Anytime I visit a museum I take a little notepad, and jot down the names of artists that are new to me, or pieces that I want to study later.  I find that I get a lot more out of the exhibit this way.  Below are some of my notes from April 9th at the International Center of Photography.

Having recently read a book about Eugene Atget's work, I was curious to see it in person. The exhibition was curated by Christopher Phillips, and did not disappoint.  Atget (1857-1927) made approximately 10,000 glass plate negatives documenting the streets of "Old Paris".  Some were black and white, while others were more Sepia.  The upper corners are often darker from vignetting which makes for a fascinating effect against the light skies.  He also did a whole series on door knobs, and staircases.  A good number of the twenty six prints hanging at ICP are also featured online.  You can see them for yourself here;  http://www.photography-now.net/eugene_atget/portfolio1.html

In a room adjacent to the Atget prints, was an impressive selection of urban images by Andre Kertesz.  For an extensive look at his work, start here; http://photography-now.net/andre_kertesz/index.html

I was quite interested in the ideas behind Miroslav Tichy who made cameras out of cardboard and other crude materials as a "direct commentary on the modernist standards of progress".  In today's world of swirling megapixel marketing, I really appreciated this sentiment.  The prints that came out of these cameras were just unbelievable!  They were rich with texture, and enhanced by the imperfection and flaws which Tichy embraced.  Some of the lenses he used are pictured below.

 Here's one of Tichy's cameras

A gallery of some of his work can be viewed here.

I also checked out an abstract film directed by Salvador Dali, and Luis Bunuel.  It's called "Un Chien Andalou" (An Andalusian Dog), 1929.  Definitely something I would need to watch many, many times to really absorb it's depth.  Afterall, it is DALI.  You can watch the trailer below.

A few other prints I really enjoyed;

Claude Cahun - Untitled Self Portrait, 1929

Josef Breitenbach - Veiled Statue

Brassai - Foggy Night in Paris

Ilse Bing - Great Garbo Poster

My old school notepad.

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I'll admit it. I'm an inspiration junkie. I research stories about people who accomplish heroic feats against seemingly impossible odds, then proceed to watch the DVD and buy the soundtrack. When the Olympics take place, I'm amazed by the emotional stories about the athletes determination and perseverance playing around the clock. I frequent the self help section in the bookstore and browse titles like "Creative Companion" by Sark, and "It's Not About the Bike" by Lance Armstrong. Above all, I choose to find the silver lining in just about every situation.

I tell you all of this because I believe it's applicable to your business. Photography is a vast sea of possibility, but in order to succeed there are challenges that must be met. Some days, the tide will drag you under, rough you up, and spit you out. When this happens, it helps to have some positive reinforcement to help you get back up, learn from the experience, and do it better the next time. These are just a handful of the resources I draw from.

1) This above all, to thine own self be true - Shakespeare (quote from Hamlet)

If you're gonna succeed, you need to be doing something you love. 

2) I Get To - Kristin Armstrong

Refocus your attitude with this simple, yet powerful blog post.

3) Prosperity Pie - SARK 

A book that reminds us that if you follow your heart, the money will follow.

4) Terry Fox - A Marathon of Hope 

In 1980, he attempted to run across Canada in the Marathon of Hope to raise cancer awareness.

5) Ultra Marathon Man - Dean Karnazes

Ran 50 marathons in 50 days in 50 states.  Talk about being motivated.

6) Sean Swarner, Cancer Climber 

Climbed Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world with only partial use of his lungs.  Sean was the first cancer survivor to accomplish this feat.

7) Facing the Giants - video clip from the movie

A video reminder to always give it your very best.

8) It's Not How Good You Are, Its How Good You Want to Be  

The title pretty much says it all.

9) It's Not About the Bike by Lance Armstrong

Even if you don't like sports, this book will move you. 

