Here are five travel tips that have come from the experiences of my photographer friends and myself over the last decade.

1. Be cool

 There are situations that you’ll find yourself in, especially with the TSA, or in foreign countries dealing with foreign bureaucracies that will raise your ire. Hold it together. As soon as you get angry the whole dynamic of the situation loses its flexibility. Every problem has a solution, and the people that are best positioned to help you find that solution are usually the ones that on whom you might want to focus exasperation. If you’re cool, most people will be cool in return.

2. Black out your gear

We’re photographers, we hang expensive metal from our necks while we walk around. Throw some black tape over the the bright white logos. Or do what I do and blacken them out with a black sharpie. Also, in the same vein, use a plain black camera strap. There’s no reason to attract attention to your expensive tools.

3. Get the heck off of the beaten path

I know this seems exceedingly obvious, but you would be shocked how many people avoid it out of fear of what might happen once they have their boots on the ground in an unfamiliar destination. Your instincts do not abandon you when you travel. If some place looks or feels like a bad situation waiting to happen, act appropriately. However, the most interesting things I’ve experienced have been down side streets and back alleys.

The one time I was held up at gunpoint was in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in San Francisco. The other close calls that I’ve had while traveling are when I knew I was playing with fire. Every other back street I’ve explored has always yielded something fabulous.

4. Eat the street food

Some of the best food in the world is proffered by street venders. It’s delicious and cheap. I always run into people who say that street food is dangerous. Do you see any corpses in the vicinity? Then you’re probably fine.

5. Don’t use a money belt

Do you do this in your own city? Neither do I. Running around your town or any other town requires that you have access to your cash and credit cards so you can pay for things. Partially undressing to buy a cappuccino is just silly.

6. Scan your passport

When I travel internationally I have a scan of my passport online in a password protected directory on my server. There’s all kinds of other ways to do this as well. If I lose my passport, I can access it at the American embassy on a computer, or if for some reason I go missing, my family can use the image and the details in an emergency.

What’s your best travel tip for photographers?

photo credit: GlobalCitizen01/Flickr

Earlier this month, on their one year anniversary show, Anderson and Jillian had consultant Suzanne Sease, art buyer for Campbell Mithun Kat Dalager and art buyer Amanda Sosa Stone.

While the conversation covered a myriad of topics including how best to approach an art director, buyers or editors with your work, Anderson asked if the trio had they any tips to help photographers create better estimates. And oh boy did the panel have plenty to say on this point!

Suzanne Sease jumped in on the question and said, “An estimate shows me how you think and how you plan to produce a job. It has to tell a story. It has to be very clean. It has to be very concise. I love Blinkbid.”

Blinkbid’s level of detail and organization gives the photographer a leg up. As Kat Dalager puts it…

I like to be able to see the overview, which includes the subtotals of expenses as well as the fees, and then a total. It sounds like common sense. But frankly, I can’t tell you how many times I have to add the numbers up myself and that takes more time for me to do that and I may not be getting it quite right.

Kat’s told some of her photographers they’d better get Blinkbid because their estimates and invoices took too long to process. Without a good invoice, it takes longer to pay the photographer – as long as six weeks if your invoice doesn’t match the estimate and totals aren’t clear.

Amanda offered the tip that you should go from your estimate to invoice, make them identical – which is very easy to do with Blinkbid. She also stressed that you shouldn’t undercut the bid, or you’ll regret it and not do the industry any favors.

What thrilled us as we listened to the podcast, was the panel’s unanimous support for Blinkbid. And no, we didn’t sponsor, feed, or bribe the team to give us props! Give the entire show a listen and tune in regularly for great tips to be a better photographer.

For a limited time, members of CAPIC can get Blinkbid at a major discount of just $179 US. Login to the member area of CAPIC to get the details.

If you’re a Canadian creative and already using Blinkbid, what tips can you offer your colleagues as they set up their new software and improve the quality of their estimates and invoices? Post your suggestions in the comments below.

We also suggest new users take a look at our video tutorials and browse the online Help. Of course, if you find that you need a bit of extra help, fill out a ticket on our support page and we’ll get back to you right away.

