loose-change

Hi folks. Before we get started you can see that standing in for “Embarrassing Photo Thursday” is “Embarrassing Photo Friday.” The shot above was taken in Corfu, Greece (an island near the coast of Albania) when I was 19-years-old, playing in a funk band called “Loose Change,” (You can see the “Loose Change” t-shirt under my way cool sweat jacket that we all wore back then for no apparent reason). I spent the summer of 1980 playing with Loose Change at an outdoor rooftop lounge atop the Regency Hotel in Corfu (not a bad gig for a teenager). Pictured left to right are Loose Change’s bass player Alan Carmen, lead vocalist Marshall Gillon, and yours truly (on keyboards).

But before we get started…..
The award for most supportive Guest Blogger ever has to go to my buddy, sports photographer Mike Olivella, who spent most of Wednesday and part of Thursday personally answering follow-up questions posted here by readers, and answering personal emails from people who visited his Web site.

I’m just so impressed, not only with this excellent Guest Post (which garnered more than 60 comments), but with his commitment to my readers, and for both I’m very grateful. Mike really captured the spirit of what guest blogging is all about by sharing some inside info that few in the industry would divulge. My hats off to Mike, and a big thanks for all his time and involvement. Now, onto the news:

There’s a New Blog in Town
Larry Becker, NAPP’s Executive Director, has launched his own personal blog called “phaim” (pron. Fame), dedicated to “Street smart marketing, photography, and smart phones.” Larry is incredibly savvy at getting the most from his equipment, for finding deals on equipment, and for getting pro results using DIY gear and inexpensive solutions (his recent post on how he utilizes his inexpensive SB-600 flash is already making some noise), and I suspect his blog is going to become a must-visit for an awful lot of folks. Here’s the link—take a quick minute and check it out.

Free “Budget Safari” Online Seminar Coming June 16th
This sounds pretty cool; it’s a free online seminar (called a “Webinar”) called: A Budget Safari: Wildlife Photography at your Local Zoo—a roundtable with Julie Larsen Maher. The seminar is produced by Bogen Imaging as part of their “Bogen Cafe” series, and the seminar is free and everyone’s invited. Here’s the link with details and sign-up info.

Cut Off Day For Adding New Photo Walk Cities is June 18th
The final day to register to have a Photo Walk in your city as part of my Worldwide Photo Walk is Thursday, June 18th (about two weeks from now). After that date, we can’t accept any more requests from leaders for walks in new cities, but of course, you’ll still be able sign up to attend your local walk. By the way, here are some quick stats:

  1. We’re currently have over 9,000 photographers signed up for local Photo Walks
  2. There are now 676 active Photo Walks (contrast this with last year, when we had 236 cities by the official walk date. Just amazing!)
  3. We are proud to welcome Wacom, iStockPhoto.com and B&H Photo as official Photo Walk sponsors.

If you haven’t signed up to be a part of this photographic history-making event, why not? It’s free, and I really want you to join us on Saturday, July 18th. Here’s the link to get on board.

Catch my Photo Walk interview with Shawn King
Last week I did a radio interview with Shawn King of “Your Mac Life” (Shawn hosted a Photo Walk in New York’s Greenwich Village as part of last year’s World Wide Photo Walk), and the interview gives you some insights and background details surrounding the upcoming event (plus Shawn just always makes the whole thing fun, so you’ve gotta check it out). Here’s the link.

That’s it for today my friends. Here’s wishing you your best weekend of the year so far. I hope you take some shots, do something creative, hug somebody you love, and sing your favorite Bon Jovi song like nobody’s listening (well, at least that’s what I’ll be doing).