Craig Mitchelldyer is putting together a really informative workshop called "Taking Your Photo Business To The Next Level", to be held October 1, 2009 at The Oregonian, in Portland, OR.

"This is designed to give insight, ideas, and inspiration about the photography business and it's technical aspects for all levels of photographers, from the serious amateur wanting to improve, to established wedding, commercial, and editorial shooters or professional photojournalists who are thinking about becoming freelance," Craig said.

The workshop is the recipient of the "PhotoShelter Stimulus Plan Grant" for the month of October, and is free to attend.

More information about it can be found on Craig's blog, which contains the registration form for those who would like to attend.

I just checked the schedule and see that I am speaking at 9am, with my presentation called "Websites of the Future: The Future Is Now" - and since I am not exactly an early riser, this could get interesting.

Other presentations include:

Thomas Boyd - "Constant Improvement - Moving Your Photography Forward"

David Bergman - David will talk about his business and show his work as an editorial photographer. David will also take to the streets of Portland to give a lighting demo with Intervision, a popular Portland band.

Photography Business Panel Discussion - Moderated by Tony Overman, Past President of the NPPA. With Q & A from the audience as well. Panel Members: Grover Sanschagrin, Craig Mitchelldyer, David Bergman, Mike Davis, and Robbie McClaren

Bless the Internet for making it easier than ever to share photos with friends and family and license photos to clients. But even with all the technology, there is still something magical about a printed image. It's tangible, and there is a sense of permanence that doesn't exist with an image that appears on a webpage. Heresy from a guy who runs an Internet company? No, just a realization that we still covet things we can hold in our hands.

This summer I've had the opportunity to get out of the city on two occasions: a weekend in the Hamptons with a bunch of fellow Hawaiians, and a wedding in upstate Connecticut. As a photographer, I wanted to capture moments from those weekends with no other intention but to share them through my website, but when I reviewed the images, I decided to try to do something a little more permanent.

Blurb is well-known as a digital book-making company. Their CEO, Eileen Gittins, and I have had a chance to sit down last year when we were comparing notes about putting together a national seminar series, and more recently, we're both partners to the Magnum Expression Photography Award. PhotoShelter has used Blurb before to develop marketing pieces, and while the end result was good, I always had the desire to have more control over the output than their software allowed (I worked as a graphic designer in college).



So I was very pleased to find that they now support "PDF to Book" capabilities, which means I could design my own book using a product like Adobe InDesign. This new process gives a few distinct advantages:

• All design elements are controlled by me
• I can color profile the images to the HP Indigo Printers for more accurate color (their normal "BookSmart" software uses sRGB)
• I can size specifically and sharpen to my specification (BookSmart sizes for you, and uses generalized sharpening algorithm)

This is the process I followed:

Maybe you created your website in the 1990s, and haven't updated it since then. Maybe you're using Coldfusion with a Flash-based movie that takes 17 minutes to load. Maybe your website lacks e-commerce and high-resolution file distribution. Maybe it's so old, you can't even install Google Analytics.

Whatever the case may be, it might be time to consider a spanking new website and PhotoShelter wants to help with our Cash for Clunkers website promotion. In the month of August, if you have an existing website, you can trade it in for $100 off our annual Pro-level offering. That's a high-performance, e-commerce enabled website with the best SEO integration that money can buy. Join thousands of photographers like Ami Vitale, Art Wolfe, Vincent Laforet and others who rely on PhotoShelter to power their archives.

To take advantage of this offer, e-mail clunkers@photoshelter.com with the URL of your existing website, and we'll e-mail you back with a coupon to get you going right away. Hurry, offer expires August 31, 2009.

Today we're delighted to announce August's PhotoShelter Featured Photographers! You'll see their selection of images displayed in the "Images" tab of the PhotoShelter homepage slideshow  throughout the month.  

And, you'll find their websites included on the "Featured" examples page in our product tour.  Many of these photographers are selling their work through PhotoShelter as prints, products, stock photography and personal use licenses. And, they represent the many ways you can customize a PhotoShelter website using our templates or your own designs.   

Have a look at August's 20 winners. You'll find an inspiring selection of diverse imagery this month. From wildlife to still life, our photographers' work will mesmerize you just enough to help you forget that summer is halfway complete.  



Like what you see? Embed our August featured slideshow in your own website or blog by clicking the up arrow in the lower right of the slideshow.

Want to submit your images for consideration? Here's how. Images must be submitted by the 20th of the month, and winners are posted on the first Tuesday of the following month.

We really like seeing photographers get together to help other photographers elevate their game.  NYCPHOTOWORKS is a new group doing exactly that.  Led by photographers Marc Asnin, Elbert Chu, and Joshua Herman, they're producing a series of photography workshops, portfolio reviews and one-on-one consultations with a whole lot of major photo editors.  And, don't be fooled by their name, because their consultations will be available to anyone in the world because they're using PhotoShelter in a unique way.


Photo by Elbert Chu

Workshops. Their first series of workshops kick off Sept 11-13 at Sandbox Studios and will focus on documentary, travel, or portraiture, taught by veteran photographers like Asnin, Rob Howard, and Ron Levine. Over three days, participants get hands-on experience on shoots with instructors in the streets and in the studio.  The course schedule is really intensive and great for photographers who want to deepen their skills in any of these three areas.  Then, NYCPHOTOWORKS follows up in October with a new series of editorial workshops featuring Crary Pullen of Time, Bruce Perez of Redbook, Chris Doughtery of People Magazine, plus a lecture by Kathleen Klech of Conde Nast Traveler.   

Portfolio reviews. From October 22-24, these guys have assembled a ridiculously impressive group of 60+ magazine photo editors and photo/creative directors to conduct portfolio reviews.  These sessions are not cheap, but the price guarantees access to your choice among 14 top photo editors.  We see titles like Business Week, Lucky, People, Vanity Fair, Fortune, ESPN, and so much more.  The key to ensure you maximize this opportunity is to do your homework in advance.  Learn about these magazines and the type of photography they need most, and do a real gut check to make sure you're a close fit. There's only one goal of a paid portfolio review session - and that's to move the photo editor to consider you or your images for an upcoming project.  These aren't coaching sessions.         

Online consultations.  These are the coaching sessions. Photographers work 1-on-1 with professional editors online, to get direct guidance on how to brand themselves, identify their editorial strengths, and perfect their portfolios.  They'll be using PhotoShelter to help facilitate these sessions remotely - no need to be in NYC to enjoy the benefits.    

We're working with NYCPHOTOWORKS because we really like how they're helping bridge the gap between photographers and photo editors.  Check out their schedule and join for a session that's right for you.