Black and White Photography As a Statement in the Art World

Black and white photography, or monochrome photography, occupies a unique place in the world of art and the visual media. It has been around for almost two centuries now, and it still has a little bit of down-looking from the art world. Even though the monochromatic tradition has been around for a couple of centuries, it can be traced back to 6000 years in history when we start to take ink and carbon works into the wider frame. In terms of art itself, photography is very young, so it is just a mere matter of time for it to be excelled into a greater state in the art world.Here is a great fact that will help answering the question why many people diverge between choosing color or monochrome in their work: monochrome photography enhances composition, therefore it gives a stronger message by subtracting the distraction that color inherently has.Composition is a much more complex concept that goes beyond the very well-known rule of thirds. Elements in composition include the following:· Lines· Shapes· Forms· Simplification· Negative space· RhythmAll of these elements aid the photographer to compose a message into a much more pleasant or aesthetic view of reality. The message is something that only exists in the fraction of a second the photographer decides to include into his camera settings. The message is part of the moment that the photographer decides to capture. Therefore, the message is presented better rather the realism that accurate color can render. Color photography is great for many purposes, but when talking about message, its instant punch is quite softer than when it is presented to the viewer in a monochromatic format. The much accepted theory behind this statement, is that color pretends to achieve a greater grade of realism, and that black and white turn apart and pretend to see things differently, and by removing color we have:

Something different from reality

A greater message by removing the distraction that color gives
Another magnificent aspect about black and white photography, is that it has been a very democratic and almost generous medium. Developing black and white film is a work of art and creativity in a much larger scale if compared to color film. The thing is that black and white film can resist much more severe changes in the development procedure (temperature, time of development, time of fixation, etc.) and color film is much more precise work, it is a more delicate chemistry if you like to view into the chemical line. And this was somehow inherited in the digital format by allowing black and white photography to endure more extreme settings when contrasting than color photography. Color photography starts to get weird looks much earlier than black and white when cranking up the controls in RAW development. Even with printing, black and white photography has a richer history than color photography thanks to papers and printing processes.

Top 5 Reasons to Take Office Space in Austin, Texas

Deciding to move office space is a big move for any company. Executive suites, cubicle space, window offices, conference rooms; the choice of commercial real estate is endless, as is the choice of location.

If you’re considering moving to US office space and you want to move somewhere hot then Texas could be the ideal choice for you.

Hot, humid and vast; Texas is the perfect location for any business. But where’s the best place to take office space in Texas? Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Fort Worth are all great locations for commercial property in the Texas area but in my view, nothing can beat Austin.

Why’s Austin such a fantastic choice to take office space in Texas? You’d better read on!

1. Austin is the capital of Texas. This means it has a growing population, which currently stands at around 790,000 people, so you’ll never be short of employees or customers. The city of Austin was christened 2nd Best Big City in “Best Places to Live” by Money magazine in 2006 and according to Travel magazine ranks as number 1 on the list of cities with the best people.

2. Austin office space is rich and plentiful. Affordable pricing, stylish interiors and versatile floor space means it’s one of the top office space locations in Texas. As a result, the city’s office space is home to 3 of the Fortune 500 companies – Whole Foods Market, Forestar Group and Freescale Semiconductor. Dell also has an office in the city, while earlier this year Facebook announced plans to build a new downtown office in Austin, which could bring around 200 jobs to the area.

3. Austin is hot, hot, hot! The city has a sub-tropical climate which means that it experiences hot summers and mild winters. This makes it ideal for companies who hate the cold and enjoy warm winters.

4. The city of Austin is a fantastic choice for technology and defence companies thanks to a steady stream of graduates from The University of Texas at Austin. As a result, Austin is known as major centre for high-tech and boasts a large number of major technology companies such as Apple, Google and AMD.

5. Austin’s official slogan is “The Live Music Capital of the World”, which reflects the city’s vibrant music scene. The city is full of nightclubs, particularly on 6th Street and Austin’s annual film and music festival, South by Southwest, attracts thousands of tourists each year.

