[photopress:aperturemagx.jpg,full,centered] For our last Weekly Giveaway of of 2007 we have 2 folks who will be enjoying a subscription to Aperture Magazine this year. And even if you didn’t win, it’s a mag you should be getting. Fine print quality, excellent choices of photographers, and overall, a top magazine that has been around for many years with good reason.
Congratulations to Allan C. of East Haven CT., and Molly H. of NYC.

[photopress:book_cover.jpg,full,alignright] And today we have a couple of free items right here for you:
Did you give someone a point and shoot digital camera and they are still stuck on the manual? Or have you been asked so many digital photography questions that even you aren’t sure of the answers?
One of our favorite authors, Laura Oles, has generously contributed some copies of her book “Digital Photography for Busy Women” which explains it all. Sure, the game keeps shifting from a bigger, better, faster, aspect. But Ms.Oles puts a real comfortable, easy to grasp, honest spin on the entire subject that will ease your mind.

I know it says it’s for Busy Women. Well, buck up guys, many of these books have been scarfed up by the men in the household. It’s a multi gender read.

And we’ll send 2 of these out to help make those new camera purchases a more productive thing.

You know, our basic thought is that the photo industry has not been as kind to the consumer as they could in the educational dept.. We are constantly on the lookout for things that will make it a bit simpler for everyone. There are 5/8 ” thick manuals I have for point and shoots that make me crazy. Can’t I just turn it on, take a snap and have it look as good as possible? True, do like the additional adjustments for special situations.
Take a look at Nikon’s DIGITUTOR site though. We feel that they have done one of the best jobs of simply explaining what the cameras do and how you can do it. Through most of their whole line. See what you think.

Sooooo….. to get a copy a free copy of “Digital Photograohy for Busy Women” send an email to damonw@photoinduced.com, put the word “Digital” in the subject line, clear your mind of frustrating instruction manual thoughts, add in a shipping address,and the 5th and 6th people to reply, will be sent the books.

And thats how we do it.

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(Some of you were hitting the “Refresh” button on the photoinduced.com HOME page and nothing changed. For like, 10 days. Read on for an explanation.)

Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas…whatever.
How about we call it the year end celebration? And perhaps throw in an assessment? And to be TOTALLY PC , we can say it’s about the lunar phase year end?

Here is what I ‘m talking about: Love the gifting, you know I do. But you know as well as I do the essence of this time of year, no matter what you celebrate.
As you take stock of all that is in your life ( a good time of year to do that) you should get your priorities figured out. Making that list and checking it twice, Heck, thrice if you need too.
Some suggestions-
Please hug your honeys.
Enjoy your close friends and keep them close.
Take every moment of your life and fill it.
With Something. Not a manic OCD type of filling. Rich, satisfying, challenging, enjoyable, smile making, soul enriching, sometimes easy as a comfortable clothes, sometimes scary and challenging.
You’ll be MUCH happier at the end of the day.

Because you never know when the end of the day is.

James Stewart thought he saw it in “Its A Wonderful Life”

Now I’m not trying to get all Baz Luhrmann (click for reference) on ya now.

But…..10 days ago, after posting the weekly email, getting the packages ready, figuring out upcoming goodies for the rest of the month, I fell ill.

Not thermaflu ill, but emergency surgery sick. Nothing you could see coming, Nor prevent.
Oh, back into the home office now. On the mend. Loving drawstring pants, going through about 3k emails , cards, etc…and have been composing this holiday message in my mind for a few days.Hope there is clarity.

Point being, you never know what life has in store for you. That’s not a trite statement, nor is a parable that I saw in a motivational poster on SkyMall.
It’s the real deal.

It is always my extreme pleasure to post new things for you here and help enhance your photographic life.
It took a brief respite, but now I’m back.

And I’ll add these to Mr. Luhrmanns lines:

Take tons of pictures that will help you share those memories for years to come.
Enjoy your new photogear.
Visit photo galleries and see the pure beauty of a print in person.
Peruse as many photographic books as you can and get inspired.
Back up every digital file in your life, but delete when necessary.

Best wishes to you and your loved ones.

Cheers!
Damon Webster

He wants to stay in town, you reap the benefits.

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After years on the road shooting, lecturing, spokeperson-ing, and generally living out of a suitcase, Vincent Versace has started a new company gathering some of the best talents in photography to bring you an upscale set of learning materials. And maybe he’ll get to stay home for a moment.

