Today’s selection is good example where black and white makes an image that color could ruin. I generally like the energy and enthusiasm of self-titled “La Course”, which Franck Vervial captured on Aug. 19, 2011, […]
Category: Living
Flickr a Day 102: ‘I See a Big Car and I Want to Paint It’
Our pick uses similar technique as Day 101: Selective color highlights one subject while subtlety drawing attention to another, in black and white. Both photos were also captured in 2008, this one on May 25 (the […]
Catchella
Cali almost never goes on our bed, but she greeted me when I awoke two days back and came visiting last afternoon while I worked on Chromebook Pixel LS. She rubbed my hand for pats—and got […]
This Sign can’t be Good
While walking I saw this sign on the Adams Ave. bridge crossing the 805 here in San Diego. What? People park cars there to sell and must be warned not to? The hazard is obvious. […]
Flickr a Day 100: Coachella
No single image can convey the spirit, creativity, and vitality of Thomas Hawk photography. He is the master street photographer and storyteller, who keeps his camera as nearly constant companion. Is the thing surgically attached? No effort to chose the one is worthy, so I don’t try.
Instead, for our one-hundredth selection, timeliness helps sort more than 100,000 Flickr pics to a choice of one among 880. Because, coincidentally, on Day 100, one of North America’s most popular music festivals, Coachella, kicks off the first of two weekends. I was lucky enough to buy my daughter tickets for the second year in a row. She is there now.
Flickr a Day 98: ‘NgaNga’
Dramatic is my reaction to this protest shot from Freedom II Andres, in Makati City, Philippines, on Oct. 4, 2013. The second “Million People March” rallied against the country’s so-called pork-barrel scam that a Philippine Daily Inquirer investigative series exposed about two months earlier.
The photographer’s name is appropriate for a protest shot like this one, and spotlights his family heritage. The second of four sons, “we are all named Freedom“, he explains, “simply because our father was one of the student-activists of his time in the 1970s, when Filipinos fought against the dictatorship of then president Ferdinand Marcos”.
Rolling Stone Story Undergoes Brutal Forensic Analysis
The symbolism is recognizable, but as what depends on the eventual outcome. Dateline April 5, 2015, Easter Sunday, “Rolling Stone and UVA: The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Report” posted to the magazine’s website. The holiday celebrates Jesus Christ’s resurrection, following crucifixion. The Washington Post and several other organizations crucified Rolling Stone in December 2014 for long-form news story “A Rape on Campus”. The exhaustive autopsy of the story’s reporting and publication is another another crucifixion, arriving on a day that celebrates resurrection, salvation. Will RS have the one by voluntarily inviting the other?
“A Rape on Campus” spotlights the alleged sexual assault of a University of Virginia student identified as Jackie. The investigative report paints a campus culture of acceptable assault without reproach or reprisal. But the veracity of Jackie’s account later collapsed. Rolling Stone sought outside examination, which by itself demonstrates just how strongly the magazine strives to report responsibly.
Flickr a Day 95: ‘Stranger 51/100 | Easter Parade in New York’
We celebrate the second major Christian holiday with the first of three random street portraits. Michael Tapp captured the photo for the 100 Strangers Flickr Group, which ethos states: “Take at least 100 photographs of 100 people you don’t know. Approach anyone or a group of people, ask for permission to both take a photo of them and to post it to this group. Get to know your stranger/s. Who are they? What is their life like?”
The 100 Strangers project challenges a photographer to “step out of your comfort zone and into a new level of portrait photography”. As I write, there are 10,500 group members. From my experience as a working journalist, approaching random people for comment, photo, or video is a learning process that’s difficulty increases as you age. Youth and appearance are assets that can put anyone at ease.
Comic-Con Heroes: The Departure
They say the end is only the beginning. Today’s installment ends serialization of my ebook Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth. On July 8, 2015, after my current commitment with Amazon KDP Select ends, the tome’s release into the public domain begins—as promised. I plan to make copies available here, from Bunny Bows Press, and most likely Smashwords. I am still working out final logistics. Free also means removing the book from Amazon, which doesn’t permit the option. I am exploring a one-cent alternative.
A week ago, I posted the last of the dozen profiles, in order of appearance: The Dark Knight, The Fighter, The Collectors, The Academic, The Nerd Culturist, The Writer,The Bicyclists, The Heroine, The Time Lord, The Volunteer, The Vendor, and The Millennial.
Flickr a Day 93: Somber Salute
What introduction is appropriate for someone with about 150,000 images posted to Flickr? None. Choosing anything from such vast collection is an overwhelming task, so I let the photographer’s preferred storytelling style guide me. Elvert Barnes describes himself “as […]
Luna Moths
On the afternoon of June 14, 2004, something quite remarkable happened in my Kensington, Md. backyard, about which I briefly posted on that day. My wife urgently called me from my basement office. Beautiful butterflies had taken up residence on my daughter’s snow sled, which she had dragged out and left for some inexplicable reason. I immediately recognized them as something better: Luna moths.
I was an amateur bug collector in my youth and teens (someday I should tell you about raising praying mantids). So interested, I came a hair’s width from majoring in entomology (e.g. study of insects) in college. I dissected a good number of animals during anatomy and physiology classes, but nothing grossed me out more than cutting open a cockroach. But I digress.
Say, Hello, Sammy
Happy Caturday! For months, I have wanted to introduce you to the kitty who resides at local Mac dealer DC Computers. But Saturday comes, I forget, and is gone. Finally, I remember, while the sun still shines brightly overhead and Modest Mouse blasts form Chromebook Pixel LS. Mmmm, cat and Mouse (song “The Ground Walks, with Time in a Box“, BTW).
Sammy is about four years old, and she amazes me for her territorial confinement. During hot summer days, DC Computers cracks wide the doors and circulates the breeze blowing from the ocean, just 9 kilometers away. Sammy may sit inside, nose held up sniffing the air, but she doesn’t cross the threshold into the bustling parking lot. She never ventures outside.