Vancouver Island Photo Trips

I've put up the last two big trips for 2006. I will be putting together some local Idaho trips, 2 - 3 day weekend excursions to places like Craters of the Moon, Bruneau Dunes, Ghost Towns, waterfalls, lakes and mountains. Go to my Trips Page for complete details and new updates.

Vancouver Island
What can I say? Vancouver Island has quite the variety for photographers. Amazing marine environments, ancient temperate rain forests, incredible mountain scenery, lakes, wildlife, architecture, First Nations history and culture, resource exploitation, environmentalism, high class travel and escapism, all in a rugged, frontier-like package.




Road Trip
August 18 - 27
We start in Victoria with Victorian architecture, Butchart Gardens and Chinatown, then head out to Juan de Fuca Provincial Park for tidal pools, waterfalls and rocky coast. Cruising across the southern tip our next destination is Duncan, home to over 40 First Nations carved totem poles. From Duncan we trek up the east coast of the Island to Campbell River for two days of exploring the waterfalls of Strathcona Provincial Park and surrounds. Along the way we might see black bear, mountain lion, Roosevelt Elk, seals and sea lions, many songbirds, shorebirds and raptors, and other wildlife. Then on to Telegraph Cove, a fishing village built on stilts. Here we'll take an evening whale watch trip to capture orca, bald eagles, seals, and the scnery of Johnstone Strait. We'll be here two days to photograph the village and surrounding area before heading back to Victoria.
For more information and to register go HERE.

Storm Watch
December 5 - 13
Spend eight days on the west coast of Vancouver Island during the height of the winter storm watch season. Strong Low pressure cells and storms in the Pacific Ocean roll across the vast expanse with nothing to impede their progress except the rocky, jagged coastline. When conditions are right, up to 30 ft high waves crash into the shore, exploding in spray and pounding the earth. It's an experience you won't soon forget!
For the first four nights we will stay at the Five-Star Wickaninnish Inn, listed by Travel + Lesire Magazine as the top Hotel in North America and 3rd best in the world. The last four nights will be spent at the Tauca Lea Resort and Spa in Ucluelet, another top spot on the Island. We'll spend time photographing waves, walking trails in Pacific Rim National Park, traveling inland for mountain views, eating well and capturing images very few people have. Winter is the low season and we will almost have the entire coast to ourselves.
For more information and to register go HERE.

The entire schedule of trips for 2006 and early 2007 are:
Vancouver Island Road Trip August 8 - 27
Brown Bears of Kodiak September 10 - 15
Northern Lights Tour November 2 - 11
Alaska Wildlife November 13 - 19
Storm Watch Tour December 5 - 13
Brown Bears of KatmaiJune 20 - 27, 2007

Pet Expo

Come to the Family Fun Pet Expo, April 29 - 30, Western Idaho Fairgrounds. Hours are 10 - 5 Saturday and 10 - 4 Sunday. I'll have a mini-studio set up for $5 portraits with your pet or family. Bring your cat, dog, lizard, snake, turtle, rabbit, bird or other small pet for a fun portrait!

Glacier Decline

Re-photographic studies are becoming more popular. This is where a photographer or group of photographers use a collection of older photographs (turn of the century or older) and return to the same locations to photograph the scene from the same spot. Re-photographing provides a record of change and are interesting to view. John Fielder, a notable Colorado photographer, has done this in 2 books and others have used re-photographing to assist municipal planning, as historical records, or as a guideline of what to shoot while on vacation.

Here's a link to a re-photographic survey done in Glacier National Park showing the retreat of many of the glaciers there (down to 29 today from 150 in 1850).

Is this a sign of global warming? Probably. Is the retreat, sometimes dramatic, the result of human-influenced global warming or part of the natural cycle of the Earth warming and cooling?

My opinion on global warming is that there is a natural cycling of warming and cooling, born out by past events scientists have rigorously analyzed through various means, and that what we may be seeing in the present is the upswing of the natural warming trend. Think of the cycle as a series of waves, with a low point (the trough) and a high point (the crest). Animal populations, weather patterns, the stock market, sunspots, emotions, all experience periods of high and low. Some cycles are predictable while others appear more random or erratic. As you may have already read or heard, the steepness of the curve (average temperature increase, for example) of this natural upswing is probably being exacerbated by the inflated amounts of greenhouse gasses put into the atmosphere via industrial processes and the general activities of human beings.

Of course, in the whole time-scheme of things, we've never been in this type of situation before. There are no records of past human civilizations on Earth (or any other planet) or other planetary civilizations with at least our current level of technology to compare data with. This is how we make predictions, by looking at past data from similar situations, comparing that to current data and noting the difference, then hypothesizing a possible result. Since we don't have any direct past experience with global warming events of the predicted magnitude, it's difficult to say with precision what's going on now. There is certainly plenty of evidence suggesting we humans are having a significant impact on temperature increases, weather and climate change and I have no doubt of it. But we still know very little about the Earth's regulatory system and how or to what degree the biosphere of the planet will react to this changing composition. We won't really know until the cycle starts back down (if it's going up), after we've been through it and the environment begins to reflect past historical conditions that we more or less consider "normal".

