Digital Railroad - another archive site

Another company specializing in digital file management, marketing, sales, distribution and archiving is Digital Railroad.

Digital Railroad offers 20 GB storage for $49.95/month with a one-year contract and a $99 one-time setup fee. If you prepay for the year you save 10% (44.95/month) and the setup fee is waived.

Additional storage is 20 - 50GB $18, 500GB - 1TB $390/month and 1TB - 2TB $750/month.

Features are about the same as PhotoShelter (see next post), with searchable catalogs, sales and distribution, promotion.

I think these sites are going to be more popular because of all the background operations the service provides that the stock or fine art photographer doesn't or shouldn't need to do nor has time for. For photographers who are hiring website designers and paying premiums for hosting, the fees charged by the likes of Digital Railroad and PhotoShelter are about the same or even much less.

I've had a website since 1994 and have been doing the design work on it myself since the beginning. However, I'm not able to keep up with the technology in that area, so my website has begun to suffer in features, updates, design elements, etc. While I've considered hiring out the design and maintenance of the website, I prefer to be hands on with it as much as possible. These services are not only appealing to photographers without websites or the skill to create one on their own. They provide the ability to have offsite protected image storage, customizable features and templates, and a host of other components that make it more appealing to busy professional photographers who still like to tinker with their websites.

PhotoShelter - Archiving Digital Image Files

With the Digital Age thoroughly upon us, the continuing question of the longevity of digital files becomes more insistent as the mountains of files build and build. For professionals, it's not much of a choice. You back up or risk losing your livelihood. For everyone else it's a decision based on the importance of images such as births, first steps, first day of school, graduation, wedding, best friends, and so on. Where do you store these files?

Unfortunately, there is a large population of digital photographs out there without the original file. People without computers make the trip to the local drugstore, superstore, or image kiosk, insert their memory card, make a print, then delete the card to make room for more files. Once done and overwritten, that file is pretty much gone. Once the print fades or is damaged, it's gone forever. Without a computer or other way to backup original image files, personal history (in photographs) can easily end with the purchase of a digital camera.

There are several solutions, burning to CD or DVD, storage on internal or external hard drives or server arrays. Also, multiple copies stored in different site locations is preferrable for optimal security. Digital file storage can get expensive very quickly if you're a prolific shooter. This is compounded by the file type being stored (JPEG, TIFF, RAW, etc.) as the individual file size increases from JPEG to RAW. CDs, DVDs, even hard drives become inadequate storage devices and continually need to be replaced with empty storage media.

A person getting into digital photography needs to be aware of the technology (and changing technology), keep up with changes in software, hardware, storage technology, and upgrade and purchase new equipment. It's a daunting task even for those of us trying to make a living at it. It is often overwhelming to first-time digital shooters.

A new business model is cropping up which provides off-site data storage accessible via the web and includes a variety of other features such as storefronts and product creation (t-shirts, mugs, calendars, photo prints). The interface allows you to upload, describe, keyword, search and otherwise manage your collection and your files are guaranteed to be safe, although I'd hate to be in their shoes if that ever wasn't the case.

One such company is www.photoshelter.com. This company has been gaining in popularity, primarily among professional photographers, for it's storage options, relatively moderate cost, and other features geared toward the stock and fine art photographer. There is no setup fee, no minimum contract, no bandwidth limits and no termination fee. Storage starts at 10GB for $5.99/month and goes up. 35GB is $19.99/month and 1TB is $400/month. Other features include sales customization with website integration for $20/month, set up a virtual agency for $5/month and be able to FTP directly from PhotoShelter also for $5/month.

If you'd like to sell online, it will cost you $1 per transaction in addition to any merchant or other processing fees assessed by your e-commerce provider.

For stock photographers, Rights Managed and Royalty Free pricing can be set. Rights managed pricing is currently done via an online form that is customizable. Soon, it will be menu-driven.

RSS feeds are available to keep your clients informed when new images are uploaded to your library. Text or graphical watermark overlay is generated "on-the-fly" so it can be changed for all images easily and at any time.

If you want to sell prints, PhotoShelter is partnered with EZPrints to provide up to 20x30 enlargements on Fuji Crystal Archive paper. Other products are available through EZPrints, such as mugs, t-shirts, calendars, but I don't know if those are also available through PhotoShelter.

PhotoShelter's statement "Photography that can't be seen has no value" is true on many levels. A 7-day free trial is offered.

