I have always been interested in photography. If you notice my most recent posts on Flickr I have been pushing myself to capture real people doing real things, versus shooting the same ol’ thing. I will still shoot buildings and what-not but people are always more fascinating than another skyscraper. So let’s see how I grow! Keep me honest and comment critically.

So excited when my photos are used around the Internet. This was one posted by Barometer who “presents the best of the global blogosphere. We expose readers to compelling, insightful, relevant and well argued blog articles from around the world.” My photo is the one of the left of the image above or you’ll see it (for who knows how long).

There seems to be a huge race among many companies to get a certain number of fans and followers. This press release from Porsche must be the most admirable expression of  love: the names of 27,000 Facebook fans on a one-of-a-kind Porsche hybrid. Check out the story for yourself. My goodness.

Image: Porsche

“Ken Burns Effect Demonstration”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNTiyRDhlRY[/youtube]

“Moving Pictures”

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/2362167[/vimeo]

“Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7E-aoXLZGY[/youtube]

“Dark Knight Kinetic Typography”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RL2IIpNkSKs[/youtube]

“Photo Effects for Video 10″

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/13920529[/vimeo]

“Make Any Photo Look 3D”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brgJHkqkdcY&feature=related[/youtube]

“Italian Deli After Effects Photo Animation”

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfYQ-Cp7atw[/youtube]

I don’t even understand this one.

Image: iStockphoto

But the reality is it works well for what we need. But when presentations go horribly wrong, PowerPoint seems to get the brunt of blame for the source of the problem. That’s like blaming a Hummer for all the environmental problems.

A great article from Slate talks about what needs to be done. What it comes down to (for me at least) is know your audience and prepare. Presentations are intended to be presented by you the presenter. Otherwise it would be a report. And just because a report in Word has many words that folks don’t like to read doesn’t mean it’s not the way to deliver the info. When you are putting six, 50-word sentences on a slide… Use Word.

Oh. And another thing: PowerPoint can do just about everything Apple Keynote can do. Just need to take the time.

A great way to start the new year is with some beautiful inspiration. Check out HongKiat.com’s 50+ Beautiful Flash Websites for Your Inspiration. My fav? Well, beside the Volkswagen one above

One of my co-workers recommends food bomb. Not only is it a fantastically beautiful way of showing off food, it also shows how to do an effective explosion drawing of daily, everyday foods. And without a Cray supercomputer to do the 3D modeling, either.

I am one of those people who enjoys public transit. Yeah, it takes me 45-60 minutes to get home (merely 6 miles) but in that time I’ve made phone calls, caught up on my news, updated my Facebook — all while not breaking the texting laws nor blowing a stop sign. But that doesn’t mean I don’t like entertainment in the Decaux bus stops.

So a while back, Artistic Things posted this very ingenious idea at a bus stop in Hamburg, Germany (unconfirmed). And apparently it wasn’t even the Sharpie folks (as you see from the surprise on their own blog). Super-clever use of the technology. I can see using something similar at a tradeshow booth even (if you don’t want to spend the money on public adverts). Very cool stuff, folks.

Image: Artistic Things, et. al.

My ECD asked us a few months ago to find a favorite headline for a creative meeting. Little did I know I would run into a treasure of the top taglines from Forbes. When you get there, don’t mind the interstitial… and the 100 million ad placements. Egads.