Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, January 19th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, January 26th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, February 2nd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
In my day job I work in a results oriented environment. As a part of the transition from old school, I was forced to write 'performance standards' so management had measurable results to rate my performance. It was exceedingly difficult for everyone to write. This document was created in the same vein, to give Photographers, the administrators, and anyone that may care, a document to measure the performance and effectiveness of the Newsvine Photographers administration team. Each main category is a 'key result' and the responsibilities are the standards used to measure that result. Look to each standard and ask, 'is this happening?' to measure effectiveness in a given result area.
First and foremost, all group administrators are regular group members and are just volunteering their precious available free-time. No one is compensated monetarily or in the employ of Newsvine. Each has demonstrated the desire and ability to perform administrative tasks for the benefit of the group's members. The administrators are: Ben Josephs (owner), MalamuteMan, rottlady, etva, and HollyKl.
The duty of the group administrator/moderator of Newsvine Photographers is to ensure that content submitted remains relevant and that the group stays on task and adheres to its vision. This is accomplished through consistent and fair moderation of the group's guidelines and expectations, working to facilitate the cultivation of talent and ideas, maintaining and developing group activities, keeping open communication, managing group donations and meeting software, and maintain a schedule of inactive member purges (to keep it all fresh).
Looking back at 2011, it was a pretty interesting year, especially when it came to the happenings of the Newsvine Photographers group. It certainly started on a high-note anyway. The official recognition was undoubtedly a community motivator behind the many significant events that happened throughout the year and that leads me to believe you Photographers are capable of achieving great things, given the proper motivation.
Surely the coming year will bring unknown change, which is essential in maintaining a healthy environment. While we work toward a better group for tomorrow and continue to struggle through our struggles, let us revisit some of the year's high-points from our columns for inspiration for the future. Here's what I thought was significant from my Photographers column in 2011:
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, January 12th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, January 19th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, January 26th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Please welcome HollyKl to the administrative team. It has become a time honored tradition to have new moderator's announcements delayed. When I apologized for not getting to it (these are hard to write!), she replied with, 'that's OK, I see myself as a moderator in training.'
HollyKl has demonstrated her dedication and commitment to maintaining and creating a quality experience at Photographers. She developed Tuesday Techniques in this vein. And as a prolific photographer, she has inspired many with her articles. She also has been attending the administrative meetings and lent much to the process of future group development.
Please use this article to celebrate HollyKl. Hoot 'n halla, y'all!
While we're on the topic, this announcement comes packaged with a sort of Newsvine Photographers group update.
These administrators (MalamuteMan, rottlady, etva, HollyKl) have been indispensable in the development process. We'll try not to keep the wheels turning but through many meetings, we've hashed it out and are currently working on documenting the results. One of those documents is 'Newsvine Photographers Administrative Performance Standards'. This is a document to let the average user know what to expect from the administrative team and it is near publication.
All submissions should contain your best content from 2011. Please limit entries to one or two articles. And please tell us why you think they are your best. Thanks!
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, January 5th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.
2011 has come to a close and was a big year for Photographers. Here's to a better 2012. Let's share our best photographs from the year.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, January 12th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, January 19th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 2:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found on the 'net, ready to share.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, December 29nd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, January 5th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.
In addition to sharing our photos, let's start submitting photographs to the Flickr pool that would fit in the December holidays banner. We are WAY past the deadline.
There will be no Tuesday meetings in the month of December.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, December 22nd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, December 29th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
If you deleted your Newsvine account or have been inactive on Newsvine for more than a year, you were removed from the Newsvine Photographers group. In this first round, no one received an official email notification. In retrospect, members deserve the courtesy of a notice. Apologies to those 25 members, but most of you were deleted Newsvine accounts. This member purging will continue happening on a regular basis.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 8th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.
In addition to sharing our photos, let's start submitting photographs to the Flickr pool that would fit in the December holidays banner.
There will be no Tuesday meetings in the month of December.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, December 15th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, December 22th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Foodies. You know who you are. You lust over heirloom tomatoes. You covet thy neighbor's fennel. You melt over Beaufort d'Alpage. Yes, that's you! Come here to share anything about food. Satisfy your hunger.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, December 1st at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
After a week break for the holiday, we're ready to resume the Thursday meets, which is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.
For this session, let's share our holiday photographs and start submitting photographs to the Flickr pool that would fit in the December holidays banner.
There will be no Tuesday meetings in the month of December.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, December 8th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, December 15th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Please welcome etva to the administrative team. This is also not very new news. etva has inspired many with her photography and has always done her part, above and beyond, in contributing to the community here at Newsvine Photographers.
etva has demonstrated her dedication to NVP, sharing a vision for a strong photography community that provides compelling content and plenty of learning opportunity. She has done this through selflessly assisting and inspiring Photographers and continually offering her opinion and suggestions on group matters, which are always presented calm and rationally (she always seems so calm and cultured at the virtual-vinemeets).
Please feel free to hoot n holler and celebrate etva.
The current administrator policies are as follows:
Removing inappropriate content and gently inform users why the content was removed. This information will be left in public Newsvine Photographers group discussion.
Recruit and usher in new group participates. This includes providing instruction when appropriate: tag suggestions (having the proper tags is very important!), helping and encouraging users to use the brand imaging properly, sending and approving member invites, and helping out with Newsvine and photography in general [but everyone should get into doing this].
Regularly communicate and collaborate with other group administrators, as well as working to cultivate available talent.
Respond to email that comes into photographers.newsvine.com@gmail.com and informing the other admins when they do, so users don't receive duplicate responses.
If anything was missed or needs to be altered, please voice your opinion and questions in the comments below.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, November 17th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.
Your assignment for this meet, should you choose to accept it, is to bring photographs of food instead of your usual fare. It doesn't matter if you've shared them before. They can be photographs from past holidays and fancy dinners, random shots of food, or photographs that you found on the 'net. Uh, you better bring some of the recipes too - there are a few food-crazed maniac chefs running 'round these parts (not naming names ;).
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, November 24th @ 12:00 PM CST - Canceled for Thanksgiving (don't forget to photograph your dinner!)
Thursday, December 1st @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, November 10th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Saturday, November 12th @ 12:00 PM CST - CANCELLED
Tuesday, November 15th @ 6:00 PM CST - TBA
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Another dog joins the 'admin' team at the Newsvine Photographers group. Please welcome rottlady as a group moderator. This really isn't new news, as Elizabeth has been helping with group moderation on an 'official' basis since the owner took a vacation back in February.
Searching and browsing through Flickr can produce the discovery of some pretty interesting groups. Less Is More focuses on minimalism in photography, putting as few elements in the frame as possible. In the photo above, there are only three elements: the color green, the color "white" and Rocky the rocking horse. This website also has many, many good examples.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, November 3rd at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, November 10th @ 12:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Saturday, November 12th @ 6:00 PM CST - TBA
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Tuesday, November 1st at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 3:00 Alaskan, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours.
This meeting willoccur every other Tuesday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
No specific agenda for this virtual-vinemeet but Tuesday is intended to be our tutorials session and, although we pretty much give do this at every session, it will still be our main focus. This is the time to ask 'how do I...?' questions, with a group of friends, the interwebs and GTM screen-sharing at hand. In order to expand on and keep the tutorial sessions coming, we need to know the Photographers want to accomplish. We need volunteers to demonstrate. What do you want to learn about? Let's make it happen.