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He wrote the Best How To Book of 2007 (voted by Shutterbug) “Welcome to Oz” subtitled “A Cinematic Approach to Digital Still Photography with Photoshop” as he introduces a system for creating images with the blended thinking of traditional wet darkroom and digital one. Then there was his DVD on Capture NX for Nikon, which will now be included in all new D300 and D3’s.

His series Seeing is Believing has just expanded.

Each lesson provides you with the skills and knowledge to turn your ideas into reality, teaching you to make informed decisions at every step in the process – from the time you shoot an image all the way through digital processing and output. Each image is dissected and rebuilt, step-by-step, so you understand how and why each decision is being made. Full-resolution 16-bit source files and original 100ppi Photoshop files are included with every lesson. immersing you in both the workflow and the creative process.

The new set additions sprung right from his needs on the road.
“Retouching on a Laptop” and “Lighting on Laptop II” bring the student a brilliant primer on using Photoshop CS3 to it’s best advantage. The 3 DVD sets are way longer than the 15 minutes you’ll need after learning to properly retouch your photos on location, or in the plane/hotel room/ Starbucks after the shoot.

Joining this company are John Paul Caponigro, with his R/Evolution DVD series, and Lee Varis with his “Beyond Skin”.

How pro can you go? Take a spin with these DVD’s and find out. Or perhaps for the photographer on your gift list.

Hold on a sec…phone ringing…Yes? Hi Vincent…you want to WHAT?? That’s CRAZY!! Ok, it’s your stuff.

Well, that was Vincent. He wants us to give away 2 sets of new his Believing is Seeing series. Now when I say giveaway , that means free. BUT….once you see how good they are tell all your friends, write us an email, an let us all know what you think.

Deal? or no deal?

I heard that groan. My bad.

So this one will go out to everyone who reads this article. Just send an email to : damonw@photoinduced.com
Put the words ” Acme” in the subject line, let us know which set you prefer: look here for your choices: The fifth email reply for each will get this excellent set of DVD’s.

Ahhh….that felt good.

It may be really cold where you are, or a chilly 55 degrees at night as it is in LA, but nothing beats putting your feet up and watching a cool DVD. We hope we have something for everyone here this week: Movies/docs with photographers as the main protagonist /subject.

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With Henri Cartier-Bresson, W. Eugene Smith(which, for some unknown reason, is selling for $300. USD on Amazon), Edward Weston on the doc side, and Clint Eastwood and Julia Roberts on the drama side it’s a pretty full roster.
Full details on how to get one of these DVD’s for free will be included in this weeks NEWSLETTER. It’s a pretty simple process, and once you are signed up, you will be eligible for every weekly free giveaway. Books, DVD, Gear. That’s how we do it. And sometimes, we throw a surprise giveaway into the NEWSLETTER if we see something that we think you would dig.

Not this green:
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Or this green:
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But this green:
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Think about it: the media cards we use recycle the images, computers don’t add fluorocarbons, the batteries for the digital cameras are rechargeable.Most consumers use the internet to share images instead of printing, saving paper, inks and chemistry

Everything seems to be “green”. (apologies for the quotation marks…and these parentheses.)

OK, I’m sure there are the arguments on the other side for the energy used for the computers, charging the batteries, and recycling the computers as they become outdated as well as the cameras.

Fine. Be that way.

So are you helping save the environment when you use digital as opposed to toxic chemistry and film?

The aesthetics and feel of a wet print are are factor to be sure.
I was brought up on wet darkrooms and the physical touch of paper to developer filled tray had a magical touch as the image emerged.No question. But in learning the digital photography way of life, things have strangely become less messy. And more environmentally correct. Have a listen to Albert Watson on digital printing. This master has made the transition.You can’t argue with the quality of his work. Although he does shoot film. Half of the environment will be saved.

And there’s nothing wrong with being able to make a print in the light. Without running water.

Look, this is not a 10 year old discussion about that new fangled system.
It’s just that i have never really heard the ecologically correct aspect of the digital photography age brought forth.
Although I could have missed it. Too busy learning Photoshop.

I hope we can help spread the good word about green photography.And hope the rest of the photography press will join us in this. I know they hear us.

And I’ll be going to the Ecogift Expo in Santa Monica show next week for my holiday gifts. On my bike. Using my own hemp bag. Drinking water from my Sigg water bottle. ( no more plastic water bottles for me. A good idea for holiday gifts, by the way.)

You see, you may already be doing your part with digital, but you can always do a bit more.