About PhotoPXL

Welcome
Thank You For Being Part Of The PXL Community

I have been in the photo industry in one form or another all my life. Photography, quite simply, is a passion; or maybe I should call it an obsession. I live and breathe photography in one form or another. I love all of the gear that comes with being a photographer; but more than anything else, I love the art of taking a photo.

I have been fortunate enough to have traveled the world from one pole to the other, with many places in between. I have met with, and become friends with, many of the greatest names in photography. While it may be expensive to buy gear and take pictures, for me it beats the cost of a therapist. It’s funny how all things become clear when standing on a mountain during sunrise.

Kevin’s Welcome Video

[embed]https://vimeo.com/343352068[/embed]

Getting To This Point

My story is a long one, and as such, I’ll save it for another time. What matters is today and tomorrow. In the fall of last year, I was notified that my job as publisher of a very well known website was going to come to an end. For me, it was almost devastating as the site was my go-to place for 15 plus years. I became friends with the owner of this site and shared the same passion of photography as he did and was privileged to take it over upon his death. But for circumstances that I will not go into here, that came to an abrupt end.

I had found out that I didn’t have a job and all the dreams I had hoped to achieve, with the other site, was not going to happen. For weeks I contemplated my future and one thing became very clear, that was I loved doing what I was doing. My dream was still there. I wasn’t willing to throw in the towel and quit. No one was going to take this dream away from me.

I had many deep and long conversations with my wife and close friends; they all supported my dream and helped me feel positive about the future again. I looked outward and sought inspiration and self-affirmation. One person who has inspired me for a long time is Steve Jobs from Apple. I began looking at things he wrote and said, and the following summed it all up for me and defined my future.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow know what you truly want to become.” – Steve Jobs

Enhancing Your Vision

This quote from Steve Jobs, as well as the support of family, friends, and loyal followers from many years are what inspired me to create this new website that is dedicated to the love and passion of photography. There are a lot of websites featuring photography. Many are good; in fact, many have been created and run by friends of mine. That is probably what I like most about photography. You make a lot of friends with who, more than anything else, you share a passion and love for photography in many ways.

PhotoPXL was created around a dinner table with friends. This site will be about the community of photography, a place where young and old alike can share their stories, learn about the art and craft of photography, and gain an understanding of what it takes to Enhance Your Vision.

PhotoPXL will publish articles about photography and look at the many types of cameras we use to take photos; ranging from smartphones to medium format systems. We’ll explore the many options for processing your images and focus on the art of printing. I’ve always felt the process of making a photograph wasn’t complete until I could hold it in my hands. Color profiles, papers, and types of printers will be reviewed, plus so much more.

This site will also depend on many like-minded photographers who are willing to share their love of photography with contributions of articles and videos. This site is not about me. It’s about what we all believe in so much, photography.

Helping make this dream come true are my friends and business partners. Debra Fadely-Raber, my best friend and wife, is one of the most incredibly loving and supportive people I have ever known. Her heart is huge and she will go far out of her way to help someone else. She is my rock and the foundation that I have built this site on. Knowing she has my back is the best thing a person could ever ask for.

Chris Sanderson, who was with me at the other site, is here with me now. He’s a super nice guy and has always helped rein me in when I needed it, and filled me with support and encouragement when I need to be pushed. He’s been a huge help in many ways and will be working with me on handling the forum, plus special video projects.

I was very fortunate to meet Michael Durr when he moved to Indianapolis and he has become our video producer. Michael is an incredibly nice person with a high energy personality and a creative video instinct that keeps our videos a bit different, but more than anything else, a bit fun. You’ll see a lot of work from Michael on this site and he is very excited to be part of this journey.

More than anything else, I must say thanks to my parents who have both passed away; but even now, have an incredible influence on my life. My mom, especially. She was, and is, my rock and my hero. Without her, this site would not have been possible. I have even dedicated a story about her on this site.

And, finally my friend Michael Reichmann. Michael was a rare individual and a great friend. We shared many things and spent many hours talking about photography. It was an honor to carry his site forward for the five years I was there, and I hope I can continue that with photoPXL.com. It’s going to be a fun time as we march forward.

One of the most exciting features of the new site will be building a community using photographer profile pages. This will be a place where you can share your images with other readers and see what others are doing with their photos. There will also be a forum where you can ask questions and share your knowledge, further developing the sense of community.

We will not only feature articles, reviews, and opinions; but will also have a YouTube channel with numerous training and technique videos.

On the main site, look for more visits with some very well-known photographers where we’ll share their vision in our series the, “PXL Master Series.”  There will be exclusive, behind the scenes segments where we’ll bring you things you haven’t seen before.

Photography for me has always been personal. I can be really serious sometimes, working to catch a certain image. But no matter what, I never forget to have fun. I want this site to mean the same thing for you and be a place where you can come and experience many photography-related topics, and have fun while doing so.

All In All, You’ll Be Enhancing Your Vision

Some Of Our Unique Features

• Easy to navigate, the Home page.  Select a photo at the top of the page to go directly to an article.  View Featured Articles, Latest Articles, and Videos on the top half of the home page.  View articles of specific interest in the second half of the page.
• Easy no-fuss menu bar with no pop-ups to get you to the areas of the site you are interested in.
• A Workshops page that lists our current workshops with links to our sister company Rockhopperworkshops.com
• Visit our Community page where you can share a gallery of your images and be inspired by fellow readers and visitors with images they share.  This is a great place to comment on and receive constructive critiques
• Our own store can be found at the Shop selection on the menu.  As we move forward we will offer specialty photo-related products, frames, downloadable PDFs, books, used gear, and our own swag.
• What better way to be part of a community than with our Forum.  This is an area of the site where you can ask questions of other members as well as share your knowledge with others.  The forum has been set up to be easy to use and navigate.
• My Account page is your dashboard.  Here you’ll be notified of a number of different things as well as see what has changed since your last log in.  It is the first place you should stop when visiting the site.  You will use this section to change information about your account and add photos.

Kevin’s Gear

I own a lot of gear.  I spend a lot of time photographing on workshops I run as well as on my own time.  I like to try gear out and use it and report on my experiences using it.  If the gear is something I will use I buy it.  When new gear comes out I sell old gear and buy new gear.  Sometimes I am loaned gear for an extended period of time to try out.  If I report on such I will mention that in the article.

Here Is My Gear Page – Courtesy of B&H Photo

Help Us Grow – Contribute

We hope you enjoy photoPXL.com.  Our site is a business and like any business it needs income to thrive and operate.  We depend on several means of income to keep this site and business alive and to allow us to do special projects.  We have our advertisers who we hope will support.  We also have a good size workshop business that helps with income. Also, affiliate sales contribute to our sales.  In many articles, you may find specific products highlighted with links to B&H, Roberts Camera, and Amazon.  When you click on and purchase products from these links, you help support us. These companies give a small percentage back to us an affiliate, so please visit the partners, and you will be helping us.

Finally, at the bottom of each article page, we have a Contribute Now button.  By clicking on this button and then deciding on the type and amount of contribution you’d like to make you will help us big time.  We’d like to keep this site free but can only do so with your help.  We hope you’ll find our content and videos worth a small contribution.

Let Us Know How We Are Doing

Your feedback is very important to us.  As a new site, we realize we may have places that need to be improved or even fixed.  We appreciate your feedback and will do what we have to to help make your experience on photoPXL the best that it can be. Please direct your comments to Kevin Raber.

Thank You

Thank you for being part of the photoPXL community.  I have always dreamed of creating a place where photographers can come and call their internet home.

Kevin Raber
CEO and Publisher

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Updated: July 11, 2020