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• Help for Redbubble members
  by Mel Brackstone

  Karin Taylor, Jo O’Brien, Stuart Chapman and Dave Pearson have added some very useful tutorials and links for those members who’d like so…

  Karin Taylor, Jo O’Brien, Stuart Chapman and Dave Pearson have added some very useful tutorials and links for those members who’d like some help in learning a few extra tricks to make their time on the bubble easier. I have this link in my profile, so it’s going to be easy to find. I’ll add to it as I learn of new helpful information. How to enhance your profile Text formatting Links to other helpful pages Where to get help/critique/FAQ Help on how to sell your work How to TAG your work effectively Redbubble hacks with Dave

• Seascapes Group
  by Mel Brackstone

  I’m very pleased to announce the new group Seascapes I’m looking forward to viewing wat…

  I’m very pleased to announce the new group Seascapes I’m looking forward to viewing waterscapes from around the world. I’d like to think that we can upload just our very very best, so please, limit your uploads to just ONE a day, and we’ll see how things go. One upload a day only Five photos per member only If you’d like critique, please ask. If you’d like information on how different techniques have been produced, please ask If you think you have a question that I haven’t mentioned, please ask. Thanks for sharing your photos with us! Mel

• Protect Your Copyright - URGENT ACTION REQUIRED
  by Helen Bascom

  If you are an artist or photographer in the United States PLEASE TAKE HEED: you may loose all rights to your work very soon. A bill is b…

  If you are an artist or photographer in the United States PLEASE TAKE HEED: you may loose all rights to your work very soon. A bill is before Congress which will essentially make all works of art ever created orphaned works and send them to the public domain. Essentially what this bill will do is force artists and photographers to pay fees to commercial registry companies to register a copyright on every single work you have ever created or ever will create. The current law protects your copyright without registration. Registration with the United States Copyright Office merely sets statutory damages in the event of copyright infringement. The new law will REQUIRE registration NOT WITH THE COPYRIGHT OFFICE but with COMMERCIAL REGISTRIES. The purpose of this bill seems to be the enrichment of corporations to the impoverishment of the people. If this bill passes and you want to protect your work, you will be required to pay a fee FOR EVERY SINGLE WORK OF ART ALREADY CREATED and EVERY SINGLE WORK YOU WILL EVER CREATE. Additionally, you will be required to register with more than one commercial registry to secure your copyright protection. Now let’s see, I have just on RB 250 works. If I have to pay $5 USD per photo to three different registries to protect my copyright that will cost me $3,750. This is just the cost to protect the work I have uploaded to RedBubble. What about the other 8,399 photos on my computer? If I ever print them, upload them, show them in a gallery, I have to pay for each of them as well. / Folks, this is serious. EDIT – URGENT UPDATE The Orphan Works Bill is out of committee. Now is the time to zealously advocate for defeat of this bill. Please go to the Illustrators Partnership of America Legislative Action Center for more information and useful links to contact your Senators and Representatives. This Bill will substantially limit your ability to recover financially if your work is infringed, even if your work was registered with the U.S. Copyright Office prior to infringement. So registration with the U.S. Copyright Office is a waste of your money if this Bill passes. Important elements of the HOUSE BILL Coerced Registration • The Orphan Works Act would force artists to risk their lives’ work to subsidize the start-up ventures of private, profit making registries, using untested image recognition technology and untried business models. These models would inevitably favor the aggregation of images into corporate databases over the licensing of copyrights by the lone artists who create the art. International Impact • Because an unmarked picture cannot be sourced or dated, works by artists outside the U.S. will be as vulnerable to infringement in the U.S. as work by domestic artists. • Presumably the Copyright Office and Congress expect non U.S. artists to register all their past and future art with the new hypothetical U.S. databases, or see their work exposed to commercial infringement under U.S. law. • It is a violation of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works for any country to impose registration on a rights holder as as a condition of protecting his copyright. Please take this opportunity to protect your rights under the current copyright law by speaking out against this proposed legislation. Go here and read this journal entry by Crockpot The Orphan Works Act of 2008 ~ RELEASE FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS’ PARTNERSHIP The Orphan Works Act of 2008 will be officially released momentarily. The language in the draft confirms our warnings. If this bill passes, you’ll be forced to clear all your secondary licensing rights through at least two government certified databases – or risk orphaning your art. Despite its masquerade as the “last resort” to search for a rights owner, these databases will likely become the only source many users will rely on for finding a rights owner. Reason: it will give users the legal right to infringe any copyright not in the databases. ERIN JAY’S JOURNAL ENTRY CLICK HERE FOR FULL TEXT OF THE SENATE VERSION CLICK HERE FOR FULL TEXT OF THE HOUSE VERSION CLICK THIS LINK FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK THIS LINK FOR EVEN MORE INFORMATION CLICK THIS LINK FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION CLICK THIS LINK FOR REGISTRATION PROBLEMS Below is a sample letter I sent to my senators and to my congressional representative. Please adapt it for your own use. Click these links to find your state representatives: STATE SENATORS CONTACT INFORMATION STATE REPRESENTATIVE CONTACT INFORMATION Here is an interview with Brad Holland of the Illustrator’s Partnership. He explains how passage of this bill will affect every artist and photographer in the Country. Under current United States and International Law, your copyright is automatic from the moment you create the work. Registering your work provides you with legal fees and statutory damages upon discovering an infringement. If you do not register your work, your are limited to actual damages which are typically far less than provided for in the Statute. International law, and current US Law prohibit forced or coerced copyright registration. Copyright is a longstanding common law right. The proposed legislation is a back door effort to require registration with commercial registries in order to protect your work from being deemed orphaned. SIGN THE ONLINE PETITION HERE SAMPLE LETTER TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and SENATOR Congressman Baron Hill / 279 Quartermaster Ct. / Jeffersonville, IN 47130 / Phone: (812) 288-3999 / Fax: (812) 288-3873 Re: The Orphan Works legislation Dear Congressman Hill: My name is Helen M. Bascom and I live in Jeffersonville, Indiana. After reading about the Orphan Works bill, I am outraged that this could happen in my country. This Orphan Works legislation, if passed, will severely impact my income and life as an artist/photographer. Not only will it give license for others to legally steal and use my work for free, it will be virtually impossible for me to afford the time and money to register my creations in all the potential new registries. Commercial registries will be the only organizations that will profit from this legislation. I have thousands of photographs and works of art and I simply can not afford to register my works, even at a few dollars each. This bill, if passed, will force me to close my on line galleries which will destroy my business. Should someone consider my work to be orphaned and take my work for their own use, I can not afford the legal fees to protect my copyright. I demand that you to vote AGAINST the Orphan Works bill and protect my rights, my copyrights, to all that I have and will create. Thank you. Regards, Helen M. Bascom, / Bascom Digital Art

