Photography

Today and tomorrow, I am attending the Evo Conference (FYI – I did the HTML/CSS/WordPress for that site) 😀  Well, partially attending, anyway. I’ve been going to a few sessions and then sneaking back home in between because I’m a social misfit. LOL! The two sessions I attended today were fantastic. The morning session I went to was “Small Business Success” – I’ve been trying to figure out how to grow my business / *if* I should / want to grow my business – so it was really informative and helpful. I decided to go to the Photography workshop in the afternoon. This one was more for personal reasons. We’ve had the Nikon D70 for ages and have very rarely ventured from the automatic setting. I know there’s a lot more the camera can do – and while I’ve had f-stop, shutter speed, ISO, etc. explained to me many times, for some reason, my brain refuses to absorb it. So I went, in the hopes that maybe this time I’d get it. The session was, so far, my favorite. The panelists covered ways to get new/exciting shots, some processing tips – and then afterward, we went outside for a more one-on-one with the panelists. I bombarded Aimee with my questions and she was so nice and helpful – and despite hearing the topic again for the millionth time, having her explain it to me – I think maybe this time I’ll actually be able to keep it stored in my feeble brain! LOL!

She also talked about the importance of just getting the shot you need – with whatever you have available – even if it’s your iPhone camera. On this note she had recommended a few particular apps. One in particular, I purchased the instant I got home. It’s called ShakeItPhoto. (It’s only $0.99 – SO worth it. GO right now and buy it) The “cute” part of the app is it plays off the old Polaroid camera idea, it “prints” the image on the screen – you “shake” it to develop it – but the photos it creates are actually pretty cool. It adds a filter to it that really adds a nice look to the photo. Take a look at this shot I took of Zachary with it – I think it’s instantly one of my favorite photos of him ever:

11 Comments

  1. Christine
    Jun 26, 2010

    That sounds like a great app! Going to check it out, right now.

  2. Lynda
    Jun 26, 2010

    That is AWESOME you did the Evo website! How neat!

    I love photography and think it’s a really cool hobby. It’s not hard to shoot manually and with a little practice you’ll have your D70’s major features down in no time.

  3. Jennifer
    Jun 26, 2010

    Well, just to be clear… I did not design it. I’ve been totally focusing on development – so I did everything after the Photoshop file creation. 😀

  4. Jane
    Jun 26, 2010

    You might like the “hipstamatic” app, too. At least, I think it’s an app, a friend does it a lot. I have no more info than her posted pics, though.

  5. Jennifer
    Jun 26, 2010

    Jane – yeah! That was one of the other apps she mentioned and I did download it last night. I have to play with it a bit more, it was pretty late when I downloaded, so the only photos I had a chance to take with it were of my nightstand. LOL! But it also looked cool!

  6. Lynda
    Jun 26, 2010

    Here’s an article with examples a photographer friend of mine posted of the iPhone photo apps. Very cool!

    http://www.lemontines.com/photography/a-road-trip-a-blizzard-and-two-iphone-apps

    The new 4G phone looks like it will take AWESOME pictures! It’s 5MP! My husband sent me a link to a gallery, but I’ve lost it. :(

  7. Lynda
    Jun 26, 2010

    Also, Jennifer – organizing the HTML / CSS for such a high profile social media site is super impressive. Congratulations! I tried to find a reference to you, or the designer on their about pages, but couldn’t. Are you credited anywhere on the site?

  8. Jennifer
    Jun 26, 2010

    Lynda, Oh yeah – and they’re really great clients too. There is no credit to me anywhere noticeable on the site. While adding a credit link on the bottom of the sites might help me out – most clients don’t really like it, and I tend to think it makes the site look a little less professional. Also – because I didn’t do the design, I struggle with how to give fair credit to the appropriate people. And no one wants a running list of links and names at the bottom of their site… (But I usually do “hide” a little credit where probably only a developer would look. If you look at their CSS file, you’ll see that I put my name in for the “theme” I constructed for them) 😀 I’m not even sure who they used for the design.. I think it might have been someone on the Today’s Mama staff…

    By the way – and I’m planning on writing a more in depth post about the experience, but that conference was really really good! Met a lot of really nice people, and the sessions were really informative and helpful on so many levels! If you can spring for the tickets and airfare, you should definitely think about going next year.

  9. erica
    Jun 27, 2010

    Hi Jennifer!

    I’m so glad you enjoyed the conference, it was very laid back and had lots to offer. I kinda wish I had gone to the photography session now! oh well, maybe next year. I wish you much success in your business!

  10. Lynda
    Jun 27, 2010

    I get it. I was looking on their About page and didn’t expect to see it at the bottom of the site. I’m one of those freaks who refuses to leave a theater until the credits stop rolling. I just like credits, I guess. heh.

    I would love to go to one of these conferences. Like, pretty much any of them. Hehe.

  11. Jennifer
    Jun 27, 2010

    @Erica – Thanks for stopping by! It had been nice to meet you.

    @Lynda – Oh also – I do actually have the iPhone4 – the pictures and video are amazing! 😀 Certainly better than my 3G which was barely holding up at the end there because I dropped the stupid thing a few months ago and cracked the glass. LOL!