20 – socialphototalk.com

This Saturday (July 18th) marks the second annual Worldwide Photo Walk, with photowalks taking place in hundreds of cities around the globe. While there are contests and prizes associated with the photowalk, the real value can be in the networking and interaction with other photographers from a variety of backgrounds in your area. Most of the photowalks last a couple hours and are followed by a meal or happy hour opportunity to chat about photography.

Find a photowalk near you and join in the fun.

Photo by t4m, used under Creative Commons licensing

Tagged as:
events,
networking,
photowalking,
worldwide photo walk

Trey Ratcliff, best known for his HDR work on his Stuck in Customs blog (and book), gave a talk last week at Google. It’s about an hour long and is a great overview of his take on photography, a look at quite a few of his photos, art and science, and attention as currency. Check it out:

These other posts might be of interest to you:

Tagged as:
google,
hdr,
stuck in customs,
trey ratcliff,
videos

Yesterday I saw that Chase Jarvis posted about a list of the top 20 photography blogs based on (as he put it) some math. Most of the blogs on the list are ones I’m familiar with either because I’m a frequent reader or I hear about them all of the time. There are a couple surprises. While it’s an interesting list to see, I’d argue that “top blog” listings are much like “top Twitter” listings… don’t worry too much about the numbers, and instead look at why you’re blogging and what results you’re seeing, and don’t worry too much about the ranking.

Photo by Krissyho, used under Creative Commons licensing

Tagged as:
blogging

Thomas Hawk is one of Flickr’s most prolific photographers, posting a couple dozen photos per day (or more). He posts some really great work (for example, see his set of photos with more than 25 “favorites”). His blog has occasionally featured the stories of photographers who have had their work (or even their entire Flickr account) deleted from Flickr, often without clear explanation. View all of his Flickr content removal posts (which he tags as “censorship”) on his blog.

Thomas is also affiliated with Zooomr, a Flickr competitor.

Today, Thomas Hawk was banned from the Flickr help forum in direct response to his posting links to material critical of Flickr. One wonders if his affiliation with a competitor might be involved, but the official explanation is that they’re silencing him because they don’t like the material he’s posting.

I’ve mostly stood by and watched the Flickr issues without action, but their latest action to shut down dissenting voices leaves me pondering my future with Flickr.

Photo by Thomas Hawk, used under Creative Commons licensing

Tagged as:
flickr,
thomas hawk

I’ve blogged previously about why I think Thesis is the best WordPress theme. The folks at DIY Themes just released Thesis 1.6, a new version that adds some incremental updates along with some really nice new design and customization features.

Thesis has always offered menu-driven customization for things such as number of columns and the navigation menu, but with Thesis 1.6 they’ve extended the point-and-click customization to new things such as color schemes – you no longer need to edit a custom CSS file for many design changes on a Thesis website.

Check out this video to learn more about what you can do with Thesis 1.6:

(if you’re viewing this in a feed reader and don’t see the video, click through to the website)

If you already have Thesis, the new version is a free upgrade. If you don’t have it… head over to the Thesis website to learn more and get the theme. I promote the heck out of Thesis (and I have an affiliate relationship with the company) because it’s a really great theme that can provide huge benefits for a blogger without much effort.

These other posts might be of interest to you:

Tagged as:
seo,
themes,
thesis,
wordpress,
wordpress themes

Sometimes interesting things can happen when one mixes older ideas along with newer technologies. The 30 Hour Day is one of those things. The show is designed be 30-hour Web-based telethon. Think YouTube meets Jerry Lewis. No sleep. All for charity.

The telethon will be hosted by Cami Kaos of Strange Love Live, a popular tech podcast broadcast from Portland, Oregon, and Rick Turoczy of Silicon Florist, a blog that covers the Portland startup scene. They’ll be raising money for charity by entertaining for 30 hours with the help of quite a few people. Watch this video to find out more about the 30 Hour Day, and how you can participate:

It’s very cool how they’re taking an older concept (a telethon) and mixing it up with new technology including using the web for the event and using social media (Twitter, Facebook, blogs) for build-up. I’m a photography sponsor for the event (via Hockley Photography), and it would be great to see how other folks will chip in as well.

For more information on the event or to keep track of the progress, please visit the website, follow them on Twitter, or join the Facebook fan page.

These other posts might be of interest to you:

Tagged as:
30hd,
30hourday,
charity,
streaming,
telethon,
video

If you’re new here, you can keep up with my latest photography information at Picture Pundit – subscribe to my newsletter for a FREE Report: A Guide to Twitter for Photographers.

