Mama, please don't take my Kodachrome away!

I can't say I am too surprised to learn this news, but it is still sad. Although Kodak has not completely stopped production yet, it sounds like they may soon. It will be the end of an era.

Is the rich-hued Kodachrome era fading to black? - Ben Dobbin, Associated Press

ROCHESTER, N.Y. - It is an elaborately crafted photographic film, extolled for its sharpness, vivid colors and archival durability. Yet die-hard fan Alex Webb is convinced the digital age soon will take his Kodachrome away.

...Only one commercial lab in the world, Dwayne's Photo in Parsons, Kan., still develops Kodachrome, a once ubiquitous brand that has freeze-framed the world in rich but authentic hues since it was introduced in the Great Depression.

Eastman Kodak Co. now makes the slide and motion-picture film in just one 35mm format, and production runs — in which a master sheet nearly a mile long is cut up into more than 20,000 rolls — fall at least a year apart.

Kodak won't say when the last one occurred nor hint at Kodachrome's prospects. Kodachrome stocks currently on sale have a 2009 expiration date. If the machines aren't fired up again, the company might just sell out the remaining supplies, and that would be the end.

PANGEA gallery opening

Stuart Black is an amazing artist. He specializes in satellite image art. Although Stuart may start with an image created by NASA, he then applies color and dimension that turns the it in to modern art. Worlds apart from the typical satellite image.

We print Stuart's images on metallic paper. Some of his pieces also get second surface mounted to Plexiglas. It is an amazing presentation that wows everyone who sees it.

Please join Stuart at the grand opening of his new gallery PANGEA October 2nd at 6 PM. The gallery is located at 4222 N. Marshall Way in Scottsdale. Please RSVP at 480-946-4696 if you wish to attend opening night.

Stuart is regarded as the worlds first satellite image artist. His trademark brand of art is instantly recognizable. Two collections form his truly unique body of work. Signatures of Earth are color prints created from visible, infrared, and radar data acquired by NASA's Space Shuttle and the LANDSAT satellite program over the past 20 years.

Stuart's satellite image art goes a step further than maps and photos by adding the aesthetic dimension. His work is modern art at its finest, combining an original theme with the best printing technologies.

Harrison Hurwitz at Fluid 5.six gallery

Harrison Hurwitz has over 20 years of experience shooting people. He has a background shooting fashion photography in New York. He now applies that same artistic eye to wedding and portrait work here in Phoenix. Although Harrison is not limited to shooting just people. The subject of the latest exhibit that Harrison is part of is all about dogs. K9 is a collaborative show of 5 photographers being held at the grand opening of the Fluid 5.six gallery (get it - f:5.6) this Friday from 7-10 PM. Fluid 5.six is located at 1105 W. Grand Ave. in downtown Phoenix. It is part of the First Friday events. Just "look for the dogs on the wall".

Photography connects us with the world

At the TED convention earlier this year David Griffin, the photo director for National Geographic, gave a talk about the what makes a great photojournalist, what type of images tell a compelling story, some of the lengths their photographers go to capture those images, and the power of photography to connect us to our world. David uses some iconic images from the magazine to illustrate his point. Found [Via]

Tyson Crosbie donates piece to Young Collectors

Young Collectors is a volunteer organization that helps support the Phoenix Art Museum. They are in their own words 'Dedicated to enriching the social and cultural environment of Phoenix by providing social networking opportunities that help build a flourishing art community.' They will be holding their first fund raising gala tonight at the museum. The event entitled Murder at the Museum starts tonight at 6:30, flapper and zuit suit attire encouraged.

Tyson Crosbie dedicated one of his Phoenix 20 pieces to the silent auction that is part of the event. The piece that Tyson donated (seen here) is a 1 of 1 24"x36" FujiFlex print mounted to 1/8" Plexiglas. This thumbnail doesn't do it justice. It looks absolutely gorgeous! They normally retail for a little over $2800, so it is an incredible value. Cheers to Tyson, for helping support the museum and the local art community!

Go to this site if you wish to purchase tickets for the event. We wish everyone the best of luck with the event!

Zak Saenz added to Shop for Art gallery

Zak Saenz is another amazing artist that proves you don't need to have a degree in photography to capture stunning images. What you do need is passion, and Zak has lots of that. His passion for life shows through his photography. We are pleased to add Zak to the list of artist's work available on our Shop for Art gallery. Please check out Zak's art. I know you will be moved by the form and color of his images.

Zak Saenz grew up in Westport, Connecticut where he had found a love for photography in his late teens. Being drawn by color and the flow of the objects in his lens he was determined to recreate not only the objects as he saw them, but also the feelings that those objects instilled in him as he captured them.

Effectively using color in marketing

The holiday season is just around the corner. In fact, the Halloween merchandise has been on the shelves for weeks now. In a time when retail spending is down, what tools can you use to boost sales? Think color. Choosing the right color scheme in your store design and marketing material can subconsciously stimulate and attract customer attention.

Jeff Grant from Trio Display offers some great tips on how to effectively use color to design an environment that not only helps you build your brand and promote your product, but also generate more sales.

The Retailer's Guide to Color in Store Design

Color is often underestimated as a marketing tool. That’s right, I said “marketing” tool. Think about it for a second: some of more powerful brand associations you can think of connect through color. UPS: “What Can Brown Do for You?” IBM is “Big Blue.” Home Depot and orange are forever linked.

Coloring Between the Lines

Marketers are merely taking advantage of the fact that we respond strongly to color on a visceral level, reacting and making judgments almost instantly without being aware of it. Here are a couple common associations…

• White: Cleanliness, purity, honesty.
• Red: Vitality, passion, love.
• Blue: Calm, stability, peacefulness.
• Brown: Open, reliable, grounded.
• Orange: Energetic, warm, happy.

Blue vs. Pink

Gender plays a part in color choice. Darker colors or brighter colors seem to appeal more to men than women, while softer or more “ambiguous” colors find a better reception with female clientele. Which particular colors are preferred tend to be tied to culture. It is worth noting that a standard blue is favored by both genders. If your retail space is heavily weighted toward one sex or the other, scheme appropriately.

Photoshop tutorials for beauty retouching

Smashing Magazine posted a great list of 70 beauty retouching tutorials for Photoshop. Anything from how to smooth out wrinkles and skin tone to how to change someone's hair color. Many of them are video tutorials, so they are easy to follow along. They are also nicely organized by category to easily locate the problem area where you would like to improve your skills.

Beauty retouching is probably one of the most popular application areas in which Adobe Photoshop is used extensively. There are two simple reasons for that. First, Photoshop offers a variety of advanced tools to smooth out skin and hair, optimize body proportions and emphasize some beautiful details. And second, if you have some experience with Photoshop it is easy to learn the basics and quickly produce very impressive and beautiful results.

Of course, beauty-retouching is a quite deceptive art. The masters of Photoshop create illusions which are hard to tell apart — unless you have both a genuine photo and the final result in Photoshop and can directly compare them. In fact, every day we consume perfectly retouched stars and models online and offline which just look different in the real life.

Still, it is not the reason to avoid learning advanced Photoshop techniques for beauty-retouching and study examples of how it is done in practice. The list below presents both image-tutorials as well as video-tutorials. Most examples have a before-vs.-after-comparison and you can follow the modifications with Photoshop step-by-step.