First and foremost this is up to you guys, the PIF’ers.

Everyday there is something new and exciting going on design wise for blogs.

We want to ask you personally, if you want PIF blog to have a makeover design/layout or not?

We know and understand when you get used to a site you visit so much, its hard to see changes, especially in the layout/design. 

Our main goal for 2009 is to make every aspect of the PIF blog user friendly along with meeting your needs as an avid PIF reader.

If you feel more comfortable emailing how you feel, your more then welcome too at pifphoto@gmail.com

You may also post in comments underneath this blog post.

We want to Hear from you personally, your opinions, suggestions, what you want, what you would like to see as far as the blog design aspect to be more versatile for you.

We thank you, value you, and appreciate your feedback as a loyal PIF’er of the blog where everyone comes together to pay it forward.

Warmly,

PIF Crew

We are in need of a videographer and video editor/producer for the pay it forward blog.

If this is something of interest to you and you are able to attend WPPI, please contact us at pifphoto@gmail.com for further information.

Thanks so much,

-Lindsay PIF Owner

“I wanted to share my new b&w action - It’s super easy and fun to use. I am sure your pif readers will find it helpful when processing their own images. I have included a sample of the action on an image I took earlier this month.

Enjoy! and as always thank you for paying it forward!

Arya Wiese “

Image Sample:

Link to download: http://www.pifphoto.com/Arya_sBW2008_atn.zip  LINK UPDATED 1-6-2009

*Arya, Rock on with the B&W action! Thank you for PIF on the blog. -Lindsay PIF Owner

“Firstly, thank you for such a wonderful blog!  Such a great concept to begin with, and something so simple to do in this digital age.  Many of the things PIF’d (would that be the correct abbreviation?) have helped me quite a bit as a photographer just starting out with her business and not having the funds to purchase such great actions, templates, and textures.  This is by no means a great template, but someone might find a use for it, so I decided to PIF the best I could right now.  It’s a 10×20 storyboard with 3 picture slots and pretty customizable and very basic.  I am including an example with pictures of my daughter in it.  All I ask is that no one claims it as their own (although selling for clients is fine).  It may not be the greatest, but it is still mine.
Thanks again!

Here’s the link:
http://drop.io/10×20storyboard#

Sarah Vasquez”

*Sarah, thank you so much for paying it forward on the blog. You did a great job, no worries, it will help another PIF’er i’m certain! Lovely! -Lindsay PIF Owner

We got listed in the top 100 blogs for photography!!

http://www.photography-colleges.org/the-top-100-photography-blogs/

ROCK ON! woot!

Its all of you, everyone of you involved making this a rockstar resource site.

Things are changing within the next year. BIG things. HUGE things!!!

Bloggin to ya soon,

-Lindsay PIF Owner

First and foremost, thank you to everyone that entered.   It’s not easy putting yourself out there for contest like this, but you did! Congrats for doing that!!!

1st Place and Grand Prize winner goes to:

Waiting for Santa

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23796894@N02/3122108839/

2nd Place winner goes to:

Seasons of miracles

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33639807@N08/3127593568/in/photostream/

3rd Place winner goes to:

Jesus Is Lord

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33558744@N07/3126513382/

******Please email me your email/addy at pifphoto@gmail.com to claim your winnings from listed vendors/pif’ers below:

Prizes for Each Winning Place1st Place-
www.flashpalette.com Website valued $100 and above
http://www.digital-expressions.net/  All DE’s action sets and albums
www.myfunkycamera.com Camera Strap of winners choice
www.lensprotogo.com $50.00 Gift Certificate
www.silverlakephoto.com Backdrop
www.prophotogs.com 1 year membership
www.beyondjustimages.com Membership *subject to area availability
www.borders.com Lisa B. Creations Photography $50.00 gift card
2nd Place-
www.flashpalette.com Website in the $66-$100 section
http://www.digital-expressions.net/  1 album set, and 1 action set
www.myfunkycamera.com Camera Strap of winners choice
www.silverlakephoto.com   Camera Bag
www.prophotogs.com 6 month membership
www.beyondjustimages.com Membership *subject to area availability

3rd Place-
www.flashpalette.com Album viewer
http://www.digital-expressions.net/  1 album set, and 1 action set
www.myfunkycamera.com Camera Strap of winners choice
www.prophotogs.com 3 month membership
www.beyondjustimages.com Membership *subject to area availability

Silverlake Photo Accessories

Flashpalette Website Design

http://www.beyondjustimages.com/

http://www.prophotogs.com/

www.lensprotogo.com

http://digital-expressions.net/

www.myfunkycamera.com

PIF is a NON-PROFIT blog.  Anyone contributing to the blog, whether the owner of PIF, bloggers, pif’ers, companies, vendors, is donating their free time/productes/services.

Contest: Contests are void where prohibited unless otherwise noted are valid only in the USA to persons 18 or older. Contest eligibility is subject to all US and international (where applicable) laws and regulations. Contests come with no guarantee expressed or implied. All prizes subject to change, replacement, terms, and agreement.

-Pay It Forward verb- 1. to repay the good deeds one has received by doing good things for other unrelated people.

*Thank you to all pif’ers and vendors for paying it forward on the blog. I would have vlogged this, but i’m a tad under the weather with the worst cold ever to hit the midwest ;)  Again, our many thank yous to everyone involved and a Merry Christmas.- Warm Hugs, Lindsay PIF Owner

To get all the latest updates from the Pay It Forward Blog.

Click on link:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/PayItForwardPhotographyResources

I debated whether I should post this in the middle of the holiday season.  It is a busy time of year for every photographer.  This is a pretty heavy post.  My worry is it isn’t a very nice holiday present for all our PIF readers.  Well, I got you a big stick!  Happy holidays!