Joining the Meeting
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, November 3rd @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Thursday, November 10th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Saturday, October 29th at 12:00 PM Central. That is 1:00 Eastern, 11:00 Mountain, 10:00 Pacific, 7:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours.
This meeting will occur every other Saturday at 12:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
As we've marched on, it has become clear that a discussion about why Photographers exists, what exactly it is, and where should it be going is in order. It's not exactly certain how and when this discussion should take place but everyone should start thinking about what all this means to everyone. Dream of the possibility. What do you think we could accomplish working together? Are you really satisfied with what you already have?How much do you want to accomplish? Let's make it happen together.
With that, feel free to discuss these things in the discussion below, in either the public or private discussions. The agenda on these meetings is usually left to happen organically, even if one has been planned, so if there is something you'd like to say, or talk about, or ask, please do not hesitate to speak up. This group is, and always has been, community-driven.
Questions of any sort are welcome at all virtual-vinemeets. There are many available to help and it really is no trouble to anyone. GTM makes this ridiculously easy; it is an awesome technology and great resource.
Joining the Meeting
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Tuesday, October November 1st @ 6:00 PM CST - TBA
Thursday, October 20th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Photographers, it was thought it would be a good idea to discuss which graphics editors everyone uses so that we're able to connect with each other use as resources. With the aid of our meeting software, learning, teaching and discovery of your respective programs is easy and efficient. Everyone attending a virtual-vinemeet is welcome to ask questions. Even if no one in attendance is using the same software, there are enough similarities between the programs that the crowd should still be able to help figure it out. The GTM can be more freely used for these purposes, send a request to photographers.newsvine.com@gmail.com to get in touch with a meeting organizer to schedule a time.
Feel free to ask questions below, request assistance, offer a hint or tip, ask for recommendations, etc.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, October 27th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours. These sessions are always BYOB.
This meeting will occur every Thursday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
Thursday is our day to socialize and discuss/view photography ahead of foto-friday, using GTM's ridiculously easy to use screen sharing tool. This is a great way to get to know your 'group-mates' and it's fun to boot. Bring your beers, wines and spirits and please have some photographs, old or new, yours or something you found online, ready to share.
Submissions of our horror-ble front page header are now closed. The new header will make its way there soon. Keep an eye out! In addition to sharing photos, let us also pick our next header theme during this session.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Saturday, October 29th @ 12:00 PM CST - TBA
Tuesday, November 1st @ 6:00 PM CST - TBA
Donate to Newsvine Photographers
All donations will be used towards the purchase of another year of meeting software and are greatly appreciated.
Photographers, we often wonder why more people don't come to the virtual-vinemeet. Although quite a few of you already regularly attend and participate, everyone agrees that we'd like to "meet" more of you. GoToMeeting brings a great value to what is already an awesome group. The real-time environment is much more effective and is about the easiest thing to use.
We don't want anybody that wants to participate to be left hanging. If there's something that can be done to get you to one of our meetings, let someone know. No excuses!
If you vote, 'doesn't fit into my schedule', 'it would be too embarrassing', or 'don't have the equipment', please contact me. We might be able to work something out!
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Tuesday, October 18th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours.
This meeting willoccur every other Tuesday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
No specific agenda for this virtual-vinemeet. We can discuss front page header, branding or help with the editor - or whatever comes up.
Tuesday is intended to be our tutorials session. This is the time to ask 'how do I...?' questions, with a group of friends, the interwebs and GTM screen-sharing at hand. In order to expand on and keep the tutorial sessions coming, we need to know the Photographers want to accomplish. We need volunteers to demonstrate. What do you want to learn more about? Email us with your suggestions.
Joining the Meeting
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, October 20th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing session
Thursday, October 27th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing session
Photographers, we've been meeting virtually consistently now for about six months. We've doubled the amount of scheduled meetings per month, from four to eight, and participation is still showing signs of growth. This has not only helped to improve and deepen relations within the group, it has given us the opportunity to "train" each other. If you thought that sharing and reading articles and comments from everyone was a learning experience, you'd be extremely impressed at how effective GoToMeeting (GTM) makes the process.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Saturday, October 15th at 12:00 PM Central. That is 1:00 Eastern, 11:00 Mountain, 10:00 Pacific, 7:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours.
This meeting will occur every other Saturday at 12:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
No agenda really this time but it is almost certain something will come up. At the last Saturday meet, we decided that publishing a 'header-challenge' article was the best way to go about creating new headers. We are also using a invite only group on Flickr. Photographers are encouraged to join Flickr but it is not necessary - any group member can nominate your photos, just publish it in an Newsvine article. You may connect with other Newsviners on Flickr here. In honor of the month of October, it was decided that a horror theme would be the first and we may as well begin discussing what the next theme may be. We could probably create one per month without overloading the graphic artists. ;)
We also are available to answer or research questions regarding the brave editor. Please, if you have any trouble with Newsvine, come to a virtual-vinemeet, where many are available to help. It really is no trouble. GTM makes this ridiculously easy; it is an awesome technology and great resource.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Tuesday, October 18th @ 6:00 PM CST - TBA
Thursday, October 20th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing!
Photographers, the photo-challenge theme for October is The Movies. This will be a recurring October theme. Anything to do with movies is acceptable content for submissions: objects associated with the movies (cameras, theatres, popcorn, etc), title interpretations, scenes, etc. Also, keep in mind the current header-challenge. Two birds, one stone.
Articles should also contain the tags: photo-challenge AND the-movies, as well as the graphic below.
Simple instructions for including the brand imaging in your photo-challenge articles can be found here.
This article is an activity of Newsvine Photographers. Participating members develop photo essays on a monthly theme, using existing images, or by shooting new ones.
I apologize if inserting the brand imaging into your articles seemed more complicated than it is. It's really quite simple. Here is a straight-forward set of instructions, if thepreviousthree weren't of any help. All it really takes is a simple photo upload and every Photographer already knows how to do that.
Including the brand imaging and using it appropriately is beneficial to everyone and is part of being a cooperative member of a cooperative group.
Step 1
Download the files onto your computer. I keep mine in a 'Newsvine Photographers' folder on my desktop. It is recommended you do the same.
1a. Right click on the above file, then click on 'Save Picture As' (for Internet Explorer). For Firefox users it will say 'Image' instead of 'Picture'.
1b. Save the file to your 'Newsvine Photographers' folder.
1c. When you save the file this way, the file name will be 'imagesizer.jpeg'. Change 'imagesizer' to 'NVP_FotoFriday'.
1d. Repeat the above steps on the graphic above but rename to 'NVP_WeekendExposure'.
Alternatively, you may request the images be sent to you by email to avoid having to rename anything.
Step 2
After your article is assembled and has all its images, upload the appropriate brand image. See How to Add Images to your Newsvine Article for further information on uploading images on Newsvine.
Step 3
Chose the 'none' alignment and enter the appropriate link in the 'Edit Image' box.
