Blue Planet Photography - Art From Earth

New Blog Location

2007-01-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year! I hope your 2006 was a good one and that your 2007 will be even better!

You can find my new blog location at http://www.blueplanetphoto.com/wordpress. Please bear with me while I learn the new application and get the appearance of the blog nailed down.

I will be transferring the contents here on blogger to the new location as soon as I can. This blog will be available until that happens, so if you need to look at historical entries you can do that here until the transfer. I'll post other announcements as the move progresses.

But, any new content not related to the move will be at the new location.

I've posted an update to Baggley Park, my 2007 Photo Tour schedule, and my Photo Class schedules for January, March and April.

Check it out, bookmark that URL, and let me know what you think of the new digs.

Blue Planet Blog is moving - Blogger/Google TOS not suitable

2006-12-30T17:29:00.000-07:00

I was going to post an update to my Baggley Park project, but now Blogger has a Terms of Service Agreement that you must check before posting content. See below.

All the more reason to run your own blog - it's easy now with many hosting services offering that option. I've had a blog on Blogger for a few months now. Blogger was taken over by Google and now you have to agree to the TOS when uploading new content, part of which says:

"Google claims no ownership or control over any Content submitted, posted or displayed by you on or through Picasa Web Albums. You or a third party licensor, as appropriate, retain all patent, trademark and copyright to any Content you submit, post or display on or through Picasa Web Albums and you are responsible for protecting those rights, as appropriate. By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Picasa Web Albums, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content through Picasa Web Albums, including RSS or other content feeds offered through Picasa Web Albums, and other Google services. In addition, by submitting, posting or displaying Content which is intended to be available to the general public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services. Google will discontinue this licensed use within a commercially reasonable period after such Content is removed from Picasa Web Albums. Google reserves the right to refuse to accept, post, display or transmit any Content in its sole discretion."

Standard fair anymore. Looks like Google has taken up the idea that if you post it on the web it's "intended to be available to the general public" and that while Google doesn't claim ownership or control over content you submit, they are free to use it any way they see fit.

It's very prudent anymore to look at the Terms of Service agreements of any online service you subscribe to, free or not, to look for statements such as the following:

"By submitting, posting or displaying Content on or through Picasa Web Albums, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content through Picasa Web Albums, including RSS or other content feeds offered through Picasa Web Albums, and other Google services. In addition, by submitting, posting or displaying Content which is intended to be available to the general public, you grant Google a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to reproduce, adapt, distribute and publish such Content for the purpose of displaying, distributing and promoting Google services."

This means that when you post any content, photos, videos, text, and you agree to the TOS, you are giving Google the rights to use that content in anything Google owns. That means advertising (you could see your photo in a Google ad on TV or in a magazine, or see your text in the same ad or promotion) WITHOUT any compensation to you (that's what Royalty-Free means in this context).

You have control over your content, even if it is presented in a public forum, such as a blog. Google and other providers are only taking advantage of this content to provide free sources for their own promotion, at your expense.

If you are a professional posting rights managed content on a Google-owned blog such as Blogger, you may need to remove it to avoid any potential conflicts.

Needless to say I'll be stopping my Blogger account, removing my posted images, and setting up on my own.

I'll post my new blog location here when it's up and running. Or you can check my website if this blog is no longer available.

Mike Shipman

Baggley Park 12/12/06

2006-12-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

I apologize for the lack of updates on this project. The weather has put a hold on things for a few more days. Cold weather and painting doesn't mix well, and neither does rain. I'm going to be renting a propane heater to keep the work area warm, and setting up my 10'x10' canopy around the final photo on the west side of the building. This photo is actually about 1/4 done at this point, I've just been waiting to get back to finish it. The rest of the project will have to wait until warmer weather. I'll get photos of the west side when that is done (still a couple remaining finishing touches that will be completed in the spring).

Photo Calendar

2006-12-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

I know it's late, but I've created a photo calendar. Fitting into a CD case, the case lid folds over to form the base. Each month is on a separate sheet. The calendar adds an artistic touch to home or office. Custom calendars are available and existing designs can be modified to include corporate branding.

Calendars are $15.00 each plus shipping and you can see all months and order at my website

Some sample months:

Baggley Park 11/18/06

2006-11-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

I finished the "Rowboat" image today. This is of George Baggley and his daughter, Ruth Ann, in a rowboat at Isle Royale National Park.

In 1937, George Baggley left Yellowston National Park and went to Isle Royale, where he was instrumental in the development of that park. Authorized by Congress in 1931, Isle Royale was established as a National Park in 1940. George Baggley was superintendent of Isle Royale until 1946. Isle Royale National Park is an example of primitive America. 98% of the park is legal wilderness. The park has been the source of much important scientific research on ecosystems, predator-prey relationships (wolves and moose), and conservation, which have shaped management programs and policies on other Federal lands as well as across the nation and world. In 1981, Isle Royale was designated an International Biosphere Reserve by the United Nations.

Baggley Park 11/14/06

2006-11-14T21:28:00.000-07:00

George Baggley, Isle Royale National Park, circa 1937

Today I finished the 1937 "Jacket" image of George Baggley as he stands on the deck of what appears to be a steamship, wearing a black leather trenchcoat. This photo is to the right of the "1929" photo of George on horseback, and lies on top of the "Rowboat" image described below. It took me 4.5 hours to paint the details of the "Jacket" photo after about 1.5 hours of tracing the image last night. After finishing the painting, I then traced the next image, George Baggley and daughter Ruth Ann in a rowboat, also at Isle Royale. I will paint this tomorrow (11/15), weather permitting. My concern now is with the temperature. When the paint gets cold it's like pudding. It's possible I may have to wait until spring to finish the east side. I should have the west side completed this week or early next week.

George was not the only pioneer in the family. He met his wife-to-be, Herma Albertson, at Yellowstone National Park.

Herma Albertson was born in 1896 in Inwood, Iowa, and moved to Idaho when she was very young. She attended the University of Idaho and received her Masters in Botany there. In 1929, a year after George Baggley started his tenure at Yellowstone, Herma Albertson was a seasonal ranger at Old Faithful. She returned in 1930 as a seasonal, and in 1931 became the first female permanent ranger naturalist at Yellowstone National Park.

Herma Albertson beside antler house in front of Mammoth Museum (visitor center), Yellowstone National Park (courtesy NPS Archives)

Herma Albertson Baggley co-authored a field guide, The Plants of Yellowstone National Park, with W.B. McDougall, in 1936. It was revised in 1956 and is still relevant and in use today as well as a desired collector's item. She also developed nature trails at Yellowstone which were models for the rest of the National Parks.

In 1952, Herma was the leader of the National Park Women, an organization formed in that year within the National Park Service to address housing issues. The organization still exists today and is active at the area, regional and national levels. Still involved with housing issues, the organization is also involved in scholarships, welcome and orientation, information sharing, scientific concerns, communication, and hospitality.

Herma Albertson Baggley was a pioneer in her field and was dedicated to breaking ground for women in a male-dominated workplace and society. The University of Idaho awards the Herma Albertson Botany Scholarship to undergraduates majoring in Biological Sciences.

Baggley Park 11/10/06

2006-11-11T10:56:00.000-07:00

"1929 - Chief Ranger"

I was able to complete the "1929" image and add the photo border before calling it a day. It was windy and cold, so the paint was getting gummy. Today (11/11) it's raining, so I will have to wait until tomorrow (when it's supposed to be clear) to start on the second photo, "Lake Mead".

Here are the views of what the completed project will look like:

West Side

East Side

George F. Baggley was born in Mercer County, Missouri on November 6, 1898. He began his conservation career in 1917-18, at the age of 19, working in the Badlands area of South Dakota for then Governor Peter Norbeck. Governor Norbeck was a proponent of wildlife conservation and park development and was responsible for the creation of Custer State Park and Badlands National Monument. Governor Norbeck probably had some influence in directing George Baggley's interests.

In 1926, at the age of 28, George Baggley attended Colorado A&M (now Colorado State University) in Ft. Collins, as a special student in the School of Forestry. In March, 1928, George and 4 of his friends took the National Park Service Ranger Civil Service Exam. He passed and was offered a job at Yellowstone National Park, which he accepted, thinking it would be a good summer job before returning to school in the fall. The summer ended and George stayed in Yellowstone. In 1929, he became Yellowstone's first college-educated Chief Ranger. He never returned to Ft. Collins to graduate, but during his time at Yellowstone George was able to foster the use of the scientific method in wildlife management and helped acquire land in South Dakota that, in 1939, became Badlands National Monument.

I'll post more in the next installment.

Baggley Park 11/7/06

2006-11-08T10:00:00.000-07:00

11/7/06
While dodging the rain, I've gotten the backgrounds completed for the photos. At least on the west side of the building. This is the more difficult side because I'm having to use water-based and oil-based paints, plus all the detail work involved to get around door trim and other appliances.

You'll notice a difference between the photo of 11/5 and today. I decided, after 4 hours of work, to paint over the tracings I did on Sunday. I had traced the photos for the left-hand and middle photos thinking that it would be easier to paint the details from the tracings than it would be to set up the projector and re-align everything. After some thought I figured it would be easier to re-align the projector to the blank background and paint from the projection than it would to paint the tracings and then paint the background (or visa versa), essentially painting the small details twice and increasing the time it took. I'm learning as I go.

It was actually a beautiful day, with the temp at 73, great light and golden leaves. An Indian Summer day to be sure. It was predicted to start raining between 8 and 10pm so I was hoping to get some detail painting in before that happened. At about 5:30 the sun went behind the clouds and I could get started. I have an overhead projector that I use to project the altered photos onto the wall so I can paint the details. At about 8:30, though, it started to drizzle and I was only 1/2 way done with the first (left-hand) photo. So I had to pack up.

Even though I don't think I look suspicious, the local police have made 2 visits to me since I started, both after it got dark, in response to calls that there was a vandal doing things to the building. Once on Sunday and again on 11/7. I think it's interesting since I don't know many vandals who would carry so much gear and light up their work are like I've been doing. But, I'm glad someone is paying attention.

11/8/06
I'll be heading back this afternoon to take some photos of the progress so far and hopefully get one photo done and perhaps another if the rain holds off.

Baggley Park 11/5/06

2006-11-05T08:39:00.000-07:00

I started my public art project yesterday. I'm painting photographs on a building in a public park. The park is called Baggley Park, named for George Baggley, the first college-educated senior ranger at Yellowstone National Park (1927). He was also superintendent of Isle Royale National Park, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, helped acquire land for Badlands National Monument, was a champion of the scientific method applied to wildlife management, understood conservation and the roles of predator and prey in a healthy ecosystem, was awarded the National Park Service Distinguished Service Award, its highest honor, and helped the city of Boise develop its system of greenbelt pathways and parks. Hence the park being named after him. The photos are historical, starting with 1927 and going until the 1980s. I've converted the photos to line drawings to make it easier to paint on a rough-textured cinder block. There are 11 photos total of various sizes and 4 of the photos are photo-imaged onto glass tile which will be installed after the painting is completed.

I'll post my progress here.

Tool for color blindness

2006-11-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

EyePilot, software to enable individuals with color blindness or color deficiency to read and navigate computer displays. eyePilot is designed as an interactive floating window (Capture Window) that can be layered over any web or browser window on your computer screen. The application is layered on top of other programs like a window or filter that interprets the underlying data for you. The tool is helpful for interpreting maps (subway maps, for example) by isolating a single colored route from the others. eyePilot has several tools; color isolation, color naming, color hue differentiation, magnification and printing and saving of modified views.

If you know anyone who may have difficulty with colors, this might be a useful tool for them. More information and a demonstration at www.colorhelper.com

DNA Computing

2006-11-05T07:50:00.000-07:00

When I was in High School there was talk of computers using DNA as the logical component. Why not? Our brains are made of the stuff and our bodies run on electricity. It makes sense that it might (should) be possible to create a biological computer. Definitely, Science Fiction is full of stories related to this topic, even long before DNA was discovered.

Columbia University and the University of New Mexico have created MAYA II, an array of YES and AND logic gates made from strands of DNA. This array is able to play tic-tac-toe.

DNA computers work on a molecular scale and it's estimated that a cubic centimeter of DNA can hold the same amount of information as a trillion music CDs (I'll bet Apple is watching this technology closely. Think of it, an Ipod that is actually an apple - just kidding, but it would be cool). Molecular computers also produce electricity as a byproduct of DNA reactions, which means that DNA-based computers could eventually operate without depending upon an outside powersource. Think of laptops or cell phones with an inexhaustible power supply. The immediate hope for this technology is for internal medicine and biomedical research. DNA computers, coupled with nanomachines, could operate within the human body without rejection or the need for cumbersome power sources, diagnosing illness, maintaining regulatory functions (blood sugar, cholesterol), administering medications (insulin, cancer treatments directly to affected sites), and general upkeep (scouring plaque from blood vessel walls, for example), maybe even helping pump up our own brain functions (memory storage or recall, loading of skill sets, a la Johnny Mnemonic, the Matrix [Keanu Reeves coincidence is just that], or Total Recall). Then you would not need genetic engineering to create a smarter person, just insert a genetic computer to become whatever type of person you want to be or plug in a "designer" module to fit the particular situation.

That might be a little creepy if you think about it too much. However, integrating molecular components with current technology isn't possible yet, however. And, the computational speed still leaves a lot to be desired. A single tic-tac-toe move with MAYA II can take up to 30 minutes, so don't get your hopes up yet for help improving Photoshop.

More information is found Here.

Automatic Keywording

2006-11-04T08:59:00.000-07:00

Interestingly enough, just yesterday I was discussing image keywording with some photographer friends. For stock photographers, keywording is a four-letter word. Time consuming, very challenging, and the workflow can be frustrating and inefficient. Keywords are very useful not only in stock photography, but also for personal archives. How do you locate that digital photo of Uncle Joe with spaghetti on his face from that party 3 years ago? Unless you have it stored in a specific folder on a hard drive or CD/DVD that you can locate pretty quickly, it can be quite a task to find it again. Keywords embedded into individual photo files gives you the resource to search by those words to find image files. The problem is the time and effort it takes to create a list of relevant words describing each photo.

