Ladies and Gentlemen, I had an amazing year in pretty much every aspect. I photographed 31 events, me incredible new people, attended several conferences, visited New Orleans, Montreal and Quebec and most importantly, watched my beautiful daughter grow and learn. Wow, that was a long sentence… I am taking a few weeks off from my insane schedule to relax and spend some time with my family and friends. For the next week both my phone service and my internet connection will be spotty at best. I promise to answer all emails when I come back to Pittsburgh on January 3rd. Happy New Year! http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649

I am very attached to old film cameras. OK, maybe attached is not an accurate description of how I feel about them – ADDICTION would probably be a more appropriate word. I cannot walk or drive past a yard sale or a thrift store without succumbing to a completely irresistible urge to stop and see if from piles of ever-present junk I can dig up a photographic jewel. I saw this little beauty on a yard sale table, cowering behind rusty power tools and bits of antique-looking plumbing equipment. It was covered and dust and grime and was begging to be rescued. Of course, I could not resist. I took it home, cleaned it, replaced bad seals and fixed stuck mirror. I replaced the lens mount – the old one actually fused with the lens. Now that it was restored to its former glory (minus a few scratches here and there), I loaded it with a roll of Kodak Tri-X and went out for a photo walk. There is something truly magical in what these old cameras can do.

Last night I found an amazing app and wanted to share it with the world in general and with photographers and videographers in particular. I am well aware that most likely my find is akin to rediscovering the wheel, but here it goes anyway. This little marvel of an app is called Shazam and it is available for pretty much any platform, including Windows, Mac OS, Android and iOS (iPhone, iPad). And here’s is how it’s used… This Saturday I had the honor of photographing the most amazing couple’s 50th anniversary. As they danced to an Andrea Bocelli’s song, I switched my camera from still capture to video so that I could record a short clip. Since I’m not a videographer and only shoot video on rare occasions, I did not have the proper audio equipment to record the sound – only whatever my onboard mic could capture. Obviously, the sound quality was less then stellar. When I came home and started going through the photos and video clips from the photoshoot, I realized that I really needed to fix the audio from that dance. Unfortunately, I did not know the name of the song. After a quick Google search, I came across Shazam and immediately downloaded and installed it on my cell phone. Then I simply played the terrible audio from the video clip on my laptop while holding my cell phone close to the laptop’s speakers. A few seconds later Shazam graciously informed me that the song I was looking for was Andrea Bocelli’s “Con Te Partirò” Of course, being the geek that I am, I got really excited and started testing the app on pretty much everything from TV to half of my iTunes library to radio in my car. Yes, I actually went outside, started my car and turned on the radio to test an app. And you know what – it worked every time. You can download this amazing app from http://www.shazam.com/. Have fun!

Dear friends, I wanted to thank everyone who offered to help with the photography event that I was planning for February 6, 2011 at the Pittsburgh Women’s Shelter. Unfortunately, it does not look like this event will happen, at least not on February 6. Due to some communication (or rather miscommunication) issues, I was not aware that there is already a Help Portrait event that will take place on December 18th (next Saturday) at the Women’s shelter. Since it does not make sense to have two similar events so close together, we decided not to pursue the February 6 date. However, there is a possibility that we`ll try to plan something closer to Mother`s Day. Meanwhile, I will be helping at the Help Portrait event on December 18th. If you are free, swing by.

Dear friends, About a month ago I found out about Help Portrait help-portrait.com from an amazing photographer Jen McKen. The idea behind Help Portrait is simple – find someone in need, take their portrait, print their portrait, give them the prints. Unfortunately I found out about it too late to participate in their November 4th event. As I watched video clips on the Help Portrait’s website and read blog entries, I started thinking about how lucky I am. I have a beautiful wife, an amazing daughter and a lot to be thankful for. I would like to give something back to the community. I am trying to organize a photography event at the Pittsburgh Women`s Shelter on Sunday, February 6. We need photographers, photo editors, makeup artists and volunteers who would help with the organization of this event. If you are available on Sunday, February 6 and would like to donate your time, talent and skills, please let me know. It would be amazing if we could all pull together and make this event happen. Please email me as soon as you can if you would like to help.