Details about the event…

Each city’s event will begin with time to hangout and one-on-one training from a Support Stud so come early to get your questions answered.

Hear from 3 industry leaders on topics focusing on freeing your business to grow.  Speakers will rotate as Showit goes to different cities. When you purchase a ticket to Freedom Tour 2010 recordings of all speakers will be available for download. Topics range from photography, marketing, branding, blogging, mobile websites, creative design, and web presence.

Beau Vaughn Photography is looking for photographers in Austin. They charge $1750 for 8 hours of wedding photography and they pay their lead photographers $300/per wedding. Not per hour – per wedding.

16 Megapixels

10 Frames Per Second

$4999 (Body Only)

1080p High Def Video

1.3 Crop Factor (Not Full Frame)

ISO 50 – 102,400

It has been more than 2 years since Canon put out the 1ds Mark III (my camera) and today they annouced the newest addition to the 1 series line. The Canon 1d Mark IV. All of the buttons appear to the in the same places – thank goodness I hate it when Canon moves buttons. However, there is a new dot between the EOS and 1. This new camera is supposed to have an improved autofocus system. You can read my reports on the Mark III focus problems. Not sure if I will get this camera when it comes out in December. I purchased a 5d Mk II a couple of weeks ago for my second shooters and I’m LOVING using it as a back up. Maybe I’ll hold out and see what the 1ds MKIV is like.

Statement from Srinandan R. Kasi, VP and General Counsel, The Associated Press

Striking at the heart of his fair use case against the AP, Shepard Fairey has now been forced to admit that he sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used to make the Hope and Progress posters. Mr. Fairey has also now admitted to the AP that he fabricated and attempted to destroy other evidence in an effort to bolster his fair use case and cover up his previous lies and omissions.

In his Feb. 9, 2009 complaint for a declaratory judgment against the AP, Fairey falsely claimed to have used an AP photograph of George Clooney sitting next to then-Sen. Barack Obama as the source of the artist’s Hope and Progress posters. However, as the AP correctly alleged in its March 11, 2009 response, Fairey had instead used a close-up photograph of Obama from the same press event, which is an exact match for Fairey’s posters. In its response, the AP also correctly surmised that Fairey had attempted to hide the true identity of the source photo in order to help his case by arguing that he had to make more changes to the source photo than he actually did, i.e., that he at least had to crop it.

After filing the complaint, Fairey went on to make several public statements in which he insisted that the photo with George Clooney was the source image and that “The AP is showing the wrong photo.” It appears that these statements were also false, as were statements that Fairey made describing how he cropped Clooney out of the photo and made other changes to create the posters.

Fairey’s lies about which photo was the source image were discovered after the AP had spent months asking Fairey’s counsel for documents regarding the creation of the posters, including copies of any source images that Fairey used. Fairey’s counsel has now admitted that Fairey tried to destroy documents that would have revealed which image he actually used. Fairey’s counsel has also admitted that he created fake documents as part of his effort to conceal which photo was the source image, including hard copy printouts of an altered version of the Clooney Photo and fake stencil patterns of the Hope and Progress posters. Most recently, on Oct. 15, Fairey’s counsel informed the AP that they intended to seek the Court’s permission to withdraw as counsel for Fairey and his related entities.

The AP intends to vigorously pursue its countersuit alleging that Fairey willfully infringed the AP’s copyright in the close-up photo of then-Sen. Obama by using it without permission to create the Hope and Progress posters and related products, including T-shirts and sweatshirts that have led to substantial revenue. According to the AP’s in-house counsel, Laura Malone, “Fairey has licensed AP photos in the past for similar uses and should have done so in this case. As a not-for-profit news organization, the AP depends on licensing revenue to stay in business.” Proceeds received for past use of the photo will be contributed by the AP to The AP Emergency Relief Fund, which assists staffers and their families around the world who are victims of natural disasters and conflicts.

This is a photo from SXSW. More about that can be found on my previous blog post about the Red Bull SXSW afterparty.