It's not perfect, and past data can be incomplete relative to analytical methods available today or tomorrow. Also, statistical analysis is not a perfect science. Numbers can be manipulated, data left out or included, that can swing the results one way or another. Peer review helps contain some of that and helps ensure that the conclusions drawn are reasonable. But in general it's mostly a very educated guess. As time goes on and more data is available, more accurate and complex analytical methods are devised, computing power increases, the better these predictions will be.

So, back to the glaciers. The receding ice is not just about global warming, it's about preservation. Glacier National Park was created and named for the glaciers that lie within its boundaries. What happens when the glaciers disappear completely, or there are only a handful left? Glacier NP becomes Former Glacier NP or Extinct Glacier NP. The scenery is beautiful wherever you look and in typical National Park Visitor fashion, most folks don't stray too far from the road which means fewer people actually see any of the glaciers inhabiting the park.

The National Park Service (NPS) and National Parks have historically been about preservation, which means keeping a semblence of the original wilderness and conditions that existed when the park was first established. Human perception is also a big player in preservation (which is different than conservation). A primary goal of the NPS is to give visitors a sense of history as well as exposing them to beautiful landscapes. I'm not going to get into a big discussion about the history, good or bad, of the NPS, but policies geared toward preservation don't necessarily work or are workable. Take for example fire supression. Yellowstone. Landscapes and ecosystems change through time. They are not isolated bubbles unaffected by the events of the world surrounding them. Glaciers will come and go, forests will come and go, waterfalls and rivers will come and go.

People have very short, finite, lives compared to the life cycle of a forest or a glacier. Our view of change is much different than the Earth's view of change (if the Earth had a perception of time). When scenes change from what we are familiar with, especially if there is some emotional attachment, such as a special event or experience tied to a particular location or setting, we tend to think badly if that change is perceived to be an adverse one, like a fire or flood. What if Old Faithful ceased spouting? Most people would think it was a disaster. Geothermal activity is based on hot spots, thin slivers of heat coming from deep in the Earth's crust and mantle. Continental plates move over the top of these hot spots and thus the hot spot seems to move or disappear. It's how the island chain of Hawaii was formed and is still forming. We have no control over the process. Old Faithful does not run the ecosystem of Yellowstone, but the overall geothermal activity underneath has a lot to do with it. If that ceased completely, the character of the park would certainly change, but it would only be different, not wrong or bad.

So, do we marvel at our ability to maintain a landscape in a "preserved" state like a specimen in a jar, or do we allow the landscape to change and marvel at nature's ability to adapt and survive as it's done since the beginning of time? We can mourn the loss of familiar scenery, but there will be something new in its place. We have to be able to accept the new, embrace it, and be patient that whatever change is coming won't occur overnight and probably not in our lifetime. If that change is based on something humans have done or are doing, can it be stopped? Should it be stopped?

I believe we can learn from the past, but the cycle of human existence is still being written and we know less of that than we do about the origin of the universe. How significant is a glacier in all of that?

Photographers and Biologists

Looking at the roster of professional or budding professional photographers, there is a fair number of ex-biologists among the ranks. It makes sense. Biologists (here I'm talking about the environmental kind of biologist, i.e., wildlife, natural resources, rangeland, forestry, etc., not the chemical or medical kind) spend a lot of time outdoors in the environment, are educated in the "Ways of Nature" (for the most part), generally love being outside, and often have an inside track of sorts into environmental issues, access to locations, researchers and projects that non-biologists don't, etc.

When biologists are out in the field, they generally spend far more time at a given location than your typical photographer who might be out for a day, a weekend, or a week or two. Rarely does a photographer have time to spend consecutive weeks or months or over time, years, in a particular area. When you get that sort of "face time" with the environment you're bound to see some amazing things if you keep your eyes open. Admittedly, there are biologists out there who can't see beyond their research project or "burning issue of the moment" and thus don't notice the goings on around them that don't pertain to that narrow interest.

Being a biologist is great, if a person could find steady, decent paying work. Most of us would still be biologists if you could make a living at it, buy a house (or a car), and not be filling out job applications the size of small reference books every few weeks or months. It's not like there aren't enough good biologists. Thousands are pumped out every semester across the nation and if you count the entire planet, maybe at least tens of thousands. And, it's not like there isn't a need for good biologists, either.

The issue is there doesn't seem to be a real DESIRE for biologists among the government, which is the largest employer of biologists. To work in the private sector (consulting) you sometimes have to check your beliefs and morals at the door because private consultants often are hired by the folks trying to get past the regulations and laws enacted to protect the very stuff us biologists like to work with. Philosophical and sometimes moral conflicts are common in the private sector, unless you're working for the Nature Conservancy or World Wildlife Fund.

There's political pressure, internally and externally, in both government and private sectors. Lots of politics in the government and in some cases there is even more philosophical and moral pressure there than anywhere else. But that's perhaps another story.

So, the primary reason perhaps that biologists turn to photography as a career is the lure of money, combined with their love for the outdoors and things environmental. I'm speaking from personal experience here. Not very many biologists turned photographers (BTP) are making names for themselves in the field of Nature Photography, however. There are a handful and we all know who they are. What happens, is that the BTP turns to other forms of photography which are "less competitive" like some form of commercial, editorial or journalistic photography, or get a part time or full time job that helps pay the bills and is more steady than the temporary field work positions they previously worked all over the country.

