“Photograph” literally means “light drawing”, and that’s never been clearer than with our new favorite boredom-buster, Glow Doodle.

It lets you take long exposures so you can paint with light in real time using your webcam.

Try different lights for different effects: write your name with with a mini-flashlight, fire your camera’s flash, or play with the metamorphic effect of moving while the webcam is exposing.

If you’ve never played with lightpainting before, this is an easy way to try it without setting up the tripod.

And now, what to doodle?
Noodles? Poodles? Oodles of strudels?!
Gotta draw something: resistance is futile.

Glow Doodle: Paint with Light in Real Time!

p.s. Browse through the Glow Doodle favorites set to see the dreamy, arty, surreal and downright creepy images other folks have made.

Study the following phrases carefully:

• Absent-….ed professor
• One-track ….
• Get your …. out of the gutter

If any words appear to be missing, you may have lost your mind.

The good news is, your trusty camera can keep your mind from wandering off!

Snap a picture of anything you want to remember and drop the photo into Evernote.

This clever little app turns your picture into a note (it can even read text in your photo) and creates a collection of little reminders.

Use tags to search for related notes, or add them to a to-do list. You can access the database from your smartphone, desktop, or the web, so it’s available wherever you go.

Take snapshots of places you want to explore, or ideas scribbled on napkins, and pretty soon you’ll remember everything!

Your mind may still wander, but at least you’ll know where it was.

Evernote: Use Your Camera to Remember Everything
Thanks to reader to Lindsay Leung for the tip!

p.s. Evernote works with your scanner too! (And screenshots, and your webcam, and Eye-Fi cards…) Check out their blog for ideas and tips on using the app.

Ever picked up the SkyMall catalog on a long flight and been struck dumb by the motivational posters?

Now really, who (besides Angela) ever got motivated by a picture of a kitten and a pithy slogan?

You’re better off making your own motivational posters. And with these two tools, it’s easy — upload your photo, slap on a caption, and skip the corporate dreck.

Pro tip: If your office actually has motivational posters, replace ‘em with your versions and see how long it takes for your boss to notice. Heh heh heh.

Make Your Own (De)Motivational Posters at Big Huge Labs

…Or at Despair, Inc.

p.s. What’s the difference? Well, both of ‘em are free, and both of ‘em let you buy prints. But if you use the code JOJO25, our pals at Big Huge Labs will give you 25% off!

p.p.s. We heart iHeartFaces. Check out their latest giveaway featuring yours truly.

Photo credit: sirgabe

Here’s how the 50 States Project works:

Photographers from each of the United States receive the same 6 assignments throughout the year. The results of each assignment represent both the photographer’s style and their state.

It makes us really think about where we’re from, which we don’t often do. We take it for granted because it’s always been there.

What would you show about your neck of the woods? Would it be what people assume it’s like, or how it really is?

Try some of the assignments yourself (”People” just finished and “Habitat” just started). We’d love to see what you come up with, whether you live in a state, a province, or a sovereign city-state. (We’re looking at you, Monaco.)

The 50 States Project
via Conscientious

Photo credits: Ben Huff, Alex Moomey, Katie Koti, and Peter Kearns.

~ Have a cool photo product or site? Reach 260,000 photo fans

Has inspiration walked out on you? Is your gray matter a bit too gray these days? Maybe you need a kick in the creative behindus.

The Photographic Dictionary pairs photos with definitions of words, but this isn’t your bog standard A-is-for-Apple dictionary.

Abstract ideas like ascent, vacuous and curiosity are our favorites, but even prosaic nouns like office and bridge make you think in a different way.

Whether you’ve got writer’s block or photographer’s ennui or the systemic aesthetic doldrums, the Photographic Dictionary is good for what ails you.

The Photographic Dictionary
via Craft

Photo credits: Valerie Enriquez, Laurent Champoussin, Sophie Curtis, David Warren and Hasisi Park.

On twitter? Scroll down for something awesome!

~ Have a cool photo product or site? Reach 260,000 photo fans

You know that new movie where the little girl gets trapped by creepy imposter parents with buttons for eyes? Scary, right?

And right up our alley! Reader Henrique Ferreira let us know of a new site where you can make your own self-portraits with baleful button eyes.

Upload a photo (or use your built-in webcam) to start, then drag on your choice of shiny, soulless buttons. We like to think it shows the depraved villainy lurking just beneath your cuddly exterior.

Come, join us in our spooky parallel world. You can trust us. Mwa ha ha ha HA!!!

