tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-78684762011-11-27T18:31:23.345-05:00This is a blog about my photography, including techniques, equipment, experiences, and samples. I'm more of an enthusiastic and aspiring professional rather than an experienced pro, so my posts here will probably be more a collection of things I learn rather than sage advice. My primary interest is in landscapes and older architecture (barns, covered bridges, and especially lighthouses).Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.comBlogger1321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-91952682377990150182010-06-03T09:31:00.004-04:002010-06-03T10:21:03.292-04:00

As usual, it's been a while since I've updated. Not much has been going on with my photography since I finished my last show in the Fall. I've been quite preoccupied with a number of things, mostly centered around big life change...sometime next month, I'm going to be a father.My wife and I have been hoping to have kids for a few years now, and in early November we found out she's pregnant. Since

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-78828180400166268952009-10-11T21:45:00.003-04:002009-10-11T23:41:37.754-04:00

I've had some bad shows in the past. Despite how badly things go, I take some pride in sticking things out. Other artists pack up and head out early, but I feel a duty and obligation to stick it out to the end. In general, I really don't even start packing up early, much less leave early. If things are going badly and I'm not very busy, I might start packing up some of the less important frames a

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-37778662787150774302009-09-15T22:41:00.004-04:002009-09-15T23:00:56.546-04:00

I've had my Propanels for 2 summers worth of shows now, and I'm absolutely loving them. As I wrote about last summer I've gone crazy for Velcro with the Propanels. In that article, I wrote about some hooks I made. Well, I've found another way to make use of them...organizing my work area. What you are looking at here is the back side of the back wall of my booth (the area out of sight from the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-85527851412253930472009-07-26T10:34:00.000-04:002009-07-26T10:34:00.181-04:00

One of the most common ways to weight down your booth is with the round PVC pipe filled with cement. Several years back I posted a how-to on the topic: PVC and cement corner weights. At the Northville show last month, I saw an interesting variation on the design. The weight was square.The artist that had these had originally made the weights from round PVC, but she didn't have any handles on them

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-79730181068491721352009-07-25T11:37:00.005-04:002009-07-25T17:58:56.389-04:00

It's been quite a while since I updated, so what have I been up to? I spent a lot of time enjoying myself, catching up on other hobbies, getting some stuff done around the house, all with some photography thrown in here and there. But as of June I'm stepping things back up again. Late last year I upgraded to Lightroom 2.0 and discovered that my computer was way too slow to deal with it. So, this

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-58311017989989696032008-11-24T13:39:00.006-05:002008-11-24T15:30:30.676-05:00

Yesterday I posted a review of the Tamron 1.4X and 2.0X teleconverters. As I mentioned there, I was quite happy with the test results, but I also wanted to compare them to the Canon teleconverters to make sure there wasn't a significant difference between the brands (and if there was, I could exchange them before my return period ended). Well, I got in touch with my friend Wayne Fisk, who

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-25455295837184012102008-11-23T23:00:00.003-05:002008-11-24T15:27:48.837-05:00

Since switching from my Sigma 70-300mm lens to my Canon 70-200mm, I've been happy with the results I get, but I do miss some of the extra range in that last 100mm. Even with the 70-300mm, there were times when I couldn't get close enough to the subject. I've been thinking about getting a teleconverter for a long time. After hearing good things about the Tamron Pro (SP) line of teleconverters, I

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-74259215230428690552008-10-31T06:00:00.001-04:002008-10-31T06:00:01.243-04:00

I've decided to no longer accept American Express credit cards at my shows. After long and careful consideration, I've decided it just isn't worth it. I originally signed up for American Express after hearing stories from another artist who said large sales increased after he started accepting AmEx. I was hoping it would do something similar for me, or at the very least, have zero impact. Instead

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-91669372195607855342008-10-30T06:00:00.003-04:002008-10-30T08:27:48.421-04:00

For the last 2 years now, I've been intending to take a trip to the Upper Peninsula to photograph the fall colors that are so talked about up there. However, each time, factors conspired against me and I never made it. A few weeks ago I finally got the chance to do it, and it was an incredible experience.Planning the tripMy wife and I took 3 days off work so that we would have a 5 day weekend. I

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-85313087814303857082008-10-29T12:04:00.003-04:002008-10-29T12:48:52.524-04:00

It's been a while since I posted much. I've got a number of things to post about. I'll try to get to them over the next few weeks. However, for now, I just want to touch on how my art shows went this year. In a few word: not too good.This year, before things even got started, I could see the writing on the wall with the economy (especially here in Michigan), and I wasn't too confident that things

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-59193700762838523642008-08-03T22:24:00.005-04:002008-08-03T22:54:14.910-04:00

In the course of an art fair, many people will come into your booth. As they enter, they typically know very little (if anything) about what it is you offer. As the manager of your business, you need to decide how to introduce your customer to your work. Opinions on the topic vary greatly, ranging from sitting in a chair on the other side of the street doing nothing, to standing in the booth and

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-51619792550792531702008-07-12T07:42:00.005-04:002008-07-12T10:06:33.314-04:00