On one of my re-reads through the March 2006 Photo District News (PDN) and the "PDN 30" article, I noticed that three of the 30 photographers showcased are BTPs. At least these are the ones that mentioned it in their biographical description accompanying their photos. There could be more. One-tenth. I wonder if I would find the same breakdown in last year's PDN 30? I'll have to drag that issue out and check. Imagine if that sample was representative of the overall "up-and-coming" pool of photographers. How many biologists would that be? How many schools are making money on tuitions that will never be fully realized or used? How many bright minds are being turned away from meaningful careers that, altogether, provide a substantial service to the upkeep of the human race? How many of those biologists are being diverted to other careers like sales or high tech or finance or auto repair? Conversely, how many BTPs are making a greater impact than they would if they had remained biologists?

Just an observation.

Alaska Wildlife Tour

Well, this year is turning out to be an Alaskan Extravaganza. My newest photo tour is to Haines, via Juneau and the Northwest Passage.

November 13-19, 2006
Trip fee: $2250
$500 balance due by July 15, 2006, balance by September 15

Join us on an Alaskan Wildlife Adventure with photo opportunities to capture wolves, coyotes, wolverine, arctic and red fox, lynx, reindeer, porcupine, pine marten, mink, bald eagles, and others up close and personal. This trip will visit the Kroschel Wildlife Center and Chilkat River where hundreds of bald eagles congregate in the winter to feed on fall run salmon. The Kroschel Wildlife Center is embedded in the last great wilderness area on Earth, the 25-million-acre Glacier Bay-Tatshinshini-Kluane-Wrangell St. Elias UNESCO World Heritage Wilderness Preserve and is in the heart of the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, and framed by the Cathedral Peaks of teh Chilkat Mountains and the boundary peaks of Glacier Bay National Park.

We will begin in Juneau, Alaska's capital city, and board the ferry for the 4 hours or so ride up the Inside Passage to Haines, past glaciers and awesome shoreline. The possibility to spot orca is good. The ferry is comfortable, with heated solarium and observation lounges, cafe, restaurant, entertainment rooms, and comfy chairs.

Once in Haines we will spend 3 days at the Kroschel Wildlife Center, owned and operated by cinematographer Steve Kroschel. Here we will photograph native Alaskan wildlife in a natural habitat setting. Steve trained and filmed wildlife for Disney's Academy Award Winning film "Never Cry Wolf" and other features, including over 70 episodes of the popular Wild America series on PBS.

During the three days at the wildlife center, and the remaining two days, we will travel around the Haines area, particularly up the nearby Chilkat River, for photographs of bald eagles which congregate along the river by the hundreds to feed on late fall salmon runs. An optional day trip to Skagway is available for those who wish to be on their own for a day.

The final day is spent on the ferry back to Juneau.

Go Here for more info and to register.

I'll have my trips to Vancouver Island online in the next week. Check my Trips Page for those links.

Snow and Dirt Adversely Affect Human Behavior

I don't think anyone's done an empirical study on this. Perhaps there is a government grant out there with your name on it. The scientific process is this:

1. State the problem
2. Conduct observations
3. Develop an hypothesis
4. Conduct an experiment (to test your hypothesis)
5. Draw a conclusion

Over the years, I've made some observations here and there, which led to the statement of a problem (or what I perceived to be a problem), that some people who drive don't know what they're doing.

Next, I conducted multiple observations as a "mini-test" to make sure that my initial observations weren't the result of outliers, those instances that lie outside the statistical bell curve that can have unwanted influence on your analysis. These outliers in "layman terms" are called exceptions.

After many observations conducted over the past couple years ("couple" is not a scientifically relevant value, but in general refers to the number "2") I've developed an hypothesis which is:

Snow and dirt adversely affect human driving behavior. Now, this hypothesis may not be correct. Driving behavior may just be a visible sign (or measurable, quantifiable, testable) of how snow and dirt adversely affects human behavior in general. During experimentation it might be found that there are other factors more important than snow and dirt in affecting driving behaviors, more or less falsifying the hypothesis. If that occurs, refinement of the hypothesis and further experimentation is needed.

Much to most people's surprise, the goal of experimentation is not to "Prove" a theory or hypothesis, but to falsify it, but not truly say "this is false". The idea of trying to falsify an hypothesis makes it harder for someone to massage, or manipulate, data on a pet project to get the results they want (to agree with the hypothesis they've presented). A more successful experiment occurs when attempts to disprove the hypothesis are unsuccessful. That makes the hypothesis and resulting conclusion much stronger and believable.

Enough of the science lesson. Back to my hypothesis.

My basic observations are that when it snows or when the roads are dirt, people become stupid.

Think of these situations, I'm sure you've observed this very same behavior.

1. A parking lot where you work. Most everyone who also works there have been parking in that lot for years. The layout hasn't changed since the day the pavement was laid down. There are even landmarks, such as light poles, placed on a grid pattern that is easily seen. However, when it snows, just a little, just enough to cover the lines of the parking spaces, nobody can park in a straight line. The driving lanes between the linear rows of light posts look like a quickly-moving snake and some cars on opposite sides of the row are parked so close together (rear bumper to rear bumper) that anything larger than a Yugo can't get through.