But I think we can do better. And to that end, starting this year were dedicating a monthly email to tips of running an environmentally friendly set.

So if you’re not yet, get on our email list. It’s low noise and we only deliver valuable announcements and solid, helpful information. And we don’t share our email addresses with anyone.

Yesterday I spoke with a commercials producer about some of the things that she’s seeing on her sets that are environmentally friendly. Here’s a short list of things that she said are working well.

• Using Brita jugs and glasses at meetings and in post-production rooms, resulting in far fewer disposable water bottles.
• Recycling cans everywhere.
• Buffet lunches, no “to go” packaging. Some caterers have switched to real plates and cutlery instead of paper and plastic.

This is just the start of where were going. We’d like your help. If you have an idea that can help reduce waste on the set without bringing the production to halt let us know in the comments below or via Twitter @blinkbid.

photo credit: © Blanca – Fotolia.com

Kraczek’s introduction to the visual arts started with her mother who was an artist. It was the exposure to her mother’s work at a young age that inspired her to pursue drawing and painting in college. Unknown to her at the time, Kraczek’s embrace of charcoal on paper as her favorite medium was heavily influenced by her love of black and white photography. Especially images with simple composition and pronounced light and shadow.

After Kraczek graduated from college with her art degree, she had to find a career path that would enable her to make a living quickly. Jenna’s attraction to glamour led her to beauty school which could get her working soon after she finished the program. Once again she didn’t realize that she was pursuing yet another path that was one of the parts of the whole of her photography calling.

Because of her very young exposure to painting, Kraczek excelled at color theory and trained to be a colorist. Her last year in beauty school she was part of hair competition in which she also did the makeup on the models. Out of nowhere she ended up winning an award for her makeup and not the hair. For Kraczek it was a wake up call. She loved doing makeup.

As she planned a course to makeup school, she also constantly practiced the craft. Weddings, editorial, short films, some-budget projects, no-budget projects, she didn’t care, she just wanted to practice her passion for painting faces.

Eventually her need to work as a makeup artist outweighed the frequency of opportunities that were available in which she could be highly creative. Kraczek was working with “Model Mayhem” photographers. Not surpassingly the work she was asked to do was pedestrian in concept, or the photography was so dreadful that it failed to showcase her work. So she opted to practice her concepts herself and shoot her own pictures to record the work. It was one of those epic moments like when you see a lighting strike, or the green flash right before the sun dips below the horizon.

Using herself as a model, a few spotlights from Office Depot, and a point-and-shoot camera, Kraczek had come to the end of a journey and found that photography was her true passion. Or as she describes it “her vice.” She began shooting friends, neighbors, and eventually models. Of course doing her own makeup and hair.

As her portfolio started bulking up she began getting noticed. First it was a few small projects, and then a few editorial spreads. Her arrival as a pro came recently when she started getting calls from Hollywood to bid on jobs that engaged her specific style. Yes, there is a reason I’m being vague. The projects are under the hush hush of NDAs at the moment.

Kraczek’s work is extraordinary to look at, not only for its aesthetic beauty, but also for inspiration. Her site is one that I have bookmarked, and check in with often just to see what she’s conjured up lately.

Jenna Kraczek’s career reads like an epic journey where the hero goes through life picking up the required skills that she’ll need to pursue her ultimate destiny. Ironically, in Kraczek’s case, it’s the destiny she would have never discovered had she not travelled the odyssey that she did.

More of Jenna Kraczek’s work can be seen in her site Jenna Kraczek Photography.

Over the last year we’ve noticed that very few folks are purchasing PowerPC versions of Blinkbid. And with the 5th anniversary of the introduction of the Intel based Macs only three months away, we’re confident that all our users no longer have a need for a PowerPC version of Blinkbid.

After this current release, Blinkbid 6.04, we will no longer publish updates for PowerPC based Macs. We will, of course, still support our PowerPC users, especially if they need help migrating to an Intel-based Mac. If you have any technical questions, please contact our support team.

