Ello there! What's Ello and why you should be on it?

Maybe you've heard, Facebook has a new competitor.  Their name is Ello and they're labeling themselves as the ANTI-Facebook.  I'd say thats a rather large statement to be making.  So what's the word on Ello you may be asking?  What makes them different, and why should you join another social media site you have to check up on and update.  Well first off, you can't just join.  They are currently invite only!  That's right.  Just like good ol' Facebook was when they started out.  I'm sure you don't remember those days.  The days when 100% of your friends / followers saw your posts. Now, for some really cool features about Ello.  First and probably the most awesome thing for us photographers is.... NO PHOTO COMPRESSION! or so it seems.  I'm not sure if it's confirmed there's no compression of our pictures, but they look a hell of a lot cleaner on Ello than on Facebook, even if sized properly for Facebook.   Another great thing related to photos on Ello is, like on google+ we're given a massive header image.  Here's mine -->

The site itself has a simplified Tumblr like feel to it.  It's very clean but also very Beta.  There are lot's of minor fixes that could and will be made by the time they release the "final" version.  Here's what your profile page looks like with your friends list displayed on the left side.  You can find my profile here -->  ello.co/brandontigrett

Stop by and say "ello" if you get an invite to the site!

Things you'll notice on this page.  You've got a friends list, as well as noise.  Noise can be explained as a 2nd tier of friends basically.  When you go to someone's profile, you have the option to either place them in your friends or noise.  Friends will appear as they're shown above, and on the home screen you will see every single interaction your friends make.  This is kind of a cool / unique feature about ello.  When you place someone in noise, they don't show up on your main feed, but you can find their info in a sort of summed up area when clicking on "noise".

A few little tweaks that could be made would be in the Discover section.  I find it hard looking for my friends in there.   When you type in the search for someone, it directs you to a number of different user names, but not specifically the real name of the person you're looking for.

Some quick tips on how to succeed on Ello:

- Interact with people.  Comment on peoples updates and be friendly.  If someone follows you and they have few or even no followers, reach out, and say something kind.  It might make their day and you could find a new friend.  I've met some great people through Facebook while I was in college, or when I moved to a new city.  It's all about making connections.

- Use the site.  This is the biggest thing.  You have to be willing to use the site, and put Facebook aside.  I'm tired of Facebook limiting the reach of our posts, which is why I'm starting to migrate everything over to Ello!  Hopefully within a year, I'll have enough of a community on Ello that I won't need to pay Facebook another dime to spread the news about my photos!

- Give it some time.  Ello is in beta.  It says it right on the top of their website.  Ello Beta.  This means things are going to be buggy, and go wrong.  But, it also means they aren't done with it yet and they will be improving it.  So going back to point number 2, use the site, and find out what needs to be fixed, spread the word, and it shall improve!

- Lastly, spread the word about Ello in real life.  The hardest part for a new social media company to do is come in and gain a steady user base when there are already some major players in the ring.  Encourage your fiends and family to step away from the other sites and give Ello a shot.  Even if they're skeptical or don't enjoy it the first time, encourage them to stay with it.  It will improve!

Anyways, these are just a few points that have come to mind after being on the site for it's first big week!  It's exciting, kind of pioneering a new social network.  Let's do it together though!  Spread the word and lets make this a huge community!  And come find me on Ello!  ello.co/brandontigrett

Lastly, here are a few really cool people I would suggest you follow if you do join.  Besides me of course ;)

Jeremy Cowart - ello.co/jeremycowart

Renee Robyn - ello.co/reneerobyn

Pratik Naik - ello.co/solsticeretouch

Those are just a few.  There are many more joining every day!  See you on the other side.

2015 Arizona High School Senior Photos | Summer Promo

This promotion is good for any 2015 Arizona High School Senior looking for senior photos!  The promotion will last until the beginning of September, 2014. (End of summer).    

What's included?

