It’s been a crazy/busy weekend at our household. With the clock ticking and our first meeting with our Realtor on Wednesday, this weekend was filled with home projects including cleaning up the yard, mowing the lawn for the first time this year, weeding the garden, and finishing up the bathroom. We still have a bunch of de-cluttering to do before Wednesday, so I might have to bug out of work early and get some of that stuff done. I know the basement and the garage will be no small undertaking—they’re both disasters right now.

I managed to squeeze in a little bit of photography time, during my wife’s prime sleeping time. I’m finding it a bit more difficult to come up with ideas for subjects as the area is just “too familiar” and I’m just so used to seeing things the way they are; that at a moment’s glance they seem too ordinary and not worth the exposure. But despite that minor dilemma, I’m at least considering which aperture to use, the appropriate shutter speed, and where to take my light meter reading from.

For part of my exercise, I shot entirely in black and white mode on my camera, which produced some fun results. However, once I brought the photos into both Adobe Bridge and Adobe Lightroom, they ever so rudely removed my black and white mode from the RAW file settings and set it back to color. WTF!?! I couldn’t find any preference settings anywhere, that indicated removing the camera’s RAW information upon import. Apparently I’m not the only one having the problem.

I know it’s not that difficult to move the saturation slider in Photoshop RAW editor or switch to Grayscale treatment in Lightroom, but that’s hardly the point. I would some day like to reach the point, where I can take great pictures that don’t need to be touched in Photoshop or Lightroom. Apparently Canon (as well as other manufacturers like Nikon) uses some undocumented data “forks” to store information like color modes or other artistic settings. And of course, the only way to bring the RAW files in and have them preserved correctly is to use the software Canon provided…and that isn’t going to happen. I simply cannot stand their software…it’s bulky and not all that great like Photoshop or Lightroom.

One user suggested shooting in RAW/JPG mode, where it captures both a RAW file and a JPG…but I’d rather not have to do that. It defeats the point of shooting RAW in the first place.

In other news…

Our first batch of CD’s are on their way to the radio stations; so with any bit of luck in tandem with all the hard work we’ve put into the CD, you may start to hear a single or two appear on some of the radio stations in the Midwest.

We sent out 109 CD’s this round to radio stations throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota, Illinois, and Michigan. Next round we’ll do the East Coast and eventually the West Coast and down into the South. So next week, start asking stations like 89.3 The Current (or your local indie-friendly radio station) to play some of the songs off our EP, particularly “Beauty Queen” or “Bomb”.

I’m pretty excited about the EP’s leaving my house and reaching the radio stations, but with things coming down to the wire with our home and needing to sell, like NOW, I’ve been too preoccupied with getting our house ready. Hopefully we can sell soon, so I can get that distraction out of the way before mid-summer.

Likewise, I’ve decided to put off school for a bit as well. I haven’t really had too much time to think about it, let alone to take as many photos as I’d like. (If only I could like not go to work but still get paid…) But that’s not happening.

Anyway, there’s my busy weekend in review. Busy week ahead with our Realtor coming over on Wednesday and getting the house ready…then of course the big beer shindig on Friday at Macalaster College, Cinco De Mayo on Saturday… busy busy busy.

Filed under: Home Ownership, Photography
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Over the past week or so, I’ve been learning quite a bit from the book that I bought: Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera—one that I highly recommend for amateur photographers who have been reliant upon the [P] setting on your SLRs. Learning some of the fundamentals behind why you should choose certain apertures or consider different shutter speeds has been quite an epiphany for me.

One example the author Bryan Peterson talks about is the range of aperture and generally what they’re of use for. If you set your aperture to a more open setting (like f/2.8), you’re going to increase the isolation of your subject. He calls this single subject photography, where your intention is to isolate a subject and make them the focal point of your exposure.

He also talked about what he calls “storytelling” exposures—the narrower apertures, like f/16 and f/32, the settings you may use for landscape photography. But with settings like that, your shutter speed will generally be slower not only to get a proper exposure, but to help bring a wider range of your subject into focus. Bryan suggests that when you’re shooting a landscape setting, choose the mid-ground of your shot to be in focus as this will give you a more evenly focused image from your foreground to the background.

The author also goes into detail about what he calls the “who cares” apertures of f/5.6 and f/8—middle of the road settings that might seem ordinary compared to the extremes. But Peterson is quick to point out that using an aperture like f/8 will help increase the intensity and contrast in some exposures.

I’m learning more and more and hope to get a better handle on choosing proper light readings as well, something I’m currently reading about. I also want to become schooled in journalistic/documentary style photography, learning how to capture someone’s story in a photo—shoot, even just being able to get the courage to talk to strangers and asking them about “their story” and getting permission to take their pictures. I occasionally will see people on the street that intrigue me, whether by the way they dress or by the expression on their face. Unfortunately I can be pretty reserved and getting the courage to talk to strangers isn’t exactly a natural ability—I’ve always been a bit shy.

