by John T. Spencer (or in this case, Tom Johnson)An excerpt from Pencil Me In:For millennia, it was a cultural universal that games existed for learning. True, children had fun, but the games were designed to teach both social and physical skills. Children learned to be warriors, how to govern, how to access cultural narratives all through the act of play. In fact, Plato theorized that one could learn more about a person through an hour of play than a lifetime of conversation.Even in America, where we have shifted toward a sit-in-your-desk-and-shut-up-and-learn model, our games become methods of accessing these cultural skill sets.  We get the darkest factory values in child's play. Thus, Simon Says teaches social conformity and prepares small kids for the prison-like environment of their future careers. Dodge Ball teaches Social Darwinism. Hide and Go Seek teaches children that transparency is overrated. Best run and hide from others. After all, this is the building block of many adult relationships.On the flip side, our games teach the best of American values. Hide and Go Seek helps teach autonomy and creativity. Simon Says teaches listening skills and proves to kids that language can be powerful. Dodge Ball helps with teamwork and allows kids to see the value of throwing things at people for sheer enjoyment. So, in our class, we create a game to make sense out of capitalism. It's a market simulation game, where students graph their own investments and interact with one another. Throughout this process, they write reflections, send mail messages and join a pen pal network. A few of them even plog (short for pencil logs) about the process.When the game ends, students debrief the information in their plogs. After words, we set our pencils down and talk. On some level, it feels like waking up for a daze. Students debate the pros and cons of a market system, talk about the risks of speculation and relate this to the economic crash of last year.The pencil smudge girl from yesterday raises her hand, "I think there is a danger in playing this game, but I'm glad we played it.""Can you elaborate on that?" I ask."I think the people in Wall Street got suckered into the same vortex that we were just in. They got selfish and that led to the Panic a few years back. It became a game to win. I think that's how it is for some of the people who run Wall Street."All of this has me reconsidering the notion of fun. I don't want my students to be amusement-addicts who play a violent Hang Man game or throw wads of paper out of boredom. I want students to use pencils as a tool. However, I'm realizing that games can be a tool for learning. I’m left feeling conflicted and confused.  Perhaps technology can be a toy and the game can spur deeper reflection. Maybe the power in every game is the fact that it creates a safe place to rehearse reality.So now I'm sitting at home with my daughter. She's tossing a ball at the fence. The ball has been the dragon that attacked her fortress made of blocks and now it's a magic ball that will lose its fairy dust if it falls on the ground more than once. She's playing and learning and there isn't much of a divide at this age.Perhaps there shouldn't ever be such a rigid divide. Perhaps when my students ask, "Can we play games?" or "Can't we have fun?" the answer doesn't have to be "these are tools not toys." Maybe the answer can be, "Maybe they are tools, but maybe they're also toys. Sometimes it will be fun.  Sometimes it will be difficult. But I will always try and make sure it’s meaningful."And it has me thinking that maybe innovation happens, not because we use our tools appropriately but because we play with them. We hack them. We change them. We use them in ways they weren't intended to be used and in the process, they become better tools. 

By Noah Geisel (@SenorG)Last week, I joined fans of public radio’s This American Life, in shelling out twenty bucks to go to the movie theater for a live taping of the program. Host Ira Glass drew laughs when he talked about the many theater managers nervous that we was encouraging viewers to take out their cell phones during the show. While he was going for laughs, he was dead serious about letting folks fill the theater rooms with screen glow. Dozens of audience members in hundreds of theaters across two continents simultaneously pulled out their smart phones and fired up the app that had been created specifically for this show. Glass introduced the band OK Go, known more for their groundbreaking music videos than pop melodies. The gimmick-geared musicians did not disappoint. The easiest way I can describe the experience: the band played music and with the app the audience played Guitar Hero to accompany them. I think the consensus was that it was pretty cool stuff.At the end of the song, folks put their phones away and the show, as they say, went on. Cell phones have become Enemy #1 in subways, movie theaters and pretty much every public space. OK Go and This American Life provide an excellent example of how mobile technology can be mobilized for positive disruption. They succeed in showing that the negative disruptions are a product of the users, not the phones. This is a good lesson for schools and educators to note. In edu-speak, controlling the impact of cell phones is a classroom management issue, not a cell phone issue. This does not necessarily mean educators need to be incorporating mobile into their lessons (though many readers of this blog probably do); rather, that we are at least embedding into our lessons the idea of responsible cell phone citizenship. Modeling the positive disruptions a la Ira Glass is one of many ways of fostering this important learning.