In conclusion, Austin might not be the most high profile city in the United States but it’s certainly a fantastic choice for commercial real estate for any business.

Business Growth Secret Revealed – Using a Marketing Calendar

Using a marketing calendar
Many business owners may not necessarily be doing their marketing planning this way or may choose to be doing this in a similar way. Either way, using a marketing calendar can be hugely successful strategy to grow your business through effective marketing.What is a marketing calendar?
A marketing calendar is a way to organize your marketing activity to specific dates or deadlines relevant to the target markets of your business;For example a florist could target mother’s day marketing and promotion. It may be a more general month target of for instance targeting Christmas shoppers in November. It can also be used to schedule information or promotion to clients who have been engaged to services for a specific period, such as an insurance company may wish to do certain marketing activities prior to renewal dates for instance.A marketing calendar can be a way of aiming at different key target markets throughout the year and aligning all the marketing efforts for greater impact in gaining your target markets.You may also notice trends at certain times of the year, which you may choose to attempt to exploit more fully in your marketing calendar planning. For instance a financial planner may see a spike in new year resolutions leading to more interest in wealth creation early in the new year.How to do a marketing calendar?
Your marketing calendar is a working document you can revise and update throughout the plan year. A marketing calendar should be simple. I recommend a simple spreadsheet matrix with months or dates with your key target market type described along with the key marketing efforts directed at that target market.Go back and review your target markets.
A good business should know exactly who or what kind of client or customers it would like. Remind yourself the types of target markets that you may be winning more, make more money from, have more competitive strengths in, more specialized in or even just downright enjoy more. The key is don’t be too broad or have too many. The more specific your target market is, the easier your marketing becomes and chance of marketing success.Review all of your marketing activity
If you haven’t already done so, go on and write down all your marketing efforts in detail and check on just how effective each marketing tool is for you. To state the obvious you should then consider putting more focus on the ones that work and eliminating the ones that don’t work. You could also try to match certain ones to the different target markets.Some examples of your marketing efforts maybe be:
• Signage• Social media• Websites• Referral partners• Business networking• Paid online marketing• Asking for referrals• Web blogging or SEO• newslettersWhat if this doesn’t apply to your type of business?
Perhaps your business is not at all dependent on the date or time of the year. If so, consider just having after care schedules to perhaps ask for referrals or cross sell you at a certain point after a sale.Where do I find the time to do this?Well often business owners do not get out of the business long enough to develop some systems to improve their businesses. If this is the case they are unlikely to get different results.So they need to look at ways to free up their time to devote in this area. This can be achieved by delegating or training staff to be more capable and giving the business owner more time to develop their business.Otherwise they may simply outsource their marketing and grow their business that way.Some other examples
• One business owner says he arranges a highly discounted sale of stock or wrongly sized materials. As well as clearing out stock, staying tidy, it brought in new people into his showroom and lead to sale of his real product too.• Use a regular say monthly newsletter of useful information or stock listing to your customer list. It will be a great way to keep you in mind of the customers. You may also be inviting them to buy or use your services at the perfect time they may be considering that very purchase at that time.• Curiously at times of elections spending can slump in economies. So you could factor this into your marketing calendar too.Here are some reasons why a marketing calendar will help your business grow
1. having a plan gets you to a destination. You will be efficient in knowing what to do at certain times of the year and can repeat these year in year out.2. Focusing on less gets you a better result. Improving your efficiency from your marketing tools will get you better results.3. More clients and customers come with more marketing activity. Thinking in this way and implementing a system to gain new clients will be effective in improving your sales.4. Improve your branding and reputation. Honestly, being consistent and having good marketing activity will make you appear to be an even more successful business therefore attracting more clients and customers.5. Become more productive. By working on your business you will learn how to outsource and delegate. This will also get your more profit or results with your time.6. Making more success in your business always improves your personal life balance. So having more profits may in turn means more holidays or more staff to help you better enjoy your non working life.