/blog/2009/05/01/top-10-mistakes-of-beginning-photographers/

The only one I would add to the list is not learning off camera lighting. Even if it is just using reflectors and available light, off camera lighting is very important, especially if you plan on doing portraits. Enjoy the post, it really is top notch!

While there are no direct upload vectors for Lightroom to iPhone there is a way to work around this deficit and get your best images into the iPhone. Note: I am a Mac user, so the instructions I am giving here pertain to Mac OSX, however they should be easily ported to the PC platform.

1. Locate your Pictures folder. On the Mac this is usually found under your Username. Create a Folder named “iPhone LR Upload.”

2. Go into Lightroom and Export the images you would like on the iPhone into the folder you just created. They should be in JPEG format, and I usually reduce the Quality to ~80 to save a little space.

3. The Lightroom Export will convert all your chosen images to jpg files and save them to the folder.

4. Next, in iTunes, under the iPhone synch options find the tab labeled “Photos”

5. Under the tab you will see a check box labeled “Sync Photos from:” with a drop down menu next to it. Open that drop down and chose “From Folder.” This brings up a Finder window.

6. In the Finder window navigate to your “iPhone LR Upload” folder and click “OK”

7. Make sure the “All Photos” option is checked under the “Photos” tab and proceed to Sync your iPhone.

After this, your Lightroom images will show up in a Folder called “Photo Library” under the “Photos” icon on the iPhone.

Enjoy!

At first look, the book is very well made and put together. The basic print paper is a good weight and took the ink well. The color images were dead on. The glossy cover looks good and the paperback cover is stout. The binding is tight giving the book a good strong spine.

The cons was I found my RGB B/W images had a light green cast to it, but Im sure that is an issue of Lightroom/Photoshop/Me than it is Blurb. Shippping was a tad bit high in my opinion, but if you look you can usually find free shipping coupons on the web. Another Con is their Booksmart software. I found it usable yet dismal at the same time. If you’re very creative I highly recommend downloading some templates from The Art of Engineering blog. She has released them in both TIFF and InDesign file formats. These templates allow for custom layouts so you don’t have to use Blurb’s preset layout defaults. I used these templates for [ In Situ ] and loved them. Very well done.

While I may chose to publish a traditional book via a normal publisher at some time in the future, I find the positive aspects of self-publishing via Blurb too good to pass up.

If you still think these types of shots take tons of wallet draining gear, hit the Jump and think again.

As you can see this is a shot of what I threw together to get the shot at left. I have better gear, as well as a more suitable area for this type of photograph, but I wanted to show that it’s easy to get quality shots with minimum gear.

The setup, which was in the floor next to a bed, is 2 basic off-camera strobes triggered with hotshoe optical triggers. Both strobes/flashes are diffused with simple typing paper. The background is black foam core with a piece of plate glass to provide the glossy under-reflection. Shot with a Nikon D80 w/ 50mm f/1,8D lens. Shutter is set to flash sync speed of 1/200th second, and f/stop is set to 8 to control the amount of light reaching the sensor. Remember when using a flash, it is aperture, not shutter speed, that controls the exposure. So what about cost? Below is a quick rundown …

• Vivitar 5250 = ~$15-25 or less
• Vivitar 5600 = ~$10-15 or less
• 2 x Black Matte Foamcore = $7
• 2 x sheets of typing paper = Free
• 1 x 16″x20″ plate glass = Borrowed from a picture frame
• 2 x Wein Optical Triggers = ~25-35 each

So for less than 100 bucks you can be set to do this kind of photography. Sure, you could spend upwards of 1000.00 on this exact same setup by switching the old Vivitar strobes for brand new ones from Nikon or Canon. Upgrading the foamcore to seamless paper or cloth. Shoot through umbrellas, light stands, and all the other little things photogs have. But I can promise you that the outcome will be so close that you might not be able to see the difference. So get out there and try this technique. Its great for smaller things where you want to capture alot of detail. Flowers are excellent, small antiques, eBay auctions, as well as any type of creative still-life shots. But, don’t stop there, you can use the flashes as off camera lighting for portraits or any other shot to get all kinds of professional looking effects.

(Pics Link to the Full Sized Images on Flickr)

ThreeFive Photography’s Guide to Shooting in Remote Locations Rev 1.1