Cool Products in the News

Apple finally announced their new tablet product dubbed "Ipad". No doubt a take on their popular "Ipod" and "Iphone" brands. Their not selling it as a notebook or netbook replacement bur rather a personal device, '"Apple sees this as a personal media experience that they can create."'

Whats cool from my personal perspective is this would be ideal for me both for photography and book reading. Photography in that I can use it to show my portfolio of photos to perspective clients. Or heck use it as large digital photo album. Versus carry my brick of laptop that weighs almost 10 pounds with accessories in the bag. Or using it download the latest ebooks like Amazon's kindle which cost about $250 for the cheapest model.

Of course there are other more mundane features like watching movies, listening to music and playing games. I'm excited to see what the actual retail price will be when it launches.

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Website Content Update - Cont.

Hurray! I finally got the new photos up on my main photo website. I only had to go to my WindowsXP OS and upload from an old version of IE. So moral of the story is if your using Windows 7, you may not be able to upload your photos on your photobiz website.

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website update (postponed)

Well I thought I was going to be able to update the photos on my photography website. I spent the last 6 hours working on photo montages just for this update. However my stupid photography website provider, PhotoBiz, is preventing me from doing any photo updates. In order to upload new photos, you need to login into your account on your internet browser. For 99.99% of internet applications, this is usually easy to do. Not photobiz! I've tried using 4 of the most popular browsers (IE, Firefox, Safari and Chrome). Not one of them will run the photobiz photo uploader browser application. It was working fine on Jan 4th earlier this month when I used it. But for God knows what reason, its not working today. If I can find a better alternative website provider this year, I'm going to switch asap.

In the meantime, I'm going to keep trying to figure out how to get these photos uploaded.

jp

P.S. Kind of peeved 'cause I spent all day and were looking forward to seeing the new photos on the website~!

Camera Gear & Accessories

Peter Greggs who wrote the recent Canon 1D MkIV review I posted on my blog today, also is the designer for the ABBC Ultimate Bounce Card. If your like me and frustrated with taking flash shots that look flat or overexposed, I'd suggest trying his product. I'm planning on picking one up for some upcoming photo gigs I have in Feb.



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Canon in the News - New 1D MkIV DSLR

ProPhoto has a great review of the new Canon 1D. Check it out here.

Two key points to note from the review: Focusing is on par and the High ISO (12800) is amazing. Looks like the engineers at Canon realized something Nikon has been doing for several generation, High ISO/low noise is important to we Pro photographers!

If I could afford it, I would have both Canon and Nikon equipment. The best of both worlds. =)

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JPP Daily Photos

Here's a collage I put together for Juvenal and Erlin's Wedding Reception 20x30 print. This is truly a beautiful love story that dates back almost 50 years ago when Juvenal was courting Erlin. More details to come!

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JPP Daily Photos

For the past week, California has had a series of fierce winter storms back-to-back. I took these photos during the 2nd of the storms this week. The last 2 photos show the Eastridge Shopping Mall sign on Quimby road had fallen from the 50 MPH winds that morning.

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JPP Daily Photos

It's cold out there. Brrrrr! As my friend, Edwin, from the UK reminded me its also very cold in Europe and other parts of the world. In California, the weather actually has been pretty mild. Usually low 30's in the evening and high 40's in the daytime. Which is ironic cause this is one Californian who would love to have snow in the bay area. Even a belated White Christmas. lol.

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Angel in the News

Here's a heart warming story I found on MSNBC Video. Especially for all you dog lovers. =)

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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Kenna Foster Blog

Kenna has a great post on her blog for the new year. Check it out here or read below.

Right or Wrong-- a thought for the New Year.
There are people who are always looking for (and sometimes discussing) the bad in other people... even in the human race at large. "What's wrong with ____ is ______..."

And there are people who are always seeing the good in everyone, even sometimes when it might seem undeserved.

I know this is obvious... It's important to surround yourself with the latter. It is such a rewarding feeling to be around people who always see your good qualities. Yet, I've sometimes forgotten it. And when I did, I found myself "set up for failure." No matter how hard you try to be your best & show someone your best "you," it will never work if they're looking for what's wrong with you.

I, like most people, ;) am just an imperfect human. If someone's looking for my faults, they WILL find them. So rather than try to play the "hide your faults" game from someone who looks for them, why not just choose to be around those looking for what's RIGHT about you? Soooo much happier!

And yet... ironically, I ALSO had to remind myself yet again, to BE the one looking for good!! Sheesh, really?? That perfectionistic side of me seems constantly to need reminded of when to back down. ;)

Simple formula... Want to see the good in those around you and in humanity? Look for it.

So, my new post-it reminder quote near my computer reads:

"If you're looking for things wrong with people, you'll find them! Everywhere!!

So... don't."

----

truly words to live by. Thanks to Kenna for starting out the new year with a positive thought.

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JPP Daily Photos

I did an engagement photo shoot this past Saturday. Whats really special about this shoot as opposed to my past ones is has an almost fairy tale story. The groom has been in love with his intended for well over 47 years. From joining the Navy as young man to follow her to the United States to surviving a previous marriage, they met again late last year. After some flirting and dating, he asked her to marry him. They will be married in February this year. Here are some of the pick from their recent photo session.

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First Blogger Post of the New Year

Next to photography, my other passion is reading. Ever since I picked up my first comic book as a kid, it was a natural evolution to go from that to book and magazines. I have a voracious appetite for print material. During college, I often crammed whole novels during the weekend (often to the detriment of my grades!).

Lately I've been having a hard time finding books in my favorite genre, Fantasy/Sci-Fi. I can still read my way through a Newsweek or a Photography magazine. However I still will often go to a Barnes and Nobles or do an amazon/google search for the latest novels of my favorite author. In the last several years, its become a bit of a shocker to find that quite a few of my favorite authors have passed away. With their passing, there is no longer any chance to read sequels or new series. Hence one of the reasons why I am having a hard time finding new novels. Today I started re-reading the first novel from the SeaFort Saga by David Feintuch. Mr. Feintuch passed away in 2006. He had just completed his eighth and final book in the series. With his death, however, the publisher has indicated they have no plans of publishing that final book. What a quandary for any avid read. To read thru the whole series waiting for the finale but prevented because of a untimely death of the author and some unkown reason of his publisher. What makes it worse is Mr. Feintuch is one of the few of my favorite authors that I had the pleasure to exchange emails about my love of his Seafort saga. I hope in the near future that the heirs of Mr. Feintuch will push the his publisher to publish that final book post-humously.

In closing, I'm quoting an intro from Mr. Feintuch that also discusses the topic of his favorite authors who passed away in his lifetime. "I stuck with SF for a long while, but after college I drifted away. My favorite authors were dropping out, dying, or writing stuff that wasn't very good anymore. Heinlein was one. Yes, his last books became talky and preachy. But Glory Road, Farnham's Freehold, Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Starship Troopers, and of course, Stranger . . . what a legacy."

P.S. In honor of the passing of a great author, David Feintuch....

-jp

Happy New Year!

Wishing all my readers and visitors a prosperous New Year! God Bless you all...!

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