Want to include brand imaging on your other Photographers articles, Monday thru Thursday? Download the icon to the left, use the right or left alignment and enter the linkhttp://photographers.newsvine.com/
There's nothing else to it. If you're still having troubles, come to a virtual-vinemeet. We have one every Thursday and every other Tuesday and Saturday. I'm even willing to schedule special sessions to walk you through the process - there are many others willing to help too. The GoToMeeting technology is extremely simple. See this article for a GoToMeeting overview.
Photographers, we are looking at assembling a new theme for the front-page header. For this first header project, we are accepting photographic submissions on the theme of horror. Seven of those photographs will display on the group front page for the last seven days of October.
The deadline is October 21st.
This group project will utilize this Flickr group. You may also connect with other group members on this article. The Flickr group is invite-only and the discussion board is only viewable to members. If you'd like to join the group, please request an invite.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Tuesday, September 20th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours.
This meeting willoccur every other Tuesday at 6:00pm CST until further notice.
Agenda / Summary
No specific agenda for this virtual-vinemeet. We can discuss front page header, branding or help with the editor - or whatever comes up.
Tuesday is intended to be our tutorials session. This is the time to ask 'how do I...?' questions, with a group of friends, the interwebs and GTM screen-sharing at hand. In order to expand on and keep the tutorial sessions coming, we need to know the Photographers want to accomplish. We need volunteers to demonstrate. What do you want to learn more about? Email us with your suggestions.
Joining the Meeting
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Upcoming Meetings
Thursday, October 6th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing session
Thursday, October 13th @ 6:00 PM CST - Photo-sharing session
Flickr is an image hosting and video hosting website, web services suite, and online community created by Ludicorp in 2004 and later acquired by Yahoo! in 2005. In addition to being a popular website for users to share and embed personal photographs, the service is widely used by bloggers to host images that they embed in blogs and social media
The Newsvine Photographers group will be using Flickr to help organize some ongoing group projects. Many of us have already connected on there. It's easy to sign-up for an account if you don't have one. One can be established with your existing Yahoo! account. If you'd like to join your fellow Photographers on Flickr, this article would be the place to exchange IDs and to also chit chat.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Saturday, October 1st at 12:00 PM Central. That is 1:00 Eastern, 11:00 Mountain, 10:00 Pacific, 7:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of one or two hours.
This meeting will occur every other Saturday at 12:00pm CST until further notice.
Everyone posting articles on Friday, Saturday or Sunday should be using the brand imaging. It is important for the group to be consistent if we are continue to building. If the brave editor is giving you trouble when you're trying to use it, please come to a virtual-vinemeet, where many are available to help. It really is no trouble. GTM makes this ridiculously easy; it is an awesome technology and great resource.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Although a quite short example, Rocky's mini-article above adequately explains the Photographers challenge for September.
Write a photo essay featuring a destination you'd personally recommend to a traveler visiting an area, doing your best to convince them to go. If you do your research and provide as much detail about the destination as you can, be sure to throw your article in Newsvine's Travel section!
Destinations can be anything: tourist attractions, restaurants, parks, little-known places, etc.
Articles should also contain the tags: photo-challenge AND travel-destinations. Please provide a link to your submissions in this article.
Announcing! This article officially launches the photo-challenge portion of our brand imaging. Please include it on your entries. Instructions are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may attend a virtual-vinemeet to be walked through the process.
This article is an activity of Newsvine Photographers. Participating members develop photo essays on a monthly theme, using existing images, or by shooting new ones.
How do you upload an image to an article on Newsvine? This question comes up often enough for someone to write an article on the topic complete with screenshots, so here it is.
There are two options for uploading photographs, 'Write Article' and 'Post Photo'. If you're looking to just add a photograph or two to an article you've written, you'll want to use 'Write Article'. If you're uploading multiple images into one article, and most of what you have to say about them will be in captions and cutlines, use the 'Post Photo.'
I suspect most will probably use the 'Write Article' option, so let us go over that first.
It was August of 2010, when I finally accepted the truth. America was under attack, and the enemy was staring at me through the eyes of my family and friends.
Somehow, my rural community had been infected with the virus of irrationality, and most were no longer capab …
"Forced perspective is a technique that employs optical illusion to make an object appear farther away, closer, larger or smaller than it actually is. It is used primarily in photography, film-making and architecture. It manipulates human-visual perception through the use of scaled objects and the correlation between them and the vantage point of the spectator or camera."
Thanks to js-445607 and this article for the inspiration behind this challenge. In particular, it was the photograph with the street light keeping the sun from setting. Because this challenge was published so late and to allow everyone extra execution time, a new challenge won't come out until September.
Articles should also contain the tag: forced-perspective, and please provide a link to your submissions in this article.
This article is an activity of Newsvine Photographers. Participating members develop photo essays on a monthly theme, using existing images, or by shooting new ones.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, June 30th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of about one hour (but we've gone as long as two). These sessions are always BYOB.
Until further notice, there will be a meeting every Thursday at 6:00pm CST.
The Agenda
You may have noticed there wasn't a summary for the last meeting. While the discussion wasn't focused anywhere specific, the question, "what is this supposed to do for us," was raised. The short answer to the question is: a lot.
According to my research, branding, as you would have probably guessed, originated on the cattle farm, then became a "symbol of consistency" for corporations (with Coca-Cola being the most successful). Today brands basically represent an identity of a service or product. Branding is extremely effective, in fact, it seems to be more important than the actual product. Although many see this as a problem, consumers like brands, it makes the world of infinite choice that much simpler.
Wait a minute. We already have an identity. Is this a re-branding then? I don't think so, I think we're looking at clearly defining what our "company" officially represents, instead of having a "general idea". The process is supposed to be difficult. In fact, 90% of brands utterly fail because companies don't understand their purpose. Even executives that manage successful brands have trouble and some large corporations have even gone under because of it.
Considering all this, I think it's fair for us to call this a 'long-term' project. Let us do our research. There isn't enough time in one week to do the proper amount, so before we resume the discussion on branding, rottlady will share the good news she got from tyler after she confronted him in Louisville. Also, since Seagull seems to have gone missing, and July's challenge was going to be 'Armchair Traveling', I'd like us to collaborate on a new challenge. Vlad's dog has already made a suggestion.
Joining the Meeting
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Our next GoToMeeting (GTM) is scheduled for Thursday, June 23rd at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of about one hour (but we've gone as long as two). These sessions are always BYOB.
Until further notice, there will be a meeting every Thursday at 6:00pm CST.
Special Announcement
This was to be our last session using GTM 30 day trial. The original plan was to hop from free trial to free trial until a better solution materialized but an anonymous benefactor has paid for the Newsvine Photographers GTM license for a full year. It seems there is someone(s) out there watching that believes in what this group can accomplish through holding regular Vinemeets. You all should feel extremely proud to receive such an endorsement. Let us use it wisely.
The Agenda
At the previous meeting, participants brought images they designed to represent the Photographers, no matter how terrible, for discussion. These images were reviewed during the meeting and then again in the summary article. Please read through the comments for reference prior to the meeting if you already haven't.
In this next session, I'd like for us to review these images again, focusing on the ways they can be improved. We're going to try to work on these icons during the meeting (working in Photoshop, searching Google Images, etc), so that everyone is on the same page visually, and then work on them behind the scenes and bring for next time.