• PHOTO SHOOT MELBOURNE & SYDNEY PHOTOGRAPHERS ALL WELCOME: JOIN THE MAILING LIST
  by Alateia

  I PRODUCE & DIRECT PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES FOR STILL CAPTURE / for Amateur & Professionals alike PRIVATE ENQUIRIES ALSO WELCOME / !http://...

  I PRODUCE & DIRECT PHOTO OPPORTUNITIES FOR STILL CAPTURE / for Amateur & Professionals alike PRIVATE ENQUIRIES ALSO WELCOME / / 3 Faces: Courtesy of Maree Toogood / / photo courtesy of MAREE TOOGOOD / / photo courtesy of Jodie Johnson If you are interested in attending any of the PHOTOGRAPHIC SESSIONS that i stage and stepping off the virtual platform for a shoot, meeting other bubblers, working with excellent models, picking up tips on the job, let me know! and i will add you to our mailing list and keep you in the loop. / _photo courtesy of KARLS I organise, models, drops & props, venues, equipment etc. for on location and studio shoots. So jump on the mailing and stay in the loop just email SHOOTER MELBOURNE or SHOOTER SYDNEY to / events@arthouseproductions.com.au Some of the sessions are by invitation only as location can restrict numbers so let me know what areas interest you ie, dance, portraiture, black and white, cityscape, sports, nudes, fashion, catwalk, landscape, storms, seascape, animals, babies, night , long exposure, photo journalsim, macro, etc. etc Look forward to seeing you at the next SHOOTERS GALLERY !!

