Photographers on Charlie Rose - 9/11 photographers.
A conversation with photographers who captured 9/11 and its effects with
Richard Drew, David Handschuh, Jay Maisel and Thomas Hoepker
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Banned from Flickr's Explorer
Well, almost banned you might say. I've had just one image pop in to Explorer since the one I had on 2/23/2010. I wondered what it was when I didn't get anything in for a few days, then weeks, then months.
I posted something here after googling it about the ban and wondering why.
No body but someone on the inside would know for sure, so this is just from pure observation of stats and then guessing as to why or how...
Background
For years people have gamed the system trying to get photos in to Explorer. For the uninitiated Explorer is a way for flickr to promote images via a common area on the site, not just a users page or stream. It used to be easy to trick the system by posting to lots of groups, or the comment trading groups, etc. Over time things have evolved and the flickr admins learned how to prevent abuses. The users also adapted to the changes and the war raged on.
A couple years ago they made it so posting to more than a few groups penalized images, and in general the system got smarter.
I stopped doing invites almost completely (both giving or responding). And I stopped posting to more than a few groups per image. I wasn't trying to game Explorer, and I wasn't trying to pimp my images. Some folks put their images in comment of other ppl to gain views, or email all their contacts.
Anyway, my low key approach actually worked pretty well and I have over 500 images pop in to Explorer in around 4 1/2 years (from Aug2005 to Feb2010). By not trying to trick the system I was allowed to have many of my images bubble up. Sometimes 1 in a week or two, some times 5 or 6 or 7 in a couple weeks. (And they'd mostly drop out too, but they did pop IN.)
Then in late February they changed something, right around 2/24/2010. Since then I've had just one image pop in to Explorer. I'm not saying my stuff deserves to be in there. Or that I shoot for explorer, but, the change was like a light switch on then off, except for one image after the switch went to off.
And I have a new theory on that part after a bit of research in to other popular photographer's scout pages.
Many people seemed to have a fall off from Explorer right after 2/24/2010 too. Then a number of the most popular photographers that were out, made it back in, and all their dates seem to be similar. This leads me to think maybe the "ban" from flickr was lifted in a such a way as to let the new algorithm do its thing, and ban the old blood / popular old times except for the "whitelisted" few. And the rest were allowed to have just an extremely minor presence going forward so it wouldn't appear as an outright ban, just a change in the logic, that almost always excluded them.
Here's a list of photogs that I think got added back (starting) around 3/2/2010 or so, (*updated - since they had to add folks back the dates aren't all one date, but appear to start on 3/2/2010):
Imapix 2/22 last, next was 3/2
hvhe1 1/24 last, next 3/2 - (she doesn't post daily)
MikeJones 2/23 last, next 3/2
James Neeley 2/27 last, next 3/9
StuckInCustoms2/24 last, next 3/15.
My last was 2/23, with just one since then - I wasn't "whitelisted".
Why post this?
Well, for one they obviously changed their criteria for explorer. No one can deny that or call observant photographers crazy for noticing that. Late February 2010 it changed.
And because I've read a few times now about people wondering, and I felt like I might have been banned or burned myself by it too.
And because the people I follow, and mentioned above, shoot roughly what I shoot - nature, wildlife, landscapes, colors, earth, wind, fire, the beauty of the world. So these things haven't gone out of style, and are still able to bubble up in Explorer.
I doubt anyone with knowledge from the inside of flickr will read this. If they do, doubt they comment. And further if those 2 things were to happen, the magic of Explorer is a secret so I'd expect anything said to not be honest if it purported to explain it in good faith.
added from orig post
(or maybe to be more accurate I mean if they said no you were not banned or banned 99.999% while others with similar photos and criteria were not affected at all - would be uninformed or untruthful. Someone with API data access and the skill to look at Explorer contents from roughly the last year could detect the change easily in users and then the drop off of all old users, and then the minor addition of certain folks back in... I don't have the time or skill to do that work. fd?)
I've learned a lot from flickr and my fellow members, it has been great. And explorer helped to promote my stuff, and for me to find new people and make new connections. Photography will be my passion regardless of Explorer. And plain as day Explorer changed around 2/24/2010 and did a soft ban on many of the most common photographers found there. A week later or so, some members appear to have gotten exempted from the new way of removing users from explorer.
I guess it is just too bad for me that I got the short end of the stick.
p.s. I waited about 4 months to say anything other than a little post in that thread. I didn't go off whining right away, I'm not leaving flickr, etc. I wanted to see how long it went on for, if it was real or if it would get tweaked again and let me back in....
p.p.s. some have said it is just a change to the algorithm and no users were targeted (and I'd infer targeted with removal of the new math for just them), and to that I say if it were still pure chance, a huge mathematical equation, without special rules for users, and the odds were fair for all then I'd have more than one image in 4 months compared to previous numbers. That fair chance would have not made me change from my old stats to 1. And I say fair not because flickr should be fair to ME, but because some say "flickr isn't singling out users when they change explorer". I basically call shenanigans on that.
These are all vertical shots...
