Editor's Notes

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Editor's Notes
Wild at Heart
Dan Havlik  |  Aug 04, 2015  | 
When I was growing up, I loved an early reality TV show on Sunday nights called “Those Amazing Animals.” Remember it? It was a spin-off of “That’s Incredible!” and featured the extraordinary lives of animals. The show’s hosts were Burgess Meredith, Priscilla Presley, and some other guy whose name I’ve forgotten. It didn’t last long, maybe a year or so on ABC before being canceled, but it made a lasting impression on me.
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Editor's Notes
Art for Art’s Sake
Dan Havlik  |  Jul 14, 2015  | 
Fine Art photography can mean so many different things to so many different people, it’s almost impossible to define as a category. For starters, the subject matter can be wide-ranging: it can include landscapes, cityscapes, macros, wide angles, long exposures, abstracts, portraits, nudes, semi-nudes, black and whites, color photos, surreal photos, hyperreal photos, nature photos, and on and on and on. But while looking over the excellent group of entries from Shutterbug readers for this month’s Fine Art Photography assignment for Picture This! (page 16), I kept thinking to myself: art may be hard to define, but I do know it when I see it. Put simply, it’s beauty for beauty’s sake.
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Editor's Notes
Living the Dream of a Travel Photographer
Dan Havlik  |  Jun 05, 2015  | 
For many people, travel photographer must sound like a dream job. Get hired by a fancy magazine (National Geographic?) to go shoot in an exotic locale; spend your days photographing beautiful beaches and idyllic sunsets in paradise and your nights wining and dining with the locals; see your photos printed in gorgeous two-page spreads that will be seen by millions of people around the world; collect your paycheck and do it all over again.
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Editor's Notes
Social Media Without Tears (or Hashtags)
Dan Havlik  |  May 15, 2015  | 

Most people I know (including yours truly) have a love-hate relationship with social media. We love it because it helps us stay in touch with our family, friends, and colleagues who might live in other parts of the country (or other parts of the world); it helps us promote what we are doing (mostly in a good way); and it’s one of the best places to catch all the important (and not-so-important) breaking news of the planet.

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Editor's Notes
Shoot. Promote. Repeat.
Dan Havlik  |  Apr 10, 2015  | 
If you’re trying to earn a living as a photographer these days, it can be tough, especially with digital cameras making it easier for anyone with a Nikon or a Canon to think they can compete with the pros. Here’s some news for them though: they can’t.
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Editor's Notes
Commercial Photography Doesn’t Have to Look Commercial
Dan Havlik  |  Mar 13, 2015  | 
Even if you’re not into cars, you’ve got to be impressed with Tim Wallace’s dramatic cover photo this month. It’s always a fun if difficult task trying to pick a cover image for Shutterbug because there are so many good photos to choose from. In Wallace’s case, we created several different cover mock-ups using his distinctive car photos and while they all looked great, the image we picked with the mountains in the background and the hard-charging Shelby Mustang GT tearing it up below, just spoke to what this issue is all about.
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Editor's Notes
Imaging Drones’ Long Flight to Legality
Dan Havlik  |  Feb 13, 2015  | 
Drone photography is here to stay, whether the government likes it or not. That’s one of the messages from Lorin Robinson’s excellent round-table discussion piece “Those Daring Photographers and Their Flying Machines” on page 90 of this issue. In the story, Robinson interviews three experienced imaging drone pilots in what is part “state of the drone industry” and part call to arms.
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Editor's Notes
Back to the Future?
Dan Havlik  |  Jan 13, 2015  | 
What does the future hold? It’s a question that’s been pondered by philosophers, scientists, and dreamers through the ages. But accurately predicting the future is no easy task and, in fact, it’s been a fool’s errand for many. Take, for instance, the photo industry. It may be hard to believe, but just a little over a decade ago, there were still some major manufacturers banking on film to lead them through the years of digital disruption.
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Editor's Notes
It’s All About the Optics
Dan Havlik  |  Dec 09, 2014  | 
If you want to find a way to a photographer’s heart, it’s through their lenses. Yes, as much as photography might appear to be a camera-obsessed culture, it’s the optics that matter most. Visit our website, Shutterbug.com, and you’ll see this clearly. We cover a range of timely photography news on the site, everything from product announcements to photo book reviews and features on gallery shows, but whenever a new lens is unveiled or we do a review of some quality glass from Canon, Nikon, Tamron, Sigma, or other companies, our readers flock to it.
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Editor's Notes
Location, Location, Location!
Dan Havlik  |  Nov 07, 2014  | 
“Location is everything,” the old real estate maxim goes, and I think I’ve landed in a pretty good spot. If you’re a longtime Shutterbug reader, you just might be saying to yourself now: “Who the heck is this guy and what’s he doing here?” The short answer, in case you missed last month’s Editor’s Notes, is that George Schaub stepped down as Shutterbug’s editor and I’ve taken over for him. I’ve known George for most of the time I’ve worked in the photography magazine industry, which is going on 16 years, and he’s always been someone I’ve admired.
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Editor's Notes
Thanks & So Long
George Schaub  |  Sep 30, 2014  | 