Here’s a rundown of what you’ll find in the v6.04 update…

Changes and Additions

• Agent’s invoice now indicates commissionable fees in the description
• Added envelope printing capabilities from the contact card

• Added option to suppress the date under the signature image of an invoice
• Added “Receive Advance” in the Job menu in the Production window. Also added an indicator in the Production window to show that the advance has been received
• Added an option to print the job nickname on estimates and invoices. The option can be found in the Document Appearance > Label Text section
• Added the ability to print a Production Report
• Added New Zealand terms and conditions

Bug Fixes

• Blinkbid now calculates profit based on productions expenses if there are no actuals
• When suppressing the logo at print time, the additional space at top feature will now work
• Fixed a bug that when duplicating a job the wrong version number was applied to the duplicated job disallowing use of the Production module
• Fixed a decimal error in the bid consultant in which two categories were showing dollars instead of hundreds of dollars in rare cases
• Fixed a minor problem with the Quickbooks export that affected users who entered an overall job markup

If you have any suggestions or feedback on this update, please post a comment below. If you run into any technical issues, please fill out a support ticket.

Our two winners are: Dave Klaus and Rob Penner. Congratulations, guys! Your books will be in the mail shortly.

For everyone else, we hope you’ll stroll on over to Amazon and pick up a copy for yourself and you’ll soon be ready to jump into DSLR filmmaking and ready to offer clients another valuable photography service.

We shuttered when we speculated what would have happened to our reputations if we got it wrong. “Yes, mam you’d like your cappuccino stirred counter clockwise.”

But things turned out okay, and with only a few expletives thrown back and forth, Michael and I wrote a book. Or so we thought.

Our publisher, Kevin, who wears sunglasses, drives a Porsche and coaches little league, wanted more. He wanted us to call in some Hollywood favors, get some interviews, and add another voice to the publication.

So Michael called Snehal Patel, a DSLR video pioneer who recruited Rodney Charters to shoot one of his movies, and Shane Hurlbut. I called Craig Titley, Gale Tattersall, and Greg Yaitanes. Patel was awesome enough to help write some of chapters of the book, and the other working Hollywood folks were incredibly kind to let themselves be interviewed.

Now we had more than a book, we had the definitive guide to DSLR filmmaking. And to celebrate, we’re giving away two copies away and making it really easy for you to enter the contest.

The Prizes

Two paperback copies of our new book Photocine: Digital Filmmaking with DSLRs. Each book retails for $29.99.

How to Enter

We want to make it really easy for you to win, so choose which ever way (or ways) you prefer. There are three ways to win:

Tweet About the Contest

Tweet this message (or click on the bird) for a chance to win.

I want to win a copy of Photocine: Digital Flimmaking with #DSLRs! http://bit.ly/DSLRfilms #WinPhotocine

You can tweet up to two times a day and each tweet acts as an entry. To be eligible, your tweet must include the hashtag #WinPhotocine. Of course, it would be a good idea to follow Blinkbid too.

Join Our Mailing List

Subscribe to the Blinkbid email newsletter between now and September 23, 2011 and you’re automatically entered to win. Be sure you check your email box and confirm your address once you’ve subscribed, or we won’t have you on the official list.

Post a Comment

Already on the email list and not a Twit? Not to worry. Post a comment below of at least 100 words) (decided that since we’re photographers, perhaps 100 is too many! Use as many words as you need.) telling us why you make DSLR films. Of course, if you’ve blogged about being a DSLR filmmaker, just post a quick note about it and a link to your post and that will count too. Only one comment per person will be eligible.

Contest Dates & Rules

We’ll put everyone’s name in a list and randomly choose two lucky winners. We’ll contact you via email or via Twitter (if that’s how you entered). Of course, if you win on both draws (you should go and get a lottery ticket) we’ll choose another name. Otherwise, that just wouldn’t be fair.

Contest ends September 23, 2011. Winners will be announced on Twitter and on the Blinkbid blog Monday, September 26. Don’t forget to follow @Blinkbid on Twitter so you know if you’re one of our lucky winners.

Staff and anyone else associated with Blinkbid and PhotoCine News cannot win, because that wouldn’t be fair either.

Good luck and enter today!

