biz
The online training space just got a little more crowded
Yesterday Chase Jarvis, the Seattle photographer that has taken over the photography world, announced a partnership with the folks from the CreativeTechs webinars called CreativeLive. They have announced a live workshop series that will be taught by some of the most respected photographers out there.
I’ve checked out the webinars from CreativeTechs before and they are really good. As in any other workshop the teacher is the key to a good learning experience. They have some great teachers and some not so great but when they are good they are worth your time (check out the John Greengo, Fundamentals of Digital Photography).
So now we as photography enthusiasts have many options to learn online. There’s Lynda.com who’s the original online training site. They have every imaginable course you can imagine on software plus a few interesting profiles from famous creatives.
Then there’s Kelbytraining.com. With Scott Kelby as the driving force behind this site there’s an amazing selection of photography and digital retouching courses. Both these sites have a monthly plan with no strings attached so you can try them for a month and see if you like them.
I’m excited to check out the new CreativeLive webinars announced by Chase Jarvis and see what they are like. Online learning is a great way to learn from home but of course for learning in person with a teacher I recommend you check out my own workshops. Having a teacher right there showing you how to use your camera or computer and being able to ask questions is one of the many advantages, check them out.
Panic Sale
No, I’m not selling my computer and camera equipment…yet. I just found out about a sale that the folks at Panic.com are having over at their site. If you do any FTP to update your website or work with clients and you use a Mac, then you should be using Transmit as your FTP client.
It is hands down the best application out there for transferring files. Beautiful interface, easy to use and it has a ton of power under the hood if you ever need to get fancy with it.
Besides Transmit there are a couple of other applications that Panic offers like Coda for website design and Unison for using Usenet groups. I’m not into that stuff but FTP is almost a daily thing for me.
And the whole point of this post is that Panic is having a 3 day sale and all their main applications are 50% off.
So for $15.00 you can purchase the top of the line FTP program for Mac and also support a great software company (check their site to see how cool these guys are). Skip a few lattes and get it. Oh and check out the TV ad that their tech support guy created, it’s awesome!
Epson Print Academy
I’m currently teaching an advanced Photoshop class and this summer I’ll be teaching a class about using and converting Raw files, for that reason I’m constantly trying to keep up to date on all things Photoshop. Tomorrow here in Vancouver, the Epson Print Academy rolls into town with some cool people appearing on stage and I’m attending Track 2 of the tour.
Jeff Schewe, Greg Gorman and Andrew Rodney are scheduled to be there tomorrow. I’m also looking forward to checking out the brand new Vancouver Convention Centre where the event will take place.
Jeff Schewe is a photographer and Photoshop guru from Chicago. He is a master at Photoshop and from his bio I see that his first digital photo assignment happened in 1984! What could THAT have been? I mean Apple’s Quicktake camera released 10 years later in 1994 was 0.3 megapixels (640×480)!!
Greg Gorman is known for his amazing work shooting hollywood stars and now has an amazing gig as host of his own workshop for photographers that takes place at his Mendocino, California home.
Andrew Rodney is a colour management specialist that has worked with Photoshop since version 2.5 and wrote what is probably the bible for all aspects of colour management on a computer.
I’m hoping that the sponsorship that Epson offers on this tour takes a bit of a back seat to the actual information I can use. To use a geeky phrase, I’m hoping the “signal to noise ratio” is in favor of useful information and that it’s not an Epson commercial every 15 minutes. I’ll report back on that.
At the time of this writing there is still room available to join the workshop which runs from 9:30 am to 5 pm tomorrow. The cost is $99.oo CDN with lunch included. Clicking here will take you to the sign up page.
Livebooks online seminars
Livebooks, the people who offer one of the best systems out there for creating a professional portfolio website (not inexpensive though), have a section on their site with “webinars”. I recently found out about it and checked out a couple of them and they were excellent.
The Marketing Fundamentals webinar had so much information and advice I started taking notes and doing screen captures of their slides! They have a calendar of upcoming webinars as well as an archive of older ones…all available for free.
I’m not a Livebooks client but definitely considering it. The whole system makes it so easy to update images on your porfolio and even redesign your entire site when you need to with just a few clicks. Offering content like this for free is a great example of what I believe companies should be doing these days; especially since these webinars are all about learning and getting better at what you do.
The webinars are totally worth the time. I’ve already registered for a few more.
Go check them out by clicking here
My new venture. Learn photography with me.