10) Some inspiring movies to add to your Netflix queue for a rainy day: Rudy, The Pursuit of Happyness, Cindarella Man, The Blind Side, Four Minutes, Miracle, Running on the Sun, Rocky 1-4, and 6 (skip 5), Chariots of Fire, Remember the Titans, The Natural, Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind.

11) Music: anyone who knows me understands that I am a passionate music lover.  This is in no way a complete list, but just a sample to get you started.  St. Elmos Fire by John Parr, Defying Gravity from the Wicked Soundtrack,  Lose Yourself by Eminem, Take On Me by Aha, Don't Stop Believing (try the Glee Cast version), Surfing on a Rocket by Air, Poised and Ready by Brendan Benson, Clocks by Coldplay, My Own Summer by the Deftones, Let it Die by the Foo Fighters, You Raise Me Up by Josh Groban, Here It Goes Again by OK GO, Freedom by Rage Against the Machine, Toxicity by System of a Down, I Won't Back Down by Tom Petty, This is Such a Pity by Weezer, Optimistic by Radiohead, Break My Stride by Matthew Wilder, Till I Collapse by Eminem, You Gotta Be by Des Ree

I know it's a lot of info, so feel free to bookmark the page and come back when you feel like your tank is running low. I'm curious to hear your feedback.  If there's anything in here you find helpful, please let me know. 

By now, you've likely seen those clever Apple commercials which present a variety of situations before boasting, "There's an app for that." With over 100,000 options to choose from, their claim is remarkably accurate. As a small business owner, I'm always on the lookout for new ways to maximize my productivity with cutting edge technology.  Over the past year, these are the apps that I've relied upon heavily.  Each one is available as a free download from the App store with the exception of "My Writing Nook" which sells for $1.99.   

1) My Writing Nook

I'm writing this article while riding a train to New York City. Instead of carrying a laptop, I've opted for an iPhone app called "My Writing Nook". Besides the ability to work in landscape or portrait mode, this simple program allows users to sync content with a desktop computer. After my train arrives at the station I'll be able to access the material from any computer with Internet access. Some other convenient features include an integrated thesaurus, dictionary, and word count.  For those of you who forget to hit save, the Writing Nook has you covered. It auto-saves every two minutes so you'll never lose another masterpiece again.  You can also email your written pieces directly from the app.   

     
                                             

2) Evernote

Do you have important information scattered across a collection of yellow sticky notes and scraps of loose paper? Have you ever jotted down a great idea and ended up washing it in your jeans? I constantly find myself trying to maintain a streamlined solution for my creative, and business ideas. Yet, when inspiration strikes unexpectedly, I inevitably end up with valuable notes scribbled on a napkin or business card. I was in desperate need of a new system and did some research. I came across a website called "Evernote" and created a free account. I'm pleased to report that it has totally revolutionized the way I keep track of things. 

Here's how it works:  You can log into your account from any computer with an Internet connection.  Then, create a few different "notebooks".  I set up areas for client management, photography techniques, inspiration, and more. You can make as many notebooks as you'd like. Anytime you need to remember something, just log in, enter and save it.  When perspective clients call, my first step is to create a file about them in Evernote. This will include their contact information, details about the job, and any other information I feel is relevant. I can then access this data later using the Evernote app, or a desktop computer. This is the equivalent to having a large file cabinet with me at all times.  The content automatically syncs between the two devices.

Evernote does more than just text notes.  One of the most useful features is the ability to snap an iPhone photo and geo-tag it while in the app.  You can then add notes to the image, and view the longitude and latitude.  This is a great tool for photographers who scout locations.  For those fleeting thoughts that you have to get down in a hurry, try the voice recording option.  Simply hit record, talk into the phone, and save for later. This process also works well with Twitter.  When you hash tag a tweet with #en it will automatically be saved to your Evernote files.  You may also want to try their "Web Clipper" feature which is an add-on for Firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/8381).  This extension provides a toolbar button to easily add a selection or an entire page to Evernote.       

