Photo.net Newsletter: December 3, 2009

Hi %%First Name%%,

Here where I live in the USA, we survived the first wave of holiday madness. My family made it through Thanksgiving (we only had one dinner to go to this year), Black Friday (if it wasn’t online, I wasn’t interested), and Cyber Monday (who even noticed?). But the holiday season is well and truly started around here. Speaking of all that, why not check out the new Photo.net Deals and Discounts forum. There are a lot of photo deals out there this time of year that could save everyone money. More money saved equals more photo toys.

I’d like to welcome a few new and returning site sponsors to Photo.net. In today’s challenging economy, we are very pleased to be working with great photographic companies like these. In addition, speaking of saving money, most have some special deals going on right now:

• Tamron has a $25 rebate on their 17-50/2.8 XR VC Di II LD Asph lens.
• Canon is promoting new instant rebates on many cameras and lenses.
• Pentax offers $100 off select lenses with the purchase of a K-7.
• Bogen is giving up to $250 off on great, award-winning brands like Gitzo, Manfrotto, Kata, Litepanels, Elinchrom, Metz, Lastolite and Rotatrim.
• Mpix is offering 10% off your next print or product order.
• Focal Press is offering a 20% discount on all book titles, and is contributing book excerpts to photo.net from their extensive library.

The holidays can be tough on the old pocketbook, particularly with the slow economy we have today. We know that money is tight in a lot of households, which is why I’m glad to be able to say that virtually all aspects of photo.net are available for free to users. The companies listed above (and our dedicated Photo.net subscribers) are what make it possible for us to keep this site running. At the risk of sounding like a used car salesman, take the time to visit our sponsors and see what they have to offer. If you are going to order something, give our sponsors a chance to be your supplier. Everybody wins.

No matter how you celebrate this winter, stay safe, happy, healthy, and warm (or cool if you are one of our southern hemisphere friends).

As always, if you have any questions or suggestions, please send them to us directly at contact@photo.net. Enjoy the newsletter!

Sincerely,

Josh Root

Photo.net Chief Admin, Director of Community, and Mop & Bucket man

Click to get inspired by this year’s Canon rebate promotion.

Hey you, read some stuff!

What the Duck book review, Aaron Johnson interview, and contest

If you are a photographer and you don’t know about What the Duck, then you’ve been living in a cave. Make up for it by reading this interview and then buying Aaron’s new What the Duck book. No cash in your wallet? Enter the Photo.net/What the Duck contest and win the book and/or a signed print from Aaron.

• Read the What the Duck review/interview.
• Enter the What the Duck contest.
• Buy What the Duck (a W. T. Duck Collection) from Amazon.

Nikon D5000 Review

The D5000 is a strong addition to Nikon’s DSLR lineup. Shun Cheung, Nikon forum moderator, takes a look at the features and functions on this new camera, ideal for casual photographers who would like a small DSLR with current sensor technology as well as a few more controls and customizable features. The review includes hands-on tests, example images taken with the D5000 and side-by-side comparisons with other cameras such as the D3000 and D90.

Read the Nikon D5000 Review.

Pentax Forum Contest Winners

Last month Josh wrote about Pentax’s clever DA Limited lens case (read review here) and we had a small contest to give away a few of the cases. We asked people to simply write why it was that they had chosen Pentax cameras or what being a Pentax photographer meant to them. We got a ton of great replies that made for surprisingly enjoyable reading and it was hard to pick the winners. However, a contest needs a winner, so here they are:

Garry Ian Young – For his story that was more heart and soul than logic and reason.

Matthew McManamey – For his silly, but entertaining, way of pointing out so many of Pentax’s strengths.

Read all the Pentax contest entries here.

Photo.net Holiday Gift Guide

Just off the press: the Photo.net Holiday Gift Guide. We consulted with photo.net members and editors to see what were on their wishlists for the 2009 Holidays. This year, give the best photography equipment and accessories to your loved ones—all recommendations are organized by price category to ensure you’re not going overboard, or underboard in your holiday spending.

Great stocking stuffers can be found in the Under $100 category. The $100-500 category covers more expensive accessories perfect for the casual hobbyist, the explorer, the timid adventurer into the realm of photography. The $500-1000 category is reserved for that special someone who deserves a helping hand with their photography fascination, and the Over $1000 category is specifically for some very lucky ones (or yourself) on your list that have been especially good to you.

Read the Photo.net Holiday Gift Guide.