Late last year I started adding a few canvas wraps to my collection. They went over quite well, so I decided to add some more this year. When I made my wrap last year, I simply stretched the canvas using my bare hands. That accomplished the goal, but had 2 problems. First, it's extremely taxing on the hands trying to grip the canvas and pull it tight. Second, while it got decently tight, it was a

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-13565790134347423042008-06-27T06:25:00.001-04:002008-06-27T08:50:50.686-04:00

About a month ago, I received my new propanels to replace my old homemade panels made from electrical conduit + grid wire. I got to use them for 2 shows now, and I must say I like them a lot. They look so much more professional than the old burlap covers I made for the homemade panels. They setup so much easier, are more rigid, and a tiny bit lighter in weight. But the biggest thing I like about

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-68576858073175169942008-06-23T23:04:00.003-04:002008-06-24T00:22:35.167-04:00

I had another show this week. This time it was the Northville Art in the Sun show. The gist of it is, I did a bit better...made a small profit, but still nothing to get excited about.Setting UpThis was attempt number 2 at setting up my new booth. Unfortunately, this show only had a morning setup (no option to setup the night before). On top of that, my wife ended up having to work at the last

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-57961061992422260972008-06-19T06:34:00.000-04:002008-06-19T10:06:02.742-04:00

Once again I'm off to a bad start for the year. Last weekend I did the Livonia Art From the Heart show, for the third year in a row. It ended up terrible...I lost money. However, it was good practice with some of my new equipment, so not all is lost.History of Livonia Art From the HeartJust to recap a brief history, Livonia was my first show ever, and ended up as my best show the whole first year

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-31807743048438505462008-05-26T21:09:00.002-04:002008-05-26T22:40:22.329-04:00

In getting ready for another year of art shows, I'm addressing some issues I faced last year. One of those issues is a lack of color consistency throughout my workflow process. Last year I learned all about color profiling and got OK results by using generic paper profiles from various sources. This year, I've decided to address the issue further. After researching various options, I decied to

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-79036137242380208442008-05-03T15:15:00.004-04:002008-05-03T15:43:02.411-04:00

2007 ended up being a pretty decent year for art shows. After getting off to a bad start, things turned around and I had several of my best shows yet. However, in the process of all of that, with the preparations and improvements being made, I didn't have a lot of time for much else. After finishing my last show in September, I decided to take the winter off, and I haven't done much photography

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-67731567300948507702007-10-22T19:01:00.000-04:002007-10-22T19:07:35.054-04:00

Back in May I mentioned how the mirror on my camera broke and I did the $5 MacGyver repair to fix it. Well, a few days ago I went for a quick mid-afternoon photo shoot and discovered that my 18-55mm lens is not acting up. Anytime I'm zoomed between 18-24 mm, if I have the aperture set to anything other than wide open, the picture fails and the camera gets an error 99 and locks up until I power it

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-58043685443142295502007-10-14T07:58:00.000-04:002007-10-14T09:10:32.135-04:00

The Northville art show that I did almost a month ago was my last show for the year. After a somewhat disappointing 2006 (where my first show was good, but everything went downhill from there), and a disappointing start to 2007 (where my downward slide continued for the first few shows), things eventually turned themselves around, and I had a pretty satisfying year.I did eight shows this year,

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-83899229999321016142007-10-05T06:30:00.000-04:002007-10-05T12:52:59.870-04:00

I know I haven't posted in a little while. My last post was the day before my South Haven show. The following weekend I was sick, and then the weekend after that was my Northville show. I planned to post an update here, but I had a few things to catch up on around the house, so that came first. Then, to completely distract me, my computer suffered a hard drive failure. And not just a single

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-65266980869102333672007-08-30T06:30:00.000-04:002007-08-30T08:34:45.270-04:00

My Trimline tent arrived a few days ago, and I've had a chance to set it up. Well....sort of.Like building the jugsaw puzzle?Not at all. Assembling the pieces and figuring out what goes where wasn't so bad. I've heard lots of reports that it's quite confusing, even after you've done it many times. In fact, at one show earlier this year, there was an artist working on his trimline when I arrived,

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-77602368603277009592007-08-21T20:29:00.000-04:002007-08-22T09:23:36.025-04:00

In my last post, I discussed the many reasons why I decided to upgrade my canopy. The next step in the decision making process was deciding which tent to order, and then which options to order it with.The field of candidates wasn't very large to begin with. My starting options wereTrimline (by Flourish)Craft Hut (now owned by Flourish, also)Light Dome (by Creative Energies)Finale (also by

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-63782191385567848222007-08-20T18:07:00.000-04:002007-08-20T19:25:21.273-04:00

When I started preparing for art shows a few years back, my objective was to minimize my entry investment so that I didn't lose too much money if things completely flopped on me. In order to achieve that goal, I had to make sacrifices in several areas. One of those areas was my canopy. With the better canopies running $1000 and up, getting a cheap ez-up style canopy for $200 was a great way to

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-89381717712832774372007-08-13T06:30:00.000-04:002007-08-13T10:57:48.410-04:00

In the couple years doing shows now, I've been fighting with the trick of rolling up the wall tarp of my canopy. When my wife is there to help, it's not a problem. However, when I end up having to open by myself, it can be a real pain.Previously, the way I did it on my own was to:1) Start rolling up the wall at one end.2) After you roll it a few times, you'll see that the other end of the wall