• Ok, stop it already! "Content" of photos and quality.
  by Natalie Manuel

  I’m getting really sick of people using the line “all those pet dog, pets and baby photos” as an indicator of the “rubbish” on RB. The…

  I’m getting really sick of people using the line “all those pet dog, pets and baby photos” as an indicator of the “rubbish” on RB. The content is irrelevant. There are some damn good “pet” portraits on RB (and yes, some really bad ones) I’m actually quite sick of a photo being considered good because of the content. Taking a photo of an exotic looking person doesn’t make you a genius photographer by default. It just means the person isn’t from your country and so is ‘interesting’. Good for you. It can be much harder to get a GREAT photo of a common subject. You have to work to make it stand out. Blurring the water in a photo doesn’t mean it’s a great photo, having a pretty sunset doesn’t make it a great photo, photographing someone who has a character lined face doesn’t make it a great photo, being naked in it doesn’t make a great photo, taking a photo of an exotic animal doesn’t make it a great photo….on and on I can go. So really, enough with the idea that pets = bad photos. Nothing is great or bad by default, it’s how you take it, YOU make it a great photo, if you can.

• Redbubble break
  by Mel Brackstone

  Arrggghhh….I’m going to miss you all so much! Leaving tomorrow for a second honeymoon in NZ….not going to be much time for the bub, s…

  Arrggghhh….I’m going to miss you all so much! Leaving tomorrow for a second honeymoon in NZ….not going to be much time for the bub, so I’ll just have to say hooroo and will catch up with you all when I return. Gotta go pack – cameras, lenses, tripod, cable release, lee filters, batteries, battery chargers, power leads, extension cord, powerboard….these are all essential, of course. Clothing and toiletries are optional extras… Take care all you lovely people, I’ll log in if I can, but it’s not going to happen often, I suspect.

• Pricing your photography
  by Leah Highland

  I found this article and thought that I would share. / Great information and a bit inspiring to those that might not have / the confiden…

