I have talked about giving your work as a gift in the past and I want to
repeat it again today with a new idea.
Every time I've given a photograph as a gift I'm always surprised at just how
well it's received and feel just a bit of pride when I visit that persons home
and see my image hanging in a place of prominence.
Surely there are
people in your life who would love to get one of your photographs as a gift and
for the next two and a half days (not to be confused with two and a half men)
you can get a
16" x 20" custom metal print for just $39 (usually $139) over at
Groupon.
It's an incredible deal and I am sure your photograph would make an
outstanding girt for a person in your life.
I truly value the fact that so many of you spend (even a small) part of your day
here at Weekly Photo Tips, so if something "out of the ordinary" is
going on that will change how things usually happen, I feel the very least I should do
is to let you know.
So this week I am traveling and because of that blog posts will be rather sporadic
and/or "fluffy" (ie: a bit on the lite side).
And as this is a visual kinda blog, instead of telling you, I thought I would
give you a hint or two of where our travels are taking us.
Hint one:
Okay, here is hint two:
Yup, we arrived at Disney World the day after Thanksgiving and will be here
the rest of the month, enjoying a long anticipated (and greatly deserved) family vacation.
Yesterday (one of
my) daughters created a (minor) sensation in Magic Kingdom by wearing a horse head mask down
splash mountain.
I am a very proud dad... :)
Not sure which is more amusing, her mask, or the look her sister is giving her.
The rest of this post is not for our "regulars", it is aimed directly at that extreme minority of scum bags that
search social media looking for those who are away or on vacation so they can break into
their homes, first off you people suck, really... second, our house is not empty, not even close,
so don't waste your time. Not only do we have house and dog sitters, we have
great neighbors who are watching them watching our house.
Here are some cool photography "do-dads" that may be a perfect Christmas gift for
you (or information for someone who loves you) and almost all of them come with
free shipping.
It's another Thanksgiving, the sun is trying to nudge above the horizon and I
sit here alone in the glow of my monitor, sipping my coffee, pondering the vast
number of things for which I MUST give thanks, but not to worry, I won't bore
you with the list, but as blessings go I feel like a very rich man.
The one thanks I will share is the thanks for this blog, the people
I have had the good fortune to know from all over the world is amazing.
And because you are a part of this community hundreds of pounds of food are
delivered to two food pantries and a soup kitchen here in southern Maine every
Monday morning. The need has become so great that we are now giving 50% of
every affiliate
sale to this cause, and because you use our affiliate
link it really is you that makes the magic happen... and you get the recognition, when I drop off the food I say "I'm just the delivery man, it's my friends who made these donations
possible".
So THANK YOU my friends.
I hope that today (and every day) you are surrounded by
those you love and who love you, that you feel blessedandrich in spirit, and that
you carry hope and charity in your heart.
There are many of you who are
struggling and I hope even more for you... that people reach out to support and
comfort you, that your burdens become lighter, that you never feel alone, and I
pray that in the days to come you can worry less, love more, and that when
strangers see you on the street they wonder what you are smiling about.
Let me leave you with a few words from people waaayyyyyy smarter than I:
Thanksgiving, to be truly Thanksgiving, is first thanks, then giving. ~
Unknown
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the
highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~ John
Fitzgerald Kennedy
What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for
others remains and is immortal. ~ Albert Pine
We can only be said to be
alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~
Thornton Wilder
Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping
a present and not giving it. ~ William Arthur Ward
Grace isn't a prayer
you say before receiving a meal. It's a way to live. ~ Jackie Windspear
We cannot do great things on this Earth, only small things with great love. ~
Mother Teresa
Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them,
that is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~ W. T. Purkiser
It just so happens that our last wedding of the 2012 season was at the Old North
Church in Boston (MA), yup, THEOld North Church, the one that
holds such a prominent place in American history (built in 1723) and of the "One
if by land, and two if by sea" and "The Midnight Ride of
Paul Revere"
fame .
And though I had grown up in Boston never once had I visited the church...
until this wedding.
It may sound corny, but being there one can't help but be in awe, knowing all
that had transpired there, walking on the same stairs as Robert Newman (the man who
actually held those lanterns on that night way back in 1775).
While walking around the church I stumbled upon the "dog tag garden", tucked away in a small court yard. Here are
two shots that are pretty self explanatory.
If you find yourself in the Boston area this is a cool place to go and snap
off a few shots. Not just for the church but also where it's located, smack in the middle of
Boston's historic North End (little Italy) where you will not only find great
history, but great food as well. Phenomenal Italian restaurants and bakeries.
Mathew leaves comments on the blog, shares his work with
our
Flickr group, and send out links and likes for us all over social media.
And not once has he emailed us to "take credit" for everything he does to
help make Weekly Photo Tips what it is, I just happened to find out when I ran a
traffic report and saw just how many visitors were coming to see us because of his efforts.
To say thank you, we are giving Mathew a one year "plus" membership to
500px.com.
So Mathew, get in touch with me so we can get you your prize... and seriously man, thank you.
And today's post will be even less organized than usually, just some thoughts and ideas with one theme, veterans and Veterans Day.
First, This is the first Veterans Day that does not have a single living veteran from World War I.