Well, now comes along some research out of the Pennsylvania State University to start the ball rolling to make it easier to keyword. Called Automatic Linguistic Indexing of Pictures-Real Time, a computer is trained to recognize objects and concepts in a photo and assign keywords based on that training. It's not perfect yet, and the vocabulary is limited, but it's a start.

You can try it out for yourself at www.alipr.com. You can upload a photo of your own (it becomes part of the online library, just so you know) or you can view archives of submitted photos and the associated keywords.

Here is a photo of mine I tried out. You can see the list generated is not completely accurate. The checked boxes were selected by me to let ALIPR know these were the most accurate words to describe the image. I also added words below to better describe the subject.

Click on the image to enlarge the view.

Alaska Bear Watch Tour - Fast Opportunity

2006-10-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

Small group Alaska Tours book very far in advance and because the season is so short, fill up quickly. I've arranged for a boat trip along the Katmai Coast of Alaska to view and photograph bears, scenery and other wildlife, July 4 - 7, 2007 with an optional Kodiak Island ground extension July 8 - 12.

More information and registration is on my website.

The Katmai Coast of Alaska and Katmai National Park is by far the best location in the world to see and photograph coastal brown bears (grizzlies). Open ground makes it easy for the bears to see you and you see the bears, creating a much safer environment than the brushy habitat found elsewhere. We will meet in the city of Kodiak for a seaplane commute to the 73 ft. MV Waters, anchored in the Shelikof Strait. The next 4 days we will cruise the Katmai Coast with very frequent shore excursions to photograph bears, seabirds, otters, fox, and the incredible scenery Alaska has to offer. This trip has just been organized and the deadline is fast approaching. Most trips of this kind require bookings 12 months in advance due to the very short season, small group size, and popularity. The trip cost is $3500.00 with a $1750 deposit due by December 31, 2006. This is a First Trip and a discount has already been applied. There is a minimum of 4 and maximum of 6 on this once-in-a-lifetime experience. A Kodiak Island extension is available July 8 - 12 for those who want to explore America's Emerald Isle.

Go to HERE for more information and to register. Contact me if you have any questions.

Bait and Switch and other scams

2006-10-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

When buying anything online, not just photography equipment, you really have to pay attention. You can certainly find really good deals on photo equipment or other items on the internet if you look hard enough. When I'm looking for a new toy I generally check out the usual suspects: B&H Photo/Video, Adorama, Calumet, and one or two others. If I think there might be a lower price somewhere else, I might check out some price comparison sites like pricewatch, pricegrabber, bizrate, ibuyer, nextag, and of course, Ebay, Amazon, and a few others. It all depends on how much time I want to spend looking for the best deal. Sitting at the computer isn't the same as driving around town, so a person can cover a lot of ground fairly quickly with a few keystrokes.
I'm real hesitant to buy from a company I just happen to come across. Particularly if the deal seems a little too good. The internet is full of sites luring you in to grab your personal information, credit card numbers, or simply to rip you off. The internet is also what I call "The Great Equalizer". You can find information on just about anything if you know how to search for it. When I come across a company I'm not sure about, the first thing I will do is perform a search on the company name. I might add the search term "review" to the company name to bring up sites that are specifically reviewing the company, either officially or through blog or other consumer response. If there's something wrong with that company, it will likely be out there on the web for all to see. Reliability, honesty, integrity, customer service, speedy delivery, are but a few of the things we cherish in a good company. When you find an online store that works for you, that store tends to get more of your repeat business, even if the price is higher than somewhere else. Disreputable outfits will perform several types of deceptive practices to separate you from your money and they can be very hard to detect.

The first tactic is called Bait and Switch. This popular and common trick involves an offer of an item at a really low (too good to believe) price. But, when you make the purchase you are informed that there are none left at that price but you can now buy a different model (better, no doubt) at a higher price. Or, the price was for equipment that is called "gray market". Despite the nefarious-sounding term, gray market is not stolen goods. Most commonly, products that are intended by their manufacturer for one national market, say China, are bought in that market then exported and sold in another national market, perhaps the U.S. or Europe. These gray market products often are not covered by the standard manufacturer's warranty or service agreements, so if they are defective the buyer is pretty much on their own for repair or replacement.

Another part of bait and switch is separating out accessories that would normally be bundled with an item and selling them separately for exorbitant prices. Things like batteries, release cables, battery chargers, adapters, drivers and software, or other essential components may be sold for 2 - 3 times their actual replacement cost but are normally included with the item from the manufacturer. Other accessories, like filters or other unnecessary items are usually offered and pressed, again at higher than usual prices. A good indication of bait and switch tactics is heavy-handed salesmanship, the hard sell. If I'm pressured to buy something I don't know anything about or don't think I'll need I will end session and either go somewhere else or try again to see if it wasn't just a poor salesperson.

Look out for excessive shipping and handling prices and high restocking fees if you have to return the item. You should be able to review the company's return and exchange policies before you order. Review them and include those figures in the apparent "discounting". You might find that you're really not paying that much more than elsewhere once you add up the extra fees. Do some additional pre-order research on shipping by going to UPS or FedEx and entering in the shipping details. Each product description should include a weight and/or dimensions. Enter in this information, the zipcode of the company and your destination zipcode to get an idea of the possible shipping charges. Companies that do a large volume with a given carrier may get discounted rates, so this is just a ballpark figure. If what you're quoted is much higher than your estimate I would question it.

Another scam is to offer Money Orders or Cashier's Checks as the only means of payment accepted. Then, when the money order is received, it is deposited and the item never sent. Money orders and cashier's checks are just like cash, so there is no real recourse if you send one for payment and don't receive anything in return. Look out for this on auction sites like Ebay as well. An example description of the Money Order type of scam can be found at the Trails blog regarding the following site: www.aigars.co.uk.

The internet can be a treasure trove, lots of great deals are found every day. However, it can also be a trap. Be careful out there.

Interpreting Photographs - Hoepker and 9/11

2006-09-21T23:55:00.000-06:00

Photographs are worth a thousand words. Those thousand words are usually used to describe various interpretations of the viewed image, each one different from the others, some very different, some correct, some not.

This week in PDN Online, a photograph by Magnum photographer Thomas Hoepker of a group of young people in Brooklyn sitting and observing the smoke rising from the twin towers has sparked a bit of debate as to its meaning.

You can see a small version of the photo at PDN Online. There are other links within the article to other stories and interpretations, including various interpretations and replies by two of the individuals in the photo.

If you type in "Thomas Hoepker 9/11 photo" in Google you will get links to more comments from various blogs and other sources about the interpretations and thoughts about the photograph. A Wall Street Journal Article by Richard Woodward an art critic, puts his own slant on the interpretation.

This example describes a partial failing with photographers, getting the interpretation wrong. When a photographer creates/captures a photograph there are two aspects of that image:

1. the story the photographer wants to tell
2. the story the subject(s) want to tell (or are telling)

In fine art, the interpretation of the artist, the meaning, is again interpreted by the viewer. When they mesh, more or less, a connection, a communication, has been made. The subject, subject matter, visual and mental dialog need not be real to be complete. Abstract imagery is treated more or less the same as realistic imagery. For photojournalistic subjects and subject matter, the image is supposed to be of reality. The elements of the photograph honestly telling a story. Generally, the assumption is that the photograph was taken honestly, with no manipulatiive trickery, no directing, it is the scene as it was. The trouble comes when the photographer mis-interprets the scene and gets it all wrong. Perhaps it is because of preconceived ideas, or maybe wishful thinking, or the need to find a counter-point amongst an ocean of similarity. In the case of the Hoepker photograph, Hoepker failed to take the additional steps of engaging the subjects to find out more.

Based on my own experience of the day, a few thousand miles away, it seems obvious to me that the people in this photograph could not be, as Hoepker describes, "totally relaxed like any normal afternoon. They were just chatting away. It's possible they lost people and cared, but they were not stirred by it....I can only speculate [but they] didn't seem to care." I immediately sense this group of young folks may or may not have been together at that spot at the time of the attacks, but may have come together over the intervening time between the impacts and the time the photo was taken. They are sitting obviously aware of the events unfolding. They are probably discussing what's going on, maybe even trying to figure out what's happening, as any person their ages would be whether it was a burning building or a sagebrush fire. This is especially apparent since they don't appear to have access to media reports (no radio or tv visible in the photo) which would lead to a lot of speculation I would think. There's nothing they can do from across the water but watch and try to make sense of it, like most of us did watching it on television.

Hoepker made a wrong assumption. I don't know him or his background. I interpret his statements to be from an older gentleman, perhaps in his late 50s or 60s, who sees young people (especially those who ride bicycles) as more carefree and unconcerned, uninvolved and uninterested in events that don't affect them directly. The twin towers burning was, as he saw it, more of a spectacle, like any burning building they might see, stop, and chat about, rather than the major life-changing and nation-changing event it was unfolding to be while Mr. Hoepker struggled to get closer to ground zero on that day. All the chaos surrounding him probably was strikingly different to this apparently idyllic-looking scene. His capture was swift. He had made his interpretation before he clicked the shutter release, got the snap and moved on. The seemingly casual poses of the people, the bright sky, landscaped vegetation, the bicycle, certainly without the smoke in the background, would give the impression of a group of friends having a great time together on a summer day.

When the circumstances are not well known, most interpretations can be gotten away with. If this had been a photograph of the same group of people in roughly the same setting, though with an apartment complex fire in the background, maybe Hoepker's interpretation would be more believable. We all have experiences with burning buildings in our neighborhoods and towns. It can be a tragic event to the victims, but callous as it may seem, to those around this very localized event it is a spectacle, a curiosity, an "at least it's not me" (at least in the back of our minds) event that we can safely watch and comment upon, even laugh about or "not seem to care". When this type of localized event occurs in another town or another state, the connection to us individually is much less and, to be honest, we hardly even think about it when we hear the reports.

9/11 was different. Nearly everyone in the country (the world for that matter) has some feeling, some experience, some sense of connection, to that event. Even though there may have been groups of people gathered to watch who didn't care, who were callously watching the spectacle merely for the grandiosity of it, most of us know what we would be doing if we were in the same situation as this group of people in Hoepker's photograph. We were doing it hundreds, thousands of miles away sitting in front of our television sets, trying to understand what was going on, trying to figure out what was happening, what it meant, what was going to happen next. So, it it difficult to believe Hoepker's interpretation of this scene as anything but his own creation, for whatever reason - just plain wrong or an opportunity to create some sensationalism.

A photographer has to be careful when he interprets his own photographs. It has to be believable, it has to at least appear to be honest, and it has to make some sense to the viewer that the photographer's story and the subject's story are both plausible and related. When that happens the connection is more likely to be made. Otherwise they walk away.

I didn't count. Are there a 1000 words in this essay?

Some recent photos

2006-09-18T21:33:00.000-06:00

Here's a selection of some of the photos I've been shooting over the past few weeks. You see these and others at www.blipfoto.com, www.photoshelter.com and www.creativehotlist.com.

Servers

Little Payette Lake

Passive Aggressive

Website and email down for transfer

2006-09-18T21:29:00.000-06:00

I've had enough. I don't know why I waited this long. But the last week has been horrible with the website down, email down, and no support from my host, 1planhost. The phone number is even disconnected. I've been busy so I couldn't spend an entire day or night sitting at the computer setting up a new host, transferring files, etc. until this afternoon.

So, Blue Planet Photography will be down for perhaps the next day or so while the DNS data gets sorted out. I may also have some issues with email as well.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Sensor Dust issues a thing of the past?

2006-09-09T08:26:00.000-06:00

I've posted here before some techniques for dust removal and links to other sites for this topic. Canon is coming out with the new Rebel XTi that has both a self-cleaning sensor to remove dust as well as software to automatically remove dust in post-processing. The sensor vibrates and changes polarity to shake off dust from the sensor. Recommendation is to then use the blower method to remove the dust from the internal box. Clean air (pure air) or bulb blowers with the camera facing downward to blow out the dust. The software identifies dust particles not shaken off and clones them out. You take a baseline photo of a white background prior to shooting, then in post the software reads the baseline image, identifies the dust locations and removes them in the subsequent photos. I'd like to see that in action. If you change lenses after the baseline imagae and introduce new dust specks the software likely won't find it, however. You can find more information in video form at David Honl's blog

Mail and Email Scams

2006-08-22T13:11:00.000-06:00

I reported on one mail scam earlier on and have received another. But, I'm not going to turn this blog into a scam reporting service. All I will say is that if you receive an "Awards Certificate" from an organization you didn't solicit, or if the deal appears to be too good to be true...it is and just shred it.

If you still have questions, get on the web and enter in some prominent keywords, for example, the name of the "contest" and the name of the company sponsoring the contest, sweepstakes, or giveaway. There will likely be a few websites providing enough information for you to make a relatively informed decision. If you're still unsure, call the Better Business Bureau in your area. I would say that 99.99% of the "You've Won....!!!!" letters you get in the mail are promotional gimmicks that will net you nothing, a bushel of additiional junk mail , or worse, the loss of hard earned cash when you are pressured into buying some overpriced product you don't need and will never use. No, I take that back, it's 100% of the "Congratulations!" letters you get in the mail.

I don't seem to get as many of these in the mail as I used to, but it still irritates me. If enough people quit falling for these schemes perhaps they will go away. Who wants to buy any products from a company that employs these tactics in the first place? The same as if I'm going to go ahead and visit a website or purchase a product after being tricked by a false email subject line. Like the best way to get me to buy something I don't need is to make me think any correspondence is from someone I know, then blast me with a litany of garbage offers and incentives, fake testimonials and blown out of proportion promises.

The thought of getting something for nothing, a free car, cash, airline tickets (which usually require you book at accommodations at the resort of the prize-giver's choice and for a minimum number of nights), big screen TV, etc. is compelling. Resist the urge. Put down the phone. Take a breath. It's not real. It's only a dream.

