JPP Daily Photos

Happy Belated Birthday to both Bryonna and Martin. Bry celebrated her 16th bday and Martin his 18th bday this past Saturday. Here are a selection of photos highlighting their party!

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JPP Daily Photos

While I try to carry my Nikon DSLR and kit with me everyday (to catch that photo moment especially for my humble blog), its not always practical to carry my whole gear around. I've been playing with the idea of getting a point and shoot digital like my old Canon G2 but it doesn't always have all the features I look for when taking photos. Well Olympus recently launched their "OLYMPUS PEN DIGITAL E-P2". Which judging by the specs might be the ideal carry around camera for me. I've got my tax refund in hand but still not sure if I want to spend it all on the E-P2 kit which is roughly $1200 US MSRP. Or I could spend a fraction of that amount and get a Nikon coolpix or Canon G series. Decisions! Decisions!

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P.S. I've attached some sample photos from the E-P2 with built in art filters.

Photographer Products

Well, I did it! I bought Gregg's *Triple Package Deal on Monday which includes: The Ultimate Bounce Card, The New Big-Light Bounce Card & The ABBC Mini-Light Bounce Card. Hopefully with the 3-4 days shipping time I will receive it before Saturday so I may use it for an upcoming birthday party in Milpitas. Otherwise I will definitely use it for Juvenal and Erlin wedding the following weekend. I'll post some samples of the photos when they are available.

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Tips & Advice

I found this great article from a friend's blog entry.

I would like to quote (because I agree with his point entirely), "This is a great article that I wish more people have had a chance to read. It's amazing how some people believe that they have built strong connections without following points #2 and #3. I usually find people who have met me already asking for favors. I'm usually willing to help whenever I can but some people are just takers. I hope you all enjoy reading this article as much as I have."

Anyways, the original article is a great read for networking.

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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.

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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."

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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....

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Happy New Year!

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

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3D on your Browser!

So I found this great article about a game developer using 3D in the browser. There's a current craze with the so call "Facebook" games that run mainly thru your browser. Most of them use 2D and take no advantage of the graphics. With new apps like Unity, they will bring 3D in to the browser games. If you thought your Facebook game look good, it will look darn tootin' awesome in the near future. See sample below.

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Merry Christmas from John Paul Photography!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Photographer Products

My friend Ian showed me (and Glen) a simple trick with a sheaf of narrow paper (or even a business card or small brochure) and a rubber band that allows you diffuse the light on your external flash. Well apparently this company decided to make a real product of it. This idea has been around the photography forum for years but its cool that someone made a cheap version of it that you can buy.

Here's the link to purchase and a photo of the product.

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Photographer News

I was going thru my email today when I read about this photographer from my Asuka newsletter. You can check out his cool website here http://www.alainmartinez.com/

Here's the article in brief:

Political Satire

Sometimes the political cartoonists hit the nail with the hammer. As I've been discussing the health care bill recently on my blog, I thought this week's political cartoons were pretty accurate if not funny.

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Tech news

I'm a big Sci-Fi movie fan especially movies like the Predator and Aliens. Well the creator of Aliens, James Cameron, is coming out with a movie called "Avatar" this week. Think of a sequel of Aliens but with a bigger budget than "Titanic" (purportedly half a billion to make!). If you watch the trailer, your probably like me and can't wait to watch it in the theater.



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Photography Tips

Here's a great photo tip I received from my Nikon Newsletter. This is ideal during these winter months for all you shutterbugs.

Camera in the Cold

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JPP Daily Photo

I found this article when I was doing my daily reading of MSNBC headlines. What caught me interest was (1) the topic "social media" is an area I'm interested in adn (2) the innovation the guy in the article used to get the interview and job. Its something that I can put my feet in that person's shoes. Hopefully I can also find a social media marketing position in the new year to supplement my photography business.

Here's the example of the faux Wired Magazine cover the guy used in his tweet. And here's an example of my Senior Photo magazine cover I created recently for my Senior Photos advertising campaign. Looks like he and I have similar ideas for getting our names noticed. Only he's idea was more effective!

