This 243rd Independence Day holiday week saw a lot of fun times here on Photofocus. We start in a serious vein with a video from Vanelli by Skip Cohen on becoming a full-time photographer, Rich Harrington and Abba Shapiro along with our partner ViewBug offer a free video course on getting started lighting with studio strobes, then Erin Holmstead tells why she attended a hair and makeup convention. It wouldn’t be the Fourth without sparklers so Levi Sim shared tips for making portraits with them and Julie Powell explains what’s “in” in color for still life photography. Hope your holiday was as good as ours. Safe travels.









