Fridays at Five - Contests and Showcases

Hello all. My apologies for the light content on the blog this week. Things have been incredibly busy, and unfortunately the blog is what took the hit. 

First off, a reminder that our monthly photo contest end tonight at Midnight. So make sure to get your entries in for "Colors of Autumn" - the prize is $25 B&H Gift Certificate. Make sure you check out the blog on Monday for our winners, and details about next month's contest. As always, you can sign up on our contest mailing list to stay up to date on all of our contests.

Next up, tomorrow November 1st, 2008, is the start of the call for entries to the Photoshop User Awards, sponsored by the folks over at NAPP. There are a number of fantastic prizes this year in a bunch of different categories. Entries are due by the end of the year.

Also, it's not a contest per se, but another great opportunity to showcase your work can be found over at the Photoshop and Photography Blogroll. Our buddy, Jason Moore hosts "Geographic Composition" a couple times per month. Here is the call for entries.

I've also put together a flickr group for folks who might want to share photos with other readers of the blog. You can find it, here. Right now, there's not much there... but hopefully it will grow with time!

That's all for now everybody. Have a great weekend!! We've got a big week next week, with a couple birthdays and a great guest blogger!! Look forward to sharing with you.

Backup Your Photos - Today

Hi everybody,

Just a quick note. I received an email from one of our regular readers with a kind thank you and a story. I wanted to share it with you:

Several months ago you posted about using Microsoft SyncToy.  I'd read many cautionary tales before that about disasterous losses but still had never backed up my photos.  After reading your post, I set up SyncToy and ran it on occasion.  Today, one of my 2 external hard drives showed signs of imminent failure so I hastily ran another sync.  Had it not already been set up per your instructions, I would have likely lost 7000+ photos from the last 1 1/2 years, because the drive failed (probably fatally) shortly afterwards.  I can't thank you enough for your useful post and especially for providing such easy-to-follow information about using the utility. 

Folks, hard drives crash. It is not a matter of if, it is simply a matter of when. Please let this be a reminder of how important it is to make regular backups of your photos. If you haven't ever backed up your collection, of if you haven't done so in a while - backup your photos today.

Here's the link to the post mentioned in the email.

All the best, Rob

Maia and Craig

Spent the afternoon on Sunday downtown photographing Maia and Craig. It was a particularly special shoot, as years ago, Maia was one of our students when Rose and I taught sunday school in Germantown, MD. It was a joy spending the afternoon with them, seeing how very much in love they are, and just enjoying some great fellowship while capturing pics in our beautiful nation's capital.

Event - White House Summit on International Development

On Tuesday, I had the privilege to serve as the official event photographer for the White House Summit on International Development, on behalf of TRI Leadership Resources, LLC the event services and logistics company that put on the event. The summit brought together a number of keynote speakers and panel discussion participants to address the role of the United States (and other industrialized nations) in supporting and expanding growth and development of third-world nations.

I'm still in the process of going through the 1200+ pictures I took during the course of the day, but a few of my favorites (from my first pass) are included below. I hope you enjoy. Please remember, as always, all photographs included on this site are the copyright of Towner Jones Photography, LLC, and should not be copied or reproduced in any form.

Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice

President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf

President of the United States, George W. Bush, with President Johnson-Sirleaf

President of the United States, George W. Bush

One of the highlights for me during this event was having very close access to the President while he was giving his speech. As was mentioned throughout the course of the day, the tremendous advances in U.S. support to the developing world, in particular for sub-Saharan Africa, are some of the lesser known, but far reaching accomplishments of this administration. 

Bob Geldof, signer, songwriter and political activist delivered an amazing keynote speech at the event. I had the privilege of spending a few minutes with him backstage as he was getting prepared for his speech. He's a down-to-earth guy, with a real gift for expressing the passion he has for this cause.  

National Security Advisor, Stephen Hadley

All images are copyright of Towner Jones Photography, and should not be saved or printed without the express written permission of Towner Jones Photography, LLC.

Many thanks to Ryan Underwood, Katye Riselli and the rest of the folks over at TRI Leadership Resources, LLC for letting me serve as their photographer. I look forward to the opportunity of working with their fine team again in the future. The quality and professionalism that was apparent in this event is a testament to the hard work and attention to detail that these folks provide.

Thanks to taking the time to read today's blog. More pictures from the event will probably show up in the days to come, but as I mentioned, I wanted to share a few of my favorites. Hope that everyone has a happy and safe weekend.

Lightroom 2.1 Released

Just a quick note everybody. If you're an Adobe Photoshop Lightroom user, like me, you have a surprise waiting for you the next time you open the application. Lightroom 2.1 has been released and the application will prompt you for an automatic update.