Author: Joe Wilcox

Living by Joe WilcoxAug 8, 20155:14 pm

Protesting Greenpeace?

The weather is perfect here in San Diego—what my wife and I call a Maine Day: 22 degrees Celsius and breezy. We hauled off to Ocean Beach, where navigating people busking or begging for money takes almost as much talent as negotiating a kayak through rocky rapids. Sure enough, I looked left and missed the approaching, friendly fundraiser from the right. Smack!

The singing circle of happy people distracted me. Oh no! Greenpeace? Again? Just cut an artery why don’t they and bleed me? But this dude—the one holding the yellow sign—had a different pitch. Greenpeace hires for two-week jaunts, he claimed, and those who don’t meet their quotas are dismissed from service. There be women with kids about to lose their livelihood. Yikes! The small cadre raised money against Greenpeace.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 8, 20157:11 am

Flickr a Day 220: Chat

For some people, photography is a way of life. For shooter Erik Hagström, it is a way of living—of expressing himself in ways his body otherwise limits. There is a cool, somber ambiance to his art I could see, before learning his story, that captures more than just images in around the French Alps, but essence.

About himself, Erik explains: “After two cerebral accidents vascular in 2007, making me lose most of the control of my members, reconquered gradually, not being able more to play of musical instruments, or use pencils to draw and paint, I turned to the photograph”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 7, 20157:28 am

Flickr a Day 219: ‘The Skater’

Street portraits are rarely as appealing as our selection, which wins the Day for perspective. Sometimes you got to go low to get the moment. Eye level is the way for studio portraits, but on the […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 7, 201512:02 am

Microsoft’s Hollywood-style Redemption Story

Satya Nadella is a man with a formidable challenge. Microsoft CEO’s predecessor, Steve Ballmer, squandered the company’s mobile fortunes. From smartphone platform leader a decade ago, the software-and-services giant is a category also-ran in 2015. Microsoft has no independent mobile platform future. The war is over. There remains this: Making alliances with old enemies to preserve existing territory, while using the foothold to reach into new frontiers.

Made available August 5th, Outlook for Apple Watch is a very smart move and metaphor for what went wrong on Microsoft mobile platforms and what has to go right to preserve and extend the legacy applications stack. While Windows 10 makes its way to Lumia devices, the future is Android and iOS and how the company supports them with contextually meaningful cloud-connected apps and services.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 6, 20157:03 am

Flickr a Day 218: ‘Looks’

Somebody is fascinated by owls, for there are plenty of them in the photostream of Riccardo Cupidi. Self-titled “Looks” makes the Day for composition and for being interesting. C`mon, that is one fraking big bird. […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 5, 20157:22 am

Flickr a Day 217: ‘Finally the Expected Photographer Arrived’

If not for the Nike, this photo could easily be the 1940s rather than the 2010s. Look at the woman’s outfit to the left and those sunglasses on the lass to the right. This ambiance […]

Apple by Joe WilcoxAug 4, 20158:54 pm

What I Don’t Like About Apple Watch

About two weeks ago, I shared how Apple Watch tickles my fancy. From likes, we go to dislikes, and keeping with the other I purposely limit the number to five. Quick recap: I bought the aluminum model on June 18, 2015 from the local Apple Store. Seven days later, I exchanged for the stainless steel variant. Except to charge or to shower, I’ve worn it constantly since.

Broadly, my feelings about the smartwatch are mixed. The delivered benefits are excellent, but they aren’t enough to justify the lofty price. If not for using MacBook Pro and iPhone 6 Plus this summer, Android Wear and iOS incompatibilities, or the promise of watchOS 2 coming early autumn, I would not have purchased the device. I’m not dissatisfied with Apple Watch, but want more from it. As I explained on July 18, the measure of success or failure isn’t sales but returns. I kept mine. How many early buyers didn’t?

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 4, 20157:20 am

Flickr a Day 216: Ghoulish

I look at the photostream of Matthias Lueger and think “horror movie stills”. The pics are so damn evocative, and they capture a mood don’t they? Hehe. Our selection purposely contrasts yesterday’s pretty portrait. There’s […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 3, 20156:38 am

Flickr a Day 215: ‘Do You Know What a Model Test Is?’

The question that Alba Soler poses, but more importantly answers, matters to anyone interested in fashion photography. A brand ambassador for Profoto, the fashion and advertising photographer works from London and Spain.

She posted self-titled “Do You Know What a Model Test Is?” to Flickr on Jan. 8, 2014, stripping out camera info from the EXIF. She uploaded the portrait to two different accounts—one associated with her “The Thinking Hat” website. That one is All Rights Reserved. The other version, which I selected, is Creative Commons. Hehe, she has yet a third Flickr, too.

News Media by Joe WilcoxAug 2, 20155:53 pm

Responsible Reporting Section 3 ‘What You Must Do’: Chapter III

The next several chapters of my ebook Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers are among the most important for reporting responsibly, ethically, and without conflicts of interest. The themes are recurrent on my website, and any regular readers should immediately recognize them.

Today’s installment explains the importance of audience trust, and builds from previous chapters, particularly I and II from the same section. But to best follow the logical flow, you should start at the beginning: Foreward; Section 1, Chapters I and II, III and IV, V and VI; Section 2, Chapters I, II, III, IV, and V.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 2, 201512:05 am

Flickr a Day 214: ‘Happy Birthday’

We pause from the recent run of black and whites—but not yesterday’s colorful Cecil the lion—to calmly celebrate. Today, my daughter turns 21, as did Scott Ackerman when he shot this photo on Jan. 23, 2011, using the Pentax K-x. Vitals: f/4.5, ISO 3200, 1/50 sec, 42.5mm.

Scott expresses something my daughter does: “I’m mainly celebrating this birthday because I can now go out to bars with friends and not have to worry about being carded even though I don’t drink alcohol”. I worry she will imbibe. Scott joined Flickr in June 2008. You also can find him on Tumblr and Twitter.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 1, 20156:50 am

Flickr a Day 213: ‘Cecil’

There are few events to take the Internet’s attention hostage like this week’s outrage over the death of a 13 year-old Zimbabwean lion. Vince O’Sullivan photographed the proud animal one year ago today—Aug. 1, 2014. He updated the caption to add context better coming from him than me.

“This is, of course, ‘Cecil’—the lion famously shot and wounded by crossbow fired by American dentist Walter Palmer in July 2015 and then shot, killed, skinned, and beheaded for trophies two days later”, Vince explains. “Living in a nature reserve, Cecil was completely inured to people in vehicles that didn’t interfere with him or his prey. So approaching him closely was never difficult, a daily occurrence for him and something he paid no attention to”.