The Marfa Film Festival kicks off this evening at 5:30 p.m., at Marfa’s Crowley Theater with Soy Mi Madre, a film by Phil Collins, no, not THAT Phil Collins. It wraps up Sunday evening with the North America premiere of Red Shirley, directed by Lou Reed, yes, THAT Lou Reed and renowned photographer Ralph Gibson.

Then it’s the opening night party from 9:30 p.m., till midnight with Valiente and Mexicans at Night.

El Paisano is filling up and for the first time, at least on one of my trips, Marfa is transformed to into a bustle of activity.

I met Boyd for drinks last evening at Padre’s and we’re going to get a portrait of him shot this week. Fueled by martinis, a buck cheaper than El Paisano’s, we hatched a plan–I remember most of it.

The wildflowers are fixin’ to explode here, according to Bob Dillard, publisher of the Jeff Davis County Mountain Dispatch, who tells me it snowed at his rianch just four days ago. I’m on wildflower watch for Griffis Smith, photo director, at Texas Highways magazine.

More photos after tonight’s viewings/party.

Fort Worth actor, Evan Brewer, came by the studio earlier this week for a headshot session. He’s competing in a Banana Republic-sponsored contest wherein the winner gets a role in an upcoming episode of AMC’s Madmen which launches its third season tomorrow at 9 p.m. CT.

Good luck, Evan!

According to People magazine, Tony Romo and Jessica Simpson are no more.

I shot this photo and several others of Tony and Jessica celebrating Romo’s 28th birthday at Suite in Dallas on April 19, 2008. Those copyrighted images have performed well for me and my photo agency, ZumaPress during the past 14 months.

It was a difficult shoot due to the crowd and the cramped space.

The images were exclusive and include one of the few photographs of Tony and Jessica kissing. Great stock images, particularly of celebrities, often provide a steady source of recurring revenue. And of all the revenues out there, recurring revenue is my favorite.

Shoot once, sell forever.

Check out this slideshow of dance photos from around the globe in Boston.com’s The Big Picture.

It’s an outstanding collection of dance photos–all shot in the past two weeks.

Spook Bolt, of Bolt Productions is hosting a Stock Artists Alliance “Get Meta Smart” workshop tonight at 2410 Farrington St., in Dallas.

The Stock Artists Alliance promotes industry-wide use of standard photo meta data in every digital image file.

Chris Usher filed suit against Corbis for the loss of 12,640 analog images (transparencies and/or negatives) and won a favorable decision two years after the trial’s end.

Monetary damages will be determined in a Dec. 18 hearing.

Three autochrome glass plates, shot by Edward Steichen, were recently donated to the George Eastman House collection in Rochester.

The images were owned by 96-year-old painter, Charlotte Albright, daughter of the woman on the plates. Her mother, Charlotte Spaulding, was a student of Steichen’s and, for a brief period, a photographer herself.

Legal minds are weighing in on the Stock Photo forum regarding the Curran suit against Getty, Amazon, et. al.

If a book cover is “editorial use” does Curran’s suit have merit? At least two intellectual property attorneys are weighing in.

One of the most difficult/frustrating assignments I give my journalism students each semester is the action shot. We pore over the best sports images from the various wire services in class and they leave ready to capture dogs, boyfriends, intramural athletes, little brothers and sorority sisters in mid-leap.

They return to class fully aware of a major shortcoming of point-and-shoot cameras: Shutter lag. That nasty three-second lapse between the time they depress the shutter button and instant the camera actually exposes the sensor.

For anyone contemplating their next digital point-and-shoot camera purchase, here’s an excellent article in today’s New York Times that explains that it’s not the shutter, really, it’s the processor.