By Noah Geisel (@SenorG)Others on this blog have been writing about student-produced/student-driven final exams. I'd like to add to the conversation the student-produced final review. This is the third semester that I have foregone handing out a big semester review before the final and instead left it up to my students to guide the review and I have not been disappointed. Just as there is a wide range of abilities in my classes, students produce an array of activities that go far beyond what I would have created, especially on the high and low ends of ability/readiness. I would be lying if I claimed that 100% of students subsequently took advantage of class review time to diligently study and prepare for the final exam but the vast majority do and, from my viewpoint, appear much more engaged in the whole process. I think that the student ownership creates buy-in and interest in what we are doing. Note that while this is for high school Spanish students, most of the tools and resources here can be adapted to meet the needs of other subjects. This year, the most popular and beneficial study guides came in the form of the dice maker, fakeconvos.com, awards show and Quizlet. Below is an abbreviated version of how I introduce this to classes (I post it to them on Edmodo, and those who create digital reviews share them with classmates on the group page):One of the ways that you can demonstrate your own understanding of learning is to be able to show it or teach it to another student. To that end, you will help others study for the final exam (and they will help you) by creating a review activity or game. We will dedicate block day and Friday to preparing for the final exam by using YOUR review activities. You must be able to explain the game to your peers. If you are unsure about your idea, run it by me before your create it. You may do more than one activity. If you have a bigger project to attempt, I am open to allowing you to work in pairs but clear it with me first. Same goes for any doubts you have...if you have questions, ask! Some ideas: 1. Write stories that classmates can read. By reading them, they are studying and preparing for the test. http://www.artisancam.org.uk/flashapps/superactioncomicmaker/ www.makebeliefscomix.com 2. Record a listening practice. You can record a reading of one of our stories from class (They will be in your edmodo library) and have questions that classmates answer to demonstrate their listening comprehension. 3. Adjust one of these games to meet your needs: http://its.leesummit.k12.mo.us/gameresources.htm 4. This site is a gold mine of activities you can use: awards certificate maker to do your own awards show for classmates, dice games, board game generator to invent your own board game, crossword puzzles and more. A lot of you used this one last semester: http://www.toolsforeducators.com/ 5. Create a story (usng target vocab!) in the form of a fake Facebook conversation: http://fakeconvos.com/index.php 6. Here's another site with great resources, including a Jeopardy game maker: http://www.superteachertools.com/index.php 7. Make your own online review game! http://www.purposegames.com/ 8. Make your own poster series (Hola meme addicts!). This site has some good resources: http://bighugelabs.com/ 9. Create a stack of digital flash cards. There are a ton of resources out there. Here's one: http://www.brainflips.com/ 10. This is a step up from a dice game: Sentence Generator http://www.education.vic.gov.au/languagesonline/games/sentence/This is but a partial list of what resources are out there. What would you add to the list? Have you had success (or struggle) with tasking students to take ownership of their own final review? Let us know in the comments!

by John T. SpencerMy grocery store has a sign begging me to follow them on Twitter. Here is what I was expecting to see in their Twitter stream:Hey, I’m selling food right now. You should come buy some. #hungry #foodDid I mention that we have food? Thought you should try it. #food #hungry #eatJust sitting here full of food.  Just got stocked.  Damn I'm full.  #foodHey guys, I have a ton of food and an endless supply of Celine Dion music. #adultcontemporary #food #partyParty at my place. Everyone is in line.  No one is line dancing.  #lamestpartyever #party #foodThere's a #grocerchat in twelve minutes.So apparently all food is ethnic food (even white people food). So do I call it Hispanic, Latino or Latin? #grocerchatReally? But Latin just sounds like singing monks? Is that really what we should use? #grocerchatApparently it's not okay to switch the butcher block signs to Comic Sans. Who knew? #grocerchatRT @Kroger "Wal-Mart is such a selfish blowhard.  I hope he chokes on the vomit from eating up all the little guys." Sorry for the confusion. Supermarkets are for all people, not exclusively superheroes. #apology #foodI'm sorry for referring to myself as the "anchor store." @kay'sbeautysupplystore - U R muy importante to me, girlfriend! Sorry for referring to @kay'sbeautysupplies as "girlfriend." #crossedalineonthatone #tryingtosoundhip@Safeway - You want a link? We got tons of sausage at our site.  @Safeway - Wrong link? :( You want a link to an article?  I've got a whole magazine rack.  #checkoutthatrack #supermaketinnuendoPerhaps it's asking too much of Sprouts to act like a person on social media. However, I would assume that if they were on Twitter, they would do something different. Post some recipes. Send some links to foodie blogs. Participate. Maybe choose a representative from three or four departments to answer questions regarding food. What if I could tweet out to a veggie expert who can tell me the best season to buy habanero peppers? What if I could look into my Twitter feed and get some tips for grilling large hunks of animal flesh? Instead, I see a stream of advertisements for events and sales.Ultimately, that's the real issue with social media. Companies want to learn how to use it. However, Twitter is as much a place as it is a tool. We don't learn how to use the park or the library or the town square. We learn to relate and to participate and to interact in those places. If Sprouts wants to engage with the public, it has to move beyond simply creating advertisements and tweeting them out. You can't use Twitter.

