It’s time to play! Or, more precisely, run some test prints. And that’s where you have a chance to pick up a free print.

I am giving away 15 of the test prints I will run with this new (to me and my printer) paper. Free to those in the USA. Fill out the form below and in the comments section let me know if you have a preferred image. If not, I will pick one to test with and that will be your print. I can’t guarantee you will get a particular photo (other than the general Preferred Subject Matter selection), but I will try.

The print will be mailed in a standard 5×7″ envelope with first class postage next week.

If you are one of the first 15 respondants, I will require a mailing address, but please don’t send it now. Filling out the form is just to reserve your spot in line and orders will be first come, first served. One per person. I’m not going to type lengthy rules: you try to game the system, I will ignore you.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Sheri, meet everyone on the Internet.

I’m introducing you all to each other today because Sheri is the reason Sabrina and I are getting up way earlier on a Sunday than we normally would plan. We will both be running in the Komen Race For The Cure on June 3rd in Seattle to raise funds for breast cancer research and to aid those battling the disease.

As you may guess, Sheri has breast cancer. She’s been battling it for what seems like a brazillion years. Sheri’s been battling it as long as Sabrina has been alive, over a quarter of her life. I haven’t liked seeing my friend suffer and wishing for a cure for her, and more like her, won’t get us anywhere.

Sheri’s been my friend for a brazllion plus a gazzlion years it seems. Middle school is where we met, to be more precise. She is my only close friend to have contracted this type of cancer and it pains me to see how the disease has changed her life, slowed her down. At least it has not dimmed her smile.

I don’t want others to have to watch their friends go through this ordeal and that is the main reason why Sabrina and I are running the race. It’s only a 5K (3.6miles) and seems like a piddling effort compared to what those who fight for their lives have to endure. But it is what we can do, to raise funds to find a cure.

That’s the length of my spiel.

If you would like to help the cause to find a cure for breast cancer, please donate with one of the links below. Sabrina and I are part of a team of Sheri’s friends all running together. It doesn’t matter if you give to Sabrina or I, the funds all go the same direction. Any amount is appreciated.

Want an incentive to give?

Donate $20 or more and I will send you a set of three blank 5”x7” greeting cards with any of my images printed on them.

Donate $50 or more and I will send you an 8”x10” print on archival matte paper. Again, any image on this site or peterwestcarey.com is available.

After you make the donation, drop me an email and I’ll send you what you like.

Donate to Sabrina’s efforts here

Donate to Peter’s efforts here

Thank you.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Second, while Seattle is currently being buried in a pile of snow, it’s feeling like Spring to me. Maybe it’s because I’m currently in LA where I’m typing with my shirt off and the sliding glass door open to 74F temperatures. It sure smells like Spring and not Winter. Spring is a rebirth time, blah, blah, blah…what it means is I’m shifting things a bit. My main thrust is to realign, blah, blah blah…..jeez, I’m starting to sound too corporate for a writer and photographer with his own business.

What I’m trying to say is, I’m backing up a bit from the world of Twitter and its incessant, non-stop barrage of info. This is a mixed bag for me as I have made at least 40 good friends on the site in the last year (yes, I counted them. When was the last time you counted your friends and were thankful for them?) mainly from the travel writing industry and the rock climbing world. And a few who just love gelato or hot chocolate. But I need a reset from the banter I find on Twitter. And I want to make sure the stories and instructions I am writing are useful to you, the people who actually read my stuff, as compared to the people who just help me advertise what I’ve written (which is often what Twitter is about). I’m going for a bit of what Jodi Ettenberg does  and forwards on interesting things from the ‘other’ worlds she inhabits, such as food and astronomy.

Along those lines, I’m signing up for Pintrest. What’s Pintrest? It’s yet another up and coming site, but it looks helpful for what I’m looking for. And that is some place to organize what I REALLY want to be looking at on the internet and find other such content. I also love astronomy pictures, information about future travel plans (Oman and UAE are big on that list as I am clueless about them, but will be spending 11 days there in May), child raising information, humor-a-plenty and in general, the cool stuff of life. I will of course be looking for photography information as well as travel information.

In short, I want to be more useful, truly. I want to be able to put out content that helps people, be it photography, travel or family related (currently the three big interests in life for me). I want to stop swimming in the noisy pool that Twitter has become for me and dive a bit deeper in a wider pool. I’m turning on the RSS feed section of my email program again and being very selective of what I read. Time is money and in the past I buried myself in every new travel blog I came across. While I will still include some travel items (Everywhereist and Nerds Eye View are already loaded up) I want to find great writing or photography content. Things I would really want to read each day or couple of days. Things I want to share because they are awesome, not because I happen to also be a travel writer or photographer.

