Overlook railing at Gilbert Riparian Preserve.

One of the coolest gifts my parents ever gave me was my first camera, a Polaroid Swinger. (If you haven’t heard of the Swinger, all you need to do is watch this commercial to know when it was popular!).

I appear stiff and lifeless, some might say ridiculous, in photos, but absolutely love making pictures.

Noe instinctively climbed up to find her own moment, almost as though she could read the inscription.

Grafitti is bad, right? It is, after all, defacement and a crime.

It’s also an ephemeral art form, and can serve to temporarily inspire. These two examples of written grafitti have likely been removed by now, but they set the theme of our recent New Year’s Day hike with loved ones at the Gilbert Riparian Preserve, so I’m glad to have captured them.

Gilbert Riparian Preserve at Water Ranch is a part of the Riparian Institute.

A great place for families, cyclists, hikers, birdwatchers, astronomy lovers, and photographers. Anyone who wants to live in the moment.

The yang to that yin is that we live next door to a very dilapidated, smelly mobile home. About ten years ago it was hauled away, only to be replaced the next day with one of similar characteristics.

I’ve nothing against well maintained mobiles and actually lived in one when I was a little kid. Sadly, in this case, the view next door was of sub-sub standard living.

Thanks to a new neighbor who has just bought that property, the old piece of crap was finally hauled away, and we understand the new owner is building a regular house next door. Thank you karma. What a special gift for my 17th anniversary.

Oh well, I’m still so excited about something I just found out about. I’ll get to it in a minute.

Do you ever go out on photo hikes with friends, with the intent of photographing the same area and then comparing what you did afterwards? I am always asking people to go and do that with me, but more often than not, it doesn’t work out.

Recently, my son, Dillon, and I did a variation on this, in which we both took a bunch of images at a family gathering here at our house. It was really fun to see how differently we recorded what was happening and see different shots of the same sequence of events.

Dillon’s “In the Hammock” is above, right, and mine is below that. We have different perspectives in so many ways (he’s a guy, I’m a girl; he’s 20, I’m a lot older than that; he shoots with a fixed lens Minolta Dimage Z something, I shoot a Nikon D70 with a bunch of lenses). That comes through a little in our images.

So, back to what I’m all excited about: it’s an event called “Photo Walk” and I found out about it over at Tombo’s blog, and signed up to participate right here here in Prescott.

August 23, 2008 people all over the world will gather to walk their city and make images in a social activity designed to be fun and inspirational. At the end of the walk, which lasts about 2 hours, everyone gathers somewhere public, like a restaurant, to share photos and chat AND maybe win some fabulous prizes.

As one who has been doing a little TOO much social networking lately, I am looking forward to a little social photography and face time with others who have shared interests.

When I signed up (just now), there were about 15 spaces remaining. (Each city limits participation to 50 individuals)

Read more about it at Scott Kelby’s site here.

Woo-hoo!

I’ve been hauling a great Canon bag around for years, but before every outing, one lens or another (or a cable, or my compass, or my mini-gray card) had to be left behind because I had outgrown that bag. What I wanted was a perfectly packed bag at-the-ready by my front door. The bag I had actually sat on the counter in my electronica room, requiring thought and repacking every time I went to grab it.

Then there was the matter of my laptop. Purchased for its portability and used in conjunction with my camera gear while away for more than a day, my Mac Powerbook was used to traveling around in a lovely, old-school, leather satchel.

I don’t know about you, but luckily I have two hands, and that gear already added up to one bag in each.

And there was my carry-on limit when flying. I had to resort to tucking toothbrush, wallet, iPod, makeup and spare undies in my lap top bag since I had no leftover space for a normal piece of carry-on luggage or even a handbag.

On a recent trip involving that usual setup, I wandered into Miller’s Camera in Wenatchee, Washingon. There, a very nice young man introduced me to the Crumpler product line, telling me that his mom carried a Crumpler as her every day handbag. I spotted the “Whiskey & Cox” backpack-style camera bag, designed also to hold laptops (15″ or smaller) and realized it was time for an upgrade.

My last backpack-type thingy had been hijacked by my youngest child when he went off to school and I had completely forgotton the convenience of using one for travel.

Now I have the compleat setup. Bag loaded with all essentials, laptop safely packed, and hands free to hand my ID over to the nice airport security people or reapply lipstick stashed in my cute girly handbag, or whatever.

This bag compares with the Lowepro backpacks, but has more attitude and funkiness. It’s a big pricier, but when I compared them side-by-side, I was taken with the Crumpler’s excellent design, materials, and workmanship. I should point out I’m a woman of above average height. The bag is well proportioned for my tall frame, but might lie uncomfortably on someone of smaller stature.

Fully loaded with my gear, it probably comes in at about 30 lbs. After a day of travelling involving 3 airports, I found my self far less flustered since I didn’t have to recollect so many pieces after security checkins or during bathroom breaks. This is a big bag, not in the least feminine, so if that matters to you, keep looking.