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-65858188220541283282007-08-13T06:15:00.000-04:002007-08-13T10:58:02.987-04:00

With regards to my Sterlingfest show report and the credit card that I mentioned was declined, I am happy to report it has been taken care of. On Friday, I received a check in the mail for the full amount, so that made Sterlingfest officially my most profitable show yet.However, that title wasn't long lived. I did another show this weekend and beat my sales record by $10. In addition, expenses

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-88190487365083388642007-08-10T06:15:00.000-04:002007-08-10T09:16:06.619-04:00

After going through the first year of shows with declining sales, and then starting this year with the worst 2 shows yet, I then had my best show ever. Now this past weekend, I've continued this positive trend by having another great show. It almost squeezed its way past the Wyandotte show to become my new most profitable show, but one thing didn't pan out, so it will be my second

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-69294287947737994902007-08-01T06:30:00.000-04:002007-08-01T14:35:58.191-04:00

I just returned from a vacation a few days ago and realized I never posted my show review. Better late than never.After starting the year off with my worst 2 shows yet, I went into my next show in Wyandotte a bit concerned, yet hopeful and with a promising gut feeling. When it was all said and done, it was a long 4 days, but my best show yet.Setting UpWhen I went to setup Tuesday night, it was

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-14944063126021479362007-07-15T08:30:00.000-04:002007-07-15T15:08:38.329-04:00

I just finished up a 4 day show, and it was a great success. I'll talk about my experiences there in a few days, but for now I want to talk about something thats fresh on my mind: marketing my work, and actually taking on the role of salesman. Over the last 8 shows (since my first show ever in June 2006) I've noticed how some changes to my selling style have impacted the results of my

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-56346898418342907002007-07-10T06:45:00.000-04:002007-07-11T22:27:56.973-04:00

Following up on my last post comparing Crescent and Bainbridge, this time I'd like to present a comparison of another pair of companies I dealt while choosing new materials for this years product line. In choosing frames, I looked at a number of options, but based on a number of factors (price, style, flexibility, etc) I narrowed my choice down to 2 frame suppliers: frameusa.com and

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-21540199314844025302007-07-02T06:45:00.000-04:002007-07-02T11:07:21.618-04:00

As I wrote about several weeks ago, one of the things I was trying to do was change some of my matting. In trying to evaluate the different matbaord options available and choose a color, my ideal plan was to obtain corner samples of the Crescent RagMat, Michael Graves, and Moorman Suede series. However, there in lies a problem. CrescentIn looking around, very few places sell matboard corner

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-15122147659556917352007-06-29T21:45:00.000-04:002007-06-29T22:02:58.855-04:00

I had heard many great things about the this show, which was the entire reason I signed up. I had some high hopes, but in the end it was one of my worst shows sales wise, and once expenses were figured in, it was my biggest loss yet.I'm kind of at odds here. On the one hand, I can't say enough good stuff about this show. I thought it was incredibly well run. There was plenty of convenient parking

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-78303396208782117282007-06-28T06:45:00.000-04:002007-06-28T07:34:02.073-04:00

As I posted yesterday, the Livonia Art from the Heart show was a very good one for me in 2006...my best show of the year. However, 2007 was nothing at all like that.In fact, almost every single artist I talked to had the same opinion, including those that had returned from the previous year like me. On a per-capita basis, I think I actually did better than last time. However, attendance at the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-77650282307742582432007-06-27T06:45:00.000-04:002007-06-27T10:00:13.748-04:00

So far this year, I've done 2 shows, and I'm off to a very bad start. At both shows, after accounting for booth fees and travel expenses, I actually lost money. In fact, these 2 shows have continued a disturbing trend thats been going on since my very first show: each show has been less profitable than the last.My first show ever (last year's Livonia show) was a very good show for me, but the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-6005789383782411082007-06-06T13:00:00.000-04:002007-06-28T07:34:36.856-04:00

As I mentioned in my multi-part series on improving my presentation, I had been considering suede mats for my new, higher end prints. Well, I ended up buying some, and I've had a little bit of time to work with them, and I have a few thoughts to share.How I Chose Between Two Brands(and how I ended up with both)Originally, I was thinking about the Crescent Moorman suedes line. However, I was

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-9355319392517616632007-06-04T07:00:00.000-04:002007-06-04T10:30:02.631-04:00

So far in this series,I've talked about, bigger prints, better framing, and better matting. To wrap up this series, I'll address the last major area for this year's big round of improvements: better signs.Improving my signage isn't such a drastic overhaul, as some of my other changes were. It's more just a series of little details that come together to give a more professional appearance.The

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-48764298062941347892007-05-30T19:23:00.000-04:002007-06-04T08:24:50.438-04:00

In previous parts of this series, I talked about bigger prints, better framing, and choosing some nicer mats. Now I'll talk briefly about better techniques for cutting my matsMatting TechniqueAside from just choosing new materials to work with, I thought it would be a good idea to examine options more more interesting matting techniques. So far, I've just done single or double layered mats with a

