Rest your tortured soul, my friend.

Even a life-long prosperity is but one cup of sake;
A life of Thirty-Eight years is passed in a dream
He knew not what life was, nor death.
Year in year out—all but a dream.
Both Heaven and Hell are left behind;
He stands in the moonlit dawn,
Free from clouds of attachment.

Uesugi Kenshin (1530–1578)
- Japanese Zen death poem, modified slightly by me with apologies.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Are Flickr Photos by others fair game for home printing?

NYT blogger (she can't be a paid reporter) Sonia Zjawinski posts a follow up piece to her advocating stealing photographs to decorate her apartment. Here.

My first thought was "Did your editors tell you to write that, Sonia?" It was a totally different slant than the first piece. And it doesn't change my perspective on her actions or the attitude of the NYT editors for allowing the first piece to be posted in the first place.

I wonder if someone scanned in and turned entire pages of the NewYorkTimes into wallpaper and did up their apartment or office with it if that would be ok? I am sure the NYT wouldnt mind that. Seems like fair use to me. If the NYT lawyers do mind, they should just be referred to their employee as the inspiration.

Additionally, Sonia has two Flickr accounts here and here. (Thanks Tawnee for finding them). You will note that all her images are All Rights Reserved. Ironic eh? I guess she knew enough about copyright to set them that way despite her going on about Creative Commons in her post. And her accounts are one of those 'set up a couple of years ago, then never used after, grey blocky head accounts' I hate so much. And guess what? Block. She essentially reaffirmed with concrete examples in her first blog post what those image packrats, thieves and non photographers do on Flickr. Flickr is the worlds best image sharing site - as Flickr bills itself and she quotes, but it's not free-for-all shopping mall for cheapo decorators like Ms Zjawinski .

I agree with the commenters on that second blog and others I have talked with about this. An apology is in order from the Times.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Fortune Magazine's Kodachrome Legacy

© Robert Doisneau, 1961, for Fortune Magazine.

Fortune Magazine, on the CNN Money site, posts 20 images from the pages of Fortune over the years in the honour (perhaps that is not the right word) of the demise of Kodachrome film last week. After over 70 years being in production, Kodak announced that they would no longer produce this staple film used by professionals and amateurs alike - who loved the warm colours and tones it produced. There are some interesting images that appeared in Fortune over the years sorted by the year they were published with small write ups. Worth a look.

Photographer Steve McCurry used it to shoot that iconic cover of the "Afghan girl" with the piercing eyes for the cover of National Geographic in 1981. And the LA Times said Kodak will donate the last rolls of Kodachrome to the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, N.Y., after McCurry shoots one of the rolls.

Paul Simon said it best, but Kodak eventually didn't listen.

Embedded video montage set to Paul Simon's 1973 hit Kodachrome from Youtube won't be visible on Facebook. Link to it is here.

** Original link to the Fortune piece via APe.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

New York Times advocates stealing Flickr images to decorate apartments

A New York Times writer named Sonia Zjawinski advocates stealing images from Flickr to decorate your apartment:

Through these bouts of procrastination, I’ve often found stunning photographs, so much so I’ve gotten in the habit of printing faves out and framing them. If a user offers the original resolution for download, don’t let that go to waste. Download, print, frame!

And if you’re wondering about copyright issues (after all, these aren’t my photos), the photos are being used by me for my own, private, noncommercial use. I’m not selling these things and not charging admission to my apartment, so I think I’m in the clear.

As most of you know, I post my images on Flickr, and her attitude is the reason why I don't allow access to my images in any but the default size, and limit the copying with the transparent 'spaceball.gif'. Doing that affects how my images are viewed on flickr, but what choice do I have when Sonia Zjawinski and her ilk steal..

She disgusts me to my core.

If I had a subscription to the dead tree NYT, I would cancel it because of her post.

NYT article here, and found via A Photo Editor...

