So
This came up in the Olympus E-Systems Community on Flickr in a somewhat tongue-in-cheek discussion on “How to Dramatically Improve Your Photography With Ease”. It is so spot on that I had to repost it here:
I've done the Flickr circle of life myself (like I think you've done), the 12 step process so to speak...
1. join Flickr
2. take pictures & post
3. hope to get feedback
4. get feed back
5. give feedback
6. make Explore for the first time
7. join some “theme groups”
8. strive to get on Explore so more
9. become disillusioned with all the steps above
10. become jaded
11. stop giving a sh!7 what others say.
12. start taking photos for *you*
I have seen a number of people who seemed to really enjoy photography then jump on the Flickr treadmill and become absolutely obsessed. It's as if photography becomes hard work and they think that the only 'good' photos are staged black and white shots with lots of photoshopped blurs and streaks in them. Basically, rather than doing something creative they wind up copying what is supposed to be 'fine art photography' which personally I find to be stilted, self-referential, overly nostalgic and ultimately monotonous.
Granted, my photos aren't going to win any awards any time soon, but then again, I am at step 12. I enjoy photography, it hasn't become my new identity.
So
It's like 'take you camera to work day' (assuming you have a job outside the house and work on Saturdays). It's 24 Hours of Flickr. Basically, document your day in photos on May 5th, 2007 and then post the best shot to the pool of the same name on Flickr.
What happens around the world in one day? In a word – life. Here on Flickr, photographers are sharing what they see: snapping daily moments, recording history, telling stories, capturing beauty.
To celebrate this global community, we invite you to join us in “24 Hours of Flickr” – a day-long global photo project. On May 5, 2007, grab your camera and whatever else you need, and chronicle your day in pictures. The group's photos will be featured at Flickr events around the world this summer and in a companion book, which will contain a selection of photographs chosen from the group (more about this soon!).
It's interesting that they intend to publish a companion book of shots — so this may be your chance for fame and fortune (if thats your thing).
The iPhone is slick looking, but how well does it work as a phone? And when will the closed nature of the iPhone be addressed? Nokia has always delivered a solid product that never loses site of the fact that it is a phone first.
I look forward to moving my existing apps on my aging but still functional Nokia 6620 over to an N-series phone once they become available. The extensibility of the Symbian platform used by Nokia is a big plus for me and one that Apple is going to need to match if they want my business.
So
As a long time user of tinyurl — a web-based tool that lets you smash down those long, ugly, line-wrapping URLs that some sites generate into something much smaller and more manageable, I was curious when I saw a new offering called dwarfURL.
It looks like dwarfURL is the same idea, but adds the ability to track the number of times that the dwarfed link has been clicked on. If you are into stats on your shared links, this might be of interest.
So The Guardian has an interesting followup on the whole 'mobile phones are killing all the bees' meme. Basically, the researcher from the original report claims 'we never said any of that'. The first clue should have been that the research was not done on cellphones and towers but cordless phones used in the home where there is (or should be) a decidedly smaller bee population than in the wild.
Shocked. Shocked I am that the press would sensationalize something to make a profit.
So
After seven and a half years with my previous employer, I called it quits in early April to pursue an Enterprise Architect position at a Fortune 25 company. In between jobs, I took a previously scheduled vacation, ten days in Argentina (flickr link).
I now have my first full week in at my new employer and it looks like it is going to be a very good opportunity, indeed. The first week was filled with trying to ramp up on where they are and where they are going. There is a lot of positive energy in the entire IT department (which is a good thing to start with).
Consequently, there has not been much time for blogging (or other things) as the transition and vacation has consumed the last three weeks or so. I am hoping that this week things begin to equalize and the pace becomes a little less hectic. Time will tell.
So
In a multi-million dollar deal finalized on Friday, March 31st, the mobrec.com domain name has been sold to Microsoft to support a new, undisclosed online service to be rolled out later this year. With the accompanying NDA, that is all I can really say about it at this point.
I noticed that I (inexplicably) get a fair amount of traffic from the microsoft.com domain, but had no idea that they were more interested in my domain name than my content.