I just got this press release from Allen Murabayashi the CEO of Photoshelter this morning.   Seems like there is hope for those that have their images “trapped” on the DRR servers.  Photoshelter has been in discussions with Diablo Management and they have been able to get them to extend the server “up” time for just a bit longer - YOU HAVE UNTIL 11:59 PM PST tomorrow (October 31st) to move your images off…

Hats off to Allen and Photoshelter for making this move - I’m sure that he and everyone and that industry sees that DRR shutting its doors w/o notice is not good for anyone in that (or our) industry…  very smart PR move…

So move quickly… I wish you the best in throughput luck (may the data transfer gods be in your favor!  I hope you all can get most of your stuff off of those servers in time!)  It sure sounds like this is your very last chance to get anything off those servers..period (unless you know a judge…but I’m not going to get into that…) (more…)

It’s no secret that I’ve been a fan of Photoshelter over Digital Railroad since the beginning - and the reason for me was clear:  I knew and trusted the people and the technology at Photoshelter.

Both are online photo storage sites where professional (and amateurs) store backup copies of their work online  - and in some cases originals. The idea is that having all of your work on your hard drives/RAID in one location is not the best backup strategy, storing them online on professional grade servers is a great idea - not to mention that both Photoshelter and Digital Rail Road (DRR) offer a variety of other services to sell your photos to others as well.

I know a lot of people who work for Digital Rail Road and have struck up good friendships with them - but at the risk of making enemies - I will say this:

Shutting down the DRR online storage site - and giving all of your customers less than 24 hours notice to retrieve their data - is ABSOLUTELY INEXCUSABLE.     Many companies (such as the VII Agency) have come to rely on DRR to run their businesses - and it’s outright irresponsible to expect them to be able to get all of their content off of your site with any notice shorter than one month - or at the very least a few days. (more…)

QUICK UPDATE:  The Workshop is full at this time.  Please send an e-mail to workshops@vincentlaforet.com with “NOTIFY ME” in the subject header - if you’d like to be notified when the DVD/Video/Online release of the workshop video becomes available. 

I’ve been planning a photography workshop for a few months now - and have recently decided to include a section for photographers wishing to make the transition into video as well.   The full-day workshop will be held at the Apple Boston Market Center, in Boston MA on Sunday November 2nd, 2008.  

We will cover Apple’s Aperture software in depth - and I will share with you the workflow that I have adopted for both my commercial photography business - as well as the more deadline-driven editorial photography that I do out in the field.  

Basically, I will show you how I run my business and the tools that I use every day.  

I will show you how I manage my entire photography library within Aperture, as well as other tools from Apple and 3rd party software:  ranging from Apple Remote Desktop, to special features in Leopard (such as Automator) to a number of utilities, plugins (Viveza), and delivery methods (Transmit) that I use on a daily basis not only to produce and prepare my images, but also how I run the business side of things (OmniFocus, Kerio Mail Server.)  In short - I will share most of what I have learned over the past 3 years of running my own business (on the technology side) - after leaving my role as a staff photographer after close to a decade.  This will comprise 2/3 of the day-long workshop.

The last third of the workshop will focus on the transition to video/film.  I will bring the Canon 5D MKII  that I used in the making of “Reverie” along with hardware from RedrockMicro and will discuss my transition into video and some of the initial challenges that I faced.   This will NOT be a Final Cut Studio Tutorial however - we will look at some unique workflows especially adapted to the 5D MKII and output strategies via Compressor that will be relevant to all photographers/filmmakers interested in video/web/DVD delivery of the content they produce.   (more…)

I will be joining a bunch of talented people next week at the Apple Store on Fifth Avenue.  Here is the schedule for the upcoming week:

(more…)

The Eddie Adams Workshop was a great success.  I’m sure everyone came out of it having learned something very special - I know that I did.    We’re all trying to catch up on life and work - not to mention rest.   So here’s a quick article from PDN that talks about what we did there.  

I’ve also gotten permission to put up audio of Platon’s speech at the workshop - which is easily one of the best I’ve heard in my years at the workshop - and likely the best speech I’ve ever heard from a “celebrity” photography - although that title diminishes what the man produces - it is just a small part of what Platon does.  I and others were incredibly impressed with his wit, his intelligence - and how approachable he was.   One of my only regrets was not getting time to spend with him at the bar one night - as I was walking past to go do some portfolio reviews, I caught a glimpse of him surrounded by a few students who were soaking his wisdom in.   I have to admit to being quite jealous of those students - I sure hope they didn’t take a single second of that time with him for granted.

For the video, click on the image above or here: REVERIE.

The video is now back online on this blog. Many thanks for your patience and support.

UPDATE: See The Behind the Scenes video here on SmugMug

In just seven days from now - 100 very lucky students (comprised of 50 students and 50 professionals) will come together to participate in what is very likely the best photography workshops in the world:   The Eddie Adams Workshop - edition number XXI.

This workshop is always one of the highlights of my year - in fact I turned down a commercial job two years ago to make the annual pilgrimage upstate… (everyone volunteers at the workshop…and NO - I ain’t making enough money to be turning down commercial jobs… so that’s saying a lot!)  

The workshop is an annual gathering of some of the best “established” and “new” talent in the industry - I (and all of the other participants) have had a chance to hear the likes of Gordon Parks, George Tames, Nick Ut,  Bill Eppridge, Tom Kennedy, John White and many, many more legends of this industry share some pretty priceless stories and insight over the years.  In fact you can hear many of their speeches here.   Real, real cool.   Not only do some of the “best photographers” get invited to speak - but many of the very best editors from the most prestigious magazines and publications and other influential members of our photographic community also come to share. (more…)

I’ve spoken with David Sparer at Canon and we will have the “Reverie” video back up mid next week.   I initially wanted to put up a quiet update on a previous post - but I’ve been getting quite a few calls and e-mails asking me about our progress - so I decided to make this quick announcement - thanks for your patience.

James Nachtwey’s TED project has been revealed - you can see it at the following link here.   Very powerful stuff.  I have to run out - more on this later…  for now I’ll let his photography and the presentation do the talking.

The short film “Reverie” has now been seen more than 1,500,000 times in the past ten days and as a result Canon has been forced to look into alternatives to hosting the movie.    The movie is now temporarily unavailable but we are working on finding another solution.  Thanks for your patience - and more importantly - THANKS for all of the great feedback!  -  Vincent Laforet

P.S.  133,500,000 Megabytes have been downloaded in the past 10 days - the huge volume is the sole reason behind this temporary removal of the movie from their site.   

P.P.S.:  Given that the short film containts Moby’s music - YOU CANNOT torrent the “Reverie” movie as per our agreement with him and his record labels - period.  So please be patient and let me find an equitable solution that works to make everyone happy.