Same thing goes for shopping mall parking lots, even though I'm giving a slight bit of leeway there as some shopping mall lots are not laid out on an easily defined grid.

2. Streets. When it snows, why can't people remember where the lanes are? You drive the same roads day after day after day, year after year after year. But when it snows what force causes the road to narrow, widen, or curve when it is normally straight? How come people have to drive straddling two lanes when they know damn well there are two lanes there?

3. Dirt roads (where they were once paved). The main road by my studio is being widened and part of a side road that leads to my studio has had the pavement removed for about 100 yards. The main road and my studio road more or less form a "T" with another side road about 50 feet south of the main road, so the entire configuration forms an "F". Going from the base of the F up to the T of the main road, there is a stop sign at the first junction, and another at the main road. Coming back south from the main road there is just the one stop sign at the middle part of the F. All roads were two-lane. The main road is being widened to 5 lanes.

Up until the time the pavement was removed, folks stopped at all stop signs and drove single file where they needed to. Now, with the road being dirt, people don't stop at the stop sign and since there are no lines, they treat the road as if it's covered with snow. The 2 lane road is now a "4" lane road, at least up until the pavement. Most of the people driving this part of the road have done so for years. They live down the road and travel it every day to and from work. They know what the configuration was before the construction and it hasn't changed much since construction began. But now, more and more people are just driving through the stop signs and making their own turn and merge lanes. Go figure.

I think it would be an easy experiment to conduct, although costly. But the government has a history of making funding available for seemingly frivolous large budget studies.

PDN 30

I don't know about you, but the other day I received the new issue of PDN. The PDN 30 issue where they select 30 up and coming photographers. I've looked at it three times. I usually read each issue several times. But is it just me or do nearly all of the photos in the PDN 30 look the same?

Pic of the Day 3.12.06

Training Day
The local fire department was burning down this building near my studio. Dummies like this are used to simulate trapped people and are laid out inside the building to be "rescued" by trainees. They weigh about 165 lbs.
Poor chap has no pants.

Hot Fashion
The shape and form of fire is very beautiful and mesmerizing and an infinite variation of shapes appear and disappear throughout the destructive process.

El Gordo Spanish Lottery Scam

I received in the mail an official-looking letter yetsterday informing me I'd won $830,590 in the El-Gordo Sweepstake Lottery Program, which was sponsored this year by Bill Gates, the Emir of Brunei, Queen Elizabeth II, and the Alfred Nobel Foundations Sweden "as part of their philanthropic contribution to the world development." Apparently what happened was a "mix up of names and addresses the result were released on the 2nd March..." I'm not sure what that means, exactly, since I've never purchased an El-Gordo lottery ticket (see below). After the Congratulations!!!!! and sponsorship notification I'm told "Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your designated accounts as this is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming of unwarranted taking of an advantage of this program by participants."

Could I really shout out to the world I'd won $830,590 then turn right around and claim it again to double my money? Is this organization that gullible? Or do they mean I shouldn't share my good fortune with anyone else in case they would want a part of the action as well, thus draining the prize coffers of the El Gordo Sweepstakes? You got me.

I've received email notifications like this before and as a result my net worth is over $500 million now.

The letter thing is new, and one of a string of various "winnings" letters I've pulled out of my mailbox this past year. I guess spammers are finding out that email really isn't the panacea of communication and sales that they were told. The postmark is even from Spain with a .78 Eruo stamp and my business address. The letter has hand-writtem signatures over official-looking seals.

Letter header

Some body text

Letter footer with "official" signatures

Now, El-Gordo ("The Fat One") is a real lottery out of Madrid, and is the largest lottery in the world, paying out upwards of $1 - $2 Billion around Christmas each year. But you have to buy a ticket to win (which I didn't in this case). Also, it's against federal law for US citizens to participate in foreign lotteries - see This Site for more information and links to the FTC.

Accompanying the prize winning notification is another "official" form from Amway Global Trust Agency, also in Madrid. This is the form you fill out with the bank account number where you want your winnings deposited, your address, even your next of kin contact name, address and phone number. Also with an official, hand-signed stamp.

It all looks very proper except for the fact that I never purchased anything to participate in this lottery. I'm so sad because I could use another $830,590. There are folks out there, however, that will be taken in by this and other scams which take about $120 million from unsuspecting and hopeful targets annually.

After some web searching, El Gordo scams apparently originate mostly in Canada of all places. There are the obvious Nigerian scams, but I was surprised to find these El Gordo scams are coming from Canada. My letter did come from Spain, unless the postmark was also forged. I'll run this down to the Postmaster, along with another letter I received a while back. Maybe they can CSI them, dust for prints and swab for DNA, peer at them under UV light, interview suspects, and track down the perps after analyzing the handwriting. More than likely it will get filed away and forgotten.

A warning, though, which should be obvious to most. If it looks too good to be true, it is. If you've won something in a contest you've never heard of, it's a scam. If you receive a notification of winnings in the mail and it didn't come by registered or certified mail, it's a scam. If the the grammar is horrible, it's a scam. If there is any verbage in the notification telling you to keep it a secret, it's a scam. And ESPECIALLY, if you are required to PAY ANYTHING to receive your winnings, it's most definitely a scam.

