SDuffyPhotography.blog

Welcome ProPhotoLife Readers!!

For those of you that are coming to my blog for the first time from ProPhotoLife, I’d like to welcome you and thank you for visiting! As you may already have read, I am currently in India on business for my day job and doing my best to capture some great images! This is an incredible experience! There are so many extremes and variations of the human condition in such close proximity to each other, it’s astounding! I am blogging when I can, though it has been somewhat limited due to slow bandwidth in our hotel and, of course, I am actually supposed to be “working”, but I am doing my best to upload some new images and information as often as possible. Tomorrow, we’re heading to Delhi for two days and then we will be returning to the United States. Again, as you may already know from the ProPhotoLife profile of me, within a week of returning to the States, I am taking off on another promising photo journey in the West Bank. So stay tuned for, what I hope will be, some great photos!

In the meantime, you can read my other India posts here:

Globalization Central - Day One

Photos From Bangalore - 22/05/08

Haunted by a shot I didn’t take

Faces of Bangalore

If you’re interested in following me on my journey towards a career in photojournalism, I invite you to subscribe to my blog! You can subscribe with your RSS reader by clicking here or you can subscribe via email by clicking here! I hope you enjoy your stay!

As for my current readers, I invite you to check out the profile of me over at ProPhotoLife. Jim over at ProPhotoLife has been busy profiling photographers who are at different stages in their careers. I was lucky enough to be profiled as one who is aspiring to turn professional. Thank you Jim! I am deeply honored!

If any of you haven’t checked out ProPhotoLife before, do it now! It is an invaluable resource for photography and the photography business.

Tags: me, photojournalism, profile, welcome

Nearing the end of the road for an old friend

I try not to post too much “personal” stuff here since this is a photography blog meant to chronicle my journey from amateur to professional. But sometimes, things just come up and divert your attention for a little while.

Almost 9 years ago, a little puppy came into my life. I had decided that I wanted to buy a dog. I had never owned a dog before, at least not on my own. I was living in Pittsburgh at the time and I traveled all the way over to Philadelphia to inspect a new litter of Doberman Pinschers. I had always been impressed by Dobermans. Not because of their reputation but, because, they just looked so majestic and intelligent. I remember remarking to a friend at the time that they always looked like they were “in uniform”. When I arrived at the breeder, I remember opening the door to the little stall where all the new puppies were. I had no idea how I was going to pick from so many adorable little puppies. However, within a minute of sticking my head into the stall, one puppy decided to stop fooling around with his brothers and sisters and came over to greet me. That was it. My new little boy. I decided to call him Sieger, a German word for victor or champion. He was German after all, right?

He lived with me for about two years until I decided it was time to move back to DC to further my career. I had gone to school in DC in the early ’90s and I had been dying to come back. Unfortunately, though, trying to find an apartment that accepts what had turned into a 90 pound dog wasn’t easy. After some serious consideration, I decided to give him to my mother, who was living in upstate New York at the time. She is the quintessential dog lover and the only person in the world who I trusted to take care of my little boy.

Within a couple years, she moved to Frederick, MD, about 45 minutes from where I lived in Arlington. He’s been with her for about seven years now. I hated giving him up but I would still got to see him fairly often when Mom and I would get together and it was obvious that he was much better off. It was a much quieter suburban setting with all sorts of new dogs to play with. He was happy.

Just this week, however, Sieger was diagnosed with osteosarcoma. Bone cancer. He had been having trouble with his left hind leg but, initially, everyone, including the vet, assumed it was a torn ACL or a pulled muscle. I saw him on Sunday and, other than being a little grumpy and unable to use his hind leg, he seemed like himself. This week, though, my mother returned to the vet where they discovered that, not only did he have bone cancer in his left hind leg, but the cancer had already spread to his lungs. Had it just been the leg, they could have immediately amputated it and he could continue his life as a happy, if somewhat hobbled, dog. Unfortunately, that’s not the case anymore. It’s past the point where they would recommend even treating it. So, he’s on painkillers for now and that seems to be making him fairly comfortable.