Robots to the Rescue

Honda was the first (1986) to develop a bi-pedal robot (ASIMO) that walked, climbed stairs, and looked fairly human (in a spacesuit, perhaps). Now there are other companies, mostly Japanese, working on human-looking service robots. Geared toward helping people with disabilities or working in office environments, these robots get things, manuever objects, access networks, recognize faces, gestures and environments, and can even take part in rudimentary conversations.

The links to 2 main sites are below:

Honda'a ASIMO looking a bit nervous with fists clenched

Honda ASIMO (videos, history, design concept, technology, lots of information)

Kawada's HRP-2 Promet looking very "transformer-ish"

Kawada HRP-2 Promet (videos of the HRP-2 in action)

Jet Boat Racing

This series was shot last summer at Riggins, Idaho. This is an exciting event that happens once a year in this bump-in-the-road town along the Salmon River. The boats race downriver about 8 miles, turn around, and race back upriver. They do this about 3 times each day and the fastest time wins. Speeds upwards of 80 mph are reached on the flat water and exciting wave jumps occur in the rapids. As you'll see, the spectators are right along the shore and the boats get pretty close. You can see more photos of this event Here.

Here they come

After splashdown there appears to be a problem. The pilot appears to be having some trouble steering the boat.

The strong current pushes the boat toward shore as well. I'm standing on rocky rip-rap about 20 ft from the rock just visible at the lower left. If the pilot can't get the boat turned.... Amazingly, there is a guy crouched down just behind the rock at the lower left, oblivious to what is about to happen.

A second later I know this boat is not going to stop. My good angel is yelling "Get out of the way!" and my bad angel is yelling "You wuss! Hold your ground and keep shooting!" These boats use high performance fuels. Highly explosive. And this guy is gunning it trying to get back into open water. I envision the boat flying up over the rock; it's aimed right at where I'm standing. Any sort of explosion makes running a non-event. I keep shooting.

Okay, I'm a wuss. The boat hits the rock and I duck, turning away and taking about a 1/2 step. Out of the corner of my eye I see the boat come up over the rock and turn back, nose into the river. No flying squasher of puny human or small nuclear explosion. I turn back and get set to keep shooting. I missed it. I look around quickly and amazingly the guy that was behind the rock has somehow made it halfway up the rocky rip-rap, about 30 feet. His buddies think it's a hoot and are laughing their asses off.

So, here are these guys strapped into an aluminum boat, nosed into an oncoming rush of water that spills over the bow of the boat and into the cockpit. The boat starts to sink very quickly. There's about 100 people on the shore and most of them are yelling and screaming at the racers to get out. Duh. Some guys are running down the rip-rap to help. I saw this happen earlier just on the upstream side of this spot when another boat ran aground. Guys running, slipping on the wet rocks, cracking their skulls, elbows, arms, falling between large boulders, generally putting themselves at serious risk of injury. I imagined in this case seeing 3 or 4 guys pitch into the river in their enthusiasm or hear the crack of a broken skull, but despite the pandemonium some folks were able to get to the boat.

I stopped shooting for a few seconds, debating if I should lend a hand since I was so close. I also didn't want to photograph these guys going under if they didn't get out in time. I decided that I wouldn't be much help since I don't have any experience rescuing guys in sinking boats. The boat filled up very rapidly. The first guy got out with assistance from shore (you can see his red helmet just left of center above the guy in blue jeans) and the second guy was actually climbing the boat as it tipped over into the river and got a good grip on a human chain of rescuers.

The second guy is still not really on shore. He's standing on the side of the boat as it's going down, half on the rock, but his only safety line is gripping the human chain. With a last sort of leap, he clears the boat and is pulled onto the rocks as the boat goes under. It just goes down and disappears as soon as it passes under the surface. I mean, I can't see it. The current takes it and there's no sign right there or even just downriver that there's a 15 ft bright yellow jet boat anywhere in the vicinity. Lots of clapping and cheering. I think it took them 2 weeks to locate the boat and haul it out of the river.

All this happened in less than 2 minutes.

Kodak T-Max 400 Large Format Sheet Film

Today I received an email from John Sexton that I thought I would pass on. The text is here:

"This is a brief email announcement for readers of the John
Sexton email newsletter.

I recently learned of the fact that J and C Photo has
arranged with Kodak to make a production run of Kodak T-Max
400 Professional Black and White film in special sheet film
sizes. This includes ultra-large-format sheet film sizes
up to 20x24" in size, as well as no longer available sizes
like 3-1/4x4-1/4".

I have nothing to do with this order myself, but thought it
might be of interest to you. It is a rare opportunity for
large format photographers that want to use Kodak T-Max 400
film.