Your best bet if you have any inkling that it may be legitimate, is take it down to your state Attorney General's office or your Postmaster and let them have a look. Be careful, be aware, and keep your money where it will do the most good, in your own account.

Just goes to show how little we know

Today I should be doing other things, but for some reason I can't be bothered. Projects to do and I'm just not motivated. Plus, Blogger has been down all day so I couldn't vent. So, I found something more productive to do.

Today, apparently, is a day of discovery (or the announcement of discoveries) and I have four stories here for your enjoyment.

Back From the Dead
New Salamander Fossil Gets Tossed
Extraterrestrial Life
Prudhoe Bay Oil Spill


Back from the Dead

This is about a once-thought-to-be-extinct rodent turning up for sale in a meat market in Laos. First off, I think someone finally figured out that instead of traipsing through the woods looking for stuff, you should just go down to the local market and check out what's on the menu. My guess, it was a lazy grad student or field assistant who couldn't handle traipsing about in the jungle that first came up with this search "methodolgy". It sure is smart, though. I remember from my old Gerald Durrell books when they were out collecting animals for zoos they wouldn't go out and capture the animals themselves, usuall. They would rent out the nicest villa in the area, or shack up with the king, and let the locals do the dirty work. They knew where the animals were, anyway. How long do you think it would have taken this team from one of the British Isles on there own find the animals on their grocery list?

Once in a while, Gerald and his team would chase an anteater or wrestle a caiman, but most of the stories revolved around the antics of the animals already caught and the tribulations of housing and transporting them. This was back in the 1950s if I remember correctly. So, they knew the most efficient way to get what they needed. Maybe this grad student or lazy field assistant read some of Gerald Durrell's books, too. Searching for new species in a market is a pretty good idea for the same reason, especially in areas of the world where folks eat a pretty wide variety of animals, plants, insects, sea life, and other goodies. Turns out, the locals have known about this little critter for quite a while and even have a name for it, Kha-Nyou.

Anyway, this new species of rodent, a member of the previously known rodent family Diatomyidae, tentatively named Laonastes aenigmamus, was thought to have gone extinct 11 million years ago. These discoveries of previously-thought-extinct animals has even been given a name, the "Lazarus Effect". The Coelocanth is the best example, pulled up in a net off the shores of South Africa back in the 1980s.

What's funny about this story is that one team of folks from the Wildlife Conservation Service actually found it first, but thought it was a new species. News Story, then another team who examined it more closely later discovered similarities with the fossil record and made the connection News Story.

Here's a sketch of the critter:


Back From the Dead
New Salamander Fossil Gets Tossed
Extraterrestrial Life
Prudhoe Bay Oil Spill


New Salamander Fossil Gets Tossed

Here's a story about why you should stay in school. Picture this...you're in college, a geology student and a Freshman to boot, cooped up in class for days, weeks even. Then you get to go outside on a field trip. A Field Trip! No class! A ritual that used to be reserved for kindergarten and elementary students that has, sadly, also gone the way of the dinosaurs. That was why I went to college, to go on field trips. I missed them in Jr. High and High School. So, here's this freshman out on the field trip. A geology field trip, so they're obviously looking for rocks or some earthly-oriented materials or features. He's strolling along in a new road cut where buylldozers have scraped away part of a hillside.
He spots something interesting and picks it up.

Nope, not interesting after all. And he tosses it back to the ground.
(can you see the teeth?)

Well, on his walk, looking for something interesting, he discovers nothing. Remembering that silly rock he picks it up on the way back to the bus and shows it to his professor who instantly sees the teeth then the outline of the skull and recognizes it as significant.

That's why professors get the big bucks and Freshman still have at least 3 years to go before graduating.

Turns out, this is the fossil head of a new salamander species (News Story) that lived, oh, 300 million years ago.

Now, when a new species is found the person who finds it is somehow honored by either having part of their name included in the binomial (species name, typically) or their last name is added at the end in parentheses, i.e. Genus species (finder). So who do you think really "discovered" this fossil? Sure, the Frosh picked it up, tossed it away (luckily not into the nearest pond or river) then retrieved it again because he couldn't find anything better. But it was the professor who recognized it for what it was. I think he should have a piece of it as well.

Back From the Dead
New Salamander Fossil Gets Tossed
Extraterrestrial Life
Prudhoe Bay Oil Spill


Extraterrestrial Life

There is a race on, I believe, to be the first person, team, company, agency, country, etc. to find life outside our tiny planet. Mars hasn't seemed to pay up like it was promised a few months ago. But then it will probably be years before any discoveries of that sort are revealed, primarily because we'll need to bring back specimens for analysis to be really sure. There's hope yet.

Now we've moved on to Saturn, as if Mars wasn't far enough from the sun. Enceladus, one of Saturn's small moons, is gushing out water vapor, a possible sign that life could exist since liquid water is a key element for life (as we know it) to exist. Geothermal activity below the moon's surface could harbor life not dependent upon sunlight as is evidenced by deep ocean life existing here on Earth that thrive in total darkness and are sulfur-based life forms rather than carbon-based.

