Merry Christmas

'Tis the season for good cheer and good will to all...
I have been very busy at work lately, and I have not had a lot of time for photography or blogging...
I have been working on my photo software. As you may know, I use Ubuntu Linux as my main operating system. It has been a bit of a learning experience moving from years of Windows and Adobe products, but I am getting closer to a real workflow.
I wish everyone a happy holiday season and a photographic new year.

Eye candy

Ok, I got sidetracked. I started playing with Awn (avant window navigator) and before I knew it I had completely redone my desktop. We will see if I become more productive, or if I just show off my machine...


It still needs some fine tuning, but it has lots of free real estate (I hate menus under menus under menus) and it is fun to use...

What computer do you use?

I recently upgraded my laptop and gave my well loved, but slower machine to my kids. I decided I wanted a 17" monitor (more room to see images and place pallets in Photoshop, etc.) I wanted to try an Apple, but a Macbook was out of my budget. After a bit of shopping around I found a deal on a Toshiba P200 that had tons of horsepower, 2GB Ram and all the trimmings. Unfortunately, it was preloaded with Vista. I say unfortunately now, but at the time I was anxious to try the latest greatest operating system..... I hated it..... I quickly installed Ubuntu as a dual boot to see if that would satisfy my needs...
I will admit there are a few rough edges. My webcam seems dodgy, and it took a bit to find a photo workflow that worked for me. Some help from this website, and a bit of research has brought me to the following method:

1. Raw files are downloaded to date organized folders. ie Year/Month/date or 2007/10/29
2. Since I have gnome raw thumbnailer installed, I can view and delete poorly composed or exposed images right in the file browser. This is a preliminary edit. just getting rid of the junk.
3. Anything that looks promising gets an initial tune-up in RawTherapee or Lightzone (unfortunately, Lightzone for Linux has been discontinued).
4. The next step is where I am having trouble. I haven't yet found a program I am happy with for fine and final retouching. I have tried the Gimp, but I just can't get comfortable with it. Cinepaint is supposed to be good, but again I can't seem to get comfortable. I tried Pixel but it seemed pretty buggy. Maybe it will get better...

So I am doing my final processing in Photoshop still running on a windows XP machine I keep running. I guess I still have some learning to do if I want to move away from windows...

one post per month?

Wow, a whole month has passed.
I went down to Port Angeles to visit a friend. We did some hiking and I ended up with these images...

A forest photo

I was out in a local park and found this image


I think it has potential.

Paths to Creativity

The Online Photographer has an interesting article on creativity and art education. I can relate. I did go to photo college, and I like to think that I have used some of that education in a lot of the jobs I have worked at throughout the years. I think art school helps fan the creative flames. For me it confirmed that I enjoy photography, and that I do have some talent.

and another hobby...

When I was a kid, I built and flew model airplanes. Being a kid, though, I could not afford my dream of a remote control Helicopter, as they cost thousands of dollars.
Well, apparently this has changed...
My son recently bought a small remote control airplane (with his own money I might add) and I was intrigued. After seeing how inexpensive the plane was, I started looking at helicopters. I looked at the airhog offerings, but they seemed too much like toys.
I also didn't want to spend a ton of money, from everything I heard, helicopters are tough to fly and you will crash.
I found a good compromise with the Falcon 40. I later found this site that has some great advice. Having owned this helicopter for a couple of weeks now, I will definitely say they are tough to fly. Part of my problem is I have been flying in an enclosed carport with various "stuff" around the edges. Read not a lot of room. I have broken a set of main rotor blades and burned out a motor, but I can hover for a few seconds now. Step two will be to improve my hovering and start controlled flight (forwards, sideways and backwards)

Take me to your leader

Ok, maybe not...

I'm Back

I took a vacation to bring my kids to meet their grandparents. No internet, beautiful mountain scenery, a large lake, and HOT temperatures.
I will get some photos up soon, but in the meantime, one of the first images I took after I got back...

new photo

Low Tide, and a day off, and I found this scene.
It is a bit different from my usual minimalist approach, but I like it. I want to see how it looks big, say around 20"x30".
I am also thinking of starting a line of greeting cards. I will post any appropriate links here soon...

