5 of My Favorite Photography Blogs

Portrait from Karen Walrond's Chookooloonks/Wildly Convinced You're Uncommonly Beautiful blog

The brilliance of blogs is that they usually represent a unique individual's point of view. It's the world according to Herbert or Heather Blogger, and it's usually a combination of news and views that gets you jazzed about your specific topic of interest. Alternatives to traditional news reporting and magazine journalism, you can go to a topic-specific blog and get your content fill without having to read diluted news that covers an entire waterfront.

Travel photo by Trey Ratcliff from his Stuck in Customs blog

So here are some of my favorite photography blogs, in addition to our NYIP blog, of course. My faves tend not to be too corporate or alligned with a specific manufacturer. They're quirky and opinionated. They're wise and authentic. Try out a few posts from each of these blogs, if you haven't already. I think you'll really like them.

1. Photopreneur - This website takes a practical look at photo sales opportunities for anyone with a camera, from hobbyist to pro. I like the way the team of writers, who are usually professional photographers and/or marketers, focus in on specific individuals or outlets to offer helpful advice. Sample post: What It Takes to Give Up the Day Job and Become a Successful Photographer. 
2. Chookooloonks or Wildly Convinced Your Uncommonly Beautiful - Words fail in trying to heap praise on photographer and author Karen Walrond and the portraiture and other photographs she posts on her quirky and always inspiring photo blog. This is how a talented photographer presents her images to the public; minimal type, beautiful images, and a personal point of view. Sample post: Random Thoughts on Fashion, Frida and Identity.
3. Beyond Megapixels - If you want basic and creative how-to assignments to help you better master your digital camera, and you're not a pro, this is a great blog. The posts are detailed and self-explanatory, the photo examples are wonderful, and the screenshots of digital image editing help explain the process. There are sections that will help you learn the basics and explore good equipment and resources. Termed a blog that guides "the rest of us" in photography, this is a great site for anyone who wants to learn photography and do better work. Sample post: Focus Stacking in Landscape Photography.
4. Stuck in Customs - Travel photographer Trey Ratcliff's entertaining and beautifully photographed blog gives you a taste in both still images and video of what it's like to be a top travel photographer. Sample post: The Cemetery in the Monastery Castle. 
5. A Photo Editor - Wow. Rob Haggart, a former magazine director of photography, and other contributors from various photo domains (e.g., art photography, fashion photography, travel photography) have put together a blog that covers the inside track on end-users for professional images. This is a great way to see inside a professional photo shoot - and sometimes learn how much it costs - and see great work and compelling reports from photo seminars aimed at pros. Sample post: Pricing & Negotiating: Hotel Lifestyle Shoot. 

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do. WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]

Update on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at 11:17AM by NYIP Editor

In the aftermath of creating this post, I realized how important it is for all photographers to have their own blog, whether they're a hobbyist snapshooter or hanging out their shingle. Today's blogging platforms offer everything from e-commerce and photo sales opportunities to beautiful ways to display your online photo portfolio (or several genre portfolios if you're diversified and would like to show deeper levels of work in separate disciplines). Our sister school offers a course that covers all the blogging fundamentals and more, and I can highly recommend it for photographers who have a blog and want to improve their online (and offline) presence and for anyone without their own blog. The course materials are shown in the photo above; click on the product shot or click on this link to learn more about The Complete Course in Professional Blogging.

Oktoberfest in pictures

While unfortunately not all of us could be in Munich for the 179th Oktoberfest, we can at least enjoy some of the fantastic photographs taken during, courtesy of a compilation created by Boston.com. As I did for the Daily Life: September 2012 photography article, I have chosen my three favorite photos and attached them below. To see all the images included in the article, click on the link here.

People sit on benches under a tent during the Oktoberfest beer festival fair at the Theresienwiese in Munich, southern Germany, on Sept. 27. (Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images)A waitress carries beer after the opening of the 179th Oktoberfest in Munich on Sept. 22. (Michael Dalder/Reuters)A young man displays a beer mug in the Hofbraeuhaus tent after the opening of the famous Bavarian Oktoberfest beer festival in Munich, southern Germany, on Sept. 22. The world's largest beer festival, held from Sept. 22 to Oct. 7 will attract more than six million guests from around the world. (Matthias Schrader/Associated Press)

What do you think of my picks? Give us your feedback and let us know!