Avoid hosting with 1planhost.com

2006-08-20T19:08:00.000-06:00

I've now had it. Sorry about the delay in posting, i've been busy with, you know, business matters. But, this last event has finally taken the cake. I received an email today from 1planhost support, where I host my website and 3 other clients that I still web design for. It stated that there was going to be

"conducting network upgrades over the weekend of August 18th, 2006. The upgrades will take place on the 19th between 10pm - 12am. There should be no more than 60-90 minutes of downtime so please bare with us during this time period. After our network upgrade you will experience a noticeable difference in connectivity speeds and reliability in the future."

Little do they know that today is AUGUST 20. And at 6:30pm soon after I received the email I checked. And, not too surprising, all my sites are down. That includes my domain email which is processed through their mail servers.

1planhost was bought a few months ago by some company that prefers to remain unknown, which should have been the forst indication things weren't going to go well. During the transition, pretty much all the hosted websites went down for at least 5 days, some for much longer. Disguised as a "server upgrade" which was supposed to greatly improve performance (I haven't noticed any improvement) it was wool over the eyes of subscribers. I let it go, thinking that the original 1planhost owners, who were great about keeping the system running, responding very quickly to issues, and the CEO replied directly on occasion. I don't think I've had a personal response to a support ticket yet under the new regime.

So, this finally breaks my back. As if I don't have other things better to do than babysit a webhost. Over the next week I'll be moving all my sites over to a new host that's been recommended and seems reliable after some email communications. Honestly, I don't know if this will be any better, but I can't be having this crap go on any longer. Also, since the transfer, my domain email has obviously been blacklisted as spam coming from the new host, so I will need to also fix that.

So, my recommendation for any of you thinking about hosting with 1planhost.com.

DON'T

They were good once, but all those people are long gone. It's worthless now. Run away.

Domain Names for Sale

2006-08-01T07:58:00.000-06:00

I have the following domain names for sale, please contact me if you're interested.

tranquility-wellness.com $400
tranquility-wellness.biz $400
pamwhitephoto.com $250
pamwhitestockimages.com $250
cowboystockimages.com $750
cowboystockphoto.com $750
cowboystockphotography.com $750

Photo of The Day 7.26.06

2006-07-26T18:42:00.000-06:00

Eye Exams
Polaroid SX-70

The need to back-up digital files

2006-07-22T20:02:00.000-06:00

There are days when I really do hate computers. One hard drive that I hadn't backed up yet became corrupted and I lost a large number of digital files, mostly RAW. I'm still in the process of trying to recover as many as I can, but I'm not extremely hopeful that I'll get them all. I think I've got about 1/4 - 1/3 of them so far.

My computer, I believe, in particular the motherboard, has a defect that has plagued me here and there since I purchased the thing. I had to replace the motherboard not long after I bought it, so it could be something else, like maybe a bad memory chip. I recently replaced a firewire card that I suspected was giving me trouble with the firewire drives, but I'm getting the same error now after the replacement as well as a complete reload of the system. The message is a "delayed write" error on one of the firewire drives. I have 2 firewire drive enclosures, one is a 2-bay enclosure and the other is a 4-bay enclosure. The 4-bay enclosure is where I'm getting the error from and from where the drive was corrupted. I'm suspecting the enclosure at this point.

But, I've spent the past 2 full days reformatting, reloading and reconfiguring the computer. It would also happen to be the drive I haven't backed up. It goes to show that having a consistent workflow for backing up and archiving is vital if you are to maintain any sort of safety net for your digital files. I got busy doing other things and neglected this drive. One day I booted up the system and Windows XP saw something (or thought it saw) damaged on the drive and attempted to fix it (damaged chains) and before I knew it the drive had been scrambled. Whether it was a virus or not I don't know. Norton has not indicated I have one (which isn't unheard of), but I should have had issues with other drives if that was the case.

Anyway, there was nearly 60GB of digital files on that drive, so this might be a good warning to those of you out there who are slacking on your backup. Better the take the time now than to regret it later.

A Photo A Day

2006-07-20T13:07:00.000-06:00

Well, my Photo of the Day has become the Photo Whenever I Get Around To It. Sorry for that. Same for the Website of the Week. It's been busy and now I'm in the process of reloading my PCs. Got some hiccup in the system that I can't seem to shake, so in typicall PC style I'm starting over. Found out my floppy drive isn't working properly either, so creating a system disk for XP to reformat the C: drive has become even more of a hassle.

Anyway, I've come to tell you that I'm participating in a group photo blog called www.blipfoto.com which is very well organized and looks mighty fine, with excellent commenting features and large images. When you get to the site, click on All Journals, then you'll see a list of other photo journals. Click on mine which is, surprisingly enough, called Blue Planet Photography. I'm going to make a conserted attempt to post a photo a day, and try to make it a photo I've taken that day as well. We'll see how that holds up, but it will give me a daily goal, I suppose, as if I don't have any others to meet that are more important.

I hope you enjoy it. If you're lacking anything here on this blog, let me know.

Gretag Macbeth acquired

2006-07-11T16:20:00.000-06:00

X-rite, a global leader offering color measurement technology solutions, such as the Monaco EZcolor line, has acquired Amazys Holdings AG which operates under the Gretag Macbeth brand, maker of the popular professional monitor color calibration system Eye-One. The combined company will be called X-Rite, Incorporated. No word on how or if this acquisition will affect the Gretag Macbeth product line. My guess is that much will remain the same. From the website information it appears that the purpose of the merger is to broaden the global reach of both product lines.

Non-Photography Day

2006-07-07T11:46:00.000-06:00

A British artist, Becca Bland, is promoting July 17 as a day without photography, Non-Photography Day. Basically, a day for photographers and others taking pictures to put down the camera and enjoy the experience.

More information at PDNOnline Here.

According to the PDN article, there has been the typical backlash, knee-jerk, reactions to this proposal by some who are encouraging people to take as many photos as possible on July 17.

The point of the exercise as I see it is not to banish photography, but to encourage people hampered by the camera cemented to their eyeballs to "take part" rather than "take apart" (my quotes). When we photograph, we do "take apart" a scene or an event, dividing it up into discrete, time-specific moments, isolated from the whole. We as photographers select which experiences we document, again isolating those experiences in ourselves without taking part in the whole. It's common to come away from an event and, especially talking in groups, not be familiar with what someone else is describing because we've been focused on only a small part, our vision and senses narrowed.

In one sense we can get into the mindset that as "the photographer" it's our job to document, not to experience or participate. If we don't come away with the essential images, our peers, our families and friends, will wonder if we're actually useful or as good as they (or we) claim. We have a reputation to uphold for ourselves and have a duty to uphold the reputation of others who sing our praises. If we aren't capturing the moment, our value is diminished. Being the one never in the picture is almost a badge of honor. Like a designated driver, as photographers we are the designated chronicler, responsible for creating long-lasting memories.

That said, putting down the camera occasionally, not just on a certain days (which makes the whole practice a bit artificial), helps us as photographers recharge. A photographer relies on his/her senses and experiences to help create and maintain their photographic vision. If your experiences are limited to those seen through a tiny glass window, your photographic creativity will eventually suffer. A person needs to participate, climb a mountain, sit quietly, party, dance like a wildman, walk in a parade, fly a kite, debate an issue, without capturing it for prosperity. It reconnects you to the world and gets you excited for the next time you pick up the camera.

So, putting down the camera is really a good thing. Maybe not for an entire day (but maybe so), certainly not just one day a year, but definitely on occasion. A few minutes here, an hour there, just put the machine down and look around, listen, feel, smell, taste. You might be surprised how inspired it makes you.

Happy Independence Day

2006-07-03T19:48:00.000-06:00

The 4th of July is tomorrow. Independence Day for the U.S. Like any other holiday, it's much less about the creation of our country than it is about picnics, BBQs, Super Sales, and blowing crap up. Here in Idaho you can buy just about any form of explosive device legal for the 4th in the most lenient of states. You just can't light them off. Funny law, that. Makes the state a ton of money in tax revenue, as well as for all the fireworks vendors on every corner. A lot of that state income goes to pay for firefighting (federal and state funds), rescue, and law enforcement (when things get out of hand, there's otherwise not much patrolling going on - if that were the case then my street would be a ghost town with everyone in jail).

I don't know if our forefathers envisioned our Independence as one of the major economic times of the year. Sure, there were celebrations, and more likely than not there were illegal celebrations as well, maybe even more so than today. I suppose it's our rebellious (ore revolutionary) nature.

I read an article the other day about a growing movement for the U.S. to become much less dependent on oil (like the tie in?). Not new news by any stretch. However, much of the discussion I've seen in print, on television and heard on the radio as well as around the "water cooler" centers around gasoline and other petroleum fuels. Certainly, oil is used to produce fuels. Gasoline, Kerosene, Diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, etc. and the use of these by-products is apparent to most everyone. Fuel to power vehicles, machinery, and to heat buildings is important. The Handbasket of Hell would arrive that much sooner if we no longer had any oil resources available.

But, how many consider the other products that we depend upon equally as well (or more so) than fuel? Think of those things you use every day that are made from plastic or some synthetic material. Most of those products are made from oil derivatives. Some food products come from oil. There are literally thousands of products other than fuel that we use every day that are created from oil. While hybrid cars, hydro, wind and solar power (which have their environmental downsides as well), and other alternative energies are great ideas way past their time already, what about the other stuff?

Now, I'm all for conservation of resources, clean alternative energy, smart management and all that. I also hold the belief that the faster we use it up the quicker we can move on to those alternatives. We're going to run out, why prolong the inevitable? We're not scrubbing the atmosphere yet to reduce global warming and we've just about run out of time on that front. It's all about momentum. It takes a train a while to get up to speed, but once it does it's going to stay that way for a while before it slows back down. Unfortunately, our recording devices aren't as accurate as a speedometer (over geologic time), nor do we have a lot of hard data from thousands of years ago to make it perfectly clear. There's a ton of inferential as well as empirical data; gasses locked in ice, soil strata, tree ring data, etc. that together are adding up to just about the same thing. But, again, we don't have direct experience with the last global warming event so we're making educated guesses as to the potential outcomes, albeit very educated guesses. Those estimates vary widely as to the severity and the timetable. the closer we get to the event, the more accurate the predictions will be. Like forecasting the weather a week out. Every day the confidence interval gets smaller, but sometimes it rains a day or two early or a day or two later or not at all, despite what the computer model says. Forecasting global warming has a pretty wide margin of error (decades). But, I'm getting off the subject.

I have to qualify my "use it all now" statement. While theoretically it makes sense, dumping all those greenhouse gasses and other matter into the atmosphere in greater quantities than we are now, all at once, say, would be definitely bad for us. The other way, a more prolonged depletion, might allow some of us to make it.

So, back to oil. Here's a short list of some of those products. What can you do without from this list? How are these products going to be maintained in the "no oil" regime? Some of these products were originally made from corn and other crops but due to the oil lobby and the fact that it was cheaper to make these things from petroleum, put an end to that. We have to make a decision as to what we're willing to pay for the freedom from oil dependency.

Ammonia, chemicals (thousands), Drugs (anasthetics, antihistamines, antiseptics, aspirin, cortisones, etc.)
All plastic (naptha is the base agent)
Synthetic fabrics (nylon, rayon, polyester, polypropolene, vinyl)
nail polish, Petroleum Jelly, insulation, deodorants, waxes, lubricants, fuels, skin lotion (components), fertilizers, insecticides, insect repellent,
food preservatives, food coloring, dyes, crayons, ink, asphalt (bitumen), synthetic rubber, glue, detergents, glycerin, kerosene

Specific products:

artificial limbs, auto parts, computer parts, building materials, highways and city streets, boats, cameras, awnings, ballpoint pens, carpets, disposable diapers, eyeglasses, contact lenses, fishing rods, nail polish, milk jugs, shampoo, rubbing alcohol, hair coloring, garden hoses, food packaging, paint, credit cards, curtains, caulking, bandages, artificial turf, heart valves, hearing aids, vitamin capsules, toothpaste, shaving cream, shampoo, lip stick, perfume, styrofoam, floor wax, electrical tape, movie and still film (nylon), rubber cement, putty, bubble gum.

Here's another thought regarding independence. We think we're pretty on top of things, that we've got the life here in America, we don't have to depend on anyone. It's never been like that and actually back in the day we were less dependent upon outside help than we are today. Loss of farmland and depletion of other natural resources, cheap labor, and other factors have caused us to outsource to a greater degree than we have in the past. Next time you're at Wal-Mart pay attention to where your fruits and veggies come from (fresh ones, not the canned variety, although check those as well). Check out your frozen dinners as well. South and Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, China, are all partners in helping to keep us fed.

When I was an undergraduate in Colorado in 1990, I had a conversation with a friend of mine who was of the mind set that we as Americans were noble, setting the example for higher standards throughout the world, making life grand for everyone. She hated slavery, which is still practiced around the world, even in the U.S. I asked her to think about the people working for her. She gave me a blank look. "Nobody works for me" she said, like I was trying to trick her or something. We went through a list of products, clothing and produce primary among them, where other people labored, sometimes or often, in poor conditions, paid cheaply, here in the U.S. and around the world, so she could have the things that made her lifestyle possible. Also, what environments are impacted? How many people are giving up their land to provide for us and other "developed" countries? At the time it was more of a mental exercise than a practical one. Difficult to find the resources to have an idea of the impact our middle and upper class lifestyles actually had on the global resource.

Now, here's a site that attempts to figure that out. To calculate your individual "global footprint", your personal impact on the world. The Ecological Footprint estimates the amount of land a person in the United States needs to be provided with basic subsistence (food, water, shelter). Space is not considered, probably because it's a hard one to quantify. We need a small space to survive (you could stay in your house your entire life as long as you had food and water), but we also need larger spaces for our mental well-being, to fuel our creativity and inspiration.

What we do, what we require, what we enjoy, is not in isolation. It's a complex world full of interdependencies. We have a lot of people working for us.

Happy Independence Day.

So, What Hard Drive Should I Buy?