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-6803568046625664572007-05-29T08:00:00.000-04:002007-05-29T09:09:50.890-04:00

In previous parts of this series, I talked about bigger prints and better framing. The next logical item for improvement would be better matting. As far as better matting is concerned there are 2 ways to approach to topic: the matboard itself, and how the matboard is cut and presented.Better MatboardIn choosing better matboard, there are 2 aspects to consider: better quality and better

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-21389120615131484792007-05-19T12:21:00.001-04:002007-05-19T12:31:34.302-04:00

I just wanted to get a quick update in. I haven't posted much here for the better part of 2 weeks. I've only made 1 post in that time, and it probably looks like I'm returning to my old ways. However, I have an excuse this time (although don't I always). First, I got my Canon iPF5000 almost 2 weeks ago and have been busy playing with it, evaluating prints, trying to learn more about it, and

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-11332832104664238272007-05-10T07:00:00.000-04:002007-05-10T08:58:11.516-04:00

In parts 1, 2, 3, and 4 I talked about deciding on print sizes, evaluating online print services, the advantages of purchasing a wide format pigment printer, and the process of evaluating and choosing which printer to buy. Now, I finally turn my attention away from printing and back to other topics a little more directly applicable to whats in my booth. Todays topic....frames.Last year, my booth

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-70182659326464205662007-05-06T08:15:00.000-04:002007-05-06T08:39:40.575-04:00

In part 1, part 2, and part 3, I talked about deciding on print sizes, evaluating online print services, and the advantages of purchasing a wide format pigment printer. Now I'll discuss what printer I chose to buy and why.In choosing a wide format printer, there is a huge range of printers to consider. However, with a few requirements, we can narrow the field dramatically. Pigment BasedFirst, the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-55449632265992989842007-05-05T09:00:00.000-04:002007-05-05T13:01:18.658-04:00

In part 1 and part 2, I talked about deciding on print sizes and evaluating online print services. Now I'll talk about the advantages of doing my own printing with a wide format pigment printerAs I mentioned in part 2, my costs for an online print service were surpassing $600 for just a small selection of prints, and would leave me with high incremental replacement costs. It was quickly becoming

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-10899560324739434392007-05-03T13:45:00.000-04:002007-05-03T14:15:21.205-04:00

As I discussed yesterday in part 1, I've now decided (mostly) on some sizes for larger prints. The next big question is how to print these larger prints. My home printer only does 8.5" wide. For larger stuff, I've been using Costco's lab, which does up to 12x18. For anything larger, I need to go mail order. I started looking around, evaluating different options. One of the big issues was color

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-43252617092673734172007-05-02T14:16:00.000-04:002007-05-03T14:15:03.967-04:00

As I mentioned last year, my plan for 2007 was to have a much improved presentation in my booth. Well, I didn't work at it nearly as much as I intended over the winter. Procrastination got the best of me, and I decided to enjoy spending times on non-photography stuff. However, for the last few months I've been ramping up and getting things done. I'm getting there slowly but surely. In the process

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-59606468779693047612007-05-01T15:26:00.000-04:002007-06-04T10:28:37.312-04:00

Part 1: Larger PrintsPart 2: Printing Larger PrintsPart 3: Advantages of a Wide Format PrinterPart 4: Choosing a Wide Format PrinterPart 5: Nicer Frames Part 6: Better Matting Part 7: Improved Matting Techniques Part 8: Better Signs

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-66556415259518124072007-04-28T11:49:00.000-04:002007-05-03T13:42:33.888-04:00

The Detroit Institute of Arts has had an Ansel Adams Exhibit on display for over a month, and I've been intending to see it. I finally made it there last weekend and was quite pleased. I actually learned quite a bit. I've always known who Ansel Adams was, what he accomplished, how he was a pioneer in the field, how good he was in the darkroom, and all of that. I've seen many of his works. I knew

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-42122806683595474002007-03-17T11:49:00.000-04:002007-05-03T13:42:53.601-04:00

Back in August of last year, I wrote about my initial impressions of the Adobe Lightroom beta. Since then, I've spent quite a bit of time working with the beta, and have really grown to like it. A few weeks ago, Adobe finally released the 1.0 version of Lightroom. As an owner of Pixmantec RawShooter Pro, I was entited to a free copy of Lightroom, so I downloaded it and have started to dig

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1163445647965538132007-02-07T22:32:00.001-05:002008-10-26T20:03:37.439-04:00

I mentioned that I started selling gift cards at my September show, and that they really saved me. The cards generated a lot of interestI've had a number of people ask about making gift cards...specifically, what kind of cards I use and how the process works.MaterialsThe cards I buy are the Strathmore white photo mount cards. I've looked all around, and the best price I've found is the 50 pack at

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1158928434966235402006-09-22T06:30:00.000-04:002007-05-03T13:43:32.090-04:00

Not a lot has gone on recently. Since my last show, I have no more scheduled shows this year. I was planning on applying for some fall shows (and there are 1 or 2 shows for late November/early December that I may still apply for), but I think after doing 5 shows this first year, I'm going to call it a good first year and wrap it up until next spring, for a few reasons.First, between working a