Old School

I drive a 5-speed in my car. It is a bit of a pain in city traffic while drinking a coffee, but I prefer the feel of the road and the car. I had a friend once who said he prefers to be lazy and let the car decide on what gear to use. In his words, "I am getting too old to worry about little details"

What does this have to do with photography?

I have been using an old all metal Nikon 105mm macro lens on my Fuji S2. Now remember that this is a manual focus lens with no computer chip. That means, obviously, no AF, but also no auto aperture and no metering. Using it requires thought and awareness of light. With a digital, I can cheat a bit and check the histogram immediately after the fact, but it still slows down my shooting style. I have to think about the light levels and I have to consciously choose what aperture and shutter speed I want.

there is also a tactile pleasure with this lens that most modern lenses can't touch. Focus is indescribably smooth. The balance is superb. And I won't even comment on the legendary optical performance.

Sometimes it is nice to "slum it" a bit to make your mind work in unaccustomed ways. Maybe this could be considered a workout for your creative eye. Whatever. I really enjoy this exercise, and I recommend you try it as well. Turn off as much automation as possible and see what you can accomplish...

Art

I love this quote from Concerning Photography :

not so much “a picture’s worth a thousand words” as “these pictures need at least a thousand words to persuade you that they are worth anything at all”

Words to live by?

some new photos

I woke up early the other day, so I decided to catch the sunrise. Of course it was overcast, so no sunrise, but I did get a couple of interesting images...


I am not quite sure why, but I like this one, I like the simple shapes, and the muted colours... let me know what you think...

Later on I saw this...



and when the sun peeked out from behind the clouds...



Overall a good day...

Computers and Photography

I am a bit of a computer nerd. I like playing around with computer settings and modifying my system(s). I own more than one (4 actually) computer running more than one operating system. I have designed and run a number of websites, and I have taught computer courses.
Having said that, I am first and foremost a graphic person. I use my computer to help my photography and to create graphic art. I do not consider myself a "computer person".
So where am I going with this?
Yesterday, at work, I had a customer come in who wanted a 50th anniversary card designed and printed. Her daughter who was a "computer person" had some ideas, but no time to make the card. Now, this daughter may be a world class programmer (I doubt it) or she may type a mean Word document, but she was most definitely not a graphic designer.
I think technology (and the associated marketing department) has created a mindset where the tool is more important than the operator. You can easily see this in photography and cameras, and in graphic art and design in general. If you are a "computer person" defined, in the view of many non-computer people, as someone who is comfortable working on a computer, and is able to set a few personal preferences in the programs they use, then you should be able to accomplish anything that the computer is able to do. You can do page layout in Word (shudder) or edit photos in Picassa. If you are a really good computer person using Microsoft, you have a pirated version of Adobe (aka Photoshop) and therefore, you can create masterpieces of art to be uploaded to myspace.
I do believe that the majority of people that are classed as "computer people", myself included, are aware that their knowledge may be strong in one area, but it is very weak or non-existent in other areas. For myself, I may be a decent photographer, but I have no talent or knowledge of video. What makes computers fun is that you can dabble in a number of areas with little or no risk just to gain knowledge. What makes computers useful is that they provide a number of tools that let you accomplish a task. However, like any art from painting to programming, it is 99% knowledge and 1% tools. Or most probably, 70% dedication, 29% knowledge, and 1% tools.