A free account provides users with a 40MB monthly upload allowance.  This has been more than sufficient for my needs.  However, if you find yourself approaching the monthly storage limit, an upgrade to 500MB is available for $5 a month.   

3) Google Mobile App

Think of the Google Mobile app as Grand Central Terminal for your iPhone. It's the main hub from which all of Google's products are launched from. This includes Gmail, Docs, Calendar, Tasks, RSS Reader, Maps, and the new Google Buzz.  For this reason, it's one of my most clicked on apps.  Google has also added a feature that brings a whole new meaning to "hands free". Instead of typing in your search terms, you can speak it into the phone. This convenient feature has helped me out of a jam several times, especially while driving.  It's remarkably accurate, and fun to use.  To get started, download it here: http://www.google.com/mobile/google-mobile-app/

4) Photoshop Mobile

With so many photo editing apps to choose from,  it's difficult to narrow it down to just one selection.  However, after using Photoshop Mobile to edit my iPhone pictures, I can highly recommend it.  With a well designed interface and fully adjustable tool set, it goes well beyond the basic presets common in other editing apps.  Some of the options include cropping, contrast adjustment, saturation, color correction, special effects, and borders. You can then "save as" to keep your original image intact.  Although it's not required, you can create a free account with Photoshop.com and upload your mobile photos directly to the web from the phone.  You can also keep in touch with your contacts by uploading to various social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and more.  In the example below I used the app to adjust the exposure, add contrast and saturation, a slight vignette, and a sloppy border.   For more info on the app, click here: http://mobile.photoshop.com/iphone/ 

                                                                                   After                              

5) Dropbox

Recently I read a Facebook post from a photographer friend who had a computer meltdown.  She likely lost over 6,000 of her photos.  Her wall post ended with, "I want to vomit."  Don't let this happen to you. I've been testing a user friendly cloud solution that protects your images, and allows you to sync your files between multiple computers! It's called Dropbox and they give you 2 FREE Gigs of storage space with an option to upgrade. 

Dropbox refers to their cloud storage and syncing solution as a "magic pocket".  It all starts with a folder on your desktop computer or laptop. Any file you put in the dropbox is stored safely to their cloud. You can then access the file from any online computer. Best of all, you can now access them with your iPhone using the Dropbox app. For small businesses this is an incredibly useful tool. It works with every file type imaginable including documents, photos, video, and music.

To get your free account click our referral link: https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTQzMTA2MTE5
Here is the link for the app: https://www.dropbox.com/iphoneapp

If you use an excellent photography related app that you'd like to share, I'd love to hear about it. 

Ok, I don't have a catchy theme song (yet), but I can offer a sweet list of books to sharpen your photography skills, and inspire you over the winter months.

The first set of books was recommended by photographers on twitter.  This was in response to my original tweet which asked "What is your favorite photography book of all time?"

"The Creation" by Ernst Haas

"Spunk & Bite" by Arthur Plotnik

"It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be" by Paul Arden

"Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson" 

"Eugene Atget" by Aperture Masters of Photography

If you are reading a killer book that you'd like to share, please tell us about it in the comments. 

Many photographers argue that online cloud storage is simply not necessary. They claim their images are tucked safely away on assorted DVDs and external drives. While this sort of redundant system is sound practice, it only provides one half of the solution. Catastrophes like theft, fire, and flood can erase years of hard work, and bring a business to its knees. By keeping an entire catalog of precious files in one place, you risk spectacular disaster. In order to create a truly secure archive, digital files must be saved to an off site location.

Online cloud solutions have become much more affordable in recent years. In fact, Mozy.com provides unlimited storage space for just $4.99 a month. The price is the same regardless of how much data you upload. Best of all, Mozy can handle nearly every file type imaginable. This includes RAW images from every camera manufacturer, in addition to DNG, TIFF, JPEG, PSD and more. You'll never have to worry about losing photos, video, audio tracks, or text documents again. Online cloud storage provides photographers with peace of mind.