You are still welcome to bring additional designs and/or clip art. If you aren't proficient in an image editing program, clip art can be very useful to help represent your ideas.
Joining the Meeting
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
At this meeting participants were to bring icons, an image to represent the Photographers, they designed (no matter how terrible) for discussion. In attendance were HollyKl, Fletch-495299, MalamuteMan, rottlady, icegal and me. The session ran about an hour and a half.
This branding logo is intended to replace the text disclosure we use to tell the community what we're doing, This article was produced for foto-friday, a feature of Newsive Photographers/Weekend Exposure, with a simplistic and distinctive image to associate with the group. Replace the colorful peacock with our own symbol and NBC with foto-friday/weekend-exposure/photo-challenge, and that's what we're thinking.
The best way to go, it seems, is to work on a few different icons, develop each concept collaboratively, to the best it can be, and possibly putting the matter up for a popular vote, depending on what is developed. Icons can be assigned to teams or individuals and will be brought to Thursday meetings for discussion. GTM can be used liberally, so teams can use it to discuss and cooperatively design their concepts.
There should be at least three icons developed. All three (or more) can come from the selection below or other options may be developed.
Vote in the polls but it may be no indicator of anything.
Our next session with our current GTM license will be Thursday, June 16th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of about one hour (we've gone as long as two). These sessions are always BYOB.
Until further notice, there will be a meeting every Thursday at 6:00pm CST.
At the previous meeting, we discussed implementing a brand logo. The subject was of great debate. At the end of the discussion, it was determined that the meeting participants would design their own icon, a symbol to represent the Photographers, crudely drawn or not, and bring to the next meeting for further discussion. All icons are to be mailed to Ben Josephs prior to the meeting (to easily display during the meeting).
Please still attend the meeting if you have not designed an icon. If you've designed an icon but can't make it to the meeting, please email me with some thoughts that went into your design.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Our next session with our current GTM license will be Thursday, June 16th at 6:00 PM Central. That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of about one hour (we've gone as long as two). These sessions are always BYOB.
Until further notice, there will be a meeting every Thursday at 6:00pm CST.
At the previous meeting, we discussed implementing a brand logo. The subject was of great debate. At the end of the discussion, it was determined that the meeting participants would design their own icon, a symbol to represent the Photographers, crudely drawn or not, and bring to the next meeting for further discussion. All icons are to be mailed to Ben Josephs prior to the meeting (to easily display during the meeting). Everyone is welcome to submit an icon.
Going forward, hopefully, a meeting summary will be published on Fridays and meeting reminder on Wednesdays.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Photographers, as you are probably already aware, MalamuteMan has graciously offered to begin another GoToMeeting (GTM) 30 day trial for us. Our next session with this license will be June 9th at 6:00 PM Central.
That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian. Expect a run time of about one hour (we've gone as long as two). These sessions are always BYOB.
During the last session, we determined that these "meetings" will be held weekly every Thursday at 6:00pm CST. A reminder article will be published one day in advance. For the next two or three sessions, the meeting link and ID will remain the same.
We also wanted to make you aware that, after etva receives her camera back from the repair shop, A Mac and other experienced Nikon users (collectively, this group has a wealth of knowledge in this area), will review its various functions to help her get out of shooting exclusively in automatic mode. Becoming familiar with basic camera functions and menus will help to improve photographic quality, the liberation is, well, liberating. Although this session will be specific to Nikon DSLR-type cameras, most of the information covered will apply to all cameras.
On the agenda is 'branding'. Please see A Mac's article and this comment for reference. If you will not be in attendance and want input in the matter, please leave your comments below or e-mail them me. The same applies to any additional agenda items you may have.
We also have yet to review TeamViewer as a possible replacement to GTM.
Thanks! Hope to see you there!
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Firstly, I owe an apology to the Newsvine Photographers group. Back in March, they were challenged to use high key and low key lighting techniques in their photography. The ensuing discussions around high key in particular led to a multitude of enlightening and inspiring revelations, but an aura of confusion remained. Although partially a testament to the added difficulty, it is also a reflection of not initially being provided enough information.
Yes, to achieve both lighting conditions, some equipment is usually needed. Luckily, with some time and patience, acquiring the necessary equipment is an extremely easy and cheap do-it-yourself project.
An email exchange with ever helpful rottlady led her to send me this link on a DIY light tent. It was unfortunate that I had not remembered about it prior to the challenge. I won't recap the instructions in this article, you'll have to check out the link, but this 'light box' was put together for less than 10 dollars.
My hastily put together box, as you can probably tell, was not constructed by the book. The top (with a hole cut in) was taped back on and a hanger was poked in to support the lamp. When the 65 watt bulb in the lamp was not enough, another hanger was poked into the bottom of the box to support the additional lamp.
As noted in the original article, you'll want to make sure that the box is big enough to fit your camera inside, otherwise you'll end up with vignetting. Also, you'll want to use full spectrum light bulbs like Blues Buster and Reveal.
Hey Photographers, apologies for the short notice. MalamuteMan has graciously offered to begin another 30 day trial for us. Our first session with this license will be June 2nd at 6:00 PM Central.
That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian.
The last session was a blast. The running time was approximately two hours, most of us had liquor of some sort, and we discussed articles of past, ways to improve composition and, of course, general photography. We'll continue this meeting "format" and hopefully we'll begin to discuss some group meta items not gotten to the last time. Please bring your ideas and thinking caps.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
Assess what you have learned. Revisit an article you wrote in the past and redo it; shoot a new photograph and re-write the contents. In your opinion, what did you do better? Do you still see room for improvement? 'Mastery' is only a matter of incessant persistence. In other words, keep shooting/writing those photo essays, often, and the quality will increase over time, as displayed above.
Your fellow Photographers will be more than happy to help with your self-assessment. You only need ask. And while re-shooting the same image lends for a better, more direct comparison, articles comparing past photographs with more recent ones are also acceptable for this challenge.
Articles should also contain the tag: past-with-present, and please provide a link to your submissions in this article.
This article is an activity of Newsvine Photographers. Participating members develop photo essays on a monthly theme, using existing images, or by shooting new ones.
The NVPVV sessions have been going well. Since our 30 day trial license doesn't expire until the 15th, another meeting will be hosted on Thursday, April 14th at 6:00 PM Central.
That is 7:00 Eastern, 5:00 Mountain, 4:00 Pacific, 1:00 Hawaiian.
Now, the possibility of having our Photoshop experts available is questionable. This session has not been discussed with Mac or Mal, nor have they chimed in. We don't want to rely on tutorials to fill our "meetings" anyway. It should also be noted that taking steps to improve your photography does not start with Photoshop, that you should try to "get it right" before releasing the shutter, then opening it in Photoshop if needed.
For this session, then, I'd like us to review and discuss how to better the compositions of images. While there is actually no correct way to compose an image, there are steps you can take to make it more appealing to the eye. Because of that, this session will not be a lesson plan, it will be a group discussion.
I will compile a set of photographs, probably pulling from articles previously published to the group. Your help is appreciated, so please send or suggest images for us to review.
Also, I'd like us to discuss future challenges, and the possibility of renewing/reincarnating the Newsvine Photo Pool.
The link and meeting ID are located in the group discussion tab (click the Newsvine Photographers tab directly above the comments section), or you may e-mail me for the information. Detailed instructions for joining the meeting are located here.