Warm up Photos

In my last post I mentioned a warm up photo. I would like to explain.
Whenever I start a photo shoot, whether it be in the studio, or walking through a park, it seems to take a few shots to "get in the zone". The first few shots rarely are my best.
Today I noticed I made a conscious effort to turn off the "business" side of my brain, to stop doing profit and loss calculations in my head, so the "artistic" or visual side could take over. Mind you I was distracted with the battery issue, but it was interesting in an introspective sort of way.
The right-brain left-brain descriptions seem to apply very well to me. When I am my most visually cognizant, my arithmetic skills are very poor. For me, it takes a little while to switch modes of thought. Like an athlete's warm up, I need to stretch my visual muscles.
There used to be a school of thought that during a portrait setting, you should shoot the first "roll of film" with the camera empty, to relax the subject in front of the camera. I think a part of this is also to relax the photographer. As I visually explore, I often have to get the obvious shots out of the way so I can look for the deeper meaning. Photography is very much a process. One shot leads to another approach, and another interpretation of the subject.
It has been said many times before, but that is one of the real strengths of digital photography. This warm up is free. There is no cost of film and no cost of a lost image because there is no film in the camera.
This warm up can also happen faster with digital because you can easily see the image you just took and use this as a starting point for the next image.
If I was to give advice to other photographers, I would say to shoot the same subject repeatedly, but with a different approach each time. Shoot until you have no idea how to shoot it again, then take one more...

Flamingo at a "tourist trap"

Three sets of Batteries

I went out this morning to take some photos. I got up early, grabbed my camera bag, and drove to a local park to shoot some spring flowers.
As I got out of the car in the parking lot, I realized I forgot my extra set of freshly charged batteries at home. Damn.
Oh well, I should be able to use the set in the camera. And in any case I have my emergency set in my photo-vest.
I saw a good warm up shot, so I set up my tripod, framed the shot, pressed the shutter button ....
BEEP, BEEP Dead batteries. Ok, lets put the emergency backup set in.... nothing. Double Damn...
Luckily, my camera takes AA's, the same as my flash, and for some reason, I packed a flash in case I needed some fill. Pull the batteries out, put them in the camera. They are not full, but I should be able to get a few shots out of them...
It really reminded me of the old film days. I remember times when I was down to my last sheet of 4x5 film. I really looked at every possible scene to see if it was worthy of this last exposure.
Back to my trip today, was went exploring, shooting very sparingly if at all. (sort of the antithesis of digital)
But I really wanted a good image.
I came to a pond with some skunk cabbage, but they were all kind of ordinary, no great lighting. Maybe I should just turn back... Ok, lets just look around this tree.
There, in a small pond was a solitary skunk cabbage, backlit by a shaft of sunlight through the trees. I set up the camera took a shot, and as the batteries died. As a last resort I put the first set of batteries, and now they have lots of power. Enough to let me shoot a good half dozen shots at least.
The moral of this story? Never give up. There is always an answer. If you are determined enough, you will get what you want.
Either that, or never forget your extra set of batteries.

Those we influence

I was reading TOP about a missed opportunity to travel with some amazing people. I wonder if the clown knows how much he influenced this casual acquaintance.
Today at work was the senior managers last day. I didn't really work with Maggie too much, but she really helped me at a time when I needed some direction. I am not sure if she realizes how much I appreciate her opening the door for me.
All this got me wondering how much I have influenced those around me. When I help out a customer, even the small jobs, I hope I have made someones life better, or easier in some small way.
What does this have to do with photography?
We each see the world through our own eyes. Often the small details, or even the larger picture is not noticed or appreciated by the mass population (whatever that is). Often we wear blinders, so we can focus on a task, or so we don't get overwhelmed, or even because we don't understand. We don't always see what is around us.
In my photography I try to take these blinders off. To show others what I have noticed, what I have seen, and what has struck me as noteworthy.
Some photographers show us the grand landscape, others show us where we, as human beings, need to improve. But photographers, and artists in general, wish, at maybe a subconscious level, to influence others. to have people remember who we are, and what we have to say.

All in all a very humbling day.

"New" Photos

I was out the other day and found this photo.



















I like it, but is it really my image? An unknown artist left this image under a bridge for all to see. I would like to credit him/her, but the very nature of graffiti art* is anonymous. Great artists have photographed graffiti for ages, often abstracting it. but this image is one I found, and it is making me think of photography as an art.
I have copied artwork, but for some reason, this seems more...
I found the painting above, but I also "found" this image on the same walk.



and it is just as much a recording of what I saw in front of me, but maybe because it was not created by someone else it is fair game?
so what about an image from my archives...