-- commenting here made me turn this in to a post.
p.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. - Maybe I'm just totally mistaken. Maybe someone just stole my mojo. I looked at a few other "explorer" stars' stats and it was harder to find ones that matched the pattern. But I do know that other folks felt the same thing happened to them this time. In 4.5 yrs I averaged 1 image every 4 days or so, now in 4 months 1 image. IDK, night and day or is it day and night...
Whatever.
Well, almost banned you might say. I've had just one image pop in to Explorer since the one I had on 2/23/2010. I wondered what it was when I didn't get anything in for a few days, then weeks, then months.
I posted something here after googling it about the ban and wondering why.
No body but someone on the inside would know for sure, so this is just from pure observation of stats and then guessing as to why or how...
Background
For years people have gamed the system trying to get photos in to Explorer. For the uninitiated Explorer is a way for flickr to promote images via a common area on the site, not just a users page or stream. It used to be easy to trick the system by posting to lots of groups, or the comment trading groups, etc. Over time things have evolved and the flickr admins learned how to prevent abuses. The users also adapted to the changes and the war raged on.
A couple years ago they made it so posting to more than a few groups penalized images, and in general the system got smarter.
I stopped doing invites almost completely (both giving or responding). And I stopped posting to more than a few groups per image. I wasn't trying to game Explorer, and I wasn't trying to pimp my images. Some folks put their images in comment of other ppl to gain views, or email all their contacts.
Anyway, my low key approach actually worked pretty well and I have over 500 images pop in to Explorer in around 4 1/2 years (from Aug2005 to Feb2010). By not trying to trick the system I was allowed to have many of my images bubble up. Sometimes 1 in a week or two, some times 5 or 6 or 7 in a couple weeks. (And they'd mostly drop out too, but they did pop IN.)
Then in late February they changed something, right around 2/24/2010. Since then I've had just one image pop in to Explorer. I'm not saying my stuff deserves to be in there. Or that I shoot for explorer, but, the change was like a light switch on then off, except for one image after the switch went to off.
And I have a new theory on that part after a bit of research in to other popular photographer's scout pages.
Many people seemed to have a fall off from Explorer right after 2/24/2010 too. Then a number of the most popular photographers that were out, made it back in, and all their dates seem to be similar. This leads me to think maybe the "ban" from flickr was lifted in a such a way as to let the new algorithm do its thing, and ban the old blood / popular old times except for the "whitelisted" few. And the rest were allowed to have just an extremely minor presence going forward so it wouldn't appear as an outright ban, just a change in the logic, that almost always excluded them.
Here's a list of photogs that I think got added back (starting) around 3/2/2010 or so, (*updated - since they had to add folks back the dates aren't all one date, but appear to start on 3/2/2010):
Imapix 2/22 last, next was 3/2
hvhe1 1/24 last, next 3/2 - (she doesn't post daily)
MikeJones 2/23 last, next 3/2
James Neeley 2/27 last, next 3/9
StuckInCustoms2/24 last, next 3/15.
My last was 2/23, with just one since then - I wasn't "whitelisted".
Why post this?
Well, for one they obviously changed their criteria for explorer. No one can deny that or call observant photographers crazy for noticing that. Late February 2010 it changed.
And because I've read a few times now about people wondering, and I felt like I might have been banned or burned myself by it too.
And because the people I follow, and mentioned above, shoot roughly what I shoot - nature, wildlife, landscapes, colors, earth, wind, fire, the beauty of the world. So these things haven't gone out of style, and are still able to bubble up in Explorer.
I doubt anyone with knowledge from the inside of flickr will read this. If they do, doubt they comment. And further if those 2 things were to happen, the magic of Explorer is a secret so I'd expect anything said to not be honest if it purported to explain it in good faith.
added from orig post
(or maybe to be more accurate I mean if they said no you were not banned or banned 99.999% while others with similar photos and criteria were not affected at all - would be uninformed or untruthful. Someone with API data access and the skill to look at Explorer contents from roughly the last year could detect the change easily in users and then the drop off of all old users, and then the minor addition of certain folks back in... I don't have the time or skill to do that work. fd?)
I've learned a lot from flickr and my fellow members, it has been great. And explorer helped to promote my stuff, and for me to find new people and make new connections. Photography will be my passion regardless of Explorer. And plain as day Explorer changed around 2/24/2010 and did a soft ban on many of the most common photographers found there. A week later or so, some members appear to have gotten exempted from the new way of removing users from explorer.
I guess it is just too bad for me that I got the short end of the stick.
p.s. I waited about 4 months to say anything other than a little post in that thread. I didn't go off whining right away, I'm not leaving flickr, etc. I wanted to see how long it went on for, if it was real or if it would get tweaked again and let me back in....
p.p.s. some have said it is just a change to the algorithm and no users were targeted (and I'd infer targeted with removal of the new math for just them), and to that I say if it were still pure chance, a huge mathematical equation, without special rules for users, and the odds were fair for all then I'd have more than one image in 4 months compared to previous numbers. That fair chance would have not made me change from my old stats to 1. And I say fair not because flickr should be fair to ME, but because some say "flickr isn't singling out users when they change explorer". I basically call shenanigans on that.
These are all vertical shots...