The plume of water, coming out of the south pole region of Enceladus, is half the size of the moon itself. This suggests a very large explosion and high pressure. What that might be doing to any lifeforms, however small, in that region is anyone's guess. We might be witnessing a mass extinction event. News Story

Back From the Dead
New Salamander Fossil Gets Tossed
Extraterrestrial Life
Prudhoe Bay Oil Spill


Prudhoe Bay Oil Spill

Up to 267,000 gallons of oil spilled out of the Alaska Pipeline at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The spill was discovered on March 2 and was reported March 10. About 2 acres (1.9) of tundra was affected. BP shut down operations in that area, suffering a loss of 100,000 barrels per day of oil production. Clean up of the spill is expected to take four to six weeks (News Story).

This is the largest spill so far on the North Slope. I don't know how many other spills have occurred over the years. The environmental effect is cumulative, regardless. I haven't been to Prudhoe Bay, but I have worked in areas where mining is and has taken place. I can say from first hand experience there that the land is altered. Restoration of the landscape is required when extraction activities cease and some restored areas enjoy better success than others. That's down here in the lower 48 where growing seasons are long.

The North Shore is a different story. Think of a 14,000 ft mountain peak. Like the saying goes, "what happens here stays here". The effects of oil spills and pollution in the arctic tundra will remain for years to come. While this spill is relatively small, and occurred in an area most likely already heavily impacted by oil processing activities, it goes to show that extractive industries are not foolproof.

I'm not hypocritical. I know that many, many products we depend on come from petroleum-based compounds, not just fuel. Most synthetic fabrics, plastics, food products, and a host of others. Most folks think we shouldn't drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and they're probably right. It's a war of resources, really. One has a measurable economic value, the other basically immeasurable but devalued due to lack of access (economic measure of tourism value, for example) or lack of understanding of it's role in the operation of life support on our planet.

Much thinking about the land and environment still practiced today, a holdover from the early days, is more utilitarian. If it can't be used in some way it's not valuable. An empty patch of land has no value unless there's a house or office complex or parking lot on it or that you can hunt or fish or boat on it. A patch of land in this view has no intrinsic value, which is to say a value that can be calculated as well as no value calculable. How do you value a stand of trees producing oxygen, scrubbing the air of pollutants generated down the road? Or that same stand of trees as a place to rest and relax by yourself or with friends?

My point is that we do need to extract resources from the Earth. However, we need to find the most efficient, least intrusive, and sustainable methodologies to do that so we aren't required to poke, prod, dig, cut, blow up, mash, compact, and alter every scrap of non-asphalt remaining. I've seen both sides of the fence, worked both sides of the fence, and I can tell you there are problems everywhere. The grass is no greener on one side than on the other. It's all a matter of perception. Hardliners at both ends make it very difficult to come to a reasonable solution. I was one, once. It makes life a little easier when you only have one goal. But life isn't that simple. There has to be some give and take, within reason. I will always be on the side of the environment because it's the only one we have and I do understand that without it we will perish, physically and mentally and culturally.

That's enough for now.

Orphan Works Legislative Testimony MP3s

Here is a location for listening to the legislative and professional photographer testimony regarding the Orphan Works legislation pending. Be warned, it's not encouraging.

Thanks to David Sanger for putting this together.

You can view the entire webcast of the March 8 hearing. It's an hour long.

Here are shorter MP3 clips, courtesy of David Sanger:

Orphan Works Hearing MP3-1
Orphan Works Hearing MP3-2
Orphan Works Hearing MP3-3
Orphan Works Hearing MP3-4
Orphan Works Hearing MP3-5

Testimonies (transcripts)

David Trust, PPA
Allan Adler, AAP
Jule Sigall, CO
Maria Pallante, Gugggenheim

Gordon Parks, Photographer and Director Dies

Gordon Parks, photographer and Hollywood director, dies at 93

Gordon Parks, the photographer, filmmaker, writer and composer who used his prodigious, largely self-taught talents to chronicle the African-American experience and to retell his own personal history, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.

His death was announced by Genevieve Young, his former wife and executor. Gordon Parks was the first African-American to work as a staff photographer for Life magazine and the first black artist to produce and direct a major Hollywood film, "The Learning Tree," in 1969.

He developed a large following as a photographer for Life for more than 20 years, and by the time he was 50 he ranked among the most influential image makers of the postwar years. In the 1960's he began to write memoirs, novels, poems and screenplays, which led him to directing films. In addition to "The Learning Tree," he directed the popular action films "Shaft" and "Shaft's Big Score!" In 1970 he
helped found Essence magazine and was its editorial director from 1970 to 1973.

An iconoclast, Mr. Parks fashioned a career that resisted categorization. No matter what medium he chose for his self-expression, he sought to challenge stereotypes while still communicating to a large audience. In finding early acclaim as a photographer despite a lack of professional training, he became convinced that he could accomplish whatever he set his mind to. To an astonishing extent, he proved himself right.

Photographer, writer, filmmaker, composer, musician "... I've known both misery and happiness, lived in so many different skins it is impossible for one skin to claim me. And I have felt like a wayfarer on an alien planet at times walking, running, wondering about what brought me to this particular place, and why. But once I was here the dreams started moving in, and I went about devouring them as they devoured me...."

