Flick On – Flick Off

I seem to make rash decisions this time of year, for reasons unknown to me.

A few days ago it just seemed like the right thing to do, posting some new images on Flickr with the intention of keeping them up.  My principles have not changed regarding all the changes Flickr inflicts upon us, regardless of how we feel.  I realize Yahoo is a corporation and their goal is fatten their bottom line.  With technology constantly changing, with the advent of acceptable quality images from smart phones and less dependence on digital cameras, I again find myself in a group of die-hard fans of technology that is apparently moving to the curb, waiting to be picked up on Friday by the trash collectors.  I still like books, the kid that fill up the bookshelves, and CDs, and having my own copy of movies.

So I am as curious as some of you might be, regarding if I’ll stay at Flickr.  The term that causes me to choke is “beta,” an Orwellian term meaning ‘we are changing the way we do things here and we are giving you a brief adjustment period before we impose it on you.  Bend over.’

I do like the people at FLickr and when I moved my activity over to Zenfolio, I failed to realize how isolated I was from the people who might be drawn to my work.

I am back for now, but I do have one foot out the door.

Lost in the Haize

I haven’t had much time for picture making lately.  Sometimes life just gets in the way.

Sigh.

I woke at 2 AM this morning and meandering online, I looked through the Best photography books of 2014, according to the people at LensCulture.  Damn, there certainly are a lot of photo books on the market!  I was thinking it would be nice to win the lotto, the NEW American Dream (since the old one has withered) and  start a publishing company devoted to high quality affordable photography books of “unknown” photographers, some of the truly fantastic people I find on Flickr.  There certainly is some amazing talent out there. Taschen is dedicated to quality photography books reasonably priced.  It works great for noted photographers.

The photography market is flooded with great talent, talent that hasn’t endured the rigors of art school, which of course makes getting recognition that much harder.

So if I won the lotto, especially if it was a really fattened kitty, I could start a series of great photography books of photographers who would probably never see their work rolling out on the printing press.

I tried a few tickets and didn’t win.

The early hours of the morning are strange.

Then while looking through my gallery, reminiscing on photo shoots, remembering locations and circumstances of so many of the images, I pined my old way of taking pictures, using a bridge camera that had it all…all except a decent sized sensor.  My weapon of choice for shooting was the HS series of Fujifilm cameras.  It was so easy to go out and not have to be concerned about changing lenses.  The smaller sensor is why I moved away from those cameras and found the Panasonic GX7.  It is shutter-button down the most fun camera I have owned.  Great camera.  Lots of fun.  Excellent results.  But that smaller 1/2.3-inch data trap just stops the parade for me.

Those were exciting days for me, driving around the city with just one camera (well, I always had a few on the seat next to me.)

It’s back to <div ID> tags.

Maybe Ill try just one more lotto ticket, when the pot gets fat.  If I win, you just might get an email from me, inviting you to publish yuour favorite photos, and at no expense to you.  You better make sure I have your correct contact information.