The BetterPhoto Girls Blog

Live Music and Movie Reviews

I've been seeing some wonderful shows lately. Recently, I saw Dan in Real Life with Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche.
Dan in Real Live -web site
What a sweet, entertaining, touching movie. It hit every note just right. The dialog was believable and genuine, and the characters seemed like people I'd like to know. Excellent show.

I also saw Lars and the Real Girl with Ryan Gosling.
Lars and the Real Girl - web site
Wow. So funny and odd and charming. The story was original and just drew me in. By the end of the film I felt that I absolutely loved these characters. I was very happy and satisfied with the ending, but I also would have been happy to sit a few more hours to see what would happen to them next. I also felt that I learned something about people who, for whatever reason, needed to be treated a bit more gently than the norm. Wonderful.

A third fantastic film I saw recently was Once with Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová.
Wikipedia - Once
Makes you want to play the guitar. I don't know weather to call it "music with a plot" or "movie with fantastic music". This film was done without a big movie budget, and it's all the better for it. Very real, very fun to watch, and I could hardly help myself from humming along with it.

And that last review leads me to a live music review of Once/The Swell Season. The people who played the main characters in the movie are actually musicians, rather than actors, not that I ever noticed they weren't professionally trained actors while I watched the film. They've taken their music from the movie on a tour called The Swell Season. And their show is fantastic!!! If you enjoyed the movie, the live show is simply not to be missed. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová are so personable, besides being incredible musicians. Glen has a great sense of humor and tells fun little tidbits between songs. The sound quality was perfect. And everyone at the Moore Theater in Seattle was having such a fantastic time at the show, we were all singing along with Glen during the last song. I can honestly say that I've never been to a concert like that. One of the best!

Beware: Cell Phone Numbers Now Listed For Public

Hi Friends!

I just got this email from my friend, Angela, and thought I should pass it along to everyone I know: cell phone numbers are going public tomorrow!

REMINDER... all cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies tomorrow and you will start to receive sales calls. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS.

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:

1- 888-382-1222

It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.

HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.

Lt. Betsy Lawrence
Redmond Police Department
8701 160 Av NE
Redmond, WA 98052
425-556-2661

Where Did the Girls of BetterPhoto Go?

Ok, you are saying, where the heck did you BetterPhoto Girls go?!? Why no blog communication for days and days? Well, fortunately, I've got a good answer. We've been too darn busy!

We put on our 3rd Annual BetterPhoto Photography Summit in Chicago, and it tuckered us all out. We worked so hard, and happily it all went so smoothly. Karen was in charge of the whole event and had been working on it for many months. It all paid off too, because, as several people told me, it was "seamless".

I loved visiting with the BetterPhoto Instructors in addition to the fun and friendly BP Members who were there. There are a few instructors who I am particularly fond of... I know I shouldn't say that I have favorites... so let's just keep this between you and me. Ok? You know who I love love love? Bruce Smith. He's hilarious, charming, sweet, humble, and has a delightful English accent. I also adore Kerry Drager and Ibarionex Perello. Fellows of great character and people I just trust. Isn't nice being around people like that? I also got to know Robin Nichols, who brought his delightful wife along from Australia. Thoughtful and easy to talk to. Brenda Tharp and Lewis Kemper also come to mind. They were both so fun and such great speakers at the event, I have to include them too. Jon Canfield carried my luggage. Ok, now I'm done.

But do you know what the best part of the event was for me? It was actually hanging out one night in our room with all of the BP staff. We were so tired and hungry, waiting for a Chinese food delivery, but we just sat and talked and laughed, and even played a 20 questions game. It was just so nice to be able to connect with everyone in person again. Since we are an online company, we've hired people from all over the US. It's all fine and good until you realize you haven't seen your co-worker in person for over six months. So, it was just a delight to connect with everyone again and have so much fun doing it!

BetterPhoto.com Partners with Big Brothers Big Sisters

Sisters © Karen Orr All rights reserved

Have you heard? BetterPhoto is building a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters. With their adult mentors (their Big Brothers and Big Sisters), ten Seattle teenagers will have the opportunity to enroll in a special beginning photography course at BetterPhoto.com. BP will also supply the teens with their own online photo gallery for their photos! As they set out for adventures with their mentors, they will have a blast learning and practicing their photography.

Would you like to share in the fun by donating your outgrown but perfectly usable digital cameras to these young people? We'd love to have your support!

Please send your donated camera (along with any available accessories) to the BetterPhoto office in Redmond:

BetterPhoto.com
attn: BetterPhotoMentor Program
16544 NE 79th Street
Redmond, WA 98052

If you have any questions, feel free to email maureen@betterphoto.com

And for more information check out this page at BetterPhoto.com

We are really looking forward to sharing our love for photography with these young photography enthusiasts.

Tori’s Bookmarks: Pandora Radio – Your Personal DJ

I love discovering new music to add to my iTunes library and one of the best ways I’ve found to do this is to create my own stations using Pandora. It’s fast, free, and easy to set up! The best thing about Pandora is that you can search for your favorite artists and/or songs and Pandora will automatically create stations for you with songs from artists (some you know, some you don’t) with similar styles. For instance, I really like Natalie Merchants songs so I created a station based on her song, “Carnival” and Pandora added tons of songs by Natalie and other artists based on this style. All I have to do is click play, turn up the volume and Pandora takes care of my play list.

That in itself is just downright cool. But, get this, you can also tell Pandora which songs you especially like and even those that you don’t particularly care for. When you give Pandora a “thumbs down” on a song it never plays it again. If you hear a song that you want to buy, you can link directly to Amazon or iTunes and add the song to your shopping cart. If you don’t want to buy the song right away you can just save the name and artist in a list that Pandora maintains for you.

