Since Twitter’s character limitation doesn’t allow me to express what I need to say right now, I decided to turn to my blog to thank a couple of professional photographers I know on Twitter. Details below…

As many of my friends know, I have an avid interest in photography even if I don’t do it as much as I like to and/or should do. My daughter, who wants to be a pro one day, expressed some frustration to me on Facebook that she was having issues with getting her photos to appear the way she wanted to. As I know a couple of really good photogs – perhaps more accurately seasoned pros that blow me way – I sent a tweet to David Nightingale at Chromasia, Trey Ratcliff of Stuck In Customs fame,  and Nick Lewis from Journog to see if they could provide her with inspiration and guidance on Christmas Eve. I wasn’t, of course, expecting an immediate response because of the holidays. Read on for what happened…

• David Nightingale immediately contacted me to ask what she is having issues with (I purchased Photoshop tutorials from David in the past for my daughter). I told him what is the mostly likely issue (composition, exposure) & he gave some quick pointers.
• Trey Ratcliff sent a tweet to my daughter offering to review her work, something I find amazing because I know that he has been busy with his HDR book launch.
• Nick, who is probably on vacation, hasn’t responded yet. But I have a feeling he will because he’s a fine gentleman I’ve talked to in the past.

What I’ve done so far:

Purchased a print of Spider-Man from David (I really like the pic because I used to be a comic book dork).

Bought Trey’s book to send to my daughter via Amazon (I am also looking at ordering one of his prints for my daughter as well; leaning towards one of his awesome images from Cambodia).

As many of my fellow Community Evangelist and Social Media friends know, I’ve always been somewhat 50/50 about Twitter because of the proliferation of people on there that claim to be “Social Media Experts”. David and Trey, however, used the medium as a way  to help someone that they don’t know (my daughter) & that’s what impressed me the most; they also didn’t try to get anything in return but earned both my (a) gratitude and, (b) an even bigger fan that will likely purchase future items.

P.S. If any of you gentleman plan to come to Phuket, Thailand in the future please do let me know. Since I recently landed a gig at HotelTravel.com, which means I’ve moved to Thailand for the foreseeable future,  I am more than happy to do any (or all) of the following:

• Pick you up from the airport
• Polish your shoes (you should wear sandals here, however)
• Take you to lunch or dinner
• Drive you to the scenic places where you can do your photography magic
• Let you punch me in the face (only once, I’m afraid)
• Stay at my house for free

Thanks, again, for taking time out of your busy schedules to assist my aspiring photographer daughter. On Christmas Eve even. Amazing.

This picture was taken about two months ago in Hollywood, CA. As this was shortly after Michael Jackson’s death, there were tons of mourners taking pictures and placing stuff around his star.

Lions: San Diego Zoo

Originally uploaded by dbillian

This is a picture of a cool looking lion taken at San Diego Zoo last month.