In terms of social media, I spend the most amount of time on Twitter and the least amount of time on Facebook. On some level, it's the culture of each "place." Plus is great, but I haven't found a way to "fit in" yet -- despite having an account and posting from day one. Meanwhile, Facebook is the place where I meet folks from high school.However, it's more than that. It's the concept of space. Twitter is simple and it looks simple. Watch the user interface and there's enough negative space to breathe. Google Plus has more to offer than Facebook and does so with more negative space and easier navigation.It has me thinking of school. When I walk the halls, there's too much negative space. When I visit classrooms, there isn't enough negative space. Physically, there isn't any sense of balance. Students move from edgy overload to edgy boredom without a sense of flow.When I think of instruction, it's crammed with positive space. No reflection. No wandering. No negative space between the subjects and the concepts. Again, it misses the sense of balance. For all the talk of "instructional design," schools are often missing one of the core fundamentals of design. We need negative space.I'm not sure what it would look like, but I want schools to rethink the concept of negative space. I want to recover the paradoxically complex simplicity and solitude of negative space.

Dear Readers,I hate long goodbyes; so I'll spare you.The news: this is it for TeachPaperless. I've decided to close up the blog. As this has been a big part of my life for the last three years, this moment comes with mixed emotions. But it is time; we've accomplished whatever this thing was meant to do and now it's time to make new things.Before heading out, however, I wanted to acknowledge some people who have really made this whole project work. I'd like to thank Reader Knaus -- who I believe was the very first reader to really get into a comment discussion on this blog; thanks to Will Richardson, Ira Socol, Chris Lehmann, and Clay Burrell for inspiration; thanks to Scott McLeod; thanks to Richard Byrne; thanks to Dean Groom and all the crazies in Australia; thanks to all the folks who took part in the original Friday Chat sessions; thanks to the editors and folks at Edutopia, ISTE Connects, NY Times, Ed Week -- especially K. Manzo; thanks ASCD, MindShift, Audrey Watters; thanks to Robert Pondiscio for being such a great person to argue with in the early days of this project; thanks to Anonymous -- who is a very prolific commenter; thanks to Malcolm Gladwell for not beating me up (not that I think he would have); thanks to everyone at Johns Hopkins School of Education -- especially my former students; thanks to Bob Schick and to all of my former high school students / lab-rats; thanks to all of the readers and commenters who pushed our thinking here; thanks to all of the contributing writers; and especially thanks to John T. Spencer -- hands-down the finest pure-writer anywhere near the education discussion today.I think we did some good stuff here; and I think we (or I should say "I") screwed up a fair amount. I take full credit for all screw-ups and I humbly accept whatever the fates allow here on out.This also marks the end of my formal classroom teaching career (although for the last year I've taught exclusively online). Over the years, I've come to realize that I can't be a classroom teacher. My interests in learning are in the things that exist beyond the structure of a school curriculum and an academic environment. Luckily, we are living at a time when teachers have more ladders available to them to pursue their work in education than perhaps at anytime in the last hundred+ years -- from collaborative community based art projects to social entrepreneurship to the design of new technologies to the dreaming up of new programs that challenge the traditional barriers of time and geography and that will effect a real future.And so, in the capacity of co executive director, I've joined with fellow teacher Andrew Coy in helping the Digital Harbor Foundation to found a series of community education and technology centers in Baltimore. We'll be serving Baltimore City Public School teachers and students K-12 -- delivering extracurricular after school maker-experiences where teachers gain free, open, and relevant PD and students gain digital literacy skills through the experience of actually building new things and new designs and new technologies.I'm pretty crazy excited about the work we've done so far; and will be sure to detail where things lead on Twitter -- which, btw, I'm now going to use exclusively as @blakeplock.Last thing I wanted to say -- and this is to the teachers and students out there: go make stuff. Stop jumping through hoops. There is a world out there and there are a million different ways of becoming educated. You don't have to follow their rules. Go out there and make stuff. Stuff that matters. Stuff that makes people smile. Stuff that changes the way other people do things. Stuff that's beautiful. Stuff that's ugly. Stuff. Stuff you make. Stuff that reflects who you are rather than what they want you to be.Thank you all for some great conversation. Now it's time to really put my nose to the grind in Baltimore; I expect you'll be hearing about what our kids and teachers are doing soon.Shelly

