True, we have been a bit lax in getting our posts out to the site, due to 10 days of non stop shooting in Austin, Texas.
We want to give the behind the scenes info on what goes on at the hottest festival around, in our opinion, SXSW.
With 3 sections, somewhat overlapping, categories of seminars, screenings, performances and conversations, you can come to one city, Austin, Texas and get a full helping of Interactive, Film, and Music in a 10 day period.

There were keynotes from the CEO of Twitter and conversations about becoming a professional photographer.
That one we were very interested in, but the info fell a bit short. Designed as a conversation, only a few joined in.
On the plus side met a ton of photogs in the room.

You could learn how the latest social media apps could help your business, no matter what profession you were in.
And there were celebs screening new movies, panel discussions with the directors of Zombieland and Cloverfield, plus music.

Raphael Saadiq © Damon Webster

How about Smokey Robinson, Raphael Saadiq, Broken Bell and Cheap Trick? No?
Then maybe Citizen Cope, The Drums, She and Him, Dawes, and Hole is more to your liking.
The point is that you get immersed in so many things in short span of time, that your senses get filled, and for us, so do the memory cards.

And the portable darkroom was working all of the time:

Yep, we were shooting the whole time, and had some very good access, thanks to the SXSW festival press people.

Cheap Trick © Damon Webster

The first 3 songs in the pit in front of the stage, per performer was what the shooters were allowed.
Most of the time. Cheap Trick gave us one, and Smokey only two, but it helped you think fast and pick your spots.

Tigs © Damon Webster

The smaller venues had some incredible talent , as the lead singer of Chew Lips, Tigs, gave a sweaty performance to a packed house at Maggie Maes.
Most shooters used the same compliment of lenses: 24-70, 70-200, and some very wide variation on the low end.
When the stage was lit with red light though, we all knew it was gong to be some trouble getting the shot.
You either had to grin and bear it, or go B&W. We’re looking at some of that now.
It’s funny though; the bands come to SXSW to get press and noticed, when the red stage lights come on, the photography is worse than tough.
We were rocking a Nikon D3s for part of the festival, thanks to the people at Nikon.
What a machine. more on that later.

We’ll be going into depth later this week on some of the very cool shooters we met in the pits.
A camera comraderie to be sure.

We brought a lot of gear to try and review while on a 10 day shoot, and we quickly found out what was working and what wasn’t. More to come on all of that.
When you have one shot to photograph a legend like Smokey Robinson, you don’t want to guess on your gear.

Small note: photographed a rocker we had shot when we were very young. Tried to get a similar angle. Posting “then and now” later this week.

Thanks for hanging in, very sorry about the tardiness of the posts but it was 20 hour days for the whole time.
The last thing at the end of the night was to ingest, edit and post the photos and it was a great way to end every day.
Think we’ll do it again.

We couldn’t resist offering this set again.
You came out in force to get this so in fairness, we had to do it one more time (at least!)

We’ve been on an educational binge lately.
The tools at our disposal in the digital world of photography are truly mind boggling.
The computer that you call a camera, has so much capability that most of us never unleash, you may be missing some creative tools in your kit. You have to get that secret knowledge unlocked. Sometimes it comes from a specific need, sometimes just a random exploration.
OK, maybe it’s not secret but there is so much of it, it might as well be.
It’s kinda like Photoshop – don’t think that most of us have even scratched the surface of what it is capable of.
Just make sure you use it for good.
JK.
So we are offering up Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Boxed Set, one of the best, plain speaking, photo teachers and writers out there today.
His series of 3 books on Digital Photography, contain photo tips in a very manageable bite-size form.
Pretty much one on a page so you can flip through the book anywhere and land on some good info.
We dig the format, and think you will too.
Or, if you already know it all, it’s is an outstanding gift for someone just getting into the zone.

As always, this is a special offering for our NEWSLETTER subscribers only. Just make sure you are signed up by the evening of 3/16/2010.
Full details will be in the 3/17/2010 email delivery, along with some additional coverage of the SXSW Interactive festival in Austin, Texas, that we just haven’t had the time to post here yet.
A chance to get this boxed set for free, newsbreaks, and a cheery greeting from us. Mid-week never sounded so good.