You might have noticed that BetterPhoto is all about sharing so another feature of Pandora that I think is just awesome is that you can share your stations with your friends! Try it out at www.pandora.com. You don’t even have to create an account to enjoy it but I recommend you do so that you can listen on any computer, have your stations saved, and share them with your friends.

Photography Star at Fall Fair

This BetterPhoto Girl hit the road last weekend for my annual family gathering at my parents home on Mayne Island, B.C.

Through The Forest of Moss © Justin H. Taylor All rights reserved

Mayne is one of the beautiful Canadian Gulf Islands off the coast of British Columbia. Each year, my family gets together to celebrate summer birthdays and enjoy the century old traditional Fall Fair. One of the highlights of the fair is a photography contest, and one of the stars of the show is Justin Taylor.

Justin is an incredibly talented young artist and his award winning photography and drawings are far beyond the talents of most adults. A couple years ago, when I mentioned BetterPhoto to Justin, I found out that not only did he already know about BP, he was a finalist in our highly competitive monthly photo contest!

BetterPhoto member Justin Taylor © Karen Orr All rights reserved

Justin is inspiring photographers of all ages to challenge themselves in both the island contest, and ours here at BetterPhoto. His first prize winner, Through The Forest of Moss, from the Fall Fair on Mayne is just a taste of what is yet to come from this gifted guy. Check out his BetterPholio to see more of his great work!

Keep shooting Justin and I'll see you on the beach!

Karen

Events: Oct. 6-17 -- Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

Have you ever tried describing to someone an amazing sunset, or a harvest moon, or a child’s smile that just makes your heart melt? You know that, no matter how incredible the sight is to you, words simply are not enough. That’s how I feel when I try to describe the Balloon Fiesta to someone who has never attended. You get up at 4:00 AM on Saturday, yes the day you usually try to sleep in, to get your sleepy kids bundled up in warm clothes and deal with traffic that puts Los Angeles to shame only to be herded to a giant field where 30,000 other people are already waiting in long lines for hot chocolate and fresh cinnamon rolls.

I know that doesn’t sound like much fun but you have to trust me on this. When the sun rises over the Sandia Mountains somewhere around 6:40 AM, and your hands have found warmth by clutching the cup of hot chocolate close, and your family or friends are huddled together in a shivering bundle of hoodies and ear-muffs, you’ll know what I mean. You’ll know that there is no place else you would rather be.

Folks travel to this annual event from as far away as Africa, Japan, Russia, and other faraway places. And they do this every year. If you go — when you go — listen for the countdown. 10, 9, 8, 7... and look around you. Look at the children’s faces and how excited they are as they anticipate the “Balloon Glow” where every hot-air balloon on the field lights up at the same time. Oh, there is so much more I wish I could tell you about it. I haven’t even gotten to the special shapes, the delicious breakfast burritos, the art, and everything else. Well, you will just have to see for yourself.

The most photographed event in the world is coming up soon - October 6-17, 2007. Take your camera, tripod, and extra media cards. See the schedule, events, and guest guide (including travel information) here: www.balloonfiesta.com. Come mid-October I will be looking for your balloon photos on the BetterPhoto site!

Tori’s Bookmarks: Tafiti – Change the Way You Search

You know those statistics that tell us how many hours a year or years of our lives we spend stopped at red lights or tying our shoes or looking around the house for misplaced keys? I wondered recently how many hours I spend searching for things online. It must be a lot because my home page is set to Google. Actually, maybe I don’t want to know because the answer could be quite shocking.

Enter Tafiti. Tafiti is an amazing search page that allows you to search the web, books, blogs, news, and images. After you enter your search query you can drag and drop search results to the “shelf” on the left side of the page. You can name the search items on your shelf and return to explore them later. Even if you close the browser window and come back the stuff on your shelf is still there.

After I used Tafiti for a few search queries I was hopeful that I wouldn’t have to spend ten years out of my life searching for stuff online. Now, I just need to figure out what to do with all the free time.

See the FAQ’s here: www.tafiti.com/faq.html or give it a try at: www.tafiti.com.

Online Photography Course Review

Popular Photography (PopPhoto.com) has posted several in depth blog articles about the BetterPhoto online photography class they are taking with one of our instructors, Jim Zuckerman.

It's quite interesting to read a comprehensive photo course review from the student's point of view. Kathleen Davis (Assistant Editor and novice shooter) is learning a lot and having a great time in the class. She even shares some of Jim's critiques of her homework assignments. I feel like I'm learning as well, right along with her, as I look at her photos and read the critiques.

Click on the links below to read Kathleen's blog series called "Four Weeks to Become a Better Photographer":

• How the BetterPhoto Course Works
  
• BetterPhoto.com - Lesson 1
  
• BetterPhoto.com - Lesson 2
  

What is a Histogram?

As I've said before, I love my little Leica point and shoot camera. One of the cool things about it is that it shows the histogram on the LCD screen. When I push the shutter button halfway down to set the focus, several details, including the histogram, pop up on the screen. In the past, I've felt that I would not be interested in viewing this information. But I'm beginning to see a pattern when an image is overexposed or underexposed and how the histogram is correlating to this image. Jim Miotke explains the histogram as "a graphic representation of how each pixel in your picture is colored".

Here's one of Jim's images with a histogram overlaying the image.

Here's a short article on BetterPhoto.com that gives a brief description of what a histogram is:
Histograms: Not as Obvious Nor as Boring as You Might Think!

I had to pay attention to the histogram for some photos I was taking of the kids outside, in the later afternoon when the sun was bright and stong to one side. I let too much light get into the scene so my images were coming out completely overexposed. I saw the spike in the histogram and was able to reposition myself so that I didn't get too much light on Alex's face.