2006-06-28T11:50:00.000-06:00

Storage technology for digital files is changing as fast as capture and processing technology. When researching storage devices for your digital files, you have three considerations to take into account:

1. Reliability
2. Capacity
3. Speed

Reliability is the primary consideration since loss of data can be catastrophic, especially since hard drive capacity is pushing the 500 GB and 1 TB (terabyte [1000 GB]) range. Losing that much data could put a photographer out of business. Speed and capacity are more or less just conveniences.

So, how do you find out what hard drives are the most reliable or how they are put together? Many 500 GB and larger hard drives are actually a series of internally networked individual drives (4 125 GB drives, for example) rather than a single set of platters. These drives are set up in a non-mirrored RAID which spreads the data across all drives. This increases the speed of reading and writing data, but if one of the drives in the array fails all the data is lost. In some of the forums I participate in, there are several stories of these 500 GB drives failing (Lacie is one brand that seems to get a lot of attention in this regard). For larger capacity drives, even though prices keep coming down, it's a good idea to stay away from the bargain basement prices. If it seems too good to be true....

One website that provides excellent resources for hard drive and other storage information is StorageReview.com. At this site you can get news of upcoming products, search reliability reports, and participate in discussion forums.

As a digital photographer, the learning curve never seems to flatten out much. Keeping up with the times is hard, and selecting the resources to help you do that is just as difficult since there is so much good and bad information out there -- who do you trust?

It's your irreplaceable data, your family photos, your vacations, your business. Unfortunately, digital photography has placed most of the burden of protecting those assets squarely on your shoulders. Hopefully this resource will help make it easier for you.

Mike Shipman

Update on 48hourprint.com

2006-06-20T21:45:00.000-06:00

After another email to the company and a posting on the Better Business Bureau site, I received an offer from 48hourprint.com to reprint my order. I'll accept it since I've already paid for it. But, I've also printed a replacement order with my other vendor. A good result overall, but it should have been done from the start.

Three Gorges Dam, China

2006-06-20T21:04:00.000-06:00

This project has intrigued and bothered me from the first time I heard of it nearly 10 years ago. A huge hydroelectric dam on the Yangtze River in one of China's most scenic areas. Two kilometers across (1.2 miles) and 185 meters high (610 feet), it will be five times wider than Hoover Dam in Nevada and cost between $25 and $75 BILLION dollars. Generating 18,200 megawatts of electricity, nearly the output of 16 nuclear power plants and allow 10,000-ton cargo ships access to the country's interior from the ocean. Behind the dam will be a reservoir 400 miles long. Lost under water will be countless sites of cultural and historical significance, 13 major cities, 140 towns, over 1300 villages and an unknown number of farms. About 1.13 million people are being relocated, the largest relocation outside of war.

In 2003, the reservoir began to fill and soon after cracks were documented in the dam wall. Now the reservoir is about 350 miles long and up to 135 feet deep. The cracks are reported to be increasing in number and size, or being fixed, or not a problem, depending upon what source you're reading.

What are the ecological costs of such a project? Millions of tons of human and industrial waste are dumped into the Yangtze River, the third longest in the world, each year. A reservoir will allow that waste to settle and collect, creating a very big potential health and environmental risk. Sediments transported down river to the river's mouth, deposited along the way, replenishing farmland and habitat, will be lost. Erosion downstream and loss of fertile land and habitat will be a cascading downturn for many species.

Extensive logging is required during the building of the dam and support structures. This denudes steep hillsides, increasing the risk of landslides.

Species reliant on the river and its adjacent habitats will be affected, among them are the Yangtze dolphon, Chinese sturgeon, Chinese tiger, Chinese alligator, Siberian crane, and the giant panda.

The dam is a source of National Party pride, a "look what China can do" show-off. A super power coming of age. Along with their space exploits and economin potential, China is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with (and worried about?).

Increasing human population will demand more of the resources our Earth holds. My wife told me the other day as we were passing by more farm fields up for sale or being graded for the next subdivision that we should be growing corn on those fields for fuel. At first that sounded like a great idea. But for those fields to remain fields of corn, growing corn must be more profitable than growing houses, or shopping malls or Dollar Stores. So far, it isn't. Those fields keep moving farther out to land not quite as good and more expensive to irrigate. But, that's another story.

Here is a selection of websites for more information.

Three Gorges Probe
Edward Burtynsky - photographer
CNN Article
TED Case Study
New Scientist
Geography Pages

Online business card printers - beware of this one

2006-06-15T15:42:00.000-06:00

I've used an online printer for my business cards and for business cards and postcards for a couple of my clients. They've done well in the past, but a recent event has caused me to discard them as a vendor and post this warning.

I received an order of 1000 business cards and the color was way off. Now, this is a gang run print job, so some color variation can occur across the print run. Usually that variance is within acceptable limits. The color on this order was, however, far from accurate and not acceptable to me or would be to my client. This was also the same file I had used for a previous order which was just fine.

I called their customer support line to see what could be done. I was interested in a reprint of the order. Another vendor I've used also had a similar issue a few months ago and when I called offered to do a reprint without my prompting. This call, however, went differently. I felt while talking to them that I held the burden of proof and the customer service rep was telling me how it was my fault. Now, I've been making fine art photographic prints for over 10 years, first in the darkroom and now on the computer. I feel pretty confident that I have a good idea what I'm doing. they requested that I send samples of the print order so they could evaluate them and make a decision about the resolution of this issue.

I sent them 4 samples which also showed the color variance within the print run, and I included a card from the previous order to show them what it should have looked like. I received a phone call a few days later and was told again that it was not their fault. They were willing to give me a discount on my next order, but I would get no reprint or refund. Needless to say I told them they had lost a customer.

I sent an order to my "old standby" printer, so I hope they can pull through for me.

The company I dumped is called 48hourprint.com. I thought they were ok, but at the first sign of trouble I suppose that's when you find out what really matters.

Subjects that could get you in trouble

2006-06-14T13:41:00.000-06:00

If you're photographing for editorial, commercial, or stock, you often have to be very aware of what you're photographing. Recently, and occuring more often, are lawsuits regarding breach of privacy, copyright and trademark infringement when photographs are taken of individuals, buildings, products, etc. and then licensed for commercial or even editorial use. Note all the blurring of names and items on some TV shows where releases or payments for individuals, logos, and products have not been obtained by the network. Just watch MTV for 5 minutes and you'll see what I'm talking about.

A few years ago, showing a brand on television, even in an editorial context, wasn't a big deal. Collateral advertising. Now, product placement is big money and it seems there is now a gray area between what is commercial and what is editorial (advertorial is the term often used), so most instances of "catching a brand" is removed or blurred out to avoid any litigation.

And it's not just noticeable brands or products. Privately owned buildings, parks, and other property gets into the mix as well. A brand isn't necessarliy just a logo. The word a few years ago was that if you were shooting from public property, you could legally photograph private property. Standing on the sidewalk or in the street was ok to capture the Flatiron Building in New York or a local old house.

That's not really true anymore. Things you thought were ok to photograph may not be. Even when the item or logo is not the primary focus or subject of the scene, an incidental capture of a logo in a street scent, for example, the owner of that trademark or copyrighted design could come after you. Using the street scene as a more detailed example, if you capture the McDonald's arches, a Porsche, a Harley-Davidson motorcycle and someone wearing a Denver Broncos t-shirt, you might get the attention of one or more of those companies depending upon the use and popularity of the image where these trademarks are found. Recently, many stock photos containing the logo of the London Underground ("The Tube" subway system) were pulled from Alamy in response from pressure from the Transport of London that these images were trademark and copyright infringments. Other images removed included Rubik's Cube and Eurostar.

A photographer needs to be aware of what they can or can't photograph and obtain the appropriate release (model or property), pay any license (or capture) fees, and essentially dot your i's and cross your t's to avoid any future surprises. Just because you have a camera and are a "professional", it doesn't give you license or access to photograph anything you want. When in doubt it's best to ask. If that's not possible, you might go ahead and get the shot, but thoroughly research it and get permission (if needed) before sending it out for publication.

The Picture Archival Council of America (PACA) has put together a Special Releases List, a short list of properties and objects that could cause problems for you if not released. This isn't an exhaustive list by any means.

Pic of the Day 6.11.06

2006-06-11T22:12:00.000-06:00

Elk Skeleton and Approaching Storm
Nevada

Getting out of the Box

2006-06-10T09:36:00.000-06:00

Sometimes we photographers are unduly influenced by our audience, whether that audience is our friends, family, collectors, clients, ad agencies, stock agencies, etc. After a while, sometimes, we just get on auto-pilot, shooting what's requested, following the script, whatever. When I teach my classes I always tell my students to shoot what they love first and foremost. Especially when learning photography, trying to second guess what other will like or are expecting from you will only lead to frustration. Learn the ropes, develop your personal style, get familiar with the equipment and what you can do with it. Do what you love. Then, when someone requests a particular photo of a specific thing, you will be more comfortable attempting to fulfill that request (theoretically).

What happens when you end up locked in the box? You've somehow lost your focus or have been lured away from what you love to do, which is photograph or photography particular things.

Here's some inspiration from Chip Simons who's written a pleasurable article called "Outcast of Originality" at Editorial Photographers. It's an inspiration to shoot whatever strikes your fancy. Some quotable quotes Chip has written:

"Change your perspective…don’t ever show me something from 5 foot 9….I know what it looks like already. "

"Don’t be so obsessed with taking great pictures…..that’s a horrible pressure to put on yourself."

"You can take the worst pictures on earth if you want…it’s really easy."

"Nobody really cares what you do so you better like it….or at least realize it is all part of a process that will lead to something else."

Dispensing with "proper photographic etiquette" might not be the subjects or subject matter that gets you paid, but being free with your creativity can do a couple things:

1. Keeps your mind in creative mode. Especially with digital, you're able to do and try things you probably wouldn't have with film on account of the expense and time delay of film processing.

2. Involves you in new techniques that could lead to uses for more commercially viable work.

3. Happy accidents do happen.

Read this article over and over, Print it out and hang it up where you can see it. Visit Chip's website, and go out and shoot whatever strikes your fancy.

Website of the Week 6.08.06

2006-06-08T19:56:00.000-06:00

This week's website is the American Museum of Photography. A virtual museum (only existing on the web), it nonetheless has a broad selection of items that would interest most practitioners of photography. There are several online exhibits currently ranging from slavery and other images of early African Americans, Scott Mutter, photomontage, to the Daguerreotypes of Southworth and Hawes. Articles such as :Photographic Fictions: How the camera learned to lie contains various readings on manipulated photography throughout history. There is also information on early photographic processes. A museum store offers books and posters.

If you don't have a museum of photography near you, this would be a good place to visit.

666

2006-06-06T14:42:00.000-06:00

I just had to post something today. I thought I had an auspicious photo but no luck. Just another day.

I'm on Mars

2006-06-06T14:04:00.000-06:00

Back in 2001, as the Mars Rover programs were being finalized, NASA, the Planetary Society, and the LEGO Company partnered in a project called Red Rover Goes to Mars, a project to give hands-on opportunities to students world wide to participate directly in an actual mission to Mars.

One aspect of the project was to send a pair of silica glass DVDs, one for each rover. Each DVD contains 4 million names (the same names on each DVD) from a sign-up campaign held between 2001 and 2004, a secret code (different for each DVD) around the edge of the DVD, and an image of a LEGO Astrobot minifigure on each DVD which contain magnets (one in the center, and one in each foot) to collect Martian dust.

I got my name, along with the rest of my family, in the near-2,000,000s of the certificate numbers. I had forgotten about it until today when I was going through some old papers. Not that it means much, it's just cool thinking that vicariously I'm on Mars.

If aliens discover the rovers and are able to read the DVDs, decipher the language, understand that what they're seeing is a list of names, it still won't tell them who we are or anything about us. Unless, of course, they have access to the internet and Google my name then go to Google Earth and find out where my house is.....

Photoshelter Update

2006-06-05T22:14:00.000-06:00

Back in January I wrote about Photoshelter.com as a seemingly very useful option for both archival storage of digital files and a "turn-key" website for photographers who don't have time to code a website themselves or hire someone to do it for them. One aspect of PhotoShelter was the ability to sell prints which were processed through partner EZPrint. For me, I would rather have control over the quality of prints that I sell online, ensuring that everything was the way I wanted it to look before I sent it out to a buyer. Entrusting that process to just anyone can bite back pretty hard. As a result of comments I'm sure are similar to that, PhotoShelter has initiated a self-fulfillment option on print sales that allows photographers to upload low-res images for review and then handle the creation of prints on their end, whether they create the print themselves or outsource.

This is a good move on the part of PhotoShelter. I haven't joined up, but everything I've heard has been positive from those who have. By giving the photographer as much freedom as possible to modify and use the service as best fits their own style, rather than trying to box users into a defined set of "preferred" vendors, will make the user community very happy and show that this is an operation in for the long haul rather than just catching a wave for a quick in and out.

Bravo.

Three more interesting products

2006-06-05T16:51:00.000-06:00

Here are three (well, four) more interesting products. I've not used these products nor sell them, so this report is not an endorsement or sales pitch. The products I select may or may not be useful to you, but I find them interesting. You be the judge.

#1.
The Argraph Zigview is a 2-inch/TFT color display that attaches to the viewfinder of a digital or film SLR and rotates 360 degrees, allowing for low or odd-angled viewing.

Available in two models, the Zigview B is a viewfinder only and is $249.95.

The Zigview R is a viewfinder and allows for remote shutter release, has a built-in intervalometer for shooting frames over any period of time up to 999 days and exposure intervals from 1/2 second to 99 days, and a variable sensitivity motion sensor that fires the shutter based on changes in brightness levels in 9 areas of the viewfinder allowing the sensor area to cover any distance and any focal length.

The Zigview R is $299.95.

Viewfinder adapters are available for Canon, Nikon, Olympus, Minolta, and Pentax brand SLRs. Other accessories are a carry pouch, LCD hood, release cable, infrared cable, wired/wireless remote.

