Author Archives: Michael

New Ireland gallery

Sunrise at Killarney

I’m trying to get a new gallery posted to my new website every week to get some content built up. This week is Ireland. The photos come from 2002 — the last international trip I made before moving to digital. The shot above comes from a frosty morning overlooking Killarney.

I still remember going through airport security with my large ziplock bags full of film. I’d taken the film out of their boxes but had left them in their clear plastic canisters. The security folks would first try and run the bags through the x-ray but, when I asked for a hand check, they would comply by taking each roll of film out of each cannister and wiping them with little swabs they held in tongs. Needless to say, with hundreds of rolls of film, it made the connections a little tight.

I do everything I can to make getting through airport security a simple thing. On days that I’m flying I take all my change out of my pockets, don’t wear a belt and make sure I have shoes on that slip off easily. My camera bag is packed to hold my keys and anything else metallic that I need to have with me and it all rides through the x-ray machine just fine. I like to do what I can to get through the metal detector in one try so that I can catch up to my gear as it comes off the conveyer belt on the other side.

The security people have an important job to do and it’s often a thankless one. By doing everything I can to make their job a little easier it will hopefully make both our days a little better.

Easter Island, a little less remote

Easter Island MoaiWhen I visited Easter Island, or Rapa Nui, a little over a year ago it was stunningly isolated. Just a few thousand people lived on the island, mostly in the one small town of Hanga Roa. Groceries were purchased in a small garage-like building on a brick street and there were only a handful of small hotels for tourists. Nothing glamorous — fairly basic lodging.

There was talk at the time among the locals of a new hotel that was to be built on the island’s south side. It was causing some concern and I could understand why. Few places have escaped the plastification of tourism and it would be sad to see this remote outpost fall as well. I was picturing in my mind a rude concrete tower with a neon-lit casino and shuttles buzzing to and fro hauling tourists to the various archeological sites.

Today, I find this on the internet:
Explora En Rapa Nui

I guess I feel a little better. The newly opened Explora En Rapa Nui appears to be a very nice hotel. The architecture fits in nicely with the landscape and bears some resemblance to the ruins of Orongo that perch on the cliffs of Easter Island’s southwest coast. Still, you wonder what the impact of this hotel will be on the island. Is it just the first in a long line of “improvements”? Is a Starbucks soon to follow? I hope the island can retain its charm. And I hope that whatever further changes come are good for the local people.

Coastline

Nova Scotia

Today I’m posting a photo that’s been a favorite of mine for quite a while. For me, “favorite” shots are not the shots that I think are my “best” but sometimes they are just photos that put me back in a place I love. This is one of those. I took it a few years ago near Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

I don’t typically do a lot of post-processing on my photos. For the most part I want the image to look as much like the scene that I saw as possible. Occasionally, however, I like for a photo to “feel” more like the actual scene than it may have looked in person. You follow me?

In this case, it was a dreary, grey, foggy day (my favorite!). The photo, as recorded, seemed to hold very little color information. It felt dead. When I opened it up in Adobe Camera Raw I decided to push the saturation a bit to see what happened. I was amazed to see all kinds of color coming out of the image. With just a little tweak to the white balance and contrast, I had an image very close to what you see here. I think the only other thing I did was to add a heavier gradation to the sky to hold the image in a bit.

What I ended up with is a photo that looks more like I remember that place feeling than the straight shot did. Did the scene look exactly like this? No. But there is a kind of sadness to parts of Nova Scotia. Especially if you know some of the history. It feels to me like an echo of the people who suffered there in the past. Probably all in my mind but there it is. And this photo seems to convey a little of that feeling – at least for me. Whether it’s one of your favorites I guess depends on what you bring to it.

MacBook Air

MacBook Air

There you have it. The new MacBook Air from Apple — the world’s thinnest notebook computer. It’s an achievement for sure but I don’t think I need to place my order today. Thin is great — light is even better — but I’d really like small. I would like Apple to make something like Fujitsu’s Mini-Notebook with a CF card reader built right in. I don’t need a large screen but being able to do very minor Photoshop work and send emails is about it. Basically something that would allow me to get files to clients from the road in a pinch. And small and light would be key. And rugged wouldn’t hurt. I’m afraid I’d snap that MacBook Air in half in my backpack. Oh, well.

On the other hand, I did like seeing the addition of email to the iPod Touch. That and a portable storage device with a card reader and I’d have a lot of my needs taken care of. I’ll do some thinkin’ on that.

Anyway, the excitement is over now. I’ll have to switch over to DP Review’s PMA report to see what the camera manufacturers will bring us at the end of the month. There’s always somethin’…

Oh, and I promise to actually post a photo one of these days.

