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!
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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.
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I recently accidentally found out that a couple of my Bar/Bat Mitzvah photos were featured in Pittsburgh Jewish Living magazine. I`m really excited about that. Hopefully tomorrow I`ll find out that my photos were published in the Bride magazine the National Geographic, Wired and Popular Photography:)
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Yesterday I received an email from Moraine Preservation Fund asking me if they could use one of my photos as a banner for their website`s “activities” page. It was kind of flattering that they wanted one of my photos – plus I don`t mind seeing my daughter`s happy smiling mug on as many websites as possible:) Check it out at www.morainepreservationfund.org.
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I am so freaking excited! I`m literally jumping up and down with excitement! See how many exclamation signs I`m using!!! Over the last 2 months I`ve been working with the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh to organize a series of workshops on photography and finally everything is ready to go. This workshop series will be targeted towards beginner photographers who just bought their first digital SLRs and would like to improve their skills. Some really amazing photographers and graphics designers agreed to volunteer their time and teach these workshops. If you are interested in photography in any way, shape, or form, hurry up and register for these awesome workshops at http://www.carnegielibrary.org/events/eventlist.cfm?mode=recur&event_id=58516. I will be teaching workshops on flash photography and advanced digital processing. Go ahead and register – all the cool kids are doing it! -
I believe I mentioned this once or twice before – the first dance is my favorite part of any wedding. Up until that moment, the bride and the groom are too busy to be with each other – they have to worry about dresses, flowers, tuxedos, guests, ceremony and all the other stuff that makes up a wedding. The moment the first dance starts, the bride and the groom belong to each other; it`s just them on the dance floor and no one else exists. I love watching newlyweds` expressions when they dance their first dance.