#2.
We all know the Swiss Army brand. Their knives are all-encompassing tools carried in the backpacks of many a Boy Scout and intrepid hunter. Going beyond the call of duty, and I suppose, succombing to the pressures of technology (is nothing safe from 'digital encroachment'?), Swiss Army has introduced 2 "must have" knife models to their arsenal:

A) The Victorinox SwissMemory 1GB knife is what every computer geek (or photographer on the run) needs. Included in this handy package are:

USB 1GB jump drive
handy cutting blade
ubiquitous nail file and screwdriver combo
scissors
key ring
LED mini light
retractable ball point pen (refillable?)
Secure-LOCK software that keeps your data safe from unauthorized access (password protection, is my guess). Retails for $197.00.

B) The Victorinox S.Beat MP3 Digital Media Player is for those who like to slash and dash while cutting a rug. This baby has all the bells and whistles:

1GB capacity
FM radio tuner
15 FM radio presets
3-line high contrast backlight reverse LCD
USB 2.0 interface
High quality earphones w/adjustable neck strap
Remote control
Line-in cable to record from external sources
Belt clip
USB extension cable
Utility CD
Oh yeah, cutting blade, scissors, nail file with nail cleaner (no screwdriver?)

#3
This product should probably have its own post, but I'll put it here for now and post more details later after I've reviewed it.

The PLUS Coalition has as its mission to encourage standardized usage of image licensing terminology, a Universal Picture Licensing Glossary. The Coalition, started by photographer and former President of the Advertising Photographers of America (APA) Jeff Sedlik and Jeffrey Burke, Vice President of the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA), now has an advisory panel that is a Who's Who of the photography industry, including some of the world's largest advertising agencies and all the major U.S. photography trade organizations.

Image licensing models are broken down into two broad categories, Rights Managed and Royalty Free. With Rights Managed (RM) licensing, a client purchases a license to use a particular image based on a specific type of use, duration, distribution, and other factors. When those factors change, a new license and fee is required. Royalty Free (RF) mostly dispenses with many of the licensing restrictions, allowing the client to use the image for whatever purpose without negotiating new licensing terms.

Licensors of images more or less prefer the RF style license agreement, i.e., sweet and simple. Individual photographers, advertising agencies, stock photography agencies, and other sources of photographs for license, can have different definitions of commonly used terms, creating issues of understanding between providers and users. Using standardized definitions will help get everyone on the same page when discussions arise. An analog to this would be the difference between the scientific name of an animal or plant and its common or regional name. The scientific name, in Latin, (Marmota flaviventris, for example) is understood the world over to refer to one particular thing. Common or regional names can differ across geographic areas, so that a person referring to a "whistle pig" in one area is not understood by another who would call the same animal a "marmot" or "ground squirrel". The Universal Picture Licensing Glossary will help reduce that confusion when image licensing terms are discussed.

Other endeavors of the PLUS Coalition are to develop a standardized media matrix which intends to include international media categories and billing codes into image files. Also, they are developing a Universal License Format, which is a machine-readable data form integrated with the Glossary and Media Matrix to provide a single, worldwide standard for describing image licenses.

See the website listed above for more details and to access the PLUS Glossary.

Studio move is complete - my experience

2006-06-01T11:37:00.000-06:00

I turned in the keys this morning and now have a garage full of stuff to sort through and place. I've been through one "edit" already and a load went to the Idaho Youth Ranch. As I dig through the remaining pile I'm sure more will be making that trip. Some things are disassembled, like my 4x8 work table. Once that's back together I'll have some more storage space. Peg boards need to go up as well as some shelving. I don't have room to assemble the shooting table or set up lights or backdrops, so they will need to be set up and taken down as needed. All the computers are up and running, but the office as you'd suspect still needs some organizing. I was intent on just getting gear out of the studio and into the house, with organizing occurring over the next couple weeks. I have some orders that need to be fulfilled next week, so I do need to get the work table set up this weekend.

Whether you've experienced it or not, or are just thinking about it. If you're wanting to open a studio you really do need to seriously consider the overhead involved and if you'll be able to have enough billable work to make it worth your time and effort. I'll expand on that over the next few days. Of particular concern is if you're renting space, the form of the rental agreement is important, especially for helping you determine your budget needs. Now, these rental agreements are for the U.S. and may differ in your part of the world, even within the U.S., so don't take this information as gospel. I'm not an expert on these matters, please do your own research.

There are several types of commercial lease agreements. The main ones are: Gross, Net, Triple Net, and CAM.

For commercial operations, the most common rental type is Triple Net (NNN). Basically, you as the renter take on the responsibility of most aspects of the space you occupy, such as maintenance (plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical, phone, etc.), improvements (painting, wall-building, flooring), signage, etc. You also pay for your own utilities (power, water, sewer, phone) and take on a portion of the owner's expenses related to the building as a whole. You pay a portion of their taxes, grounds maintenance, alarm monitoring, etc., all their expenses of owning and operating the building. the building owner is still resposible for overall maintence, such as the roof and walls, the basic building structral integrity.

The operating expenses are billed separately from your monthly rent on a quarterly, monthly, or yearly basis, or can sometimes be incorporated into the monthly rent you pay. I'll refer to them as quarterly billings since that's how it worked in my case. This amount varies and is not usually included in the rent figure you're given. You'll see the rent listed as $500 NNN, for example. You need to ask before you sign the lease what the quartly billings are, on average, so you know how much more per month that space will cost. It could be significant. If you're looking for a space and have a budget of $500 per month, the NNN additional payments could easily increase that monthly cost by $100 or likely more.

The Net Lease is similar to the Triple Net Lease, except that you may not pay some of the expenses included in the NNN lease.

The Gross Lease is basically an all-inclusive rate where the rent, utilities, and quarterly billings are all included into one simple payment, like an apartment rent. The landlord pays all other expenses pertaining to owning and operating the building.

CAM is Common Area Maintenance, which is a maintenance charge by the landlord for upkeep of common areas such as landscaping, parking lots and other areas benefitting and used by all tenants.

The Net, Triple Net and CAM charges are generally proportional to the number and size of the tenants. If there is a tenant using up more space or using more resources (water, parking) their quarterly billings should be larger than yours, or if they are using more of a common utility (such as water) your charge should be adjusted accordingly.

The lease type is just one of the many expenses you'll need to consider, but probably the most important. Contract length, terms, restrictions, the amount of the lease, are all generally negotiable. It would do you good to have a lawyer look over the lease contract prior to you signing any document to see if they can reduce your cost or find any restrictions that could hurt your ability to do business (like a restriction on not having a darkroom or installing additional electrical outlets or internet connectivity).

Starting your own studio is a big step. Finding a suitable space is just one of the many you'll take, both forward and backward.

Website of the Week 6.01.06

2006-06-01T10:57:00.000-06:00

Traditional (or should I say 'historical') photographic processes are being practiced lass and less as digital technology takes over. It will be a long, long time (famous last words) before digital processes can replicate many (if only a few) of the historical film and print processes, such as gum bichromate, platinum/palladium, etc. and the first process, the daguerreotype. This week's website of the week is actually two sites dedicated to historical photographic processes.

The first site is Contemporary Daguerreotypes - newdags.com which is about contemporary daguerreotypes, or artists in the present day using this process. The site has a large gallery of daguerreotypes, information about the history and how they are made. A local photographer here in Idaho also created some "dags" and prints (well, 'print' is a relative term since dags are made on copper plates rather than paper) and to see them in person is a different experience than what you see on your monitor. A properly executed daguerreotype has a dimensionality and a luminance nearly impossible to describe. If you can visit an exhibit of daguerreotypes, I encourage you to do so.

Hand
Jerry Spagnoli

The second site is Alternative Photography - alternativephotography.com operated by Malin Fabbri out of Sweden. This site is dedicated to artists and photographers working with alternative photography and processes. The site includes galleries, technical information, articles and more and a wide variety of known and relatively unknown ways to make photographic images. You can easily browse and search by artist, region, and process, look up how-to's for albumen prints, bromoils, copper photogravure, kallitypes, salt prints, ziatypes, and more. Lots of inspiration, engage in discussions with the artists on the forum, look up and purchase books about these processes, or just browse lots of really great art.

I have a small gallery on this site of my Polaroid SX-70 manipulations.

Studio move update

2006-05-28T22:41:00.000-06:00

Well, not really a studio move, just yet. Technically, yes, because I've moved out of the studio space I've rented for the past 2 years back into my house. But, I don't have the spaciousness I had, so my "studio" is limited until I can locate another space. Got the phone line and DSL transferred with one hitch being the technician who setup the new line at the house didn't wire up the DSL properly, so I was offline for 2 days longer than I should have been, for a total of 4 days.

Then, when I booted up my systems one of my HDDs was corrupted. I'll have to take it in for data recovery since nothing I've tried so far addresses the problem I seem to have, which I'm still researching. Looks like a virus but no viruses are being detected on my system. All the folders and filenames have become gibberish. The drive is recognized (it's in a firewire external case with 2 bays), but the files are not readable. Had this happen once before several months ago with a drive in the same case that was my Ghost backup. I thought it was due to an issue with Ghost and moved the backup volume to an internally-connected drive and haven't had any issues like that or similar since. The drive with this issue is not accessed or backed up by Ghost and is on a separate computer. Didn't make for a happy day.

I moved out some other large items today, bookcases and some shelving. Monday (Memorial Day), Tuesday and Wednesday will be spent geting the rest of the stuff moved over. I've got about 3 times more gear than I started with and fitting it into the house has taken about 4 weeks both in organizing the homestead to accept it, and paring down the contents at both locations. It's amazing what junk you amass thinking you're going to use it at some point. Boxes for shipping or as sources of cardboard for shoring up or backing prints for shipping, bags of various sizes, hardware and equipment boxes (like you'll ever get that stuff back in those boxes if you ever have to move), magazines and various papers printed from the computer that ended up hidden in a pile somewhere and never read again. Lots went to the recycle bin.

I'll miss the space, for sure.

Orphan Works Legislation Update 5.28.06

2006-05-28T22:03:00.000-06:00

Here is information from the Illustrator's Partnership regarding the current status of the Orphan Works legislation now before Congress.

Please read through this information, posted in its entirety, and continue to pressure your congressman and representatives to not support this bill. Other information links are found at the end of the text for you to become better informed.

FROM THE ILLUSTRATORS' PARTNERSHIP

Yesterday [5/26/06] the Orphan Works Act of 2006 [HR 5439] was marked up by the House Subcommittee on the Courts, the Internet and Intellectual Property. It was approved by voice vote and sent to the full Judiciary Committee.

At the afternoon session, which was webcast live, Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) praised the bill, but also expressed concern for the rights of illustrators and photographers. Then, last evening, Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) called another meeting which had not been publicly announced. At that meeting, the legislation was passed. The vote was "unrecorded" so there is no record of who voted for or against it (or in fact, who voted at all - only a quorum was present). Eyewitnesses report that the vote was unanimous.

The legislation will now go before the full committee for a vote. According to a reliable source, Chairman Smith expects the bill to be marked up by the full Committee at the first mark-up session after Memorial Day recess.

This bill will expose our past and future copyrights by legalizing infringement immediately upon creation. We’ll send you more information about it in the next few days, but we believe this is the time for artists to mobilize again. We’ll notify you shortly where to send your letters. Thank you for your continued support.

For additional information about Orphan Works developments, go to the IPA Orphan Works Resource Page for Artists or see IPA Forums: “Free Culture-The Copy Left Is Not Right.”

You may post responses or ask questions on these forums. First-time users will be asked to register.
You do not need to be an IPA member to use the IPA public Town Hall Forums.

Please post or forward this email in its entirety to any interested
party.

Additional Sources of Information regarding Orphan Works:

U.S. Copyright Office

American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) extensive outline and updated information specifically regarding photographers.

www.editorialphoto.com

The Law Library Exclusive
Excerpt from llrx.com:

"Certainly one of the motivations behind this sustained drive to do away with the formalities was the desire to align U.S. copyright law with the requirements of the Berne Convention. Many constituencies were pushing for the U.S. to finally join this system so as to give U.S. citizens greater protection in the increasingly global market for intellectual property.

And so what we are left with at present is a system where protection arises automatically, without even any thought about whether the creator desires to have copyright protection. Click a picture on your digital camera, and you have a copyright-protected work. Dash out a rambling thought on your blog, and you’ve got protection at that very moment. Couple this with the steadily increased term of copyright protection, and a very serious blow has been struck to the availability of freely available public domain works.

The problem of “orphan works” is not, however, solely the result of changes in copyright law. Even if the original copyright owner is known to the permission seeker, the passage of time, death, business insolvency, etc. may result in great difficulty in finding the copyright owner. A willing permission seeker thus may know who held the original rights in the work, but as a practical matter cannot locate this individual or company. In reality, this can be as great of a barrier as the situation where the creator of the work was never known.

"[The] approach mentioned by the Copyright Office would encourage the use of orphan works by lessening the potential penalties if the copyright owner did later emerge and object to the use. For example, if the user can show that reasonable efforts were taken to locate the copyright owner prior to the use, damages from any infringement action would then be limited to a reasonable royalty fee (without the threat of other remedies available under current copyright law). This approach would limit the exposure of a user of an orphan work, but still preserve the copyright owner’s legal right to enforce protection.