This is a photograph of artwork created by another person. but it is a bit more "arty". Maybe it is the Black & White treatment? But I arguably manipulated this image less than the original graffiti art. (lots of levels, curves and colour correction)
and this image I shot for a calendar...



It is again just a copy of someone else's artwork, a carved Buddha head. When does it become more than (or at least different from) the original? This last image was a studio shot with very controlled lighting, angle of view and background. Does the amount of work put into an image make it? I have some images I have put a lot of work into, that just don't cut it. I can't say I have too many images I have not put a fair bit of work into that work though...

So back to my original conundrum. Is it art? Is the original?
I have no idea, but I like it.


*by graffiti art I am separating skilled painters who wish to express themselves from vandals who just want to mark their territory.

PS. The more I look at the original graffiti, the more I think it is just a recording of a good piece of artwork, but I still think the line linking original art and copied art is quite interesting.

Time

Time....
Mike Johnson at The Online Photographer has some interesting thoughts on our busy lives.
but I gotta run now...

Try explaining technology

I am trying to keep this blog about photography and art, but sometimes I just have to share tangential info.
I read John Nack's views from adobe, and he found this video. I am sure I can sound like that too when explaining photography, or graphic design.
I think one of the skills of the really talented is to be able to see through this kind of talk when someone else is trying to justify themselves.
I am working with Linguacard on their up and coming product, and one of the subcontractors is, shall we say, reluctant to fulfil his end of a contract. He tends to try the technospeak to get himself out of his corner. I don't buy it...
Too bad, as I know these cards are going to be a hit. And it has been a real challenge to learn how to lay out multiple languages...

PS...

Oh, and if you want to get me a birthday present...

Happy Birthday to Me

Today is my birthday. WooHoo...
Actually, once you turn 21 (which happened to me a little while ago - cough - ) birthdays dont matter as much. But I am sure I will still have a whale of a time. (sorry, I thought it was a cool site, so I had to figure a way to link to it...)

You may not know that I have been playing with linux for a while, specifically Ubuntu for my desktop, and SME for my server. While I really like a lot of things about the way linux works, such as multiple desktops, NO VIRUSES, etc. I have not been able to find a way to edit photos. I just can't seem to get my head around the Gimp, and every other program I tried seems worse, or at least limiting.

While reading some photo websites, I came across Lightzone. This program really seems to have promise. and to make things even better, there is a free linux version. But the windows/mac version is very reasonable too.

I have just started working with this program, but I will give my thoughts as soon as I have any...

Ok, enough with the bad jokes already, yesterday was April Fools day...

where to live

Victoria usually has two seasons, summer and rain. Spring and fall tend to merge. We "never" get a winter.
This year we got a winter


As a consequence, we are now having an "ugly" season. The flowers are just barely coming up, but the mud left from the floods and rain is still covering much of the ground.

So as I was out for a walk the other day, I was speculating on where would be an interesting place to live. I have never been up north. A place lijke Dawson Creek, or Yellowknife would be interesting. I understand there are some downsides, but it would be fun to live there for a couple of years anyway...

Or maybe I am just too romantic...

More on Plagiarism

... and yet another post on plagiarism.

The Drive Home

Last night on the way home from dropping off my kids, I set up a camera to try to capture the drive home.
so far this is my favorite:



This photo is quite simple, but I think next time, I will try to include less of the dashboard. (I still like the gauges showing though) and I will have to mount the tripod a bit differently so the dash is sharper, less motion blur...

Another one from the series I like is this one:



You can even see a star trail in the center.
I have more in my experiments album.

One of the nice things about digital is that these experiments are very cheap. One of the problems with digital, at least with this camera (Fuji S2) is that it used a dark frame subtraction to get rid of chip noise. This means that for every exposure of say 15 seconds, the camera takes another shot with the shutter closed and then calculates the chip generated noise and removes it from the original shot. While this gives very low noise and smooth night time images, the camera is not ready for the next shot until this second "exposure" is done. In other words a 15 second exposure takes 30 seconds until the camera is ready for the next shot.
For the technically curious, there is no other noise reduction on these images. One has a little sharpening, and they both have a bit of colour tweaking, but the S2 is great for night shots.