Button Your Eyes: Creepy Self-Portraits

p.s. It’s our first ever Photojojo Tweet Week-end and Photojojo is here to guide you into the micro-blogging light! Here’s the deal:

Since time immemorial, family portraits have been constructed thus:

Everybody put your nice clothes on and pose in front of this decorative interior/ body of water/ big rock. Now smile.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But if you already have that picture and want something new, here are some ideas.

1) Work with contrasts: John Olson did a brilliant series for LIFE in 1970 of rock stars with their parents, including David Crosby, Frank Zappa, and Eric Clapton. The whole set’s on Google now that LIFE has put their archives online.

How you can do it: Olson contrasted scruffy rock stars with their clean-cut families. Try posing your goth cousin with Grandma in her Sunday best and you’ll get the same effect.

2) Use downtime: Katrina D’Autremont takes advantage of quiet moments like watching TV or resting on the comfy chair. Some of her best family photos don’t even have people in them, just the space they occupy.

How you can do it: D’Autremont uses stillness as her ally. Take photos of your family when they’re not posing, just being themselves. And remember to document the rooms and things that mean home to you.

3) Be a complete spaz: Akihiro Furuta takes hilarious (and definitely memorable) family pictures using silly outfits, odd situations, and matching costumes.

How you can do it: Furuta dresses his family in goofy costumes and has a lot of fun. If you must have matching outfits, go for ponchos and bunny-ears instead of white shirts and khakis.

70s Rock Stars with Their Parents
Keep clicking “more” to see the whole set.
via FFFFOUND!

Katrina D’Autremont’s Family Portraits
via Conscientious

Akihiro Furuta’s Goofy Family
via Swiss Miss

Photo credits: Akihiro Furuta and © Katrina D’Autremont

Thursday is Thanksgiving here in the US of A.

It’s our favorite holiday because it involves:

1. Hanging out with people you like,
2. eating yourself stupid, and
3. falling asleep on the couch in the middle of the afternoon.

Some friends of ours host Thanksgiving for all their pals who aren’t going home for the holiday. When they sit down to eat, instead of saying grace, everyone at the table says one thing they’re thankful for.

Now that’s a tradition we can get behind. We don’t usually think about the things we’re grateful for, but today’s a good day to start.

This week, take some pictures of the things that make you thankful, whether it’s the big stuff:

• your friends
• your spark of creativity
• being able to see well enough take photos

or the little stuff:

• warm socks on a cold night
• the first cup of coffee in the morning
• that album that always makes you feel better when you’re in a bad mood

The next time somebody tells you to count your blessings, just whip out your photos and say, “I’m way ahead of you, buddy.”

What Are You Grateful For?
Post your photos of the things that make you glad.

The 52 Blessings Project
Take a photo each week of something you’re grateful for.

Photo credit: Angela Martini

How?

How in the name of the Jolly Green Giant did Meg Wachter get anybody to pose for these portraits?

Was it bribery? Hypnosis? Did she promise them a guest spot on “You Can’t Do That On Television”?

Probably all of the above.

Tell ya what we’d do if we wanted to get pictures like these, though:

We’d host a big end-of-summer BBQ/pool party, with lots of soupy side-dishes, and we’d wait ’til everybody all had their bathing suits on, and then we’d break out the camera for the hugest, sloppiest, food-fight photo extravaganza there ever was! Yeah!

We’re not saying you have to spend this coming weekend that way, it’s just, you know, it is the end of summer. And they would be really awesome pictures. We’re just saying.

Meg Wachter’s “Dumped” Portraits

p.s. Congratulations to the winners of our Lomography + Photojojo Photo Tip Contest! First prize goes to lauramary, followed closely by shanegoguen, tom_ashor_bhaan, halfawakehaiku, and ginnymae.
Thanks to everyone who entered- you’re all brilliant!

In these last, dreamy days of summer, there’s nothing we’d rather do than lie around in the park and stare at the clouds.

And take pictures, of course!

Horst (hb19 on Flickr) has been doing just that, and it looks like he’s redefined the science of cloud manipulation*.

He finds the perfect sky or set of clouds and gives them their object counterpart. The cloud shooting out from a bottle’s top. The sun’s perfect, shiny orb behind his ET-like finger. The fluffy ice-cream cloud on top of its cone. hb19 gives new meaning to the art of cloud watching.

Summery skies abound. Take our advice and point your lens skyward before the winter chill descends.

hb19’s sky play photo set

via Crystal Ginn (You, too, can send us tips via twitter. Just start your tweet with @photojojo)

* Speaking of which, did you know China fired 1,104 rain dispersal rockets to prevent rain during the Olympics’ opening ceremonies? We live in the future!

p.s. Peep these pics from our lightpainting events in NYC and San Francisco last week!