Spring Fever

According to Wikipedia -- Spring fever is a term applied to several sets of physical and psychological symptoms associated with the arrival of spring. Well, I don’t know about you guys and gals, but I got it!  Taxes, chores, projects, end of semester grading--who can be bothered when there are tomatoes to plant and butterflies to watch?  Lounging in the sunshine, feeling the dusting of freckles returning to my nose I marvel at the glorious sun—her solar power charging me in optimism. Since November of 2012 life has been difficult due to a decline in my fathers health, but now that the cardinals are chasing each other like lovers do and mockingbirds serenade all through the night, I must admit I’m feeling anew.  This morning In the backyard, drinking a honeyed green tea I looked down at one of my three pots of strawberries and noticed a perky plant had jumped shipped, a wild pioneer embedded in the yard. Anything’s possible in this great big world, so here’s to new beginnings and pollen smeared honeybees. Enjoy yourself and send us your favorite spring photos!  We want to see what you see. 

Spring Blessings- Angilee

cell phone camera photography

Interesting article on shooting low-fi using cell phone camera and apps.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/19/living/iphone-art/index.html

I have started to really embrace cell phone photography. With all the filters and adjustments available through mobile apps, shooting with the cell phone has become a whole new photographic art form. In addition there are  a variety of lens on the market that allow you to shoot with various focal lengths. My latest endeavor has been to email my SLR photos to myself so that i can then open them in my smart phone, download to my iphone's photo gallery and then re-open and run them through a mobile app. 

That being said, more times than not the photos you take with your phone's camera (especially the smart phones--I have an iphone) are a pleasant surprise and the image quality justs keep getting better. A big advantage to shooting cell-cam pics is that you always have a camera on you and it weighs very little.  

Photos below were taken with my cell phone:

                                          

                                          Wild Parakeets at White Rock lake 

         

                                          Apples in Maine

                                          Purcie the kitten

                                            Deer in the woods in Denton TX

                                           Winter Acorns

                                          Birds on the UNT campus

                                       

                                          Summer shower - dividing line of rainfall

Happy Holidays from Texas Photo!

We are signing off for a few days (Dec 21 - 25) for the holidays - but can't go without sending BIG, TEXAS-SIZED HOLIDAY WISHES to all of our students, supporters, business partners, and just a whole bunch of nice people we have been so lucky to meet this year! We can't believe how Texas Photo has grown - and the many ways all of you have helped us grow. We are truly thankful!

The Gift of Learning

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 30!
Gift yourself or your favorite photog with the gift of education through Texas Photo classes! Check out our new calendar of classes for Spring 2013. We have more to offer this year than ever, with new class topics and some terrific partnerships with The Dallas Arboretum, Fort Worth Botanical Gardens and The Creative Arts Center of Dallas. Check out our expanded online courses that allow you to learn on your time. Gift cards are available via mail and email in amounts of $25 and up – so fill up your stocking or someone else's with the best photo deal yet.

Gift Card-a-palooza

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 29
Next to the last day of Deals postings– and just like the pre-holiday prep, these deals have gone by way too fast! So, speaking of fast... to make your holiday shopping and decision-making speedier, don't forget about gift cards. Most retailers offer gift cards or certificates, and we have put together a list of some of the best for that photographer on your list:

• Photojojo - amounts ranging from $10 - $200, with email delivery available or by mail with free keychain
• B+H Photo Video - amounts from $25 - $1000, never expires and free shipping
• Adorama - Gift Card Wizard offers amounts from $10 - $1000, arrive by email or mail, never expire, and have the option for a personal message 
• Amazon - holiday designs and gift tins, custom designs with personal photos, video cards, delivery options via email, Facebook, mail with free shipping, and print at home in amounts from $.15 to $1000

Go gift card-a-palooza! 

Holiday Photo Shoot

Shot images at Spa Esoteric in McKinney for the holidays. The Spa is a converted historic home with huge floor-to-ceiling windows and amazing natural light! Every time I shoot there, it's a joy– not only because of the light, but also the creative freedom that the owner, Monika, gives me. Here's a sneak peek...

Santa's on his way...

