‘Design Thoughts’ : rjslade

It is hard to believe that nearly 8 weeks have passed since my last entry here. So much has happened, so much has been added to my folder of thoughts. So I will start now and maybe add a few posts rather than one super long one! That ought to make it easier to read anyhow.

Photography in the modern world:

The first major thing that happened was my wife had her thumb broken – note I have not said that she broke her thumb. But rather – it was broken.

It is not an easy world for photography these days. Concern over security, post 9/11 has made any photographer a questionable person – why are they taking the photo. Strange in a world so watched by CCTV of security forces, mapped and photographed globally and available online through the likes of `Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) or Google Earth (http://earth.google.com/tour/thanks-mac4.html) or StreetView (here is a Telegraph article on StreetView. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/06/20/eastreet120.xml&CMP=ILC-mostviewedbox)

The private security forces ‘protecting’ the rights of their paymasters do not understand the law regarding photography – what one is allowed to photograph and from where – legally. The reason for the photography is also important.

The UK Guardian Newspaper had an article entitled ‘Are photographers really a threat?’ http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/05/news.terrorism

Three important sources of legal advice, specifically American, British and Canadian are:

• http://ambientlight.ca/laws.php
• http://www.sirimo.co.uk/media/UKPhotographersRights.pdf
• http://www.krages.com/ThePhotographersRight.pdf

In the case here, Sarah, my wife, who among other talents, is a photographer was photographing a local event and a local individual took exception to it, approached her angrily and resulted in her thumb being broken.

The photo that led to this incident are here:

12 hours after a larger tent than this was upside down in the field in the foreground, the festa was again underway – Unfortunately the thumb has yet to heal and current photography is limited.

Pretty innocuous, recording the ability of our local community to spring back from a natural calamity over a very short period of time. The images were taken to record the event for the community and were posted on our site at www.rjslade.com

Given that Sarah also plays the piano, the cello and hauls about considerable photo equipment, the full use of her right thumb is very important. At the moment she has not got that, just considerable pain as the fracture mends and she tries to not do too much with it.

It has given her more time to do the drudge work of being a photographer – cataloguing , describing and keywording images as required by assorted vendors of images.

We continue with out personal sites at:

www.photoempt.com

and

photoempt.smugmug.com

The initial site, which is my own design, and generated by Apple Aperture (http://www.apple.com/aperture/features/) from which I can export the finished sets of images, having modified the built in templates, continues, but is now the second site. I have previously covered in this blog why I chose Aperture over LightRoom (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshoplightroom/) to manage our images – As Sarah gets more proficient herself with Photoshop (http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/photoshopextended/) and we move away from our own site, the reasoning is less important the the workflow issues of management and image editing become more important

SmugMug (http://www.smugmug.com/) is a wonderful site ; I found out about it through a comment made on BagelTurf (http://www.bagelturf.com/) by Steve Weller which I discovered while researching the question of Aperture vs LightRoom. Steven uses them to host his images. They have three different types of plans, Standard, Power User or Professional and a wonderful set of features. We signed up for Professional, and it is the first place we upload any new photography

Following the Mull Workshop mentioned below, Sarah returned to London UK and did a few days of photography. Here the ‘Gherkin’ framed by the Tower Bridge in the evening light. One of the aspects of photography in London is security and Sarah was stopped by police, questioned and documented while doing photography. No hassled but they did take notice. The amusing thing was that this was while shooting an image in Bedford Square, not while shooting a major landmark!

One of a group of bikers practicing their acrobatic skills on the SouthBank. The walls are painted with graffiti. This image required a model release so that it can be sold, and one was obtained. The issue of releases is yet another impediment to photography.

The access to Canary Wharf Underground – one of those iconic shots. Here the security people insisted that a tripod was not allowed

As you can see, if you visit the site, with a little work you can alter just about any aspect of the look that hey provide, but the feature set they provide and the level of support is wonderful. Add to that, the community around it, through DGrin and other forums is outstanding. Sarah has met through them, Muench Workshop (http://www.muenchworkshops.com/) Sarah has Attended one of their workshops in Mull Scotland and is scheduled to attend another in August. Details on these are at:

Mull Scotland: http://www.dgrin.com/printthread.php?t=73417&pp=40

Extreme Sierras: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?p=775588

Above and below : The Isle of Mull

Some other sites of individuals that I have found interesting, some found by me, some suggested in articles and by other people

This woman got a write up recently and has some interesting work:

Rebekka Guðleifsdóttir at: http://www.flickr.com/people/rebba/

Gordon Woldford has a great site that shows off his travels around North America.

Gordons pBase site at: http://www.pbase.com/merriwolf

Jim Reid’s site was just pointed out to me – Wonderful!

