*a preview photo for next Monday
It’s hard to escape the news these days. There’s a monumental election about to happen in the U.S. next Tuesday and the turbulent financial times are affecting businesses worldwide, including the photo industry. There’s some sad news but I’m also feeling more positive on the near-term outlook for my own studio, Daylight Photo. More on that in a bit.
One of the biggest photo news stories around the net this week has been the demise of Digital Railroad, the online photo marketing / licensing site that …

Today’s post is about an easily overlooked subject, the leaves at our feet, and one of my often overlooked tools, the flatbed scanner.
Every fall I seem to take a few photographs of trees as the leaves change color. Most often I judge the merit of a particular fall display by how colorful a stand of trees off in the distance appears. This year the leaves aren’t particularly interesting from afar so instead I took a closer look, picking up some leaves while walking.
My main purpose for this is that I’ve …

Last week a reader asked if Daylight Photo was doing much in the way of video production. Quite a bit, actually. I don’t mention video services a whole lot because, after all, this is a photography blog and my first love is still photography. But, truth be told, adding video to our repertoire is what’s currently creating new business opportunities.
Today I’d like to show you one such example of combining photo and video, part of a series we’re creating for a printing press company. The campaign includes a double page …

First, some history on a self-published photo project, then a link to a powerful documentary on war photographers.
A couple of weeks ago I received an email announcing my friend Cathy Murray’s newly self-published 11” x 11” calendar, Good Kitty 2009. As photographers, most (if not all) of us harbor a desire to see our work published. It’s really cool when someone you know pulls together their images and produces a product like this, publishing 5,000 pieces in her very first effort.

Cathy obviously has a passion for felines and photography and …

photo copyright 2008 Dave Wendt
What do you get by mixing equal amounts of DIY-crazy photographers and The Monster Garage? The Ansel Mt. Adams racer, of course (named after the great photographer, Ansel Adams, and Cincinnati’s historic Mt. Adams area). This is a just for fun, lighthearted look at a 1930’s view camera that’s been converted to a working soap box derby race car.

I’m fortunate to be a member of the Ohio Valley Chapter of the ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers), a diverse group of professional photographers from all …

I recently had a chance to sit down with Cincinnati corporate photographer Mark Bowen to discuss what he does for a living and just how he does it. Mark is well known in local photo circles and, more importantly, in local business circles. He’s at the top of the photographer list for many corporate public relations and marketing departments, along with independent agencies hired by both large and small businesses. One of his favorite photo jobs is serving as the official head photographer at the annual Scripps National Spelling …

Today’s around the ‘net is a search for photo inspiration. I’ve been looking for interesting photos and bookmarking a few sites, creating an online scrapbook to help think about possible new approaches to my own personal photography. I thought it might be interesting to share a few of these interesting finds:
This image on the J.R. Photoblog has a really nice treatment. The photo edges are framed and vignetted to black, an effect I really like for the right subject. An even cooler thing is that J.R. placed the photograph on …

Let’s kick this one off with an email from my friend Paul D’Andrea. Paul is an accomplished photographer who still works his day job while earning freelance photo income. I think he shares a perspective with many readers and it’s one I try to keep in mind when talking about the business of photography:
I certainly toy with the idea of pushing till I can go pro, but I’m making a little money now and still have plenty of time for my own work. I hesitate even more with the …

The current financial crisis is the elephant in the room, so let’s acknowledge it and take a look. I’m taking the lead from 1001 Noisy Cameras and their recent post entitled Opinion: The financial markets and photographers.
I like to keep prophotolife relatively on point, targeted on the positive benefits of photography as a hobby and the realities of photography as a profession. Every once in awhile we’ve taken a little trip outside of our favorite topic to look at just how photography fits into the world at large. Right now …

Tired of the daily news? How about we turn a little retro for inspiration this week (post title inspired by the work of Robb Kendrick and courtesy of Willie Nelson).
Through photography it’s easy to return to simpler times…as in the cowboy photographs of National Geographic photographer Robb Kendrick. This NPR slide show presents a nice, brief overview as to why he is drawn to cowboys as subject matter. For a fascinating glimpse into how he actually creates these beautiful tintype photographs, these videos on National Geographic are a real treasure.
Speaking …