With the upcoming Independence-Day 3 day weekend (for me 4 days, he he) I find myself planning to do a lot more than I usually do. I'll be hitting the beach for sure, and taking a trip out to the local Channel Islands. My first thought is that I want to have a good time, I want to forget about work and school. My second thought is that I want to make sure I bring enough film, make sure my batteries are charged and that I have a place for all my gear. This brought to mind an interesting conflict. Which is, am I letting my photography hobby interfere with my vacation?

I can already picture my wife rolling her eyes as I pack on all my cameras and stuff my tripod into my backpack. I want to get a chance to use all my cameras, but I wonder if maybe it would be better to just leave them all behind. I do not want to find myself in a situation thinking "If I only had brought my camera." Yet I can't really bring all my gear out onto the beach or I'll risk having it stolen while I'm out in the water . Although since I started getting serious about photography as a hobby, which has been since January this year, I feel naked if I don't have at least one camera with me at all times. I've always got my Canon S400 tucked into a pocket, or my 110 SLR in my backpack at least. There have been a few occasions where I lugged around a few cameras and never took any pictures.

I want to enjoy myself and not feel pressured to take photos, but I want the ability to, should the opportunity arise. Of coarse I'm not talking about the obligatory family photos, but I don't really consider that of much interest and I'm usually in those and not behind the camera so I'm not worried about them. What do you think? Does a vacation mean a vacation from photography too? Do you ever take breaks from photography? Or are you always ON when it comes to taking photos?

I'd love to hear all your thoughts!

Hi, all. I've been reading this blog for a long time, and it's my first time posting here, mainly because I saw some tips from John Shaw's Nature Photography Field Guide and wanted to share them.

Though these tips are for nature photography, I thought that they applied to everything else too.

Compositional Do's

• Please yourself first, not someone else.
• Wander around to find the best subject.
• Handhold your camera to find the best composition, then set up your tripod.
• Preview the depth of field.
• Check for background distractions.
• Check the edges of the frame for distracting brightly-lit hotspots.
• Check for merging tonalities and objects accidentally sticking up into the frame.
• Control or enhance the light if needed.
• Be deliberate about camera placement and lens selection.
• Position your camera as the subject matter dictates, not as your knees or back want you to.
• Simplify, simplify, simplify.

Compositional Don'ts

• Do not photograph the first subject you find; look for the best subject.
• Do not mount your camera on your tripod before you've found a good composition.
• Do not extend your tripod legs until you've found your subject and composition
• Do not photograph contrasty subjects in bright sunlight.
• Do not bull's-eye your subject in the frame.
• Do not tilt horizons or place them running through the middle of the frame.
• Do not try to capture everything with one picture.
• Do not photograph low objects from a high perspective.
• Do not let objects barely touch the edge of the frame.
• Do not pick a flower (or harass an animal) to move it to a better spot (with the exception of humans, lol)

These are practical tips for good photographs but sometimes you tend to forget them in your haste.

Street photography and photojournalism in general has always appealed to me. They are definitely my preferred categories of interest photography-wise.
Although, in the recent past, I have found myself in search of new subject matter outside my normal realm of comfort. I felt a need to diversify and explore & to improve my technical abilities (of which I must admit I have never concerned myself with to any great degree).

I have sought out, in addition to other new avenues, shooting macros, mostly of floral subjects and butterflies.

*You can reach the macro category by clicking on this link*

I feel as if I have a fair amount to learn while shooting these subjects in the future...composition, color, DOF, etc. - I was hoping, with the advice of those who have a far greater grasp on the how to's and such here @ photoblogs.org, that I could improve on my future attempts and results.
I would appreciate any open, honest and constructive criticism on the 17 images I have posted to date in my macro category on WTHHLN.com/photos/ - any and all advice is welcome in the form of a comment on any specific image!

One of the greatest attributes of this blog is the advice we can all give one another, so I thank you all in advance for your assistance!!

~btezra~

This is my first post here and I hope Im posting revelantly.
Ive had to admit to myself of late that trying to be something or do something that doesnt reflect the true you just isnt going to get you anywhere. Im using photoblogging here as an example but as you all probably know by now, unlike myself, if the shoes doesnt fit then don't try to wear it. It hurts when you do that.

When I first started my photoblog I simply took pictures and put them online to see. I really didnt even know of many other photoblog sites. It was fun, it was joyful. My parents oohhed and awwwed. Then I found photoblogs.org. I was suddenly the one oohhing and awwing. Shortly there after I realized "Hey, this is kind of like a competition thang going on here". I got caught up in the game. I visited Photoblog after photoblog and commented like nobodys business. My rating picked up.. I was moving up. (I was getting a piece of the pie) but then someone prominent on the list of list, made a statement to me in email that stopped me dead in my tracks.