Twas the night before Macworld

Macworld ExpoTomorrow is one of my favorite days of the year: the Macworld keynote. The end of all the speculation on the rumor sites about what Steve Jobs will unleash next. Last year the iPhone. This year? Will it be the MacBook Air? We’ll soon find out.

Until then, I have this news from the BBC and other sources that Egypt wants to copyright its antiquities including the pyramids and the sphinx. The BBC reports:

Egypt’s MPs are expected to pass a law requiring royalties be paid whenever copies are made of museum pieces or ancient monuments such as the pyramids.

Most of the focus seems to be on three dimensional replicas at the moment but will photographic images also require permission and royalties? According to The Guardian, “the law would not prevent artists from drawing images of the monuments or historic sites, as long as the images were not exact copies.” One could assume that a photograph would be considered an exact copy. Hopefully more details will be available soon.

Now I’d better get downstairs to put milk and cookies out for Steve Jobs so that he’ll put something good in my stocking tomorrow. Merry Macworld, everyone!

Polaroid’s portable printer

Polaroid portable printerPolaroid has a new portable printer coming out that looks interesting. The Digital Instant Mobile Photo Printer (really, guys… couldn’t come up with a catchier name?) uses ZINK, or “zero ink”, technology where the dyes are embedded in the paper. At less than 3″ x 5″ and no more than an inch thick it would take up almost no space in the bag. And you can peel the backs off the prints and use them as stickers.

One use comes to mind immediately. I work with a stock agency that likes to have photos attached to model releases. Imagine being able to stick a photo of the subject onto a model release in the field. No more making notes on the release like “brown hair with blue shirt” to help me organize my paperwork and photos when I get home from a shoot.

We’ll see where the price falls — and the price of the paper — but it has potential.

And I know this has been making its way around the internet but I feel compelled to share this hilarious Photoshop tutorial titled “You Sujck at Photoshop”.

Change

Toronto bus

Think of that bus as the new year screaming past. The first week of 2008 is nearly behind us and there are only 51 more to go. Time truly does fly.

It looks like the theme of my 2008 will be change. I know, everyone is talking about change these days — especially politicians — but I have other changes in mind. Plenty of them. Among the first is this blog and my new website. I’m changing the way I’ll be marketing myself as a photographer this year and the new online presence is just part of that effort. More on those plans in the coming months. I also find myself doing more teaching this year. I’ve taught Photoshop at University level before but I’m now beginning to do more workshop-style classes.

But this is just the beginning of the changes in store for me in 2008.

There will be other changes as well. One big change is that we plan on moving this year. We’ve been in our current house for over 20 years and we’ve wedged ourselves in quite well. It will be no easy task to extricate ourselves and relocate but it’s an exciting time and I’m looking forward to it.

There are other changes in store but I can’t talk about them all at this point. Lots of things that are still in the research and thinking stage but you can be sure I’ll share details with you all when I can.

Suffice it to say, it’s going to be a busy year.

Korea, batteries & kinnearing

Korean temple guard

I’m still tinkering away at my new website. Today I’ve added the first gallery to the images section. I chose to start with a gallery of photos I took in South Korea and will be adding others soon. This one is a multimedia slideshow but others will be more traditional image galleries so that there will be something for every bandwidth. I’ll let you know as others go online but I imagine this will be an ongoing process.

A couple of other items of interest: First, there are new regulations going into effect today for those flying with lithium batteries. There is some information about this on the TSA site. Also this information on SafeTravel.dot.gov. The basics seem to be that you can’t pack spare lithium batteries in your checked luggage anymore. You can still have them in your carry-on luggage as long as they are packed correctly and meet the other lithium content requirements. More joy at the airport. I guess I’ll no longer be cutting down on the weight of my carry-on by checking my batteries.

And lastly, this item from the New York Times’ site on the buzz words of 2007. It seems a couple of new photography-related words cropped up this year. My favorite? Kinnear:

kinnear v.

To take a candid photograph surreptitiously, especially by holding the camera low and out of the line of sight. Coined in August by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee of the Yarn Harlot blog when she attempted to take a photograph during an encounter with the actor Greg Kinnear at an airport.

I do that all the time (just not of Greg Kinnear). Now I know what to call it.

New year… new blog

pop bottle

Here it is, almost 2008. Just down to hours, really. Almost time to crack open the bubbly. I know… that’s not REAL bubbly — it’s a lovely bottle of Rat Bastard soda that I enjoyed a couple of months ago at Pops on Route 66 in Arcadia, Oklahoma.

And what better way to start the new year than with a brand new blog? Bear with me while I work the bugs out of this thing and my new website. Lots of work to do yet. I’ll try to keep the mess to a minimum.

Enjoy New Year’s Eve, everyone. Drive safely or don’t drive at all. I’ll see you back here in 2008!