By Shelly Blake-PlockIt's time for an update.It's been over a year since I shuttered TeachPaperless, and I can't even begin to tell you how insanely crazy things have been. So rather than go off on a tangent, I am going to direct you to the new blog my team of teachers and technologists and I are writing as we are building something brand new in Baltimore.The address is http://anestuary.weebly.com/blog.html and you can subscribe by RSS at http://feeds.feedburner.com/AnEstuary.We are a team of teachers and technologists building new technologies for teachers by teachers. We kind of like to think of ourselves as a 2013 version of a DIY record label for edtech and we are building new things and publishing almost daily about education, technology, and the stuff that makes all of it a worthwhile pursuit.Come on over, subscribe, and get into the conversation.Working,Shelly

by Shelly Blake-PlockThis is not a lost blog post from 2012.You did not accidentally fall asleep on the TARDIS.This is just a quick post to let all ye olde TeachPaperless readers that I've got a new blog going.The name of the blog is "FieldMarks" and the focus is on professional development and learning in the digital age. You can subscribe to it by email or check it out on the Web.Last April, a small group of teachers and technologists here in Baltimore started a new thing we call An Estuary. Together, we're writing this new blog (in addition to building new technologies and running online scavenger hunts for Edcamp organizers and working with schools and curating the Web's education news).It's a veritable beehive of activity here (and like the bees, we're sure happy Spring has arrived!)This is a special time in the history of education and in the development of learning here on this big old planet. We're excited about the opportunities available for educators themselves to develop the profession, and we're doing our part to help make that happen.So, I hope to see your comments on the new blog, and as ever, I'm always game for great guest posts that really help to push our thinking about education and technology. Feel free to get in touch with ideas.Lastly, by all means reach out if you've got a cool project going on or want to do some brainstorming on where this whole edu things is going. I've had a great time the last two years wandering around the country learning from folks and sharing ideas on how we can take meaningful learning to the next level. From California to Denver to Iowa City to Grand Rapids to Cleveland to New York to Florida to Texas, there is something amazing happening right now. Happy to be a part of it with all of you.

Glass is something that most of us encounter on a daily basis, but rarely do we take the time to appreciate the intricate properties of glass or the role it plays in our lives. Glass is generally transparent, meaning you can see through it, although it can also be opaque or colored. However, because glass is generally transparent, it works well as windows, allowing light to pass through a solid wall, and it’s also frequently used for bottles and glasses, eyeglasses, and in other applications. Glass is produced by heating raw materials and melting them together, then removing bubbles and cooling while shaping into a desired shape. Glass has some interesting properties in photography especially, because it can either reflect or be transparent. It captures and manipulates light in a unique manner, and it’s used in such a variety of objects that the possibilities are almost limitless: Broken dreams are like broken glass By Yvette Depaepe CLOUDS By Harry Lieber oil and vinegar By Aida Ianeva untitled By m salim bhayangkara House of coloured glass By Jeroen van de Wiel Hey! look at this!!! By Cesar March Through the Looking-Glass By Paulo Abrantes La Défense By Waldemar Wienchol Azyl By Remigiusz Ossolinski Let the party begin By Jérôme Le Dorze MOVING STAIRCASE By Juan PIXELECTA ShOwer Set By Tim Photography Glass By Themida’s photos Entering the Space ship By Par Soderman cutting through By Alan Kosmac Generations By Gianluca Trozzi Rain birds By Tatiana Avdjiev Splash! By Sinisa Dukanovic apple By Jordi BCN Large egg By Pawel Czarnecki Still Life wine’s glass By Alberto Bianco Cold glass By Leif Westling Feeling Blue By Rajasekar Alamanda Old By Frank Brendel Autumn By László Czinege Mirror & glass By Panos Lahanas Fear looming By Hiroki Fujitani Two steps up By Katarina Månsson Street story By Martineb Colored Reflections By Jonas Rasmusson Related Posts Windows: More than Just an Opening in Photography Photographers at Work in Pictures 10 New Years Celebration Photographs Geometry in the World with Photographs of Lines Wildlife Photography