Mozy has created an uncluttered interface that makes the actual backup process quite simple. It works well with both Mac, and Windows operating systems. Start by logging in to your secure account and choosing which files to back up. Users are given the choice to select individual images, or an entire folder. For my work flow, the folder option is the most effective method. Of course, every photographer will have to develop their own unique system to best suit their individual needs.

It can take several hours to back up large amounts of data. The precise upload times are largely dependent on the speed of your internet connection. With a cable modem, five gigabytes took approximately six hours to finish. The process can also slow down the entire computer. For this reason, I find the best time to backup is right before going to sleep. Just be sure to turn your screen saver on, as the computer must be left to run during this process.

 
The backbone of a good workflow is organization. If your images are scattered haphazardly throughout several drives, archiving will be a tedious process. Thankfully there are several programs designed specifically for photographers looking to maintain an orderly catalog. Adobe Lightroom and Apple Aperture are widely used throughout the industry. While Photoshop's strength is in image editing, these programs really shine in their organizational features. The expression "garbage in, garbage out" certainly holds true with digital photography. If you begin with a well kept library, it will be much easier to retrieve files when you need them.

To start the image recovery process, select "restore files" from the menu. After you choose which files to extract, you are presented with an option. Do you want to copy the files directly to your computer, or order a DVD? The web restore is free, but a DVD is accompanied by an additional set up charge of $30, plus fifty cents per gigabyte. and $40 for next day shipping.  Although the DVD restore is expensive, it's recommended for users trying to restore large amounts of data as a web restore could take several days to complete.

There are several alternatives to Mozy.  While we have not tested all of them, here is a brief overview.  Carbonite offers unlimited storage for $54.95 a year.  This actually works out to be less than five dollars a month.  Amazon S3 offers tiered pricing based on usage.  They charge for transferring data both in and out of their servers.  To see how they structure their fees, check this link.  Swiss Picture Bank differs from the competition in that they do not charge an annual fee.  Instead, users pay a one time fee for storage capacity of 1GB to 100GB.      

For those who still feel online backup is not worth the effort, I recommend using a simple alternative. Create a "greatest hits" folder comprised of your favorite RAW images. Copy these files to a flash drive and store it at work, or another area away from your home. You can pick up four or eight gigabyte drives for less than fifty dollars. While this is not necessarily a high tech solution, it does provide you with an extra level of protection.

I like to think of cloud storage as a 401k plan for photographers. It's not a fool proof system, but it could be a very wise investment towards the future.  Mozy's terms of service state "Mozy, Inc. cannot guarantee complete security". While this statement does not necessarily inspire confidence, they claim their "servers are located in several world-class data centers across the globe. Each data center adheres to the highest standards of security for optimal data protection".  Basically this means that despite Mozy's best efforts, there is a chance for data to get hacked, or lost.  Personally, I'm hopeful that I will be able to reproduce and share my images over the long term.  How will you preserve your photos in the digital realm?

If you are already using a cloud solution, I'm curious to hear about your experience, and the company you use.  Thanks!

My website has been through many changes since I started it in 2003. For a long time it was built and maintained with Dreamweaver. This allowed me unlimited creative control, and was very affordable. As great as this was, there were a few downsides. First, was a lack of mobility. In order to make a change, I had to be at my desktop computer with Dreamweaver installed. Simple design changes would be very time consuming, and required a solid understanding of some of the program's complexities. In addition, a great deal of browser compatibility testing was needed. What worked in Firefox did not necessarily work in Internet Explorer or Safari. Considering how many different browsers are out there, this was a daunting task. As a busy photographer, my days are often filled with shooting, editing, and client communication. I needed to know that my work was getting in front of the maximum amount of visitors without me having to spend hours under the hood fixing things. I began to search for a solution with a web based interface. Ideally, this would be as easy as updating a blog. Just log in from any computer in the world, upload the image, add your photos and text, and you're done. Of course I still wanted the ability to quickly customize the design, and be confident that it would work on any computer, browser, and mobile device. Sounds simple right?