With your 1 hour session with me, you get:

• 15 edited images on a USB
• (5) free 5x7 prints of any image
• An additional $50 print credit, good for any print product I offer
• An online, password protected, private gallery of all your edited images
• The option to purchase the entire gallery of edited images (usually 25-35 images)
• Any 1 location of your choice (multiple locations welcome to suggestions)
• Unlimited outfit changes during your session.

Contact me at Brandon@brandontigrett.com to schedule your session or call 412.310.2552.

Refer a friend and get 15% off both your sessions :)

Remember this pricing is only good through the end of August! Regular priced senior sessions start at $300.

We Started a VLOG - here's why

Exciting news! Hot off the press!  I've started a VLOG (Video Blog).  This VLOG will be located on my YouTube channel, and is more of a look into my daily life.  I got the idea to do it after watching a few other YouTubers vlogging their daily lives and it kind of seemed interesting to me.  I'm setting out to do this with Chloe my lovely girlfriend, not to get YouTube famous or anything like that.  The sole purpose we've started to VLOG is because it is forcing us to get out and do more exciting things with our lives.  Our first episode if you want to call it that, got us out on a picnic down at the Tempe Town Lake.  Which, due to the excessive Phoenix summer heat wasn't our best idea, and didn't last all that long, but it was something we've never done before.  I know, I've never taken my girlfriend of almost 4 years on a picnic! *shame shame* Besides getting out and living a more interesting life, it also allows us to give our friends and family who primarily all live in the Midwest United States, a look into what we've been up to.  Our parents appreciate this the most since we've just moved out here a year ago and we don't get to see them and talk to them everyday like we used to.  Not to mention we are learning a lot more about our new city! Another good reason to do this, for me at least, is it has gotten me more familiar with programs such as Adobe Premiere Pro CC and After Effects.  I haven't used these video editing platforms before because I have primarily been a stills only photographer.  This is helping expand my skill set as well as get me using my camera in a way I'm not used to.  Yes filming video has a whole new set of rules and parameters I'm just getting a taste of.  Though I should also mention the main chunk of these VLOGs are shot with my iPhone 5.  But I am sprinkling in some higher end shots done with the GoPro Hero 3+ (super slow motion, 120fps in our 4th of July VLOG was pretty beastly!), as well as my professional DSLR, the Canon 6D.

I'm sure as this VLOG progresses I will upgrade from using my iPhone to maybe a nicer point and shoot camera with nice 1080 video.  The main reason I don't use my GoPro which provides excellent video quality is because the audio quality is absolute garbage, and the iPhone actually provides decent audio.  Another thing to note though is this isn't about the gear at all.  These VLOGs are not high quality productions.  They are meant to be about the content, the fun loving experience of living life. Sort of run and gun.   I would be very appreciative if you could head over to my YouTube channel and check out our series of VLOGs so far as well as please SUBSCRIBE if you like what you see.

Here's our first few VLOGs for you to check out :)

Twitter's new Facebook like Appearance

If you actually use twitter via a computer then you might have noticed the new look they're implementing to your profile section. 

What you might have also noticed is the new look resembles that of Facebook profile pages?!?!?  This is a surprise to me because the reason a lot of people are drawn to twitter in the first place was it's distinct difference from Facebook. Now there's no change in the system of tweeting, it's still only 140 characters but you have to wonder if that'll be the next change.

Currently twitter is giving you the option to switch to the new profile look on your own.  Though I'm sure it's only a matter of time until they force the redesign of your page. Just like Facebook did, YouTube has done, and really any social media site. This is why I went ahead and switched now, just to get used to it. And make myself feel as if I had a "choice"...

The good news is this change really only affects you if you use twitter on the computer, which I rarely do. I don't know of any planned changes to the smart phone application, which I'd say is the primary platform used.

What are your thoughts on the new Facebook like design?  Leave them in the comments section below or send me a tweet at @brandontigrett!

Recent Work - Portfolio Updates

I've been quite busy these past couple of months so I thought I'd make a short blog post displaying some of my recent additions to the Portfolio!  This is just a select few examples of my recent work click the link to check out my full portfolio.  