Desserts are, for many of us, our favorite part of a meal. Desserts are generally (but not always) a sweet course that concludes a meal, following an appetizer and a main course. Desserts are representative of the culinary styles of their respective regions, and are often some of the most well-recognized dishes from given cultures, countries and ethnic groups. Desserts include a wide array of items, such as cakes, cookies, pastries, ice cream, candy, pudding, pie and more. While most of us are familiar with decadent desserts that cater to our sweet tooth, some cultures prefer more savory desserts. Some of the iconic elements of dessert include chocolate, honey, cream, sugar, frosting, fruit and baked items. Here’s some delicious looking dessert photographs to ruin your 2014 diet resolutions. The only difference between a long life & a good dinner…with dinner, the sweets come last. by Steven Brisson Christmas tree vanilla cupcakes by Agnieska Piatkowska Macarons by Marion Scheper Berries by Lars Bronden Nicolajsen Poppy Seed Cake by Krzysztof Ziolkowski Chocolate Covered Oreo Cake by Ginny Food by Joca Faria Chocolate Tart with Raspberries by Agnieska Piatkowska My Happy Meal Version by Vanessa Dualib Mini Cupcakes Tower by Elena Sukhanaeva Related Posts Delicious Looking Food Photographs 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Delicious Examples of Food Photography Scary and Terrifying Monster Artworks Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5

Today we are sharing a set of paper sheets that have been colored pink. They are abstract and uneven, and useful as overlays or backgrounds in your illustrations and designs. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (25.8Mb) Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (25.8Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Vintage Paper 5 Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - Gravel Free Texture Friday - Dark Red Grunge Free Texture Friday - Grunge Rust 2

If you’ve ever seen photographers hard at work in public, odds are you’ve seen some rather strange things. Laying down in the middle of a sidewalk, crouching next to an object, climbing a building or pile of rocks, holding a camera high in the air, and generally getting caught up in the moment are some of the hallmarks of photographers in the moment. While it may look somewhat silly to passersby, the angle and position of the camera can make or break any shot, so people with an interest or understanding of photography recognize what other photographers are up to. Of course, it’s sometimes fun to photograph other photographers at work, as you can capture not only their scene, but also the act of the photographer at work, creating a unique perspective through which to view the photography world. Look up By Henk van Maastricht Working the Scene By Shamas Malik No photo By Vedran Vidak The photographer By Diego Bardone Photographer By projektmayhem I shoot RAW By Nicolas M The marmot and me By Peter Hegedus Burning Cloud By Bobby Bong Little Photographer By Mohan Duwal The Photographer By Daizy-M Photographer By Victoria Hellner Facing the Storm By Marc Perrella … By Luis Reininho Mr. Photographer By anjelicek old school! By Arsen Alaberdov Photographer By Waldemar Wienchol Photographer By Agron Beqiri Once A Photographer By MikeShawPhotography EOS DIGITAL By Miguel Silva Inspired By Didier Guibert The photographer By Andy 58 the photographer By Lauren Malcampo The Photographer’s Son By Bruno Miller How does this work? By Monique Krivitzki myself By Midori Hata Me By Hans W. Müller Photographer By Malvin Nikon Moment By Jorun Larsen TTL By capture2007 souvenir By Davor Bolant Related Posts Windows: More than Just an Opening in Photography 30 Time Themed Photographs 30 Creative Photographer Poses 10 New Years Celebration Photographs Crystal Clear Glass Photography

The question of "what makes a monster" is a rather tricky one. Most of us associate monsters with fictional characters that have grotesque appearances and are the villains in legends, fiction books, videogames and movies. Indeed, the word "monster" is derived from language that means that something was wrong with the normal order/development of a creature. However, monsters don’t always have to be grotesque in outward appearance, in fact, it’s often the psychological nature that is the most terrifying of all, particularly when combined with a charming or attractive outward appearance. Monsters are incredibly common characters in all forms of media, so there are a lot of artistic interpretations of what makes a monster. Here’s a few examples: Cyclops by Jamesface Magic The Gathering: Fell Shepherd by Cryptcrawler Monster Head by Guangjian Huang Knight of Crows by jamesface Golems by Maria Trepalina Thanatos by ChrisCold WoW: Wrath of the Lich King by David Luong Zombie Claus by kerembeyit Serpentes Antiqua by Alexandre Chaudret Nightmare by leventep Related Posts Monster Themed Logos for Halloween Eye-Catching Digital Paintings to Inspire You Great Photoshop Art & Design Tutorials 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Free Texture Friday - Grunge Surface