Jim Reed is recognized as one of the world’s most accomplished weather photographers for his one-of-a-kind images of America’s changing climate. A veteran full-time storm chaser, Jim has spent nearly two decades documenting almost every type of meteorological phenomena — including tornadoes, blizzards, electrical storms and floods. He has documented 15 hurricanes, including Hurricane Katrina — the costliest tropical cyclone ever to strike the United States. In 2004, he penetrated the eye of all four major hurricanes to strike Florida. http://www.jimreedphoto.com/gallery.html?gallery=Fine%20Art

A Web magazine – JPG Magazine. Well actually it is a real printed magazine – yeas – paper – but I have only ever viewed the pdf back copies that are available on the web site. I can’t say I enjoy all the work but it is an interesting source of what is ‘current’ http://www.jpgmag.com/

Researchers have managed to get the hardware and software cost down to a level that makes this hardware viable for most professionals. From Times Online. May 15, 2008 ‘Billion-pixel panoramas — from your own camera’ http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/article3938717.ece

And the web site dedicated to the project: Gigapan http://gigapan.org/

Three great sites to compare the details of assorted photo hardware. I usually start with DPReview:

• http://www.digitalcamerainfo.com/
• http://www.dpreview.com/
• http://www.steves-digicams.com/diginews.html

(heh I just realized this is now hosted by SmugMug!)

B & H : your first stop when you are ready to buy that new must have: This store is the photographers Mecca – located in New York City it is wild. The staff is very knowledgeable, can come across as quite brusque (downright rude sometimes) but if it is worth having they have it and at prices that are hard to match. Their retail price is better than most Canadian wholesale prices ! Watch the holidays and opening hours though, They are observant jews and honour their calender.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/

“Professional” organizations that worry about these photo issues:

• Editorial Photographers (EP) A non-profit organization dedicated to improving the health and profitability of editorial photography. Our mission is to educate photographers and photography buyers about business issues affecting our industry, and in the process raise the level of business practices in the profession. http://www.editorialphoto.com
• Stock Artists Alliance SAA supports and protects the business interests of professional stock photographers worldwide. http://www.stockartistsalliance.org
• UPDIG Working Group The UPDIG Working Group is an ad-hoc industry consortium of nonprofit associations, whose logos are shown here, along with allied trade groups and manufacturers. http://www.updig.org/published/Updig.AboutUPDIG.html

A few of the other Photography Community Sites you might want to visit:

• Fine Art Photoblog The Fine Art Photoblog is a unique website dedicated to collectors and admirers of fine art photography. The site is something of a mix between art gallery, photoblog, and search engine. http://www.fineartphotoblog.com/
• Fotocommunity Are you a passionate hobby photographer? Are you are ready to be inspired, to share your passion and knowledge with more than 670.000 members? Great! Then fotocommunity is the perfect place for you and your creative works. http://www.fotocommunity.com/pc/pc/channel/50
• The Radiant Vista The Radiant Vista is a creative community of inspiration, passion, and grace. Together we pursue our dreams and explore our endless potential. http://www.radiantvista.com/

Old photo’s are a great source of inspiration. The American Smithsonian and the Library of Congress are starting to put some of their collections online. And then there are articles on particular subjects – I list here one on old images of New York City ( you might have noticed a fondness for this city – we have been there numerous times for enjoyment and photography.

• New York in Black and White: http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?p=29988&mode=threaded
• Prints & Photographs Online Catalog : The Prints & Photographs Online Catalog (PPOC) provides access through group or item records to more than 50% of the Division’s holdings, as well as to some images found in other units of the Library of Congress. Many of the catalog records are accompanied by digital images–about one million digital images in all. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/catalog.html
• Smithsonian Institution’s Photostream : http://flickr.com/photos/smithsonian

And last, but definitely not least the three main groups of Royalty Free Vendors we list our images with. Why these three? FotoSearch approached us a few years ago as Wonderfile (part of Masterfile) was folding. They represent most of the big names and have a growing body of individuals, who they have approached.

StockphotoPro are recent – we (and I gather from blog entries on the web, hundreds of others) received an invite to join them. We liked their site and the tools they provide and the service/support they have given us.

PhotoShelter is our most recent choice. Again the tools and service of the supplier have been big issues.

While there is no cost to us to have these people represent us, they obvious take a percentage of the sales. We have, as noted in previous posts, dealt with microstock, but the return for the work and hassle is questionable. These firms return a more reasonable amount for each sale and set the bar in terms of image quality and content much higher. Each site has its own requirements though, its own methods of submission, and paper work required to ensure required taxes are withheld on sale. We will never get rich selling our images but it does make it all meaningful and gives our passion an outlet. I came across a joke the other day that says it all:

Q : What is the difference between a professional photographer and a pizza. A : The pizza can feed a family of 4

PhotoShelter

PhotoShelter is an online photo community where 37,000 of the world’s photographers find new opportunities and liberation from the traditional model of selling their work. http://psc.photoshelter.com/

StockphotoPro

Join the professional photographers from across the globe who have already submitted their best Images. Contribute to the StockphotoPro collection and earn a commission every time a picture of yours is sold. http://www.stockphotopro.com/

FotoSearch

What is Fotosearch? Publitek, Inc., dba Fotosearch is a provider of royalty free and rights managed stock photography, illustrations, maps, video, and audio. We bring together many different stock agencies to provide “The World’s stock photography at one website.”™ The products on Fotosearch can be licensed and easily downloaded for use in your advertisements, promotional materials, websites, etc. When you purchase a license to use an image, video clip, or audio clip, you do so based on the license agreement of the publisher of that particular content. The license agreement will be presented to you before purchase confirmation. http://www.fotosearch.com/

That is it for this entry – There are still 84 entries in my folder of URLS, covering colours, fonts, software – Will try to add another posting real soon – R