So to try and curb that shyness and become more comfortable around people I don’t know from Adam, I’ve become more active in seeking out musicians or songwriters who might want some free photos for their press kit; or finding people who would like to have some nice photos to give to friends or family. Maybe someday that’ll help me become better at being more comfortable with strangers and uncovering their stories that they’ve been just dying to tell someone.

I was particularly inspired by a photographer I met on the Saint Paul Art Crawl last weekend. I can’t remember his name—only that he was on the second floor of the JAX Building—but his photos simply captivated me. He was able to capture such a wealth of emotion and tell a story about that person or those persons in his photos. One such photo was of a couple, one of whom had cancer with her head bald from the chemotherapy. The picture was a close-up showing the couple looking into each others eyes, each with a real subtle, but solitary tear on each of their faces. It was incredibly moving for me; and I’d love to be able to someday capture photos like that. Someday.

I’ve set up a new gallery of some of my better photos here: http://www.designbymichael.com/gallery/. I’ve still got my other one here, but am keeping that for more personal use, like trips or family get-together functions and such. But I’ll be posting more and more of my work over the months to come at the new gallery.

Oi… look at the time. I guess I won’t be getting up early tomorrow.

Filed under: Photoblography, Photography
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One site that I visited this morning is American Photo Journalist; but as I was looking it over, I noticed a bit of a faux pas on their part…probably unintended:

I just love it… “Nice picture eh? This image is one we thought you would like seeing, shot by the photographer listed above. To view more of his or her work, click on image or name above.” Of course I’m sure this is being automated by some web app, but they seem to have missed something along the way.

I don’t always like to see broken images, but this one was mildly refreshing.

I think this paid membership-based website is starting to collect cobwebs and losing some appeal. By the looks of their forum, calendar, and their classifieds, there isn’t much activity going on there. I guess photojournalists—whether professional or hobbyist—have better things to do with their time and money.

(more…)

Filed under: General, Photography
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I just finished the sixth book of the Harry Potter series, “The Half-Blood Prince.” Without giving any spoilers away to those that might not have read the series in its entirety yet, I was extremely surprised by the turn of events through the last few chapters. Not happy at all about that.

Not sure if I can stand the wait for book seven to arrive at my door. I didn’t anticipate being through ALL SIX BOOKS within three months. But then again, it has been a very engaging series to read. Looks like I’ll need to find a book or two to tide me over.

Any suggestions from all the lurkers out there?

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If you have a moment in your day, please take 30 seconds to fill out a survey I’m conducting for work. It’s specifically about searching for jobs online. Thanks!

Fill out the anonymous survey

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I’ve heard rumors of rumors, that the honey bees are disappearing mysteriously—leaving their hives to pollinate, not returning home, and dying often miles from their hive. The first that I’d heard of this was from my parents a week ago; an old schoolmate of mine has a few beehives and her bees have been not returning to the hive. I think she’s lost a few colonies already.

Well, because I don’t watch too much of the news anymore these days, I was oblivious to this latest development: disappearing bees… and on a global scale.

As with any quest for knowledge, I asked the great and all-seeing Google, is it true that the honey bees [are] disappearing? I wasn’t prepared for the deluge of information, with article after article citing various region after region experiencing a decline in their bee population—an alarming figure of 30 to 90% of our bee population is gone, varying of course by region.

The cause seems to be partially illusive, but scientists say that there are a few contributing factors: the radiation and waveforms produced from mobile phones, mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops. While scientists haven’t conclusively proven the cause, my money is on the combination of pesticides and both the the radiation and waveforms produced from mobile phones and the signal towers.

One article stated:

In some cases, 70 percent of bees exposed to radiation failed to find their way back to the hive after searching for pollen and nectar, according to the research by Landau University of Koblenz. Link to study (in German).

According to the study, radiation from cell phones disorients the bees and destroys their ability to communicate.

“When bees are exposed to signals from cell phones, they can’t find their way. They get no nutrition and consequently die,” said Dr. George l. Carlo, chairman of the Safewireless Initiative.

If you ask me, I think that between our consumerism and the driving force to have the latest technology, we’re going to create our own famine. With a rapidly declining population of bees, we’ll be hard-pressed to pollinate our crops, which in turn translates into failing crops, which results in little food. One would hope this nation of ours would rise to the cause and solve the problem in an eco-friendly manner, but as long as we’re driven by what we want and not what we need, I think we’re going to walk willingly into disastrous consequences.

I’d like to think that we could turn this around, but our culture has become so consumed with electronic devices, wireless technology, and more of the latest and greatest things to come about. And I’m just as guilty. But we are becoming more and more dependent upon things we just don’t need—iPods, mobile phones, more than one computer, lots of entertainment consoles, etc.

It’s also startling to think about just how many devices are becoming wireless. I had just recently purchased a wireless USB transmitter for our TIVO unit, so I could transfer recordings over to my computer. But it hasn’t been until yesterday that I really started to wonder about all the wireless frequencies that we’re being bombarded with. Wireless networks, mobile phones, HD radio, signals from satellites.

