Writing Through Fields of Pixel
“Of course, the writer’s task is to put obstacles in the way of writing, and yet writing still somehow always has gotten done, whether through fogs of Scotch or through fields of pixels.” – Adam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik (Richard Avedon)
I just came across this while bumping around on the Web, avoiding the task of getting down to the writing that I really need to be doing (as in, to make money). The quote is from “Stray Questions for: Adam Gopnik” by Blake Wilson, published in “Paper Cuts” on January 30, 2009.
If what Gopnik says is true, maybe I’m actually doing well as a writer and not the flailing failure I often feel like. After all, who can do better than I at putting obstacles in the way of writing?
In response to Wilson’s question about how much time — if any — Gopnik spends on the Web, Gopnik shares:
“Too much, too much. Writing is the process of finding something to distract you from writing, and of all the helpful distractions — adultery, alcohol and acedia, all of which aided our writing fathers — none can equal the Internet.”
Fuck! I mean, on the one hand I really appreciate Gopnik’s frank perspective that he struggles with the crack-like addictive power of the Web. On the other hand, his observation makes me feel like I’ve been backsliding.
Of late I have been doing my damnedest to improve my writing by cutting down on adultery, alcohol and acedia. (The excessive adultery brought on by binge drinking might have been interesting to write about but the acedia made it impossible.) And now, actually finding myself trying to work instead of heading to a bar (not easy, I assure you), Gopnik’s words suggest I might actually be better off in that bar buying a drink for a potential lover. Apparently the fog of adultery and booze is easier to write through than these fields of pixels.
The Most Essential Web Site for Professional Photographers
Actually, Jeana Lee Tahnk lists five essential Web sites for pro photographers in her post yesterday on “Mashable.” It’s a thoughtful list, covering lots of critical ground. The limit of five sites is a nice touch, forcing her to zero in and get rid of all the clutter that comes from a list of 20 or 100, or even 10.
Ms. Tahnk gives us:
1. LiveBooks. (Web site creation.)
2. ShootQ. (Web-based studio management solution.)
3. Animoto. (Auotomated video creation.)
4. LicenseStream. (Image license creation and tracking.)
5. LabPrints. (Linking pros photographers to pro labs.)
The thing is, while some photographers might rely on all these sites, other pros will have no need a single one. After all, we all have very different needs, even when we share the same exact specialty. This is the conundrum of recommending Web site resources for photographers. It also brings me to the question that is the purpose of this post:
Survey Asks. . .
What is the single, most essential Web site for your professional photography?
Sure, I know. You can’t limit it to one. It’s like picking your favorite movie or book. So just share a site that would definitely, definitely be on your Top Ten list.
Anything goes! The site can be one you highly recommend to others, or one that only relates to your unique needs. I’m definitely curious, and looking forward to exploring great photography sites I’m overlooking.
Be sure to let us all know what your photographic specialty is and exactly why this site is so valuable to you.
Why We Need to Be Wary of Google
“As we become increasingly dependent on the Internet, we need to be increasingly concerned about how it is regulated,” Adam Raff writes in his op-ed piece for yesterday’s “The New York Times.” Raff’s statement relates to the Federal Communications Committee considering regulations that would foster “network neutrality” — ensuring fair access to all Internet content from service providers. The importance of network neutrality seems obvious to me, a matter of fact.
Another matter of fact is that when I went to more fully investigate Raff’s op-ed piece, I did so with a Google search. Like many, I depend on Google as the gateway to the vast majority of the information I encounter on the Web. This, I realize, could lead to my own intellectual undoing and, according to Raff, could lead to the undoing of many businesses.
According to Raff, co-founder the Internet technology firm Foundem, Google dominates 71 percent of the United States search market. Raff says that Google dramatically influences the flow of information by how the search engine presents results. Results are governed by Google’s editorial policies (that have no external oversight). These policies can help one company thrive (e.g. one owned by or connected to Google), while helping to ensuring that another company fails (e.g. a Google competitor).
