Scenes from the festival captured with the new Fuji X-100 camera
Signs point the way in the lobby of the Hyatt hotel
Hello everyone – I’m writing this blog post from Palm Springs. I’m here for the week at the Palm Springs Photo Festival ( details at the website.) If you don’t get a chance to go to this year’s festival, make sure you plan on attending next year!
The Palm Springs Photo Festival is a premier event for serious photographers. The roster of workshop teachers always includes some stellar photographers and this year is no different. Most workshops are 4-day shooting workshops led by a photographer well-know for the specific theme of the workshop, but there are 1-day workshops to be had as well. A short 2-hour drive from Los Angeles, the Palm Springs area provides a scenic desert backdrop and is a short drive away from the Salton Sea, a popular location for photography.
I’m teaching two seminars on Photoshop this year on Tuesday and Friday so I will be staying for the whole week. There is a full schedule of workshops covering numerous topics including social media, marketing, video with VDSLRs, Lightroom, asset management, books and Photoshop. The seminars and the vendor/sponsors for the show are at the Hyatt hotel in downtown Palm Springs.
The Hyatt Hotel in downtown Palm Springs
This year I had the good luck to be able to borrow the new Fuji X-100 camera, a retro styled high tech point-and-shoot with a unique hybrid viewfinder that captures the feel of a classic rangefinder camera. The shots in this blog were taken with the camera and I’ve posted a web gallery of more shots from the festival HERE
I managed to get someone to take a shot of me with the Fuji X-100
I’ll have to save my detailed impressions of the Fuji camera fro another blog post but I will say that I’m impressed – the camera was a pleasure to use for an old-school guy like myself. This loaner policy is one of the features of the festival. Canon and Leica make their cameras available on loan for workshop participants – so if you want to try out a new camera or lens, this is the place!
Mac Hobert is on hand again this year manning an Epson printer – he’s making prints for any show attendee who asks – another perk for attending the show.
Mac Holbert displays a print
Another feature of the festival is a very serious portfolio review with some major industry leaders! Attendees can register for portfolio reviews with gallery and museum directors, art consultants and magazine editors. This can help to establish an emerging artist or at least introduce them to movers and shakers in their area of interest as well as provide valuable feedback for their work. The Palm Springs Photo Festival is the best portfolio review event on the west coast – if you’re serious about furthering your career you can’t afford to miss it!
Portfolio review sessions in progress
Well… thats all for now – I have to prepare for my seminar presentation tomorrow. Stay tuned for more posts as the week goes on.