This is my last issue as editor of Shutterbug. It has been my pleasure to work on this and other photo magazines in the Shutterbug realm for the past 14 years, and it has been for me the most fun and amazing job one could imagine. I have witnessed, and hopefully reported on faithfully and accurately, the amazing changes we all have seen in photography, as well as worked with a great group of wonderful folks at the magazine itself. In our jobs, we are only as good as the friends, colleagues, and teams we work with, and it has been my great fortune to have been associated with hard-working and dedicated people who I have always considered as friends. They helped me greatly through the fun times, and the hard times, of this job and my life.

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Editor's Notes
Top Products Of The Year
George Schaub  |  Sep 23, 2014  | 

What happens when you get editors from 28 photo and imaging magazines from 15 countries into one room and ask them to pick the top products of 2014? As you can imagine there might be some, if you will, amiable contention, particularly in a year when so many amazing products were introduced and the advances in technology were so impressive.

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Editor's Notes
Travel & Your Photography
George Schaub  |  Aug 06, 2014  |  First Published: Jul 01, 2014  | 

There’s nothing like a trip to open your eyes afresh. Whether it’s across the state or in a new city or to far-flung places around the world, our minds react to the newness of it all and our photography follows accordingly. As a parable, when in New York my office is quite close to the Empire State Building, and when I walk by on my way home I see dozens of people pointing their cameras straight up or angling for a good view. I sometimes forget just what might have caught their eye—then I remember the grand old building that is such a NYC landmark. It’s something I walk by nearly every day, and I don’t even bother to look up. For others, though, it’s an amazing site worthy of a photo, and that’s because their eyes are open to what’s new around them.

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Editor's Notes
Testing Gear
George Schaub  |  Jun 29, 2014  |  First Published: Jun 01, 2014  | 
This issue contains a mix of articles, including an interesting photo project, a show review of images by Garry Winogrand, and a look at the trends and opportunities of lifestyle photography, but we’ve also included numerous tests on cameras and gear that show the way toward where image capture and lighting is headed. I feel that kind of mix is a blend of the technical and the aesthetic that helps define where we are in terms of technical advancement and what Shutterbug as a magazine offers and represents. Of course, I realize that equipment is not what a great photo makes, but taking advantage of and understanding the tools at our disposal allows us to explore new avenues of our creativity.
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Editor's Notes
Commerce & Creativity
George Schaub  |  May 31, 2014  |  First Published: May 01, 2014  | 
Here at Shutterbug we strive to bring you a mix of product information and tests as well as the end result of using all that gear—great images by a diverse group of photographers. While some issues are more geared toward one side or the other, this one’s got a healthy helping of both.
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