  I found this article and thought that I would share. / Great information and a bit inspiring to those that might not have / the confidence they deserve. By Scott Bourne When photographers turn pro, they face an important issue: How to price their products and services. Unfortunately, photographers are at the low end of the pay scale because they usually don’t apply standard marketing and business strategy when pricing their work. The goal of this article is to give you advice that will let you earn what you are worth and at the same time, elevate the price positioning of the entire industry. START AT THE BEGININNG – KNOW WHAT YOU ARE SELLING Are we selling square inches of paper? For some reason, the first thing that enters a photographer’s mind when pricing is print size. This has cost more photographers money than you can imagine. The most important thing to know here is to build value in your product. You do that by considering ALL the factors that go into making a salable image. So what are we selling? How about that creative eye? Anyone can buy a camera but can they see through it the way you do? Are the hours you spent training for this moment worth something? Your mechanic, doctor and lawyer all get paid for their time, shouldn’t you? Then there is your present technical ability. The casual amateur may not be able to get the most out of the same equipment as the everyday pro. And speaking of equipment, you need to consider the value of all those gadgets you have laying around the studio. When you price, charge for your logistical skills, intelligence, time and your ability to translate your client’s desires into a visual statement. You should consider standard usage and copyright in the price as well as basic business economics. And here is one of the first places that photographers stumble. They aren’t honest with themselves about the cost of doing business. In order to price something, you must know what it cost to make. Here are some things to look at: Pricing Economics 1) Overhead / 2) Profit / 3) Market Type Calculating overhead requires you to consider all the costs that are associated with being a professional photographer. That means: 1) Equipment depreciation / 2) Insurance / 3) Rent / 4) Licenses / 5) Legal Fees / 6) Accounting Fees / 7) Payroll Fees / 8) Salaries / 9) Taxes / 10) Utilities / 11) Production / 12) Repairs / 13) Printing / 14) Postage / 15) Office Supplies / 16) Subscriptions / 17) Dues / 18) Advertising/Marketing / 19) Transportation/Shipping / 20) Travel / 21) Misc. Calculating profit is a bit easier. You consider your cost of doing business by allowing for a percentage of your overhead to be applied to the cost of each job. From there you add mark up. This can be based on any number you want but a good starting point is to double the cost of your product. Now you also need to adjust this figure based on market type. Is the image being used in a small or large market? Will thousands of people or just a few see it? What is the value to the client? What will the client do with your image? What choice besides you does the client have? Are there 50 photographers in town or only three? All of these factors go into calculating a price. STRATEGY Now that you know what you have, what you are selling and what it costs you to make it, you need to devise a pricing strategy. This can be as simple as jotting down some basic facts. 1) What is your overhead? 2) What is your marketing strategy? 3) What is the competition charging? 4) How much income do you need to survive? If you have a real business plan, you will have answered most if not all of these questions. If you don’t have a business plan, now would be a great time to write one. It doesn’t have to be fancy but you need to be able to articulate your goals or you won’t be able to measure success. EDUCATE THE CLIENT After you have decided on a strategy, you need to start educating your clients about your business. Most people have no idea what it costs to run a business, let alone a photo business. Share that with your clients. If you run a portrait studio, make sure they understand the differences between what you do and what the chain studios do. If you are selling fine art nature prints, discuss your education and training, the cost of dues to professional organizations, etc. When dealing with art directors, let them know when you have purchased new cameras or computers that feature advanced technology. Once the client can see a nexus between value and price, the higher rates become less of a stumbling block. You can embark on this education process in a number of ways. Issue press releases that tout your equipment acquisitions, attendance at seminars and new employees. Bring these things up in casual conversation when selling. Publish a studio newsletter. Conduct your business in a manner that exudes professionalism. CONCLUSION There is one last but very important step that you must take to profitably price your photography. Ask established photographers how they bid jobs. Smart photographers who have made a good living at photography will gladly help beginners with this information. They realize that if you are new, you might undercharge, thereby bringing prices down industry-wide. Ask for help. You’re likely to get it. Article Copyright 2005, Scott Bourne – Photofocus Magazine ABOUT THE AUTHOR Scott Bourne is the author of “88 Secrets to Selling & Publishing Your Photography” and “88 Secrets to Photoshop for Photographers.” Both are available from Olympic Mountain School Press, http://www.mountainschoolpress.com His work has also appeared in books, magazines, galleries, calendars, on greeting cards, web sites and on posters. Scott is a professional photographer, author, teacher and pioneer in the digital imaging field. His career started in the early 70s as a stringer covering motor sports for Associated Press in Indiana. Since then, he has shot commercial, portrait, wedding, magazine and fine art assignments. His new passion is wildlife photography. Scott regularly lectures on a variety of photo and media-related subjects. He’s appeared on national television and radio programs and has written columns for several national magazines. He is the publisher of Photofocus.com, an online magazine for serious photographers and also serves as the executive director of the Olympic Mountain School of Photography in Gig Harbor, WA.

• Welcome my fellow Deviants!
  by John De Bord Photography IPA

  Welcome my fellow Deviants! Greetings to all of you that took my advice in my journal...