Well, it should be, but there are many web based solutions out there.

Each one has pros and cons. Over the course of a few months I carefully researched several options before making my ultimate decision. I believe the information I found will be helpful to those looking to build their own website.

Several photographers I respect use Livebooks, so I started my research there. Livebooks uses flash technology which most people either love or hate. It has a sophisticated look to it, but can be terribly slow to load. Also, it does not work very well on mobile phones. After giving Livebooks a "one time fee" of $3199.00 for a customized site, plus $90 a year for hosting, there's a potential chance that people will get impatient and click off your site before the flashy intro piece even finishes loading.

If someone visits a Livebooks site from an iPhone , they'll get a message like the example below.

Some people will proceed to the HTML version, others will not. That is a chance I don't care to take.

Livebooks also offers basic predesigned sites for a one time fee of $1199.00 plus an annual $90 hosting fee. You are charged extra for any "add-on" features. 

Next I checked out NeonSky. They also have flash websites, but they seem to work much better on iPhones as mobile visitors are automatically routed to an HTML version of your site. Their package is a $350 one time fee, and $45 per month for hosting. Although this is priced very competitively, they currently only have two main navigation styles to choose from. You can modify many aspects of these two styles, but if you want to add more customization like a spash page or contact form, you have to pay a design cost of $125 per hour.

Clickbooqs runs $499 per year plus a $99 annual hosting fee. They also have an option to make a one time payment of $1699, plus the annual hosting fee of $99. Like Livebooks and Neonsky, Clickbooqs is a flash based site and requires users to have a java script enabled browser and a flash plugin. People visiting on mobile devices will get a similar message to the one in the above livebooks example.

After reading many complaints about Blu Domain, I quickly ruled them out.

I also discovered that you can not add caption info with blu domain. This essentially makes their services useless for Photojournalists. They seem to be catering more to wedding photographers who want music on their homepage.

I checked out BigFolio and their plan for a one time set up fee of $450 and a monthly hosting charge of $20. They have some really nice, simple templates that allow some modifications. Further customization is done by emailing them for a price quote. Unlike any of the options above, Big Folio offers a "small folio" add-on for people who are browsing with an iPhone or iPod touch. It is an extra $49 fee to set up.

Finally, I came across Squarespace through a colleague who was satisfied with their services. Adding photos, video and text can be done very quickly from any computer with Internet access. There is no set up fee and the monthly plans range from $8 a month and up. They are not flash based sites so everything loads rather quickly. It also works perfectly with iPhones and other mobile devices.

Then came the game changing announcement. Squarespace launched an App that gives users full control over their site or blog using an iphone. You can post, edit, see your referring links, incoming traffic, and subscribers. In fact, this entire post was written within the App. You can even insert images stored on your phone. It also features one touch sync capability with your desktop computer. You can start a post on the road, and finish it at home. This App is free for all Squarespace users.

Squarespace also offers an excellent blog importing tool. This enables you to import all content from your old blogger or wordpress blog directly into a new squarespace blog. I had 450 posts in blogger, and they transferred over without a hitch. This benefits my site's SEO as all of the blog content now falls under my domain name, rather than some third party blog host. No other website service offers this streamlined feature.

The design and customization of your site is virtually unlimited. You start by choosing one of many templates and modify it however you want. While this does take a little getting used to, the system is very user friendly and requires no HTML or coding experience.

Since switching to Squarespace, the number of new clients I've attracted through the site has increased significantly. Best of all, it saves time and allows me to focus on photography and business. Whenever I've had questions, their customer support was very responsive. They are even on twitter, listening in real time should you need their assistance. Site uptime has been great with no noticeable slow downs or bottlenecking.

For me Squarespace provides a next generation web solution that is both affordable and attractive. They are offering cutting edge features that no other web hosting company compares to. With a user friendly web based interface, SEO benefits, and real time traffic analysis, I believe Squarespace has quietly positioned themselves as a leader in web and blog publishing. If you want to check them out for yourself, here's the link.