-- commenting here made me turn this in to a post.
p.p.p.p.p.p.p.s. - Maybe I'm just totally mistaken. Maybe someone just stole my mojo. I looked at a few other "explorer" stars' stats and it was harder to find ones that matched the pattern. But I do know that other folks felt the same thing happened to them this time. In 4.5 yrs I averaged 1 image every 4 days or so, now in 4 months 1 image. IDK, night and day or is it day and night...
Whatever.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
US National Zoo's Lion Cub Cams:
Updated 5/21/2010: I just got the news that the new Lion Cub has passed away. The zoo sent out this message regarding what happened.
---
May 21, 2010
Dear Jon,
It is with great sadness that we share the news that our African lion cub, born Tuesday, died last night. Our keepers had been monitoring the progress of the cub on our web cam, and late yesterday afternoon noticed the cub was not responsive to his mother. Shortly after 5 p.m., keepers were able to shift Nababiep, the mother, outside in order to retrieve the cub, a male. Our veterinary team confirmed his death.
The veterinary and pathology teams examined the cub last night and discovered a straw awn (the sharp tip on the blade of a straw) was in his lungs, which led to pneumonia and was determined to be the cause of death. The use of straw bedding for animals, including great cats, is common in zoos, and the National Zoo uses only organic material in the lions' dens.
This was a one-in-a-million fluke and we know as members and supporters, you share our devastating loss. Our animal care team and all of our Zoo and FONZ staff are consummate professionals and we know they've learned a tremendous amount from creating the pride, breeding the lions, and getting Nababiep through her first birth. While we mourn, we will also keep our focus on the best care for our lion pride and the conservation of this endangered species. Nababiep is doing well and has rejoined her sister, Shera, and keepers plan to reunite the females with Luke, the male, very soon.
While the birth of the cub was a short-lived victory, we have all learned a lot and have every hope that we will have lion cubs in the near future. Thank you for your continued support of the Smithsonian's National Zoo.
Sincerely,
Robert Lamb
Executive Director
Friends of the National Zoo Dennis Kelly
Director
Smithsonian's National Zoo
Updated 5/21/2010: I just got the news that the new Lion Cub has passed away. The zoo sent out this message regarding what happened.
---
May 21, 2010
Dear Jon,
It is with great sadness that we share the news that our African lion cub, born Tuesday, died last night. Our keepers had been monitoring the progress of the cub on our web cam, and late yesterday afternoon noticed the cub was not responsive to his mother. Shortly after 5 p.m., keepers were able to shift Nababiep, the mother, outside in order to retrieve the cub, a male. Our veterinary team confirmed his death.
The veterinary and pathology teams examined the cub last night and discovered a straw awn (the sharp tip on the blade of a straw) was in his lungs, which led to pneumonia and was determined to be the cause of death. The use of straw bedding for animals, including great cats, is common in zoos, and the National Zoo uses only organic material in the lions' dens.
This was a one-in-a-million fluke and we know as members and supporters, you share our devastating loss. Our animal care team and all of our Zoo and FONZ staff are consummate professionals and we know they've learned a tremendous amount from creating the pride, breeding the lions, and getting Nababiep through her first birth. While we mourn, we will also keep our focus on the best care for our lion pride and the conservation of this endangered species. Nababiep is doing well and has rejoined her sister, Shera, and keepers plan to reunite the females with Luke, the male, very soon.
While the birth of the cub was a short-lived victory, we have all learned a lot and have every hope that we will have lion cubs in the near future. Thank you for your continued support of the Smithsonian's National Zoo.
Sincerely,
Robert Lamb
Executive Director
Friends of the National Zoo Dennis Kelly
Director
Smithsonian's National Zoo
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Friday, January 01, 2010
2009 Year in Review
A look back at some of my images from 2009 (slideshow) that stand out. big
Also: [2008], [2007 explorer]
I think my favorite subject(s) of 2009 were the Black Skimmers from the beach.
-Jon
A look back at some of my images from 2009 (slideshow) that stand out. big
Also: [2008], [2007 explorer]
I think my favorite subject(s) of 2009 were the Black Skimmers from the beach.
-Jon
Monday, December 07, 2009
New D300s as of December 2009
I was really resisting this camera so well. I had blogged I would NOT be getting another new camera, not this year, and that I was going to wait for the D400 or something like that next year (2010).
And then my D300 broke. It was hit with the glitch where the mirror doesn't go back to the down position after taking a shot. It came on gradually over a couple days. It would occasionally get stuck in the up position. Then I could use the focus lock button and take a shot, and almost all the time it would come down, and stay down.
Then it got worse and it became a VERY annoying problem. It kept happening to me the day I was shooting the cheetahs at the zoo hoping to get motion blur shots.
After a while that day I shot exclusively with my Fuji S5 *( S5's similar to a D200 but only shoots 2.5fps, but has higher dynamic range).
And finally it wouldn't come down at all, the mirror would bounce down during part of the shutter sequence, but would end up resting at the end in the up position.
I've got a couple other sort of functional dSLRs so I decided to go shooting the day after the zoo day with my Fuji S5 as well as my D200. The fuji is slow and behaves much like a 6MP camera, even though technically it is a 12MP camera. The D200 was my faster, better, backup camera. But it has its own issue after taking a beating and shooting over 160,000 or 170,000 shots. The grip was falling off until I glued it back, but the real pain in the butt was that the rear wheel is broken so changing settings like ISO, exposure, are hit or miss and mostly miss. And when any kind of action requires a fast change, it was useless.
