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Mother's Day Gift Guide


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Reminder from Dave: DON'T FORGET MOM!

I know (from personal experience!) that finding the right gift for Mother's Day can be ... challenging. My wife Marti was actually the one who suggested this page, in the process cleverly reminding me about Mother's Day, without actually appearing to do so. ( - Subtle...) I think sometimes that photography, particularly the digital kind, makes it a little tough to find non-geeky gifts for people. - At least when it comes to the "gadget" part of it, which is where this site really lives and breathes. Here are a few suggestions for things that might make good Mother's Day gifts, some techie, some not...

  • Ceiva--the picture-perfect Mother's Day gift

    Celebrate Mother's Day every day. Give Mom the Ceiva internet-connected digital picture frame, and share your digital photos (and your life) with her every day. It's so easy to set up and use, she doesn't even need a computer or second phone line. You send photos right to her frame! Perfect for any Mom or faraway Grandma. Click Ceiva.com to learn more.

Personal note from Dave:
If you can afford the $199, a internet-connected picture frame like this is a fantastic gift. I bought my wife Marti one of the Kodak frames for Christmas, and she loves it! The Ceiva frame is quite a bit less expensive than the Kodak model, for very similar functions. (It doesn't have a CompactFlash slot in it like the Kodak model, but in practice, I've always just used the web upload for Marti's frame anyway.)

If you have a remote Grandma, a frame like this is a small miracle: You can set it up in advance, so Grandma doesn't need to do anything more than plug it into a phone jack (she doesn't even need a separate phone line for it, since it only dials out to get photos at night). Once it's up and running, you can shoot photos of the kids, upload them to the web, and they'll magically appear on Grandma's frame the next morning!

Even if the frame is no more remote than sitting on the kitchen counter, or on your wife's desk at work, it's still a great thing. (Ours lives on the kitchen counter.) Marti's always so pleased when I upload fresh photos to her frame: It's a great way to let your wife know you're thinking of her during the day.

Tons of fun, highly recommended! (Marti recommends it too!)



  • Need a whole *bunch* of ideas? Our friends at Ritz Camera have put together an entire page of gift suggestions, ranging from under $10 to $1000. - Everything from a cute "I love you Mom" photo frame to a video camera kit, with scrapbooking kits, digital camera kits and lots of nifty accessories in between! Click here to visit Ritz' Mother's Day gift guide!




  • Framed photos are always a big hit! - But what a hassle getting the enlargement made, shopping for the frame, etc, etc, right? Hah! That's why they invented the internet! Our friends at Ofoto are offering a 20% off sale on Frames for Mother's Day - Just upload your digicam files, select a frame, and they'll print the photo, mount it in the frame, and ship the whole thing to you in a fetching FedEx or UPS package. The discount is good through May 16. Click here, and be sure to reference Offer Code MOMSDAY22 when you check out.




  • Is Mom a photographer with a digicam? Get her one of Denny Curtin's great "Short Course" books - They're very approachable, really teach you how to USE your digicam to take great pictures, not just what all the knobs and buttons do. $20-25, depending on camera model, $20 for the "generic" version. All highly recommended.




  • If Mom's a *Nikon* digicam photographer, run don't walk (figuratively speaking) to buy her a copy of Peter iNova's eBook "Mastering Nikon Compact Digital Cameras". $50 plus shipping and possibly tax, but absolutely a first-class "book" all around. This is a really exceptional book on photography, built around the features of the Nikon digicams. Highly recommended!




  • In the "batteries as decor element" category, I recently came across a nifty little "battery caddy" from Greenbatteries.com. It's made of burled maple, and is quite attractive. (WAY more attractive than a mess of batteries scattered on a table or lost in a drawer.) $50 plus shipping and tax.




  • I don't want to be accused of gender-based bias, but it's probably a fair statement that many women are less enthralled with the technological aspects of photography than a lot of us guys are. I love fiddling with photos, and like nothing more than fiddling with a photo to make it look better. Marti's the exact opposite: Whatever's the shortest path between the shutter button and a print is what suits her best. - But what about photos that need fixing? I've long touted PhotoGenetics as the ultimate non-geek photo-tweaker: It literally couldn't be any easier to get great-looking photos, even for the complete technophobe. Even better, once you get a "fix" that you like for a specific shooting condition (cloudy days, indoor room lighting, etc), you can save it as a "Genotype" and then apply it to other photos with a single mouse-click. Very slick, ultra-easy to use, and cheap too, at only $30. - If your wife/mom likes photos but doesn't like computers, this is absolutely the piece of software to get her! (There's a free trial too, so you can check it out yourself before you buy it.)




  • From decor element to fashion accessory: Greenbatteries also makes a nifty little "battery wallet" to help you keep track of your batteries on the road, without looking like (too much of) a geek. $5.95