Raff explains:
“One way that Google exploits this control is by imposing covert ‘penalties’ that can strike legitimate and useful Web sites, removing them entirely from its search results or placing them so far down the rankings that they will in all likelihood never be found. For three years, my company’s vertical search and price-comparison site, Foundem, was effectively “disappeared” from the Internet in this way.”
This should give us all pause.
Even if Raff is wrong about Google “disappearing” his company, his lucid op-ed piece has reminded me that Read the rest of this entry »
Experiment It Forward
“The most successful images I create are those in which I have exactly in my head what I want to produce in the studio,” Aaron Goodman recently told me. A New York-based photo illustrator with 15 years of experience creating amazing, idea-driven images for editorial and commercial clients, Goodman’s work reeks of a photographer who likes to experiment.
“Of course there’s room for learning from experimentation,” he said. “But this learning rarely applies to the shot you were working on.” He explained that meeting tight editorial deadlines and keeping track of the message is like an intricate puzzle. “The image has got to match the headline exactly, not just the story, and so I can’t suddenly change something.”
Given how much photographers tell me about the benefits of experimenting, being playful and learning though accidents, I found Goodman’s point fascinating:
He learns all the time through experimenting and accidents, but the nature of his work forces him to apply this learning the future projects.
I’ve dubbed this process, “Experiment It Forward,” and I think it has implications for all of us on tight deadlines.
All creative people need to experiment, but few of us can experiment extensively within a given project, thanks to the reality of deadlines. This can be frustrating, and sometimes create frustration. What can we do? Experiment It Forward!
New Perspectives From Agricultural Photographers
Think agriculture photography sounds dull? I did. But then I started researching an article I’m currently writing on the topic for NANPA’s “Currents” magazine. What I have discovered is world of photography, with many top photographers committed to pushing their own creativity as they work to best capture what is, arguable, the most important industry on the planet.
It turns out that quite a bit of agricultural photography is dull — at least from a photographic standpoint. If you search the libraries of Grant Heilman Photography, Inc. and AGStockUSA, you will find tons of images that document very specific aspecst of the industry that I think you’ll find quite uninteresting — unless you happen to be keen on the topic.
Heilman and AGStockeUSA are two super stars in agricultural stock photography, and they are focused on meeting the specific demands of a unique market. (Who else is looking for “Holstein heifers about 10 months old” or “Frost on soybeans — 4 bean pod”?)
While some agricultural photography is dull, it turns out that some agricultural images are completely inspiring, either for Read the rest of this entry »
Chase Jarvis Redifines "Holiday Party"
OF COURSE something DID happen, Chase! You’re Chase Jarvis, Man. Who the hell else “unwinds with the mission of having a darn good time” with more than 600 “clients, business friends and co-collaborators” during his holiday party that features “a photo booth using state-of-the-art camera and lighting equipment and captured 21,112 photographs in under 5 hours”???
Em, that would be. . .no one else but Chase Jarvis.
If that weren’t enough, Chase gives shares all of his 21K photos with us in his latest “Frames” series installment– “Chase Jarvis FRAMES: 21,112 Party Pictures” — so we can be amused, impressed, inspired or maybe just irritated by the gall of this guy having too many buddies and collaborators to fit in the Airbus A380 he rented to give joy rides during the party.
Talk about blurring the lines between still and motion! Definitely get inspired. . . even if you hate parties.
Next Up: “Ethan Frames: Holiday Party of One in Five Depressing Pictures.”
Journalism, In Our Own Words
This is powerful stuff, and you might not be able to watch it. It’s really hard to take. And there’s no blood, no violence, no propaganda, no aggressive attitudes, no politically sensitive topics addressed. It’s just a handful of Americans talking honestly and directly into their webcams about their own joblessness.
I feel sad, frustrated and helpless when I watch the eight videos presented in “The Jobless, In Their Own Words,“ published on Monday by “The New York Times” as a follow up to their recent poll, “Poll Reveals Trauma of Joblessness in the U.S.”
