Eight Quick Tuesday News Bits

Hi Gang: It’s Tuesday. Here’s what’s up:

(1) Thanks Seattle and LA — you guys rocked it!
A big thanks to the nearly 1,200 photographers who came out to hang with me for the day at my “Shoot Like a Pro” tour in Seattle and Los Angeles last Thursday and Friday. What fun, gracious crowds we had, and I met so many awesome folks (and even saw a few friends like Concert Photographer Alan Hess, and Kelby Training Instructor Mike Kubeisey who came out to the LA gig). I’m very grateful to every one who came out and supported the tour — I hope you picked up some things that will help you on your photographic journey, and I hope to see you all again soon! (Photo of the crowd in LA above by Brad Moore).

(2) I have found a killer Wedding font: Parfumarie Script
I always have photographers ask me about fonts I use in tutorials or photo books, and last week I found this new one I really like called “Parfumerie Script OT” (I found it at MyFonts.com for $29). It’s an Open-Type font so I went in to Photoshop and made some examples. The top part is just different examples of the fonts upper/lowercase, and the lower part shows the first letter of each word; normal; with Swash version applied; and with Stylistic Alternates applied (you access these in Photoshop’s Character panel, in the pop-out menu up top, under “Open Type”). Hope you find this helpful.

(3) I am super-psyched to be on the Cover!
I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to see that that the Int’l Society of Aviation Photography (ISAP) chose one of my shots for the cover of their annual Symposium program

That’s my wide shot of an FA/18 at sunset in the center and they chose another for inside the program (that’s mine top left corner on the right page). Truly an honor to be alongside such amazing photographers. I heard the event was just incredible (as always). My humble thanks to the ISAP for the honor (especially as a proud ISAP member). :)

(4) I wanted to like the new flickr. I really did.
I Love the way it looks — I hate the way it works. It’s a beautiful, clunky, “let’s bury the command they’ll be looking for at a level that would make Adobe engineers proud” kind of place that, once you learn all the ins/outs is probably OK, but I just don’t have to time to play “site hide-and-seek.” I so hate sitting there thinking, “I just want to delete this photo” and all the obvious ways to do it don’t work (I eventually found it), but I had to Google numerous topics.

You shouldn’t have to use one site to research how to use another (especially when G+’s own great-looking galleries have gotten so good, and so much more intuitive). Oh well, flickr — it was worth a shot, I guess.

(5) Zack Arias’ new class on Kelby Training Online 
Zack is one of the most insightful and thought-provoking photographers out there today, and if you’re a Kelby Training Online subscriber, Zack’s presentation in our Photography Art & Inspiration series  just went live and you can watch it right here.  (Note: Zack was taping two more Kelby Training Online classes this week, one in Atlanta and one up in NYC. Can’t wait for these!). 

(6) OK, the flickr thing is a bust, but 500px.com has all the buzz
Check out Matty K’s quick walkthrough above (it’s just four-minutes and somethin’ long) and you’ll see why there’s a lot of great buzz about 500px’s launch of new online portfolios for photographers. Hats off to ’em!

(7) Tim Wallace and the 2013 Aston Martin Vanquish 
Master of Automotive photography, Tim Wallace, did a shoot for Aston Martin’s new 2013 Carbon Fibre Vanquish…and as expected, he got some really amazing images. He did a blog post about it, and if you’re in to automotive photography (and beautiful luxury sports cars), here’s the link: http://www.ambientlife.co.uk/articles_261439.html

(8) I’m on my way back from a quick get-away to Vegas
After my back-to-back Seattle and LA seminars, I snuck off to Vegas to meet my wifey, who snuck off to meet me there (The trip was a gift last year from my publisher, Peachpit Press, for being named the world’s #1 top-selling author of books on photography. Thanks Peachipt — we love you guys!). We had three glorious days of R&R, with some great shows, delicious meals, sleeping-in late, and no work or responsibilities whatsoever. Oh well, it’s back to reality now — as you read this we’re already on the way back home and back to work. Hey, it was fun while it lasted. :)  Photo above [the view from our room at the Aria hotel] by Kalebra with her trusty iPhone.

Hope you have a kick-butt Tuesday!
It sure beats the alternative. Cheers, and I’ll see ya here tomorrow for Guest Blog Wednesday featuring the one and only, Guy Kawasaki himself. Don’t miss it!

–Scott