  Welcome my fellow Deviants! Greetings to all of you that took my advice in my journal over on deviantArt and came over here to RedBubble! There have been quite a few it seems to come on over and explore things. This place is quite different than DA as you may be finding out, but the differences I feel are also better as you will see. So I thought that I would go ahead and throw a little primer together for you guys, kinda a FYI for ya! I hope this helps you guys! I also am going to feature a few works from some of ya down below :) 1) RedBubble is FOR the Artist!- DA charges people for having a ‘subscription’ and also a ‘premium prints subscription’. When a user does NOT have a premium print subscription, they can only make 10% profit of their sales. When they have a premium subscription, artist only gets 50% of markup with DA getting the other 50% of artist profit. RedBubble is 100% free, costs nothing to join, there is NO member subscription, the artist keeps 100%!! of ALL profits with RB only getting the base price. There is NO ‘premium print subscription” on RB. 2) NO Popularity Contest Here!- Yes You read right, there is NO popularity contest here. Everyone is one and the same, all on the same level. Sure, your statts are accessible but are NOT displayed on the front of your page. In fact they are actually kind of hard to find lol I don’t even recall where they are at! There is no “popular” area of any kind, and all that there is really is the art of the front page. Nice huh? Thought many of you would like that! 3) A Structured Groups/Clubs System—- DA has been saying that they would something in this form now for years, literally, it took RB like a week to do it lol You can see all the groups here 4) Borders and Watermarks—-Do NOT add border for images which you are uploading here, as it generally a pain in the rear for when they print things. As such, they discourage it. The same for watermarks, as RB has a built in watermarking system, and if you upload an image that has a watermark then that image when sold will have one on it. (Though I am sure they would flag it first) 5) * True Theft Prevention!-* RB has an option that places a 1 pixel gif overlay on top of your images, so when someone tries to download an image of yours, instead they get a 1px gif! 6) The HTML here—- Ok all things considered, the HTML here is a lil whacky and unique. There is a cheat Sheet there that will help you will that and also a Firefox extension you can use, which I use and has been a total lifesaver. 7* *Getting Started On RB!- There is a BUNCH of things that have been posted here in the forums to help you guys out! When in doubt, always head there. These forums are VERY different than DA as teh age here is older and the atmosphere much more professional. Tutorials and Tips for Newcomers There is a wealth of info there including how to make a site badge, slideshows showing your RB portfolio, banner images, How to make T-shirts for sale, etc etc. 8*) “The Atmosphere Here!-” It is quite different as you will see. The owners of the site and admins are VERY friendly and helpful, and are fellow full time artist’s as well. The age here is older, as you will notice right away! Many of the people who I have brought here have actually left DA and haven’t looked back simply because they like it better and feel much more comfortable. 9)* “The Upload Process here—-” It is a lil slower, because the servers are in Australia, but not by much. And that is the only slower thing about this site, it loads faster, as a whole, pages and images fly when you click on them. 10) “NO Adverts!-” Yes that is correct, no adverts anywhere, period, which makes for an awesome experience for anyone who sees your work. It also makes for a nice site to send family and friends to show your work. Art the way it is meant to be seen, as art! All In All—- I hope you guys really enjoy it here. It is a really exceptional site that very much has the artist in mind. This is something that I think has been needed. Anyways, if ya all have any questions, please feel free to ask me, and I will help as I can as per usual! Hope ya all like the features below! —-John

• A Kick Up The Bum (AKA: Getting Professional!)
  by Jennifer Woodward

  I found myself in the forums the other day. It sometimes feels like a jungle in there, but with a bit of searching amongst the shrubbery,...

  I found myself in the forums the other day. It sometimes feels like a jungle in there, but with a bit of searching amongst the shrubbery, I found some really sound advice. This thread by Tania Rose caught my eye. The thread contains a variety of very useful tips and advice that cover marketing and sales, but what interested me the most, was the subject of how we view ourselves. What makes an artist or a photographer a professional? Tania also offers a brilliant way to take that uncomfortable edge off selling your own work, and I’m definitely going to give it a go! Please also feel free to add any sales and marketing links to this journal. The more info, the merrier! I’ll keep adding more as I come across stuff. Thanks everyone! :-)

• Friday Night in Melbourne
  by Paul Louis Villani

  I guess it’s easy to fall into the trap of being comfortable. / I went out after work with the intention of doing my usual light trails th…

  I guess it’s easy to fall into the trap of being comfortable. / I went out after work with the intention of doing my usual light trails thing but got distracted with my own lack of curiosity. / I thought I’d try something different. / Hope you like, peace peeps! / / / / / / / /

• Why I Love Photography
  by Deborah Parkin

  My favourite film is one by Stephen Poliakoff’ called ‘Shooting the Past’. There is this line that sticks with me almost everytime i lo…

  My favourite film is one by Stephen Poliakoff’ called ‘Shooting the Past’. There is this line that sticks with me almost everytime i look at a photograph, either my own or someone elses. It goes along the lines of: / ’ I just have to say one thing to make this picture electrifying, these people are about to be hit by the most terrible change, their whole worlds turned upside down …. they have no idea, uncertainty beyond their wildest dreams.’ And i suppose this is the power of photography, the smile frozen in that split second of time, with no knowledge of what the future may hold. This quote has special meaning to me also because i not only go ‘click’ with my camera, but i even find my brain going ‘click’ – i am constantlly framing life. An example of this was several months ago my sister had her first child, a little boy called Oscar – such an amazing day – then on the Sunday, they were supposed be coming home and i can remember ‘click’ i am in the dining room, ‘click’ the phone goes and i walk into the living room to answer it …. ‘click’ my mum is sobbing because he is being rushed to the heart unit for an emergency operation. Every moment for me was mentally frozen in time – and when i look at photographs of Oscar on the day he was born that quote comes flooding back to me. On a positive note, Oscar is now 8 months old – he had another operation a couple of months ago and is thriving. But to sum up, I suppose i just wanted to say that photography is almost like oxygen to me – i need it – i need to record all those around me that i love and tell the story of their lives. I would love to know why you love photogaphy, or painting or writing or anything creative. Love Debxxx