If you are interested in learning more about this special
order, or to place an order, go to:

jandcphoto.com

The deadline for discount pricing on this special order is
January 30th, so check it out now."

If you're interested in receiving John Sexton's newsletter, go to his website and sign up.

Blue Planet Photo on the Radio

If you'd like to know more about what I do, I'll be on the Daytona-N-Friends National Radio Show Wednesday, 1/25/06, 9:30pm Mountain Time. Thanks to Dale Peterson, Executive Director of Buy Idaho, Inc. for getting me on this nationally-broadcast show.

The stations are mostly AM and the affiliate list is Here. I certainly hope you can tune in and please let me know what you think if you do.

National Writing Project

I'm a big supporter of quality education, critical thinking, and competence in speaking and writing (whatever language(s) you speak and/or write). The National Writing Project seeks to improve writing in America through professional development, programs and research needed to educate and assist teachers to help their students to become successful writers and learners, and developing teacher leadership. The National Writing Project serves over 100,000 4-12 grade teachers annually.

You can join NWP for free online and also receive their email newsletter, E-Voice, which includes NWP news, articles, and resources.

Good writing = good communication

Scanner Photography

Most of us with flatbed scanners have scanned 3D objects and others have photographed, or "scannergraphed" such things as flowers and printed them large as fine art prints. Here's a site by Mike Golembewski calledThe Scanner Photography Project where he's taken a flatbed scanner and attached it to the back of a 4x5 camera, creating a homemade 115 megapixel digital camera. Very interesting.

The site has image examples, descriptions of the technique, special features of scanner photography, basic instructions on how to make your own "scanner back", and tips on getting software to work with your modified scannercamera.

I have to say that just going through the site I can tell this type of thing isn't for everyone. The chance of ruining the scanner is fairly high and the need for code modification of the Twain software necessitates either having that knowledge or having a friend with that knowledge. Good Luck!

Pic of the Day 1/22/06

Yaquina Head Lighthouse
Newport, Oregon

Konica Minolta follows Nikon but keeps on going

Konica Minolta has announced it will cease all production of camera equipment. Press release below:

PRESS RELEASE

Konica Minolta Announces Withdrawal Plan for
Camera Business and Photo Business

Konica Minolta has long been a leading company in photo imaging business covering wide range of imaging from input to output. In addition, we have provided inspiring products and services by fusing our unique technologies.

In camera business, we have expanded picture-taking opportunities by developing innovative technologies such as the world’s first autofocus cameras. In 1962, our camera, well-accepted for its high reliability, boarded on the US’s first manned spaceship "Friendship 7."Also, ever since introduction of the world’s first body-integral autofocus SLR camera, Maxxum/Dynax series, in 1985, SLR cameras have become more popular among picture-takers, and we have succeeded in selling 16 million units of interchangeable lenses since then.

However, in today’s era of digital cameras, where image sensor technologies such as CCD is indispensable, it became difficult to timely provide competitive products even with our top optical, mechanical and electronics technologies.

In photo business, represented by the silver-halide photography such as color film and color paper, we have produced Japan’s first photographic paper in 1903, and Japan’s first color film in 1940, thus pioneering joy of photography for more than a century. In 1984, we introduced the world’s first compact washless photofinishing system known as a minilab system. The minilabs contributed to the expansion of worldwide photographic market by making photos closer to consumers and amazingly shortening delivery time.

However, traditional silver-halide photographic market is shrinking astonishingly by the surge of the worldwide digitization. In such a changing world, profits for camera and photo businesses worsened in recent years, and it became necessary to drastically reform business structure for the further growth of Konica Minolta. Ever since we decided and announced restructuring guidelines of our businesses on November 4, 2005, we have been considering practical and detailed plan, and we would like to announce our decision made today as follows:

1) Camera Business

In camera business, we have reached an agreement with Sony Corporation(Sony), having numerous image sensor technologies such as CCD and CMOS, to jointly develop digital SLR cameras in July 2005. In order to continue to have our customers use Maxxum/Dynax lenses, and to maximize possibilities of the optical, mechanical and electronics technologies accumulated through development of SLR cameras in the years to come, we came to the conclusion that it was best to transfer assets concerning camera business to Sony. Since then, we have been negotiating with Sony, and as a result, we have reached an agreement with Sony to transfer a portion of assets regarding digital SLR camera system to Sony--1. In this relation, we have decided to withdraw from camera business--2, such as film cameras and digital cameras, within Konica Minolta Group as of March 31, 2006.