Footnote from Howard Paul (Editorial Photographers):
Members of the House Judciary Committee are:

Republican
Hon. Hyde
(R) Illinois, 6th

Hon. Coble
(R) North Carolina, 6th

Hon. Smith
(R) Texas, 21st

Hon. Gallegly
(R) California, 24th

Hon. Goodlatte
(R) Virginia, 6th

Hon. Chabot
(R) Ohio, 1st

Hon. Lungren
(R) California, 3rd

Hon. Jenkins
(R) Tennessee, 1st

Hon. Cannon
(R) Utah, 3rd

Hon. Bachus
(R) Alabama, 6th

Hon. Inglis
(R) South Carolina, 4th

Hon. Hostettler
(R) Indiana, 8th

Hon. Green
(R) Wisconsin, 8th

Hon. Keller
(R) Florida, 8th

Hon. Issa
(R) California, 49th

Hon. Flake
(R) Arizona, 6th

Hon. Pence
(R) Indiana, 6th

Hon. Forbes
(R) Virginia, 4th

Hon. King
(R) Iowa, 5th

Hon. Feeney
(R) Florida, 24th

Hon. Franks
(R) Arizona, 2nd

Hon. Gohmert
(R) Texas, 1st

Democrat
Hon. Berman
(D) California, 28th

Hon. Boucher
(D) Virginia, 9th

Hon. Nadler
(D) New York, 8th

Hon. Scott
(D) Virginia, 3rd

Hon. Watt
(D) North Carolina, 12th

Hon. Lofgren
(D) California, 16th

Hon. Jackson Lee
(D) Texas, 18th

Hon. Waters
(D) California, 35th

Hon. Meehan
(D) Massachusetts, 5th

Hon. Delahunt
(D) Massachusetts, 10th

Hon. Wexler
(D) Florida, 19th

Hon. Weiner
(D) New York, 9th

Hon. Schiff
(D) California, 29th

Hon. Sánchez
(D) California, 39th

Hon. Van Hollen
(D) Maryland, 8th

Hon. Wasserman Schultz
(D) Florida, 20th

Website of the Week 5.24.06

2006-05-24T20:52:00.000-06:00

This week's website of the week is Luminous-landscape.com, but more specifically, an article by Alain Briot called Being an Artist in Business.

Some of us photographers, whether working in stock, commercial, portraiture, or events, or whatever, think about, or are making attempts, to create and sell fine art prints. Others are going directly for the fine art market. Being an Artist (which is another of Alain's articles found Here) is different than Being an Artist in Business, which means you're attempting or wanting to make a living at being an artist.

Alain tells his story of becoming an Artist in Business, which is a good way to get the point across that it's not just about shooting pictures. Getting his start in the early days of digital, Alain provides some insights, if you don't already know, about the many cons of the digital process and getting your work seen (and purchased!). Most of us trying to be Artists in Business, can relate to many of the issues he has gone through, but will also find the article interesting as well as informative.

Enjoy.

Breast Cancer Awareness Auction

2006-05-23T08:55:00.000-06:00

Come down to Mosaic Essential, 1021 Main St, from 5pm - 9pm June 1 (First Thursday) in Boise for "Best Dressed Breasts", a benefit for breast cancer awareness. Bid on an art piece, proceeds going to local breast cancer organizations. Artworks following the "breast" theme will be available for silent auction ending June 3.

My piece "Untitled" will be one of the pieces up for auction. It is a 16"x24" archival giclee print on semi-matte, matted and framed to approximately 20"x28", signed and dated.

DSLR sensor cleaning update

2006-05-19T19:17:00.000-06:00

I've touted the products from Visible Dust (www.visibledust.com) and they've come out with new products and updates to their Arctic Butterfly motorized, self-charging sensor brush. Swabs and liquid cleaner also are added to their new line up. See a review also at Luminous Landscape

Tat for Tit

2006-05-19T17:54:00.000-06:00

The U.S Senate voted today to increase fines for indecency in the media. The fine per infraction has been raised to a maximum of $325,000 which is TEN TIMES the previous maximum. This fine is applied not to the single "incident" but to every instance as it is broadcast. So, say 100 television stations broadcast something that some folks feel is indecent of offends them. Each station receives the fine, not the network.

It's not just television and radio that is affected by what's been going on the past 2 - 3 years (or longer). Those are only two media outlets that are receiving the bulk of attention. What about magazines, newspapers? When does this begin to spill over into art galleries and theaters and books? What about the internet and personal or business web sites? If someone comes to my website or my blog and reads or sees something they think is objectionable, will I eventually be faced with the possibility of a fine?

As a photographer, if a photograph of mine is used in a magazine to illustrate an editorial article about strip clubs and the image used causes some folks to complain and the magazine is fined am I also liable as the person who created the photograph? Is it possible I (or others) could be in the future and expect to pay all or a portion of some multi-million dollar fine? Imagine a magazine article going out to 250,000 or more readers. Even a fine of $1 per instance (250,000) would put most individuals out of business, if the structure of the fine was consistent with how it is applied to radio and television.

Here's the scary part:

"In areas of programming content, we believe responsible self-regulation by all media companies is preferable to government regulation," National Association of Broadcasters' Dennis Wharton told the Los Angeles Times.

When the media is "self-regulated" by huge global telecoms that control the majority of informational content you and I receive on TV, radio, in newspapers, magazines, and on the internet, do you think that "self-regulation" will be objective despite the rally against ultra-conservative government oversight?

"It's time that broadcast indecency fines represent a real economic penalty and not just a slap on the wrist," Kansas' Republican Senator Sam Brownback, the bill's sponsor, said.

And how come all this righteous crusading for decency has suddenly become the "thing to do" when there are more important fish to fry? Speaking of fish, how come there isn't such an outcry for "real economic penalty" for corporations (some publicly traded) that are doing more harm to the environment (locally, regionally, globally, to both private and public areas) than any television or radio program will ever do to the moral fiber of our citizens?

Photoshop Blog

2006-05-19T10:27:00.000-06:00

Here's a Photoshop blog with current news and updates not just for Photoshop, but other image applications and some industry news. It's PhotoshopNews.com.

Custom US Postage Photo Stamps

2006-05-19T10:22:00.000-06:00

Stamps.com has announced that you can now create and order customized, valid, U.S. Postage stamps with your own photos by using Adobe Photoshop CS2, Elements 4.0 and Album Starter Edition. www.photo.stamps.com is the website you can go to and also upload images created using other application software and an online template.

Using the Adobe products, you select the photo you wnat to use, select one of 10 border colors, select the postage value ($0.39 to $4.99) then place your order. Minimum order is 1 sheet (20 stamps). A sheet of 20 $0.39 stamps will cost you $17.99, approximately $0.90 each instead of the normal $0.39, but for small runs to send promotional materials or special correspondence, it adds a special touch. There is a discount for multiple sheet orders.

Pic of the Day 5.18.06

2006-05-18T13:14:00.000-06:00

Untitled

I'm submitting this image for a breast cancer awareness auction event next month here in Boise. It will be held at Mosaic Essential, 1021 Main St, on June 1, 5pm - 9pm. The image size is 16x24.

Also, I'm looking for models interested in working with me to create fine art nudes. If you're in the Boise area or are going to be in this area, please Contact me if you'd like to collaborate. I generally trade prints for time. More examples can be found Here.

Photo Website of the Week

2006-05-18T12:40:00.000-06:00

Like others, probably, I spend some time browsing the web looking for interesting and captivating photography sites. I'm going to try and feature one of my favorite "found" sites of the week each Thursday.

Tomas Sheptun
Sheptune1

Today's website features Misha Gordon, a traditional darkroom composite image printer, ala the perhaps better known Jerry Uelsmann.

Born in Soviet Russia and starting to photograph at age 19, Misha Gordon moved to the USA in 1974. On manipulating images, Misha says in his statement:

"It is not a new idea to manipulate photographic images. As a matter of fact all images are manipulated to a certain degree. The real power of photography emerges when altered reality is presented as existent and is expected to be perceived as such. An obviously manipulated image is a trick that shows a lack of understanding of the unique power of photography - the belief engraved in our subconscious that what was captured by the camera has to exist. In the best examples of successfully manipulated images the question "Is it real?" does not arise."

Misha Gordon
Doubt15

Check out his website, you're in for a treat.

Blue Planet Photography Studio is Moving

2006-05-06T10:14:00.000-06:00

The vagaries of being in business and not owning your own building. The building I'm currently renting space in was sold in January and the business that purchased it is expanding and not renewing leases. So, I and the other businesses in this building are being given the boot. I've got until the end of the month to move out. This area has been gong through some serious change these past few months (actually the past year or so, but accelerating over the past 4 months or so). Rents have doubled in many cases, driving long-time businesses out of established areas. As of this month I am the only proper photography studio in town. The rest have closed up shop or moved back to their houses due to exhorbitant rent increases. The last to move out was a portrait studio in downtown that had its rent doubled.

So, I will be joining the "photography business out of your home" club, or returning to that membership since that's where I started. It might be a good thing. I'm also looking for a smaller space. Turns out I wasn't ready for a large space, even though it is quite nice. The overhead was hard to meet some months and as it turns our this area has a very depressed market for photographic services, rate-wise and demand. Even though I had a large studio capable of most any work requirement, and I provide an excellent, quality service, local businesses still feel the need to take their jobs into Boise (20 miles away) or even out of state. It doesn't make much sense to me.

I'm still in business, creating fine art, producing my photo-imaged products, doing what commercial and portrait work I can do at home, still doing location work, so I'm not quitting. Repeat, I'm not quitting.

I'll keep you posted on the progress. This weekend is being spent clearing out space at the house for about 3X more stuff than I left there with. That's going to be interesting.

Hornby Island Bald Eagle Nest Fails

2006-05-05T17:36:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately, the Hancock House bald eagle cam isn't online due to the failure of the Hornby Island nest. I haven't been able to visit the site this past week and now the page with the nest failure summary isn't loading. Reading the forum comments I can put together that the nesting attempt failed likely due to infertile eggs that apparently over time during the incubation, dehydrated and the eggs eventually collapsed (broke) under the weight of the incubating adults. Once that happened, the adults removed the shell fragments and cleaned the nest as they would after a normal hatch, to remove traces that could attract predators to a nest with young chicks. As the adults realized there were no chicks, they left the nest and are no longer tending the nest.

There is another eagle cam coming on line soon at the above link. Also a notice for a Grizzly Cam. Don't know what that will entail, but I'll probably check it out.

Bummer about the nest failure, but it happens. Egg shell thinning is still an issue also for eagles, hawks and falcons. Pesticides such as DDT are not used in the U.S. (or not supposed to be anyway, since it's illegal) but are still manufactured here and shipped to other countries like Mexico and Argentina. Many raptors migrate from North America to South and Central America for the winter where they then feed on prey ingesting grasses, seeds and fruits sprayed with these chemicals. Many hundreds and thousands of raptors die during the winter from consuming lethal doses of pesticides in their prey. Others return to nest unsuccessfully because of non-lethal levels that affeect the viability of eggs.

Whether egg shell thinning or the age of the adults or some other factor (or combination) contributed to the failure of the Hornby Island nest probably won't be known for sure.

Corporate Takeover of the Internet

2006-05-05T15:11:00.000-06:00

For years we've been hearing and reading about the high level of control and influence large corporations have over our lives and our government. Now, Congress is attempting to pass a law that would nullify the Internet's "First Amendment" called Network Neutrality, which prevents large corporations from controlling what web content you're able to access, mostly based upon which site provides the greatest income.

The law is the COPE Act (HR 5252) Communications, Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act of 2006. Right now, no law or rule protects citizens facing obstacles to getting access to the information on the Internet. The COPE bill would make it impossible for those protections to be written into law or rule, making all of us vulnerable to big companies who would like to "own" the Internet and mine it for profit. Some companies like Verizon and Comcast have already announced plans to create a two-tiered Internet, where some websites and services would travel in the "fast lane" - for a fee, of course - and the rest would be relegated to a "slow lane."

Network Neutrality gives no preference to anyone with space on the internet. It is the primary force allowing economic innovation, civic participation and free speech around most of the world. The COPE Act would allow service providers to "redline" or not provide internet services to lower income and rural households that would not likely pay for higher-end, more costly services.

Just remember the recent news about Yahoo! providing data to the Chinese government that resulted in the arrest of a journalist writing information the government did not want revealed.

Think also about how the large multi-media corporations control what you watch on television, or listen to on the radio. Remember the titillating but more or less harmless Superbowl incident and the backlash that continues to haunt how media is presented?

In April this year, AOL blocked the ability of members to send email with a link to www.dearaol.com, a site against an AOL proposal to charge members for sending email. AOL is owned by Time Warner, which is also one of the largest cable internet providers, is lobbying Congress to do away with Network Neutrality.

There has also been a drive by the telecoms to charge for internet content. If they gain control of the web, you can only imagine what will be next. Think SPAM is bad now? What happens when AT&T or Comcast or Verizon or Qwest pushes SPAM at you in a way that you can't avoid or remove since it will be required in the Terms of Service Agreement? Something to consider.

If you would like to maintain the freedom the internet provides millions of people as a means of self expression, business opportunity, and communication, please contact your congressman and representatives to voice your opinion against this attempt to control internet content. Visit
www.savetheinternet.com
Common Cause
The Benton Foundation
for more information and to find out how your congressman voted on this issue.

Let your voice be heard.

Pic of the Day 5.3.06

2006-05-03T16:27:00.000-06:00

Shoshone Falls, Idaho
"Niagara of the West"

Shoshone Falls has a 1000 ft wide span and a 212 ft plunge, about 42 feet taller than Niagara Falls (or 57 feet taller, depending upon which Niagara Falls measurement you use). This photo was taken in late April 2006 after a very wet winter. The Snake River is running at over 10,000 cfs, the highest since 1997. The water is usually diverted upstream from the falls, reducing it to a mere trickle later in the summer. This year, the overabundance of water allows Idaho Power to create a spectacle not often seen these days.

When the river ran wild, pioneers on the Oregon Trail would hike several miles to see the falls. These days, when the falls are roaring, folks come from all over Idaho and surrounding states to see the sight. It can be expected to wait 1 - 2 hours to get into the park on the weekend when the flow is high.

Other falls in the area are: Bridal Veil Falls, Twin Falls, Perrine Coulee Falls, and up the highway is the Thousand Springs complex which are a series of waterfalls coming straight out of exposed porous lave cliffs. These springs are from water that goes underground miles away at Craters of the Moon National Monument.

I'll post pictures of these areas soon.

Another attaction in the Twin Falls area is BASE jumping off the 486 ft high Perrine Memorial Bridge, the only place in the U.S. where this activity is legal. Pictures coming.