9rules Logo I’m pleased to note that Social Photo Talk was selected for inclusion in the 9rules blog network. 9rules is a hand-selected group of blogs chosen because they produce quality content covering a wide variety of topics. If you check out the site you can browse a bunch of really great material including topics such as photography and blogging.

What does the inclusion in 9rules mean for Social Photo Talk? It won’t change the fact that the site will keep providing articles covering all sorts of social media topics for photographers including blogging, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Inclusion in 9rules should bring a few more eyeballs to the website… if you’re a new reader, welcome! I look forward to reading your comments and learning how I can help you grow your photography business (or hobby).

Read more about 9rules, or check out the 9rules homepage.

These other posts might be of interest to you:

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9rules

There are a bunch of photography-related podcasts, which are a great way to take in some photography information while you’re in the car, at your desk, wandering the city, or otherwise able to listen. I subscribe to several of them, listening primarily while commuting. Here are some of my favorites:

This Week in Photography – weekly, about an hour long, covering a variety of photo topics. Often features guest interviews as well as news on gear and tips/tricks.

Daily Photo Tips by Chris Marquardt – a short (less than 5 minutes), not-quite-daily podcast that usually features a basic photo tip.

Tips from the Top Floor – a longer podcast from the same source as the Daily Photo Tips, usually covering a topic in much more depth.

The Digital Story

EXIF and Beyond – an infrequently-published podcast that features longer, in-depth episodes focused on a specific subject or guest.

Photography.ca Podcast – a frequent, fun podcast hosted by Marco from Photography.ca, offering up a variety of tips and technique advice.

What other photo podcasts should I be following? With the breadth of the ‘net and proliferation of self-published content, I’m sure I’m missing some gems. Fill me in and share with our readers.

Photo by ♥serendipity, used under Creative Commons licensing

Tagged as:
podcasts

One of the biggest concerns for photographers (especially those who have been in the industry for quite a while) is the risk of photos posted online being stolen for unlicensed uses. In the last year we’ve seen a few software solutions developed that address some of the image tracking issues, but there has been a disconnect between the tracking and a solution for potential photo buyers to license those images.

Starting today, that gap is being bridged by PicScout and PhotoShelter. A new partnership will give individual PhotoShelter photographers access to the PicScout ImageIRC (index, registry, and connection platform) which is used by quite a few image libraries. The integration will allow potential buyers using PicScout’s ImageExchange add-on to click directly to a photographer’s PhotoShelter website which can host the e-commerce transaction. Buyers will be able to see photos, click through to more information, and land directly on the PhotoShelter site for purchase. The streamlining of the image browsing/inquiry/purchase process should allow PhotoShelter photographers to see increased sales while also knowing their images are being tracked by PicScout.

I’m curious to find out more… I haven’t used PhotoShelter or PicScout much although I’ve dabbled a bit with each. There’s a free webinar on Tuesday, February 23rd at 3PM EST… if you’re curious, register to learn more.

Does this sound like a useful service? Would it increase the number of images you attempt to share and sell online?

Photo by Leonski, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

Tagged as:
imageexchange,
imageirc,
licensing,
photos,
photoshelter,
picscout,
sales

Welcome to 2010… it’s the new year and everyone’s a prognosticator so I figured I should join the club with a few predictions of what we’ll see in the photography and social media spaces this year.

Social media haters will become irrelevant. Right now there’s still a healthy debate amongst those who see things like Twitter, Facebook, and blogging as a waste of time. By the end of the year, those folks will be a small enough minority that they can essentially be ignored as a photography businessperson. Potential clients aren’t going to ask if you have a blog, they’re going to wonder why you don’t.

Advertising platforms that smart photographers will use: AdWords, Facebook, mobile (location based) platforms.

Advertising platforms that signal you’re a dinosaur: Yellow Pages, Newspaper.

Also related to advertising: photographers will see a demand from clients for mobile-friendly images for mobile advertising.

We’ll see declining attendance at the megaconferences such as PMA and Photoshop World, but we’ll start to see more online-only “conferences.” The real estate industry has recently held a couple “Virtual BarCamps” – an attempt to hold relatively informal conference proceedings online. Photographers will see the same type of thing due to the widespread availability of audio and video conferencing tools.

By June, we’ll be sharing images in some way that we haven’t yet even thought about.

See other 2010 photo and social media predictions from Jim Goldstein and Rosh Sillars.

What do you think? Am I spot on? Full of baloney? Care to make your own prediction?
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Photo by Catherinette Rings Steampunk, used under Creative Commons licensing

These other posts might be of interest to you:

Tagged as:
2010,
photography,
predictions,
social media

Social Media Marketing for Photographers // Photography + Community