After a frustrating day shooting with those 2 cameras I ordered the D300s. I didn't want to, really, I have enough cameras! Later I realized that I did have the D300 for nearly 2 years, and have taken something like 75,000 shots with it. And I WILL get it fixed. I googled the glitch with the mirror and it can be fixed for under 200$ I think, some sensor goes and it's not that big a deal to correct. When that's fixed, and if I get the rear-wheel fixed on the d200 I'll be setup nicely, and might convert one (d200 probably) to infrared...
The addition of video in the D300s will be good to mess around with. I got a boom mic that mounts in the flash hot-shoe on the camera and allows for stereo audio vs. the on camera mic that's just mono. I also plan to use that mic with the little marantz audio recorder I got, but which I don't use much since the built in mics are not that good, this mic should really help improve the sound quality.
Here's my first video done with the D300s that I've posted. I have taken a couple others but it took a little experimenting to get a decent clip out of it. The rolling shutter problem is annoying when the camera moves, or if the subject moves and you need to track it, and adjusting focus is tough. I also didn't know how to adjust the exposure of the video but someone at the zoo showed me ;) (thx Simba!)
The video is a much lower resolution than the still images, so when I added the 1.7x TC to the lens the quality of the video really didn't seem to suffer (used on above video).
The other cool thing is the 2nd card slot. I put the video on that card. I might change it to write backups there, or IDK maybe just overflow.
Finally, I've had focus issues, and have wondered if it was my copy of the D300 or just the normal performance of the camera, etc. Plus I think my camera was bounced off the floor at my local camera shop during the return trip from a cleaning/tuning, etc. (Grrrr). So a nice new fresh from the box camera, with supposedly improved focus over the D300, will be at a minimum assuring to me and I will wonder less. Now I can focus a little more on the results I'm getting and then see if I need to go to manual focus for certain tracking situations, or tweak settings like focus-lock, or focus point counts, etc.
-Jon
I was really resisting this camera so well. I had blogged I would NOT be getting another new camera, not this year, and that I was going to wait for the D400 or something like that next year (2010).
And then my D300 broke. It was hit with the glitch where the mirror doesn't go back to the down position after taking a shot. It came on gradually over a couple days. It would occasionally get stuck in the up position. Then I could use the focus lock button and take a shot, and almost all the time it would come down, and stay down.
Then it got worse and it became a VERY annoying problem. It kept happening to me the day I was shooting the cheetahs at the zoo hoping to get motion blur shots.
After a while that day I shot exclusively with my Fuji S5 *( S5's similar to a D200 but only shoots 2.5fps, but has higher dynamic range).
And finally it wouldn't come down at all, the mirror would bounce down during part of the shutter sequence, but would end up resting at the end in the up position.
I've got a couple other sort of functional dSLRs so I decided to go shooting the day after the zoo day with my Fuji S5 as well as my D200. The fuji is slow and behaves much like a 6MP camera, even though technically it is a 12MP camera. The D200 was my faster, better, backup camera. But it has its own issue after taking a beating and shooting over 160,000 or 170,000 shots. The grip was falling off until I glued it back, but the real pain in the butt was that the rear wheel is broken so changing settings like ISO, exposure, are hit or miss and mostly miss. And when any kind of action requires a fast change, it was useless.
After a frustrating day shooting with those 2 cameras I ordered the D300s. I didn't want to, really, I have enough cameras! Later I realized that I did have the D300 for nearly 2 years, and have taken something like 75,000 shots with it. And I WILL get it fixed. I googled the glitch with the mirror and it can be fixed for under 200$ I think, some sensor goes and it's not that big a deal to correct. When that's fixed, and if I get the rear-wheel fixed on the d200 I'll be setup nicely, and might convert one (d200 probably) to infrared...
The addition of video in the D300s will be good to mess around with. I got a boom mic that mounts in the flash hot-shoe on the camera and allows for stereo audio vs. the on camera mic that's just mono. I also plan to use that mic with the little marantz audio recorder I got, but which I don't use much since the built in mics are not that good, this mic should really help improve the sound quality.
Here's my first video done with the D300s that I've posted. I have taken a couple others but it took a little experimenting to get a decent clip out of it. The rolling shutter problem is annoying when the camera moves, or if the subject moves and you need to track it, and adjusting focus is tough. I also didn't know how to adjust the exposure of the video but someone at the zoo showed me ;) (thx Simba!)
The video is a much lower resolution than the still images, so when I added the 1.7x TC to the lens the quality of the video really didn't seem to suffer (used on above video).
The other cool thing is the 2nd card slot. I put the video on that card. I might change it to write backups there, or IDK maybe just overflow.
Finally, I've had focus issues, and have wondered if it was my copy of the D300 or just the normal performance of the camera, etc. Plus I think my camera was bounced off the floor at my local camera shop during the return trip from a cleaning/tuning, etc. (Grrrr). So a nice new fresh from the box camera, with supposedly improved focus over the D300, will be at a minimum assuring to me and I will wonder less. Now I can focus a little more on the results I'm getting and then see if I need to go to manual focus for certain tracking situations, or tweak settings like focus-lock, or focus point counts, etc.
