Jamie Thingelstad

A few weeks ago I took a workshop at the Minneapolis Photo Center. The workshop was led by Layne Kennedy. Layne led the Dogsledding Photo Workshop that I took a while back and I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know Layne as well. He’s a great guy! I saw that he was doing this workshop in town and snapped up the opportunity to spend a weekend shooting.

The focus of the workshop was to spend 72 HOURS focused on a subject and at the end of the project create a book. Putting together a book was what brought me to the workshop. I wanted to get some practice at creating a flow and telling a story through my photography. While digital photos are great, and zipping through 278 photos on a Web site may be preferred by some — I wanted to focus on editorial choice and creating a series of photos that worked together from the first to the last.

It took me a while to finish the book. I found the process interesting. Before I get to some of my lessons learned, take a peek at the book!

Some things that I learned while making this book:

• Don’t expect to make a completely finished book on the first, or even second, time through. I found that I ended up scraping everything and just starting over a couple of times until I got the right feel. Don’t get focused on details until you are down the road a way.
• The format of the book informed a lot of decisions. I decided to go with a square book. I also decided to go with a simple layout just putting one image on a page. This meant all my photos would be in a 1x1 format. The book layout and the photos I was working with both worked well there.
• I let a lot of time pass before I finished the book. That is good and bad. On the bad side some recollections got rusty. On the good side I was able to see my photos with fresh eyes. This confirmed for me that I was making the right editorial decisions.
• This takes a long time. I’m not sure what the right ratio is to make a book, and I’m sure you get faster with experience. This book has a little over 30 pictures in it. It took me between 10 and 15 hours to complete, I didn’t track it that carefully. The point is, it takes a while.

The book was made using Blurb. They have software you run locally on your Mac and it worked pretty well. I’ll wait until I get my first copy of the printed book before I make a recommendation. Other books I’ve seen off of the service look very good, so I expect it will be very nice.

You should also check out Layne’s book 72HOURS - Stone Steel & People. Layne was obsessed with his Lensbaby. Heidi Neumann also took the class and her book looks great too.

See list of Photography Workshops.

Just over a year ago I posted my plea to Canon asking that they make it so I can lock the mode dial on my Canon 5D Mark II.

Last week they announced a program to replace your mode dial with a locking one. Apparently it will cost $100. I assume it will involve a visit to an authorized service center. Worth $100? Probably.

Update

I called National Camera today to ask about this program. They haven’t heard a thing. The guy I talked to said that a number of people didn’t like the new locking mode dial on the newest Canon cameras so he wasn’t sure it was really something that people would like.*

The New Standards Holiday Show #5 is awesome!

See list of The New Standards shows.

Very fun evening at Pizza Luce for the Drivetrain Agency event. Thanks Dan Grigsby!

Why is it so different to go to sleep at 2am and get up at 6am, versus going to bed at 10pm and getting up at 2am? Both are a miserly 4 hours of sleep, but the later is immensely less desirable.

I’ll be doing the later tonight to head into the office for a product release.

Last year I decided I had enough of our old tree stand and got rid of it. We decided to pick up our Christmas tree after Thanksgiving but I needed to get a new tree stand.

We made a quick stop at Settergren’s Ace Hardware and I asked the guys there what they recommended. The guy I was talking to said he loved this Swivel Tree Stand. I decided to get it. It wasn’t the cheapest, but it looked really nice and easy.

We went to Wagner’s and got a tree, and then headed home to get it in the stand. After putting the tree up I won’t use one of the old tree stands ever again. This thing was amazing. You put part of the base on outside, with the tree in an easy place to put part of the base on. No laying on the floor trying to get everything put in place. Simple, easy.

You then walk it inside, set it in the stand, press the swivel lever down with your foot. At this point the tree moves anyway you want it. Get it perfect, let the lever release and your done! Wow. Great!

Some of you reading this realize how much I like to upgrade things. I really do. I’m not saying it is wise, but I feel a nearly unstoppable urge to upgrade as soon as I can. And my favorite kind of upgrade? Firmware. Upgrading firmware is absolutely delicious.

Tonight was a marvelous feast. Upgrading iOS on an iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, two iPad’s and two 2nd generation Apple TV’s. Just great!

Finally we have The Beatles on iTunes. Now we can be done with all the rumors about The Beatles on iTunes. Thank you!