But after these reports about mobile phones and the radiation they produce, I’d have to say I’m more inclined to get rid of my mobile phone than contribute to a nation-wide famine of biblical proportions. I don’t mean to sound apocalyptic, sporting a doomsday theory, but Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, “man would have only four years of life left.” That perspective could be construed as extreme, but a major disruption to our food production would not only have a damaging fiscal impact, it could have terrible implications upon our nation’s ability to survive. Kind of ironic how we, a world super-power, can be brought down by such a simple thing—a self-induced food production crisis.

Is it possible that in the quest to have the biggest and the best, that our nation could fall victim to our own insatiable drive to have more? While I’m no techno-phobe and love gadgets along with the next person, I think technology is going to offer us a choice—use it responsibly in ethical and moral proportions and live well, or continue in the track we’re in now and face the prospect of famine and the struggle to live at all.

Gloomy post, I know. Sorry.

But how can we not see this coming? The climate is changing rapidly, our carbon emissions are off the chart, famous mountain-tops are losing their snow caps, bees and other pollinators are disappearing, frogs are also disappearing. I think that unless drastic changes are made within our culture, these will be the least of our worries.

Filed under: Awareness, Culture
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I had a quick thought pass my mind as I was looking through stock photography, in search of images for my employer’s home page. I had been looking for photos on istockphoto.com with the keywords “business” and “smiling (expression)” and had a pretty good selection to choose from; but that’s not what I want to comment on.

With a selection of mostly white people, I wanted to diversify my options—so I added the keyword “ethnic.” It was then the thought occurred to me, why am I searching with the term “ethnic” with the hopes of finding people of other nationalities? I am just as much “ethnic” as the next person.

Of course, most of us with the American persuasion have come to think of ethnic as correlating to countries of origin like Africa, China, India, or other countries of stark differences from our own. But to say that I, as an American with Swedish, Norwegian, German, and Irish decent, am not as “ethnic” is just not true; a misnomer I’ve never really given much thought to before.

The movement towards becoming politically correct has spurred us into ensuring all of our collateral has imagery that diversely represents your audience. But I think it has brought with it a set of issues when it comes to terminology. We place keywords like “ethnic” based upon our own context—if they’re descendants from another country and obviously look different, they’re “ethnic.”

Anyway, that was just a thought that raced past me this afternoon.

Filed under: Awareness, Culture, General
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So thanks to my friend Jamison, he’s triggered that spark in me to more seriously consider going back to school. Of course I’ve been thinking about it for some time—getting a degree of sorts over time as I work and continue to create music with Crash Effect—but I found an accredited and well-established university that offers both their bachelor’s and associate of arts degree online.

I’m considering enrolling with Academy of Art University’s photography program, but the credits are pretty expensive. At the moment, it’s currently $600 per credit and each class averages three credits—that’s pretty costly and I’m almost certain that I’ll have to apply for financial aid to help make it more affordable.

In addition, I probably won’t be able to take more than one—maybe two–classes per semester. Between working full time and the band, I’ve gotta watch how much I load my plate up with. But regardless, the idea of working towards getting a degree from a well-respected, art-focused university is pretty enticing… especially if it means taking my photography to a whole new level.

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…I read that headline in my RSS feeds and thought, “what!?!?!” The guy is dead for crying out loud. Apparently some woman is crying “sexual assault” after James died back in December and trying to seek out $106 million in “damages.” I’m sorry, but that’s just someone with dollar signs in their eyes and I question the legitimacy of their claims.

While I don’t doubt that James Brown was capable of such a thing—sexually assaulting a woman—you’re supposed to take them to court when they’re LIVING…not postmortem.

What a Darwinian thing to do—take a dead person to court.

Filed under: Artists
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Last night I finally finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (book five of the soon-to-be seven book series) around midnight or so. Natalie made fun of me as I was making my way through the third-to-last chapter, where Harry and select members of D.A. were running all throughout the Ministry of Mysteries rooms, fighting off the Death Eaters, and attempting to keep the prophecy out of the hands of the Dark Lord. It was riveting to say the least, tense, and found myself reading at a fast, nail-biting pace, skipping a few words here and there in an effort just to see what happens next.

The character Professor Umbridge really drove me nuts—and I’m glad she got the ending that she did. Though, I was surprised about the intervention from Dumbledore—I thought it would have been too late by then. Oh well. I just hope I won’t have to read about her again. She was mental!

I’m sure I’ll begin reading book six real soon and am sure I’ll have it read well before book seven comes out. Though, I’m having a hard time believing why J. K. Rowling would stop writing the Harry Potter series after only seven books—they’re doing so well and are one of the best book series that I’ve read. They keep me thoroughly interested and filled with anticipation for what everything is building up to. But then again, there are only seven years at Hogwarts Academy.

Anyway, I’m excited to start reading book six, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Filed under: General
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