-Jon
Monday, August 31, 2009
Flickr 4 Year Anniversary
I joined flickr 4 years ago today. All I can say is what a 4 years it has been. Flickr's been awesome. Thank you!
500,000 stream views, almost 3* million photo/video views (~4* million combined), hooked up with Getty Images.
Here's to the future.
interesting on flickriver
DNA
Flickstr #304
500,000 stream views, almost 3* million photo/video views (~4* million combined), hooked up with Getty Images.
Here's to the future.
interesting on flickriver
DNA
Flickstr #304
Monday, August 03, 2009
DC Sunset
Tonight August 3rd 2009. Sunset was at 8:17pm today - summer's latest sunsets are behind us. The days are getting shorter, sunset is later too now after 6am.
I went out tonight to shoot with my Fuji S5 and a few shorter lenses, and a tripod. This one was shot handheld since the park police frown on tripod use on the momument themselves, the stone parts...
This photo has been fully tweaked in case you are wondering weather it is right from the camera or not. It's not. 1 RAW/RAF file processed through jpgs at different exposures and then Photomatix, and then again in Photoshop adjusting levels and contrast. I usually accomplish that with layer copies and masks and adjusting blending mode.
I went out tonight to shoot with my Fuji S5 and a few shorter lenses, and a tripod. This one was shot handheld since the park police frown on tripod use on the momument themselves, the stone parts...
This photo has been fully tweaked in case you are wondering weather it is right from the camera or not. It's not. 1 RAW/RAF file processed through jpgs at different exposures and then Photomatix, and then again in Photoshop adjusting levels and contrast. I usually accomplish that with layer copies and masks and adjusting blending mode.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Things I didn't know about dSLR photography
#1) I really didn't know just how easy it was to get dust and junk on the sensor of a camera.
Using puffers, and cleaning material, it all seems like a failed attempt.
Dust has a way of winning. So be extra careful, I wish I had been more careful when I got started w/ dSLR photography.
#1) I really didn't know just how easy it was to get dust and junk on the sensor of a camera.
Using puffers, and cleaning material, it all seems like a failed attempt.
Dust has a way of winning. So be extra careful, I wish I had been more careful when I got started w/ dSLR photography.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Nikographer 1h2009 - mid year update
I just worked on my mid-year review at my day job so I thought I'd look back on my photography from the first half of the year as well.
An easy first thing to do is look at what Scout found.
Here's what is currently in flickr Explorer:
That's 12 shots from 2009 currently in. 5 are fox photos - 3 from Bombay Hook and one from a 2009 secret osprey spot, and one from last year at Blackwater Refuge. Another is an Osprey from my secret osprey spot, a paddler at Great Falls, a Black-crowned Night Heron from the DC Zoo, Snow Geese from Bombay Hook, A GBH from Blackwater, Kibibi and Mandara from the DC Zoo and finally the rocket bus from the Patuxant Naval Air Station Air Show / Expo.
From those stats I'm happy that a couple of spots that are new to me in 2009 have resulted in some photos that were liked by others, and trickled up via flickr.com's Explorer.
This is the secret osprey spot's Osprey shot:
And here's another from a new/secret spot of a mother fox - she was with her 4 kits pretty well hidden when I spotted them. She walked across a little road and then in to the field and stopped to look back at me a couple of times:
I am not happy about having "secret spots", but a crowd can ruin things. And I don't just mean that shots might not be unique because of other photographers. It is really not that at all- it is that when out alone at a nature/wildlife spot exploring or watching you can see more and disturb less.
When I run in to people that I know, or am about to get to know, it is natural to talk and shoot the breeze and pass the time. But at some point I often catch myself, and want to shoot more and talk less.
What else about 2009?
I shot the 4th of July in Washington D.C. for just the second time. I've been around DC now for over 10 years. Around 10am I met up with Clyde at Roosevelt Island. We wandered around DC all day and then around 5pm settled in to a spot along the Potomac River's VA side just up from the Memorial Bridge:
I took a ton of shots, and the day was too long, but I am super glad I went and made parking and the logistics a done deal by going so early. In 2006 when I shot before I got to the river late and was forced to a non-ideal spot down river from the airport/ DCA.
What else for 2009?
I got the grip for my D200/Fuji S5 and ALSO got a grip and uber battery for my D300. The grips add a nice chunk of weight which adds balance/inertia, and also make battery life on a single day a non issue if fully charged to start.
And I've sent my D300 back for repair of focusing/sharpness AGAIN. I had issues with focus going slow and not locking on birds, tried my d200 the next day and it performed much better so - realized that the d300 was acting up again.
This shot should really have been sharper, and other shots were missed due to trying to lock focus.
This on the other hand shot with my D200 looks way better!
What else for the first half of 2009?
The BCNH's at the DC Zoo have a dark side.
A long drive on a snowy day is worth it if you plan and gamble right.
Left to Right is better than Right to Left - thanks Wayne ;).
I did finally get a good shot of a Baltimore Oriole!
I discovered this multipanel thing on flickr and posted some of my own multi-post images...