I’ll be heading up to my mother’s place in the next couple days to take some pictures of him since there is a significant chance that he may not be around when I return from India at the beginning of June. I’m sure I’ll be posting those photos here.

Anyway, I apologize for the slightly off-topic, slightly depressing post. But I appreciate you taking the time to read it.

Tags: cancer, dog, sieger

Friday Link Love - Special Edition

Back in February, I tried something out as a way to thank all the people who read this site, particularly those that take the time to comment on it. What I did is I went back through all the comments that had been left on this site and posted a link to the person’s website in a Special Edition of Link Love. Well, I think it’s about time to do that again…

The last time I did this, there were 193 comments on my site and, if I’m not mistaken, I only had around 60 subscribers. Today, there are almost 600 comments and almost 300 subscribers! Thank you all very much! The best part of this whole ‘blogging’ thing has been meeting so many new and talented people!

So, here are the websites of all the people who have left comments on my site since February 27th, the last time we did this… Please visit some of the sites below, you’ll be glad you did!

This is in reverse chronological order starting with the most recent…

• Michael Palmer Photography
• Pics And Stories
• Grayfilm Photography
• Aperture Image
• trickybits (Flickr stream and Vimeo site)
• All Day I Dream About Photography
• 365 Days [and learning]
• Jen Weaver Photography
• Alpha Photo’s Flickr Stream
• Chris Ridley and 11th Studio
• EpicEdits Weblog
• kRiZ cPEc Photo Blog
• Art of the Firebird
• Antishay Ventenne
• CallMike.org
• Photo Notes: Photography by Patty Hankins and Bill Lawrence
• Jason D. Moore Photography
• Your Photo Tips
• KP Images
• Kingston @ RedBubble
• The Falcon’s View
• Pinay and Photoholic
• Photo-Projectz
• Justaexposed.com
• AlaskaTeacher’s Photostream
• Beau A.C. Harbin Photography Photoblog
• Martin Pot - Photography Blog
• WadeW FriendFeed
• Some Mac Blog
• Words For Hire
• Heathervey on MySpace
• Visit England
• Jeff Nyveen Photography
• Heninger Fotographik
• PhotoWalkPro
• Lockergnome - Chris Short
• frasersfotos
• Meaghan Gay Photography
• Juha Ylitalo Photography
• Alcove de Anggur
• kajatl’s Photostream
• Lilahpops: Plunging into Photography
• Forensic Photoshop
• Running and Travels
• Fotokoll.se
• My Camera World
• One Way Photoblog
• Photographic Eye
• My GPS Camera Phone
• Mark Anderson Photography
• Royston Kane Photography
• FarhaFoto.com
• Ulla_Hennigs Fotoblog
• cskeers’ Photostream
• The Village Voice

Again, thank you sooooo much to all my readers and commenters. This has been a blast and it really is all because of each of you. Thanks!!

Did I leave yours out by mistake? Have you left a comment on this site since February 27th? Let me know and I’ll add you to the list.

Tags: comments, links, readers

Where’s Shawn? Wanna blog?

Just a quick update in case many of you were wondering why the slower frequency of posts this past week. First and foremost, work has actually kept me pretty busy. I’ve been trying to close out a few things before I go on vacation next week and, as a result, I really haven’t gone out to shoot since last week.

But despair not! I am extremely excited about some upcoming photo opportunities coming my way and I’m looking forward to sharing them all with you…

Where Will I Be? And Why?

Short answer… All over the place. Long answer below:

- Next Friday, my girlfriend and I are heading to Paris, France for a week. I’m sure I don’t need to tell anyone with a camera how excited I am to photograph this city.

- Within a week of returning from Paris, I am tentatively scheduled to head off to India for two weeks on a work trip. Even though the trip is really for my day job, I will definitely be bringing my camera equipment to document as much as I can.

