Friday Shout-Outs, Back Pats, and Attaboys

Congrats are in order for one PhotoShelter member who found success on the Apple iTunes store, and a whole bunch of really nice photography gets featured in this week’s shout-outs.

Also – heads up to all Northern California peeps! I’m going to be speaking in San Francisco this coming Thursday (7/22/2010) at 6:00pm. My presentation at ASMP Northern California is titled “Extreme Makeover Photography Website Edition“. It’s free, and we’ll probably drink beers afterward – so there’s no excuse not to attend.

Shout-Outs are our regular Friday thing. You can send us suggestions, as well. (In fact, we like suggestions.) If we think it’s worth shouting about, it will show up here in the blog on a Friday. To submit something, scroll to the bottom to see how.

AN APP STORE FAVORITE

Lee Foster, a photographer based in Berkeley, California, has a travel photo app in the Apple iTunes App Store called “San Francisco Travel Photo Guide” (Sutro Media, $1.99). All of the photos in the app can be licensed directly from his PhotoShelter website.

Apple ended up choosing the app as a “Staff Favorite,” so it spent some time on the front page of the App Store. Lee talks about the challenges and opportunities with app sales on his blog.

“It is possible for a little guy to outsell the big brands for awhile,” Foster said. “My San Francisco app was outselling all the individual Lonely Planet and Rick Steves apps for about three weeks. It is possible for a startup, such as Sutro Media, to capture a significant share of the market. Huge capitalization and past brand recognition in print do not necessarily translate to success in app sales.”

Great job, Lee. Congrats!

ITS OFFICIAL!
Photographers who are already enjoying the amazing power-combo of WordPress and PhotoShelter can make their lives a little easier after the release of “The Official PhotoShelter WordPress plugin.”

This plugin allows PhotoShelter users to streamline the way they work by embedding PhotoShelter images and slideshows directly into a WordPress blog post without the need to upload images or to open their PhotoShelter account in another browser.

Give it a try! It’s free.

The WordPress and PhotoShelter combo creates an efficient workflow allowing you to climb the search engine rankings, market your work, and distribute and sell your images from one unified (and customizable) website.

SWEET “POSTCARDS”
London-based photographer Stephen Simpson created a really cool gallery if images that he calls “Postcards,” and the name definitely fits. I could see every one of these images being used on a postcard.

Postcards – Images by Stephen Simpson

It’s a really nice diverse collection of images.

Simpon says he is working on a few personal projects in his spare time, including a long term project documenting the life of people who inject snake venom. Yikes!

ONE TALENTED (AND LUCKY) STUDENT
Daniel Houghton is a senior at Western Kentucky University majoring in Photojournalism/New Media Publishing. I saw some chatter on Twitter about him, and ended up on his really beautiful website.

That’s where I learned that he was lucky enough to have parents that work for Delta Air Lines, which has enabled him to travel all over the world with the budget of a college kid. (Yeah, I got a bit jealous, but that’s OK.)

He photographed the beaches of Normandy; backcountry skiing in the Swiss Alps; big game hunting and children’s orphanages in Africa; the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu; small towns of Uruguay and Argentina.

He also shares what he is learning in class.

“For our assignment this week in Advanced Studio Lighting we were restricted to ONE light,” he says. “The subject had to be editorial in nature and was required to be photographed in the studio on campus. I will admit, I felt like my hands were tied going into the studio with only one light to plug in. It turned out to be a crucial exercise in understanding the studio and how to operate in there.”

He shows how he approached the assignment on his blog, illustrated with iPhone photos. Check this out, you might actually learn something!

HELICOPTERS ALWAYS WIN
Jeremy Nicholl posted something that really made me laugh, so I just had to share. Helicopters vs. Sunbathers (and the helicopters always win.)

Helicopter Firefighters And Sunbathers – Images by Jeremy Nicholl

“Sunbathers in a Moscow (Russia) park take cover as Emergency Ministry helicopters suddenly arrive to collect water while fighting a fire that killed two people at a nearby art restoration centre,” his caption reads.

Nicholl is a documentary photojournalist who specializes in reportage from across Russia and the Former Soviet Union.

I AM HUNGRY NOW, THANKS BRETT
I am a sucker for good food photography because I know how difficult it is to make food look good in a photograph. When I see great food images, I have this urge to share with everyone.

Brett Simison has a really nice gallery of images on his website called “Gourmet Cuisine.” It’s filled with food and beverage images photographed on assignment and for stock.

Simison shoots a mixture of editorial, commercial, advertising, events, and fine art — and he does everything really well.

“People always ask me, ‘what kind of stuff do you shoot?’ I tell them, ‘Anything with a paycheck,’ and I’m only partially joking” he said. “With today’s economy and the constantly fluctuating photographic landscape, you have to be flexible, be open to new challenges. Some days, you’re shooting a sweet editorial gig in Central America, and others you’re shooting a coffee maker on white seamless. That’s the business.”

ICE CAVES ARE COOL
Petr Hlavacek is a New Zealand-based professional landscape photographer, specializing in shooting images of the high country of The Southern Alps in New Zealand.

A recent gallery of images shows the dramatic ice caves on Franz Josef Glacier – Westland National Park, West Coast, New Zealand.

NEW IMAGES – Images by Petr Hlavacek

Petr’s favorite subject: the glaciers and its ice. He continues to compile “a large, comprehensive and unique collection of glacier and ice images depicting and showcasing this stunning icy environment in every season and weather condition.”

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I am always looking for things to include here in our Friday Shout-Outs – so if you have anything you think is worthy, let me know.

Or, better yet, post a note to Twitter with my name in it (@heygrover) or “friend me” on Facebook, and that way I won’t forget it later.