• Free guides to photographers!
  by Mel Brackstone

  If you’re into shooting, painting, or just gazing in wonder on the many beautiful and not so beautiful parts of this world, and would lik…

  If you’re into shooting, painting, or just gazing in wonder on the many beautiful and not so beautiful parts of this world, and would like to tell others about those places, please, go to the Free photography guides page, and have a read. Brent Pearson has started up a blog that is allowing people from all over the world to add their knowledge to this fabulous free guide. You can share your thoughts and hints on how to get the best from your favourite places, as well as your photos. Brent is looking for administrators and contributors of information and images. Garry is in charge of Queensland, and Brent is in charge of NSW / Jonathan is looking after Vic and Tas, and Jim has added some awesome images from Scotland! Contact Brent if you would like to add your knowledge to this amazing guide

• Seascapes....
  by Mel Brackstone

  I’d like to say first and foremost I love the bubble for allowing me to show off my work, particularly as I’m still learning, which means…

  I’d like to say first and foremost I love the bubble for allowing me to show off my work, particularly as I’m still learning, which means that the quality of my work when I first came here wasn’t as good as it is starting to get now. I can thank the lovely helpful people I’ve met along the way for helping me focus better on what works and what doesn’t. As much as I loathe the negativity in the forums, I read some of the threads there and learn from them too, so thanks so much everyone for your support, or not, it’s all making me a better photographer. I’ve got a secret to share, regarding my seascapes. I’ve been lucky enough to have a friend who is very keen to get the perfect seascape shot, and for that reason I’ve been getting up at 2am or so to drive out to his place so we can then continue on to beaches 2 or more hours away, just so we can be there before dawn. The weather has to be right, there has to be clouds, the tides need to be doing the right things, and there needs to be rocks as foreground and or middle ground interest. In the 18 months that we’ve been following this course, we’ve managed to capture some amazing photos, and the shoot that gave me all these latest photos was the best so far. It’s taken his dedication to getting the conditions right, and a little bit of work from me with a camera and PS to produce this work, so please, when you look at my seascape photos, say thanks to Nick Lagos, its all down to him. His shots are a million times better, believe me! For those of you who may be interested in what kit I’m using, I have a battered Canon 5D, I use a 16-35mm f/2.8 L lens, and I bought the Lee filters to fit the wide angle so that I don’t get vignetting. I use both ND and ND grey grads, and combinations of them all, but only 2 at the most. My Manfrotto 190D tripod is not as heavy as it should be, but does a reasonable job, and I always have the cable release tied around the stalk between head and legs. I’m using the 322 RC head on the tripod, but I also really should have a level to put onto the hot shoe….keep forgetting to buy one…other than that I shoot in raw and small jpg, so I can run a quick slideshow on a laptop if necessary, or even when I get home to the clunker. I use ps and photomatix to get the best out of the shots, and my ability to use ps has been learnt through going through tutorials on the net and in manuals. Since maths and me don’t get on, I really have no idea why things work, only that sometimes I get a good result if I do “this” or “that” I get a lot of inspiration from the artists here, I can’t thank you all enough for showing me new subjects and processes. Once I read about some new technique I’ll google it and find out more. I recommend this to anyone who may want to improve their work. I’m technically challenged when it comes to using a camera, although I’m learning more and more the longer I shoot. I’ve only been shooting semi-seriously since 2004, and only came off P on my camera in late 2005. I still don’t shoot on M, unless I’m after a particular result that I want to try….and that’s how I work….hit and miss :) It’s all been digital, starting with a Canon G2, then powershot pro1, then 20D. So, thats my story, sorry if it’s a little boring, but I needed to clear up some misconceptions that I might actually know what I’m doing! There’s absolutely no truth to that rumour, its all down to Nick’s need to get the “Big Pic” and I’ve just been swept along with his enthusiasm. As all his loyal subjects will attest, he’s the best thing that’s happened to us, those of us who’ve been lucky enough to be taken into the fold, / so once again, thanks Nick, the legend lives on buddy!