If only we could email you coffee and muffin, it would be all set.

Huge crowds began pouring into Austin ,Texas today for the SXSW festival.
Covering Interactive, Film and Music, of course the first folks we meet on the plane are Philip Bloom and his fiance Sara, both photographers, but Philip is here to do 2 presentations on shooting with HD DSLRs .

So it was a lively plane ride and we hope to attend the talk. He promises to bring about 6 different varieties o camera and we’ll see what the crowd thinks.
We still want RAW motion files, but….

Our cameras have been tagged an we are ready to go into the fray tomorrow, and hope we can bring some news of interest to our community.
We are carrying a bunch of gear to do some real world reviews, so we’ll see how it all works when you have to get a shot. Black Rapid straps, Olympus PEN-2, Gigtube, portable hard drive storage, and more. The only way to know if something works is to test it in the fields. SXSW is a pretty cool field.

There will be a lot of interactive and social media conversations, and at the very least, good pointers on promoting your photo businesses.

Well, we’re off for some BBQ and libations, before the crowds get too crazy.

More on our twitter feed to come as well as our Facebook page.

What we really mean to say is that Delkin products ( the Archival Gold DVD, Fat Gekko people) has come up with a few things to make your life on or near water a little better.

At PMA a couple week ago, they were showing off a waterproof bag, the Jellyfish, for your smartphone or point & shoot, complete with a floatation device AND a bottle opener. Hmmmm.. I guess so you can drink, swim and shoot/txt. Careful with the drunk photos/txt combo.
Just saying.
Have you ever gotten a memory card wet? We have.
They were showing of a new CF card, Combat Flash, that is sealed from the inside and they claim you can drop it into a cup of coffee and it’ll still work. Just dry it off first, of course.
Can’t wait to try that out.
There was one more product that belongs in the Fat Gekko family, The Gator Clamp, that is a simple vice clamp, with rubber protectors on the feet, that has a ball mount type pole that allows you to put a speedlight, small camera or anything you want. where you want.
We’ve seen a few iterations of this type of too, but the construction here was very solid and the option of the toothy vice grip rubber protectors so you don’t chew up someones nice door or table.

Anyway, you can see em all right here in this video:

The Hot Shoe Diaries is written by Joe McNally and may be the best handbook on using speedlights out there.
(Not to be confused with Red Shoe Diaries, an adult series on HBO in the 90’s hosted by David Duchovny)
While you may not use the bagful of flashes that Mr. McNally uses, he will give you solid instruction in using the one(s) you do use.
A noted photographer in many categories, we first got to know him through his series of portraits of first responders of 9/11 in NYC.
That series of Life size Polaroid photographs toured the country and became a emotional photographic symbol of the people left standing, who ran towards danger to helps those in need after that horrific tragedy.
Unfortunately Faces Of Ground Zero: Portraits Of The Heroes Of September 11, 2001
is a book that has gone out of print, but you can get used copy for about $20. We recommend it.

The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes

will give you a great set of lessons form the noted photojournalist, and you will begin to get the best out of your speedlight.
He is somewhat brand agnostic in his teaching, although he is a noted Nikon shooter.
Build a backyard studio,learn the best techniques for shooting with your flash off of the camera, and articles like these:
Up on the Roof
How to Light a Fence
Cheap Arena Lighting
Make the Sunrise
Light as a Feather
Father Pre-Flash
The “Killer Flick of Light”
How to Light an Elf
Make the Available Light Unavailable

With a great style of teaching, Joe McNally has been a photojournalist for over 30 years, and is a teaching mainstay at many of the camera trade shows.
A book that should be on your shelf, we have one to give away this week.
Full details will be in the NEWSLETTER, so make sure you have subscribed by Tuesday night to be eligible for this giveaway.
And remember, if you do opt out, you can’t use the same email address to opt in again.
We’ve had folks who weren’t interested in one weeks NEWSLETTER but wanted to get back on, and couldn’t.
Just the system that we use.

Many more videos to come and we’ll let you know what’s up in the NEWSLETTER. We try to break stuff there first.