The newest eBook release from David Duchemin (called Vision is Better) is simply stellar. This is a compilation of 50 articles from his website that have been rewritten and attached to some beautiful images that illustrate the point. If you’ve never read David’s writing before, now is the time to start. If you have read his stuff before, this is a fantastic opportunity to go back and read (or reread) some of the best and most poignant articles that he has presented in the past.

David’s motto “Gear is Good, Vision is Better” is very easy to understand and to agree with, but it’s much harder to implement. For me it’s one of those things that I have to pound into my brain over and over again. Going through these articles reminded me how brilliant and how important this thought is, and I urge you to read this book.

The really great news is that the book is very inexpensive at only $5. It gets better though because there is a 20% discount available if you buy the new book between now and midnight on May 4th. If you use the promotional code VISION4 when you checkout then you can have “Vision is Better” for only $4, OR use the code VISION20 to get 20% off when you buy 5 or more books from the Craft & Vision collection. These codes expire at 11:59pm PST MAY 4, 2010.

I recently realized that I had forgotten to change the copyright notice on some of my websites. I had changed it on all of my still and video cameras and in the metadata fields for Breeze Downloader Pro and Adobe Lightroom; I had even changed it on some of my websites. But somehow I missed a couple.

Instead of just fixing it now for the sites that I missed in January, I wrote some Javascript code to do it automatically based on the year. You can see the resulting text in the Copyright Notice for this site at the bottom of the right sidebar.

Here’s what the code looks like. Note that it automatically updates the year and it links to your email address from your name (in a method very unfriendly to spam harvesters). If you want to use it simply copy and paste into a widget or into your wordpress header or footer and it will start displaying.

NOTE – You must to update the 3 “var” fields to ensure that the code uses your own Name and Email address.

If you want to use this code in a post or a page then it will be much more difficult to make it work. You will have to refer to the WordPress Codex for information on how to use Javascript in a post or a page.

For a long time I have had a theory that Nikon photographers are more likely to be Mac OS and Apple Aperture users while Canon shooters tend to use MS Windows and Adobe Lightroom.

Please tell us what you are most likely to use as the primary set of tools in your photography workflow:

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Polls Archive

I previously posted a review of the i-GotU GT-200 GPS Data Logger and that article is by far the most popular post I have on this site. I’ve never really been happy with this device and I had planned to sell it, but I never actually got around to it. I recently started using it again because I went on a couple of photography outings for which I really wanted to be able to record my track and to geotag my photos. Since then I have been using it regularly again and so I thought I should post an updated review. Here are a few comments that I have after a few more weeks of use:

The things that I dislike the most about this gadget haven’t changed:

• The indication lights on it are hard to see and difficult to interpret.
• The on/off button is not a tactile switch, and it is easily pressed unintentionally.
• There is no battery indicator so it’s really a guess as to its charge status.
• The device can’t be mounted directly as a drive on the computer.
• It uses a proprietary USB cable instead of a standard cable.

Honestly, most of the things I like about it haven’t changed either:

• It is very small and lightweight.
• It is accurate enough for my needs.
• The battery life is good.

There has been one major improvement that I have to mention; there is an updated version of the @trip PC Suite management software for the device (that is used both to setup the device options and also to download the data) that actually installs correctly. When I first got the gadget, installation of the included version of the software repeatedly failed, miserably, and I had to jump through hoops to get it to work. The new version installed easily. Note that if you have the 64-bit version of Windows 7 you need to download a beta version of the @trip PC software. I can’t see how it’s any different from the full version, and it also installed perfectly on my laptop.

So that’s about it. I’m going to continue to use the device for now, but I am looking at other devices that will mount directly as a drive in Windows. This would speed up my workflow enough that I would be more likely to use it all the time. I’ve read some pretty good reviews of the Amod AGL3080 and that will likely be the next GPS Datalogger that I pick up.

There are many resources on the internet that help new and experienced photographers alike to learn more about their craft. These range from websites, to blogs, to iPhone apps, and to online training services. While some of these resources do cost money, many of them are relatively inexpensive, or even free. And the simple truth is that the cost may have no bearing on the quality. Some of the most expensive resources aren’t as well produced or as useful as some others that are free.

Because I spend so much time in my car, my favorite class of learning resource is the Podcast. If you aren’t familiar with podcasts you owe it to yourself to check them out. Basically podcasts are audio or video files that are released in a series of episodes similar to syndicated radio or TV programming. They are generally (always?) free and they often command huge audiences.

Over the last several years I have been a regular listener of many photography related podcasts. As I mentioned above these are great resources for learning about technology, art, business, marketing, and just about any other aspect of photography you could think of.

These shows come and go, so the list of podcasts is always changing, but here is my current list of favorites. Most of these are weekly, but some are produced biweekly, monthly, or even randomly:

1. This Week in Photography – Audio
2. PhotoNetCast – Audio
3. Camera Dojo – Audio
4. The Pro Photography Show – Audio
5. The Digital Story – Audio
6. The Image Doctors (Nikonians) – Audio
7. LightSource – Audio
8. Exif and Beyond – Audio
9. Photoshop User TV (NAPP) – Video
10. D-Town TV (NAPP) – Video

NOTE – I shoot Canon but the Nikonians are still very interesting. They do occasionally talk about very specific Nikon topics, but most of their shows contain broadly photography related information and even the Nikon stuff can generally be applied to everyone else…

All of these shows have their own website, to which I have linked above, but they can also be subscribed to in an RSS reader or in iTunes. There are many other photography podcasts out there in addition to these. A quick search of Podcast Alley, iTunes, or even Google will surely help you find more if this list doesn’t have enough good stuff for you!

I’d love to know about any other really great podcasts that I should be listening to. What are your favorite shows? Please drop me a comment down below to let me know what you’re listening to.