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do.

AUDIO LINK: WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]

Our Best Flower and Heat Photo Winners

In our fifth and sixth Top 10 Photos post, we did a Web image search on the word "flowers" and "heat," respectively, and chose 10 of our favorite images for our blog followers and fellow photography enthusiasts to vote for. Well, we're excited to announce that almost 900 of you voted in our Top 10 survey. Many thanks for taking the time to register your vote with us, and not to mention making this our most popular photo vote yet! Here are the top vote getters for both surveys - and congratulations to all of our Top 10 photographers. Click here to view the original Top 10 Photos in our flowers competition. And click here to view the original Top 10 Photos in our heat competition. Another Top 10 Photos vote will be coming your way soon ....

Flowers

Photo #1 (tie): Purple Hydrangea Flowers by Jagna Birecka

Photo #1 (tie): Hibiscus and Iris by Brad Rickerby

Photo #2: Blood and Hydrangeas by Kala

Photo #3: Flower Pot Baby by Ali Mocabee/Souriant Designs 

Heat

Photo #1: Camilla Akrans beach scene

Photo #2: Siesta by Brian Furbush Photography

Photo #3: Heat Wave Open Hydrant by Mechy 

We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do.

AUDIO LINK: WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]

Getty Images Changes Hands, Retains Management

According to numerous sources, the world’s largest archived photo distributor, Getty Images, has been sold to the world’s second largest private equity firm, The Carlyle Group, for a fee of $3.3 billion. A statement released by the Carlyle Group read that Getty co-founder and Chairman Mark Getty and CEO Jonathan Klein, who partnered the deal, would be rolling “substantially all” of their controlling interests into the deal and would invest “significant equity” in the company going forward. The Getty Images management would also be included in the deal.

“Getty Images is the premier, digital global marketplace for commercial visual content. We look forward to partnering with Mark Getty, Jonathan Klein and the talented Getty Images management team. We will harness Carlyle's financial resources and global network to help take Getty Images to the next stage of product innovation and global growth,” said Elliot Merrill, Managing Director of the Carlyle Group.

The $3.3 billion offer fell short of the initial $4 billion valuation made by previous owners Hellman & Friedman, who bought Getty Images in 2008 for $ 2.4 billion, but the two sides ultimately reached an agreement. The Carlyle Group outbid CVC Capital Partners Ltd. to secure the purchase, according to reports. To read more, click on the attached link to the Bloomberg article: Carlyle Buys Getty Images From Hellman & Friedman.

 We're the New York Institute of Photography, a distance education school teaching photography since 1910 - over 100 years of knowledge and experience. Listen to the following podcast to learn more about who we are and what we do.

AUDIO LINK: WHAT IS THE NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF PHOTOGRAPHY? [20:58M]

NYIP Profile: Marc Shur's 'Sign Language'

In light of the fact that we at the New York Institute of Photography recently had the signs in our hallway replaced, we felt it'd be apprpriate to show you some stunning photographs of really old-school signs. 

Designer and art director Marc Shur was looking to take up a new creative hobby in his free time. Haphazardly, he settled on taking pictures of cool old-fashioned signs that he saw in Southern and Central California. "As an art director, I’ve long been fascinated with old shop signs, their typography and design, as well as midcentury architecture and product design," says Shur. "I didn't consciously start shooting signs with this motivation; it just sort of developed over the last year." He edits his photos using Photoshop and Adobe Lightroom but rarely adds any effects to the signs themselves. "I try to approach each sign uniquely, not in a cookie cutter process, and I try to do something conceptually engaging." To read more about Shur and his photography, click on the attached link: California Dreamin’: Marc Shur’s Vintage Sign Photography. 

Fans of his work can buy prints on his website, Marc Shur Photography. Here is a sample of the breathtaking images on display. Enjoy.

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