- Finally, within a month of returning from India, I’ll be heading off to Israel/Palestine for a couple weeks to do some volunteer work with kids on a refugee camp. I will likely spend a day in Tel Aviv and 2 to 3 days in Jerusalem before heading to a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank for two weeks. I am considering putting up a small, low-overhead blog to document my day-to-day adventures in Palestine. I’ll certainly be letting everyone know once I decide.

I’m actually brainstorming some journalism-type mini projects that I could work on while I’m in India and the West Bank in the hopes of building a respectable portfolio.

If you have any ideas, suggestions or specific things you’d like to see documented while I’m in any of the countries above, you can contact me here or leave a message in the comments below.

The Bad News

Due to the timing of my India trip I had to withdraw my registration for Artomatic 2008. I simply wasn’t going to have enough time to put together a decent display. However, if you’re interested and you live in the DC Metro area, registration is still open.

Also, as I mentioned last week, I am also still working on a new project that will hopefully be launched soon. I’m wrestling with the timing of it only because I don’t want to be out of the country in its first two weeks of existence. More info coming soon…

The Good News!

Since I will have less time to post longer, in-depth articles for the site while I’m hopping from country to country, I’m looking for guest bloggers! Here are the rough conditions (and benefits):

1) Before and after the content of your article, there will be a small blurb about you with a link back to a site you specify. I can’t offer you an insane amount of traffic. My site gets anywhere between 200 and 500 visitors a day and I currently have about 240 subscribers. Not a whole lot but it might help a few people generate some new traffic or subscribers.

2) You can repost your article on your own site if you wish. I know how hard it can be to come up with a long, in-depth article and I want you to be able to use it as much as you can. After all, you wrote it! All I ask is that you link back to your content here… For example, a small blurb that says “This article can also be found…” with a link to your article on this site.

3) I can’t pay you. BUT I will let you embed your own ads in the content of your article. Just like the one above, for example. Perhaps one to two ads per article depending on the length of the post. We can work this out later if you’re interested.

4) Please proofread your content. I’m not going to have a whole lot of time to read, re-read, and re-read multiple drafts of the same story. I might make an editorial suggestion or two, or correct a mistake or two (we all make mistakes, right?), but if there are too many errors in spelling, punctuation or grammar, I may just turn down the article.

5) The normal rules of blogging apply… check your sources, reference your sources, credit images that aren’t yours, make sure your post is accurate, etc.

If you’re interested in submitting some content, please contact me below and make sure to include a link to one of your best articles so I can see your writing skills.

I know some of you have some fantastic blogs… I look forward to hearing from you!

1. Your Name(required)
2. Email(valid email required)
3. Website
4. Message(required)
5. Are you human?

 

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Tags: france, india, israel, me, palestine, paris, travel, west-bank

No Link Love today - New special edition coming!

I know I’ve gotten in the habit of posting the “Friday Link Love” articles but, unfortunately, this week I’m going to have to pass. The good news is that I have been busy working on a new project (and opportunity) for my fellow DC photographers. I’m hoping to break the news about this by the end of the weekend, so stay tuned!

Also, while we’re talking about the weekly Link Love articles, I wanted to let everyone know that I plan on doing a Special Edition of Link Love soon. The last Special Edition seemed to be a pretty big hit among my readers and, since my subscriber count has grown a bit since the last Special Edition, I wanted to give all my new readers a chance to get a little Link Love for themselves.

For the uninitiated, the Special Edition of Link Love is where I look back through all the comments that have been left on this site, and I post a list of links to all the websites of those who have commented. The next Special Edition will be a list of all the people (and their sites) who have left a comment since the last Special Edition. So, if you’re a new reader and/or you’ve never commented on the site before and want a link back, leave a comment somewhere on the site, and I’ll send a little link love your way within the next week.

Tags: links, readers, special-edition

Cameraphone Contest: Winning again!