On a funny note, (funny - strange coincidence not funny - Ha Ha) I noticed that the odometer is almost at the same spot (53,000 and change) as this shot in my last car:



Now for a trivia question: Both the cars in these shots are the same model, but different years. Any guesses?

World Press Photos

The 2007 World Press Photo Awards have been announced.

So far my favorite is this image of struggling against all odds.

And there are a lot more very amazing images.

They are coming out of the woodwork

Maybe it is just a figment of my overstretched imagination, but plagiarism seems to be a hot topic.
There is a discussion on, of all places, slashdot. Maybe this all a consequence of some of the more ridiculous copyright and patent laws being presented. (I won't provide any examples, as there are way to many to choose from...) or the perception of loss of personal freedom, especially in the USA.

My father had a (tongue in cheek) saying, plagiarized from some unknown person no doubt, "What's yours in mine, and what's mine is none of your business". That seems to be a prevalent opinion of many. I can learn from you, I can take your ideas and expand on them, but you cannot copy my ideas. Maybe that is one reason I really like the open source software movement. This movement basically says we, as a society, are much stronger when we collaborate and share ideas.

Maybe as a society we need to grow up and become less petty. Just let me keep all my ideas to myself...

With due respect to pollock

Do you need to waste some internet time?
try this site to create a Jackson Pollock homage
or here to make one of your drawings dance (with a million of their friends)

but now I have to get back to work...

Self Plagiarizing Artist

I came across this artists site the other day, and it got me thinking yet again about plagiarism.
If you did not know the first series of fingerprints, for example, were all taken by the same artist, you would call it plagiarism. But what if you see this idea and come up with a concept of your own, say using spaghetti. Is that plagiarism?
This site at least credits the originals, so I guess that is not plagiarism...
I decided that it was time to get a definition of this plagiarism concept...

Plagiarism is the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one's own original work. Unlike cases of forgery, in which the authenticity of the writing, document, or some other kind of object, itself is in question, plagiarism is concerned with the issue of false attribution.

(from wikipedia)

It is also interesting to note that this definition and the concept behind it are under dispute.

From my understanding, almost all the issues of plagiarism deal with the written word. Taking a quote out of context, publishing another authors work, etc.

But back to my opening argument. Since the first photographer mentioned above did a series of images relating science to unrelated physical objects, no one else can do this ever again? How sad. And further to that, if you had never seen these photos and you created something similar, how can you be held responsible for plagiarism?
I argue that as human beings living in a society where communication is only getting wider and more open, we almost always use ideas of others to build up our own, either consciously or not.
Back to photography, when you are shooting an image (here the term shooting includes pre-visualization, image design/creation, or any other term used by other photographers through the ages, and for that matter artists back even farther...) do you not try to remember how other photographers/artists have approached similar problems? Use other peoples ideas and concepts to enhance your own approach? I don't think there is an artist of any medium who has not studied his peers and the masters of his craft. That is how we learn.
I guess my problem is that I don't see a clean separation between learning from past masters, homage to past masters, and stealing from past masters. Maybe I see plagiarism as a whining,"you took my idea and did it better, how dare you" or "my interpretation is better than yours, nyah nyah"
If someone were to take one of my photos and improve on what I was trying to say, I would be honored (I am tempted to bold, highlight, and set neon lights around "improve") All I ask is that they show me the work afterwords so I, in turn, can learn from them.
Ooohhh, THAT is what plagiarism is:

Plagiarism is the using of ideas without respect or honor for the people who helped you get past certain problems

Ok, I guess now I should start my list of people who have influenced my photography... on second thought, it would sound too much like an Oscar acceptance speech... I know who you are... Thanks