Sony is planning to develop digital SLR cameras compatible with Maxxum/Dynax lens mount system, so that the current Maxxum/Dynax users will be able to continue to use them with Sony’s digital SLR cameras. In addition, we will consign camera service operations for Konica Minolta, Konica,Minolta brand cameras and related equipment to Sony.

--1
Pease refer to the news release, "Partial Transfer of Assets Related to Digital SLR Cameras ", separately announced today.
--2
Except for digital SLR cameras and interchangeable lenses produced for Sony.

2) Photo Business

In today’s shrinking photographic market represented by color film and color paper, we have been considering to scale back and to continue photo business at an appropriate size; however, when we foresee the photographic market, it is quite difficult to maintain profitability in this field, and we have decided to withdraw from photo business. As schemed below, we will, as much as possible, avoid causing any inconvenience in providing products to our worldwide customers in the course of withdrawal.

For color film and color paper, while considering our customer needs, we will step-by-step reduce product lineup and cease our color film and color paper production by the end of fiscal year ending March 31, 2007.

For minilab business, we will cease production of the system by the end of fiscal year ending March 31, 2006; however we will have such company as Noritsu Koki Co., Ltd to provide maintenance and customer services so as not to cause any inconvenience to our customers.

--1
Pease refer to the news release, "Consignment of Service and Maintenance Operations for Minilabs ", separately announced today.

In line with the above scheme, with consideration to our customers and regional situations, we will step-by-step reorganize our sales offices and withdraw from all of our photo sales activities by September 30, 2007.

3) Personnel Management

As a part of Konica Minolta Group’s restructuring, we will proceed with withdrawal plan for camera and photo businesses and aggressively shifted their management resources to other Konica Minolta Group companies. While continuing this effort, in order to rationalize a number of employees, we have decided to reduce worldwide Konica Minolta Group employees by 3,700 from the current 33,000 including early retirement offering by September 30, 2007--.

--
The early retirement offering is for Konica Minolta Group’s holding company, five business companies and two common function companies in Japan.

The expenses to be incurred with this restructuring are already included in the forecast for fiscal year ending March 31, 2006.

Konica Minolta Group will make our utmost efforts not to cause any inconvenience to our customer due to the decision we made this time. At the same time, camera and photo businesses are our traditional businesses ever since our founding, and we wish to express our heartfelt appreciation to the worldwide Konica Minolta fans for their patronage to our products for more than a century.

Konica Minolta Group is aiming to become more powerful corporate group by swiftly meeting market changes and pursuing "selection and concentration". We will, from now on, be concentrating our business resources on non-consumer businesses, such as the core "business technologies"field, the strategic "optics and display devices"field, and the growth expected "medical imaging"and "sensing"fields, increase competitiveness, and endeavor to further expand corporate value.

Outline of camera business
Main business: Manufacturing, sale, and related services of photographic equipment such as digital cameras, film cameras and lenses
Fiscal year ended March 31, 2005: Net sales: 117,000 million yen (Forecast for fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 is 75,000 million yen)
Operating Loss: 7,300 million yen

Outline of photo business
Main business: Manufacturing, sale, and related services of consumer and commercial photographic materials, inkjet media, and related equipment
Fiscal year ended March 31, 2005: Net sales: 151,500 million yen (Forecast for fiscal year ending March 31, 2006 is 110,000 million yen)
Operating Loss: 1,400 million yen

Northern Goshawk Photo used by U-Haul

Sometimes my previous life as a wildlife biologist comes into play. U-Haul has used one of my photos of a northern goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) chick in the nest on their Supergraphics information site for Alaska, which features goshawks on the Tongass National Forest.

My goshawk thesis summary site, From the Egg to the Air is the top visited site for goshawk information. In my summary I describe the life of goshawk chicks in northcentral Nevada from hatching to post-fledging (after they leave the nest and start learning to survive on their own). I spent 2 summers radio-tracking fledgling goshawks, monitoring their movements around and away from the nest. I was involved in studying goshawks in Nevada from 1994 to 1998 on research about feeding habits, mate and nest fidelity, population dynamics, and my own project. In the animal world, I'm a bit partial to predators, and goshawks are very efficient and elegant in what they do. Watching a goshawk swoop down silently off a branch like a stealth fighter, dogfight an American robin around a lodgepole pine, or dart in and out of tangled branches like an acrobat gives a person greater appreciation of what it takes to survive in the wild.