Second, we can actually blame the delay on announcing our latest contest winners
on Veterans Day. On Friday I had been invited to lunch by James, a third grader
who lives next door, it was the first ever "invite a veteran to lunch" day at
his school and he invited me to attend.
I was under the understanding that it was a 30 minute lunch, it turned out
to be MUCH more. First we had lunch, then went back to the classroom of the
person who invited us (participating in some fun activities), and then ended the
day with an assembly that honored us with poems, essays written by the students, then topped
it off with a few patriotic songs.
So my Friday plans were pretty much tossed out the window, it I couldn't have
been happier.
Third, my time in the military was important to me, though I wouldn't do it
again for a million dollars, I wouldn't trade those memories for anything. I
have written about that time on more than one occasion, you can find some
of those posts,
here,
here,
here, and the most important on (to me)
here.
Fourth, there are soooooo many restaurants offering free appetizers and meals
for active, retired, and discharged military personnel, you can get the complete
list over at "The
Military Wallet".
Fifth, a big thanks to all you fine people who took a minute to send me a Veterans Day email, it was extremely thoughtful, and so greatly appreciated.
Lastly, though I had put this together for Memorial Day a few years back, I want to include it here today because as far as I am concerned, those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, who have "gone on ahead", cannot be honored enough.
The first men featured are "The Lanni Brothers", they are my uncles who were first
generation Americans and could not have been prouder to serve their counry.
If you are having trouble viewing this, or would like to view it larger, simply
follow this link.
Yup,
our latest contest was supposed to end yesterday (11/9) but it has been
extended just a few days and the winners will be announced on Tuesday (11/13).
So it's not too late to check out the
contest details (including the very cool prizes), then upload your images to
our
Flickr group.
We have been talking about Facebook Timeline Covers for a couple weeks and
have promised you some resources and a video tutorial, so here it (they) are.
Second, resources that will walk you through making a Timeline Cover online:
There are a few options, but the big kahuna, the top dog when it comes to an
online resource for making your own Timeline Cover it's the
Timeline Slicer App.
Fourth, these are resources that don't quite fit in the first three:
If you are interested in creating a Timeline Cover from
scratch, head over to
Blog Technics, there you will find every dimensional aspect and
size requirements known to man for Timeline Covers, they even have a "bare
bones" template for
you to download.
I wanted to share some images from one of our latest engagement/save the date
photo shoots.
The odd thing (for me) about this shoot is not that Kara is my next door neighbor,
it's that I've known her since she was (about) 5 years old and it's hard for me
to grasp that she is now a grown woman, has graduated from collage, and is about
to join the institution of married people.
You may recognize the shooting style of these first two images, it is
similar (in style) to the images from our post "Shooting
into the Sun".
Shading the sun from my lens:
Letting the sun hit the lens:
It's a technique so easy to do, can give you a dramatically different look, and I find that clients really like it.
Here is a mistake I had actually made plans to avoid before the shoot took
place, but I made the mistake anyway, though it was a "save the date" shoot I
knew there would be images they'd want to keep/share without all
the date stuff included.
As soon as I took this shot I thought to myself "crap, they are going to like
this shot" and sure enough, shortly after seeing their gallery I got a text
wanting to know if I could take out the date out of the shot.
So I did, and though it's not the greatest Photoshop work I have ever done,
people who haven't seen the image with the date in it picked up on the fact that
I "Photoshopped" it.
Learn from my mistake, take the shot, then add date specific touches and take the shot a second time.
How does it go, "get it right in camera"?
:)
These are my two favorite images from the shoot.
Click on any of these images to view larger.
And yes, some of them may look familiar to you, a few of them were in
our post last week about creating "Custom
Facebook Timeline Covers".
Be sure to come back tomorrow for a video tutorial that will walk you through
making your own custom Facebook covers.
Kevin Kubota has come out with his new
Action
DASHBOARD 4 for Photoshop and he is giving it away for free! It comes with
50 free Kubota Imaging Photoshop actions, adding other action packs is optional
but not necessary or a requirement to keep
Action
DASHBOARD 4 for free forever.
Canon has announced some new gear today, it is not yet shipping but is
available for pre-ordering. Click on any of the links below to visit the product
page.
You will get an instant $200 rebate on the
Canon EOS Rebel T4i Digital SLR Kit that comes with a Canon EF-S 18-55mm
f/3.5-5.6 IS II lens and a Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4-5.6 IS lens - the final price
for this body and 2 lens kit is $999.
It started the very first time back in 1985 when I was driving along and
Charles
Kuralt started talking about this new book, I interrupted my trip and drove
directly to the book store and bought it.
"Love, Dad" was written by Patrick Joseph Connolly, though he had no idea at
the time he was writing a book, as he had died of a heart attack a year before
it was published.
Patrick was a reporter and would leave for work before his two boys got up, so he
took a minute every day before he left to write the them a note, sharing
insights, wisdom, and a bit of humor.
After he passed his wife took some of those notes, exactly as they were
written (and drawn) and put them in the book "Love, Dad".
So you are probably wondering why I've bought it so many times... I was (and
continue to be) so touched by it that I have given it many times as a gift,
other times I simply lent it to someone and they too were so moved by it that I
could not bring myself to ask for it back.
It only takes an hour to read, but a lifetime to appreciate.
At the risk of sound corny, it gave me ideas on how to be a better father.