Plagiarism in Photography

There has been a bit of talk on The Online Photographer about photographic plagiarism. I don't think this is possible. I remember in photo school, one of the studio assignments was to find a photo and recreate it. It was a lesson in lighting, composition, and large format technique (ok, it covered a lot of bases...)
I learned a lot from this... It is surprisingly hard to copy a scene. First you need to analyze the camera angle, depth of field, lens etc. Then you need to analyze the quality and direction of light. It is not a trivial matter to recreate the scene.
I also found out that "copying" someone else is a good starting point for your own creativity. For the above assignment, I made a completely different photo that reflected a lot more of my own personality.
This brings us to the root of my argument. Photography as an art form reflects the personality of the artist/photographer. No two people have the same personality (ok, some people have the same lack of personality, but that is a different problem...).
Now, outside of the studio, in the "real" world two photographers can be standing in the same spot and see different scenes, I am sure we all have experiences here. I remember shooting with a friend. We both stopped at the same scene but we only had one sheet of film between us (we were sharing a 4x5 camera). We both agreed on placement of the camera, but I saw a vertical, while my friend saw a horizontal. We shot wide and later in the darkroom printed our individual crops. They were both strong interpretations of the scene.
but lets assume, for the sake of argument that two photographers see the same scene, or it is a well photographed scene. Why are these two photographers shooting the scene? At the risk of sounding like a bad art critic, what is their motivation? If the motivation is just to record the scene, what exactly is being plagiarized? the scene itself? If the motivation is to emulate another photographer, where can you draw the line between plagiarism and learning from a master?
The cliche about imitation and flattery comes to mind.
There is also the adage about nothing new under the sun...

But now we get to the legal aspect. I am not a lawyer, and I have not discussed this with anyone with legal knowledge, but my opinion of the situation is this: If you have a great photographic idea, and I copy it and I make a ton of money from it, where do you stand? Should you get a payment from me? Why? If the original idea is so great and worthy of recognition (by cash or fame) why did you not profit? Art is not like other commodities. You cannot undercut price, each creation is an original. (I am not talking about re photographing other prints, which would violate copyright) If I am a better marketer than you, should I not get paid better? If I refine your idea closer to my ideas, should I not benefit?
Now, if the images are so close, such as some of those in question, then I argue that the photograph is just a recording of the original scene and doesn't have any intrinsic value. Anyone could come by and capture the image.
Photography, in my mind is about extracting the essential elements from the world around us. These essential elements vary according to the message we want to say. If your message is, "I really respect Edward Weston, and I would be honored to try and emulate his approach to photographing peppers", great. If your message is "I think that photo is very banal and simple to copy", is your opinion less valuable? Your opinion may not be popular, your opinion may be naive, but one of the huge values of art is the possibility to have your own opinion.
So is plagiarism possible in photography? Is plagiarism possible in opinions? Can you really copy a true piece of art?

Mass Confusion

I don't get it...
I thought computers were supposed to simplify our lives...

Ok, for photography and graphics the computer at least makes retouching and layout much easier than traditional darkroom techniques. I would even argue that there are some things you can do on a computer that are impossible in the darkroom

But lately I have been trying to find a calendar that I can use regularly. I guess in the old days I would carry around a daytimer, but that has never been me. I still use a palm, but it has limitations, such as adding appointments, and a small screen. I tried to set up egroupware on my server, and I liked a lot of things about it, but maintaining it was a pain, and it crashed often. Outlook has great functionality, but, like a lot of other PIM software, it is only on one computer. If I am at work or out and about, I have no access.

My latest solution is Google Calendar. While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that are fun to play with, it is a good functional calendar. It is available from every web enabled computer. I think I need to get past the "playing with software" phase and into just using the software.

ok, I know computers can drive you to drinking, but really...

What to do, what to do

I am getting closer to becoming big time. My web site is starting to get busier. I think I have grown past my poor little home server. Maybe this blog is starting to direct traffic...
I have some new images I am working on. One of the "joys" of being creative is you always have new ideas. The trick is to communicate these details. Time will tell... Stay tuned for details...

Changing Styles

My Photography style seems to be going through a change.
On a recent trip to Goldstream I took some basic shots of eagles, but I was "seeing" a lot better.
I didn't take a lot of shots that were great, but a lot of them were different than my usual style:


Of course there are more photos on my site.