All photo essay submissions for this challenge should be ambiguous. Images where wtf is going on isn't apparent or are abstract in nature are acceptable content for this challenge.
Articles should contain the tag: nvp-ambiguity, and please provide a link to your submissions in this article.
This article is an activity of Newsvine Photographers. Participating members develop photo essays on a monthly theme, using existing images, or by shooting new ones.
After a successful first meet, and a collective decision to take advantage of the remainder of our GoToMeeting trial, another Newsvine Photographers Virtual Vinemeet (NVPVV) will take place on Sunday, April 10th at 6:00PM CST. It's possible A. MacArthur will be available to demonstrate Photoshop, where he will cover the processing RAW images and answer questions related to photography and image processing.
Despite GoToMeeting being fairly easy and straight forward, this article will provide you with instructions, along with a couple screen shots, so you know what to expect when first joining a Newsvine Photographers virtual-vinemeet meeting.
A while back, almost exactly a year ago, and then again a few months ago, the Photographers began planning to meet in a virtual conference. An agenda hadn't been developed but there was an expressed interest in having the opportunity to get to know one another better, coordinate special efforts and discuss ways to step it up a notch or two.
The Newsvine Photographers Virtual Vinemeet (NVPVV) will take place on Saturday, April 2nd at 7:00PM CST.
Here is the tentative schedule:
A 30 minute period of meet and greet.
A demonstration of image editing techniques; about 30 minutes. This will be done mostly using Adobe Photoshop CS5 but the information presented will be broad enough to be relevant for other programs such as Paint.NET and Picasa. If you have questions you'd like answered or photographs you'd like to be worked on, please please please submit them in the comments section below or group email.
An open forum, lasting until... whenever. We can talk about whatever, if we want to meet on a regular basis, challenges you'd like to see, ideas of how to create that "bad ass magazine", project ideas, etc. Please submit your agenda items below or bring them to the meeting.
A brief overview of using GoToMeeting will go out Thursday, March 31st. No download is required, all you will need is a link and meeting ID; it's that easy. A headset is also recommended; a text chat is also available.
A while back, almost exactly a year ago, and then again a few months ago, the Photographers began planning to meet in a virtual conference. An agenda hadn't been developed but there was an expressed interest in having the opportunity to get to know one another better, coordinate special efforts and discuss ways to step it up a notch or two.
The Newsvine Photographers Virtual Vinemeet (NVPVV) will take place on Saturday, April 2nd at 7:00PM CST.
During the meet, there will be a demonstration of image editing techniques presented by MalamuteMan. This will be done using Adobe Photoshop CS5 but the information presented will be broad enough to be relevant for other programs such as Paint.NET and Picasa.
Although the majority of content presented at this session will be predetermined, if there are specific questions you'd like addressed or photographs you'd like Mal to demonstrate with during the meet, please submit questions in the comments section below or attach images in an email and send to photographers.newsvine.com@gmail.com, and we will do our best to accommodate.
On a different note, since Holly and I weren't impressed with our initial programs, we have decided to activate a 30 day trial of GoToMeeting for the first NVPVV. It works well, is extremely easy to use, doesn't require a download and might be well worth purchasing if we continue to have these meets.
An article requesting agenda items outside of Photoshop will go out next week and a brief overview of using GoToMeeting will go out Thursday, March 31st. Invitations will be sent via private group discussion on that article.
A while back, almost exactly a year ago, and then again a few months ago, the Photographers began planning to meet in a virtual conference. An agenda hadn't been developed but there was an expressed interest in having the opportunity to get to know one another better, coordinate special efforts and discuss ways to step it up a notch or two.
The polls have closed and the Photographers Virtual Vinemeet will take place on Saturday, April 2nd at 7:00PM CST.
In the meantime, Holly-348328 and myself will test and research available software options to determine which product will be used. Mikogo, Vyew, openmeetings, and WebHuddle are the options we have to choose from.
An article requesting agenda items will go out next week and, if necessary, the following week. A tutorial for the product used will go out Thursday, March 31st.
A high key image mostly consists of highlights and mid-tones, is generally bright and even, and delicately toned, often with pastel and/or white shades. ...
The opposite of high key is of course low key. Instead of eliminating shadows as in high key photography, low key photographers utilize dark scenes and heavy contrast to convey a sense of drama or foreboding.
Great images using these lighting techniques can be shot with minimal equipment and/or natural backgrounds and lighting. The images to the right were shot under these conditions. The high-key image, Rocky's Natural Habitat, was shot against a snow bank on a cloudy day, using the 'cloudy' white balance setting on the camera. For the low-key, a lamp in a dark room and a box (placed next to the lamp to cast a shadow behind, making a dark background unnecessary) was used; the white-balance was set to 'more vivid'.
If interested, information on studio-type setups can be found here (high-key) and here (low-key).
A. MacArthur offers this advice to those with point and shoot cameras:
[Try looking for] shots that may be either underexposed ... too dark, or overexposed ... too light and then trying to find subjects and situations that "work" as such. Some scenes will be overexposed because they defy the camera's light meter ... same for underexposed.
[Search] for excessively light and dark scenes/compositions ... take those shots as they are and then, shoot them again using the exposure compensation feature OR meter/focus on different parts of the scene, hold the release half-way down while recomposing and shoot again ... repeat ... that should make for an interesting set of images from which to choose.
Be sure to include the tag, high-key-low-key, and please provide a link to your submissions in this article.
This article is an activity of Newsvine Photographers. Participating members develop photo essays on a monthly theme, using existing images, or by shooting new ones.
A while back, almost exactly a year ago, and then again a few months ago, the Photographers began planning to meet in a virtual conference. An agenda hadn't been developed but there was an expressed interest in having the opportunity to get to know one another better, coordinate special efforts and discuss ways to step it up a notch or two.
I've been a bit lax this week in terms of putting together a Foto Friday series. Well, okay, my sister and I had tentatively planned an outing on Thursday that has now been moved to Sunday; I didn't come home yesterday with a camera full of photos.
Foodies. You know who you are. You lust over heirloom tomatoes. You covet thy neighbor's fennel. You melt over Beaufort d'Alpage. Yes, that's you! Come here to share anything about food. Satisfy your hunger.
All submissions should contain content that belongs to the Foodies! group. This challenge was inspired by KYPIAKAC's Tasty Tuesday articles. The challenge is not meant to add to this series, else this month would be 'Tasty Tuesday'.
This article is Part I of a three part series of photos, taken from 1993 - 1995, when I was working in Bosnia, providing humanitarian assistance to refugees from the war.
The original intention behind Newsvine Photographers was to increase collaboration between photographers and writers. In fact, the creation of the group was a result of a Newsvine Photo Pool on Flickr.com. The pool, despite being an excellent idea, is not likely viable. However, collaboration between Newsviners is very much possible and should be encouraged.
All photo essay submissions for this challenge should contain something blue. Little splotches will not do, the color blue should be distinctly present.
Articles should also include the tag, something-blue.
All photo essay submissions for this challenge should set the scene. Take an object, any object, and place in a simulated scene, the effects need not be elaborate (the images to the right were made with construction paper).
Articles should also include the tag, set-the-scene.