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When I first started my Twitter account over 250 days ago, the internet was saturated with articles advising people to follow everyone who follows you. It was supposed to be good "twettiquette", designed to make social media a more effective networking tool. At first, this theory worked quite well. When someone followed, I would automatically follow back. I watched in amazement as my number of followers grew at a rapid pace. I even wrote an article about it here.

During this same period, Twitter was being hyped in the media each day. It seemed you couldn't even turn on the televison without hearing a buzz piece about it. As social media became more mainstream, a massive influx of businesses flocked to Twitter in an effort to monetize it. As a result, businesses and marketing gurus started following people at an alarming rate. They did not have any specific interest in what people had to say. Their sole purpose in this venture was to make money. My Twitter stream became much less interesting, and quickly filled with spam. It appeared that the old model of "following back", needed to be re-evaluated immediately.

On October 2nd, I tweeted the above announcement , and began to sift through my list of 975 followers. I expected to delete some spammers, but I never would have imagined how deep the problem really went.

For starters, I was following people whose language I didn't speak.

I was also following people who by their own admission, were "Completely Uninteresting".

There were automated followers who promised to make me more cash.

And those who never posted a single tweet, yet had hundreds of followers.

Worst of all were the people PAYING for followers!

Clearly, a good majority of these people were spammers who were playing the system to build inflated Twitter numbers using any means possible. As quickly as I unfollowed them, they stopped following me. It was a liberating experience. In a matter of days my 975 followers dropped to around 715. I also noticed a drastic reduction of marketing junk in my stream. I started to re-connect with my real Twitter friends. These are the people who actually have something to share, not just to sell. They are the ones who make Twitter a worthwhile tool for communication. My friend, @Lecheval put it very nicely with her tweet below:

I would rather have less staggering, but real numbers, rather than inflated counts based on deception. I've already heard from many others who feel the same way. Twitter users are growing tired of being treated like ad targets, and dry marketing tests. Each time you block or unfollow one of these people, you are sending a clear message. It's about the quality, not the quantity. The next time you see someone with twenty thousand plus followers, ask yourself how they got there. Some will be legit because they post some unique, quality content. The majority however, will be all smoke and no fire. Do yourself and the entire twitter community a favor and unfollow them right now.

Thanks to a website called "Alltop" you can now see all the stuff that I read on a daily basis without having to look over my shoulder on the subway. In fact, they even have a whole section dedicated just to photography. My blog is listed in there too. I found out about this site through a Scott Kelby blog post. As he points out, it works really well on iPhones. It's quite convenient to have all your favorite blogs in one place. If you have any awesome feeds that I should add to my Alltop page, please let me know in the comments area. Thanks!

I took this image of the Athabasca Glacier in the Canadian Rockies in 2006. It stayed in a folder until now. I'm glad I didn't delete it. With the rate at which glaciers are melting, our images may be all that's left of them. Too often I hear photographers talk about only keeping the "good ones" and deleting the rest in order to save room on their hard drive. However, after reading this article about Dirck Halstead and his image of the Clinton/Lewinski embrace, I decided to save just about all of my files, and create a backup system that was logical, and redundant. With Lightroom 2, this has become a lot easier, and I would recommend it to anyone in need of an organizational system. Hard drive space has become very affordable, and you never know if and when a particular image will be relevant. If you took the time to shoot it, you might as well store it.

As a photographer and teacher, I read a lot of photo related blogs. I call it "job research". Some are informative, while others are inspirational. Here are twelve that I find myself returning to most often. If you have some favorites, please add them to the comments. Thanks!

Photo Business

Photo Attorney

PDN Pulse

The Strobist

Joe McNally

Zack Arias

Chase Jarvis

David Tejada

A Photo Editor

Vince Laforet

Scott Strazzante

Scott Kelby