Article
Gordon Parks
Gordon Parks, Master of Photography

Orphan Works Blog

The Stock Artists Alliance has created a blog dedicated to the Orphan Works issue as it relates to copyright. The blog is at http://orphanworks.blogspot.com.

The Orphan Works issue is one of the most important and critical recent developments in the history of copyright legislation. I encourage you to read up on this as much as you can, become educated, and act by notifying your legislators and lawmakers.

Pic of the Day 3.04.06

Sprites and Pixies

Copyright Law action needed

Please look below the Junking Junk Mail post to the next one below called Urgent Action needed on Copyright Law. I'd been working on this as a draft and it was posted below the Junk Mail piece based on the date rather than the sequence of posting. It's a much more important issue than Junk Mail, at least at this point in time. Click on the title link at the left to get right to it.

Junking Junk Mail

Are you tired of receiving credit card applications and offers for home equity loans, "live check" loans, student loan consolidation, or car loans? Besides taking up your time in shredding and the waste of paper and energy, these offers are results of credit checks to your personal credit records. Supposedly, too many of these inquiries can affect your credit score (so I've heard). Basically, though, they are an annoyance.

Called "Pre-screening", a creditor or insurer (CI) establishes a set of specific credit criteria (such as a a minimum credit score) then requests data from Credit Reporting Agencies (CRA's, Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion). This data includes names, addresses, and other information of eligible consumers based on the criteria. From that list the mailings are sent forth.

This is information you did not request. Unsolicited is the correct term. Pre-screening is one of the primary methods CI's use to let you know about their products and services with the intent on making you a customer.

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) permits CI's to use CRA data to send unsolicited firm offers to consumers. A "firm offer of credit or insurance" is defined as any offer of credit or insurance to a consumer that will be honored if, on the basis of information in the consumer's credit record, the consumer meets the specific criteria used to solicit him or her for the offer, except that the offer may be further conditioned in certain circumstances. Simply put, if you sign the application and return it, you're accepted by the CI as an eligible consumer and you've just bought yourself a loan.

The types of creditors that use pre-screening are: credit cards, home equity lines of credit, "live check" loans (where a fixed amount check is mailed to you and if desposited activates the loan terms), student loans, automobile credit. Insurance companies use pre-screening much less than creditors because acquisition of new accounts is primarily through independent agents who are responsible for their own marketing. One CRA reported that only 42 insurance companies requested data for pre-screening in 2003, a much smaller number than for creditors.

Section 604 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) establishes the rules regulating how CI's can use CRA records for sending unsolicited firm offers as well as providing consumers the ability to refuse to receive such offers. When you do receive a firm offer from a CI, Section 615(d) of the FCRA specifies that a clear and conspicuous statement must be present in a font and size easily readable that informs the consumer that they have the right to prohibit the use of their credit information in connection with any future pre-screening offers. The address and toll-free phone number of the appropriate notification system must also be provided.

Most of the time when we get these offers we just toss them in the trash or into the shredder. The shredder is the recommended form of destruction since a firm offer application can be filled out by someone else and could lead to some credit issues on your part.

You can opt out of the pre-screening process for 5 years or permanently by going to www.optoutprescreen.com and filling in the form.

While we're on the subject, you can also opt out of direct mail advertisement by going to www.dmaconsumers.org/offmailinglist.html.

For more information go to Unsolicited Credit Offers 2004 (PDF file)

Urgent Action needed on Copyright Law

I urge photographers, illustrators and other graphic artists to read this information and act upon it, writing your legislators to encourage them not to support the Orphan Works legislation currently under consideration. Read on for more detailed information and links to contact your senators, congressmen and representatives.

From a letter sent by Leif Skoogfors, Stock Artist Alliance (SAA) Legal Chair and board member. I have added some information (in [ ]) for clarity.

You may have heard reference to the concept of "Orphan Works" which the U.S. Copyright Office has been investigating this past year. [Orphan works are, in this case, photographs and digital photographic files that are missing the creator information (name, address, copyright information, etc.) or the original copyright cannot be located -- see excerpt of letter by Vic Perlman of ASMP below]

This month, the Copyright Office issued its report that contains a proposal for an amendment to the Copyright Act. If passed into law, it would in effect make the enforcement of copyright in the U.S. a joke.

Even worse, the proposal has been "fast tracked" in Washington with a good chance of passage before the end of the current session of Congress. SAA has joined a coalition of industry groups to quickly and defiantly respond. As SAA Legal Chair, I am actively working with the Coalition and SAA is dedicated to assisting in any way we can. As a start, we will be posting information on our public web site and sending out letters to increase awareness across the industry.

ASMP deserves huge credit for taking the lead to form a growing coalition of organizations which ASMP General Counsel Vic Perlman is representing in connection with Orphan Works. In addition to SAA, other members are the Graphic Artists Guild (GAG), the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), Advertising Photographers of America (APA), Editorial Photographers (EP), the Illustrators Partnership of America (IPA, which carries with it approximately 40 other organizations) and the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA, with their General Counsel Nancy Wolff).