*Ok. I might come back and update this, but for now that's a good post.
I just worked on my mid-year review at my day job so I thought I'd look back on my photography from the first half of the year as well.
An easy first thing to do is look at what Scout found.
Here's what is currently in flickr Explorer:
That's 12 shots from 2009 currently in. 5 are fox photos - 3 from Bombay Hook and one from a 2009 secret osprey spot, and one from last year at Blackwater Refuge. Another is an Osprey from my secret osprey spot, a paddler at Great Falls, a Black-crowned Night Heron from the DC Zoo, Snow Geese from Bombay Hook, A GBH from Blackwater, Kibibi and Mandara from the DC Zoo and finally the rocket bus from the Patuxant Naval Air Station Air Show / Expo.
From those stats I'm happy that a couple of spots that are new to me in 2009 have resulted in some photos that were liked by others, and trickled up via flickr.com's Explorer.
This is the secret osprey spot's Osprey shot:
And here's another from a new/secret spot of a mother fox - she was with her 4 kits pretty well hidden when I spotted them. She walked across a little road and then in to the field and stopped to look back at me a couple of times:
I am not happy about having "secret spots", but a crowd can ruin things. And I don't just mean that shots might not be unique because of other photographers. It is really not that at all- it is that when out alone at a nature/wildlife spot exploring or watching you can see more and disturb less.
When I run in to people that I know, or am about to get to know, it is natural to talk and shoot the breeze and pass the time. But at some point I often catch myself, and want to shoot more and talk less.
What else about 2009?
I shot the 4th of July in Washington D.C. for just the second time. I've been around DC now for over 10 years. Around 10am I met up with Clyde at Roosevelt Island. We wandered around DC all day and then around 5pm settled in to a spot along the Potomac River's VA side just up from the Memorial Bridge:
I took a ton of shots, and the day was too long, but I am super glad I went and made parking and the logistics a done deal by going so early. In 2006 when I shot before I got to the river late and was forced to a non-ideal spot down river from the airport/ DCA.
What else for 2009?
I got the grip for my D200/Fuji S5 and ALSO got a grip and uber battery for my D300. The grips add a nice chunk of weight which adds balance/inertia, and also make battery life on a single day a non issue if fully charged to start.
And I've sent my D300 back for repair of focusing/sharpness AGAIN. I had issues with focus going slow and not locking on birds, tried my d200 the next day and it performed much better so - realized that the d300 was acting up again.
This shot should really have been sharper, and other shots were missed due to trying to lock focus.
This on the other hand shot with my D200 looks way better!
What else for the first half of 2009?
The BCNH's at the DC Zoo have a dark side.
A long drive on a snowy day is worth it if you plan and gamble right.
Left to Right is better than Right to Left - thanks Wayne ;).
I did finally get a good shot of a Baltimore Oriole!
I discovered this multipanel thing on flickr and posted some of my own multi-post images...
*Ok. I might come back and update this, but for now that's a good post.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
My Fav Photogs #1
There's no way I will include everyone.
I have like 1400+ contacts on flickr, and I added them because I like something they did or lots of somethings they did.
In no particular order here is my first pick-
These are some images from some folks photos on flickr that I really admire, like, wish to emulate, wish some of their work was mine, etc, etc, etc..........
James Neeley and his awesome HDR work:
There's no way I will include everyone.
I have like 1400+ contacts on flickr, and I added them because I like something they did or lots of somethings they did.
In no particular order here is my first pick-
These are some images from some folks photos on flickr that I really admire, like, wish to emulate, wish some of their work was mine, etc, etc, etc..........
James Neeley and his awesome HDR work:
Monday, July 06, 2009
![Splish-Splash - Eagles take a bath in the Potomac @ Great Falls Maryland - 1 2 [3] 4](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sD5PXkQp0pvbxsIV93SF6iOJSofxuL4gvpJp5C-uOOHTKvkPUKGmN1gI0jeEkL3kwFwB9OblQiH0s9h2f7Ki5zE5jlHV_6Q4NcFpRYgeKmRfPPuCirjSshFhNsCT8=s0-d)
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
New PC - AMD 3.0G QuadCore via Newegg.com
I had a little bit of trouble with my 4+ year old PC, and spent a few hours trying to fix things, and then just ordered a bunch of parts from www.newegg.com to build a new, faster PC.
My old computer was a Pentium 4 2.8Ghz (single core, with hyper-threading). I have a ton of hard drives in it, and that was what went wrong, all but the OS drive seemed to fail. I've got backups of all the data, so nothing was lost, and I've gotten some of the hdds to work since but, it was time to build a new fast PC. I've spend thousands recently on cameras and lenses, and it was time to let my PC catch up.
The quick description of my new pc (order Saturday, parts arrived Tuesday, and it's now built already) is:
AMD Phenom II 3.0 GHz Quad-Core - uber fast, rocks!
4 GB RAM (I've already ordered another 4GB since it was just 50 bucks)
1 x 1TB HDD for OS install/C drive
RAIDMAX case with 500 watt powersupply - N82E16811156062
EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
cpu gel
And finally the motherboard, that supports a bagillion USB and SATA connections:
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
The above all cost under $700. I've since added 4GB more of RAM, plus now a DVD writer, 2 more 1.5TB HDDs, and a copy of Vista 64bit which came with a free upgrade to Windows 7 64bit.