Influenced by his father’s passion for cars and pictures, Cornellison has been a car enthusiast and a fan of photography since he was a kid. Deep in the back of his mind he knew there was a job out there in which he could indulge both interests. He just didn’t quite know the path to that end when he was working in print production at Seattle-based advertising agency Radarworks (formerly BBFM).

As he gained an expert, hands-on knowledge of the print world on mega accounts like Microsoft and T-Mobile, Cornellison was often asked to step in and help with Photoshop retouching duties as well. His coworkers took note of Cornellison’s creative proclivities and assumed Photoshop was in his skill set. Not one to back away from a challenge, or tell anyone that he wasn’t a Photoshop expert, Cornellison picked up the mouse and started teaching himself how navigate the imaging software.

The results earned him a fantastic reputation in print production circles. A reputation that opened doors and got him offers at other agencies, such as Wong Doody. However, moving around the Seattle area lacked the adventure that Cornellison and his wife, Charisa, needed. So they looked to the other side of the planet. One trip to New Zealand was all it took. They found a new place to dwell.

Packing up and leaving a successful career in your home city to start a new adventure in a foreign country is not for the faint of heart. But as Cornellison puts it, he was the right age, with the right attitude and he was married to a woman with the same passion for bold adventure. When Mark and Charisa landed in Christchurch, New Zealand it was an exciting and scary time.

After a few weeks of taking in their new country, meeting new people and learning to drive on the left side of the road, Cornellison set out to get some work. He started, as we all have, with a list of phone numbers and telephone to start the dreaded cold calling process. Almost immediately he noticed a significant difference between New Zealand the the United States.

“Hello my name is Mark Cornellison and I’d like to talk to someone about getting some work in the print production department of your agency.”

“Oh that sounds great, let me get the owner for you.”

“Hello this is … how can I help.”

Unlike the US, the owner of the ad agencies are part of the crew in New Zealand. Cornellison was astounded at the ease that he was connecting to high level people. Unfortunately there were no immediate job opportunities, but Cornellison felt like he had made a genuine connection to the decision makers.

While Cornellison was connecting with the ad agencies in Christchurch, he also reached out to a photographer named Diederik Van Heyningen who took Cornellison on as an interim retoucher assistant. Van Heyningen shoots cars and people, Cornellison’s favorites. Working with Van Heyningen in the exotic locations found in the outlying hinterlands of New Zealand, Cornellison had found his sweet spot.

During this time he had the opportunity to add to his photographic post-production techniques and apply them to the images that Van Heyningen was shooting. It was the ultimate school of experience and a taste of what he hoped to do much more often.

Eventually a position opened up at one of the design/ad agencies in Christchurch and Cornellison decided to accept the position and the steady work. The laid back corporate style at the New Zealand agencies afforded Cornellison the opportunity to switch between several roles at the agency. Along with his print production duties he was consistently called upon to do retouching and photographic post production work for the agency’s clients.

In April 2010, Cornellison decided to go freelance with his post production skills. Things were moving along for Cornellison and his family until September 4, 2010. The Canterbury earthquake shook the region and as natural disasters do, alter things considerably.

Cornellison and his family thankfully did not sustain any damage or injury. And just as things were starting to fall into a post-quake recovery phase, Christchurch was struck with a significant aftershock in February 2011 which devastated the city. With the economy heavily affected and some family concerns back in the US, Cornellison and his family decided to move back to Washington state. It wasn’t an easy decision. He and his wife had been in Christchurch for nearly five years. They owned a house and had their first child there; it was home.

Cornellison’s wife was the first to return to Washington. Welcomed by family and friends who were thankful for that she was safe, she settled down in the southern part of Washington. After tying up some loose ends, Cornellison soon joined his wife, son and soon-to-be-born second child.

The adventure that started with a trip to Jackson’s Middle Earth had returned to where it had started. But there was one significant difference. Cornellison found what he was looking for when he left to go live in New Zealand. And he was awesome at it. His two passions combined to provide him with his new career.

And yes, I did ask Cornellison about the hobbits. He told me that if I gave him picture of a landscape that he could return it to me with as many hobbits as I wanted. It is after all what he does for a living.

You can see more of Cornellison’s digital retouching work and contact him via his website.