In the UK, the Association of Photographers (AOP) and the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies (BAPLA) have joined the coalition. Although their political clout is necessarily indirect in this matter, their economic interests are definitely at stake. Not only would an Orphan Works law change the nature of the US market, but it could set up pressure for similar laws in other countries.

What can YOU do to help?

1. The most urgent thing that you can do is to understand the severity of this issue. Please carefully read the letter by Vic Perlman, General Counsel and Managing Director of ASMP. It details exactly why, in his words "if that language is enacted in its current form, it will be the worst thing that has happened to independent photographers and other independent visual artists since Work Made for Hire contracts."

Vic's letter is on the ASMP site


2. We urge all U.S. [photographers, illustrators, and graphic artists] to take the time to FAX letters to members of House and Senate Judiciary Committees, and also to your home legislators without delay.

Download the Model Letter and personalize it before you send it off to your legistators.

Download Names and Fax Numbers of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees

Find your Senators

Find Your Representative

You may find it easier to use ASMP's Fax Tools

Letter from Vic Perlman, ASMP General Counsel [excerpt]

The problem

The U.S. Copyright Office issued its report on Orphan Works only a couple of weeks ago. The end of that report contained proposed language for an amendment to the Copyright Act. That proposal is now being fast-tracked in Washington with a good chance of passage before the end of this Session. In my opinion, if that language is enacted in its current form, it will be the worst thing that has happened to independent photographers and other independent visual artists since Work Made for Hire contracts.

Orphan works are basically works whose copyright owners cannot be located. The term "Orphan Works" is really a dangerously misleading phrase. It makes it sound as if it includes only a few works that are not valued enough by their creators to warrant taking care of them. That may be true for owners of many kinds of copyrights. However, the reality is that for independent photographers and illustrators, the majority of your published photographs may well become Orphan Works. The reason for that is that, unlike just about every other category of copyrighted works, photographs and illustrations are typically published without any copyright notice or credit to the photographer or illustrator. The one exception to that has traditionally been editorial uses, but even there the trend seems to be away from providing credit lines. As more and more photographs are published on the Internet, credits become even rarer. Worse, even if you registered your photographs at the Copyright Office, there is no mechanism for identifying you or your photograph or for locating you through those records, if the user does not know your name.

Under the proposed legislation, a person or other entity who wants to use a copyrighted work is required to make only a "good faith, reasonably diligent search" to locate the copyright owner. If, after making such a search, the user is unable to locate the copyright owner, he/she/it gets an almost free license to use the work. If the copyright owner never comes forward, the user gets to use the work for free. Even if the copyright owner discovers the use and demands payment, the MOST the copyright owner can get is "reasonable compensation," i.e. a reasonable license fee for the use actually made. There is NO possibility of statutory damages or attorneys' fees, even if the work was registered before the use was made without your permission.

Wait, it gets worse:

If the copyright owner discovers the use and demands payment, "where the infringement is performed without any purpose of direct or indirect commercial advantage, such as through the sale of copies or phonorecords of the infringed work, and the infringer ceases the infringement expeditiously after receiving notice of the claim for infringement, no award of monetary relief shall be made."

The fact that the potential compensation is so low presents a fatal impediment to collection: if you discover one of your works being used and demand only your reasonable licensing fee, but the person refuses to pay, you cannot afford to sue to collect the minimal amount to which you are entitled. Without the possibility of an award of attorneys' fees or statutory damages, no lawyer would take your case; and if he or she did, you would end up paying far more legal fees than you could possibly collect.

The bottom line is that, even if you have done everything right, including registering your photographs immediately at the Copyright Office, every photograph that you publish may be up for grabs if it doesn't have a published credit. Yes, people have to contact publishers to try to identify and locate you, but if that doesn't produce your name and/or contact information for any reason, they may be entitled to a free, or almost free, pass.

Northern Lights Tour, Alaska

Northern Lights Tour, Chena Hot Springs, Alaska
Go Here for more information and to register.

November 2 - 11, 2006



$3025.00 per person
$500 Deposit Due July 15
Group size: 4 minumum

Chena Hot Springs began soothing the sore muscles of prospectors in 1905. By 1911, the hot springs had a stable, bathhouse and 12 guest cabins. Chena Hot Springs had become, and still remains, one of the prime getaways of interior Alaska. And, it is an excellent location to view the northern lights.

Non-photographing guests are also welcome!



Trip fee: $3025.00.
A $500 deposit is due by July 15, with the balance due by September 15.
There is a minimum limit of 4 on this trip. Space is limited. Reservations should be made early to ensure a spot.

Trip fee includes:
Round trip transportation from Fairbanks, Alaska to Chena Hot Springs
Lodging at Chena Hot Springs Resort
3 Evening Aurora viewing Snow Coach rides
On-site transportation

Not Included:
Meals: Price range for meals at Chena Hot Springs: Breakfast $5 - $12, Lunch $9 - $16, Dinner $12 - $43 (items can be ordered for dinner off the lunch menu)Transportation from your home to and from Fairbanks, Alaska
Additional activities: dogsled rides, snowcoach other than Aurora viewing, Ice Museum admission or lodging, and other activities.

Go Here for more information and to register.