This new computer is so friggin fast compared to my 4+ year old PC it is amazing.
-Jon
I had a little bit of trouble with my 4+ year old PC, and spent a few hours trying to fix things, and then just ordered a bunch of parts from www.newegg.com to build a new, faster PC.
My old computer was a Pentium 4 2.8Ghz (single core, with hyper-threading). I have a ton of hard drives in it, and that was what went wrong, all but the OS drive seemed to fail. I've got backups of all the data, so nothing was lost, and I've gotten some of the hdds to work since but, it was time to build a new fast PC. I've spend thousands recently on cameras and lenses, and it was time to let my PC catch up.
The quick description of my new pc (order Saturday, parts arrived Tuesday, and it's now built already) is:
AMD Phenom II 3.0 GHz Quad-Core - uber fast, rocks!
4 GB RAM (I've already ordered another 4GB since it was just 50 bucks)
1 x 1TB HDD for OS install/C drive
RAIDMAX case with 500 watt powersupply - N82E16811156062
EVGA 512-P3-N841-AR GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
cpu gel
And finally the motherboard, that supports a bagillion USB and SATA connections:
GIGABYTE GA-MA790X-UD4P AM3/AM2+/AM2 AMD 790X ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail
The above all cost under $700. I've since added 4GB more of RAM, plus now a DVD writer, 2 more 1.5TB HDDs, and a copy of Vista 64bit which came with a free upgrade to Windows 7 64bit.
This new computer is so friggin fast compared to my 4+ year old PC it is amazing.
-Jon
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Overdisk - report file system usage
Overdisk
This tool and others for macs was mentioned on TWiP. I just installed overdisk and it seems cool.
twip-podcast-87-defining-photographic-conception
-Jon
Overdisk
This tool and others for macs was mentioned on TWiP. I just installed overdisk and it seems cool.
twip-podcast-87-defining-photographic-conception
-Jon
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A word or two about me and what goes through my head.
I like to shoot nature and wildlife. Sometimes I go to the zoo too for the captive animals. You get to know the animals a little, they're often exotic, and not the kind of thing you can see in the wild just anywhere.
The above photo is one that I took at Centennial Lake a couple of years ago. Here's another:
These shots show off something in how I view the world. Anything can be amazing and photo-worthy. Even if it is not what I set out to shoot. This day I was looking for birds, eagles, maybe a landscape image.
I saw the father and son moment happening, the perfect light, and snapped a few shots. A bit later I approached his wife, his mom and we spoke for a while. We traded info, and I eventually sent them a few images and it became (according to them) an awesome Father's Day gift to the dad in the photo and his dad, and the in-law's dad/folks I think.
All that because I went shooting, saw something, took a risk shooting it, took a risk approaching them, etc, etc.
The reason that I decided to post about this now is two fold: 1) I was recently back at Centennial Lake in Maryland (May 2009) and walked fully around the lake, for what turned out to be OK for bird photography but not great, and good for some exercise (it's a couple mile loop). And 2) because as I was wrapping up my walk I passed a different husband and wife and child and decided to take a risk.
Picture this section of the lake:
As I was walking I saw the family of 3 and the dad was taking a photo of his little girl. They were all on the paved pathway, and he was shooting looking down towards his girl, with the pavement in the shot. I made a decision as I was about to walk past them to take a risk.
I said "you should take that shot again of your little girl, but walk down the hill 10 feet first". He had what looked like a nice point and shoot, and I had nearly 8 thousand dollars of lens and camera hanging over my shoulder, and he paused, and as I kept walking, I think it clicked for him, and me, and it was worth it.
As I kept on walking, I looked back a number of times. He did walk down the hill a little, his girl started to follow him and both parents urged her back to the path, so he could try the different angle/shot. Then a moment later his wife sat down next to their child, and that's when it was best for me. Why?
I turned a passing thought, how to take a better image, remove the pavement, add some perspective, change the angle, to their snapshot, and they were receptive even though it was only a sentence or two from me as I kept walking past them, not stopping for a beat, but offering a "knowing" bit of advice. And it was all worth it because even if the shot didn't turn out better (it must have!) I might have imparted something that could stick with them. DON'T JUST TAKE SNAPSHOTS. Take a moment to see it, plan it, reposition, etc. That little girl will only be that little girl once.
What I hope happened but will probably never know is, will that be the image they love the best? Will the message have been lost in long run? IE will that change of angle, of perspective yield for them the single image that sticks with them for ever? IDK, I hope not. I hope it turns in to a great image in a long line of great images as they all get older.
And I thought as I kept walking, should I take a shot of them? Some way to know who I spoke to, to record the moment, and for me I knew I did the right thing. I did NOT take their image. The moment was theirs, not mine, and the risk was just in what I did and it paid off...
-Jon
I like to shoot nature and wildlife. Sometimes I go to the zoo too for the captive animals. You get to know the animals a little, they're often exotic, and not the kind of thing you can see in the wild just anywhere.