Classic Cinema Week, as it will be called, will consist of at least two articles per day, Monday through Sunday, one week in December. This will be a collaborative project and the ideal is using the group's knowledge and resources to shoot movie interpretations to the best of [everyone's] ability.
Classic Cinema Week will need at least seven participants. Please contact me if you are interested, leave questions below.
India is a place of amazing contradictions - modern yet rustic, comfortable yet exotic, and above all, friendly. There are so many ways to photograph this country.
In this Foto Friday, I focus on the faces of India. I hope you enjoy them.
All photo essay submissions for this challenge should contain an image that offers a different point of view. If you have to, imagine some animal has the camera, rabbit, giraffe, whatever, and shoot an object at the appropriate height.
Articles should also contain the tag, another-perspective.
Another theme for October. Anything to do with the movies should be represented in submissions for this challenge.
Please include a link to the entry in the comments of this article, this will make it easier for followers to find all related works.
The challenge can be completed in many ways:
Extra points for horror themed movies.
Subjects associated with movies, such as movie stars, camera reels, theaters, and concessions.
Recreating a scene in a movie using props or even people in costumes.
Interpreting a title. Examples: For the book title challenge, A. Mac did 'A River Runs Through It' using a winding river as the subject and an aspect of 'Of Mice and Men' - Lenny squeezing the mice he found to death accidentally - by photographing a hand squeezing a toy mouse was done by me.
In understanding that not everyone is able to meet the deadline for Foto Friday, 'Weekend Exposure' (name courtesy of Fufu in this comment thread), is being introduced. The new feature will be for articles published on Saturday or Sunday.
This should work quite well for us as, as the we seem to be most active during the latter part of the week.
The guidelines will be the same as they are for Foto Friday. Make sure to include 'weekend-exposure' as a tag and include a statement that the article was done for Newsvine Photographers.
Some reminders:
Articles not published on these days shouldn't contain the 'foto-friday' or 'weekend-exposure' tags.
Good News Wednesday is a great place for articles published on Wednesday, they can be published to both groups.
Publishing Foto Friday articles on Thursday is acceptable, as long as it's in the latter half of the day, but preferably after 6:00pm local time.
Your comments and suggestions help to develop our group and determine policy. Don't be afraid to drop the administrators a line by using our email address: photographers.newsvine.com@gmail.com
A good ol' theme challenge this month. The number seven should be represented in photograph submissions.
There are countless ways to do this. One photograph per day for seven days. The same subject for seven consecutive days. Lucky 7's. Shapes that look like the number seven. Seven objects represented. Seven of the same subject.
This article is "live" and will frequently change.
Hello everyone. The administrators of Newsvine Photographers are looking to draft a document that clearly defines our group's purpose, guidelines, and expectations of participation. This will serve to inform new members and be sent as a gentle reminder to those who have violated what we have defined in this article.
We have very active communication between members and administrators here at Newsvine Photographers, but because this is mostly done through comments on our content, things are easily missed. The group chat, used sporadically, is not terribly useful or convenient to the administrators, so comments, questions, etc. can go unanswered for up to a week or more, which bothers the administrators, not to mention there's no way to archive it.
To remedy this, we are introducing a group email address, photographers.newsvine.com@gmail.com, which all administrators will have access to. Sending your questions, comments, suggestions here should get you a more immediate response.
Don't be shy about bombarding the administrative team with email, a large part of our focus is education, no question should be left unanswered, which means if we miss one, it should be forwarded. The administrative team is quite knowledgeable and can provide information regarding Newsvine article formatting, general photography, and image manipulation, among other things. Feedback and suggestions are also important, as this oftentimes enhances the way we do "business".
We hope to accomplish more by opening communication as much as possible, it's the key to our success. In this administrators opinion, we are the best group on Newsvine, and that's due to everyone's desire to make Photographers even better. Let's show 'em how it's done.
For future reference, the contact information is displayed on the group front page, in the description box.
Newsvine Photographers' Photo Tag is simple. We'll begin, at the end of this article, by issuing a challenge to a participating Photographer. That participant will complete the challenge as given, or to the best of ability, published in article with the added requirements below. Participant will then choose someone to "tag" and present them with a new challenge. The process repeats.
The activity will continue until no longer sustainable.
If unsure what to challenge, visit the column of the heritor to check for missed Monthly Challenges. Otherwise, study and determine their normal photography and choose a diverging theme, getting them a little out of the comfort zone. Don't take them too far out and avoid being too simple or difficult.
This article is more to gauge interest and tweak the game's guidelines to suit our purposes, so please leave your comments and suggestions. The start of this challenge will begin on Monday, June 7th, an article detailing official rules, a list of participants, and the first challenge, will go out on that day and will be routinely updated thereafter.
How it'll work
A challenge will be issued to a participating Photographer, that participant will complete it and pass a new challenge to another Photographer.
Basic rules
Articles will have specific requirements, such as listing your challenge and who issued it, tags, and a link to the original challenge article. All photographs must be taken for the challenge, no old photographs are to be used.
We should also determine what a reasonable time an article should be completed. One week? Two?
Share an old photograph of yours using leading lines as a composition element.
Or,
Obtain a new photograph using leading lines as a compositional element.
Extra Credit:
In addition to using leading lines, use a compositional element from a past challenge (framing, implied presence, or twilight).
A leading line is a composition element in photography that uses lines to bring added focus to a subject, or occasionally will lead you outside the image. A line can be anything, a sidewalk, roadway, path, railroad tracks, or even the lines of a leaf.
Knowing this technique will greatly enhance your images.
When composing a shot, take a moment and see if there is anything that can be used as a leading line. Items like paths, long shadows, natural features and such work very well. The line should begin at or near the bottom of the shot and work its way toward the top – preferably near the main subject. Diagonal lines are sharp and dynamic while curved lines are smooth and graceful.
Take a look at the above photograph. While it's not a terribly strong example of leading lines, the rail track leads your focus to the horse ornament, as do the ties, rock bed, and the viewable horizon. It's undeniable where your attention is drawn.
Normally you wouldn't be in error for questioning the usefulness of a Malamute, but when you consider MalamuteMan, it's known that that is one extraordinary dog.
Wait a second. Does the 'Man' in 'MalamuteMan' indicate that he is part human, or is something more sinister going on?
Hmm.
Anyway... Let us welcome MalamuteMan to the administrative team here at Newsvine Photographers. With it comes passion for photography, a desire to collaborate on the development of the group, and a set of technical skills combined with willingness to teach others and improve their experience.
Ever have your wife, husband, partner, boyfriend, girlfriend tell you about plans not be disregarded, due to the impending wrath it would incur, at the last minute? I now will be hosting guests on the day and time of our scheduled meet.
My apologies.
Let's discuss new times and while we're at it, topics as well.
The pooch knows that if someone is unwilling to come out of doors with him, it's cold, and translates it to mean he should probably hurry. A meal may be given soon anyway, he thinks, as one has not been served yet on this morn.
It is not really cold enough to desire being let in promptly so expecting food at any time likely contributed to some impatience.
He's weird like that.
What follows is photographic evidence of the pooch in waiting. The front door was let open for some time and you can see that the fog formed is not thick or frosty. Taking the season into account, it's actually quite desirable weather.
