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Greetings,
Last week my wife and I visited her sister and brother-in-law in Phoenix. I got to lounge in their pool, catch a Mariner's Spring Training game, and "enjoy" the unseasonably hot weather (those were sarcasm quotes - I really don't like the heat).
And if you follow my Facebook page you would have seen me in the pool, showing my most photogenic side.
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I think you need a website
How do you share your photos with friends, family, work colleagues, or the occasional stranger you meet in the field while photographing?
Some people use Facebook. Others use services like Flicker, Google+, SmugMug and the like. And while all of these work for image sharing, they're not yours. What I mean is that while these sites can present your images, they can't really present you.
And when using these sites, you're tied into their terms of usage, which might even mean that they can use images that are posted to their service.
These are just a couple of reasons that I believe any serious photographer should have their own website. I've got even more reasons over on my blog.
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A new workshop idea
I've also been contemplating a website creation workshop (coincidentally). Nothing super technical, but it would cover solid basics of setting up your own photo website using either WordPress or The Turning Gate Lightroom plug-ins (or a combination of both).
Basically, if you can operate Lightroom or you know how to move files around using Windows Explore or the Mac Finder, or if you use Facebook, you're technically prepared create your own basic website.
If there's enough interest I'll see about trying to create it and schedule it for this fall or winter. It would cover things like coming up with and purchasing a domain name and hosting, using FTP to upload files to your site, installing WordPress, and choosing and using WordPress themes and gallery plug-ins.
I'd also cover installing and using the TTG plug-ins to create a site from Lightroom.
The goal would be for each participant to finish the workshop with a live, working website that you can add to and improve upon.
This will probably be limited to about six people.
Be sure to let me know if such a workshop would be of interest to you.
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Rolling Hills of the Palouse
There are still spaces available in both of our Palouse workshops. Take your pick: Photographing the Palouse or Digital Workflow with Lightroom. Or both. There's a discount for taking both.
The Palouse in on many a photographer's bucket list, and for good reason. It's hard to beat the graphic landscapes, old barns, old cars, and other old and quirky "stuff."
For details, visit the Palouse page on my Workshops site.
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Olympic price reduction
I've also recently reduced the price of our Olympic National Park workshop. Like the Palouse, this one is a two-part workshop. The first part is all about photographing Olympic and the second is all about learning Lightroom (while still getting some shooting in).
Olympic is my favorite park and, being practically in my back yard, the one I know the best. This will be my…..jeez….15th year? leading workshops to Olympic. Hope you can join us for all the mountain, wildflower, wildlife, beach, lake, waterfall, and rainforest fun.
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Oregon Coast
 The central Oregon Coast is one of my favorite photo destinations. Lighthouses, harbors, nets and fishing boats, crashing waves, the aquarium, seafood…And this year you might even get to meet Bailey the Labradoodle. Yep, she may just be making a cameo appearance.
Space is still available for this workshop that not only features the great scenery and subject matter, but some extra time in the classroom learning Lightroom.
Find out more on the Oregon Coast page
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Auroras
 There are still three spaces available in our Aurora photo tour this September in Yellowknife.
Last year's trip was exhilarating. This year I'm planning on taking some aurora video, if I'm not so excited that I forget how to do anything other than go slack-jawed. My Nikon D810 is rumored to take some pretty good video capture so I should probably put that to the test. I may even need to clamp my GoPro to my tripod and try that as well.
Either way, I'm excited to see the auroras again.
And we won't be just photographing auroras. The fall color near Yellowknife is spectacular and there are waterfalls, lakes, and plenty of subjects around Old Town to photograph too.
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Lightroom 6
So Lightroom 6 is just around the corner, From the rumors, I thought it would have been released by now. And when it is released I just may jump into the Photoshop CC waters. That $9.99/mo deal Adobe has for Photoshop and Lightroom looks to be a better deal than upgrading Lightroom and Photoshop (back in the CS days) every couple of years. Plus you get the latest Photoshop. Not that I'm using Photoshop as much as I used to. It would still be nice to have the latest version though, just to be up to date. And it includes Lightroom Mobile. I'm not really sure about the utility of Lightroom Mobile. I did try it out a bit during its development but I could never really see what I would use it for. Your mileage may vary.
Anyway, I understand that LR 6 comes with better performance, though I hear that this performance boost doesn't really extend to the Web Module, where I spend a lot of time. Too bad. The poor Web Module doesn't get the love it deserves.
Well, that's about it. My first workshop of the year, the Columbia Gorge, is in about a month. I'm looking forward to re-photographing some things with my D810 as well as grabbing a latte at the Multnomah Falls coffee stand. There's still room if you want to join us!
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