livebooks blog

Editor’s Note: Dr. Jeffery M. Levine was recently featured in the New York Times article, “The Elderly, Through the Eyes of a Geriatrician.” Levine (a liveBooks customer) discusses geriatrics and the combination of art and medicine on his healthcare blog, www.jmlevinemd.com.

As a young doctor starting out in my profession I wanted to stake a claim in academia – doing research and teaching about human aging.  What I achieved is something different from what I originally intended when I began my project of visually documenting the process of growing old.

Initially I tried to catalog the physical manifestations of aging.  Using Kodachrome slide film and flash, I captured changes of the skin and musculoskeletal system, supplementing my portfolio with x-rays that enhanced understanding of the physiology of growing old.  One day out of curiosity I switched to black and white film, turned off the flash, and stepped back to photograph my patients in their natural environment and captured the interactions between me and my subject.

More »

THE PROBLEM:
Like many photojournalists based in the United States, I traveled to Haiti to cover the January 12^th earthquake. I came home with an impressive array of photographs, which I believed to be both marketable and worthy of public notice. Yet, like many young photojournalists, I had limited opportunity by which to market my work.

It was a small moment of crisis for me. Were these images of others suffering to become mere fodder for my tweets and Facebook updates? Just another portfolio to be displayed on my website? I immediately decided that I would do to do more than simply allow these images to lay idle on my hard drive. I had to find a way to make a difference, and also advance my career at the same time.

THE SOLUTION:

More »

As photographers, we have all come across interesting characters who have looked like a famous portrait waiting to happen. It could be at the bus stop, a crowded market, the house next door, or in rural Pakistan.

Regardless of where it is, photo ethics call for a personable engagement, conversation, and even permission.  But in situations where a language barrier exists, or strict taboos are in place, a more subtle and indirect approach is required.

More »

There are many ways to improve your Site performance in the SEO ranking game. Here’s a flying start with 5 Things You Can Do Today To Better Your SEO performance.

1) Key Word Strategy
2) Submit Your Site to Google
3) Site Title
4) Site Description
5) Analyze Results

More »

Bio writing. Ugh. We know. If you can’t convince someone else to do it for you (we suggest your grandma – she’s probably got great grammar, and she loves you unconditionally), then maybe these tips will help…

More »

Whether setting the mood or creating an audio under track to support your images, having music and audio on your site can help reinforce your message.  Images and information have now been uploaded, time to create a mood with some audio on your site.

liveBooks editSuite allows you to upload audio files to be played across the site or on a specific page or portfolio.

Create a specific mood with music for your work or have the audio file compliment the story being told with the images.  We suggest that, as an artist, you respect the rights of musicians and only use music that you have the rights to. We have created a relationship with TripleScoopMusic, access Triple Scoop from this page, to automatically get a 5% discount on any purchase.

Check out this site to see how they incorporated audio to complement the story being told with the images.

Need a logo but not sure how to get one? Well, you’ll need a designer. We have some expertise with this enigmatic species (ahem), so we put together some tips to help.

More »

Not even sure what a ‘brand’ is in the context of your solo career? Put simply, it’s the way you present yourself to your clients.

More »

As Cultural Director at Magnum Photos in London, I’ve had a lot of experience of proposing work to venues both in the UK and abroad. Promoting a project for exhibition is aided hugely by a good network of contacts, however, there are also things you can do even if you’re starting out. Following are some points to bear in mind with regards to the process.

More »

Editor’s note: Dan’s words of advice were featured in liveBooks latest report, “8 Blogging Truths for Creative Professionals.” More of Dan’s honest and heartfelt narratives can be found on his blog at http://smogranch.wordpress.com.

My earliest memory of writing is from elementary school. In a small, spiral bound notebook, I managed to compile hundreds of pages about a group of mushroom people.

I was convinced of its brilliance. Then I promptly lost the notebook. Note to us all: backup your work. I didn’t write for the next twenty years, but as I began my photography career, something changed in me and writing on a daily basis became a part of my life. But let me be painfully clear. This was not a choice I made. This was something I had to do.

There was something inside of me that needed to come out and photography was not enough, still isn’t enough. I remember my first, adult journal, or diary, or whatever you want to call it. One of those black and white speckled jobs from the supermarket, a “composition book,” I think they call it.

I began to fill them.

More »