Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Student Purchasing Programs

If you're not aware of student purchasing programs you're missing out on some incredible opportunities to purchase professional equipment/applications at seriously discounted prices.

One program in particular is Adobe's. For example, they offer Lightroom for $99 instead of the regular $299. "$200 off, yes please."

I know it's difficult to pony up some extra money on top of all your other studio class expenses, but if there's something you might need, at least take a look and consider your options.

Oh yeah, and don't forget organizations such as SPE or CAA, and some publications offer discounts as well.

Pictureline.com is an interesting site with links to a list of programs, including Dyna-Lite, Hasselblad, Mamiya, Leaf, Toyo-View, Sekonic, Pocketwizard, Profoto, Induro, X-rite, Tenba, Skooba, Multicart, Manfrotto, and Speedotron.

Friday, May 25, 2007

A Sign of the Times

I received a letter this week from my Alma Mater, SCAD. In it there was an update on the photography department that stated the following:

"The Photography department will be implementing a major change in the fall of 2007 to the undergraduate curriculum. First year students will now take photography foundations courses that emphasize camera vision, technique, aesthetics and creativity in an all-digital environment."

Did you notice that last part? They also went on to point out that "the department will maintain its commitment to a comprehensive program by continuing to teach all traditional and alternative photographic processes."

That sounds perfectly fine to me. In fact, I'm a bit surprised they hadn't changed already.

It leads me to seriously reexamine the direction of my own classes at Georgetown. For some time I've tried to begin implementing digital workflow within the courses I teach, or might have the opportunity to teach. And it looks like this coming fall, just like SCAD, I'll have my chance.

With my Intro Photo class I anticipate working in the traditional darkroom by creating photograms, building pinhole cameras and experimenting with mordançage. But as for shooting and post-production...I believe we'll be using a digital workflow. That means digital SLRs or a combination of film SLR and digital point and shoot.

An interesting side note is that I already have 4-5 students in an independent study, focusing exclusively on digital photography. There has been so much interest that it may be opened up as a special topics class.

I guess it's a sign of the times.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Get Up to Speed, in Louisville

There are a couple photography shows going on at the Speed Museum in Louisville. Currently there is a free show called "A Large Format Photography Primer." It displays twenty large format photographs in conjunction with the Large Format Photography Conference to be held in Louisville this summer. This show opened April 3 and runs through September 9. The large format conference will be June 28 - July 1 with key note speaker Shelby Lee Adams. (Some of you might have remembered seeing the poster in the UK photo lab.)


The other show is "The Best of Photography and Film from the George Eastman House Collection." It runs June 19 - September 16 with an opening reception on Tuesday, June 19. I believe the exhibit costs a meager $10, by comparison to the $20 I'll spend on gas just driving there. It looks to be a pretty great collection, from early daguerreotypes to the work of Adams, Arbus, Capa, Evans, Newman, Lange, and Weston, to name just a few.

Hope to see you there!

Thursday, May 10, 2007

...and you thought your camera had a lot of megapixels

If you're interested, there's a 13 GIGAPIXEL photo of Harlem. To see a report at Rob Galbraith, click HERE. To see the actual image, click HERE.

I think some people have just a little too much free time.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Microsoft Photo Contest

"Take Your Best Shot at a $20,000 Grand Prize and an amazing digital prize package!"

Microsoft is holding a FREE photo contest for student photographers. Click HERE for more details.

Extra Credit Gets Updated

Just a quick note: I've updated the blog a bit. Most of the changes have occurred on the right-hand side of the blog relating to links.

Thursday, May 03, 2007

Mordançage at Georgetown College

This past week we finished the semester at Georgetown College with a mordançage project. We worked with photograms and photographs produced earlier in the semester with this unique chemical process to create new and amazing works. Everyone had a great experience making one-of-a-kind art objects. The results were remarkable. To see more finished pieces, click HERE.

Flickr and Stobist in Latest Issue of PDN

An interesting read. If you're not a part of Flickr, maybe you should start to consider it! Check it out HERE.

Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Strobist Lighting Kits @ MPEX


Are you freakin' kidding...this is AWESOME! If you're a photographer and need some off camera lighting, then you have just hit pay dirt. Midwest Photo Exchange in coordination with Strobist is now offering lighting kits at student prices with everything you need to get started. So pass the word around party people; and that goes double for all you UK lighting geeks! For more info click HERE.

And yes, you are welcome.