Thursday, December 23, 2010

Maya Christmas

Thanks to the chump who took my parking spot at Meijer the other day.  Despite the fact that I had my turn-signal on, waiting for that spot.  I used to not care about things like that, but at the end of the day, at times it can be hard for me to make a long walk like that.  So I'm patient-er in finding a better spot than what's in the nosebleed section sometimes.  That's okay though chump.  Remind me to run you over when I come back out.  You and your tattoo that's on your leg.  Wait.  It's 20 degrees out and I can see your leg?  Wait.  Oh.  It's 'cause you're wearing shorts.  When it's 20 degrees outside.  Gee, that's smart.  You're awesome...dude.  Now I'm really gonna run you over.

I'm happy excited though.  It's Christmas.  I think my shopping is done.  I'm sure there will be that - 'oh crap...I forgot about them' - gift...but oh well.  That's why they created the iTunes gift card.  It's for all those times when you forgot the real gift.  It's the fake gift that's to the rescue.  But everyone loves them.  I can drop $25 on iTunes in 4.8 seconds flat.  In a pear tree.  


And now, a word from Maya - 




I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful holiday.  Merry Christmas!  

~Jonathon

Friday, December 17, 2010

The Betrayal with the Reward - Part III (Final)

What if we all got together and started a photography blog?

As if I needed one more blog to manage or be a part of.  Here's the rub:  This one will benefit not only the readers, but also the users.  Different, right?  Well, in my mind it is.  With every photo that's posted, we're going to do our best to describe what it is we did to achieve it.  For instance, for those that are photography-savy or just want to learn, we're going to tell you what we did to the camera's settings prior to taking the picture and after.  (i.e, f-stop, shutter speed, ISO settings, flash usage, etc.)  We'll also tell you what camera gear we used and what we did in the editing room post-shot with Photoshop, Lightroom, or other editing programs.  In the end, we'll not only be educating our readers and dazzling them with what we hope are only great photos, but learning ourselves about the different ways we all shoot things and edit them afterwards.  I'll be the first to admit, there's not one photo out there from me that hasn't been in some way altered by my 3rd wife, which still remains to this day, Photoshop.  It's become as natural as getting in the car, putting on your safety belt and driving.  You take the photo; edit it in Photoshop;  done.  It's the way of things.  And then a few days later, you look back on it and think crap, I should'a done that instead.  Damn you, hindsight.   Reminds me of something Leonardo da Vinci said, and this is not a joke:


"Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer. Go some distance away because then the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance and a lack of harmony and proportion is more readily seen."

This is true for so many things besides photography and art.  I don't have a man-crush on Leonardo da Vinci, but when someone says exactly what you're thinking, but you can't express it in words, you tend to remember it.  Like you won't forget that one time when you came walking out of the bathroom with toilet paper hitchhiking on your heel.  And then your co-worker said, Um...dude...

There.  Write it down.  Copy and paste it to your forehead.  Tune in next week for another episode of Jonathon's Stolen Catchphrases.  I'm going global with this.  

Don't say you weren't warned about my tangents.  I do this.  A lot.  


Re-routing...


If we don't do this with every photo, don't come chasing us with baseball bats and the I told you so fingers, please.  We will do our best with the details based largely on all of our schedules. 

Details are still forthcoming, but I'm trying to get several of photographers I know involved in this.  The site will launch January 1st, 2011.  We will try and post as frequently as possible to keep it fresh, hopefully around 2-3 times per week, maybe more, depending on how big our author-base grows. 


More to come.