The Hidden Costs of College
Art supplies, photography supplies, and other design related materials are additional costs that must be factored in, while going to the graphic design school or graphic design college of your choice.

Some students make ends meet by taking on part-time jobs, while others are fortunate enough to have these expenses covered by parents, relatives or student aid.

Weddings and You
Regardless of your particular circumstances, bringing in supplemental income by using your specific liberal arts talent can bring you personal satisfaction of a job done well. One particular social event that you may find interesting is weddings.

The Photography.Book.Now competition is open to all photographers 18 years or older. If you have a photography book assembled of your work, or are in the midst of putting one together, there are three categories available for you to enter: fine arts, editorial, and commercial.

You may enter as many times in as many categories as you wish. The entry fee for each submission is $35. Photo curators, photo editors, publishers, and world-respected photographers take the duties of judging the entries. The deadline for contest entries is July 16,2009.

Submissions can be either hard copy or sent in electronically to the Blurb Inc. website. Click here to see the details.

At the conclusion of the contest, the grand prizewinner, top category winners, and honorable mentions will be acknowledged and honored at the Photography.Book.Now evening awards in New York. Everyone is welcome to attend the gala event. The meet-up is an excellent opportunity to meet industry leaders, contest jurors, and show off your photo book.

Other meet-ups are scheduled for San Francisco, Chicago, and London. More information about these events will be updated on the blurb.com website.

The awards for this contest are:

Grand Prize

$25,000

Category Winner

Ultimate Review Package Personal Portfolio Review with a Judge in Your Category Canon Camera

First Runner-Up

Photographic Experience Package Admission to Center’s Review LA Virgin America Airline Ticket B&H Photo Gift Card

Second Runner-Up

Professional Equipment Package Wacom Intuos4 Professional Pen Tablet X-Rite i1 Display LT Colorimeter Induro Carbon Fiber Tripod & Head Tenba Shootout Medium Backpack

People’s Choice Award

Maine Media Workshop Scholarship Package Three prizes will be presented - one for each of the competition’s three categories.

(Starting this week, GDB will be doing spotlight articles on chosen categories in the liberal arts fields. These pieces will examine the employment opportunities available, what sort of training you will need, and other tips that may help shed light on these professions.)

Career Training In Photography
There are colleges and online design centers that can help you receive the proper training in this highly competitive field. You’ll learn about photo composition, color theory, camera operation, and other related coursework. Instructors guide you through the techniques in various photography disciplines such as commercial photography, industrial photography, photojournalism, and portraiture.

Photography is used in virtually all career fields such as medicine, law, business, entertainment, and publishing. Your career training should reflect the specialty you are interested in. Make sure that the college or online learning center you are considering covers your specific field and interests.

Photographer Job Statistics
Of those who worked as photographers in 2006, more than half were self-employed. This percentage is much higher when compared to other occupations. Full time photographers obtained work through contracts with magazines, advertising firms, or companies that paid flat fees for work.

Other salaried photographers worked in portrait studios, commercial studios, or worked as freelance photographers for stock image agencies. Some photographers worked in the capacity of darkroom technicians or in digital imaging labs.

Employment Opportunities
Because of the transition of film-based photography to digital photography, many businesses and firms are producing their own content. Because of this, jobs in photography are expected to be somewhat decreased.

However, jobs are still expected to grow about 10% though 2016 when compared to other jobs. Competition for salaried jobs will be high. In May 2007, photographers made a mean annual salary of $34.010.

The Communication Arts Design Competition is open to anyone who has had a design project printed, published, or aired for the first time within the last twelve months prior to the contest deadline of June 1, 2009. Winning entries will be published worldwide in the Communication Arts Design Annual and on commarts.com.

The official entry form can be found on the host website here. Although no cash awards are given, the resulting exposure through the publication of winning entries in Communication Arts Design Annual is valuable for graphic artists, photographers, or videographers to showcase their abilities and skills to the public. Winners will be notified two months after the deadline.

The Communications Arts Design Annual spotlights the best and brightest talent from a diverse field of graphic design disciplines. Categories feature corporate identity, letterhead and signage, catalogs, trademarks, packaging, posters, brochures, and integrated ad campaigns. This yearly edition also includes cutting edge articles and features written by industry professionals.

Design Competition Categories/Fees:

Packaging/Labeling: $35 single entry/$70 series
Identity: $35 single entry/$70 series
Integrated Branding Program: $300
Letterhead: $35 single entry/$70 series
Company Literature: $35 single entry/$70 series
Poster/Design: $35 single entry/$70 series
Editorial: $35 single entry/$70 series
Books & Jackets: $35 single entry/$70 series
Self-Promotion: $35 single print entry/$70 print series/$90 single video entry/$180 video series
Motion Graphics: $90 single entry/$180 series
Public Service: $35 single print entry/$70 print series/$90 single video entry/$180 video series
Environmental Graphics: $70 series
Miscellaneous/Design: $35 single print entry/$70 print series/$90 single video entry/$180 video series

For more information, go to rockstarcontests.com

Pronounced “Paint DOT Net, this free image and photo editor is the brainchild of Rick Brewster. Paint.net started out as an undergraduate senior design project guided by Microsoft to be offered as a free replacement for its Windows paint program. But the project took on a life of its own and has advanced to a level where it compares very favorably with some of today’s leading photo/image editors.

Paint.net is a very user-friendly and powerful program that incorporates plugins you’d expect to see only from expensive software kits. Paint.net offers photo and image manipulation through gamma adjustments, color correction filters, special effects filters, alpha channels for overlays, paintbrush, magic wand functions, layering, and other plugins. Paint.net also has an avid user community that contributes add-ons on a consistent basis for the program. These accessories are downloadable through its official website.

While Paint.net isn’t a full-blown image editor when compared to high-end packages, it manages to incorporate many of the features that are most useful for graphic designers, photographers, and anyone who needs an easy to use program to quickly and efficiently edit photos or images. The program is constantly being revised to improve its performance, and it has gained a strong reputation as a solid graphics program.

If you are a college student, you may find that Paint.net bridges the gap between expensive photo editing programs and low end programs that fall short of usefulness and depth. The amazing thing about Paint.net is that it is not only free of charge, (contributions are always welcome, however, to help Paint.net development continue), but offers a great deal of functionality and features that all levels of designers, pro or amateur, can take advantage of.

The aim of the “Design and the Mediterranean” is to discover, refine and anticipate the scenarios of life among Mediterranean Countries. The focus of the competition is to let participants express their innermost glance in new trends of design, visual and photography; overcoming the stereotypes coming from the idea of “Mediterranean.”

There are three sections: Product Design, Visual Design and Photography. The competition is open to designers, architects, photographers and art designers and each candidate may participate with a proposal for each section. Each section carries a 1000 Euros prize and three mentions for each section as well.

Furthermore, there will be the opportunity for the winners to show their projects during the International Designweek Exhibition, which will be held next June in Istanbul.

Deadline for proposals is 2 May 2009. Visit the site to learn more.

Via: Dexigner