Friends of Arizona Highways Photo Workshops

July 13, 2006

Hello everyone. We hope you had a nice Fourth of July holiday, and are enjoying a summer full of travel and adventure. You're receiving this month's newsletter a couple of weeks earlier than normal because we have a time-sensitive announcement about one of our workshops.

SPACES LEFT ON THE SEPTEMBER 12-23 RAFTING WORKSHOP

We still have four spaces left on the Gary Ladd rafting workshop coming up September 12-23, 2006. Gary is an expert when it comes to the Grand Canyon. He's rafted, hiked and photographed it for countless years, and his knowledge of the Colorado River area is broad as well as deep. Just two of the items he's had published about the area are the outstanding books "Grand Canyon: Time Below the Rim" and "Canyon Light: Lake Powell and the Grand Canyon."

Time is running out for you to participate in this incredible workshop, which begins with two days of photographic instruction before spending ten days on the Colorado River. If you would like more information about the workshop, please visit our website: http://www.friendsofazhighways.com/workshops/06LaddRaft.htm

PHOTO GEAR SUGGESTIONS

We've heard good things about the Epson P-2000 as an image storage device that digital users can take into the field. If any of you have experience with the P-2000 or have another gear recommendation you would like to share with your fellow photographers, please let me know. Limit your recommendations to three, and I will try to include as many as I can in next month's newsletter. Recommendations can be for film or digital users.

TIPS FROM THE PROS

"Memory Card Deletions" by J. Peter Mortimer

A lot of people like shooting digitally because they can delete "mistakes" right in the camera. It frees up needed space on the memory card, means you can sometimes carry fewer cards, and keeps you from having to go through as many photos when you get back from your shoot. While I've done in-camera deletions in the past, I try not to do them now.

My understanding is that "in-camera" deletions have the potential of causing memory card corruption. Experts tell me that it's much safer to download all of the pictures from the card to the computer, and then do individual image deletions on the computer.

Once you've saved your images to the computer (and made at least one backup to CD, DVD or external memory device) you can wipe the images off your card. To do this, it's best to REFORMAT the memory card, rather than just deleting all photos. Do this in the camera rather than on the computer. This insures that the memory card will be totally compatible with the software in the camera, and helps prevent memory card corruption.

NON-PHOTOGRAPHER COMPANION

Last year, we began offering discounts to people who were not photographers but who wanted to accompany friends or loved ones on workshops. The so-called "non-photographer companion" rate has led to some confusion regarding what it entitles the companion to participate in, and people have apparently been confused by the distinction between being a non-photographer (attends shoots but does not take pictures) and a non-participant (shares a room only and does not attend shoots). As a result of the ongoing confusion and the unfair burden it places on our volunteer escorts to keep all the different levels of participation straight, we are discontinuing this program immediately. We will of course honor any discounts currently in place. We are very sorry this program didn't work out.

SHARING PHOTOS

Ed Riche was kind enough to submit a website link this month. Ed's taken a number of our workshops, and I'm pretty sure some of the photos from those trips appear in his "Image Library." You can check it out here: http://www.EdRichePhotography.com

POSTING PHOTOS ONLINE

Some of our students and volunteers use photo hosting sites to share their work with friends and loved ones. That way they don't have to deal with the cost and maintenance of running their own websites. Below are some of the most popular sites we've heard of, with the most accurate pricing we could find (in US dollars).

http://www.betterphoto.com/home.asp - Free Gallery of up to 30 photos. Premium level is twenty-two dollars per year for up to 300 images. Deluxe and Pro levels are also available. Photo contests, an online community and online education are other benefits of joining.
http://www.pbase.com - Twenty-three dollars yearly for 400 Megabytes of photo storage. Sixty dollars yearly for 1200 Megabytes of photo storage.
http://www.photo.net/frequent-questions - Twenty-five dollars per year, or sixty-eight for three years, after a short free trial period.
http://picasa.google.com/ - You need a free Google email account in order to post and share photos with Picasa. Each account comes with 250MB of free storage space. For twenty-five dollars per year, users can get a subscription to an additional 6GB of storage.
http://www.smugmug.com - About forty dollars per year for unlimited storage. File size limitations apply.
http://www.snapfish.com - Free online photo sharing, free editing tools, and free unlimited storage of your online photos. Digital camera prints as low as 10 cents with the ability to make gifts like mugs, T-shirts and flip books from your photos.

I have no first-hand knowledge of these sites and pulled pricing from their websites. Before signing up for one of them, be sure to look into any hidden pricing that would be objectionable.

We hope you find these newsletters helpful and enjoyable. See you again next month.

Kind regards,
Robyn Noll
Director
Friends of Arizona Highways / Arizona Highways Photo Workshops
2039 W. Lewis Ave.
Phoenix, AZ 85009
Phone: toll-free (888) 790-7042