TrevorCarpenter.com

As you know, I’m a crazy photo-geek. I’m dragging my camera around with me everywhere. I don’t always have good photos to share, but I am always shooting. You probably also know that I’m a huge fan of Zooomr, an online photo-sharing website. The features are great, the no limit uploading is great, and the community is great. The only real problem I’ve had with Zooomr is the reliability. I know it’s still a beta app, but man, most of us Zooomrites have grown to depend on Zooomr for much of our photo hosting, and well, we get a little worked up when it fails. I’m sure that I get a little more worked up than the average user, however, we all seem to respond.

Last week, some major uploading issues arose and nearly no one could upload. The community responded, and I jumped in the fray. Expressing myself, without restraint, I think I lost some friends. (Recently I’ve seen little to know responses to my comments made in Zipline.) You know, without criticism we are only fan-boys and blind followers.

I will point out that when Raoul announced his break from Zooomr, some time back, we saw an immediate response to his problems. Now, I won’t attribute last week’s repairs to only my sniveling, but I will point out that repairs were made after we lit a fire.

Anyway, continuing on…

As a back up, I’ve had a Flickr account for quite a bit. I am very aware of Flickr’s own downfalls, and have some issues with their style. However, they have many features that Zooomr users have yearned to command. Features like batch services (ie. tagging), reliable geotagging/geolabeling, and better groups interaction.

This wasn’t supposed to be a complaint on Zooomr post. I’ll get to the point.

With my upcoming December Challenge, I really have been concerned about Zooomr’s reliablity issues causing a problem with my daily posting of portraits. So, I considered using my Flickr account as a back up. One problem is that I wasn’t a PRO user, and hence had limits to my uploading per month. I whined about it for a bit, and then thought I’d just ask….so I did. I tossed out a request on all the regular socially obsessed websites, Facebook, Twitter, and Pownce, and presto, someone bought me a PRO account. Can you believe it? Awesome!

So, Dave Cohen, thanks! You rock!

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I’m not sure if you’ve decided to join me or not, but I’ve challenged myself to shoot in only B&W for the month of October. Now, to be clear, I’m not challenging you to shoot in B&W, I’m challenging you to do something different with your photography. I knew that my own grasp of B&W was weak, so that’s what I chose. However, you may have a new Macro that you want to master, or maybe your landscapes have always sucked. Whatever you shoot isn’t the point. The point is, just shoot! Get out and choose a theme, topic, genre, or something special with your photography.

My friend Brian Auer is focusing on his minimalism. That’s great! What have you chosen?

My month has taken a little bit to get off the ground. So, don’t think I’m any less pumped and motivated to my commitment to the October Challenge. I’m on it!

• All Zooomr October Challenge set. (all images tagged, “OctoberChallenge”)
• My B&W October Challenge set.
• Brian Auer’s Minimalist set.
• Brian Auer’s B&W set.
• anyone else?

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I must say, we had one heck of a turnout. Over 20 people showed up, and we photowalked for over 5 hours.

Read the recaps:

• Photowalking.org
• ThomasHawk.com

Also, see this photo Thomas took of me. He, he.

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We’re photowalking right now! I’m on the beach w/ my powerbook, bluetooth to blackberry to ‘net. Uploading first image to Zooomr right now.

More to come later…

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photo by Thomas Hawk

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I like Zooomr. Zooomr is cool. You should try Zooomr.

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I don’t have a lot of time to write a well written post. So, I’ll just throw out the net and see what I catch.

Zooomr Mark III launched last night. But then it crashed 15 minutes later. Most of my photos here are hosted there, so you won’t see anything until it recovers. I don’t know how long that will take.

So, go out and read the articles I added below, and make sure to comment. Then, if you have any contacts at a large tech company, you know, Sun, IBM, Google, Dell, etc., contact them and convince them to reach out a helping hand.

Basically Zooomr’s server died. No hope to revive it. Just dead. So they need a new server. This costs money. Many of the ZooomrNation have been donating cash, via PayPal. You can too, just hit Zooomr and scroll to the bottom, you’ll see the PayPal button.

Also see these blogs/sites:

• Scoble: An Evangelism Opportunity…
• ComeAcross: Zooomr needs your help
• Digg
• Thomas Hawk: Thanks Scoble
• ZooomrHits: Zooomr Mark 3 Launches, Then Goes Down

And last but not least…

• Zooomr Blog: Zooomr, The Little Photo Sharing Site That Could

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DSC_0224 Hosted on Zooomr

So, my mom’s an interior designer. She designs peoples homes. That’s what that means.

Well she was somehow able to swindle someone into paying money for some of my photos. I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t get into photography to make money, not that I’m complaining.

When thinking about how to best package and label my photos, I thought about where to send people interested in more of my photography. So I’m going to put together a simple label to stick on the back of each image. I’ll include my name, email, and a website. At first I figured that I’d just put this web address. But after some thought, I decided to get a new one, for the professional side of things. Here at the blog, I can be known to share my opionion at times. I wouldn’t want a client of mine or my mom’s associating my ranting with the end product, so I’ll be working up a clean professional site at ScribePhotography.com. You’re welcome to stop by for a visit.

And if you’ve seen any of my photos that I should include in my portfolio, please let me know by commenting to this post, or commenting on the image’s page at Zooomr.

Popularity: 24% [?]

I can’t believe it. I’m one of those guys who tracks my stats. I love to know how well a post is doing, or how well a photo has been accepted. It’s a really great feeling when several of my Zooomr friends mark a photo as a “Fave”.

So it was a great surprise when I discoverd earlier this evening that my total Zooomr hits had surpassed 10,000.

Thanks to all who have taken the time to check out my photography!

DSC_0157 Hosted on Zooomr

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DSC_0344 Hosted on Zooomr

I must say that since I got my dSLR, I’ve spent more time with the family, out experiencing life, than before. The drive to shoot a lot has driven me and the wife to take the kids out and do more stuff. What a great side effect!

Last week, once Deanna had gotten better from being sick, we took advantage of great weather and hit a park that my dad had stumbled upon. This post has just three of the shots I took that day. You can go to my Zooomr page to see the whole feed.

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Hey! This morning, Sunday, April 22, 2007, around 4:30 am, I hit 7000 total views for my photos. Thanks if you’ve ever looked at one of my photos. If you haven’t, then hit the link labeled, “My Photos” on the left. Do it!

Popularity: 9% [?]