Photos of the Day

by Erin Kotecki Vest, Photrade Evangelist

Jason Teale is new to Photrade this week, and he rocks so much…we’re giving him the entire weekend as Photrade’s Photo(s) of the day.

Photo of the Day

Sarah, Goon Squad Sarah, joined photrade today and upload this awesome shot of our nation’s capitol.

Photrade Photo of the Day

by Erin Kotecki Vest photrade evangelist

…because Photraders have a sense of humor…

lorinyc uploaded this shot today and made us all smile.

Photo of The Day

by Erin Kotecki Vest, photrade evangelist

Photrader Cixate calls this “walk on the beach” I call it “beautiful!”

Photo of the Day

by Erin Kotecki Vest, photrade evangelist

The talent that continues to show up in the photrade galleries never ceases to amazes me. Being just a totally uncool point-and-shoot MOM, sometimes I am in awe of the real photographers out there. TimsDigitalDarkRoom has been an inspiration to me to become a better photographer and parent (twins on the way!!!!!)

I’m thrilled he’s giving our beta a good kick in the tires and look forward to more amazing pics to come!

Why we started Photrade

When I was 12 years old, I became an avid photographer – somewhat of an obsessed little kid with a camera – snapping off photos left and right to add to the ever growing boxes of prints strewn around my bedroom.

Fast forward five years. I remember my seventeenth birthday. My dad brought out a wrapped present which turned out to contain my first digital camera, a shiny silver Olympus (I wish I could remember the model name).

Wow! The silver casing, the snazzy low-res digital images – I was sold.

1000s of pictures later, my hard drive had become an entangled snarl of directories, duplicate copies, and then one day – my secondary hard drive crashed. Wouldn’t boot up again. No matter what I tried, it was fried.

It was then that I realized the downside of using a digital camera – no negatives – no way to reproduce all of the shots I had lost. A piece of my life was gone and I had no way to get it back. Strange to say, but I did nothing about it. Like so many people, I just kind of blamed myself for not making a backup and moved on.

I moved to New Zealand, and fell of the digital grid for a while.

……

Then a few years ago, I started talking to a good friend of mine. I was finishing up college and taking tons of pictures with my Canon Digital Rebel. Pictures like these:

I was learning Photoshop and going crazy with my camera. We were inseparable. Then one day, I was talking to an old friend about the available services online for us photographers. Telling him about how you have to upload the same large file to 3 different sites to be able to share the photos, order prints, and sell them as stock photography. I started researching photo sites on the web. It seemed that there was no concept of giving photographers one place to put all of their stuff that would give them the functionality of all the websites out there for photographers. Suffice to say, soon after we started Photrade.

I met our co-founder, Dan, in the end of 2005. We started talking about the idea/project and formally began working on it in January 2006. Dan had a computer science degree from Brandeis and was amped to tackle a challenge like Photrade. The two of us set out to try to change the photo world… sounds so cheesy doesn’t it?

The next two years – which are much more emotional than I can express in words – take us to today. It’s surprising how heartbreaking and yet encouraging starting a business can be. If a day goes by where I’m not singing on top of a mountain followed moments later by tearing out the remaining hairs on my head, well I’ll be flabbergast.

Jokes aside, it’s been a tempestuous ride to try to create the dream we came up with a few years ago. Looking at www.photrade.com now though, we’re getting closer than ever before. Now more and more people are helping us to create the dream of a simple way for Photographers to get all the benefits the web has to offer – for free.

Thank You Photraders :)

We just wanted to say thank you and welcome to all of the new Photraders this week   We have expanded the Photrade family, and we have a long list of more who are waiting to become part of it.

First, thanks to all of the Photraders who have taking the time to let us know about bugs, fixes, suggestions and improvements.  We value and appreciate your feedback.

Second, thanks to all of the GREAT photographers who have been uploading WONDERFUL photos to the site.  Here is a snapshot of some of the great new photos that have been added to Photrade.com.

Third, thank you to the bloggers who have written about us!  You have helped spread the word about Photrade and WE CAN’T THANK YOU ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!  My next post will include links to all of the bloggers who have blogged about us!

- Photrade Team

Share Photos.  Get Paid.

Wrapping it up here at Blog World Expo

Hey Photraders (and others who read and love our blog)

We are wrapping things up here at blog world expo.  We have met a TON of great and interesting people and CAN’T WAIT to follow up with all of our cool new friends (and new Photraders)!

…and I’ll post photos later!!! (In a rush – we’re getting booted out of our booth)…..

- Krista

Photo of the Day – by ShayNay88

This great pic comes from ShayNay88.  With the seasons changing we thought that this Fall Photo was a good choice for the photo of the day.  Great use of light and I love the colors!

Some more great photos from ShayNay88 – check them out and check out other photos from other photraders at www.photrade.com – Share Photos. Get Paid.

At Blog World Expo

We’re at Blog World Expo this week – in Las Vegas.   Meeting lots of interesting people and trying to generate some excitement for the beta launch.  If you are here, hunt us down and say Hi – we would LOVE to meet you…..Myself (Krista), Andy and Erin are all here, wondering around and would love to meet you all.

We also have created a photo group from Blog World Expo photos at http://events.photrade.com/blogworldexpo.  Check out all the sweet BWE photos that will be posted over the next few weeks…..check back often – you might even find your own photo on there….

Feel free to link any of these photos onto your blog -we LOVE to share.

- Krista