It's mid to late morning now and a meal has not yet been served.
We've had a couple unofficial themes the last couple weeks (flower day, black and white day). ... Does this mean we've become a collective? ... Anyways, how about officially naming a theme for this coming Foto Friday, February 12th, 2010? And, I have a suggestion.
I would like to see your favorite or best photograph with a written explanation as to why it is your favorite or why it is your best. It, of course, needs to have been taken by you.
This is pretty much a one time, or once in awhile, thing, but if anyone wants to suggest a theme for us, please feel free to write an article like this one and post it to the group (and not to all of Newsvine).
This ice sculpture was located at the Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota on the Capitol grounds during pre-protest march activities. It was warm and sunny and by the end of the day, democracy had melted away. It is a rather poignant comment on eroding civil rights in America, at least according to this photographer, who now wishes he had photographed the sculpture in a more melted state. Can you hear my frowning?
There was concern that a formal challenge might be too restrictive for photographers to participate in. It was re-established that photographers were able to post any articles that contained a photograph that they took. We encourage: old photographs, critiques, photo essays, and just about anything else that you can do with a photograph, aside from our monthly challenge. Make sure you determine appropriately if the article belongs to 'All of Newsvine' or not.
We determined that monthly challenges should be easily setup at home. In case you missed it, here's a how-to on building a photography backdrop. It's an easy setup but backdrops don't even need to be this complicated, you can drape a cloth over a box if you're subject is small enough.
December's Agenda:
November's activity
Monthly photography challenge
Foto-Friday reminder
Preparing for new user columns
Developing A Mac's photoshop fix challenge
Our purpose and goals
Questions, concerns, ideas for development
We had a pretty successful November. We had a good number of articles back in July (23) and August (27), in November we had 28. This may not seem like a big increase but A.Mac was responsible for approximately half of the articles in July and August. In November, MalamuteMan usurped A.Mac as top contributor. Congratulations to him and thank you to all who participated. We hope to continue seeing increased activity.
Just a reminder that we will issue an official Newsvine Photographers photography assignment each month. December's challenge is now up. We look forward to your entries.
Please see this article if you haven't heard about Foto Friday. A quick summary: We'd like to begin concentrating the bulk, but not all, of our articles on Fridays. Be sure to include the "foto-friday" tag and include something like this somewhere in your article:
New user columns are coming. We don't know when but if you're unfamiliar with XHTML, I encourage you to begin studying Mal's excellent primers: Posting Full Width Images, Embedding Video, Embedding .pdf files. While we might not be concerned with embedding video, you'll definitely want to know how to insert images into an article. There will be help available to you if the primers prove unhelpful. We'll devote an article to this when the time comes.
A.Mac recently came up with a challenge for the group and it seems as though we could expand his original idea and form it into another Newsvine Photographers feature. This is the original converastion.
Newsvine Photographers began as a way to list photographers willing to share, or shoot, photographs for other 'viners articles, as an extension of the Newsvine Photo Pool. The idea, and our original purpose, was to increase collaboration between writers and photographers. It became apparent that the Pool wasn't going to be an instant success and it was determined that there needed to be some intermediary steps before it could be. We'll want to keep this in our minds as we continue forward.
Is there anything else we should be discussing? Any concerns? Any ideas for development? We want to hear from you.
Newsvine Photographers is happy to announce it's latest group feature: Foto Friday. Beginning this week, we will begin to concentrate the bulk (but not all) of our photographic material on Fridays.
You may follow us by adding the group to your watchlist. You may also add the tag 'foto-friday'.
Note to applicants: Newsvine Photographers thoroughly screens potential members. No experience in photography is necessary but you must have a willingness and desire to learn and contribute to the group. Must be an upstanding Newsvine citizen.
There used to be a pet forum that I frequented. It was called Goodpaws and it was a place to talk about pets and more. One of the "and more" features was photography and every Friday we would post pictures to a dedicated thread.
We don't have the option of posting pictures on a dedicated thread, so I was thinking that we could model it somewhat after Good News Wednesday, concentrating the bulk (but not all because we have other things going on) of our photographs on Friday.
I'd like for us to begin holding monthly discussions about what we're doing together in this group. Hopefully this will solidify us a team and give us the ability to accomplish more. If we look at the origins of this group, the Newsvine Photo Pool, we'll see that this isn't merely a group to post your photographs and essays to. We want to have our photographs used in articles written by our fellow Newsviners. We can't do that without showcasing what we can do and without organization. To do that, we need better communication.
Everyone's opinion in these matters is important and we all want to hear. Let's start talking.
We can discuss anything we want that pertains to the group: what we want to do with it, where we'd like to see it go, what kind of activities we'd like to do, etc. To accomplish our aforementioned goals, we need to figure out some intermediary steps to get there.
To showcase what we can do, we want to increase the amount of content we publish. For that our group activity was deployed but unfortunately, tagging people one by one didn't work out as well as was conceived. I brought this up in 'Keeping Our Group Exercise Going' and in its subsequent dialog it was pretty well decided that we switch to a monthly open challenge. Whoever is available and willing to participate can, no waiting.
Mac posted this month's challenge and I encourage you all to participate. How would we like to proceed for next month? How will we decide what the challenge is? Everyone should have input and the ability to pick the next month's challenge. We could do this in a number of ways:
Everyone could submit challenges to the admins (Mac and myself) via email. First come first serve.
We could discuss in the current month's challenge commentary. Most votes wins.
Members could volunteer to write the monthly challenge. We would alternate who did this.
The administrators could just handle it all. Insert a frowny face right here (we need active participation to get things moving).
These are merely suggestions of the possibilities that I currently see. What do you think? New suggestions and variations are more than welcome.
Here are some guidelines that for when you result to a challenge:
We're here to learn from each other. If you could tell everyone the story behind your photograph (camera settings, what lengths you went to, etc) that would be great. The more information you could provide the better.
Any participant who specifically asks for a critique or advice may do so - and, no comment needs to be mean-spirited or overly critical... Per A Mac.
Some of the rules from the original game will transfer over:
Follow the challenge that is given to you.
No digging up old photos!
Publish the photographic article to the group.
Any other ideas to help showcase our abilities? Any fun group activities that you know of that we can do or to get to know each other by? Please, feel free to bring up any topic that you wish (as long as it pertains to our group) up for discussion.
I don't think that anyone can refute that A.MacArthur is an authority on photography. His many wonderful photo essays have inspired others to do the same and have helped to increase their presence on Newsvine, the reason we have collected in this group.*
No one can deny his proficiency in Photoshop. He gave me two entries in the 'branding' challenge when no one else did. Even I was unable to enter. I sort of reluctantly asked him for one more favor: the creation of our avatar. He did this within a few minutes.**
After having contributed much to the group without flinching, it was only natural to offer him a position on the administration team.
We both very much look forward to the development of this group. First item up for bids: getting the 'tag challenge' going again.
*That is not to diminish a few other notables who also have contributed greatly to the group. You know who you are.
**Unfortunately, I'm unable to upload it at the moment, Newsvine in being buggy about it. I've sent a report.
We need to spiffy the place up a bit. These images, shown on right, are boring. We need something that tells everyone who we are as a group. We need a brand image.
