For the second day we have a photographer with similar name—beginning with K and now C. I mean no teasing or offense calling out the interesting: Cat Burton shooting self-titled “Run Duckling, Run!” She captured […]
Category: Media
Responsible Reporting: Foreward
Today begins the serialization of my ebook Responsible Reporting: Field Guide for Bloggers, Journalists, and Other Online News Gatherers before its release into the public domain. I did similarly with Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth. That book goes into the public domain on May 7, after my exclusive distribution commitment with Amazon ends.
Responsible Reporting was a labor of love. My profession is in a dramatic state of transition. I sought to provide a realistic treatise for the new journalism. New it is, steeped in ethical quagmire. I hoped to provide reasonable guidelines that accept how things are, rather than cling to how things were.
Flickr a Day 116: ‘Give Me a Ring’
Street photography this difficult looks too easy. Toronto, Canada-based Kat N.L.M. is the roving eye whose lens captures contrasting subjects—things that go oddly, yet somehow appropriately, together. Today’s selection is typical of his setup. You […]
Seventh Star Dreamer
In early 1979, I moved into my first apartment, for the rip-roaring rent of $40 per week. I had never lived alone before and spent much of my off-job time listening to music or songwriting. I wrote short “Seventh Star Dreamer”, lyric and melody, 36 years ago this month, sitting at the kitchen table late one afternoon.
By choice, I worked third-shift at a factory producing laminate tabletops. My typical day ended as most other people’s began. But there was something refreshing about my nocturnal lifestyle and evening walks, with stars above, to my job. The Milky Way inspired my writing.
From my catalog of other lyrics or songs posted for this year: “Cries by Day, Cries by Night“; “Dank Deep Eyes the Darkness“; “Disco Queen“; “Empire State“; “Road to Jericho“; “Surrealistic Pillow“.
Flickr a Day 115: ‘Princess and the Riot Cops’
Some photos demand attention for the perplexity they present. “What the frak?” is my question looking at pose and police. I want to know the context, the backstory, and there may be none other than […]
Take the Tidal Challenge
Lossless leader Tidal has a problem. Last month’s splashy relaunch let critics control the narrative, defining the streaming service as a tool for pampering the bank accounts of already successful musicians. But Tidal is something else: Affordable HiFi streaming for the listening elite—those people who want to enjoy music the way it was engineered, produced. The streamer should be the coolest thing, but the Jay Z ownership team fraked up the marketing messaging. Problem is fixable, but correction requires aggressive advertising, promotional pricing, and extraordinary exclusives.
For more than three weeks, I have listened to nothing but Tidal, and the service should challenge everyone signing up for the 30-day trial to do likewise. There is no other way for the majority of people to appreciate the aural benefits. The majority of potential subscribers are too accustomed to the muddy, mushy, overly-bassy sound of compressed, low-fidelity AAC or MP3 files. The brain and ears need to be freed from the habitual crappy sound to which they’re accustomed. iTunes is a prison. Spotify is another. Tidal will liberate you. But you must want freedom to attain it.
Flickr a Day 114: ‘Anonymous #2’
I had to abandon my original pick from the photostream of Mattia Notari. The pic is interesting and the composition is superb. But after discovering self-titled “Anonymous #2″—and, yes, there is another and another—I could choose no […]
Flickr a Day 113: ‘Barber Shop’
Documentary photographer Akshay Mahajan shot today’s selection on Aug. 24, 2007, using Nikon D200. With nearly 48,000 views, the image certainly is popular. Vitals: f/4.5, ISO 100, 1/50 sec, 18mm. He is from Bombay, India, but lives in New Delhi.
Akshay joined Flickr in November 2004. While active on the service, you will find more photos on Instagram.
Flickr a Day 112: ‘Eiffel Tower’
A magazine advertisement inspired today’s selection. My wife marveled over the Eiffel Tower, snapped using iPhone 6, on the back of a magazine cover. Hours later, on Flickr, I spotted this stronger shot that Jeroen Bennink […]
Flickr a Day 111: ‘Ferrara Busker Festival’
Today’s selection is another lesson in perspective, and also composition. July Pastorello focuses on a partial subject, yet enough for us to understand the activity, while using the people watching as background canvas that compels you […]
Flickr a Day 110: ‘Salt Pans’
Drama and composition make this pic, by Dave Lansley, our pick. Interestingly, his Peru 2007 album includes about a dozen photos from the same location. Today’s selection was the one I first saw and stand-out choice […]
Flickr a Day 109: ‘Two Seconds of Hesitation’
Our selection compliments Day 108. Both photographs use different techniques to split the viewpoint between subjects. Here, the mirror image creates dynamic perspective and leaves anyone looking closely wondering. Because to the far right, there is a man’s partial face in the reflection, watching her. The questions raised by his presence make the image more interesting—even more so with self-title “Two Seconds of Hesitation”.
Thibaud Saintin used Nikon D700 and 50mm f/1.4 lens to shoot the pic on Jan. 1, 2013, at the “Edelweiss cafe, Georgetown, Penang”. He lives in Bangkok, Thailand, where he teaches French. Vitals: f/2.2, ISO 1000, 1/40 sec, 50.4mm.