The New Big Island Coming 2012

It’s best to order your cards early so you have time to send them out before Christmas.

Click here to view images and order greeting cards.

Here’s a peek of what is available.

Wintertime night driving on Willow Avenue (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

A Lake Ontario winter storm (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

A bed of ice lays across a pier (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

Icicles hang from a ceiling of ice (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

We’ve been working on upgrading the Dean Oros Photo website, too. Everyone who worked on the site is excited. There have been design changes but the big upgrades are for our clients. The Client Area has been completely overhauled. It’s more powerful, intuitive and interactive. It’s easier to view, edit, organize and download images. The same applies to our Image Archive Store. It’s easier to check out galleries / collections and buying images online for personal or commercial use is a whole slice of apple pie easy. We’ve introduced many custom fine-art printing and framing packages for those seeking wall-art. There are now over 2500 images available that can’t be found anywhere else.

There’s never been much flash technology used in the sites, and that hasn’t changed. This means the sites and images can be viewed on most mobile devices. We haven’t yet designed mobile specific websites but that is something we may introduce down the road.

Design changes are shared with the Blog and Images of a Promise, too.

Thanks go out to the amazing team at Photoshelter: Caroline, Farah, Rachel as well as Ricardo of Graph Paper Press for working with us.

There will probably be some tweaking going on for the next week or so. If you see anything that needs attention feel free to leave a comment on the blog. If it’s something that needs immediate attention please send in an email message via the site.

Dean Oros attends a Capic seminar on fine-art print reproduction.

I recently had two clients contact the studio inquiring if we had images from their photo-sessions from over three years ago. Why? Because their hard drives had crashed. Between the two of them over 1000 digital images had been lost.

We offer redundant archiving of original and enhanced high-resolution images, so I was happily able to say “Yes, we have all your images”!

As we become more reliant on digital technology, the article I wrote is more relevant than it was a couple of years ago. I’m re-posting it here:

The Beauty of Images and Words on Paper

Paper! Beautiful, sustainable, inspirational, protective, tactile.These are words that may leave you scratching your head when thinking about paper. True, most of us don’t often think about paper. And when we do, it may be in a limited way:

“Hmm I’ve got to print that report.”

“Urrgh! The photocopier is out of paper again!”

“Don’t squeeze the Charmin.”

Digital, because of its immediate convenience, is becoming the medium of choice for the written word and to a lesser degree, the medium to display photography.

A hard drive / discs and computer screen is where many people choose to keep and display their letters & photos. Seriously, when was the last time you held a hard drive and said “Wow, what a beautiful hard drive. I love how it feels in my hands. The texture is just lovely. It smells wonderful and reminds me of my last hard drive.”

Dean Oros Photo + Design uses a wide range of fine art photographic papers.

Paper: Why Not?

Paper has been around for so long that it’s easy for us to take it for granted, and it’s often not used to its full potential. It is what we make of it.

Photography is my primary method of communicating. But because all of us use words to communicate, let’s take a look at both words and imagery. Unless this blog post has been printed on paper, you’re now in front of a computer screen. Right off the bat, you’re experiencing LESS. Not more. NOT EVEN ANYTHING REMOTELY EQUAL.

“Huh?”, you may be asking. Allow me to walk you through the subtleties you’re missing right now:

1. If you want to continue reading this, you’re locked into being in front of a computer screen. Or worse, you’re reading this on a tiny screen like your iPhone, iPod, Blackberry or some other small device. Can you say: “Where are my eye glasses?” The image included with this blog post is now so small it might as well be on a matchbook cover.

2. You’ve lost the feeling of touch. You aren’t holding paper in your hands while you read. You can’t feel the paper’s texture. When was the last time you received a handwritten letter penned on beautiful stationary and ran your fingers over the words? Images that have been meticiously and professionally created and colour-corrected now look like two-day old soup on an uncalibrated computer screen – which most people are using. You can’t run your fingers over the images and words on a computer screen unless you want to leave it full of fingerprints and smears, and probably create a mess of static electricity in the process.