In Ecology there are a couple sayings, "There is no such thing as a free lunch" and "Everything is connected to everything else". These principles are true no matter what lifeform you are or what environment you live in. Humans realized this long before the science of ecology was born. A simple Lakota Sioux prayer, which I learned while working on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations is "Mitakuye Oyasin" is variously interpreted as "We are all related", "All my relatives" or "We are all brothers". It means that for survival all life depends upon one another as well as on the non-living components of the planet we live on, the earth, sky, water, air, and fire. It is a truth in the deepest sense of the word.

I'll stop there before I end up completely off the topic. I'll save that discussion for later.

Stock Photography Resources

Now and then I'll post a resource or two for the "industry", being stock, fine art, or commercial photography. Here's one that came across my email the other day.

stockphotographer.info

I haven't been able to review it extensively, but on the surface it seems like it could provide some useful information.

The site has info on industry information (trends, etc.), software, cameras, interviews, newsletter, RSS feeds, and other resources pertinent to the stock photographer.

This site reminds me a little bit of PDN Online in its visual format. Registration is free, unlike PDN Online which requires a subscription to access more deatiled or current content.

When I get a chance, I'll peruse the site more closely and update my thoughts on this site.

Pic of the Day 1/17/06

Denver City and County Building
Denver, Colorado

Buy Idaho Show

The past couple days (and today) I've been working to get ready for the Buy Idaho Capitol Show. Buy Idaho, for those of you who aren't familiar, is an organization that supports and promotes Idaho products and services to in-state and out-of-state buyers, businesses and the public. Buy Idaho sponsors 4 trade shows each year where members can exhibit their products and services. By far the most productive event is the Capitol Show, held in the Idaho Statehouse Rotunda. There's no selling at this show, but orders can be made and definitely contacts are made. It's by far the best Buy Idaho show of the year. I tend the think of it as the last show of the year, but it's really the first.

Anyway, it's 1/18, from 8am - 5pm at the Statehouse Rotunda. If you're in the area, stop by. My booth is on the second floor just across from the elevator. Or, if you take the stairs, the top of the southeast stairs. There will be about 100 vendors, so plenty of selection.

Can You Relate?

Update on the Nikon Story

Later on in the day, DP Review posted some more information on the Nikon ceases film camera production story I posted earlier this morning. Nikon will stop producing all lenses for large format cameras and enlarging lenses, as well as manual focus lenses and related accessories. Nikon will be focusing their production and R&D attention on autofocus lenses and digital cameras from here on out.

Some Excellent Wildlife Photos

The results of the National Wildlife Federation's 35th annual photography competition are Here.

The Grand Prize winner is a stunning photo of a great gray owl flying low to the ground, face on to the photographer. A frame-filling image shot with a 500mm lens. You will notice that among the photos, many have been shot with long telephotos in the 400mm + range. Notice the difference, though, in the last two images.

Real Beginning of the end for film?

This just in. A report in Japan's Mainichi newspaper today (Friday 1/13/06) states that Nikon has officially announced they are going to cease development of film cameras and that all current models except the F6 and FM10 will be discontinued. These 2 models will remain in production (for how long?) along with 9 lenses (no list).

There will coe (if it has not already) when the demand for digital products meets then exceeds the demand for film products. At that point film products will be dropped. We've seen it recently with Kodak discontinuing production of black and white printing papers, Polaroid discontinuing Time-Zero film, no new film cameras debuted at PMA in 2005, etc. The tide is turning. Start honing your computer skills.

Pic of the Day 1.11.06

Pacific Ocean Evening
Vancouver Island, British Columbia

This one maybe needs some explanation. I shot this from my balcony at the Wickaninnish Inn last January on my Winter Storm Watch Tour. It was about 10pm, it was overcast, raining and the exposure was 5 minutes. During the exposure I used a flashlight to illuminate the surf crashing on the rocks as well as the trees. Look for more photos from this trip and trip dates for January 2007.

Gigabit Ethernet

I received a postcard in the mail the other day advertising internet services (ISP) from a place in California. One of the services is a Gigabit Ethernet. 1,000 Mbps, that's 1 million bits per second of bandwidth. Standard U.S. T-carrier lines have a bandwidth of 1.544 Mbps. The fee.....$13,000 per month. Ouch. I'm guessing that doesn't include installation. I wonder how long it will be when we all have reasonably priced access to that kind of bandwidth? It will happen, just how many years from now is anyone's guess.

Creativity

So, where does it come from? Is it inherent or learned? And, if it is learned, can it be taught or is it merely discovered and nurtured through guidance? Well, if that's the case then I tend to lean toward creativity being inherent, only most of us tend not to notice we have it. Creative inspiration comes from many sources though primarily from our own experiences, past, present and future (future experience being what we hope/dream/plan. How we perceive our future impacts how we feel and what we do in the present). We're certainly influenced by what we see others do, adapting someone's perception to our own, sometimes outright copying or "appropriating" (what a nice word that also means "plagiarize"). Mostly, creativity seems to be an internal force, maybe a 7th sense. It's definitely a means of communication different from sound, sight, taste or touch, yet incorporating elements of each as well as something more.