I am hereby challenging Newsvine Photographers group members to create some new images to display on our main group page.
There are no bounds; use your creativity to your hearts' content. Create one or both (if you do both and they're linked in some way, that would be awesome) and post a link to it in this thread (on the Newsvine Photographers tab). Votes on entries will be taken into consideration when images are selected, so vote for your favorite!
See the main group page for sizing. The banner can have greater height.
The winner gets the privilege of having others see their work displayed (I can't afford prizes) and the satisfaction that their work was the best pick for its purpose.
Before you continue reading, you should take a look at Progress Notes, if you already haven't. Since the group focus has shifted somewhat, I'd like for us to practice helping each other tweak our photography skills. The best way to do this, I think, is to continue to challenge each other. This exercise is meant to do just that but in a more formal, and hopefully fun, way.
The game is pretty simple. I will begin by challenging a group member to shoot a certain kind of photograph, something that they're not accustomed to shooting, at the end of this article. That member will then obtain the photograph and publish it to the group. In the accompanying article, he would then pass the challenge onto someone else. The tagged person would complete their challenge and tag someone else, and so forth. Simple, no?
Challenges should be just that, challenging, so I encourage you to pick themes, subjects and techniques that the person you're tagging doesn't have experience with. Don't make it so hard that it's unattainable; don't challenge someone to get a photograph of water skiers in action unless you know they can get it. Be creative. I'd suggest checking over past articles of your 'victim' if you don't know what to challenge them with. If you still can't find anything email me and we can think of something together.
In the accompanying article, it would be great if you could share how you got the shot and anything you learned. It would also be useful to share what equipment and camera settings you used. Tell us your experience, write an essay about it.
Not everyone on Newsvine is a photographer, so if you'd like to challenge someone who isn't a member, tell them that they need to request membership to Newsvine Photographers. You'll want to give me a heads up to get acceptance streamlined; I have a selective process for membership approval. If anyone in the Newsvine Community not already a member wants to participate in the game, send a group request and let me know your intentions. If you'd like to just follow what we're doing, simply add the group to your watchlist.
Make sure to publish to the group, so everyone can follow what's going on. I don't think it's out of line to publish it to Newsvine Community (because this is a group building activity and we are setting an example) and to other relevant groups.
I imagine that this could go on for a very long time and I hope it does, so don't be afraid to re-challenge anyone but let's try to get everyone. If after a reasonable time, your challenge isn't responded to, feel free to bug them or challenge someone new. Not everyone is going to see this article, either, so if you get a 'huh?', show it to them.
Rules:
State in the article your challenge and who gave it to you.
Follow the challenge that is given to you.
Complete the challenge within a reasonable time.
No digging up old photos!
Publish the photographic article to the group.
Email the person you are challenging (send them the link to your entry).
Only challenge Newsvine Photography members.
Onto the challenge! I hereby challenge RDW-375737 to capture a photograph using 'implied presence'. The elements of your composition should imply that a particular object is present off camera.
As we enter our fourth month of existence, it's been noticed that photography has increasingly been present, with much success, on Newsvine. Although the motivation can probably be mostly attributed to Amac and his photography challenges, it is a promising sign as to what we can accomplish as a group.
Hopefully we can continue down this path and expand our focus.
Typically, when an administrator receives a new membership request, an email is sent out letting the person know what the guidelines are, or if it's not apparent why a person should be accepted, they'll be asked why they want to join. Recently a response was received to the later and it went something like this: I feel that joining an online photography group will help me mature as an amateur photographer.
The current guidelines don't really accommodate this, but if we're going to help each other grow as photographers, something we're already doing informally, we need a central place to share our images and put them up for peer critique, to teach and challenge each other, to share tips and tricks. This is also a way for us to recruit new photographers.
The guidelines are really more or less just for direction, and the changes reflect your photographic activity on Newsvine. Below is what I personally imagine the group's expanding to. If you have anything to add, please do so, and we'll form some official, if interim, guidelines to send off to new members.
2. Articles addressing the direction of the group, or events we should be participating in or hosting.
3. Photo (essays) open to critique. (If you don't want it critiqued, keep it out.) Try to leave technical information either in the body of your article, or in a comment in the group discussion.
4. Lessons. Feel free to write articles like this that teach your peers how to get good results or use special techniques.
Additionally, I think the photo pool should be less of a focus at this point in time, which seems to be ahead of the game. We need groundwork.
Back to the bullet number one. I'd like for us to do an group building/learning exercise by playing a game. It'd work similar to 8 things, where you're basically tagging people to write eight things about themselves, but instead we'd want to challenge someone to obtain a certain type of photograph, preferably something they're unaccustomed to taking. Anyone up for it?
In the last article we discussed a multitude of things, but it was decided that attaining a group of writers to work with was essential to moving forward. In the following discussion, we should figure out the logistics of this. We'll cover other topics in future articles.
The recruitment of writers will be more difficult than it would seem to be. It's going to be a little more involved than just messaging our Newsvine friends and asking them if they'd like to join our effort because there some things to consider before we go ahead.
It was suggested by Theresa-382710 that we create a collaborative group where the two media can discuss options. Since we already have a group, I've been considering having the name changed to be more accommodating but part of its conception was for listing purposes and perhaps it should remain so. We would need to move our discussions to the new group if we went this route.
If we decide to keep this group and create a new one, listing the photographers, along with linking to our photographs on our column, is probably going to help us in managing requests. It should be relatively easy for 'viners to check out our members and click the link they've provided under "Recommendations", like Theresa as done. They would then have to contact the photographer and request permission. Are there any cleaner ways than this, though? Tweaks?
Lastly, how do we want to go about inviting writers into the fold? Should someone write an article? Should we send out emails?
That's all there is for now. Is there anything missing that pertains?
Need to get caught up? Don't know what's going on? Read up:
It was mentioned in Guidelines & Expectations that Newsvine Photo Pool isn't going to be an instant success. This is evidenced by the fact that none of the stock photos, to my knowledge, have been used in Newsvine articles, nor have any photographs been requested. It's hard to say what the reasoning is, but the excitement of the photographers to collaborate with the writers doesn't appear to be reciprocal.
Some of you might not be aware, but the Newsvine Photo Pool was introduced to Newsvine in mid 2007 and was met with great enthusiasm from resident photographers. The idea was first put forward by Celestina in her article, Stepping It Up A Notch: A Vision For Newsvine and later by Mogmismo when he created the pool, and even later still when I promoted it and recently re-promoted it.
If you read through these articles' comments though, you'll find that although the comments were positive, one thing was missing: no one said that they'd like to use photographs from a pool. Finding photographs for articles on Flickr or Google is no different than finding them on NVPP, we just need to give people reason to choose us over them. I admit that our collection is infinitesimal compared to the rest of the internet but how many places are offering to collaborate with writers?
I'll be the first to admit that getting people working together on something can be difficult, so we should probably discuss the directions we could take to get us there. Should we hold a contest? Should we recruit writers willing to collaborate? Advertise? Do we need to figure something else out first? How should we proceed?
Now is probably a good time to bring up and address any other concerns, as well.
Log In | Register
Continue reading this entry ...
Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:17 PM EDT
Wed Jan 12, 2011 11:45 AM EST
Fri Nov 5, 2010 11:16 AM EDT