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1157509926734017742006-09-05T21:36:00.000-04:002007-05-03T13:45:25.279-04:00

This weekend we did our fifth show - the South Haven All Craft Fair. I've heard from a number of artists that this was a pretty good show in past years, so I gave it a shot. I may not have come away with a fortune, but I did make back all of my expenses + a hundred or 2 extra on top of that. As a side benefit, I also came away with a number of additional shots added to my portfolio, all rolled

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1156866836624174182006-08-29T11:42:00.000-04:002007-05-03T13:45:08.264-04:00

This weekend I had another bad show. This one was in Port Huron. It was my worst show yet. I had the least sales. I made back several times my inexpensive booth fee, but since it wasn't a local show, I had to pay for gas, lodging, and food. I made enough sales to cover everything but the food, so it wasn't a huge loss, but still a loss.Setting upThis was my first show that did not have night

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1155825158436083162006-08-17T09:49:00.000-04:002007-05-03T13:44:55.126-04:00

So far I've been pretty lucky. I haven't had any rain at any of my shows. I'm hopeful that it stays that way for quite some time, but "hope" is never a very good disaster plan. The smart thing is to prepare for rain and be ready if it shows up.Now, you might be thinking "wait..you've got a tent over your head, so what are you worried about?" That's true. The tent does offer me a large degree of

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1154614412592649032006-08-03T06:45:00.000-04:002007-05-03T13:44:33.104-04:00

As I mentioned a few weeks back, Adobe has purchased Pixmantec and put them to work helping on Adobe Lightroom. Well, the beta of Lightroom is now available for Windows, so I gave it a try.Overall, I like the way it works a lot. I've been using RawShooter Premium for some time and really love the way it works. Lightroom seems to have most of the functionality that RawShooter provided, plus has

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1154525156471401232006-08-02T06:30:00.001-04:002008-09-09T10:27:46.415-04:00

Back in March of 2005, I mentioned that I bought a Logan 450 matcutter, and then I followed up with instructions for modifying the matboard to add a squaring arm with production stop.Problems with the Logan 450 + modificationsAfter using that extension board for a while, I found that it wasn't always spot on accurate. Either the squaring arm would shift over time, or the extension board would be

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1154446525774952482006-08-01T10:35:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:38.161-05:00

Just wanted to break the silence here for a moment, since I haven't posted in a couple of weeks. Right after my last post, I left for a weeklong trip to Maine. We drove from Detroit to the far end of the Maine coast (Lubec), and then worked our way back. We hit 21 lighthouses (18 in Maine, 1 in New Hampshire, and 2 in Canada), spent a couple of days at Acadia National Park, and did a mini tour of

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1152806704679747032006-07-13T11:45:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:38.077-05:00

In the few years since I've been shooting digital, I've shot almost exclusively in RAW mode. Initially I used my favorite tool of the time, Adobe Photoshop, to convert each raw image. However that's a bit poorly designed from a raw workflow aspect. It was at that time that I learned about (and soon purchased) the C1 raw converter. It was a really nice tool, which made it VERY quick to browse

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1152804764179580932006-07-13T10:43:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:57:34.863-05:00

I had my third show this weekend in Warren, MI. The show ended up being another bomb. Over the 2 days, I only sold about $300 worth of stuff, so I at least covered my booth fee, materials, gas, plus a small profit (probably about $100). At least I didn't lose anything, but that's certainly very little reward for a whole weekend of work.Even though I've done bad these last few shows, I'm not

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1151932287306569542006-07-03T08:39:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:37.893-05:00

I spent the last 5 days or so (or at least, what time I had available) working on getting online ordering available from my website (http://www.ronfphoto.com). I thought I'd just post a little about what I did there.It starts with your standard process: view each image, when you find one you like, click the buy now button, and then choose your print size. From there is where it deviates a bit

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1151430532443492652006-06-27T13:36:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:37.816-05:00

I've had a few questions about how I made my weights for the corners of the booth. I got the basic idea from Larry Berman: http://artshowphoto.com/pages/weights.htmExcept where he used lead, I used concrete. All the parts can be bought from Home Depot or your local home improvement store. Total cost should be $30-$40.Materials(1) 10 foot length of 3" diameter PVC pipe(4) 3" PVC end caps(4)

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1151351225170836822006-06-26T18:50:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:58:42.133-05:00

My second show is over. I had a booth at the 3rd annual Lathrup Village Art in the Park show this past weekend. I made a few sales, got a small taste of defeat, made some friends, got some ideas for my booth, tested out some changes I've made, added a few images to my inventory, refined my salesmanship a little, and a bit more.Again, like my last show report, this will be a bit long. I want to

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1150895973419431212006-06-21T09:07:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:37.633-05:00

Before I begin, if you happened to read my posting a while back on the grid wall instructions and then went off merrily to build a set of your own: please don't yell at me after reading this post...I never said the original design was perfect.When I built the grid walls last year and did some test setups, they seemed easy enough to put together. However, once I got to actually using them, I found

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1150733208248532062006-06-19T17:30:00.000-04:002007-05-03T11:04:28.315-04:00