Wouldn’t it be great is if we didn’t need to worry about money, and we could simply go out and create for the sake of creating.  Unfortunately, this is not the case for most photographers.  Unless you have another source of income and/or enjoy working for free, we need to charge for our services.

If you are like me, accounting and financial planning is not the most enjoyable part of your business.  As the years go on, I have learned to appreciate the need to plan and continually review my finances.  It has made my life easier and business much stronger.  This post is not a sugar coated, feel-good message.  It is filled with a lot of tough love that will hopefully make you prosperous for many years to come.

What does it cost to be a photographer?  I would argue it costs a LOT more than most photographers initially estimate. (That is the same for any business and reason so many initial small start-ups fail.)  The result is a flood of new photographers that are charging too little and making next to nothing.

Over the last four years there have been more photographers entering the industry than ever before.   The industry has been devaluated in some market segments.   I would take it further that low priced, inexperienced photographers are one of the major reasons many established photographers are frustrated with newer photographers.  (Some older photographers are curmudgeons that will never be happy too.)  The simple fact is there are more photographers waiting in the wings to take the place of those who fail.

I am going to start by saying if price is the number one thing you are competing on stop.  Stop right now!!!  I know where many of your businesses first started.  The photography bug bit you.  You took images just for fun.  Friends or family saw that you took decent images.  The next thing you know someone is asking you to photograph their children or wedding.  Your photography business was born.  You already have a camera.  The only cost was making a few prints and couple hours on your computer.  Four, three or maybe two hundred dollars sounded good for a simple shoot.  As you move forward, you quickly realize there was a lot of work involved.  At the same time, you were (are) not confident enough to charge what is needed to make your photography a business and not a hobby.

There are a lot of photographers Continue reading →

Prizes for Each Winning Place

1st Place-
www.flashpalette.com Website valued $100 and above
http://www.digital-expressions.net/  All DE’s action sets and albums
www.myfunkycamera.com Camera Strap of winners choice
www.lensprotogo.com $50.00 Gift Certificate
www.silverlakephoto.com Backdrop
www.prophotogs.com 1 year membership
www.beyondjustimages.com Membership *subject to area availability
www.borders.com Lisa B. Creations Photography $50.00 gift card
2nd Place-
www.flashpalette.com Website in the $66-$100 section
http://www.digital-expressions.net/  1 album set, and 1 action set
www.myfunkycamera.com Camera Strap of winners choice
www.silverlakephoto.com   Camera Bag
www.prophotogs.com 6 month membership
www.beyondjustimages.com Membership *subject to area availability

3rd Place-
www.flashpalette.com Album viewer
http://www.digital-expressions.net/  1 album set, and 1 action set
www.myfunkycamera.com Camera Strap of winners choice
www.prophotogs.com 3 month membership
www.beyondjustimages.com Membership *subject to area availability

Contest Rules:
1. Take a photo that represents the holiday season. Take that into your own interpretation. What does the holiday season mean to you?
2. This is a photo contest
3. Photo must be taken by you
4. Must be 18 years or older to enter
5. Do not strip exif data
6. It must be taken within the contest dates Dec 17th – Dec 21st 2009 12 pm CST USA
7. If photoshopped, submit original picture along with photoshop version.
8.  You must post entry in PIF comments
9. Join the PIF flickr group, link on right side of blog
10. Upload your entry on Flickr
11. Link your entry from Flickr in comment
12. Put a title for your entry in Comment
13. ONLY POST YOUR FIRST NAME/EMAIL IN THE REQUIRED FIELDS IN COMMENT BOX
14. Post required info and link in ONE COMMENT
15. Only one entry per person. Due to High volume of spam, all comments are moderated. Duplicate comments will be deleted.

Contest will be judged by:
1. Travis- Owner of www.silverlakephoto.com
2. Jeffrey- Owner of www.digital-expressions.net
3. Biff- Owner of www.vada-voom.com
4. Cher- Owner of www.prophotogs.com

A vlog will be posted Christmas Day announcing winners.  Last resort is randomnumber.org

*CONTEST ENDS DEC 21ST 12 P.M CST USA

*Thank you to everyone that contributed to this contest along with taking the time to pay it forward. -Lindsay PIF Owner

Silverlake Photo Accessories

Flashpalette Website Design

http://www.beyondjustimages.com/

http://www.prophotogs.com/

www.lensprotogo.com

http://digital-expressions.net/

www.myfunkycamera.com

PIF is a NON-PROFIT blog.  Anyone contributing to the blog, whether the owner of PIF, bloggers, pif’ers, companies, vendors, is donating their free time/productes/services.

Contest: Contests are void where prohibited unless otherwise noted are valid only in the USA to persons 18 or older. Contest eligibility is subject to all US and international (where applicable) laws and regulations. Contests come with no guarantee expressed or implied. All prizes subject to change, replacement, terms, and agreement.

-Pay It Forward verb- 1. to repay the good deeds one has received by doing good things for other unrelated people.

I will be blogging this contest very soon.

The deadline to contribute pif gift to this contest is Dec 17th Weds 6pm CST.

Let me answer some of the email questions sent in on contest:

*Anyone involved with the PIF blog, reader, vendor, etc CAN contribute a PIF Prize.

*The only request we have is that we receive confirmation that prizes have been delivered efficiently after contest is over and winners announced.

*If you do a online giftcard for PIF Christmas Prize, please let us know the exact amount/ from what store/ Along with small 150×150 jpg image of store.

*All pif christmas prizes will be divided up into 1st, 2nd, 3rd place.

Thanks so much,

-Lindsay PIF Owner