Is Twitter Taking Over the World

I have been on Twitter for a couple years now but I am becoming increasingly more amazed each day to the level that it's filtering into every corner of our society. I signed up and didn't really tweet much, just kinda had an account and lurked around a bit. I mean, my gosh I am following the leader of the free world! Facebook status updates kept me up to speed with those around me and I left it at that.

I keep trying to have the foresight to see what it's role will be in another six months/1 year/5 years. At some point it/they will have to try and mesh it with capitalism, huh?? It just can't stay free for this long! No doubt it's been a great tool for those in business and industry. The media is absolutely gorging on it as well.

Anyway, how many of you are actively using it? What for? What do you enjoy about it? I am just curious. I have thrown it out to my Facebook friends and fans on Matt Addington Photography as well...

Facebook AND/OR Twitter...Tweet me and let me know:

Playing on the Floor

It's really been a great couple days at home with Cameron. We've had fun playing and I seem to have been laying on the floor a lot!! Amidst this, I have gotten a lot of work done too. I had (have) a lot of catching up to do, but am getting there.

I found some really, really interesting plugins to simplify and streamline my workflow IMMENSELY. After a session, besides processing photos, I do a lot to try and share that recent work. The workflow would be something like this:

1. import files into Lightroom (LR),
2. flag some quick picks,
3. process those photos,
4. (LR) export them for blog,
5. upload/blog photos,
6. (LR) export photos for Facebook,
7. upload/tag on profile page,
8. upload/tag on Facebook Page,
9. (LR) export photos for Flickr,
10. upload to Flickr,
11. add photos to groups in Flickr,
12. then ultimately revisit the entire shoot in Lightroom and start processing and fine tuning all the photos and upload low res files to my proof galleries. Needless to say, I was spending a lot of time to share a small sampling of photos after each shoot.
    

I knew there had to be a better, more efficient way of doing all this and tonight I found it. I have used some plugins for Lightroom developed by Timothy Armes called the Mogrify plugins. These have been immensely helpful in my exporting functions allowing me to resize, watermark, batch process very easily. I added plugins tonight that will in the same function export those files to Flickr, Facebook and my blog ALL WITHIN LIGHTROOM. Much thanks to Jeffrey Friedl who is another amazing code writer on stuff like this. I can actually make galleries, add to groups, and write blog entries right in Lightroom. It's going to be such a timesaver for me.

So ultimately I can lay on the floor more with Cameron!

I also did a little research on where are this photo sharing/promotion is going. I never really know if people are reading my blog, but I can see that it's being viewed in several countries. Pretty cool to get your info, photos and thoughts out there beyond your own little world. I also found some great news from my Facebook Page recently. The numbers of fans has kind of exploded in recent weeks and I now have fans in 14 countries!! I also have an ad running that was shown on almost 65,000 Facebook pages just this week.

Thanks for stopping by, viewing work, reading, and commenting. It makes all the effort worthwhile for me. Drop me a comment here sometime to say hello.
I hope you enjoy the experience.

Facebook Best of 2008 Contest

Well the votes are in and tabulated...no recounts, court cases, or appeals here!

Congratulations to the winners:

Chris Quattrochi (Top Senior) from Lakeville South HS
Jamie & Clint Jones (Top Couple) from Winnebago, MN
The Steberg Boys (Top Kiddos) from Wanamingo, MN
Sara Lange (Top Bride) from Rochester, MN

They all will receive a framed and matted print of their winning photo.

Also a big thank you to all of you who joined in and voted. $25 Outback gift cards go to loyal voters Katelyn Schaefer and Angela Fredericks.

It was a fun contest to see what some others are thinking of the photos I've done the past year. We had over 100 votes in each category and have more and more people joining the Facebook Group each day. It's been another nice place to keep folks updated on what's going on in my world.