Photographer Makeover - Featured Vision

Jack Hollingsworth has been a well-known world travel photographer for about three decades. He was one of the first photographers to embrace RF (royalty-free) stock photography in the 90's. In the past decade, he's been a major contributor to more than a dozen stock agencies, and has build his own brands -- several with a specialty in Asian lifestyle.

A couple of years ago, Jack noticed his stock photo sales were starting to slip. Instead of just casually wondering what was happening, Jack decided to do some extensive research. Because he still had a steady income stream, he was able to take a year off from active shooting and study what was happening in the stock photo market.

Jack discovered that the emerging Web 2.0 Revolution was changing how corporations and publishers were using photography. Electronic media was quickly replacing print. Advertisers were starting moving away from traditional publications and more to Web sites that embraced social networking.

When I last met Jack, in November 2008 at a PhotoPlus conference in NYC, he was showing a digital slide presentation about these changes and hinting how he planned to re-invent himself (which he typically does about every five years).

That re-invention has started to reveal itself at his web site (after several months of hidden re-construction). He's now telling professional photographers how they can do their own Photographer Makeover and take advantage of the major marketing and social interaction shifts taking place in the Web 2.0 Revolution.

Photographer Makeover is a 4-day workshop bringing together the experience and advise of 10 top photographers and consultants. It promises to teach you a new way of seeing and working in the new hybrid, cross-platform media. If you miss the workshop, just continue to follow the makeover URL for an upcoming e-book.

The makeover is one of two boot camp / workshops that Hollingsworth will be doing this year. He also has plans for monthly webinars, and seven international photo tours for the community that follows his Web site.

You can also follow "Photojack" on Twitter.

Daily doses of Featured Vision can be found on my Twitter tweet: YourPhotoVision. They are also archived on Twitter, under the hashtag: fotoINSPIRED (#fotoinspired).

Featured Vision: getting publishing via Fotoblur

Fotoblur is an online photography community and a published magazine. Its focus is on artistic, progressive photography.

Anyone can submit digital photographs to Flotoblur. Published photos are selected by the Fotoblur community and Fotoblur Magazine editors. Selections made by the community determine which images are of the highest artistic quality. The Fotoblur is currently working on Issue 2 of the magazine.

The magazine typically has a 45-day submission period for each issue, followed by a 15-day selection period. During this 60-day period, members of the community can comment and vote for the images they like best. Members can also "promote" or list favorites on their own gallery. Statistics (views, votes, comments, and current ratings) are viewable to both members and the public.

Printed Magazine. After the selection period, the editors use the stats to make their final decision for the printed version of Fotoblur: Fotoblur Magazine. In order to present a variety of images (ie landscapes, waterscapes, street, portraits) Fotoblur Magazine editors make the final selections for publication.

The Fotoblur Magazine is a printed on-demand magazine by MagCloud. You and other visitors to the Fotoblur Web site can buy copies of the magazine. It is NOT available on newstands or by subscription. So far, only one issue, The Beginning - Spring 2009, is available (including an online preview). The cost for the 56-page magazine is just a little over $16. Comments from those that have ordered the magazine say that the printing quality is very good. Lance Ramoth, who has had images published both in Smithsonian and B&W magazines said, "The print quality ...actually exceeded my expectations. Each image is crisp and the color is amazing."

Unlike a "vanity" magazine which you could produce and publish yourself (using MagCloud), Fotoblur adds credibility, because your peers do the choosing. Fotoblur also provides exposure, promotion, and distribution that you don't have to pay for -- unless you want to buy some extra copies to give to your mom ;-)

Daily doses of Featured Vision can be found on my Twitter tweet: YourPhotoVision. They are also archived on Twitter, under the hashtag: fotoINSPIRED (#fotoinspired).