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Healthcare News

This week the senate approved Obama's Healthcare Bill. However they did cut the public option from it (see this article). Whats ironic is that the majority of Americans polled prefer a public option. Despite a mandate from the people in last year's election, the powerful healthcare lobbyist won their fight against the public option. Makes you wonder if democracy is dead in this country....

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Photography News

I missed out recently on the Aperture Academy's grand opening. I think its great that they opened an academy in the bay area that has classes and field trips for beginner and advanced photographers'.

I plan on participating in AA more this year. In fact, I've created a new photobook which is available for free on their website here.

You can see some of my work here http://www.apertureacademy.com/johnpaulphotography/

It's always cool to be able to share your photos with your own peers.

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Cool Technie News

Today was the unveiling for the new "Virgin spaceship bared". For those not geeky enough, its the first commercial sub-orbital ship that you can ride around the edge of space for a few days for a mere $200,000.00 U.S. If I ever get that kind of money, I would smack down the cash for a chance to ride one.

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Local Photography News

Talk about ridiculous! My cousin forwarded me this link about a photographer who was almost cited for taking pictures of his family at a state park. There's even a suggestion of charging commercial photographers at state park for revenue. That's pretty desperate. Plus how do you distinguish a commerical photographer doing a a commercial shoot? By their equipment? Good Luck! You can get a cheap DSLR for under $500 with lens kit.

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news weird Holiday Card Photo Shoot Busted by Park Ranger
Official enforces rule requiring permits at state parks
By JACKSON WEST
Updated 3:00 PM PST, Thu, Dec 3, 2009

Print Email Share Buzz up!TWITTER FACEBOOK

Joe Flood While no permit is required for amateur shutterflies at California's state parks, one is required for commercial photography.

But what if you're just an amateur who uses professional equipment? Or a professional taking photos for the family Christmas card?

Then you might get a visit from a park ranger, and possibly even a citation.

At least, that's what a Seacliff photographer found out when he wanted to snap some shots of his family at Seacliff State Beach near Santa Cruz.

He didn't get a citation, but he did come back the next week and get the pictures he wanted.

The good news is, citations are rare according to a park official -- and the state park system is so poorly funded, chances that there will actually be a ranger on hand to shoo you away are slim.

Photo by Joe Flood.

Jackson West figures this is one way you could increase revenue for state parks.

JPP Photo Friend

My friend and great photographer, Kris of Curly Bear Productions, recently posted some great photos from her Trash the Dress - Bridal Style! on her blog. The photos are sooo awesome its inspired me to ask some of my brides from this year's wedding if they are interested in doing the same. Go to Kris's blog to see all her awesome photos. I'm gona post a few here for you all to view.

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Photography Tip

For those of you using Nikon RAW files and have recently upgraded to Windows 7, you may have been wondering how you can preview your RAW files in windows 7 without having to resort to Photoshop or Lightroom. Here's a great link to an article that shows you how to do it on x32 or x64 bit versions in windows 7.

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Happy Thanksgiving!

I want to wish all my friends, family and readers a Happy Thanksgiving!!

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Climate Article

I just finished reading an article on Newsweek about the turning points on Global Climate Change. Despite latest scientific evidence, there are still people in the science fields (dont even mention political field!) who are contrary to the idea that fossil fuels are contributing to greenhouse gases which in turn affect climate change. From everything I've read in this article to the past several years worth of climate news, I have a simple question that I believe we all should think about. From a very layman point of view, when I'm asked as a citizen of this planet: Do I want to make changes or not in my lifestyle and use of fossil fuels (i.e. decrease even if means my standard of living is less than what I'm used too) or face dramatic global climate change that can potentially destroy us? I'd rather error on the part of change than risk destructions. Its as simple as change now or face destruction of our planet. But then again I'm a simple person though I think if every person on this planet was asked this question, the majority of us would opt to change.

Just my thoughts for the day....

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