I’m going to put more effort into this blog as well. I want stay focused (har har) on putting out great photos each day that I hope inspire you to see the world or pick up your camera more often. I want to inspire you to learn more and to understand more. I love teaching people in my workshops (oh yeah, had to plug those!) and I realize even though it may not be a high paying job, I want to continue doing that in person and on the web; bringing you quality content that enriches your life in one form or another. Or just makes you laugh (such as Have Snark Will Travel and The Oatmeal, which is equally as important.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Again.

This time I left behind all my memory cards but took my camera. Thinking the bag was properly packed, I spotted Mt. Baker very bright and shiny off the starboard side of the ferry boat while taking Sabrina to school. Walking to the aft deck I whipped out my camera and….”No Card”.  BLAST! I checked the bag (one I am testing and not fully packed) and found my hard case which can hold up to four cards. It held exactly zero. DOUBLE BLAST!

I’ve gotten better at not overreacting in the past three years. When the water goes up, I go up, or so a Zen Buddhist story goes.

My brain started working on how the heck I left ALL my cards behind. It was a simple mistake on my part because all my cards look the same and the one I thought was in the camera was really in the card reader. After noodling on how to prevent this in the future, I realized it would be a good topic for a blog post on Digital Photography School, a blog I get paid to write for. (That post should be up next week, in case you are wondering how to not be an idiot like me.)

I hammered out most of the post on the way back home on the ferry as inspiration was still high (and Mt. Baker was far gloomier under a wintery Washington sky). I did have a point and shoot camera and I used that one, which would not have captured Mt. Baker well at all, to take a photo of the “No Card” image on the back of my Canon 7D. Copy file, drag, drop, spell check, grammar check….and post to blog queue.

Some blog posts for DPS take 4-6 hours to write if I’m struggling to explain a new concept. This one took maybe an hour in total. Relatively speaking, an easy payday (mind you, I have to do a LOT more writing to make it an actual day’s pay).

I could have left the boat fuming about missing the great shot, and it was a beautiful view this morning. Instead, because I have been slowly training my brain to find opportunity in ‘bad’ situations, I have a few more pennies to put toward purchasing a new lens.

Have you had any moments when things didn’t go your way, but you were able to make them pay off (monetarily or not) in the end?

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

My living room floor was half covered in swag, not an easy feat as my floor is fairly large (and often covered in dog hair, but that’s another story). I had recently attended a conference in beautiful British Columbia, called Travel Blog Exchange, went on a personal trip to Costa Rica then followed up with a press trip from the fine folks of the state of Colorado. All of these trips generated swag. I wish I had taken a photo of the sprawl, but I wanted badly to be able to walk through my living room again, so it is now clean.

The piles, and going through them, got me thinking about what is useful to me and what is not. I understand and appreciate companies wishing to give me something to remember them by and hoping their name will stay at the tip of my brain. I get that part. I also understand what I find useful from the point of view of a consumer, which is what I turn into when not at the convention.

To that end, I would like to make this an open suggestion to companies, tourism offices and convention organizers alike on what types of swag I find most interesting and useful. I hope none take it as a ‘You suck!” type of feedback, because it’s not. I know you want to get your message out there with a limited budget and I’d like to help make some suggestions from the ‘attendee’s’ point of view. I’m honestly not a greedy bastard, as this list might make me sound, because I truly don’t need all this stuff. But if you are going to hand things out, I hope you’ll take these notes as constructive.

Water Bottles

I have enough water bottles. But not everyone is like me. If you want me to keep your water bottle and use it, make sure it is quality. On a recent trip I received four water bottles. That’s a lot of water (or gin or beer or …). Want to know which one I left behind for housekeeping? The cheapest one. For you promotional companies out there I know money is always a subject, but quality is what will keep the bottle in my hands (assuming I have four hands). On the last trip the best bottle was a solid Nalgeen bottle from Avalanche Ranch in Colorado. The least favorite I left behind? I don’t remember the name. I know quality is spendy, but that bottle will be with me for years.

