Now that you’ve seen the Best Photos of 2008, it’s time for something new: the Just One project. Drawing some inspiration from Jim Talkington’s new photo blog, this will be an artistic project focusing on single images. Much of my photography is storytelling in the form of complete albums, so for this project, I’ll be choosing just one image from each album that’s a bit different and stands on its own. Please join me on this journey and share your own projects for the year in the comments!
Thank you to everyone who’s viewed my photos this year and to those who made nominations for the best of 2008! From the 2848 photos posted this year, these 18 represent the most viewed here and on Flickr, along with a few of my personal favorites. My overall best for the year is “What’s in Your Bag?” (right). This entry for a Digital Photography School contest netted a personal record 1700+ views here and 200+ on Flickr, plus it was a blast to light and shoot it.
Looking through the photos from this year, I was reminded of a lot of fun times and how much I’ve learned in the process. Have a happy new year filled with great photos!
From 105 posts in 2008, here are the top 10 in terms of comments and impact to both author and audience, in no particular order:
The coming of the new year brings thoughts of new goals and resolutions. Before jumping into the future, though, it’s always a good idea to take a look at the past and how plans for the past year panned out.
500 contest winners get mortgage relief, including me! Thanks to the power of the Internet, the Associated Press picked up my blog entry about ING’s mortgage contest. The actually did email me for additional comments, but I was out snowboarding and didn’t have a chance to respond. In any case, they found a compelling main story and quoted me later in the article:
Another winner, Matthew Botos, wrote on his blog that he was a winner of ING Direct’s “own little bailout contest.”
“I figured they’d get plenty of sob stories and I’m already paying $700 billion to bail out irresponsible borrowers and lenders, so my essay implored them to take a contrarian view and reward a responsible citizen,” he wrote.
He posted his winning contest entry, in which he states: “I personally have lived within my financial means, made savings a priority and accepted the necessary sacrifices. My mortgage is still small; my car is old but paid off, and I’ve eBayed old electronics to fund new toys without ever carrying a credit card balance.”
Here’s my full essay. Google shows the article is running in a number of papers; if anyone has a chance to grab a hard copy, I’d appreciate it.!
I found out this week I’m one of the winners of ING Direct’s own little bailout contest; based on my essay, they’ll be making my next mortgage payment! I figured they’d get plenty of sob stories and I’m already paying $700 billion to bailout irresponsible borrowers and lenders, so my essay implored them to take a contrarian view and reward a responsible citizen:
For this year’s Christmas card, I wanted to do something unique and creative to exercise the photographic muscles I’ve grown this year. From a few related concepts, I settled on having Meadow playing with a Christmas ornament ball that I happen to be stuck inside.
I spotted these on the table during an Agile Philly meeting at LiquidHub:
Custom templates like this are a great way to make sure all the information you need for a story and task is recorded; I’m looking into having similar custom Post-Its printed for my group.
I’ve ordered cards and calendars from Shutterfly in the past and been pleased, but they came up short on this year’s Christmas card. As is family tradition, I always send a card and a letter recapping the last year. After awkward attempts to print the letter inside the card the last few years, I reverted to doing them separately. All I needed on the cards was a single image printed to the edges and a quick greeting inside.
Despite the fact that the image was cropped exactly for the size of the card and looked fine in the previews, the top 1/8″ wrapped over the fold onto the back. So I called their support number and spent a while explaining to the non-native English speaker on the other end what I had been and the problem. Under their satisfaction guarantee, she agreed to reprint them.
One of the challenges of making money in an increasingly crowed digital photography market is finding ways to distinguish yourself and your products. Printing photos on canvas is one way to do so, offering people a unique piece of art that can’t be found at the drugstore lab.
Many online printers offer canvas prints, with options to stretch them over a wooden frame ready for hanging or wrap the print around the edges for a more modern look. The two main techniques are printing directly on the canvas or printing a transfer that’s pressed onto the canvas with considerable force. Pricing varies widely from retail to wholesale and low-end to high-end. One of the vendors suggests that since canvas is a “premium” product, you can add a greater markup to your own prices.
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