Taking time to learn about twitter today with a really great ebook from Rockable Press about using Twitter for business purposes. For a tweeting newbie like me, it’s a great guide and was definitely worth the $8 price.

I’ve already made a bunch of newbie mistakes on twitter in the past couple days I’ve been there, but this book is definitely helping guide me in the right direction. Incidentally, the author says, “Post frequently, but not too much. Three per hour is the best.” Yikes! I’m lucky if I can figure out one useful tweet per day!

And yeah, a lil’ self-promotion, here’s my twitter profile. I still have lots to learn but I’m getting there slowly!

Pete Springer Photographer, Portland Oregon

I made the photoattorney blog! Okay, it’s about a week old post but I still got linked/credited for pointing out what a ripoff Intel’s photo contest is for photographers. And I’m not just saying this because Photo Attorney Carolyn E. Wright credited me– but her blog really is top-notch. I’ve been reading it for years and there’s always great advice on legal issues facing professional photographers.

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Canon 1D MKIIn for sale, $1300. This baby is cherry– less than 36,000 shutter acutations on a shutter with a 200K life! Includes spare OEM battery ($109 value), a RRS L-plate ($183 value), and all software, manuals, cables, the original strap (unused), charger etc and even the original box the camera came in. The camera is very clean has been meticulously cared for by me– the original owner.

Camera Details

Shooting this camera is amazing– blazing fast auto focus with the capability of shooting 8 frames per second! It’s definitely a 1D series meant for pros — weather sealing, fantastic handling, and a battery that will last for a full day of shooting without needing to be swapped out.

I’d love to sell it to someone in the Portland area but I’m willing to ship it insured within the USA. I can accept credit card payments for an additional $38 processing fee (google checkout charges 2.9% plus $.30).

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

 Well I bit the bullet, pulled the trigger, crossed the line– whatever you want to call it. I’m now tweeting on twitter.

@petespringer Check it out!

Please oh please, internet gods, don’t add any other cool social networking sites because between blogging, websites, twitter, facebook, email, model mayhem, LinkedIn, a google profile, and forums, I’m not sure if I can keep up!

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Couple rough edits from a studio portrait session with Damali today. And while I know a lot of local photographers work solo on shoots like this, I can’s say enough about how much working with an assistant helps cover much more ground in less time than is possible than when I work solo. Having a hair/makeup artist is also crucial. So while my fees are more than say, Sears, there’s a reason.

hair/mua Jessica Belknap, assistant Thomas Lindsay

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

Taking advantage of the awesome weather yesterday and shooting outdoors. Still working on my action fitness pics though!

model Crystal, hair/mua Jessica Belknap, assistant Thomas Lindsay

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

I have spent the last two days trying to find redeeming qualities about LinkedIn after being inspired by fellow photographer Ben Reed. I have approached my LinkedIn efforts with a very open mind, seeking networking opportunities and writing all kinds of recommendations for folks I know to help them out and network.

In fact, this here blog is included in my profile (though it doesn’t display by default, loads slowly, and doesn’t display photos). But with Ben’s help, I figured out how to use an app to add some photos of my own work (in pdf format– not jpegs like most other site use).

So my conclusion? LinkedIn is clumsy, poorly designed, and incredibly un-user friendly. It contains far too much text and simple items like requesting a recommendation are hidden under layers of menus (and when you finally find it, turns out you’re requesting an endorsement, not a recommendation!) And worst of all, Ad Block Plus doesn’t block the text ads on top of your profile!

The main advantage I found with LinkedIn, though, is it’s useful for SEO listings.

Beyond that, I can pretty much guarantee LinkedIn is not the next facebook. LinkedIn is fun for about, oh, ten seconds but you’ll probably be left feeling that if you only check it once a month, you won’t be missing out on anything. Try that with facebook!

Anyway, if that doesn’t discourage you, feel free to look up my profile on LinkedIn. But you’ve been warned– it’s as text heavy as this blog post!

Pete Springer Photography, Portland Oregon

So that top pic is one of my favs from the recent latex clothing shoot. The bottom pic is nice too but required quite a bit of retouching to deal with, er, let’s just say a wardrobe malfunction. Have I ever mentioned that I’m a top-notch photo retoucher? After today, I can definitely back that claim up!

Clothes Squeak Designs, models Audi (top) and Wenseay, Audi did her own makeup, Jessica Belknap did the makeup for Wenseay, and Thomas Lindsay and Yasmin Khajavi were the photography assistants

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon

I’m always happy when a model likes one of my images enough to use as an avatar on facebook or MM or whatever other networking site they frequent. In fact, I feel honored since most of these model have loads of other pics from other photogs to choose from and they decide on mine.

This photo, however, was nixed from Nicki’s profile by FB and now they’re just giving her a boring, generic avatar! Oh FB– when will you grow up? This is tame by British Vogue or UK Elle standards. Does there need to be a European version of FB?

model Nicki, hair/mua Jessica Belknap, assistant Thomas Lindsay

Pete Springer Photography, Portland, Oregon