Orange County Photo Workshops – Quick Survey
January 27, 2015 | By Nick Carver
I'm looking at offering some photography field workshops here in Orange County, but I want to gauge interest in such a service before I start offering them. This is where I need your feedback with a single mouse click.
Here are the details: The workshops would be single-evening or single-afternoon workshops totaling 2 hours in the field typically on weekdays at sunset (3:30-5:30 in winter, 6:00-8:00 in summer) and on some Saturdays around 3:00-5:00. Topics and destinations would at first be sunset landscape photography in Laguna Beach, Newport and others. Later on, I might add street photography in local areas as well as nighttime photography of freeway lights and urban environments. The cost for one of these 2-hour workshops would be $49 with a small workshop size of only 6 students.
So be honest...would you sign up?
[polldaddy poll="8613755"]
Thank you so much for your feedback! This really helps me provide the best service possible.

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
August 22, 2014 | By Nick Carver
Well, ladies and gentleman, I jumped on the bandwagon. That's right, I did the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. It's all the rage right now and I was challenged by a friend of mine, so I figured "let's do it."
But I'm not the type to jump on bandwagons. When the Kony 2012 thing blew up the web a couple years back, I didn't even follow it. The reason I don't tend to get involved with these things is because I often feel like it doesn't really do anything valuable for the cause. Posting a status update on Facebook that says "I support breast cancer awareness" doesn't actually do anything to cure it.
However, this viral video thing for ALS is a little different. First, it's actually working. It's raised millions of dollars for the cause already and I wouldn't have thought to donate if this trend hadn't started, but I just donated to the ALS Association at www.alsa.org/donate (and you should too!) thanks to these videos raising awareness.
Secondly, this is a cause that really does need our help. It's a terrible disease, but it only affects something like 30,000 people in the US. That's a small number. And a small number means there isn't much incentive for those in the healthcare industry to cure it. And you can't blame pharmaceutical companies for working on more widespread diseases, but nobody likes when a minority doesn't get the help they need simply because they're a minority. Breast cancer is a worthy cause to get behind, but there's no shortage of awareness and support for that one. ALS doesn't get the same level of recognition and help, so this ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is much needed.
My brothers and I made a goofy video (a VERY goofy video) for our ice bucket challenge. I was hesitant to post this video and blog entry at first because I don't like when people use a trending charitable cause or tragedy to get website traffic, but I decided to post it after all in the hope that it will inspire some of my readers to donate to the cause as well. So jump on the bandwagon with me. Donate to the cause and dump a bucket of ice water on your head.
Enjoy the video and please donate to www.alsa.org/donate.