I just got off the phone with the winner of the Project Cameraphone Contest, Christian (sir gixxer lot), and I have some incredible news! Instead of sending his $100 Amazon.com gift certificate to him, he asked that I send it to a young boy in the 9th grade named Trevor who is currently battling leukemia in Memphis, Tennessee. I got the address information and promptly sent a $100 Amazon gift certificate to Trevor on behalf of our Project Cameraphone winner.

You can read about Trevor here or watch a brief clip from the local news:

I am truly impressed by your generosity, Christian. You are a great person and you deserve a round of applause!

Project Cameraphone Winners!

As promised, it’s time to announce the winners of Project Cameraphone! Admittedly, the pool wasn’t as big as I would have liked. However, that doesn’t take away from the quality of the winners. I was blown away by the following entries and the fact that they were taken by cell phone cameras rather than a quality point-and-shoot or DSLR. Well done!

First Place

The first place photo, and winner of the $100 Amazon gift certificate comes from Flickr user sir gixxer lot and his Motorola RAZRV3xx:

Second Place

The second place photo, and winner of the $50 Amazon gift certificate comes from Flickr user Alpha Photo and his Sony Ericsson W810i:

Both great photos in their own right and, even more so when you consider they were taken with a cell phone.

Great job! I’ll be in touch with each of you shortly to give you your prize!

Tags: camera, cell, phone, project, winners

New addition to the SDuffyPhotography family!

No, no.. not a new baby. Even better! My incredibly wonderful girlfriend surprised me with a new lens!

If you recall from the interview I did last week, the one single piece of equipment I wanted to get was the Canon EF 70-200mm, f/2.8 IS lens. Well, I need wait no longer:

Friday, when I got home from work, my baby had a candlelit dinner waiting for me. Since I am going to be in the West Bank during my actual birthday, she decided to surprise me a couple months early with an unbirthday celebration! She made crab dip, lamb chops, and ribs and, in the gift bag on the table was a small, parabolic mirror (because every time we’re photowalking, I take a photo of one) and the new Canon lens.

She wanted me to have it now since we’re going to Paris in two weeks and she wanted me to have a chance to use it before we went. There was one other condition, as well. If some crazy stuff happens while I’m in the West Bank, I now have to promise to take photos from a distance instead of being right in the middle of it.

Anyway, just wanted to share…

Thank you baby!!

Tags: birthday, lens, me, west-bank

An interview with… Me!

A few days ago, Mike Palmer nominated me to be added to Jason Moore’s Photoshop and Photography Blogroll. As part of this process, Jason sent me an interview questionnaire that he sends to all new additions so that he can “introduce” new members to the community. I actually had a lot of fun filling it out and it made me think about my photography in a slightly different light.

You can read the online interview with me here.

While you’re there, be sure to check out the rest of Jason’s blog and the other sites on the P & P Blogroll. There are some incredible sites there!

Thanks Mike and Jason!

Tags: interview, me, photoshop

Reminder: Only one more week to submit cameraphone photos!

Just a quick reminder… You only have one more week to submit your best cameraphone photos! The prizes are a $100 and $50 Amazon gift certificate for the first and second place photos, respectively.

You can submit your photos to the Project Cameraphone Flickr group.

There aren’t too many photos in there now so your chances of winning are actually pretty good!

Brief refresh of the rules:

- First and foremost, the photos must be taken by a cameraphone… This could be an iPhone, Blackberry, Treo, or whatever. But it must be a cameraphone.

- Some post-processing is allowed but please leave the EXIF data intact. I need to be able to confirm that it was taken by a cameraphone of some sort. Yes, some of the more l33t among us can edit and/or fake EXIF data. But if you submit a 15MP photo claiming its from your dinky Samsung, the jig is up. Be honest.

- I don’t necessarily expect you to take a photo each day (though you’re certainly welcome to) but the photo must have been taken between NOW (February 11) and 31 March 2008. There is no limit on the number of photos you can post to the group.

- I pick the winners. At some point in the future, I will likely do a more community-driven contest but, for now, I want to keep it simple.

You can submit your photos here.

Tags: cameraphone, cell, phone, project