The “Whiskey & Cox” includes a handy, removable laptop sleeve for those occasions when you either (a) don’t need to bring your laptop or (b) want to leave your camera gear elsewhere while ducking into an internet cafe with just your computer.

The nice guys at Miller Camera in Wenatchee asked if I wanted “Crumpler Guy” (pictured top, right). They plan to decorate their store tree with those come Christmas. Alas, I wanted to keep my Crumpler Guy, so he lives here in my office. Maybe you can send them yours if you don’t want it?

If you visit their site (everyone says you have to go to the Australian one!), you’ll see they have all sizes and styles of bags.

Here are a few more reviews and pictures of what Crumpler has to offer:

photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=004KDZ

www.retrothing.com/2005/10/crumpler_camera.html

www.geekradio.com/?p=51

Below is a corrected image based on tips found at Digital Photography School.

It seems counter intuitive to some people to select “unsharpen” when the outcome they desire is one of greater sharpness. Even if you understand the concept behind this, it’s knowing the proper settings for the unsharpening mask in Photoshop that trip you up.

If you want to improve your images, scoot on over and watch the video.

I didn’t get myPod until 2005 but I have definitely used it for far more than a music box. My best business uses have been to record client meetings and interviews and to for backing up my photography and other files.

My latest purely wondrous use is to haul it around when out photographing my Prescott surroundings, channeling Aldo Leopold all the while (with whom I share a hometown and love of nature). Only drawback is, of course, how to simultaneously record the sounds and sites of nature.

Meanwhile, I have been keeping tabs on just plain cool and/or elegant uses for iPods since acquiring my own. The first such post ran a couple of months ago and you can read it here.

Today I dug up a few more links to other unusual uses for the iPod.

• Top 5 Creative Uses for Your iPod is offered by SciFiTech. This discusses subway maps, fitness, finding dates, a dictionary, and playing Doom.
• Apple iPod Tours is featured on Apple’s website. This article features a couple of institutions which utilize iPods for self-paced tours. Museums, zoos and galleries are encouraged to use Apple tutorials to create their own versions.
• AfterMac is a great blog that covers all things Mac and from time to time specifically iPod related. You can browse the iPod category of posts over at AfterMac here.
• AfterMac also routed me over to Open Culture’s treatment of this topic titled “10 Unexpected Uses of the iPod.” Anyone who tracks down a link between iPods and the Human Genome Project earns my respect. You’ll find that here, along with mentions of assorted noble uses (medical, criminal justice) all the way to ignoble (cheating).
• Here’s the jackpot: 50 Fun Things to do With Your iPod, shared by Jason Kottke at kottke.org.

This place is lively and serene at the same time. The birds are hunkered down in enormous nests in tall cottonwoods, at the edge of a lake that is no more than a series of pools at this time of year.

The rookery lies on a peninsula that is often inaccessible by foot so I have kayaked it in other years. This year, the water is low, filled with ducks, frogs and fish, and the trail leads to a cathedral-like setting, perfect for taking a private moment for reflection.

In addition to making a photographic study of it this spring, I brought my iPod along yesterday to record the sounds of the rookery. Following are three audio files (mp3 format), if you would like to give a listen. A word of caution, I don’t have a podcast and these are my first efforts at using sound files to the blog.

Hike to the cormorant rookery.

Part two of the cormorants.

The heron rookery in the wind.

In a few weeks, the eggs will have hatched, and later, in 60 days or so, the baby birds may be visible.

Now that I have spent a few months using his process of preparing images for storage and retrieval, I was ready to take a second look at what cataloging software is out there. I stopped by his forum today and I discovered a link to a table that compares various software solutions for cataloging your collection. It is here: www.impulseadventure.com/photo/flow-catalog-compare.html.

Back to Peter Krogh’s forum, you’ll find tons of useful info on his site. The site is a companion to the book, and on it you can even purchase some items at a good discount over what you might pay for them elsewhere. There are details on workshops, links you, as a photographer, need to have, and other valuable info on Digital Asset Management.

I was zipping around in Marek Uliasz’s site, initially psyched at having found a blog devoted to two of my favorite out-of-office activities. That would be, clearly, paddling my kayak and photography. Then I found the part about kayaking with dogs.

Marek has links to some other writer’s experiences and suggestions on how to safely and enjoyably take your pooch along when you are on water. I wish I’d found these earlier.

I’ve almost abandoned the idea of doing that ever again. My dog, a Chesapeake Bay Retriever, is bred for swimming rescues at sea, so it would sound like a great fit. He is a great swimmer, and can keep going for hours! When he sees or smells water, commands like “wait” and “stay” fly right out the window. Forget about “leave it,” so strong is his pull to H2O in any form or amount.

I have actually taken him kayaking solo a couple of times and with a friend on one occasion, with mixed results. I should have realized that just being a great water dog doesn’t mean that kayaking with him would be a serene activity.

I had assumed that in strapping on a dog PFD and keeping him on his leash until we left shore that we’d be all set. I also (mistakenly) believed he would dog paddle right along next to me. He doesn’t try to jump into my arms when we’re hiking. So, why did he keep trying to jump into the boat??