He said

"Boy you do get around don't you, I see you everywhere, where do you find the time? I barely have time to turn on my computer."

That statement made me think and I asked myself several questions.

• Am I number 4 on the hot blogs because of the merit of my photos or am I number 4 because Ive visited every blog known to man?

• Do I really enjoy my photography as much as I did in the beginning?
• Do I even have time to take pictures like I want because visiting the universe of photoblogs takes way to much time?
• Why are you taking pictures of a rock and of rust ? Thats not your style. Because so and so takes those and he is way up there on the list?

I was forced the very next day to learn the horrid truth. My server went down and I crashed in a matter of days from number 4 on the hot blogs list to none existent on the list. At first this fact was very painful, but then I came to the conclusion that maybe I wasnt really putting the most effort into learning to photograph, to really see things and capturing them. Maybe I was on the list because most people are just nice and reciprocate a visit when they are visited? I wanted to know. So I stopped the frenzy of visiting every single blog on earth and became much more selective. No Im not on the list anymore but Im enjoying photography more of late. Photoblogs.org is a great place to enjoy great photography. Its a great place to learn photography too. Im so glad I found it. For me it was and is a great place to help you learn about yourself and develop your own style. Please tell me Im not the only one that has done this and felt like this?

Have you ever found yourself caught up in the game? Would you even call it a game and if so what are you feelings about playing?

I've created a discussion mailing list at Yahoo Groups called "Photoblogs". If you're interested, you can join by sending an email to:

photoblogs-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

It seems like a mailing list would be a good way for us to ask each other simple questions about photography or blogging or whatever. I'll also put a "Subscribe to Our Mailing List" link on the main Photoblogs.org site, so people know how to join.

Sound like a good idea? Also, if you have further suggestions or ideas about this, feel free to comment.

I am always receiving emails from friends, fellow fotogs, about photography contests.
I wanted to pass along a link for the The 12th International AGFAnet Photo Award.
The theme this year is "water". The closing date for entries is July 23, 2004.

Why the heck not see what you can come up with and submit an image that fits their guidelines...there are some interesting prizes and who knows, you might just win.

Just click on this link and best of luck to you all!

~btezra~

A great little one-pager that lists your rights as a photographer. Initially reported by BoingBoing.net. Grab the 148k PDF here before their server explodes destroying all within a two mile radius.

I realize I'm shamelessly abusing the blog here, so as a mollification thereof I'll give out Gmail invites to the first six people that reply to this thread and ask for one (whether they can help me or not).

Anyway, I'm going to Paris next week for two months, and I was hoping one of you might be able to point me towards a good photo store there (preferably within or close to the 14th arrondissement). The kind of store that sells professional slide films in all different sizes out of a humidity-controlled cooler. You know the kind. I'd stock up on Provia here before I go, but I'm going to be passing through at least 5 X-Ray machines on my way over so I'm worried about fogging. Plus, who wants to carry 30 rolls of film in their carry-on?

Also, does anyone know any places to get E6 processing done in Paris? What kind of prices should I expect? Thanks in advance...

As far as design goes, there isn't much variation in photoblogs. That's why when photographs come wrapped in pretty packaging, I'm prone to carefully dig a little deeper.

Maciej Montewski is from Poland and you don't need to understand his language to appreciate the beauty of his country and his photography.

Enjoy.

...and/or ways to get your work out into the world.

My experience:
Back in November I tossed around the idea of a monthly print subscription service. From that initial idea, Print Club 2004 was born and I now have a total of 45 6 or 12 month subscribers. I wanted to compress the process into something that I dealt with once month rather than an ongoing basis as I can truly suck and dealing with stuff in a timely manner. I select a print and order from Ofoto, create an info doc, print out labels, make sure I have enough stay flat envelopes, and sit down for a couple of hours of collating. If you're interested in doing something similar, I'd be happy to share more detailed experiences.

I must confess that while the revenue was nice, it wasn't about creating a moneymaking enterprise given that I've found that the fun tends to bleed out of anything that has dollar signs attached. I get too stressed out and what's the point of that? My original aim was to get my work out into the world.

Your experience:
I'm curious as to other ways people sell or share their work. If you sell prints on your site, how is that working out for you? Do you have any tips to share with the rest of us? Are you selling your work through Cafe Press -- prints, post cards, etc. What's the quality like? Any tips?

Also, I've been kicking around and idea for a kind of print swap web site. It would be something like 20things.org but where participating photographers would create small (say 10 - 20) edtions of an agreed upon size and then distribute. Deadbeats would be disallowed from future participation and people could either instigate and invite, or there would be open swaps. I have a diagram somewhere of my current thinking but given that I'm getting married in a month and two days, I need to focus more on that. What do you think?

This has all been rather long winded, but I'm curious. Do tell!