Flash Drives

Ah flash drives. They are great at replacing CDs (please, never, EVER, give me a CD….my laptop doesn’t have a slot for it) for handing over your company or locations information. I still remember a Nerds Eye View rant in the minivan on our way to the first TBEX conference about her disdain for CDs (“What the hell?!?!” was often blurted out loud). I applaud those of you switching to flash drives. My suggestion would be two fold: 1) make them cool. The recent drives from Colorado and Aspen had a wood casing with the location name on them. Perfect and identifiable. 2) Don’t make them too wide. On this same Colorado trip the other participants and I were using the extra space on the drives to share photos form the trip. The only problem was when someone brought in their drive, all fancied up in leather from a different trip, and it was so wide I couldn’t use one of the USB ports, slowing the process. It’s a little thing, I know. Keep it stylish and small. I use the drives to grab info, share info on a trip and then I will likely use the drive to send photos to a friend later. Your drive will get more use if it is simple and elegant.

Or, for the techies out there, consider putting a QR code on the back of your business card if you know the crowd is particularly mobile device savvy.

Named Stuff

Named stuff is a general category. It’s hats or bags or toothbrushes or anything else you splash with your company or location logo and name. Most of this stuff I honestly don’t like. I don’t want to be a walking billboard for your stuff unless I really like what the company does and support it. Even then, I don’t like generic logos. Today my daughter went to summer school with a lunch bag from my last trip (because I can’t find her lunchbox). It had the location’s name and then “Chamber” below it. I understand the point of view from this chamber of commerce wanting to advertise and it’s a decent bag. The problem is they missed a chance to make their location shine and instead went with a generic “(Location) Chamber” silkscreen. What would work better might be “(Location) – We keep the ski slopes cold and the hot springs hot” or some such. Something catchy that tells me about the place and is lasting in case the bag makes it into the monthly donation pile and winds up in someone else’s hands at a thrift store.

Luggage Tags

This is a new one for me and I received four this last month. I do like luggage tags and they are useful. But, again, I’m not going to advertise your company, most likely. Yet, if you make the luggage tag interestingly shaped, as one company did, and have the company name on the inside of a flap where it’s still handy, I might use it. In the case of luggage tags, Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) have it easy and here’s why.

To me, the best luggage tag would be one a bit bigger than a business card so I can place mine inside, on one side. On the reverse side is a beautiful photo of the location with just the name. Think tropical beach scene, one lone palm tree hanging over the water, and the word Hawaii in the corner. Simple and nice. Now take the same design and replace the photo with Hawaii’s (admittedly nice) logo….meh. I’ll pass.

For any CVBs out there who are thinking of something like this, find a great shot of your location and run with it. Don’t make your name the feature, make the photo the feature. People will see the photo, then your name and want to go there. Think about what you want to sell me (and others looking at my luggage on the carousel): is it your name or your images? Breaching orca whale = San Juan Islands. Delicate Arch = Utah. A stein of beer = Germany. Most US states already do it with their license plates and it looks good.

What Doesn’t Work

• Things that aren’t reusable don’t work as well. I received a nice little tin with some M&Ms in them. 10 seconds later, I was looking for a garbage can for the cute little tin because I didn’t want to pack it home. The thought was nice, but they didn’t last long. The mints, in the same type of tin, did make it home with me and my daughter loved the tin for small stuff storage.
• Very goofy stuff also doesn’t work well beyond the initial laugh. Here I’m thinking of goofy hats or show specific items. Funny saying on a pair of boxer briefs? I’ll get a laugh out of it and so will someone at Goodwill when they buy them (though this may work to your advantage).
• Candy also doesn’t ‘work’ because I get a sugar buzz and forget your name when the wrapper is in the trash.
• T-shirts….hmmm…..this can go either way. I don’t need a lot more shirts, but some people do. The only shirt I kept read “Boba Fett was a Freelancer” but it only gets worn around the house cus I’m not a shirt-with-words-on-it kinda guy.
• Fridge magnets with just your company name on it will go in the trash. See previous note about luggage tags.

Other Things That Work

• Quality pens
• Post-It Note pads
• Maps – mainly because I’m a map whore

Your Turn

I’d love to hear from those of you who receive swag. What’s worked well for you and what hasn’t? What would you like to see? (besides: Matching Ferraris) And if you’re in the PR industry, feel free to comment here asking questions about ideas you might have (or email me individually). Most of us like swag in one form or another and if this post can help create more good swag and less trash, I’d feel my typing today was worth it.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

The folks at Acme Made sent me a bag for review but it’s really not going to work with any of my cameras. For the record, Acme Made is not the company that supplies Willey E. Coyote with explosives. They, instead, make nice looking camera, iPhone and laptop bags.

