400 Tons!!!

Four hundred tons of radioactive contaminated water leak out of the Fukushima power plant into the ocean each and every day...

Return Of The (Analog) Prodigal

Photo: © S. Banos

Alas, my ever so brief, ever not so torrid, middle aged, digital affair has reached its natural conclusion- and fortunately without regret, despite the fact that it did not achieve its intended consequence... becoming my go to, do everything, photographic imaging device from now till...

Photo: © S. Banos

The Fujifilm XT-1 is one very beautiful, very capable performer; truth is, it can do it all- but its strengths do not particularly suit my needs, and to be fair, its one major weakness is shared by all mirrorless cameras of its ilk- namely, its much touted EVF, which constantly reminded me of a '60s era color TV. Fine in the shade, better in the dark- but mediocre at very best in sunlight, changing or contrasty lighting situations. If I was a color aficionado, I would probably just shut up and persevere, the resulting images being that good. And it was fun seeing a few color images after decades of B&W.

But novelty fades and I'm back in my monochrome world of reality, and you can't beat starting out with the image qualities you desire most in film from the get go- rather than struggling to replicate them to one degree or another in post. If I could afford it, I'd be tempted to keep it, despite my vow to simplify. That said, I will definitely miss its quiet stealth, low light capability and 1:1 crop, but I'll continue to get what I require most from what I've already used for millennia. When the EVF looks as good as the LCD on the rear of the camera, I may just have another look see- in the meantime, it's on to eBay...

Photo: © S. Banos

Important Analog Firmware Update!

Least, that's what I call... Daylight Savings Time! For those of us still operating with a set ISO, one that does not extend into six figures, that extra hour of daylight is one helluva glorious thing... Welcome back!!!

Funny Ha-HA, Or Funny Sick?

"If its [function] is just something like getting rid of e-mail spam and it determines the best way of getting rid of spam is getting rid of humans..."   -Elon Musk

Hey, the guy's no joke, neither are his... jokes. 

McAfee Sucks- And Other Various Sundries...

Went to see Kill The Messenger (recommended) this Wed; got home at 8:30, turned computer on and... an ominous black screen appeared that I'd never (ever) seen before.

Stay calm, stay calm... stay... the fuck... calm...

PANIC!!!

 

Try my thoroughly, amateurishly pitiful this and that and- nothing, nothing, nothing... Call some numbers on the official Mozilla and McAfee sites which immediately hook me up with your friendly internet technical specialists (ie- Major Scumbag SCAMMERS). One tells me that my IP address is compromised, the other that some files are corrupted, one says he wants $400, the other wants $200. I tell both to go fuck themselves, knowing full well that the only one who's totally fucked is yours truly. And it's now 1 AM.

 

Come home from work following day- delete Mozilla, install Mozilla... same shit. Repeat- same shit. Screw Mozilla, I'll just use IE that came with the hard drive, thank you very much. Dead in the water. SHIT!!! Somewhere amidst the cussing I see that IE wants to install a security update. Why not- nothing else works. Install finally completes, and... IE is fully operational!!! I'm a happy man; lost a ton of bookmarks (actually, in a file I can't open), but least got my computer back for "free" (even if it does, or doesn't, have a freaking ticking time bomb inscribed with my name somewhere deep down under). Guess I now know why people buy freakin'... Macs.

9/22/14 NYC- Photo: © S. Banos

 

Yep, Just About Says It...

Battle For Net Neutrality...

Cell Tower Fakes vs. Fake Cell Towers

Photo: Dillon Marsh

Photo: Robert Voit

Bad enough having cell phone towers disguised as fake trees- at least they're grotesquely bad in a cool lookin' kinda way. But fake cell phone towers disguised as cell phone towers by god knows who, doing god knows what??? Now that's just plain... evil!

Seventeenth Century Photography

Interesting examination of Vermeer, and the technology he employed in the production of his great art. There is little doubt that he did, in fact, use the optical technology of his day to achieve the results in paintings such as The Music Lesson, the object of this particular documentary. One can even see evidence of chromatic aberration in Woman Reading a Letter (check out the back of her blouse).

In Tim's Vermeer, the inventor Tim Jenison goes through the arduous and painstaking task of first figuring out how Vermeer could have done his lifelike paintings with the aid of such technology (basically- a lens and two mirrors) and then sets about to actually paint its second coming (in 130 days) far better than anyone could have possibly imagined for someone who... had never before painted in his life.

Alas, I know nothing of painting, and despite the evidence (inarguable as it is), there is still far more to this artist and his art than mere smoke and mirrors (nor does the movie claim otherwise)...

Cool!

Definitely one of the coolest things I've seen in quite sometime! And more than a little ironic in the sense that this was how it was always depicted in the cheapo, Grade B, Sci-fi flicks of yore...
(via Boing Boing)

Let The Sadness Hit You Like A Truck...

Gotta make a decent scan of this...

I don't have a smart phone, didn't get a cell phone till around 2003, after my wife kept insisting that we had to get them so that we could locate and dig each other out after The Big One here in "don't call it Frisco." It didn't seem to matter that cell phone service will undoubtedly be one of the first casualties when it does hit. So I carried it around for the first year and a half turned Off. And the wife yelled at me some more till I finally left it On. But I still don't text, and I've never responded to the one someone sent me a few years back.

