Author: Leslie Burns

Interesting use of media (billboards) here.

(Thx Brandon)

Here is an interesting series of lectures from MoMA on the history of the printed image…free, via iTunes.

While I’m hitting the books hard for my exams (they start Saturday!), you can enjoy these lectures about the history of print making and images as distributable objects. Enjoy!

I can’t stand marshmallow Peeps, but they do make for some interesting art.

(#10 is one of my faves just for the caption…)

Btw, I am breaking my own rule here and not even looking at the T&C for the contest. Some days you just have to enjoy the results of some other people’s work without thinking too hard. This is one of those days.

Okay, I think you should be creative in all your marketing materials, but if any of you gives this guy and his thoughts/attitude any credence whatsoever, I will personally smack you upside the head.

If you are looking for ideas on how to build your business, or how to estimate better, or how to build and use a good list, then you need to check out the Livebooks site. Their events page lists all sorts of helpful events–from ASMP meetings to webinars to, well, you name it.

Offering help like this, without demanding something in return (you don’t have to buy anything to access the listings!) is a great idea. It pays off for everyone.

I’m hearing from some (smart!) photographers that they are looking for ways to give to their local creative communities in these tough times. They’re not asking for or demanding anything in return (although they may get business from some of the things), nor are they giving away their creativity or licenses.

What they will do is build honest good will, and that is priceless in the long run.

Now some of the more cynical readers out there will poo-poo all of this as some sort of cultural manipulation or look for underhanded reasons for acts like these. Why not just look at the good side? Livebooks is offering information you can use. Use it, say thank you, and try to pay it forward.

I am rapidly heading into final exams for this term and, accordingly, I will probably be a bit more sporadic in the postings until they are done. That will be around the 25th of this month. Please accept my apologies for that, in advance.

On the good side, however, is that after those exams are done (and I’ve had a few days to recover), I will no longer be a lowly 1L. That means that I will be permitted to start working again! Huzzah!

So, if any of you have been waiting to do a Test Drive or a Tune-Up, I will be able to start working with clients again soon. I’ll post more about that, as well as update the BAP website, when that happens.

Also, I will be getting back to recording the Creative Lube podcasts. I’ve had several people tell me that they miss those and I have missed doing them.

So, a lull for the short term, then things will get more active. Although I will be taking classes over the summer, I will also be available to help clients, and I look forward to that like you wouldn’t believe. 🙂

Thank you to everyone–for being patient and supportive during this first academic year!!!

Go to this TONIGHT!! APA legal panel discussion.

Former ASMP President Susan Carr and Gary Cialdella are offering a weekend workshop to develop your portfolio. If you can get yourself to Kalamazoo, go. I’m sure it will be worth your time and effort…and the price is a hell of a deal!

I LOVE this. Someone has invented an app (OSX only…sorry PCers) that blocks email and other internet distractions (you set which ones) for a specific period of time (again, that you set). You can’t get out of it without restarting your Mac.

If you are like so many people, this will be a godsend. Start in small increments to wean your way off obsessive email & Facebook checking. Watch how much more productive you become!

After hearing the hue and cry of the photographer community, the Copyright Registry has made significant changes to their copy and contract terms. I think we, as a community should applaud these changes and the spirit in which they were made.

Are things perfect? No, of course not. But I don’t expect or demand perfection and, frankly, neither should you. I see too many photographers (and other creatives) dig their heels in unreasonably about some issues that, well, aren’t really issues. This is cutting off your nose to spite your face, as the old saw goes. What has been fixed is important and, though I still think the URL choice was poor on their part (for example), that just isn’t important in the big picture. What they fixed was important.

What is most important is that they listened to the community and tried to make things better for everyone involved. They had their position, but they were willing to listen to others and reframe that position. That is a good way to handle challenges and, frankly, mistakes.

Unfortunately, the community doesn’t seem willing to act in the same way. That is, there are some people who are still calling for this company to stop its business or something. They aren’t giving the Registry folks any space to be human and to have simply screwed up. Maybe they took steps to get input from the photo community before they launched but still ended up not presenting in the best way they could have–would that make a difference in your mind? It should.

Wishing them to fail is acting just like those people who are hoping for Obama to fail. Even if you don’t like everything about something, that doesn’t mean you can’t take the good and wish them the best, because maybe their success is really a good thing for you in the long run.

Maybe this is some of my Buddhist readings and maybe some of it is my law school training, but I just do not see where constantly attacking and being negative will get us anywhere. We talked, they listened, they made significant changes–why not just celebrate that and move on? In the long run, services like the Copyright Registry have the potential to be extremely helpful for creatives. Let’s try to keep on the path to make that goal a reality and not get sidetracked by some obsessive need to be 100% right and, worse, to win just for the sake of winning.