Six hours and counting!

My bags are packed for 3 weeks in India.

At 8:40 tonight I board a plane to London and then on to India for 3 weeks. For the first week I am going to be by myself doing some personal shooting in Old Delhi, Nizamuddin Dargah, Jodhpur and Udaipur, which I am super excited about. I love the color of India so spending some time in Jodhpur, The Blue City, should be fun.

Starting on the 28th, I will shooting for an organization called Serve India in various villages and cities including Varanasi, which I am excited about as well. Depending on internet I am going to try to post some postcards and screen savers so be looking for those as well as updates about my trip.

Upon returning I will be writing a review of the Think Tank Photo Street Walker Pro so be looking for that. I will be giving the bag a beating and I am confident it is can take is so be looking for my review soon.

In closing I just want to let you know about a great organization called The Plywood People. I spent some time with Jeff Shinabarger, the founder of The Plywood People and Giftcardgiver.com,  yesterday at their offices in Atlanta and had a great time. You will be hearing more from me about this great organization in the future as well.

Cheers

Bring on the rain!

Its no secret the folks at Think Tank Photo make killer bags and other accessories to carry your gear. What you might not know  is they also make some amazing products that also protect your gear from rain!

The really cool thing is that right now, for a limited time, you can get a free eyepiece with Think Tank Photo’s Think Tank Photo’s Hydrophobia  rain covers. When you check out of the shopping cart you will be asked which eyepiece you would like to receive for free. To take advantage of this deal, click here.

For those of you want to know more about the rain covers, here are some details:

The Hydrophobia 70-200 and  Hydrophobia 70-200 Flash rain covers accommodate a DSLR with up to a 70-200 lens and, in the latter, a flash.

Its Hydrophobia 300-600 rain cover protects a DSLR with a super telephoto lens
(300 f2.8 up to a 600 f4) attached, with the lens hood in position.  These heavy-duty rain covers provide protection during even the toughest downpours, wind storms, or other challenging conditions.

What’s more, you can actually attach your DSLR and simply carry it by the rain cover.  The sleeves are big enough to not only let you control the camera (with the help of a clear window around back), but swap out batteries or memory cards as well.

A great example of Visual advocacy done well

I just wanted to take a quick second to tell you about my friends Gary and Vivian Chapman and their photographs and story on persecuted Christians in Pakistan. The stories and images have definitely got people talking on CNN’s blog and I just wanted to share this great example of visual advocacy. Gary and Vivian are a great example that you can not only do work that benefits others but also make a living at what you love; its not easy but it can be done.

I have asked Gary to write a  guest blog post on visual advocacy and specifically on this story, so be looking for that soon.

3 awesome resources on the business of photography

We all know there are ton of incredible resources on the web and sometimes the greatest challenge is separating the good from the best. As I was thinking about this I wanted to share some resources I think do a great job hitting on the business side of photography. It goes without saying that are way more than 3 awesome resources on the business of photography, but this is a start.

Photoshelter:  In addition to offering photographers a lot of great website choices and customization options, Photoshelter offers a ton of great resources on building and growing your business. Between their E-books and Free-guides, their blog entries and their webinars, the folks at Photoshelter have some great resources for photographers who are wanting to really grow their businesses.

Chase Jarvis Interview with Ramit Sethi: This is a great video offering some can’t miss business advice for Photographers and other creatives. I won’t say more than that….just take my word for it and watch the video!

ASMP: From podcasts to videos, to pricing guides and more, the ASMP website is a great collection of resources for photographers.

Good luck this year and enjoy these resources!