I'm on the computer way too much as is; I have an addictive personality, and it's by far the best toy I've ever had since the camera. But I want to experience life when I leave my fortress of solitude and distraction- painfully, monotonously boring and aggravating as it usually is. And I don't want to be one of those people I constantly see looking into their palm sized screens as if it held the secret to a better life, a more fulfilled life, the life I could imagine myself to have if only I too walked around staring at my palm. Anyone can promptly list the advantages of smart phones- I'll let the great 21st century philosopher, Louis C.K., espouse the drawbacks...

Click on link below if video does not play-

My Foe Flickr!

At least that seems to be the general impression from 99.99% of the comments on their site alone. I can't get all that excited about it either way, and not knocking those that are- guess I just don't have as much vested in it as do others. That said, can't say I much like the changes myself; don't see the absolute necessity to make it look like every other place (and I am partial to the more white walled gallery like presentation)- guess it's something to do with making it more mobile friendly. Dunno...

The very least they could do, very much need to do, is change the format for the Sets page so that it doesn't display random crops of your lead photos- and that needs to happen now...

Anyway, as of 00:30 Pacific Time (5/24/13), Flickr (for the first time I can recall) is very much dead in the water and has apparently either collapsed from the colossal weight of its own new fangled undertaking, or has become the victim of one of its more virulent, tech savvy hater/hackers.

Interesting to see what the morning brings...  Update: Rise and Shine, and back up!

Instagreed

I was pretty much steering clear of this whole fiasco simply because I don't use Instagram- or have a smartphone, a tattoo, use Twitter or even a digital camera for that matter, but I digress. Got sucked into it via this APE book review. And it took all of two seconds to realize that it's simply a matter of Facebook's (that altruistic non-profit that's single handedly saving the world) latest ploy to make themselves ever richer by bleeding and robbing their very own customers of their personal work without their knowledge or consent. And in return, said providers of creative content would receive zero compensation- a Win/Win for Facebook and Instagram, which are now one in the same.

Meanwhile, a class action lawsuit has ensued and Instagram has backtracked- sorta, somewhat... not really:

However, Instagram kept language that gave it the ability to place ads in conjunction with user content, and saying "that we may not always identify paid services, sponsored content, or commercial communications as such." It also kept the mandatory arbitration clause (forcing users to waive their rights to participate in a class action lawsuit except under very limited circumstances).

Amazingly, not so amazingly, you have your usual assortment of fools who say there's really nothing wrong with any of that- probably many of the same who think there's nothing wrong with Ron Haviv personally selling photographs to the very weapons manufacturers who maim and kill the victims and survivors he photographs. Just part(s) of the great circle of life, I suppose.

There It Is Baby!

No, not Christmas- a single molecule! Never thought in my lifetime.

Ai Wei Wei- Never Sorry

What manner of man is Ai Wei Wei... someone who can resurrect as lame and tired a gesture as giving the finger into a fresh and provocative symbol of both hope and defiance. I have to admit, I really didn't know shit about Ai Wei Wei before this movie and he's probably definitely the most important artist in the world today if only because he's inspiring an entire country (and audience worldwide) by directly challenging a corrupt, authoritarian  political system. And art could have no greater or more noble cause to validate and exclaim its very existence. What he makes clear is that you cannot separate the two, you cannot have one without the other, for art is the fullest expression of individual and collective freedom.

And he risks his life and safety in that very cause... 

SOPA

Experiencing Technical Difficulties...

Mouse died last night- could not get online. Got new mouse, but can't use keyboard. Using online keyboard- clicking o-n-e letter at a time. Funnn...

The Internets, 1969 Stylee...

Mice On My Mind...

The Good News- I slightly surpassed my minimum goal of twenty completed print worthy scans by year's end. And post editing scans from silver based negs mean you have to clone each and every microscopic scratch and dust mark individually (since digital ICE won't fit the bill) before you get on to the real deal. The Bad News: pre carpal tunnel sydrome of my right hand- it hurt! Not so much the arm/wrist, as the finger/knuckle area.

Now, a guy who uses a Nikon FG is not exactly someone versed in cutting edge technology; nevertheless, I did some research, read some commentary, and without actually trying any of them out, chose the one I imagined myself least likely to scream at in pure and utter frustration. First, there was The Alleviator thing (yipes!), then the Touchpad fellows, nice, but they seemed somewhat fragile and perhaps not as accurate or responsive. Next were the vertical guys, but some said they could move when you clicked (the last thing you want when cloning) and scrolling could be an issue. For out and out pick of the litter, this seemed the guy to beat- and had the price to match. I then proceeded to the Trackball family- this butt ugly odd ball was really comfortable in the hand and the only one I tried on at a store (without actually operating), has same scrolling issues, and questioned whether cloning would be as accurate using your thumb. So I ended up with this guy, and hoping for the best (at least it looks cool)...

But if I had to pick the All Time Loser Winner when it comes to mousedom... well, here she is, in all her "significally" mesmerizing, hippie, cheap porno allure:

Gotta Love It!