As a documentary wedding photographer, I custom-design albums for each of my clients. That's right. Every single album design is unique. No two clients will ever receive the same album design layout. Why? Simple. Each client is unique.

But this post is about a terrific set of Photoshop actions that photographer Andrew Funderburg has created called – Fundy's Solution On Steroids.

Andrew and I struck up a conversation and he has generously agreed to provide Tiffinbox readers a whopping 25% discount for the next two weeks when you use the following discount code: September08.

Check out the video tutorials that will help you set up the program. Dig deeper and you will find that Andrew also offers an Album Proofing program that will allow your clients to check out your awesome and, yes, unique album designs on their monitor and allow them to comment on the images and layout, giving you a faster turnaround on the album making process and more cash in your pocket.

For me, using Fundy's actions is a no-brainer. Click the banner below or the links above to buy Fundy's Solution on Steroids. Remember, you are getting an awesome set of actions at 25% till the end of September.

The Musalman, India's (and perhaps the world's?) only hand-written Urdu newspaper

The portfolio of Sanjit Das [amazing work – now why hasn't anybody alerted me to this awesome photographer before?]

Sikhs in America

16 Inspirational Portrait Photography Techniques

Are you on the Blue List?

Stretch Your Canvas

Photo Diagrams – sometimes we like to be prepared with where we are going to place our studio lights. This little utility gives you the ability to sketch out your ideas, print them off and use them on a photo shoot. Pretty cool!

Pingg – Free online invites that look good in print as well

To celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) is holding a photo competition based on the theme – ‘Dignity and justice for all of us'.

They are looking for images that reflect the theme of the competition and provide a unique approach to a human rights subject. For some, the photograph will record a moment that celebrates dignity and justice; for others, it will capture fundamental rights and freedoms being recognized; or it may be an observance of what human rights means to you.

Entry categories – under 18 female, under 18 male, 18 and above. Great prizes and entry is free. Entries deadline is October 31, 2008. Entry forms and further details here.

Info provided to me by Sarah Bachman, Managing Director, Child Labor & the Global Village: Photography for Social Change.

It's been a long time since I posted here. I am looking at some options – perhaps moving my site, completely redesigning it or better yet having it redesigned by a pro who has the time to do it. My time these days are spent on my professional documentary wedding photography website and blog, so forgive me while I try and make a living.

The point of this post, however, is this. If you are a blogger and you aren't reading Remarkablogger on a daily basis, you are shooting yourself in the foot. Actually, make that both feet.

Michael Martine who runs Remarkablogger has a cool new opportunity for you bloggers who feel no link love from the world. Go, nay, run to his recent post about boosting your traffic and simply follow the directions there.

Then, wait and watch. Pretty cool, eh?

“Photojournalism in the age of bytes and amateurs,” reads a sub-head for a Columbia Journalism Review article about the state and status of photojournalism

Photographer Dane Sanders releases Fasttrack Photographer, the definitive new approach to successful wedding photography [Dane, a review copy would be nice … hint … hint]

100 Strangers

Photographer Dayanita Singh wins Robert Gardner Fellowship in Photography by Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology

Victoria Bampton is the Lightroom Queen. Now kneel and read her blog!

The band I want to listen to live the most is Nomo

Save Polaroid

Optimizing my wedding photography website for search engines has been a passion of mine. So much so that I sometimes dream about it. No jokes. I want to be on the first page of whatever search engine tickles you. Google. Yahoo! Or, the new Cuil. Being number one would be awesome, but I could settle for being on the first page, within the first six options please.

Recently I stumbled upon Washington, DC-based photographer Lara Swanson's blog. She also works at a firm full time dealing with the same SEO issues that have spurred on my REM cycles. Her article SEO for photographers was a God-send and I am already incorporating a few of the suggestions she makes there.

I went out on a limb and called her because she does offer limited number of free audits of photographer's sites. If you wanted her to actually implement the changes for you and optimize your site (why wouldn't you?), she does charge a nominal fee.

Whether you wanted to get a hold of her for a free audit or take your optimization to the next level, email her at lara@laraswansonphoto.com. Tell her I sent ya.

And, see you on page one too.

Nathan Golden has a set of images published in a new website called Vewd about street children addicted to dendrite (a form of glue) in India. The images are heart-wrenching and not easy to view.

As Nathan writes in an email, “I feel the story on their site is a difficult but necessary one to tell.” Check it out.

Ok, it's not as insidious as my post title indicates, because like any deal, there will be winners and losers. Which one would you rather be? As always, please read the fine print to anything you sign up for.

If you have a Flickr account and want to get noticed by Getty read this interview off of Photo District News.

My brother-in-law, Vinod, was in India recently visiting his folks, including his grand parents. Newly initiated into the world of digital photography, he had asked me what camera to buy. I get question a lot, as you can imagine. Fair enough. For someone starting out I think one of the best dSLRs out there is the Nikon D80. It performs fairly well using high ISO (ie. you can shoot in lower light than you think) and handles reasonably well given its data transfer is to a SD card.

So, Vinod bought a D80 and then wondered what lens to buy with it. It took me a nanosecond to recommend the Nikon 35mm f/2.0 lens. It's small, fast (uses a large aperture, again negating the need to bring out a flash) and best of all not very expensive. I eschew zoom lenses for beginners and in fact I am heading back to the land of prime lenses myself, because it greatly disciplines one in the art of composition. The zooming done in fixed focal length lenses is your feet. Move from one position to the next, to capture a different perspective of what you are seeing. Soon, moving into a scene and working a situation that is developing in front of you does become intuitive unless you are just tired or plain lazy.

Anyway, I am glad Vinod took my advice. He eventually bought a Nikon SB-600 flash unit as well, but check the image below that he created using available light. Do not doubt for a second that this was a fluke. It came from weeks of practice and persistence. And you can bet he has other amazing images like this one in his archive now. The kids (he has twins) will be so thrilled one day when they see what their parents have created for them. I can't stress enough the importance of documenting your family life in new and interesting ways. It ain't easy, but it sure ain't rocket science either.

Here Vinod's grand father cradles his great-grand daughter, Vera.

Yep, that's me. Absent With Out Leave. I haven't posted anything here in some time. Why? No time. I am running a business now and that takes precedence. It's really as simple as that. That, however, does not mean I don't miss being here. I think about it about once a day and then reality steps up to bat. I do hope to have a more regular schedule to post here. I am working that out. And a laptop (preferably an Apple) would help because I could be anywhere on assignment and tap the net to post my missives. With only a desktop, it means coming home and getting into the groove and that my friends has been really hard to do.

End of confession. Back to work. I'll see you all again real soon.