• A visual insight into the Melbourne I know...
  by Paul Louis Villani

  Been spending a couple of nights doing some alley crawls around in inner city Melbourne. / / _There’s less than 24 hours remaining, so s…

  Been spending a couple of nights doing some alley crawls around in inner city Melbourne. / / There’s less than 24 hours remaining, so submit your works to this exhibition challenge…. / Click here if you want to exhibit your work in front of more than 5,000 people a day for 10 days!!! / 1. / / / / 2. / / / / 3. / / / / 4. / / / / 5. / / / / 6. / / / / 7. / / / / 8. / / / / Thanks for stopping by!! / HUGS! :D

• Tagging your work
  by Mel Brackstone

  I’ve just gone through trying to find links to all the cards I bought, and that’s when I r…

  I’ve just gone through trying to find links to all the cards I bought, and that’s when I realised how important your tags are. Finding an artist by name is fine, if you know their name, but finding an artwork by title doesn’t work with the search facility unless the relevant title words are added to the tags. I must admit I found this out a couple of weeks ago, and have been adding title to tags since then, but I’m going to do it for the rest too, because the time it took me to find all those cards again was just enough to start making me tear my hair out! So please please please people…..tag your work!!!

• GRAPHIC DESIGN AND PHOTOGRAPHY
  by kathleen

  Starting my own blog on this cause why the hell not! I WOULD LIKE TO RE-ITERATE SOMETHING SOMEONE SAID, This is an ARTistic community …

  Starting my own blog on this cause why the hell not! I WOULD LIKE TO RE-ITERATE SOMETHING SOMEONE SAID, This is an ARTistic community site, I been here since almost the beginning and am seeing a lot of people come here ASSUMING that this is a PHOTOGRAPHY SITE (which can be art too can’t it), BUT SOME DAYS I FEEL LIKE YOU ARE TAKING OVER… So you can take 2000 photos in a day and 1500 of them are good and you can upload them over 1 week. Great… To do a good piece of art take WAY LONGER THAN THAT…. even digital. Just something to consider cause MAN THE ART IS GETTING LOST, SO LOST IT IS MORE THAN ANNOYING. AM I AM A GRAPHIC ARTIST THAT TAKES PHOTOS. It really makes a lot of ‘photographers’ look a bit silly if they are commenting on my images and saying things like ‘nice treatment’. GRAPHIC ARTIST/DESIGNERS don’t really treat photos, we manipulate them and in a lot of cases mutilate them and take them completely out of context. Change light sources, create alternate realities and unrealistic artistic things. SO HERES A BUSHFIRE THAT COULD USE A BLOG OF ITS OWN…. WHERE DOES PHOTOGRAPHY STOP AND GRAPHIC DESIGN START.??? If you clip out a sky and replace it with another one, alter nature, add colouring, tone this, airbrush that, lengthen that body, etc. etc. etc. Aren’t you manipulating the original image and then that becomes GRAPHIC DESIGN??? DIGITAL ART – Art created using a computer. PHOTOGRAPHY – An image captured as close to what the eye can perceive (of course I know that you mess with brightness and contrast and have been doing tweaking forever, but wasn’t that originally to replicate the record of the event)... WONDER HOW MANY PEOPLE GET TRICKED BY GRAPHIC DESIGNERS IN THE MEDIA POSING AS PHOTOGRAPHERS. and I AM REALLY SICK OF HEARING ABOUT MONEY HERE… ARE YOU ARTISTS OR INDUSTRY… We all want to make money doing what we love, some of us do art regardless of money…

• Free photography guides!
  by Mel Brackstone

  Another for-your-information journal entry! If you’re into shooting, painting, or just gazing in wonder on the many beautiful and no…

  Another for-your-information journal entry! If you’re into shooting, painting, or just gazing in wonder on the many beautiful and not so beautiful parts of this world, and would like to tell others about those places, please, go to the Free photography guides page, and have a read. Brent Pearson has started up a blog that will eventually allow people from all over the world to add their knowledge to this fabulous free guide. You can share your thoughts and hints on how to get the best from your favourite places, as well as your photos. Brent is looking for administrators and contributors of information and images. Garry is in charge of Queensland, and Brent is in charge of NSW Peter Eastway, that AWESOME landscape photographer is also going to write about it in his magazine, Better Photography Please feel free to add your expertise to this fantastic project.