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 28
Play Santa with this deal from BradsDeals and Discount Mags! Get a year-long subscription to Digital Photo Magazine for $4.99 – today only! This slick, glossy mag covers new digital darkroom technologies, trends and methods in modern photography. Edited for a broad spectrum of readers, from the beginner to the advanced, this is the perfect gift for photogs who want to learn more about how to creatively control and produce exciting images. Use the code BRADSDEALS at checkout to get the deal!

Photo-tastic Gifts!

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 27
Skip the season's shopping stress and take advantage of Adorama's Photo-tastic Gift List filled with great ideas – all under $100! These gadgets and tools can boost images from good to great and take shooting skills to the next level. We like Adorama's exclusive Digital Media Storage Wallet for memory cards and their Flashpoint 42-inch Collapsible Disc Reflector kit. The Digital Media Storage Wallet is a perfect size at 4 1/4 x 3 1/4-inches, holds up to 4 memory cards and 2 AA batteries, and can be carried on its own or placed inside a camera bag. The foldable Flashpoint Reflector is perfect for reducing contrast, providing soft fill light, warming skin tones, or softening light and comes with translucent, white, black, silver and gold (5-in-1) reflectors. Just twist, fold and pack away for easy travel and storage. Both of these make great gifts in combination or alone - and add up to under $50!

Making Spirits Bright – Instantly

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 26
Get your holiday party pics on the spot with the Polaroid GL10 instant printer! This little 15 oz. printer marries the convenience of today's digital images and the original Polaroid instant experience– works from most mobile phones wirelessly via Bluetooth and from most digital cameras. Using ZINK Technology, the GL10 produces color, full bleed and contemporary 3 x 4" photos in the Polaroid Classic Border logo in about 45 seconds - making it a portable photo booth that allows you to bring Polaroid magic wherever you go this holiday season. Buy.com features it today at only $105.99 – that's $75 off the regular price!

Sprocket Rocket around the Christmas Tree

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 25
Lomography is offering an Advent Calendar of Deals each day– good for their online shop and gallery stores! We featured facts about lomography on our blog back in August, but in case you missed it... it's a magazine, a shop and a community dedicated to analogue photography. That's right – Old-School-style-film-in-the-camera style artistic shooting. Tomorrow's deal is a savings of 21% on any Sprocket Rocket camera. Just use the voucher code ROCKET21 at the Checkout!

Dreaming of a Soft White Christmas

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 24
Give the best photo gift this season - a Gary Fong puffer flash diffuser. Built to fit a wide variety of DSLRs and point and shoot cameras, these affordable accessories are a must to eliminate raw light from a pop-up flash. Transform those dreaded holiday red-eye snap shots into softly lit professional looking portraits.

Ghosts of Christmas Past

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 23
See the history of image manipulation in Faking It: Manipulated Photography before Photoshop, an Amazon Editor's Pick for this holiday. This captivating book reveals that almost every type of manipulation we associate with Adobe’s now-ubiquitous Photoshop software was also part of photography’s pre-digital repertoire, from slimming waistlines and smoothing away wrinkles to adding or removing people in images, not to mention fabricating events that never took place. Among the techniques discussed–and beautifully illustrated with works from an international array of collections—are multiple exposure, combination printing, photomontage, composite portraiture, over-painting, hand coloring, and retouching. Save 37%, enjoy free shipping with gift wrapping available!

Happy Holga Holidays

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 22
To make our holidays brighter, we are back at Photojojo's store for their Holga iPhone Lens. This little gem offers a rotating disk equipped with 9 different lenses! Just fit the case that it comes on over the back of your phone, and you're set. It's like having 9 toy cameras all in one: lenses for dreamy vignettes, vibrant red and green color lenses, multi-image lenses for Spidey-vision (double, triple, and quadruple images), a macro lens for beautiful close-up detail and red, yellow, and blue filters with clear centers for framing your subjects! Just spin the disk, preview the effect on your screen, and then fire away! A fantastic gift for only $30.

Holly, Jolly, Hot Pink Polaroid Christmas

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY 21
Molly Spilane's Etsy shop, Unique Art Pendants features this bright, festive, vintage style cuff. Using a retro Polaroid camera image that is "slightly see-through to show the brass patina and wear pattern underneath", Molly finishes the piece with a special metal sealer that makes the image scratch proof. The ends are double reinforced with high quality jewelers film, and the metal's texture makes these bracelets sparkle and shine - perfect for the holiday season.