Today I’m giving away a set of textures that have been edited with Photoshop to create a grunge and dark feeling. These are best served as overlays and backgrounds, use at will for both personal and commercial projects. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (20.8Mb) Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (20.8Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Rust 2 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Surface Free Texture Friday - Gravel Free Texture Friday - Pink Colored Paper

To most people, a window is just an opening in the wall. Sometimes it’s screened in, other times it has glass panes, and sometimes it’s just a hole in the wall. But a window is so much more than just an opening in the wall. It lets breeze flow into a house, it brightens a room by allowing light to flood in and chase away the darkness, and in some ways, windows are almost essential to our living and well-being when indoors. Windows also serve as a great thematic concept in photography. Looking through a window, at the outside world, or seeing into a structure though just a small window, can provide powerful meaning in photos: Old By Silvia Simonato window By namik toprakci window By CannonCat There’s a world out there By Vito Guarino Behind the Old Window By Adrian Limani Benji’s Window By Noni Panayotov bullies and Dolls By franco maffei Window By Oleg-Y Rear Window By Alfon No Ooooo my neighbor By Vuk Adzic Window By Marek Czaja Window By Ivo Cristallo Mother Son By erkan camlilar Door and window By Tamás Kiss Watchin’ Outside By Ciro Galluccio window By NadyaBird Expressions By Goran Jovic Midsummer Evening By Photography By Jonas K I would like to be out By Vladimir Off Zivancevic - krug Window By Victoria Hellner Window By NostalgiaPhotos New years day By Stig Hammarsten Arterial By SYMPL IMAGES Ann By Evgeny Kuznetsov Window By Dragan Todorovic Dreams By Osher Partovi Beautiful window By Aubélia Vanneste after school By Igal Pronin Window By Rainer Leiss Taking a rest !!!!! By Rosetta N M Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Grungy Window Free Texture Friday - Dirty Windows 30 Beautiful Black & White Portraits Photographers at Work in Pictures Crystal Clear Glass Photography

Valentine’s day is a commonly celebrated holiday around the world, marked on February 14th. Initially the celebration of an early Christian saint named Valentinus, Valentine’s day began taking on romantic overtones during the middle ages, and the more modern tradition of Valentine’s day first evolved in 18th century England. Valentine’s day is essentially celebrated as a lovers’ holiday. Couples frequently present each other with flowers, chocolates, other candy and greeting cards, as an expression of the affection they have for the other person. The significance of the holiday varies from person to person and couple to couple, with some preferring to just spend time together without any material components, whereas for others, the special occasion calls for dinner, flowers, candy, movies and more. The love that is associated with Valentine’s day is a great concept for photography, because it’s possible to capture the joy and emotion that is expressed. Happy Valentine’s Day By Shawn Grenninger Happy Valentine’s Day By Jacky Parker A Rose Needs No Words By Braulio Cosme waiting for love By Awat Abdulla Happy valentine’s day! By Sue Vanderschans Happy Valentine’s Day… By Ahmad Kavousian Dance By Stanislav Šebek Happy Valentine’s Day!!! By yuri bazhan Be My Valentine By Alexander Wolf Valentine’s Roses By Terence Pereira Related Posts 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Valentine’s Day Heart Photography 10 New Years Celebration Photographs 30 Time Themed Photographs Windows: More than Just an Opening in Photography

Todays textures look like they came from a horror movie. These nasty grunge surfaces can be used to create a terrifying and gloomy atmosphere in your artwork, or you can use them as overlays as with most of the textures we post. I hope you enjoy them! (Zip file available at the bottom of this post.) Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (22Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Dark Red Grunge Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Rust 2 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Overlays Free Texture Friday - Green Leaves 2