When I first started getting serious about photography I think my mode of thinking was like most everyone else in that same situation. I read several articles and books that differed in their response to the question "where do I get my inspiration from?". Many of them recommended looking at what others were doing and either to emulate them or take their vision and modify it. Very few said "do what comes natural" which is what I really wanted to do. After more thought I decided that doing what came natural to me would be both more personally satisfying and open up more avenues to be truly creative rather than just mimicking what was already out there. I have to say that I'm not there yet, it's possibly a longer road than emulation, and that along the way I've probably copied several artist's works without realizing it.

I used to not read art books or look at what others were doing, just so I wouldn't be unduly influenced. By not looking at other stuff, I could be assured that what I was coming up with was not based on something I'd seen, but on my own creativity, my own vision. Eventually, though, I started looking at magazines, books, the internet, not so much to get ideas but now to compare what I was doing with what was out there. I saw, and still see, quite a bit of work that blows me away.

Dedication has a lot to do with creativity. Time and effort spent experimenting, technical knowledge, life experiences, simple contemplation, all come together like a recipe made from scratch, sometimes appearing easily, other times being forced out or dragged out then hammered into shape.

Creativity has everything to do with how we see, perceive, and experience the world around us. Our vision, a biological process involving photons of light energy refracted and focused onto nerve endings then decoded by our brain, is selective. Millennia of evolutionary change has not completely dulled our visual perceptions, but our lifestyle has. Our brain is more or less hardwired to respond to situations that might either pose a danger or benefit to ourselves.

Back in the day, our simple lives were centered around eating or being eaten. We tended to be more aware of our surroundings, paying attention to subtle clues and cues, always vigilant for predators, prey, or food. Our current lifestyle (at least in developed countries) does not necessarily require us to take advantage of any situation. We are not always looking for food or running away from being food. We have jobs, supermarkets, traffic lights, fences, policemen and military, government, tailors and seamstresses, butchers and bakers, auto repairmen, plumbers, pilots, and preachers all taking care of us, helping us cope, doing some of the work needed for our individual selves to survive. That leaves us to daydream, worry about relatively insignificant things, listen to music, get into a routine. That routine, traveling the same path day after day, passing the same buildings, driving the same streets, encountering the same people, becomes familiar. Familiarity leads to complacency. We stop noticing what's going on.

In the present day, we tend to only notice (or be aware of) those things that are a holdover from the tundra, those events that effect us directly in terms of food or being food (or personal danger). Lights and sirens, smoke, loud bangs or shouts, bright colors, someone standing too close or staring, certain smells, certain types of touching, certain movements of things, like trains, cars, airplanes. The rest of the environment is ignored. Common things, cars, people, buildings, weather, all meld into the background noise of our routine. Our senses are dulled, our awareness is stifled. Consider the nightly news and other television entertainment. Shocking stories, outrageous acts get our attention. The Discovery Channel used to be about education and learning, now it's about celebrity and extremism.

Creativity can be stifled by too much information, too much going on. We are inundated by new technology, iPods, Tivo, cell phones, email, the internet, natural disasters, the economy, digital photography, Photoshop, instant gratification, short attention spans, terrorism, urban growth, the list goes on. Sean Kernan, in the January/February 2006 issue (Vol 47 No 8) of Communication Arts says

"Right now we are all like seasick passnegers on an ocean liner who just want the damned boat to stop rocking. There is too much that is new in our lives, and little of it is good.

Stiil, instinctively, we know that the only way out is forward. And this stasis will end thanks to something new that stands out against the field of the familiar...the way to move forward is to be new ourselves, to free up our seeing and thinking so we will not miss the turn on a new road forward."

Creativity can be learned, I believe. It's the individual that needs to make the first move, to regain awareness of yourself as well as the environment around you, and how you fit into, relate to, and move around in it. Doing that requires some amount of work and effort. Look at the bottom of this post for a short list of good books. Take a workshop not on technical aspects of photography or art, but purely on creativity. Take a workshop for an artform you don't currently do, like acting or painting or pottery. Expand your horizons. Read, fiction, non-fiction, trade magazines, popular magazines, comic books. Go to museums. Visit your state capitol and other historic buildings and actually look at the architecture. Listen to your family. Go to the mall and just sit and watch people interact with one another, watch their behaviors and gestures. Go to the woods, desert, ocean and just sit quietly alone, listening, opening up your senses to your surroundings. Imagine.