3. You can’t inhale the scent of a computer screen. Now imagine that hand-written letter on beautiful paper from a loved one. You instantly know who wrote the letter because you recognize the writer’s penmanship. Perhaps whomever wrote to you left a trail of fragrance on the paper and envelope. It smells wonderful. Maybe they’ve included a printed photo that immediately evokes a memory. That letter now has even more meaning to you.

4. The letter and photograph you hold in your hand is permanent. The words and images are protected and archived. Digital images, emails, text messages, and online blog posts can only be saved to hard drives. And ALL hard drives eventually will crash and die. Say good bye to all those beautiful words and digital images. And remember, you need a computer to even access the information hard drives / CDs / DVDs contain. That handwritten letter and professionally-printed print can be stored and displayed anywhere. And the bonus is that they’re immediately accessible – you don’t need to install a hard drive or boot up a computer to see them.

As a photographer, I do my best to educate clients on the benefits of paper, especially newlyweds-to-be and families. Creating a heirloom in the form of a professionally designed fine-art wedding album and archival prints will increase in personal value the longer you keep them. When created by the photographer you’ve commissioned to photograph your special day or family portaits, the final product is created with lots of loving care (at least here). We want the images we created to look their absolute best and to tell your story.

I hope you found this article helpful. Please note that if you’d like to use any part of this article for your own website etc, you must ask us first. Please call or write for permission. Respect copyright. Thank you.

This image of Eli is available as a stock image for use in magazines and more.

Have you ever thought your child has modelling or acting potential? Having your child’s image appear in any piece of advertising is one way to get noticed. The Studio has a growing Image Archive of Children available for licensing. We provide this exposure to select clients we photograph at no additional cost. And, we can create modelling headshots to submit to agencies. Get in touch for more information.

But at the end of the day, isn’t it all about the rides? Being thrown round in huge mechanical thrill rides is, well, a thrill. When I was a kid my favourite ride was The Flyer, an old-school wooden roller coaster that was part of Toronto’s CNE (Canadian National Exhibition).

Combined with the earth’s gravity, many thrill rides whip you around at incredible speeds.

New Thrill Rides and Amusement Park images available for licensing, have been added to the Archive. You can view the images below and more, in the Thrill Ride Gallery. Enjoy!

A roller coaster at Canada's Wonderland. (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

The Behemoth roller coaster of Canada's Wonderland, Toronto. (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

People are securely strapped into an amusement park ride. (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

The Behemoth roller coaster of Canada's Wonderland, Toronto. (Dean Oros Photo + Design)

(Dean Oros Photo + Design)

Choose from your own galleries or our huge selection of images in the Image Archive. We can deliver your custom, fine-art print matted and framed, ready to display as wall art in your home, office or cottage.

Enter code MYDAD-11 during checkout. Happy Father’s Day from Dean Oros Photo + Design.

I’d like to share an expected letter I received from Joan Williams last week. I didn’t know Joan before she wrote, but we did speak for almost an hour afterwards. She wanted to share a story in response to my asking for your thoughts on three images I’d created of Winter at the Beach. She had more to write than the comments section of this blog provides the space for, so she got in touch directly. As a photographer it’s great to hear from someone who feels a connection to my work. It goes to show that images have the power to touch people in ways we may not expect. Joan, thank you for sharing.

Dear Dean,

This fall I visited the Beaches for the first time. My father had been born in the area and grew up there. He had just died at age 96 and we had brought his ashes back to bury him at home.

After the burial my sister and brother and I walked along the beach. Your photos speak to that time.

Fog appears as mist in the cold air above Lake Ontario in The Beaches, Toronto Canada.

My favourite photo is #8643. I love the soft little roll of the last wave as it draws up on the sand. From there the water calls out farther and farther into the distance, then on to the clouds and then blue sky.

Fog appears as mist in the cold air above Lake Ontario in The Beaches, Toronto Canada.

Photo #8639 feels like I’m already in the water. (I like to decide myself when to step in.) We know the water is very cold from the land in the distance and the picture makes me shiver, as if I want to step back, not forward.

A lone Lifeguard Station at the Woodbine Beach on Lake Ontario, The Beaches, Toronto Canada.

Photo #8653 is less gripping as it feels like there are strangers walking through what is essentially a very personal experience.

Love photo #8643.

Joan