Update: 4 April 2005, 8:54 am Pacific Time -- thank you for all your fabulous quotes -- I'll be posting the winner tonight when I get home from work -- stay tuned! Have a great Monday everyone. . . -myla

Craig's post reminded me of the Holga 120 I won on ebay a few months' back. The Holga that has sat on my bookshelf in it's blue/black box untouched. That, as far as I know, has never been used by anyone, ever (although I'm not 100% sure about that, it doesn't look like it's ever been touched tho). The same Holga that I bought because, inspired by the amazing photography of Heather Champ and Gayla Trail (and many others), I thought would be something I would love to explore. And maybe, someday in the future, it will be, but right now I've got my hands full with raising a baby chihuahua (among other things). And so after reading "going, going gone" I was inspired -- and I thought, since there was such an overwhelming response to Craig's original post (I've talked to him about stealing his thunder and he said he's glad I'm going to be doing this too), I thought I would do the same thing with my Holga.

So, wanna win a Holga? For FREE? Keep reading. . .

Same ~"rules"~ apply (I'll even pay for shipping, and yes, I'll even ship out of the States) -- there are only two (very, quite painless I can assure you) caveats to this drawing, the first one is mandatory to enter, the second one is optional:

(1) if you want to enter to win this Holga, you have to leave a comment on this post, too; and

(2) for those of you who know me, you know I love inspirational quotations. So with your post, although it's not required it would be nice if you would submit your favorite inspirational quote with your post (please be sure to credit the author).

Thank you, Craig, for the great idea!

The drawing will be held on Monday, April 4, 2005, winners announced at Midnight, April 5, 2005 PST.

-myla

If true, this is an amazing story from the blog of Francis Vachon. Essentially, if Wal-Mart (in all of its infinite wisdom) decides that your images are way too good to have been taken by a slob like you, they reserve the right not to give you your prints...but you still have to pay. Here is the beginning of the entry:

A friend of mine went to Wal-Mart to have her pictures developed. OK, bad idea in the first place, but still… When she wanted to pay, the cashier told her: “We cannot reproduce pictures taken by a pro photographer. We have analyzed your photos, and you did not take them.”

The girl wanted to be paid, but without giving the prints! After some arguments (that was of course out of question to pay without getting the prints), my friend decided to leave. Bad idea. Cashier called security, and now my friend has two big boys around her.

Go here how it all ends.

From the creative folks, members of Flickr and the "Squared Circle" group, a beautiful giant peach made of ... squared circles, that's right. Clicking on each square will bring up the full size version. Now that's what I call interactive programming!

Cheers,
Irina

That is the question...

Since its inception, my site has thumbnailed... now my thumbnails have been a little bit larger than average (300px wide or tall), but they are thumbnails nonetheless. I've chosen this way of doing things for a couple reasons, the most important of which is that, in the past, I would post an "Alternate" photo along with the photo of the day. The alternate might be a different point of view, or maybe the same photo but cropped differently... you get the idea. I liked having the alternate photo on the same page, for the sake of easy comparison. I suppose other considerations for using a thumbnail approach include users with slower connections, and displaying more text and technical details along with the photo.

Anyway, I've realized that I don't do alternate photos much anymore, so I've been thinking about switching over to the "one large photo" idea that a lot of the popular sites use. From a user interface standpoint, which do you prefer and why?

-Dave (east3rd.com)

We're excited to announce the winners of the 2005 Photobloggies.  (The winners and all the finalists are listed on the site.)  Thanks to the thousands of people who voted in this last round!

We hope everyone had fun with this...  One of our main goals with this project is to find some great sites that not everyone has seen.  Let us know if we accomplished that goal.

Also, please post any constructive criticism in the comments below.  We'll use your feedback to improve the awards for next year.  We know there are a lot of things we can do to make this better.

matt is really, very, very good. but enough of my eloquent hyperbole.

mine is no disgrace

photoblogs.org profile

oh, and a quick tip about the navigation from the man himself: try select all.

When I come to photoblogs.org I often take a look at other local (german) photoblogs. Overall I must say, the list is growing faster and faster and I don't remember every blog in the list, I already visited in the past. And it becomes difficulty to notice new entries in a list of over 150 blogs.

So, Brandon, that question goes especially to you: Would it be possible to sort these lists by name, age on photoblogs.org, clicks, or favourites? This would make it easier to find new pearls.

Dirk from Staring @ the Sun

I bought a Holga 120 last year with the intent on shooting with it all the time.  I was intrigued by the larger format neg, the artsy look/results of the images I would shoot and the simple design and use of the camera.

I am never anything less than honest as a person...and I'd be lying if I said I have taken any amount of time to shoot the Holga 120.  I believe I shot one roll of film to date and I just have not taken the time or effort to put the Holga to good use...not at all.  I am not knocking this simple, yet effective camera, it's just not for me.  I find it sitting there, on my coffee table, day after day, unused and unenjoyed...and me, well I am wondering why I have not given it to someone who wants one and would put it to good use.

SO...

I have decided to offer up my Holga 120 to a new owner, free of charge.  No hitch, no hidden strings attached...I'll even take care of the shipping (w/in the United States).

All you have to do if you want my just-like-brand-new Holga 120 is leave a comment below.  I'll wait till this Friday, April 1st, 2005 and then throw all the names in a hat, pick one and whammo - someone gets my Holga 120 for absolutely nothing.  I'll post here in the blog who the winner was and an email to get in touch w/ me to arrange shipping.

Rather than let it sit on my coffee table, collect dust and go unused, I'd prefer knowing someone here at Photoblogs.org is putting it to good use and enjoying the results from the camera.

Who said you can't get something for nothing?

~Craig from WTHHLN~

Bill Vaccaro of Out of Contxt, a fellow photographer and Chicagoan, was featured in the latest issue of mooncruise*magazine. He writes, "I feel naked if I don't always have a camera with me." Alas, isn't that all of us feel?

Please check it out, it's some excellent stuff.

I know that there are now several formal and informal photoblogging groups who get-together in real life. I couldn't find a list of them anywhere so I started one on our wiki.  If this just duplication of a page that already exists LMK and I will remove it. So far the list is short; Bay Area, Chicago, GTA, London (no site?), NYC and Toronto. If you are a member or know of any other group please visit the page and update the list.