The above photo is one that I took at Centennial Lake a couple of years ago. Here's another:
These shots show off something in how I view the world. Anything can be amazing and photo-worthy. Even if it is not what I set out to shoot. This day I was looking for birds, eagles, maybe a landscape image.
I saw the father and son moment happening, the perfect light, and snapped a few shots. A bit later I approached his wife, his mom and we spoke for a while. We traded info, and I eventually sent them a few images and it became (according to them) an awesome Father's Day gift to the dad in the photo and his dad, and the in-law's dad/folks I think.
All that because I went shooting, saw something, took a risk shooting it, took a risk approaching them, etc, etc.
The reason that I decided to post about this now is two fold: 1) I was recently back at Centennial Lake in Maryland (May 2009) and walked fully around the lake, for what turned out to be OK for bird photography but not great, and good for some exercise (it's a couple mile loop). And 2) because as I was wrapping up my walk I passed a different husband and wife and child and decided to take a risk.
Picture this section of the lake:
As I was walking I saw the family of 3 and the dad was taking a photo of his little girl. They were all on the paved pathway, and he was shooting looking down towards his girl, with the pavement in the shot. I made a decision as I was about to walk past them to take a risk.
I said "you should take that shot again of your little girl, but walk down the hill 10 feet first". He had what looked like a nice point and shoot, and I had nearly 8 thousand dollars of lens and camera hanging over my shoulder, and he paused, and as I kept walking, I think it clicked for him, and me, and it was worth it.
As I kept on walking, I looked back a number of times. He did walk down the hill a little, his girl started to follow him and both parents urged her back to the path, so he could try the different angle/shot. Then a moment later his wife sat down next to their child, and that's when it was best for me. Why?
I turned a passing thought, how to take a better image, remove the pavement, add some perspective, change the angle, to their snapshot, and they were receptive even though it was only a sentence or two from me as I kept walking past them, not stopping for a beat, but offering a "knowing" bit of advice. And it was all worth it because even if the shot didn't turn out better (it must have!) I might have imparted something that could stick with them. DON'T JUST TAKE SNAPSHOTS. Take a moment to see it, plan it, reposition, etc. That little girl will only be that little girl once.
What I hope happened but will probably never know is, will that be the image they love the best? Will the message have been lost in long run? IE will that change of angle, of perspective yield for them the single image that sticks with them for ever? IDK, I hope not. I hope it turns in to a great image in a long line of great images as they all get older.
And I thought as I kept walking, should I take a shot of them? Some way to know who I spoke to, to record the moment, and for me I knew I did the right thing. I did NOT take their image. The moment was theirs, not mine, and the risk was just in what I did and it paid off...
-Jon
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
I spotted this officer riding through the drained reflecting pool, and did my best to document the scene. The sun was setting, and made for some awesome light as he approached. I bracketed all the shots at 3 shot and 1 stop per shot (-1,0,+1) and I'm glad I did.
I've posted a couple to flickr and the rest are here.
-Nikographer/Jon
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
How to make a flickr badge.
Flickr lets you search your photos and make an html or flash based badge of your images.
http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne
Here's one of mine:
february / html
Flickr lets you search your photos and make an html or flash based badge of your images.
http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne
Here's one of mine:
february / html
![Nikographer [Jon]'s items tagged with February](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_u-JRfjvKU92u-iQTW9C_bo1h1jqqA6GxfVKldHsWb3ozGmnZk6egbiGMk-e1LdGAX5Z5-vyJxcsJmASCyXMS3moTRs9zAWxHNLIpbh9wS2IIxeKRtKOOcsR0Ofe9WtL637SnztpHsOTgqUMpKLjNRhEth9JFKXkLU=s0-d)
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
larger
Jean Keene (wiki) passed away yesterday at age 85.
I saw the news on Gregg's photo.
From wiki:
Here's Gregg's photo tribute:
And here's a couple of Woody's photos from his trip to Alaska and the Eagle Lady's place.
-Jon
Jean Keene (wiki) passed away yesterday at age 85.
I saw the news on Gregg's photo.
From wiki:
Keene's career as the "Eagle Lady" began shortly after her arrival in Homer, when one morning she noticed two bald eagles on the beach near her motorhome. Keene saw offering food to the eagles as a natural extension of her practice of keeping bird feeders filled with sunflower seeds for wild songbirds. She began to bring home surplus fish from her job in a bucket, and each morning would throw some fish to the eagles over the short driftwood fence she had made around her motorhome. By the end of that spring, a half-dozen eagles were showing up for breakfast.
Here's Gregg's photo tribute:
And here's a couple of Woody's photos from his trip to Alaska and the Eagle Lady's place.
-Jon
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Western Low Land Gorillas at the US National Zoo - baby born January 10th 2009.
Mandara's new baby was born yesterday (1/10/2009) at the National Zoo in Washington D.C.
All the Gorillas are still on exhibit, including the 1 day old baby.
I'm going to post one image to flickr, and a bunch just here.
(flickr)
(here only)
-Jon
Mandara's new baby was born yesterday (1/10/2009) at the National Zoo in Washington D.C.
All the Gorillas are still on exhibit, including the 1 day old baby.
I'm going to post one image to flickr, and a bunch just here.
(flickr)
(here only)
-Jon
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