Spring has finally started to emerge from beneath the deepest freeze of winter. For the month of March, enjoy the shades of green mixing with the ever-deepening blue sky.

Click on the image above to download the 1280×800 version, or download the large image (2650×1600). Taken at the Penn State Arboretum in State College, Pennsylvania.

My sincerest apologies to any diligently waiting for this. A cold winter’s night stifled with falling snow at a quickening pace reminds me that the pace of 2010 has already begun to quicken though only the second month of the year is now upon us. The invigorating chill of the winter air augurs well for the months ahead.

Click on the image above to download the 1280×800 version, or download the large image (2650×1600). Taken in State College, Pennsylvania.

The official Photos for Haiti website is now live.

Photos for Haiti is way for professional photographers of any style or specialty to donate money to the relief efforts in Haiti through the American Red Cross. Participating photographers make a pledge to donate a portion of their sitting/creative/session fees or print orders to the American Red Cross during the months of January and February, 2010 (or any portion thereof).

Please go and check out the site and consider adding your talents to the pledged donations to help our sisters and brothers in Haiti. Photographers can go straight to the photographer participant page.

The U.N. is calling this the worst disaster they have ever faced. The Haitian people need as much help as the world can offer. Many companies have already begun to organize donations to help, but nothing as an industry-wide effort.

I have seen the strength of resolve that photographers can have as a group for charities, so let’s take the lead and show other industries just how much we are capable of when we join as one for our fellow human beings.

“The losses that have been suffered in Haiti are nothing less than devastating,
and responding to a disaster of this magnitude will require every element of our national capacity.”
—President Barack Obama

By now we all know of the devastation in Haiti and the horrible aftermath of the earthquakes there. In the spirit of President Obama’s call to action, I will be donating half of the commissions from all portrait bookings during the months of January and February to the American Red Cross and their disaster relief efforts. I do this not only to do my part, but also in the hope that other businesses might donate whatever they can to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti.

In essence, there are two lemonade stands; one your typical two-kid operation selling ordinary lemonade for an ordinary price, $1 a glass. The service is quick, and you get exactly what you pay for. You feel good because you helped two kids with their summer business.

The other stand is run by a single child. Her lemonade is free, but sitting in plain sight is a large tip jar. She has a methodically entrancing selling style; she takes her time making the lemonade and explaining her process to you. It takes a long time for your cup of lemonade, but instinctively you feel that this lemonade is worth more. You leave, feeling not only satisfied, but having had a real connection with another human; a child who might be the best lemonade salesperson you’ve ever met.

Read a little more closely into his post, and you’ll come away with this:

Was there a difference between the actual taste of the lemonade? Probably not.
Was there a difference in the presentation of the lemonade? You bet.
Would you tell others about the stand with the two kids or the stand with the entrancing lemonade girl? I’m betting the latter.

There are a few well known business who have already taken this to heart. For example: even though any sommelier will tell you that the vessel from which you drink wine makes no difference, hundreds of thousands of people will tell you that wine from a Riedel glass tastes better. It does because they believe it does. In their minds, the worth of the wine-drinking experience from a Riedel glass far exceeds the purchase price. They’re paying for the experience.

As photographers, our services are not unique; there are tens of thousands of us. In that way, we’re just like the thousands of lemonade stands that appear every summer. What makes you different from the other lemonade stands? Is your lemonade better? In today’s world, it’s easy to follow directions and make an competent glass of lemonade. Which lemonade stand are you? Why is your lemonade worth more than the other stand down the street that churns it out ten times faster? What story do you tell your customers that will leave them changed forever?

Many thanks to Seth Godin for his continued brilliance and inspiration for this post.

Share your stories about thinking inside the photographic box in the comments!

via Reuters

As most of you now know, Haiti was ravaged by a massive earthquake that struck very close to the capital city of Port-au-Prince. The Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive stated earlier that he believes the death toll to be “well over 100,000.” The scale and scope of this disaster is on the same order as the tsunami that struck Indonesia a few years ago, and then, just as now, we have an obligation to rise to the aid of those who are in need, particularly those suffering due to the ravages of nature.

I ask everyone to please pray for our Haitian brothers and sisters, and that all foreign aid promised is swift in its delivery. There are many charitable and aid organizations already mobilized in Haiti, should you wish to contact one to donate monetary support to their efforts.

She’s a no-nonsense kind of girl, genuine and down-to-earth. Music, warm summer afternoons, and good steak…she loves the real stuff in life. If there’s a good time to be had, she’s already having it. Come join the party, you’ve got some catching up to do.

Photographed in the gardens behind the Lewis Katz Building at Penn State University.

After the excitement of the holiday season, the start of the new year always seems to quickly fade into clouds of snow and a cold, misty grayness that continues until the first buds of spring emerge through the frozen ground. Keep the fire of your life’s passions burning strong and neither the cold nor the darkness will keep you from your dreams.

Click on the image above to download the 1280×800 version, or download the large image (2650×1600). Taken near Port Matilda, Pennsylvania.

Updated: links fixed.

Heather and I were guests at a college friend’s wedding in Brooklyn the weekend after Christmas. We were only guests, and like so many other guests who got stuck in the Holland Tunnel traffic for more than two hours, checked into our hotel in a whirlwind, bounded onto the subway, and ran into the church with 3 minutes to spare, we forgot to bring any cameras with us. Chase Jarvis’s saying never held so true…the only camera I had with me was my iPhone. Since the official photographers had it well in hand, I decided to try out the new vintage toy camera app Hipstamatic. It’s great to finally have a piece of technology so advanced that it can mimic the unpredictability of the original toy cameras and give you some truly amazing (and unexpected) results.

If you have an iPhone and love photography, do yourself a favor and check out Hipstamatic. It costs less than a Starbucks latté and it’ll make you much happier.