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Month: June 2008

Raptors T-Ball

It was a great game and want to thank Sam for the opportunity to come out and take photos. Head on over to SmugMug and check out the pictures of Raptors T-Ball action.

When taking pictures of children playing sports I prefer to be at eye level or lower to the players, with the Raptors I was able to sit on the field and get the type of shots that I really like. I am making a lot more pictures available than I normally would since I probably won’t have a chance to shoot another game this season.

Please don’t get to distracted by the slideshow, there are much larger versions for viewing and for sale over at SmugMug.

HappyPhotographyPictures

Microsoft Pro Photo Tools for Geotagging

I learned about Microsoft Pro Photo Tools a couple of months ago when researching ways to geotag my photos. Version 1.0 of the software allows you to easily edit the EXIF and IPTC meta data of your JPG images.

After using the tool for a couple of months I have reverted to using the tried-and-true Exifer to add copyright, contact, and descriptions to my images. I feel like Microsoft Pro Photo Tools does not make it clear exactly what it is I am editing, EXIF or IPTC.

But what this software does excel at is geotagging. Under the Map Browse tab is an interface to Microsoft Virtual Earth that allows you to select one or more images and place them on the map which assigns latitude and longitude coordinates to the EXIF data. Very quick and easy compared to other tools I have tried on WindowsXP.

The geo info tagged in the EXIF data allows services such as Picassa, SmugMug, Flickr, Panoramio, and many more to place your photos on maps for users to find them by browsing maps. I highly recommend checking out the new “More… Photos” option in a Google Maps search.

PhotographySoftware

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

I’ll give the new Hulk movie a 6 out of 10, better than average. I really enjoyed it, it was nice that it was a continuation of the first movie without feeling like a sequel. The action was clean and plentiful but not relentless and the slower parts were full of character development. The tie-in with the Avengers movie was awesome.

The Incredible Hulk (2008) 6 out of 10

Movies

War on Photography

There is a new war being waged, at a time when more people have access to more cameras of all types there is wave a fear, hysteria, and doubt washing over the world. It is only in the last couple of months that this war has come to light, more and more people are being affected by it and getting thier voices heard on TV and the internet.

You can begin reading with this article and video about a New Mexico photographer who is detained by police for trying to do his job. His claim is that the police did not make it clear to him where he could safely work and then attacked him AFTER he left the area.

Then this photographer who regularly visits Coney Island who had an unreasonable mother get the police involved because she believes he may have taken photos of her child.

Bruce Schneier of The Guardian has written a great piece that points out the fact that no known terrorists have photographed thier intended targets.

Union Station in Washington D. C. has become a beacon highlighting the issues at hand, during a video interview with the Chief Spokesperson for Union Station who was in the middle of explaining that photography was indeed allowed in Union Station a security guard interrupts to tell them they cannot photograph there.

As a follow up Joel Lawson has written a posts about “The Union Station Flap” and a follow-up “She’s Serious About Those Hearings” about how Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) is getting involved to ensure that photographers will have the right to take photos in Union Station.

In Seattle it appears that after several incidents something has been done and the police have been given clearer instruction about photographers rights.

I hope that as photographers we can respect the people around us and get the photos we want without upsetting anyone. But we must also stand up to the people that are trying to take away our rights. There is a great document that you can use that outlines your right at Bert P. Krages web site known as “The Photographers Rights.” Keeping a copy of it handy may help answer questions for law enforcement and security guards.

PhotographySad

This Week in Photography (TWIP)

TWIP is my favorite photgraphy podcast and has a great blog to go along with it. The community that has formed around TWIP is amazing with many great photographers who are happy to critique and share wonderful photos and ideas.

Alex Lindsay and Scott Bourne really bring the show to life with regular contributors Steve Simon, Ron Brinkmann, and Fred Johnson, you can find more details about each of them on the TWIP Staff page. Thier combined knowledge of photgraphy, computer software, and the technology that surronds photography makes TWIP a fantastic show that covers the world of photography.

The TWIP crew uses Flickr to host a photo group, a critique group, and contests. The attitudes in the flickr groups remains uniquely positive and the prizes for the contests always result in great photos and even better prizes.

I highly recommend the TWIP podcast, video podcast, and blog to anyone who has an interest in photography and technology.

blog

The Happening

This movie left me bored. I am a fan of M. Night Shyamalan, I even think Lady in the Water was not a terrible movie, but this movie really was a let down. I think it was the script that was the weakest link, the actors appeared rushed, and Mark Wahlberg came across as a whiner, but none of the actors were bad. So it boils down to a very slow horror movie that has no action and no real plot.

The Happening 4 out of 10

Movies

Why not an iPhone

After a lot of consideration we have decided to buy a second Palm Centro instead of an iPhone.

There many reasons I would really like a 3G iPhone, iTunes support, a beautiful screen, a decent camera, great web browser, and now with the App store about to open I am sure there will be a lot of great applications available. But I have been a PalmOS user for many years, right from the begining actually with the Palm Personal.

I have a lot of software for the PalmOS including Chapura Express, Documents to Go, Mobipocket, Jmileage, a handful of games, and some productivity tools. I have the phone sync’d with my Yahoo! calendar which is sync’d with both my personal calendar and my office calendar.

I find the real keyboard on the centro much easier to type on, it works for me even with motorcycle gloves when I enter my mileage. In fact, I typed this into Word To Go before posting it.

Cost is another consideration, with a 2-year extension the Centro is only $99 and add $20 for a 4GB microSD card. Compared to the cost of the $299 iPhone it is a real bargain. And with the Centro you can choose from different providers instead of being stuck with AT&T not to mention a wider choice of plans than the iPhone.

Oh yeah, with the Centro I can cut-and-paste, even between apps.

Computers

The First Post is a Sad Post

Robert Asprin

Robert Asprin, Yang the Nauseating, has passed away. I will miss him dearly. The Mythadventures web site has a very nice eulogy and the Everything New Orleans web site has an obituary.

Wikipedia has a nice entry for Robert along with a bibliography of his work.

Sad