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so around the world, couples are scrambling to arrange their final dinner and evening plans for their sweetheart. One of the most commonly gifted items on Valentine’s Day is chocolates. Chocolate is a quintessential romance item. Aside from aphrodisiac properties, chocolate also contains various alkaloids and other compounds that are stimulative as well as anxiolytic. Plus, chocolate tends to taste very delicious. Chocolate can be crafted into various shapes, objects, and presented in various ways. Here’s a few decadent chocolate photographs for your special valentine. Chocolates by Andrey Kobushev Valentines Chocolate Heart by Andy Ciordia Valentines Goody Pails Valentines Chocolate by inanalienworld Valentine Chocolate by PetiteCreation Truffle Time by Delonne duPlessis Valentine Chocolate by amCoffeepmTea Feast of Taste by Zeynep Ugurdag Chocolates& Sugar by claudia mchenry Valentines Chocolate Torte Chocolate Cake by likoda16 Valentines Chocolate Box by smvwines Chocolate and Strawberries 2 by NerdyArtist Valentine Chocolate 03 by Hanki Cater Valentines Day Chocolate by Ken Lee Chocolate and Pralines by PetitPlat Valentines Chocolates by Michael chocolate cake by tracylopez Harrods Valentines by Chocablog Eugen Pralines Chocolate by oshrubbery Valentines Chocolates by goddess of chocolate Chocolate Love Pots by claremanson Valentine Day Chocolates by Julia Baker Home Made Chocolate by Razuri-chan Valentines Chocolates by Kirsty Orr Valentines Cake by ginas-cakes valentines chocolate #1 by ilaria Valentines Day Chocolates Candy by Pison Jaujip Related Posts Deliciously Sweet Desserts Photography Valentine’s Day Heart Photography Out of this World Photo manipulation Tutorials Romance in the Air: Valentine’s Day Photography Rich Color in Birds Photography

The heart is the primary symbol of love and especially for Valentine’s day. The symbolic action of falling in love is commonly depicted as Cupid firing an arrow and piercing a heart. While the heart doesn’t actually govern emotions and feelings of love, in antiquity, it was believed that the heart was the source of love and emotions, prior to modern neuroscience. The red color of the heart is commonly associated with passion and desire, so artwork that is focused on the heart frequently focuses on capturing the vibrant, crisp, bright red color to enhance the power of the symbolism. For photographers, the heart is a more challenging concept. Photographing the actual heart is rather difficult, and the reality of a beating heart isn’t quite as romantic as the concept would promise. Therefore, heart photography tends to focus more on the shape or symbolic recreation of the heart: Sailing into Destiny by pixelmama Heart by LietingaDiena Lovers by Przemyslaw Kruk Give someone your heart by Uschi Heart by xXLonging-HeartXx Broken Heart by Marylee Pope Pour out ones Heart by Uschi A heart full of roses by fuchsphoto Love Cherries by olimage .: Heart :. by Bromelia94 Related Posts 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Breathtaking Nighttime Photographs Amazing Lighting in Photography Majestic Cityscape Photographs Photographer Focus - Juliana Nan

Hey guys, this set of textures can be used for adding vintage feel to almost any design or illustration. I hope that you like them and can find a good use for them. You can download the whole set via the download link at the bottom of this post. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (11Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - Vintage Paper 4 Free Texture Friday - Pink Colored Paper Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - B&W Stone Surface Free Texture Friday - Gravel

Time is one of the most precious things we have in life. None of us are guaranteed more time on Earth, and spending time is the ultimate opportunity cost. Any time you spend doing something, you forgo spending that time on other things. Thus, making the most of the time we are given is one of the keys to living a happy life. That doesn’t mean that time can’t be wasted for a good reason, and it’s often said that wasted time that is enjoyed is not wasted time. Time is a fun concept for photographers to play with, because it’s possible to express the passage (or stoppage) of time in a variety of ways. Photography itself is the ability to capture a moment in time, but just because it’s a single moment doesn’t mean that time can’t be advancing: Too late By Hilde Ghesquiere Rush hour By Caras Ionut Please move faster, I want to grow up By Yvette Depaepe The Passage of Time By Toni Verdú Carbó Vacation time By Tatyana Tomsickova As Long As Forever Was By paulo abrantes When We Were Young By Bruno Di Bernardo Time By Taci … By Piotr Haskiewicz Time By Maphtep Story hands By Jaap Coorens Time gone By nebula Hudson 1936 By Andre van Huizen Wrong century By Brickphoto Funeral By Goran Jovic The Hands of Time By Margaret Morgan rusty time By Nuno Mota Running ghost By Caras Ionut tin toy By Waldemar Markiewka The House By Tracy Parker "sunset" (Istanbul) By e&e photography Early Afternoon By Agnès L. T I M E By Edgar Monzón The time has gone By Albert Vik Aged By Zharov Andrey old timer sunset By Dustin Miller time By guzin-guzin Waiting for the next train By Fabrizio Furno Old Times By Saša Krušnik Time By onurkorkmaz Related Posts Romance in the Air: Valentine’s Day Photography Crystal Clear Glass Photography Geometry in the World with Photographs of Lines Windows: More than Just an Opening in Photography Photographers at Work in Pictures