Photography (art in general) can be a limitation to awareness. When you've been looking at the world in snapshots ("That would make a great picture", "That's the painting I'll do next") we, like the camera, eliminate what is going on around us. Sometimes it's helpful to put down the artist tools, put away the artist. And just be.

References:

Phillipe L. Gross and S.I. Shapiro. 2001. The Tao of Photography: Seeing Beyond Seeing. Ten Speed Press

David Bayles and Ted Orland. 1993. Art & Fear: Observations on the perils (and rewards) of artmaking. Image Continuum Press

Andreas Feininger. 1973. Principles of Composition. Amphoto Press

Ansel Adams. 1983. Examples: The making of 40 photographs. Little, Brown & Company

Pic of the Day 1.09.06

Olympic Hotel
Boise, Idaho

Pic of the Day 1/08/06

Ferris Wheel

Criticizing Photographs

How do you look at the photography or art of others? How do you look at your own work? How do others view your work? Is there a "proper" way to do this? Is critique meant to be negative? These are some of the many questions asked over and over by photographers and artists everywhere. There seem to be as many opinions on this subject as there are on Nikon vs. Canon or PC vs. Mac. Where do you go to learn about how to critique? What are the "rules"?

Here's a very good book to start with. It's called "Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images, 4th ed." by Terry Barrett. 2006. McGraw-Hill Press. ISBN 0-07-297743-4. Terry Barrett is a Professor of Art Education with a joint appointment in the Department of Art, Ohio State University. He is also an art critic for the Ohio Arts Council.

The book is divided into discreet but related chapters following the four categories of criticism developed by Morries Weitz: Describing, Interpreting, Evaluating, and Theorizing. Additional chapters include Types of Photographs - new categorizations such as descriptive, ethically evaluative and aesthetically evaluative, and Writing and Talking About Photographs (how to criticize).

There are many detailed examples from well-known critics regarding well-known photographic works from such as Richard Avedon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Cindy Sherman, and others. Well-written and informative. Developed more as a textbook than a general text, it does not read like a textbook and contains a lot of information beneficial to the photographer both to help you evaluate the work of others and to help you look at your own work in a new (and perhaps improved) way.

Digital Photography - Learning the Ropes

I've been shooting digital now for going on 3 years. I'm still learning, and expect to continue being required to learn, new software, new techniques, new methodologies, new equipment, etc. etc. That's just on the production side of things, like processing digital files, printing, and archiving.

We are always, or should be, learning something new about HOW we create photographs. What drives us, what motivates us, what repels us, what makes us laugh all contribute to how we look at and interact with the world around us. Photography is an excellent artistic medium for recording those interactions.

Digital photography is making it appear so much easier. At least that's what the advertisers and salespeople would have you believe. Instant gratification... "Just put the card in here and out comes a perfect print!" Great adverising copy, but what exactly does that mean? How did that file get "perfect"? Is that the largest print I can make? What file type should I use? How long will that photographic print last? 1 year, 2 years, 30 years, 100 years? What happens to the digital file once the print is made? When you delete that file from the memory card, do you still have it somewhere in case you need to make another print? What camera should I buy? What if you have a digital camera but no computer? What if you don't know the first thing about computers?

I've started a 2-hour "Before You Buy" digital seminar for those folks wanting to purchase their first digital camera. The seminar is $20 and covers digital camera types, what are they and how many megapixels do you need, what software and hardware might you need as well as the level of knowledge needed if you're processing your own image files, and finally about workflow (the process from digital capture to archiving) and archiving (preserving) your digital files for the future. You should go to the store armed with enough knowledge to know what you want and need before you're confronted by a salesperson.

You can register for this class, offered the 4th Thursday of each month, on my Basic Photography Classes page.

Pic of the Day 1/06/06

T-28 Trojan

Three interesting products

I haven't tried these, but they look interesting.

1. Kanguru Zipper Pro (website) is a 1GB - 40GB hard drive (probably a laptop hard drive) in an aluminum case with a folding USB 2.0 port that plugs directly into your computer. Stated to withstand 1500G's of shock force, it's advertised to be durable. Small enough to fit into a shirt pocket or camera bag, it's not for downloading flash cards in the field, but could be used for quick and dirty transport of a website, image portfolio, slide show, etc. Price ranges from $49.95 for the 1GB version to $229.95 for 40GB of storage.