Featured Member Photographer: Mario Azevedo

For many photographers, the problem of “what to photograph” comes up at some point in our progression of skill. It is all too easy to say, “Well, I don’t have anything good to take photos of, so I cannot make any good photos.” But the fact of the matter is that you do not need to be traveling to far off places, surrounded by super models, or able to dive to the ocean floor to make great images. Great images are all around you every day.

That is why I have a particular respect for the work of this month’s featured member. Mario Azevedo excels in finding the extraordinary images in subjects and places that many of us would call nothing more than “ordinary”—places and subjects we all walk by and see often, perhaps even every single day. Mario has the eye to look deeper and say, “I can make something of this” and then does exactly that. It is a skill that many of us could stand to work on.

“Most times I start with some ideas of what I want to achieve and I head to the places I think are best suited to achieve that goal. But when I start photographing, and if I am in the mood, I soon forget everything and start working on a higher level of abstraction. I let myself be carried away and start doing things driven by intuition. Only at the end of the day I recall all the places I’ve been and situations I’ve lived during the session. Other times I stroll someplace with a camera and let the things happen in front of me and only then I choose what to shoot and how I would like it to appear. It is a more contemplative attitude, leaving the course of events happen before your eyes, acting only to freeze, with the camera, some of the details.” -Mario Azevedo

Read More »

Samples from Mario’s portfolio:

View Mario’s entire portfolio »

Special Deals from Adorama

The Pentax Optio W80—its waterproof design withstands depths of up to 16 feet (5 meters) to protect from rain and spills, as well as allowing full underwater photos and video for up to two hours. On dry land, the rugged, shockproof design protects against drops of up to 3.3 feet to protect the camera from hard use and occasional spills.

Also featuring 12.1 megapixels, a 5x internal optical zoom (equivalent to 28-140mm), a slim one-inch body and a wide angle 28mm lens, the Optio W80 offers an expanded perspective that is ideal for landscape, group and more confined shots. With a Pentax-developed imaging engine and a high-performance Pentax zoom lens, the Optio W80 delivers brilliant, high-quality images with well-defined details. A Super Protect (SP) coating applied to the mineral crystal cover of the internal zoom lens helps repel water, grime and finger marks.

Buy now from Adorama: Pentax Optio W80 [sale price $199.95 + free shipping, regular price: $319.95].

Other deals from Adorama:

• Canon Pixma MP990 Wireless Photo Inkjet Printer [sale price: $149.95, plus a $50 rebate with purchase of any Canon Digital Camera]
• Eye-Fi Pro Wireless 4 GB Secure Digital SDHC Memory Card with Auto Geotagging, ad HOC Uploads, Hotspot Access and Websharing [sale price: $119.95, regular price: $149.95]

Find great deals on thousands of other products at the Photo.net Adorama Store.

What’s Happening In Our Forums

• Film and Processing (68 Responses) Kodak product line, Please keep the variety!
• Pentax (49 Responses) Get your low-light kix with the K-x!!
• Canon EOS (73 Responses) Canon 7D or 5D?
• Leica and Rangefinders (54 Responses) Anyone Shooting Noctilux on the M9?

Go to Photo.net Forums »

Monthly Project: Holidays, Celebrations, and Parties

December is a big month for holidays around the world. From Christmas to Hanukkah to Kwanzaa to Al Hijra to Bodhi Day to the Winter Solstice and more, there are many reasons to get together with friends and loved ones in December. For many photographers, photos of these celebrations are both their most treasured and some of their best examples of “people” photography. Why? Because our friends and loved ones are the most likely to be comfortable with our funny photographic obsession. They don’t shy away when we pull out the camera because they have seen it so many times before.

So this month, I’m expecting a bit more. These should be photos with heart that really show the heart of these gatherings of loved ones. Be it midnight mass, solstice sunrise or stockings on Christmas morning, if you are there photographing those you care about, that care should show in your images.

See all of the Monthly Projects (and submission instructions) on the Monthly Project Index page. Also, be sure to take a look at last month’s Words to Image project page and see all the wonderful images that were uploaded. Here are a few that caught my eye:

Editors’ Picks

We have a new Editors’ Picks to peruse: Nature Photography. We selected some top Nature images from the extensive Photo.net Gallery—it was hard to choose as there are so many great nature images on the site.

Samples:

Also, take a look at some of the most popular Editors’ Picks from previous months:

• Astrophotography
• Beautiful Brides Photography
• Textural Photography