First of all, I don’t write screenplays, or books. I’m more in the blogging category. Regardless, I think this is an amazing tool to get the job done. If you’re like me, you tend to have an attention deficit when doing any work with multiple windows open…or the internet in general. Writeroom allows you to kill the distractions. Not only that, but it brings back that cool DOS looking screen that we all love so much, Matrix style, hello Neo.

Since I’ve been writing a lot more for my company blog, this is the type of tool I’ve grown to adore. Don’t be scared to try it out for free, you just may like it.

The end, thanks for reading. 

I’ve mentioned before just how much something creative can inspire me, and right now I’m feeling about as inspired as I ever have. Jeremy Cowart has been my favorite photographer since the day I first discovered him. Though he is more likely known for his celebrity portraits, this project proves all the more that he is every bit as talented as you would guess him to be.

This type of work is inspiring. It makes you want to create something. To build something out of nothing and feel the joy of that creation, and the joy of sharing that with the world. I hope we all take this to heart and do something inspiring today. Thanks for reading.

P.S – If you’re a photographer or even know someone who is, visit http://help-portrait.com/ to find out how you can give back.

Let me preface this by saying you should take this as advice, not criticism. And by you, I’m talking about companies who place big n’ pretty buttons all over their website saying “Contact Us!” If you’re gonna ask, you have to follow up. If, after you read this (and I know this will circulate pretty quickly given the popularity of this blog) you decide it’s still not important, then it’s criticism…just saying.

I work for a creative agency. I was asked to do some research on a couple different companies for some web-based software we were looking to purchase. TO PURCHASE. WITH REAL MONEY. I did what I thought was the logical thing…clicked the big shiny button and requested demos. It has nearly been a week and I still have one company who hasn’t contacted me back yet. The worst part was I got an email immediately after I signed up saying someone would be in contact with me shortly…

All I’m saying is that you need to follow through. In this case it was amplified by the fact that I wanted to purchase analytics software, to track mentions, clicks, etc. You know the deal. I even sent a tweet about it. Long story short, this type of response doesn’t make me a buyer, nor an advocate, nor give me any reason to think your software will do what I need it to. The sad thing is that it was my first choice…pre-demo sign up.

Who knows, maybe I’ll get an email or something and they’ll change my mind. Right now, it’s safe to say that there’s a gap for a competitor to steal my business.

On the other hand, I had one company call me fairly quickly after researching my tweets and preparing questions to see if their service was a fit for me and my company. That’s how you do it.

I like to listen to music, and to play it, but when I’m working it’s usually the first. If you’re like me, your iTunes library gets a little boring 8-hour + workday after 8-hour workday. That’s why I love Grooveshark and Pandora. They provide me with two different music options. If I’m curious about an artist and I want to hear one of their albums, I look it up on Grooveshark, add the album, and let it roll. This is also a great way to decide if you really want to buy that CD (or download that album), or if you can stand just listening to it when you have an internet connection. This usually saves me $9.99.

If I’m not in the mood for just one artist, I like to mix it up a bit and head over to Pandora. At Pandora, you start with and artist (or genre, composer, whatever) and they pick songs that they think you will like. It’s sort of like the Genius feature in iTunes. And now, so this post isn’t one of those, “Why are you telling me something I already know?” type posts, here are some Pandora stations I like to listen to depending on my mood and what I’m doing at the time:

Chill/Interesting Background: Explosions in the Sky or Radiohead Classical

Pop/Nice Melodies: Jon McLaughlin Radio , Syndicate (The Fray), Parachute Radio

Indie Sounding: Band of Horses

I’m Working but I want to listen to some rap: Instrumental Hip Hop (no words, but all the beats you love)

That should give you a few stations to play with, thanks for reading.

© 2011 Dustin Reynolds Photography. Not for Reproduction. All Rights Reserved.

I took this photo today of a man who told stories like it was his only job in the world. Amazing. Thanks for reading.

Saturday was an interesting day for us. We went from the depths to the heights of Big Island. Starting out driving around the Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park, we saw steam vents, craters, and pre-historic looking plants. Also, it’s National Volcano week if you’re interested, so go find your favorite volcano and you’ll be able to enter the park for free.

These are a few of the images we captured that day. There are a lot more. We’ve done a lot more since then. I have hi-res photos available if anyone wants them.

Thanks for reading.

Today I was finishing up the post editing on my photos from Hawaii. As I was nearing the end, I started thinking about the photos. I had edited them in different batches, so each time I sat down I saw something a little different and tweaked them (for the better I think). As I came to the last few, I said to myself, “Self, there were clouds in that sky. It was so much cooler when I was there. Why do these pictures look so flat?” So I changed one thing. I won’t bore you with the details, but it changed the way I saw the picture. 

So, the moral is this: Try something new. I heard my pastor give a 5 minute sermonette this weekend on this same exact topic. I wasn’t thinking about it when I tweaked this photo, but it works, hence the reference. We get scared when new opportunities arise or when something isn’t the way we expect it to be. If we can break it down into little pieces, and just try one new thing, at least we can say we gave it a go. You never know, you might find gold. That’s it for this class, you’re dismissed. Thanks for reading.

I’ve been taking a lot of photos lately. I used to look at them on the LCD on the back of the camera and decide if I wanted to keep them or not, but recently I’ve changed my process. First, I ended up buying a huge memory card. What that means for me is that I don’t have to worry about space, so extra images aren’t that big of a deal. Second, I’m a new Adobe Lightroom (affiliate link) evangelist. Running my photos through that program in post-production has saved me incalculable hours (they’re probably calculable, just not right now). I can sort, rate, delete in a tenth of the time it used to take me. Third, I’ve found that the LCD previews just don’t give me enough detail to know whether I want to keep it or delete it right there on the spot. 

Here’s a recent example. I went to a horse training facility and did a photo shoot for them showcasing the staff, students, and facility…not to mention the beautiful horses. As I loaded my pictures from the card to my computer, I saw something kind of cool in one of the photos. At a glance, it was nothing special. It was part of a horse head, no special composition, pretty plain. On looking closer, I saw that the horses’s eye actually held the reflection of myself (and two friends) on the railing as I was taking the photo. I was glad I kept that photo because it felt special. On the camera that might have been impossible to see at only a cursory glance.

I’m not saying you should do it this way. Everyone has their own style, this is mine. I tend to always find subtle hints of what I call “magic” and I love that. Thanks for reading.