"The Wells Point is a web site with video podcasts and free information for aspiring and accomplished photographers.
The craftsmanship podcasts walk you through specific techniques that will improve the craft of your photography.
The creativity podcasts will stimulate your creativity as a photographer. They build on the idea that looking at successful photographs is the second best way to become a better photographer. (The best way is to regularly make images and get feedback on them. Giving feedback on your images is one of the long term projects at The Wells Point.)
New podcasts will be posted approximately every two weeks. New blog postings will appear twice a week.
The phrase “the Wells point” has two meanings. One refers to this web site. The other refers to an important tool to better appreciate how light, time of day and the resulting light’s direction can be utilized to immediately improve your photography."
The site has been up and running since August 2008, and the blog posts are well written and interesting. For instance, the latest post discusses the recent news stories about Barack Obama's relaxing of the dress code for the Oval Office. David Wells took the photograph below in 1980, creating quite a buzz at the time with Ronald Reagan being the first denim wearing president. The photo was a career maker for Wells.
Reagan in Denim, by David H WellsI have not looked at any of the Podcasts, mainly because I do not have speakers connected to my computer. (I hate all the distracting sounds that emanate from computers) I play XM's Real Jazz channel in my office and have lived quite happily for years with a totally silent, speaker free computer. I never watch video, nor do I have any music files at all on my computer.
I do have the ability to switch the audio cable from my XM receiver to my hard drive if I absolutely must listen to something on the computer.
So, after downloading my first ever Podcast from The Wells Point, which takes a long minute or so over a cable broadband connection, I found out that I would need iTunes in order to watch a Podcast. (I must really be out of touch for not knowing this ahead of time!) There must be an advantage to using Podcasts over streaming video, but my opinion is that streaming video is much easier and more convenient for the visitor to a web site. (I would appreciate comments about this, because I am clueless about the subject.)
The only other minor complaint I have about The Wells Point is the need to register on the site and sign in in order to comment on blog posts or use other site features.I understand the need to develop databases these days, but it seems that more and more sites are requiring registration these days. I would think that a new web site would benefit most from the path of least resistance when it comes to navigating it's features.
Overall, a good looking site with some great topics on photography technique and creativity. Well worth checking out.
(* Editor's Note * I just realized that you do not have to download these videos in order to watch them... They can be played directly from the web site. Thank you David Wells for pointing that out, and this just confirms how clueless I am when it comes to internet video!)
The Wells Point
David H Wells
Derek Wahila
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