So my inability to use the case is your chance to pick it up!  The bag is meant for ultra-zoom type cameras or the ones with the lens always attached. About that size. You can find specifics of the bag here on Acme Made’s site. I didn’t even noticed the lens cap pouch the first time through. Neat idea!  It’s sleek. It’s stylish. And it comes with a shoulder strap and a velcro loop in the back for attaching to a belt, pack strap or possibly a small gerbil.

The contest rules are pretty standard, with a twist. Open to USA residence only and I’ll pay the shipping. One entry per person. Only actual humans can enter. The drawing will be held on, or about, Tuesday the 24th of May, 2011. I will use Random.org to pick a winner based on the order of entry. Deadline to enter is Monday, May 23rd, 2011 at 11:00pm PDT.

To enter, do one good thing for someone else, without them asking you to do it, and then leave a comment below. The comment need not be about the good thing you did at all. And the level of goodness does not matter as it’s a random drawing. Here are a couple more photos of the bag to be won. Click any picture for a larger version.

Good luck!

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

First Impression: LowePro SlingShot 302 AW Camera Bag from Peter West Carey on Vimeo.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

Here’s the deal. Wait, no. There really is no ‘deal’. It’s as simple as: show up for gelato, be social with others. Last Summer’s meetups were a lot of non-scripted fun and I met a number of you crazies out there. And you all met each other. And the gelato! Yum.

Throwing into the mix this summer is the fact that I will be visiting Portland for a spell (and possibly Hawaii)(crap….And Boulder, forgot Boulder, sorry)(Costa Rica too) and will bring the gelato meetup with me. As you may know, the gracious and glorious Italylogue resides near the city and I’m sure we can rope her into pointing out a spot for a Portland meetup.

Details!

Where does this all go down? D’Ambrosio Gelato can be found at: 5339 Ballard Ave NW Seattle, WA 98107 (206) 327-9175 MAP

All Seattle based meetups will be at 7:30pm so you can eat something of a respectable dinner and don’t blame me when you stroll in and proclaim that I, somehow, am destroying your diet/waistline/health or any other life affliction you wish to blame on me. It won’t stick. Ballard has restaurants, use them. Gelato Responsibly.

Dates for Seattle

May 16th, 2011 - 7:30pm – MONDAY

June 30th, 2011 – 7:30pm – THURSDAY

July 20th, 2011 – 7:30pm – WEDNESDAY

August 16th, 2011 – 7:30p – TUESDAY (with visiting Pennsylvania dignitary Patrick Gensel in town to climb Mt. Rainier to help out Big City Mountaineers, getting at-risk city kids out into the wilderness)

September 1st, 2011 - 7:30pm – THURSDAY – Last one of the summer. :(

Dates for Portland

July 27th, 2011 – 7:30pm – WEDNESDAY (if that works with Jess. Location to be decided.)

Dates For Boulder

June 28th, 2011 – 7:30pm – TUESDAY (Location to be decided. Expecting hit up Liz, Josh, Angela or the other local folks to find a spot)

Dates for Costa Rica

Late June – Contact me and we’ll find a way to make it work

Dates For Hawaii

Hopefully Early September – More details to follow

Last year’s meetups gathered together @pwcarey & Sabrina, @vasyfille, @mybloomsies, @kag2u, @aghman, @caroundtheworld (Happy Birthday! I still owe you!),@nerdseyeview & Mr. NEV, @hbaskas, @emilyhphoto & beau, @deliciousbaby & husband, @tiffanymroyal, @benwills (all the way from Texas, but he lives here now, so he has to make it again), @normansigler, @everywhereist, @randfish, @global_gourmet, @mtsquirrel, @dogjaunt & her husband, @theclimbergirl, @k8tlevy (from PA, official furthest traveled gelato participant), @icebella_climbs, @cjedmonston and others.  Sabrina will be with me at all of the Seattle meetups except the first one in May. Kids are, of course, welcome. No rules, just gelato.

See you there!

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

So we’re bringing it back!  Here’s the first of the The Fun-Filled Summer Of Gelato Meetup Craziness!

February 9th, 2011
Time: 7:30pm

There, that wasn’t so hard!   I’ll add others as they pop up.  I know, there are only two more months of Winter left, so we’ll just have to make the best of the situation until Spring comes along.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.

©2012 The Carey Adventures. All Rights Reserved.