I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY TWENTY
For the wish lists of Rudolf, reindeer, and all animal lovers, check out Award-winning photographer Tim Flach's book, More Than Human. Flach has spent years inquiring into the essential bond we have with animals, and presents an extraordinary body of work in which each image is more striking and powerful than the last. A constant affirmation of the animal, whether it be rare or common, powerful or defenseless, odd or majestic, the book showcases a menagerie of creatures—pandas, tigers, bats, lions, orangutans, cobras, bullfrogs, chimpanzees, wolves, porcupines, elephants, owls, armadillos, among many others—as they have never been seen before. As an Editor's Pick, this book is 40% off  at Amazon this week!

The Elves have Been Busy!

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY NINETEEN
The elves at Amazon and Brads Deals are offering red hot Cyber Monday savings with great lists of deals and easy ways to search by category. Amazon previews upcoming deals by the minute in a rolling banner, so you can get the jump on upcoming offers. Brads Deals site is searchable - simply type in "camera" or related topics and a full list of deals appears. Today's hot deals include Brad's Canon T41 Canon Rebel bundle with printer for $738, and Amazon's Nikon D7000 16.2 MP body for $896.95 – with a free backpack and memory card. Time to check off everyone on your list!

Cyber Santas Unite!

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY EIGHTEEN
For all of you secret Santas planning to partake in Cyber Monday, here are a few  links to some great deals! Awesome point and shoot camera deals can be found at Target and Walmart [Fujifilm Finepix 14 MP + SD Card + Case]. For the professionals in the house, check out B+H Photo's Photo Specials featuring a wide range of cameras, lenses, and accessories for all levels of photogs. For some great t-shirts that feature cool photo-related art, check out Dodge and Burn and Zazzle. And use the code 60ZCYBERSALE on Zazzle for 60% off. Good luck filling those shopping carts!

Hand-crafted Photo Holiday with Etsy

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY SEVENTEEN
The rush of Black Friday is fading (whew!) So sit back, relax and feast your eyes on some amazing hand-crafted coolness from Etsy, as we feature several artists in our upcoming Deals. Sarcastically named, but wonderfully talented, Buy My Crap offers made-to-order transparent and opaque resin bangles, bracelets, cuffs, and other amazing handmade products– from photos. BMC's creations use digital images (including Instagram images), hand-made molds, and hand polishing to create pieces that "combine the durability and fun feel of transparent resin with beautiful personal images to create a sweet little bangle that is fun, fresh and funky, and a timeless keepsake to enjoy." A super-hip holiday fashion statement for photogs and non-photogs alike!

Happy Thanksgiving from Texas Photo

Taking another break from our 30 Days of Deals to give thanks to all of our generous students, models, business partners and friends (you know who you are!) who continue to inspire us. Happy Thanksgiving – take time to enjoy (and of course, to snap some photos)!

'Twas the Night before Thanksgiving...

30 DAYS OF DEALS // DAY SIXTEEN
Black Friday is almost here and one of the best ways to shop for photo goodies is – online! So stay in those pajamas, grab that steamin' cuppa, and log on to some great savings. Here's a list of retailers that have some great Black Friday deals - and offer great prices, products and resources all year long. B+H Photo and Video not only has great prices, but features an excellent holiday buying guide to help with your holiday gift-giving. Their Insights Blog also showcases great tips and product reviews. Of course, Walmart has some great deals - especially on camera bundles with SD Card, extra lens and bag – with special sales on Canon. Bundles are great gifts for a beginning photog or student. Walmart also offers free shipping to the store of your choice. Next on the "nice" list is Target with its "Beat the Rush" sale, free shipping and 10% off with a REDcard. The Canon PowerShot A1300 16MP is on sale at Target for only $59.99. Amazon rocks around the Christmas tree with Black Friday Week Deals featuring some Grinch-like steals on a Panasonic Lumix GF3 at 40% off. Best Buy rounds out our list with some great DSLR package deals. So, fire up that mouse and get ready to cyber-shop through your Christmas list!