As promised, here's a list of some of the places I buy my materials and other items I use, and how they come in handy for me.Rock N Roller R12 carthttp://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/R12/I paid $229 with free shipping. This cart is an incredible workhorse. You can effortlessly wheel equipment across just about any surface. You can configure the cart 7 different ways to haul just about anything

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1150731106540974432006-06-18T22:10:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:37.490-05:00

I just got back from a 4 day trip to Chicago and around the Indiana/Illinois/Wisconsin sides of Lake Michigan. I got a bunch more photos of lighthouses. I haven't had much time to go through them yet. I'm still getting ready for my next show. I'm trying to make some changes to my gridwall setup. Thats partially complete. I need to make a few more pieces and then do a test assembly. I also found

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1150291999898152672006-06-14T09:08:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:37.402-05:00

As a followup to yesterday's post about my first show, I thought I'd post some photos of my booth setup from this weekend:As a means of comparison, here is my booth slide from several months ago:Similar, but the differences are:1) Lots more framed photos...the entire left wall used to be empty. Now everything is filled2) I have an actual bin for my photos, they aren't just sitting in cardboard

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1150210088179133712006-06-13T10:01:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:59:02.390-05:00

I did it! I can now say I'm a professional!I had my first show this weekend: Livonia Michigan Art from the Heart. I was pretty happy with how things turned out, attendance seemed pretty good, and the show appeared well run. My goal for the first show was to break even on the jury/booth fee ($270). Counting just sales to strangers, I sold about 2.5x my booth fee, plus another $300 to friends/

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1149777491681951212006-06-08T06:56:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:37.261-05:00

I haven't posted anything recently. I've been VERY busy the last few weeks, getting prints ready, buying supplies and equipment, building stuff for my booth, working on business cards, etc. I have lots of things I'd like to post here, but haven't had the time. Hopeful after this weekend I'll have a chance. A few of the things I'd like to cover:-Constructing PVC/cement corner weights-Modifying one

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1148054931507937212006-05-20T07:17:00.000-04:002007-05-03T11:04:50.656-04:00

This week, I received rejections for 2 of the shows I applied to (Orchard Lake and Northville). Unfortunately, the rejection letter gives you no clue why you were rejected. If I had to guess, I'd suppose it was for 1 of 2 reasons. One likely possibility is that they were not impressed with my booth slides. Being my first year, and having to get the booth slides ready months ago, I had to hurry up

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1148051702172071742006-05-19T10:50:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:37.107-05:00

It's getting to be a lot of last minute work getting everything ready for the upcoming shows in June (3 and 5 weeks away). At the moment, I'm working on building up inventory. I have all of the pictures I want picked out and prepared (24 of them), and each one has been framed up once, and a few also have prints matted up in other sizes. Now my goal is to get every single photograph matted up in 3

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1147280398234408282006-05-10T10:43:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:36.805-05:00

Last week I received my 2nd art show acceptance letter (chronologically, this show will be my first). It's for the Livonia Art from the Heart show on June 10-11th. I've sent out 3 more applications in the last couple weeks, but I'm still waiting to hear back. I've got 3 more shows I'm considering applying to this year, but trying to decide if they are worthwhile and if I want to drive that far (

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1145374377897075492006-04-18T11:23:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:36.737-05:00

I've been so busy with getting ready for art shows and other stuff that I really haven't had much opportunity to go out on any photography outings since I went to the arboretum earlier this year. However, on Saturday, I made a trip up to the Henry Ford Estate to take a walk through the trails around the lake. The scilia (little purple flowers) have been coming up and have spread like wildfire

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1145027176397182202006-04-14T08:07:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:36.644-05:00

Just a quick update. Even though I think I've been accepted into the Livonia show, I've received no official notification on it. However, this week I got a letter from the Lathrup Village show informing me that I was accepted, thus making this my first official show. This quite exciting, even if it is a smaller show.

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1144765257868291592006-04-11T09:54:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:36.575-05:00

Just a quick update. Since my last post, I've applied to 2 shows. Livonia Art from the Heart: June 10-11, 2006This one cost $250 + $20 application fee. I haven't heard back yet whether or not I've been accepted, but my check for the $250 booth fee was cashed, so that's usually an indicator of acceptance (from what I've heard).Lathrup Village Art in the Park: June 24-25, 2006This one cost $125 +

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1143819276942786012006-03-31T10:17:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:36.505-05:00

Just an update on what's going on. Yes, I haven't posted much lately. I had a few distractions. As I mentioned before, my power supply failed. Took a while for the new one to come in. Then I had some car problems, then a toothache. Several things to divert my attention or put me in the mood to not work much. However, I did get a few things done.I went through my catalog of photos over the last 2

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1141662449216745712006-03-06T11:17:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:36.433-05:00

No, I haven't disappeared or anything. I've been really busy the last few weeks, plus my computer power supply failed on me (preventing me from getting any real work done in what little free time I did have), so I've been lagging behind on updates here. So for now, to tide you over, rather than post about something I've done (since I haven't done much), I'd like to post a link to some stuff other

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1139844773316008922006-02-14T12:11:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:36.339-05:00

