9.23.2010 by Kevin Creighton
Don waxes rapturously over the camera capabilities of his iPhone.
I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I think the iPhone and other similar smartphones represent a fundamental shift in how we take, process and distribute photos.
Consider how things were back in the pre-digital dark ages.
- Film was exposed
- Film was developed and possibly altered by either the photographer or a lab
- Photos were distributed by mailing prints, viewing chromes, half-tone printing, etc.
In the recent past, things were very similar
- Photos were captured on a camera
- Photos were chosen, cropped and possibly altered on a computer
- Photos were distributed by email, CD, printing, flash drive, etc.
Today, with a smartphone, there are no second and third steps: The phone is camera, production and distribution all in one. We can capture a five megapixel image, adjust contrast, exposure and a host of other options right on our phone, and then upload it to Flickr, Facebook or Twitter for all the world to see, no intermediary devices are needed. Photographers shouldn't worry about a world like this, it's the people who distribute photos that will see the most changes when every photographer has a production house in their hip pocket.
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9.21.2010 by Kevin Creighton
Ok, let's say you're a journeyman photographer who's been toiling away taking pictures for over 20 years, and all of a sudden, an ultra-hip modern band wants a Polaroid from model test taken back in the 80's as the cover art for their new album.
But there's a problem: You don't have a model release for the girl in the shot. What do you do?
Fake the release, of course. I mean, it's a twenty year test shot. Nobody will ever know, right?
This one will DEFINITELY be interesting to watch.
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9.14.2010 by Kevin Creighton
And by cool,
I mean totally sweet.
*Explainer
Just when you thought Apple CEO Steve Jobs couldn’t get more badass? According to SPA!, Bloomberg and about 10,000 nerds on Twitter, Jobs was stopped at the Kansai International Airport near Osaka in July for carrying, yes, ninja stars.
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9.04.2010 by Kevin Creighton
One of the first things I run into when building a website for someone who's never had one before is explaining the difference between setting up a server and building a website.
"Your server is your physical location," I tell them. "Think of it as the plot of land you bought to set up your store. To the county or state, it's Division so-and-so, Plot such-and-such, but nobody uses that for a business address, they use 124 E. Nowhere Lane. Same thing with website: The IP address of your site may be 10.0.0.1, but the way people find you is by going to www.yourstoreonline.com."
The basic idea was that instead of always trying to use social sites to bring the web to you, you should see social media as a way to bring your brand to the web outside your site.
The theory breaks down to three concepts.
- Home Bases are places online that you own like a website.
- Outposts are places you don’t own, but where you can build and maintain an online presence
- Passports are credentials for being able to get into outposts.
I like the term "embassies" and "home countries" rather than "outposts" and "home bases" as social media sites are a small microcosm of your site on another organization's home country, and just like an embassy they serve as an ambassador to your main site inside another culture. Also, just like the real world, if you make your home country unfriendly to visitors, your overseas embassies won't be much help if you want people to visit your country.
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