Birds are some of the most colorful animals on the planet. The colors of bird feathers are produced by pigments, microscopic elements that refract, or scatter select wavelengths of light. Colors of feathers are useful for a variety of reasons, such as attracting mates or serving as camouflage. The colors of birds specifically were developed during natural selection, where the desirable color characteristics allowed certain mates to reproduce with higher success. Usually (although not always), the male of the bird species is more colorful than the female. The color of birds can really make for some spectacular photographs, although getting a good snapshot can be difficult since birds are easily startled and fly away quickly. But for the patient photographer, the results can be stunning: On Her Perch by Andrew Steele All My Beauty by Alessandro Rossini Tropical Living by Jessy Bright Feathers Welcome to the New Year by Hennie van Heerden Fine Art of Landing by Thomas Retterath Top model by giorgio debernardi Love Bird Yellow by Mohamad Faizal Omar Shy by Ilias Nikoloulis It is Freezing by BenHeine Related Posts Warming Inspirational Sunset Photographs Valentine’s Day Heart Photography Majestic Examples of Bird Photography 30 Decadent Chocolate Photographs for Your Valentine Dazzling Action Photography

Today I’m giving away a set of grunge overlay textures that you can use to spice up your photographs. How, you ask? You simply open them up in Photoshop and drag them into your document (place it above the photo) and set the layer mode to Screen or Overlay, for example. Play around with opacity and layer effects, and you’ll have a great looking vintage photo. Enjoy! Download all textures as ZIP from copy.com (28Mb) Did you like these textures? Let us know by leaving a comment, and you can even post a link if you used them in your artwork. Related Posts Free Texture Friday - B&W Grunge 5 Free Texture Friday - Dark Red Grunge Free Texture Friday - Grunge Rust 2 Free Texture Friday - Grunge Surface Free Texture Friday - B&W Stone Surface

Black and white photos are a tricky thing for many photographers. It’s easy to come across as an amateur photographer attempting to look "edgy", or for your photos to look straight out of the 1920′s. But black and white photography does have a place in almost every photographer’s arsenal for a variety of reasons. While colored images provide a greater range of shade, black and white photography has an essential subdued feeling that can work perfectly in a variety of situations, particularly in portraits. It also has a nostalgic feeling, which can create a feeling of memory or remembrance, and it can also create an incredible stark contrast between the solid blacks and the pure white. With the advent of dSLRs, it’s most popular for photographers to take a photograph in color and later convert it to black and white, but often, the best results are when the subject is photographed in black and white, as it allows the photographer to see without having to do a digital conversion. The results, particularly in portraits, can be quite stunning: goodnight lovers By Julia Borodina Untitled By Michael Tonsberg *** ByDmitriy Pokrovskiy *** By Ann Nevreva Black By Oren Hayman Now you see me By Tomer Jacobson F l o w By Fadi Tarawneh Speechless By Arash Karimi small Chadna By Robert the widower By Piet Flour sensual by zieniu By Tomasz Zienkiewicz Solange By Vanessa Madec Nadya By Sean Archer Why Do You Love Me? By Kristina Kazarina Gold Dust Woman By Kristina Kazarina The Mind Reader By Ario Wibisono Uncertainty By Risquillo *** By delete Wish By Mohammadreza Momeni Lisa By Flo Untitled By Miroslaw Majewski Leah at the window By Alessandra Manzotti Fashion passion By Yevgen Romanenko Bw By Yevgen Romanenko Farm Portrait By Brian Ingram amazement By Hegel Jorge Ali By tunaakcay Portrait By Kristina Kazarina Untitled By Kristina Kazarina … By Lud@s Related Posts 30 Expressive Portrait Photographs 30 Goofy & Awkward Portraits 30 Amazing Portraits Focused on Hair Inspiring Dynamic Portrait Photographs Photographers at Work in Pictures