I've never been one to be very picky about the colors of my prints. Of course, I like things to print the way I see them on my screen, but I've never been known to throw a fit if the color is a tiny shade off. I don't have my monitor or my printer custom profiled. I've hand calibrated my monitor with a free program called the Monitor Calibration Wizard (http://www.hex2bit.com/). My printer uses

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1139239420293707102006-02-08T10:00:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:36.269-05:00

Last week, I talked about the process of capturing images with your DSLR for the purpose of merging them into a multiple exposure. If you missed that, you can read part 1 here.This time I'm going to talk about loading them into Photoshop and merging them together to create a single image. The general concept will apply just as well to other photo editing programs (ex: Paint Shop Pro), but the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1138393591477337922006-01-30T09:30:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:36.193-05:00

I'd like to talk a bit about doing multiple exposures on a DSLR. However, it's a bit of a large topic, so I'm going to break it up into 2 parts. Today, I'm going to talk about the capturing of images. In part 2, I'll talk about merging those images to create your multiple exposure.As Digital SLR cameras have progressed over the years, they are gradually overtaking traditional 35mm film SLR

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1138112724031312072006-01-24T08:11:00.000-05:002006-11-15T12:24:52.159-05:00

I took a trip to the Belle Isle Arboretum this weekend. It was pretty nice being able to take pictures of flowers in the dead of winter (I can't have any plants/flower as home...the cats eat them). It also gave me a chance to experiment with a few items. I got to give a good tryout to my new 22" reflector, which I bought from adorama a few weeks ago. I also got to try out a friend's 180mm Tamron

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1137524795254574542006-01-17T13:31:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:36.012-05:00

I just got a new little toy the other day from Adorama. It's a VERY simple accessory, but it kind of disappointed me a little, so I felt like sharing my thoughts.The new item is a Hama single bubble level. The purpose of this item is that you can slip it into the hotshoe of your camera, and then you can determine when your camera is level. Of course, the most common use for this item is to make

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1135968807224890622006-01-10T19:54:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:35.874-05:00

Two weeks ago, I talked about my thought process in deciding on this backpack and a brief overview of it. If you haven't read that entry, read it now:Tamrac Expedition 7 Backpack - Part 1Last week I talked loading up the backpack, and my thoughts on it's construction. If you haven't read that entry, read it now:Tamrac Expedition 7 Backpack - Part 1On Friday, I had a chance to go out and actually

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1135968794892150542006-01-05T12:00:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:35.771-05:00

Last week I talked about my thought process in deciding on this backpack and a brief overview of it. If you haven't read that entry, read it now:Tamrac Expedition 7 Backpack - Part 1Today I'm going to talk about loading that backpack up and my thoughts on it's features and construction. As far as actual use, I haven't had a chance to try it yet....I've been sick. However, the last few days I've

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1135968748877498202005-12-31T08:00:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:35.697-05:00

The most desired item on my Christmas list was a Tamrac Expedition 7 backpack. Luckily, my wife was kind enough to buy it for me.I've actually been wanting a backpack for quite a while now. As my camera bag reaches the 15 lbs mark, it has started to become a bit of a burden to support on one shoulder. Carrying it on a couple of the 1 mile (each way) hikes I've gone on has been very difficult. I

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1135959864893913602005-12-30T10:36:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:35.624-05:00

Santa was pretty good to me in the photography department this year. I put together a list of equipment I wanted for Christmas, and I got a good portion of it. I'll talk about the various pieces of equipment individually over the coming days, but here's a quick summary of what I got:Tamrac Expedition 7 backpack5 accessory attachments for the backpack:       lens case       accessory pouch      

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1128555768658504782005-12-26T23:00:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:33.508-05:00

UPDATE (June 21, 2006): I've made a few changes to the design, making on site assembly (at the art show) easier and probably even lowering the total cost by $20 or so. Read through this posting first, then take a look at the changes I made hereI promised back in September that I'd get these instructions up in the next couple days. So much for that, but better late than never, so here we go. But

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1134409789396927152005-12-13T07:30:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:35.549-05:00

I just found out last week that a couple of my photographs won in a contest. The University of Michigan - Dearborn held a photo contest in September: A Day in the Life of UM-Dearborn. There were 4 categories:Student Life - photo of studentsFaculty/Staff - photo of faculty/staffNature - must be on campusBlack & White - open category, but must either be on campus or include student/faculty/

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1134399037557945092005-12-12T08:48:00.000-05:002006-11-15T11:17:33.666-05:00

OK, I'm guilty...I haven't posted here in a while. I've been a bit busy with some other things around the house, so I haven't had a whole lot of time for photography lately, and when I do have the time it's mostly been unexciting stuff to write about (just more picking out, working on, and framing prints).However, one thing worth writing about (which I should have posted about a month ago) was a

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1128688554608242002005-10-07T08:29:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:33.594-05:00

I was just watching the news this morning and they mentioned a website called the Foliage Network: (http://www.foliagenetwork.com/)They have spotters across various states (mostly Bed&Breakfast owners) who report on the status of the fall color change twice a week from September to November. You can pull up a map of both the color status and the leave drop status. It looks like a really handy

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1127226831471024952005-09-20T09:46:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:33.434-05:00