They videos make me feel sad, but they also get me thinking.
The videos make me think of a whole new influence of modern communications on traditional journalism that I had not considered: The ability to create a whole new kind of documentary or journalistic reportage that is informed by more honest and less filtered content from subjects.
You would think that the blogosphere and YouTube would have Read the rest of this entry »
Share Image Ideas Faster and Better with Skitch
If you use a Mac, you just have to download Skitch. You’ll quickly realize that Skitch is an amazing, powerful and fun tool to help you share ideas about images — from screen grabs to your best photography.
I could try to explain how Skitch can help you in words, but I’d rather show you in images with words, so. . .
The Michelin Guide to Rating Images
I have major difficult ties applying basic star ratings to my images, but I think the Michelin Guide might be able to help.
“The most basic component of higher metadata is the rating,” Peter Krogh told me on page 36 the first edition of his “The DAM Book.” And then, using logical, lucid language and excellent graphics, he illuminated how, instead of emotionally throwing various zero- and five-star ratings on images, I should focus on applying stars extremely selectively (if quickly), almost never using the four-star rating, and holding off on five stars until the future.
If you haven’t read Krogh’s text on rating, it honestly is worth the price of his book, now in the second edition. If 32 bucks seems like a lot for rating advice, consider that most of us — certainly I — have very haphazard, emotional rating systems, and that they do not help us, as Krogh wants us to, to “build for the future.”
Krogh’s thinking is that a two-star image should be a two-star image, no matter what the subject matter is, what job its for or how Read the rest of this entry »
Got a Burning Photo Question? Ask the Net
According to tech guru David Pogue — and this is one tech guru I really trust — Vark.com just might offer professional photographers the single best way to answer any niggling image making question, fast and with authority. Topic questions answered include anything related to on location issues, in camera issues, during postproduction issues, with client issues, in your kitchen curiosities, with your car problems. . .
Okay, I know. Kitchen curiosities and car problems are not necessarily related to “image making,” but Vark.com is a service that hooks you up directly with an expert in any field imaginable. That expert then answers your query with an answer just for you — not as with the blanket ask/response services provided by answers.yahoo.com or answerbag.com.
As Pogue explains:
Last week, I stumbled upon a new, better way to harness the Net for answers: Vark.com. You send your question to Aardvark (the full name of the service) using a chat program like Read the rest of this entry »
The Aggregator
- Rest in peace Cory HaimI must admit that I wasn't shocked to hear that Cory Haim died on Wednesday, but it still makes me sad.I worked on a Cory Haim film in the mid 90s--Fast Getaway II--which starred Cory, Sarah Buxton, Leo Rossi, and Cynthia Rothrock.Here's me dropping a pancake that Cory was supposed to have flipped onto Sarah's head in one scene (ah, the magic […]
- My new favorite photo blog!http://dorkyearbook.com/ Hasn't been updated in 4 months, but I sure hope they continue. I'll have to try to dig up pics of me on my dad's old Heathkit with the 60 character wide, 1 character high screen, or playing D&D with the guys until 3 in the morning hopped up on Mountain Dew.Those were the days... […]
- Experience MapsI'm a sucker for this kind of documentation, which illustrates a user type, and tells the story of their engagement with a brand or experience. But then I always have been a map geek.Here are some great experience maps from Canadian UX agency nForm:Now, just because I'm a sucker for docs like this doesn't mean that everyone else is. So, what […]
- Where are the tweens & teens?Ever since a study by Pew Internet and American Life Project indicated that teens and tweens have been losing interest in blogging, particularly Twitter--basically spurning the desktop screen for their mobile device screen--I've had repeated client meetings whose primary user base are tweens and teens where twitter ideas get shot down because.And, yup, […]
- Assumptions we didn't even know we had...A great mini-Ted talk by Derek Sivers: […]