• 'Santa Claus Christmas Card' 3rd in Prize Challenges!! group
  by Christine Till @ CT-Graphics

  Santa Claus Christmas Card made third in the Wina aCard Hamper with your best christmas image! challenge...

  Santa Claus Christmas Card made third in the Wina aCard Hamper with your best christmas image! challenge of the Prize Challenges!! group Santa Claus Christmas Card Thanks to all who voted for my Christmas Card and Thanks to the group hosts for their great support. Congratulations to MarekM who won the challenge with ‘Tale’, all the other artists who scored and to everyone who participated.

• The Patchwork group featured 'The Cat - A Purrrfect Carnivore'
  by Christine Till @ CT-Graphics

  The Cat – A Purrrfect Carnivore !http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/backingcolor:white/product:greeting-card/view:preview/1491121…

  The Cat – A Purrrfect Carnivore was featured in the The Patchwork group I’m very excited!!! / Thank you so much to this group and its hosts for their time and work and all their encouraging support.

• 'Charming Cheb' featured in ImageWriting group
  by Christine Till @ CT-Graphics

  Yesterday the Group ImageWriting featured my image Charming Cheb. Thank you to the gr…

  Yesterday the Group ImageWriting featured my image Charming Cheb. Thank you to the group and its hosts for choosing my work. Please visit the group and participate. It’s fun! / /

• 'Bygone Time Sheriff' 2nd in "Speak to Me" Challenge
  by Christine Till @ CT-Graphics

  Bygone Time Sheriff was voted 2nd in the “Speak to Me” Challenge and “The Waist Up group Portraiture Prize #2 challenge...

  Bygone Time Sheriff was voted 2nd in the “Speak to Me” Challenge and “The Waist Up group Portraiture Prize #2 challenge” initiated by the THE WAIST UP – Portraiture Photography group / Santa Claus Christmas Card Thanks to all who voted for my portrait and Thanks to the group hosts for their effort. Congratulations to Eyal Nahmias who won the challenge with ‘Aymara Man’, all the other artists who scored and to everyone who participated.

• Trash The Dress Shoot
  by Jo O'Brien

  Hien is one of those wedding photographers you tell all your engaged friends about. I know that o…

  Hien is one of those wedding photographers you tell all your engaged friends about. I know that one day when someone makes an honest woman out of me, I’ll be a-knocking at his door. So you can imagine how thrilled I was when he invited me to come along to a ‘Trash the Dress’ shoot and spread my creative vibes and help with art direction. And like I could pass up the chance to watch a couple of lovely normal individual’s run amok with paint and scissors? It all started off fairly normal and wedding like… Then we had a change of scenery… There was some pleading… But it was futile. The idea of getting covered in paint and ripping apart a perfectly good wedding dress was just too delicious to pass up :) Twas a big bunch of fun Hien. Thanks for inviting me along for the ride.

• Mountain Temple
  by Mel Brackstone

  Cliff has just produced the most amazing image with my Cloisters !http://images-2.redbubble.net/img/art/size:large/view:main/1546669-1-th…

  Cliff has just produced the most amazing image with my Cloisters Have a closer look here Mountain Temple /

• Australia is in the grip of election fever so.... *Vote for me!!*
  by Paul Louis Villani

  Good morning to all the wonderful Bubblers in the world! / I have a request… / An image...

  Good morning to all the wonderful Bubblers in the world! / I have a request… / An image of mine is a finalist in an online art competition and I need your votes please!! / Please click on the picture below to go to the polling booth ahem voting page!! Thanks so very much everyone! / Lots of love and massive bear hugs!!! / / / / ...oh and I’ll be in Sydney tomorrow at Global Gallery between 2pm and 5pm hope to meet some NSW bubblers!! That would be cool!!