Once I purchased my display canopy, the next thing to figure out was how to hang my photos on the wall when the wall of the canopy consists of nothing more than a tarp held in place by velcro.Taking a look around at some of the commercial options, I realized this was going to be quite an expensive prospect. The nicest looking option is to go with Pro Panels (propanels.com). However, those run

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1127139039545858612005-09-19T09:36:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:33.368-05:00

I've been a bit absent around here lately. In fact, I haven't been doing a whole lot online lately. I've spent a bit of time working on the grid walls for my display booth. As of last week, that's finally complete. I'll post the pics and a detailed description of it tomorrow. I took a one day lighthouse trip up to the thumb area...got a couple new lighthouses and revisited a few others we saw

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1122604520857102922005-07-28T22:06:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:33.303-05:00

Since I purchased my King Canopy from Sams Club a few days ago, it's just been sitting in my basement, begging me to set it up in the backyard. Well, I could resist no further, so I took it out of the bag and assembled it for the first time.It went up rather easily, though I did have a few issues. Of course, I was assembling it alone, so that made it a bit more difficult.First issue I had was

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1122386035920271022005-07-26T09:52:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:33.223-05:00

Yesterday, I picked up a canopy for my display booth when I go to sell at art shows. I've been reading through the artshowphoto yahoo group and finding a lot of information and recommendations on booths. Lots of people are recommending light domes and flourish canopies, but these all sell for $800 and up. Thats a bit more than I'm ready or able to invest at this point. A few people mentioned

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1121609670014854172005-07-17T09:58:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:33.158-05:00

This weekend I've been working on getting more of my photos ready for selling at an art show. In addition to the many regular photos I've been printing up, I thought it would be cool to do a few stylized ones, where I do a bit more photoshop work to give the image a surreal or non-photorealistic look. I came across some nice actions and instructions. A few really caught my eye, and I'd like to

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1121052683590455562005-07-11T00:01:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:33.089-05:00

I've been a devoted fan of the C1 raw converter software from Phase One for a little over a year now. My love for it is primarily for it's more convenient workflow when processing dozens of Raw Files at once. Compared to Photoshop, where you can only deal with converting one raw file at a time, C1 is a godsend.A couple months back, when I heard about a new Raw converter called RawShooter

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1120618030436995522005-07-06T13:46:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.949-05:00

I just returned a few days ago from a 4 day trip up to Copper Harbor, Michigan and a few other areas in the Upper Peninsula along the way. While up there, we got to see

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1120618003425109872005-07-05T22:22:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.859-05:00

I returned from my Washington trip just over a month ago, but I never got around to posting a link to the photos (even though they are just on my pbase site).http://www.pbase.com/ldkronos/washingtonHere are a few of my favorite shots:This shot of the Kautz Creek at Mount Rainier was one of my favorites. Something about the way the time lapse exposure came out, giving the creek a cartoonish look

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1120052169324431602005-06-29T09:18:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.785-05:00

Last week I mentioned that my canon i950 had gone on the fritz and was cross-contaminating ink cartridges. After some additional testing and troubleshooting, I decided the only reasonable explanation left was an internal crack in the print head. Looking on ebay, print heads were going for $50 + shipping. That would hopefully fix the problem, but there was a chance that the problem might be

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1119131762621591272005-06-18T17:13:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.723-05:00

A few weeks ago, when I was working on some matting for the enlargements I printed from the Holland Tulip Festival, I noticed that on one of the photos there were some black lines running through the yellow sections at a regular interval. At the time, I figured the paper was probably bowed up somehow or another, and the paper had made contact with the print head and smeared some ink. I set the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1117596498460179492005-05-31T23:06:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.645-05:00

I just returned a few days ago from a 10 day trip to Washington State. I have family in the Seattle area, so I went to visit them, but I used the nearby scenery as an excuse to get out and take a few pictures....1201 pictures, to be precise.The weather the first few days was kind of crummy...either lots of rain and sunshine, back and forth, or just cloudy most of the day. However, after those

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1116433490197626482005-05-18T12:12:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.564-05:00

A few weeks ago I finally got around to sending in my Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens for repair. The FedEx guy showed up on Monday with my repaired lens. The upside: Canon replaced the front element and reassembled it good as new...focus appears to be fine. The downside: Canon insists that the lens sustained an impact (not sure how that happens to a lens that has never been dropped and is stored in a well

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1115639753118687852005-05-09T07:48:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.501-05:00

This weekend we took a trip to Holland, Michigan for the tulip festival. It was our first time visiting for the festival, and it sure was a treat. Tulips everywhere in town.Our first stop was at Windmill Island. Here there were plenty of tulips, to be sure. But more importantly, true to it's name, there is a giant windmill named "De Zwaan" (The Swan), which is an authentic windmill from the

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7868476.post-1115221318438407112005-05-04T11:12:00.000-04:002006-11-15T11:17:32.438-05:00

Over the last few weeks I've been working more on getting some images ready for sale. I took 4 of the collages and prints that I've done previously, and re processed them to make them look a bit better quality than the quick prints I made for myself. Making prints to sell is a bit more difficult. Whereas normally I look at my photos and decide I like it or don't like it, now I find myself

Ron Frazierhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00837119718002987952noreply@blogger.com0