It’s very difficult to get a dog to take a break on shore or boulders in the water when he just naturally wants to keep going and going and going… and, as I discovered with dismay, I could not navigate to the spot where he chose to relieve himself, even though I had thought to bring poop bags.

Then there was the occasion when he realized that if he DID go ashore and just run at top speed, he could catch up to me that way (since I wasn’t letting him catch up to me in the water due to capsizing aversion). There was Chester flying along as fast as he could go through all kinds of sharp objects and debris of the type that is sometimes found along the shoreline of fishing lakes. There was the dock, on which stood a small group of anxious elder fishermen as this apparently crazed canine bore down on them. Fortunately, I was able jump to warp speed paddling and cut him off before he arrived in their midst.

Now, back to square one. After reading Marek’s post and those he links to, I realize I omitted essential training and practice on land. In my case, “Safety Last.” Grrrrr. Why do we so often overlook the obvious in the rush to have an adventure?

Once it stops snowing, maybe we’ll give it another whirl, starting with getting in and out of my boat while it’s safely docked in the driveway at my house.

Editor’s note: for even more on kayaking, visit another of my blogs: AboutPrescottArizona.com

We both got busy with work, grandkids, kids, dogs, kayaking, etc., and we haven’t actively worked on distribution of the cards recently. But now that’s changed!

We are releasing a companion piece, a customizable journal, in the next few weeks. So… check out the original cards and watch for the release of the journal here on this page. For those who enjoy private, reflective writing, they’re suitable for men and women.

After we roll out the journal, we will begin working on the second series of cards.

Meanwhile, we’ve enjoyed collecting other people’s stories about the gates they have encountered, both literally and figuratively. Why not relay some of your stories? They might appear in the journal or next set of cards.

Along with the change in format comes a different workflow. That part felt quite comfortable due to my background in web development and desktop publishing. Somehow the cost factor had eluded me until this week when I was going out on a shoot. My client Michele PW (seen at right with one of her three Border Collies, Nicky) asked me how much per image and I realized my old price sheet for photography and other imaging services had become obsolete.

For instance, the old pricing included terms like “fiberbased archival print.” What?! I don’t even have a darkroom anymore.

I did some quick research and found some excellent resources for both calculating appropriate pricing for the digital realm AND making the case for the price you charge.

Most of us equate digital with instant. And everybody and their grandma has a digital camera and can make an image. Even though the images themselves may be captured immediately, the equipment and photographic skill that differentiates a consumer from a pro, and which enables great quality “instant” shots, is expensive, comes with a learning curve, and becomes obsolete as quick as you can wink an eye. Educating your clients about the digital workflow will help them to understand and accept your pricing schemes. Following are two excellent treatments of this subject.

Peter Krogh presents his pricing along with very clear discussions of how digital capture works, what details the professional photographer needs to know about the client’s needs both going into the shoot and in the processing, and the various delivery options of the images collected during a shoot. Review his site here: http://www.peterkrogh.com/Pages/Capabilities/digital.html

Peter’s site references the American Society of Media Photographers, on whose site you will find a number of excellent white papers on such topics as “On Photography Rates,” and “The Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines.” This particular page is here: http://www.asmp.org/publications/analyses.php.

So, all you digital photogs (self, included), time to study up and make sure that if you’re asking people to pay you for taking photographs for them, we’d all better adhere to professional standards.

Problem is, I can’t seem to work practicing and playing with the camera into my day. Or at least I haven’t been. So, here’s my new vow to self: start carting it with me wherever I go and post at least one picture every week, with request for HELP from people out there re the settings and how I might otherwise have used the cameras considerable options to better effect. Starting…. now!

It integrates beautifully with my mac shop, so should be a snap to keep up and publish the results.

Just when I thought it was safe to assume I would have my darkroom forever, the digital era (and desire to relocate my laundry room) assailed me and I ended up with my first digital version.

Now, it’s a couple years later and I have stepped up to that wondrous place: a new Nikon that will accept all my OLD Nikkor lenses and so I have this great arsenal of photo equipment. My Macs, iPod and Nikon are all the equipment needed to capture great images for work and family. And I still get to stay where I like the view best, behind the scenes. It’s one of those hobbies that I’ve been able to combine with work just often enough so that it doesn’t lose it’s appeal.

And, to shift gears a tad … here’s a great post about how to work with a virtual assistant from Erin Bannister at Trinity Jacobs, owner of an impressive VA company. Erin’s blog is GREAT and I have just added it to my blogroll.

As a virtual assistant, one of the trickiest part of the biz is in conveying to others what a VA does. And that not all VA’s have the same skills and services to offer. That a company can benefit from bringing a VA aboard isn’t in question. The confusion lies in what we do, where, and how to choose the right one for your project. Over at the Loose Ends site, there are a couple more good articles about working with VAs: “VA’s Your Secret Weapon” by Michele PW and “101 Ways to Use a VA” by Jackie Love.

Back to Erin and her blog “Behind the Scenes:” if you’re a small biz owner, or if that is your clientele, she has solid info you’ll want to check out.