Legal and other Resource for Photographers

2006-05-03T16:15:00.000-06:00

Here's a very informative Blog by Carolyn E. Wright, Esq., of the Law Office of Carolyn E. Wright, LLC, who is an attorney specializing in legal assistance for photographers. Her blog is PhotoAttorney.com and while it is not inteded to be legal advice by her, the blog has a lot of relevant information about the legal aspects of being a professional photographer. Good knowledge to have if you are an aspiring pro or just starting out as one.

There are articles about copyright, protecting your photography business by how it is set up as a corporation, limited liability company, sole proprietorship, or partnership, legal issues for commercial photography (how commercial use is different than editorial use), and others, as well as information on educational seminars available for you to attend.

You might even be able to retain her services, if needed.

I have a link to her blog under Links at the left.

Bald Eagle Nest Live Streaming Video Update

2006-04-24T15:37:00.000-06:00

Here's an update on the bald eagles nesting on Hornby Island. Sometime this week is the estimated hatch date. Today (4/24) at 15:00 MST the birds are still incubating.

You can see the live streaming video, with sound HERE.

This is one of the coolest video sites around. Being a biologist I catch myself making observations, looking at behaviors related to ambient sounds like dog barks, raven calls, etc. For most people it might seem kind of boring, just a bird sitting on a nest. But, once the eggs hatch....

Hey, I've been watching the video and at 15:42, the incubating bird (both male and female incubate and it's hard to tell teh sexes apart visually) got up (2 eggs), stretched, called to its mate, checked the eggs, then sat back on down at a slightly different angle with its face away from the sun. I thought there might be a feeding, it's about that time of day, but no.

Check it out. It's very cool.

Alternative energy doesn't have to be high tech

2006-04-23T11:08:00.000-06:00

Here's a story about a professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey who built a passive solar heating system in his home and hasn't paid a heating bill in 25 years. The article is at Livescience.com.

While the heating is very efficient, the article doesn't mention how the system operated in the summer and how the home was cooled and/or heat transferred away from the home. Cooling a home via alternative sources is harder than heating, since most cooling processes create heat as a by-product.

Website is back online

2006-04-20T08:54:00.000-06:00

Sorry, It's been crazy the past few days and I forgot to post that blueplanetphoto.com is back online and looking good. It was back up on Sunday evening. I did have to upload some of the newer updates, but everything seems to be working and correct.

Another aspect of Royalty Free Imagery

2006-04-20T08:39:00.000-06:00

When we think of Royalty Free (RF) images I think the majority assumes that the entire photograph will be used, or at least a cropped down version to fit whatever printing specs are required. Maybe some photoshopping and other manipulation in other cases. Not much different than would occur with a Rights Managed (RM) image. However, I've heard stories of photographers being asked to shoot "components" which were then added into Royalty Free images. If you can imagine a scene of a couple at a beach having a great time with a cold drink. In an historical situation, the scene would be photographed more or less as is or at present, the same photographer would create the various components later composited into a single image. What if you were asked to photograph a series of arms, hands, feet, holding, wearing, interacting with various products and then those photos were used to composite into RF images that you could have easily shot?

Are assignment photographers heading toward being "component photographers"? "Hello, we'd like to have you photograph some products for us. We just need some component shots with specific lighting conditions because we already have the images we'd like to drop them into."

How does a photographer who is against the principle of RF reconcile shooting component images that will be digitally "implanted" into RF imagery? Does that photographer have any real control over how the images are finally used? Does the photographer shoot themselves in the foot by declining such jobs? Would they know this information from the start or is it information that comes out after the fact?
What will the future landscape of professional photography look like?

Kodak to Raise Film Prices

2006-04-17T10:49:00.000-06:00

Kodak announced today (NEWS) that they will raise the price of consumer and professional film 3% to 17%, citing the "unrelenting increases in the costs of raw materials used to manufacture film".

Update on the website situation

2006-04-16T13:15:00.000-06:00

Well, as I reported, 1planhost is working dilligently to get everyone accommodated and websites online. My site has been transferred to the new servers and currently waits for the new DNS information to propogate. I'll have to do some checking once it's back online to make sure it's all there. I think I'll have to upload some recent content, but so far it looks good. I appreciate the folks at 1planhost working over the holiday weekend to get this taken care of.

But, why do companies seem to always initiate major changes during holidays or at critical times of the year, like quarter or year end? It never fails to amaze me. Something always goes wrong and then everyone is scrambling for fixes, fighting fires and calming the masses who are all of a sudden screaming and yelling about service interruptions (yeah, me too). Can this be avoided? Or at least mitigated? i know that sometimes it's an all or nothing proposition, you can't "ramp up" some transfers and upgrades. You just get it set up as best you can and hope for the best.

Well, I hope blueplanetphoto.com is up and running again in the next day. At least there shouldn't be too many people surfing my site today (Easter), but you never know.

What's happening in the world?

2006-04-16T12:48:00.000-06:00

If you want to know what's going on at any given moment around the world, where do you look? CNN may not have all the up-to-date information and certainly not when you want to hear it, see it, read it. I was sent this link to the Havaria Information Service - AlertMap, a product of the National Association of Radio-Distress Signalling and Infocommunications, Havaria Emergency and Disaster Information Services in Budapest, Hungary.

In graphic format on a world map, flashing icons show what is going on right now across the globe. Epidemics, floods, earthquakes, bird flu, volcanic eruptions, wars, etc. The newest activity is marked with a flashing red circle, and the newest seismic activity by a yellow circle. Icons show you what is being represented, from bioterrorism to vehicle accidents and clicking on the icon sends you to a page with information on that event.

Below the icon map is a listing of all the events, from storms to volcanic eruptions. It's interesting to note that there are 57 volcanoes listed as currently erupting around the world, including Mt. St. Helens. I don't know what their definition of erupting is, but I think this list would need more researching if you were going to rush off to view an erupting volcano or escape to safety based on the information presented on this list. Interesting nonetheless, however. It goes to show how active our planet is. We only hear about volcanic eruptions, for example, when they are spectacular or when lives and property are in danger. Many eruptions are small, steamy, or non-threatening events.

Nemaha County, Kansas and Clay County, Missouri both had hail measuring 5.08 cm in diameter in the past 24 hours. That's 2 inches in diameter. Ouch.

In the U.S over the past 4 days (4/10/06 - 4/14/06) there were 19 reported aircraft accidents or incidents with 8 injuries. Three of them were in North Carolina, hmmm.

RSS feeds and links to Google Earth are also available. You can also sign up to receive free email updates of new activity so you're never far from being up-to-date on global disasters.

Blue Planet Photo website is down Temporarily

2006-04-16T10:44:00.000-06:00

Well, my hosting company sold itself and is in the process of a painful server transition/upgrade/transfer of ownership. This was supposed to be a painless operation, but like all things technical you can't be certain. Of course, the server that my website is on is one that is giving problems. So, the Blue Planet Photography website is offline until they can get it fixed. I'll most likely have to upload the whole thing again as well since the backup they have on there now is a few months older than they said it would be.

For those of you who would like to know, the host is 1planhost. I've hosted with them for the past three years with nary a hiccup. There have been one or two server crashes and one instance of denial of service, but other than that the service and uptime has been great. Until now. I know they are working hard to put things right, at least I hope they are. You can never really tell when upgrades are part of a transfer of ownership. Will the new folks be at least as dilligent? Will the service be at least the same? Supposed to be better by all accounts, but then propoganda is rife at these times to prevent mass exodus of clients. We'll see. I'm hopeful, but you can never really tell until the rubber hits the road.

Email is a bit messed up as well, so if you're looking here for information, please be patient and I'll have everything back up as soon as I can. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Leonard Nimoy - Photographer

2006-04-10T16:23:00.000-06:00

Spock is a much better photographer than Captain Kirk is a singer. Spock is also a lousy singer, but at least he has other talents he can use. Not so for Kirk.

Don't believe me? Check it out.

It's a sparsely designed website lacking any information about his history with photography. I've read other places that he's been a professional photographer for 40 years in addition to his acting duties, but I can't verify that. It would be nice if the site included a photographer's bio. Perhaps that information is in his books.

An interesting site to look at nonetheless.

New things we didn't know before

2006-04-09T13:39:00.000-06:00

Here's another list of newly discovered animals, insects, physical properties, documents, and other things we thought we knew but now stand corrected.

The human species is an arrogant one. We think just because there are 6 billion of us crawling all over the surface of Earth that we've seen it all, that we've discovered everything, and that we know almost everything. We know a lot, seen a lot, discovered a lot relative to past history, but we don't have a clue what's coming next.

New species of hammerhead shark discovered

Transitional fossil showing how tetrapods could crawl on land

Heat-loving bacteria under the ice in Antarctica

New species of parrot and long-tailed mouse found on island of Camiguin in the Phillipines

"Lost World" found on island of New Guinea - new plants and animals discovered

Pic of the Day 4.6.06

2006-04-06T13:25:00.000-06:00

Summer's Coming

Bald Eagle Nest Live Streaming Video

2006-04-04T17:01:00.000-06:00

Hancock House Publishers in Surrey, British Columbia was founded by David Hancock, biologist and film distributor, in the 1960s as Hancock Wildlife Conservation Center, which became Hancock House Publishers in 1971. Hancock House publishes books on western history, native culture, nature and wildlife.

They have a Wildlife Research Division in which David Hancock is avaiable for presentations on bald eagles, turacos, grouse, the arctic, native Alaskan culture, and more.

They also have live streaming video of a nesting bald eagle pair on Hornby Island, British Columbia. Available through the website and for Windows Media Player 9, you can find the link HERE. The view is in to the top of the nest, so you can see the incubating female (or male) sitting on the nest and if they get up you can see the eggs or chicks, depending upon the date. If all goes well, you'll be able to follow the progress of the birds all the way through fledging.

The bald eagle pair laid 2 eggs, the first on March 21 and the second on March 24. Predicted hatch dates are April 26 and April 30. The video even includes sound.

Hancock House and those involved in setting this up should be commended for a job well done in creating an important educational resource. Thank you.

Vancouver Island Photo Trips

2006-03-31T10:05:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-25T12:16:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-21T17:49:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-21T17:31:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-18T17:21:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-12T12:08:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-12T11:05:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-10T16:37:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-09T16:31:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-09T15:16:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-06T21:28:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-04T13:12:00.000-07:00

Sprites and Pixies

Copyright Law action needed

2006-03-04T10:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

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

2006-03-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

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.

Practical Exercise - Shovelglove

2006-02-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

When I was working as a park ranger or out in the field doing wildlife research, exercise was really part of the equation. Building and maintaining trails, building bridges, mending fences, walking transects, holding onto struggling wild animals, all together formed a quite rigorous fitness routine. No need to remember to jog or lift weights, it was just part of everyday activity. No need to even think about it, it just happened.

Once I moved into the world of Cubicle, somehow those memories of being lean and fit were scubbed away. Perhaps it was the result of being constantly bombarded by body-numbing CRT Rays that besides screwing up my eyesight turned my ass into a substance not unlike a buttered sticky bun, making it strongly adhere to any sort of seating device, restricting my ability to actually move around like an articulated being.

New Year's Resolutions are a hoax. Going to the gym is mostly impractical for many of us, especially those of us owning and operating businesses. Time is money, and the time it takes to drive to the gym and back detracts from the many hundreds of tasks we can think of that are more important. Getting fit, much less staying fit, has become an inconvenience in a world dominated by convenience. If fitness were as close to hand as the remote or the box of Mac and Cheese, we'd all be Olympic atheletes.

Mechanized weight-lifting machines dull the senses. Here's more convenience to assist you in your fitness quest. You don't have to use your brain to actually add up the weight like you do with free weights. Just move the pin up or down a couple notches ("How many notches are you up to today, Joe?"). Artificial movements on machines are impractical. How many times are you going to need to mule-kick anyone or crack a walnut behind your knee? I suppose if I needed to clap an unruly individual on the sides of the head with my elbows, the butterfly machine would help me get a really good Krang on them. And when I'm out in the woods and need to squat, I don't need the ability to hold several other people on my shoulders at the same time.

What's needed is to make fitness as practical and easy to achieve as it was in the "old days" when physical labor was an integral part of our daily activities, like building trails and walking transects.

Along comes Reinhard Engels and the Shovelglove. Using a simple instrument (a sledge hammer covered in a sweatshirt - read the site for the reason why) and a series of "useful movements", a person with enough room in their house or place of business can get the practical exercise they need. In the Era of Convenience, here's a way to harken back to the good old days for those of us trapped in the World of Cubicle. Useful Movements help you in everyday living with articulations like chopping wood, driving fence posts, stoking the ovens, and tucking the bales.

Hell, these movements can be done in front of the TV set, but are likely to encourage you to get your ass outside and actually do these things. I'm the first to admit we've gone soft. Hardly anyone gets outside to exercise anymore, much less just get outside. If it's not on TV, PSP, iPod or the internet it doesn't exist. And why get all worked up to go see it in person when we can sit on our sticky buns?

Try the Shovelglove approach. Read and heed the warnings. Get fit, practically.

Alaska Grizzly Bear Photo Trips

2006-02-17T09:54:00.000-07:00

If you've always wanted to get photographs of grizzly bears in the wild, here is your chance. I've scheduled 3 photo trips to Alaska for that very purpose. These are not trips to a platform-restricted viewing opportunity. We're going to the bears with experienced guides and very small groups.

Katmai Wilderness Lodge, Katmai National Park, Alaska
June 21 - 28, 2006 and June 20 - 27, 2007

Fall Bear Watch, Kodiak Island, Alaska
September 10 - 15, 2006

Katmai Wilderness Lodge
June 21 - 28, 2006
$500 deposit due by March 15, 2006

I lucked out on and was able to hold 4 spots on very short notice. But, as a result, the deadline for the $500 deposit is a very rapidly approaching March 15, 2006. Katmai Wilderness Lodge is the only private establishment located n the 3.6 million acre wilderness of Katmai National Park. On the coast at Kukak Bay, Katmai Wilderness Lodge is isolated from other operators and limits guest capacity to 12.

