3rd Annual Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk

The 3rd annual Scott Kelby World Wide Photo Walk took place on Saturday (24th July) in over 1000 cities around the world and it looks like it's been another record breaking year.

I attended the Glasgow event of around 50 photographers and walked around a section of the River Clyde, which included The Science Centre and Imax Cinema, Squinty Bridge, Finnieston Crane, The BBC and The SECC and  The Clyde Auditorium (Armadillo).

The weather was cloudy, but dry and although the light was a bit flat at the start, it got better in the second half of the walk and gave us all a bit of variety. Being Glasgow, it was a miracle it didn't rain.

It's amazing when you look at the photos from all the photographers and see how different they look and how we all look at subjects in a different way. I'm sure everybody there made an effort to try to not take the same shots as the person standing next to them.

A big thank you to the walk leader, Alex Saunders, for his time and effort that he put in and to everyone that showed up on the day. You can see more of my photographs on my Flickr Set and the photographs for the full walk can be found on the walks Flickr Group . I didn't get to do much talking during the event, but enjoyed my conversation with Bill Lunney after the walk. Roll on World Wide Photo Walk 2011.

Lexar Dual Slot Card Reader

I have used the same 8 in 1 card reader for a couple of years and never gave any thought that readers varied much in download speed. But after hearing an interview with Lexar's Director of Marketing, Jeff Cable, I thought I'd give a UDMA reader a try.

If I'm shooting a wedding, I like to download and edit a selection of about 20 photos while the guests are having dinner. I then display them on my laptop as a Lightroom slideshow at the evening reception. The couple and the guests are happy and I leave a pile of cards on the table and generate more business.

There is limited time though for downloading, choosing the photos and editing them. It was taking around an hour with my old card reader, but the Lexar dual slot reader took under 15 minutes (including card swaps) to download almost 900 photos from both of my cameras 300x cards.

The unit is small and accepts both CF and SD memory cards. It folds into its own base when not in use, which makes it even smaller and also keeps dust from getting into the card slots. At £18.35/$33.63 from Amazon UK or Amazon US, this is the best money I've spent in years.

Reaction:: My First Film With The D300s and EX-FC100

Reaction from Derek Clark Photography on Vimeo.

Reaction is my first film using the Nikon D300s and Casio EX-FC100. The HD parts are with the D300s and all the slow-motion was filmed on the EX-FC100 at 210 frames per second. Click HERE to see the film at full size on Vimeo.

I've turned on the comments below, so please take the time to post your thoughts on Reaction. If you like the film, please share the link to this post with friends and family and if there's a good reaction, I'll do more.

Marketing Your Brand

It's that time again when the nice man delivers some shiny new transport. So it's as good a time as any for some new marketing. The signs I've had made for the car doors and rear window, match the 5000 A6 double sided postcards that have been printed, which will also coincide with a portrait session giveaway at a local children's nursery.

It's good to keep everything consistent when it comes to marketing. From your logo to the fonts you use and everything in-between. It takes an average of seven points of contact before people take notice of a brand. That could be a website, blog, e-mail, a letter, business card, signs on your vehicle, an exhibition or many other forms of marketing. Getting your name out there is important and if you're building a brand, it is essential.

Your marketing must be focused on the type of photography that you do. Take a look on the web and you will see lots of sites that say one thing, but show another. There are lots of websites out there that say 'Wedding and Portrait Photographer' but most of the photography is of landscapes or cats.... If you don't know what area of photography you want to specialize in, it's time to make up your mind! If you want to do more than one type of work, I would suggest having a different website for each (unless they can be grouped together, i.e. people photography).