2. Picaholic flash website creator (website) is a web-based website or photo gallery creator using Flash. It's all done online, no software to download, and several templates are available. $100 set up fee and starting at $15/month (currenltly, the setup is $50). Free 7-day free trial and 30-day money back guarantee.

3. TrekPod hiking staff monopod (with tripod leg support) (website) uses a unique MagMount ballhead that provides magnetic quick-release that can be positioned at any angle. A cork palm rest covers the MagMount for use when hiking. The TrekPod extends from 43 to 58 inches in tripod mode and 46.5 to 62 inches in hiking staff/monopod mode. It weighs just 30 ounces including the MagMount. Estimated price: $139

South African Deposit Request comes in Snail Mail

I think we've all seen the emails: "My name is Adolph Sotto, Deputy Minister to ....and I have $40,000,000.00 that I want to split with you...." These emails have been around for quite some time and some have even gone so far as to be quite personal and appealing to particular businesses, such as photography. Another email purportes to be from some rich dude coming to America for a wedding and he would like to contract for a wedding photographer, sight unseen, expenses paid, etc. "just send an invoice". I replied to the first one, but never received a response. Maybe it was because I required 1/2 of my fee up front.

Anyway, today I received a letter in the mail. A bona fide, printed letter with a stamp from the Netherlands and a Rotterdam postmark. The envelope has a printed label with my business address and no return address. The letter at the top says, memo style: Request for a business transaction from Mr. Casca Raphela. It's dated 29/12/2005 and starts out "Dear Shipman,". The basic gist of the letter is that a so-called Terry Shipman made an investment in the South African Mining Corporation, in which Mr. Raphela is, as he states in the letter, a "civil servant", a "senior executive" of the South African Mining Corporation, and a "senior colleague working as staff in the accounting department of the Mining Corporation and Remittance Dpartment of the South African Reserve Bank" (there are actually 2 others involved here as well). The said investment, initially made by Terry Shipman in 1977 is now valued at $15,000,000.00. Sadly, Terry Shipman (or Mr. Terry as he is referred to in the letter -- oops) passed away in December 1987 and since then there has been every attempt to locate living relatives of the deceased. Unfortunately, no living relatives were found in the "extensive global attempt" and after consulting "three independent search agencies."

Well, apparently, Mr. Raphela, being a senior executive in the mining company and a senior staff of the accounting department of the local bank has access to "Mr. Terry's information" so they can "claim this money with you." All I need to do is file the claim as proclaiming myself as the actual beneficiary. This is because I "share similar details to the late fellow." The split is 35% for me and 65% for Mr. Raphela and his two friends. Mr. Raphela goes on to explain that he could have had the funds released directly to himself, but that would have "drawn a straight line to me and my involvement in claiming the deposit" and we certainly can't have that. So, me, "having the very name as the original depositor would easily pass as the beneficiary with right to claim."

If I give "positive signals" Mr. Raphela will initiate the process "towards a conclusion", but that I should only contact him via email channels (there is a phone # also, by the way, in case I have any questions). His "official lines are not secure lines as they are periodically monitored to assess out level of customer care in line with our Total Quality Management Policy". I sure wouldn't want to make a bad mark on their performance record if by chance I turned down his offer on the recorded phone line.

He goes on to remind me (for the first time) that "Please, again, note I am a family man, with responsibility. I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences, but I know within me that nothing ventured is nothing gained and that success and riches never come easy or on a platter of gold. This is the one truth I have learned from my private banking clients" (like Mr. Terry, I presume) and "Do not betray my confidence".

So I feel kind of bad betraying Mr. Raphela's confidence like this, him being such an honest family man and all. He does sound very wise and I'm sure all his hard work spent finding a secret way to get this money disbursed to him and his friends is not at all resembling a "platter of gold".

I'm probably going to send this to the Postmaster General, although there's probably not much they can do, unless the phone number actually does reach Mr. Raphela Country code 27 is for Niger, which if my geography is correct, isn't very close to South Africa). It's bad enough that I receive these requests via email (which are auto-dumped with my Spam filter, so I never see them anymore), I don't want to be getting paper mail. It's just as easy to get postal information as is it to get an email address, although it costs a bit more to send the letters out. (0.81 Euros for the stamp).

Domain Names For Sale

I have 3 domain names that I was going to use and have had for a while. But that plan has changed so they are up for sale. The domain names are:

cowboystockimages.com
cowboystockphoto.com
cowboystockphotography.com

The domain names do not come with websites, just the registration transfer. I'm asking $750 each, but will negotiate on one or all. Contact me if you're interested.