If you are serious about this trip, Let Me Know ASAP because this hold is pending paid deposits and if someone else gets in first we'll have to wait until next year.

We'll have excellent opportunities to photograph grizzly bears, adults and cubs on the tidal flats of Kukak Bay as well as foxes, seals, sea otters, puffins, maybe a moose, bald eagles and other birds, wildflowers and magnificient scenery.

Guest cabins have private baths and the lodge hosts a fine dining area, sitting area, and mutli-level deck where you can relax and view the scenery and wildlife. Cabins are double occupancy and each has a private bath.

You can sign up for the trip at Blue Planet Photography - Katmai Bear Watch.

The trip fee is $5000.00 and includes:
Round trip float plane transportation from Kodiak Island to Kukak Bay
Lodging at Katmai Wilderness Lodge
All meals at Katmai Wilderness Lodge
Guided bear watching
All transportation on site
Guided fishing
Wilderness Hikes
Kayaking

Katmai Wilderness Lodge - June 20 - 27, 2007
If you're unable to make it in 2006, I already have reservations for June 20 - 27, 2007 and you can register at Blue Planet Photography - Katmai Bear Watch 2007 with a deposit of $500 due by January 20, 2007.

Munsey's Bear Camp, Kodiak Island, Alaska
September 10 - 15, 2006

Since 1956, Munsey's Bear Camp at Uyak Bay on Kodiak Island, has specialized in viewing Kodiak Brown Bears, the largest of the grizzles. For 6 days we will be based at Uyak Bay, Kodiak Island, Alaska in a comfortable lodge and cabins with private baths. With a maximum of 6 guests, this experience is truly personal and unique.

In September, the bears have followed the salmon upstream. There no falls for the bears to wait at, so they must chase down the weakening salmon, making for some very exciting action. There are no viewing platforms or restricted areas. We will be safely going to where the bears are under the guidance of Master Guide Mike Munsey rather than waiting for them to come to us. We will be observing bears as they forage, rest and play in preparation for winter hibernation. Other wildlife in the area are deer, foxers, seals, sea otters, puffins, bald eagles and more!

The trip fee is $2900.00 and an $800 deposit is due by May 15, 2006.

The trip fee includes:
Round trip float plane transportation from Kodiak Island to Uyak Bay
Lodging at Munsey's Bear Camp
All meals at Munsey's Bear Camp
Guided bear watching
All transportation on site
Hikes
Kayaking

You can see more information and register at Blue Planet Photography - Fall Bear Watch

Please feel free to Contact Me with any questions.

Hunting Mishaps

2006-02-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that in light of the recent hunting mishap of Vice President Cheney, we will be hearing about similar incidents occuring around the country. Here's one that is likely to be at the top of the list:

In Golden Township, Michigan, a couple buddies, George and Greg, were out hunting (for what the article doesn't say). George was wearing camouflage and an orange hat. I assume Greg was also wearing camo, but it doesn't say. The two buddies split up. George sat down next to a tree, pulled a hood up over his orange hat, and waited. Maybe he had a smoke or started daydreaming about what he would do if he won the lottery. Greg, off on his own and apparently preferring to stalk his prey, noticed something interesting near a tree and began his approach. Thinking he had a squirrel in his sights he fired. I guess Greg was prety surprised when George probably yelled and leaped from behind the tree holding his elbow that Greg had just shot.

Lesson #1: when splitting up - keep the orange visible just in case your buddy (or other hunters) think you're a squirrel or deer or a moose or an elk or a bear or a quail or something moving in the bushes.

Lesson #2: when splitting up - clearly define the areas you're going to cover to prevent hunting the same patch (see #1).

Lesson #3: clearly identify your target before pulling the trigger.

Lesson #4: If you're going to cover up your orange and hide, make sure you're not wearing your Rocky and Bullwinkle camouflage.

Pic of the Day 2.13.06 X2

2006-02-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

Adobe image management Beta

2006-02-08T16:23:00.000-07:00

Adobe is allowing professional photographers (Mac OS-X) to help design a new image management application called Lightbox. A Beta version is available and Adobe wants your comments.

The site is Adobe Lightroom Beta.

Lightroom is planned to integrate with CS2 and used along with Bridge or separately from it. I don't use Mac products, but have also had a look at Aperture, which is pretty sweet. I've wondered for the past few years why Adobe wasn't getting into the image management application business. Myself and other photographers have expressed our concerns with having to switch from Adobe to a third party application for in-depth image management capabilities such as keywording, grouping images for submissions, creating image catalogs/portfolios for print, CD, slide shows, or web, etc. It appears that Adobe has the capacity to do this now since their acquisition of Macromedia.

Anyway, check it out. A PC version is also in the works, but it will be out several months following the MAC version.

Digital for Professionals Now

2006-02-06T07:22:00.000-07:00

The overwhelming consensus in the photo industry is that if you are a professional photographer shooting film now is the time to move into the digital realm or risk being left behind. This sentiment was being expressed about 4 years ago, just before I switched over. However, the popularity of digital photography has apparently progressed faster than anticipated and at least the first wave is cresting. With Nikon dropping production of film cameras and Konica/Minolta getting out of the business altogheter, and now Fuji initiating job cuts (5,000) and production shifts to China and Kodak announcing 54% of their 2005 revenue was from the sales of digital products, even the top companies are scrambling to make the change. Advances in technology, both hardware and software, has boosted the popularity of digital photography both among photographers and editorial and commercial buyers.

Loking at the news, it appears that there will be, at least for some period of time, a more distinct separation between consumer/prosumer and professional digital equipment. Although the line is blurry in some areas (see Canon's 5D and Nikon's D200), the majority of digital camera sales are in the consumer market of 8 megapixels and smaller. This is, of course, in the 35mm-type digital realm. Medium format digital is more or less relegated to the high-end studio professional, which is really a separate category and level, in purpose, client, and required resources.

I put off switching to digital primarily because of quality issues. Digital output wasn't even close to that of film, so it limited the applications any given photo could be put to. When Canon unleashed the 1Ds, I knew it was time. I purchased a 1Ds 3 years ago, about 1 year after its initial release. I don't plan to replace it anytime soon, but it's already been surpassed by the 1Ds Mark II and even the EOS 5D (at half the 1Ds price) and what else is in the works for release in the next 8 months.

The upshot is that now is the time to switch to digital (I heard that 4 or 5 years ago, but it's really true today). Waiting another couple years will cause film professionals today to be behind the curve racing to catch up. Unfortunately, that's the reality. Manufacturers aren't going to wait, they're only trying to keep their businesses alive, which is what photographers should be doing as well.

The Everlasting Image

2006-02-04T13:05:00.000-07:00

The issue of estate planning in photography is big one. What is the value of the images from an "unknown" photographer versus someone who is known? Is the value purely monetary or is there a societal/historical value also which supercedes any monetary value? Where and how will the photo library be stored and managed? What is included, i.e. prints, negatives, slides, business papers, correspondence, etc.?

I talked with Al Weber a couple years ago regarding his efforts to educate photographers about archiving their images rather than destroying them or giving them up to family members who may not know their significance or understand their value either monetary or historical. Al Weber, who was a friend of Ansel Adams and a well-known photographer in his own right, believes it is extremely important to make sure the image collections of photographers are preserved for the future. He started a collections program at the University of California Santa Cruz because a collection of photographs by a friend of his (I can't remember who now) was going to be lost through neglect by family members who didn't know what they had.

"Art is an important form of communication. If work is lost, or locked away where it can't be experienced by new generations, we break an essential historic link. " -- Al Weber

View info on the UCSC program Here and Here for the special collections at UCSC.

For some interesting reading, check out Al's Newsletter.

Al is working primarily with UCSC, but is a voice for preservation of collections across the U.S., particularly at Universities that have the facilities to properly store and manage collections and that are public institutions so the works are accessible.

I get the impression that many stock photographers view their work as "just a job" and are not necessarily looking at their body of work as a record of history that is likely beneficial in some way to future generations. Photographers are recorders of history, regardless of the subject matter or method of capture. Think of hand-written letters from Abraham Lincoln or the message written in 1913 on a postcard found in an antique store, Both of historical value, one saved for posterity, the other basically discarded to the fates. Of course, not every image in a photographer's library is necessarily required to be preserved, but I'm not sure we as individuals are able to clearly make that choice since we look at what we create with different eyes.

To discard an image library, I think, is like burning a book when you finish reading it. Especially in the Digital Age when images are so easily discarded at time of capture or lost through mismanagement or accident, historical images (or I should say "not yet historical" or "potentially historically important") are being lost at an alarming rate. There have been several articles and papers written on this topic over the past few years.

So, I would urge photographers to think about their collections in this way rather than in the traditionally commercial mindset we tend to go to when talking about estate planning. I think advice to destroy collections to avoid taxes is irresponsible. There are other ways to avoid taxes if you would only do the research.

William Eggleston DVD out in February

2006-02-03T07:33:00.000-07:00

The documentary "William Eggleston in the Real World" will be released on DVD February 14. An intimate look at the iconic photographer by independent director and filmaker Michael Almereyda, the film shows Eggleston's process of shooting "unspectacular, random, ephemeral stuff, signs and toys and trash," Almereyda explains, things that are "simultaneously familiar and strange, recognizable and unknowable," is a way of "elevating commonplace objects and ordinary people" to iconic status, of showing us that everything is worth looking at if looked at the right way. The documentary profiles Eggelston as he photographs, hangs out with family and friends, and ambling about in his underwear.

We tend to develop in our own minds what a person is like, particularly someone famous who we've only "known" through their work. Oftentimes, the reality is much different than we imagined.

You can pre-order the DVD from Amazon.com Here

View Eggleston's Photos at the Eggleston Trust

So you think you're a Photoshop expert?

2006-02-03T06:59:00.000-07:00

The National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP) has created the Ultimate Photoshop Quiz that will test your knowledge and expertise of Photoshop. The quiz is composed of 20 questions and has a 20-minute time limit. You're requested to take the quiz without the help of Photoshop running on the side. At the end, you will receive your score and ranking as Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced user and can have a look at which questions you botched.

International Decade for Action, "Water for Life" 2005 - 2015

2006-02-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

The United Nations has declared the next decade, beginning March 22 (World Water Day), the International Decade for Action, "Water for Life". Here is a PDF file of the resolution. Water is indispensible for the existence of human life and most every other lifeform and process on Earth. The Earth is nearly 70% covered by water and the human body is composed of nearly 70% water. We drink it, grow our food with it, play in it, clean with it, make useful materials with it as well as pollute it and take it for granted. Despite its abundance, it is a finite resource that requires respect and care in its use and application. I encourage you to think about water, particularly over this next summer and into the winter. Take stock of your personal use of water and how it plays a role in your life. Shoot some photographs or paint some pictures of water subjects. Then, continue that process through the rest of your life, not just into the next decade.

Toronto Turns out the Lights on Migratory Birds

2006-02-01T15:01:00.000-07:00

On January 31, Toronto became the first city in the world to implement protections for migratory birds by controlling light emissions, through public education, and bird rescue. Bird deaths, especially during spring and fall migrations when when millions of birds are moving generally north and south (birds also migrate east and west), occur when birds are distracted by bright lights and glass windows during evening hours. It's estimated that upwards of 10,000 migrating birds are killed each year in Toronto alone. The program encourages businesses to turn out their lights during spring and fall migration periods to attempt to reduce bird strikes.

A Yahoo! News story is Here and the actual document is Here.

Light pollution and the effects on wildlife has become a hot topic of research, study, and debate over the past few years, not just in North America, but all over the world. Bird strikes against windows have been studied and recorded since the 1930s, bird strikes against aircraft has been studied for years and is ongoing. Other man-made structures causing bird mortality are wind turbines, communication towers, and powerlines, not to mention other causes of mortality such as collisions with automobiles, ingestion of poisons, pesticides, insecticides, and illegal shooting.

All these hazards combined exact a heavy toll twice each year on migrating birds from sparrows to eagles. Age, size, and health of the individual bird does not seem to play a role in determining the probability of striking an object or dying as a result of a strike. About 50% of bird strikes cause direct mortality. An unknown number of the remaining 50% will survive while the rest will die from various causes, external or internal injury, increased susceptibility to predation due to injury, starvation due to injury (the inability to feed or catch prey), disorientation resulting in a second strike, etc.

Each city is different in terms of number, height, arrangement and distribution of buildings, proximity of the city to migratory flyways, weather conditions, and a host of other factors. While extrapolating from studies conducted in cities with similar configuration can be a starting point, to be accurate, studies need to be conducted in each city to develop effective management plans.

A 1990 study by Daniel Klem, Jr. Journal of Field Ornithology. 1990. 61(1):120-128 states that in the U.S. alone, Klem estimated 97 - 976 million birds are killed each year in window strikes. Other estimates range from 3 million and up. Klem's study was conducted using residential buildings rather than commercial structures and his estimate was 33 deaths per year at a single dwelling. While Klem looked at the numbers of strikes and resulting mortality, his study looked at preventative measures (silhouttes, wind chimes, flapping cloth) and their success in deterring birds from windows. He found that a single object placed on a window is not enough to prevent bird strikes. The window must be uniformly covered by objects on or close to the window 5 - 10 centimeters (2 - 4 inches) apart.

Birds do not recognize glass as a barrier, so one or two decals on the window will not let them know to be careful. If the decal is of a hawk or owl silhoutte, they will just try to go around and hit the window anyway.

When I worked in the Zoology Department at the Denver Museum of Natural History (now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science), we received a large supply of bird specimens from local area residents picking up bird kills outside their windows. While unfortunate, this was a very good source of data in terms of species, distribution, age, plumage, etc. that would otherwise have been difficult to collect and was a better use of the carcass than taking it to the landfill.

Other cities around the world should take Toronto's lead. Besides reducing the number of migrants killed, turning off lights will save a bundle of energy. Who said wildlife wasn't useful for anything?

Digital Railroad - another archive site

2006-01-30T14:01:00.000-07:00

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

2006-01-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

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

2006-01-29T09:40:00.000-07:00

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)