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As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, & Google+

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Vlog 2: Surviving the Summer | Brandon Tigrett RAW

The month is now October, which means if we lived in any other state besides Arizona, we might be seeing the leaves change colors right now, along with a rapid drop in temperature.  Well we don't, we're in Phoenix, AZ, and we have just made it through our first summer here.  That's right, 115 degrees was our daily high, with a low of 107 if we were fortunate.  But, we moved here for what we now get to experience, the 9 remaining months of perfect weather!  Being that it is now October, we are into those amazing months.  This post and accompanying video is to show a little update of what all has gone on over these summer months, and also to give a little update as to what the future holds for me, and Brandon Tigrett Photography LLC.

So little recap of what happened over the summer:

-Moved to Scottsdale, Arizona -Mackenzie(sister) & Maddy(cousin) came to visit for a week at our new apartment -Got a new kitten, Gracie -Saw 4th of July fireworks, TWICE! -Worked with some awesome people on photography assignments -Filed my articles of organization and was awarded my LLC for the photography business -Flew to Nashville, drove to Benton, KY and attended our good friend's wedding! -Made new friends

Ok so now youve got a brief recap of the summer, here's what I have planned for the future!

CANT TELL YOU YET! TOP SECRET!

Just kidding! :) I'm actually in the planning process of a book similar to what Chase Jarvis did with the Seattle 100 book.  The idea stemmed from wanting to do something for the Hot Shot firefighters from the Yarnell, AZ fire earlier this summer. And then once I looked further into what Chase had done, I thought I could do something even bigger for the AZ firefighter's, and the rest of the people in Arizona who are really giving it all to make this state a better place.

On top of that the weather has been amazing lately so we've been hiking a ton lately, and here's a panoramic photo I stitched together made up of 4 photos, shot with a 50mm prime lens.

I also have a few other plans in the pipes that I can't necessarily share, but they will hopefully be out for everyone to see soon.

Here's a recent short video I edited together from some GoPro footage I took from last summer while golfing with my buddy.  I didn't know what I wanted to do with it at the time so I was glad to finally get around to making a small story out of it.

As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

Thoughts on Social Media for the Deceased

What are your thoughts on if someone has passed away; should their social media profiles stay active? Is it a way or good portal for those who cared about the deceased to pay their respects? Or is it odd.

I bring it up because yesterday was the 3 year anniversary of a good friend of mine's death, and I saw a few friends of mine posting about it on Facebook.  It got me thinking, first I missed my friend dearly, but secondly, if they're gone, why should their Facebook page remain open as if they were still here. Is it because friends and family can use it to post their thoughts and how much they miss the person? It reminds me of a cyber version of visiting a relatives grave stone.

It also brings me to another point.  Who has ownership of this page now? It's not as if the deceased's parents own it, they might not know the passwords used to get on.  I guess it's Facebook who owns everything.  And then you think, well what will they do with the information, photos, ect? I wouldn't want them being sold to someone if I were the family. Because as you know anything can be bought online. So I did some digging and found this article written by a Facebook employee, and he talks about "memorializing" the dead's profile so only confirmed friends can view it. I like the idea, but I don't know if it has been done to the friends' profiles I know who are no longer with us.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/facebook/memories-of-friends-departed-endure-on-facebook/163091042130

The only way the profile will become memorialized is if you contact Facebook and request it to be done.  This isn't a well known thing, and I don't think many people would even think to ask.

I'd like to know everyone else's thoughts on this.  Should Facebook own the right's to their profile? What about twitter users? If you read this article it says someone must contact them as well to deactivate the account.  Please share your thoughts in the comments below on what you think is right, should the profiles stay upon as a memorial of sorts, or should they closed down out of respect?

As always you can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

The Brand New Alpha Phi House! Iota Nu University of Kentucky Chapter!

Welcome to the brand new Alpha Phi Sorority House!  Iota Nu Chapter at the University of Kentucky!  Move in day was yesterday and tomorrow August 5th is the ribbon cutting ceremony!