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Farrah Fawcett dies at age 62

Farrah Fawcett © Bruce McBroom

The iconic image - to some of a certain age range - was taken at her home, by her pool, with photographer Bruce McBroom's old Mexican blankets as a backdrop. No stylists, no assistants, no art directors. He said in an interview for Time:

Farrah didn't like the way she looked in a bikini and didn't have one on her. So she would go in the house and come out in a swimsuit and say, "What do you think of this?" ... I shot rolls of film, and it just wasn't happening. She's a beautiful woman, but there wasn't anything that I would put on a poster. ... I said, "Farrah, are you sure you don't have a bikini? Something different?"

She went in to look around and came out of the back door and stood in the doorway in this red suit, and she said in her Southern accent, "Well, is this anything?"

And I literally said to myself, "Oh my God."

That poster went on to sell millions.

I am old enough to remember these posters on backs of bedroom doors and in university residence rooms.

Rest in Peace, Farrah. My thoughts go out to Ryan and their families.

As a point of Trivia, Farrah first appeared on Charlies Angels, on March 21st, 1976, when I was celebrating my ninth birthday. I don't recall watching it that night. :)


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Greg Yarker from Blue Radio

Greg Yarker of Blue Radio

Went out last night and shot some of the opening set of Blue Radio (facebook group page) at the Eastside Bar n Grill on Hamilton Road here in London last night.

Greg Yarker and I used to work together a few years ago, and as his Blue Rodeo cover band was in town for a show I thought I would swing by. This seven person band really rocks. Close your eyes and at times its Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor on stage and not Michael Thomson and Greg Yarker. Great sound. Not sure why I never caught them before, but was glad I did last night.

They went on at about 2215hrs and they were going to play 3 sets and 27 songs. I had to head out at the end of the first set for a meeting, but I shot a few frames for them including the one of Greg above.

Was a good sized, appreciative crowd at this country bar (and funny clacker/clapping hands they had there). Those of you who didn't go missed out on a good show.

If I am going to shoot more performance stuff, I need to invest in some ear plugs too... I thought I learned my lesson from shooting the Scarlet Sins at the Bovine in Toronto, but apparently not. :)


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Proof of kindness in the world

παιδικές γάτα (BabyKatt) and Alex

My friend Alex, who lives outside of Oslo, Norway, went on vacation with her family to the island of Chios in Greece last week. Great food and great weather. That much is to be expected when hanging out on a Greek island.

But then Alex does what Alex always does. She finds a poor little street kitten outside in the garage area of the Evas Studio Hotel (page sort of translated here via Google). Pretty much a new born and very sick. Lots of fluids coming from the nose, eyes crusted shut, very small, weak and not eating. She only saw it eat once from its mother in a couple of days because it likely couldn't breath through her nose while doing it. Alex thinks it was a she and named her BabyKatt.

She cleaned it up constantly, held her, tried to feed her, and took care of her for a couple of days while her family went to the beach and did other touristy things. She says it was too hot to go, and I believe her, but in her good kind hearted way, Alex stayed and took care of the kitten because that's what she does. And did it while on vacation in a foreign country.

For obvious reasons, she couldn't take the cat back with her on her return flight to Norway (as much as she wanted to). And given how weak it was, the fluid in the lungs/sinuses of the cat n so on, that likely wouldn't have been a good idea for her either.

Whatever the eventual outcome, Alex helped the little kitten have some comfort in its first days and we would like to think might have given her the extra bit of energy to get on with life. Or she might have helped it have some comfort and love in her first - and last - days.

If anyone happens by the Evas Studio Hotel, when they are in Great Limionas, on Chios, pop in and ask the manager if he took a cat to a vet in early June 2009. He said he would, but vet's are not that common over there and there is a good chance that didn't happen. And if you see a little kitten or cat that sort of looks like παιδικές γάτα, give it a scratch behind the ears and some food if its hungry. She would appreciate it, so would Alex.

If you are like me and not in that part of the world, say a little prayer for a sick tiny little kitten on the Greek island of Chios. GATE GATE PARAGATE PARASAMGATE BODHI SVAHA.

The world needs more caring souls like Alex.


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Mallory

Mallory. Shot in May 2009. For someone who characterizes herself as not being model, she models quite nicely. :)

Mallory. Fishnets. #06, 2009

Mallory. Fishnets. #02, 2009

Mallory. Fishnets. #04, 2009

Mallory. Fishnets. #05B, 2009

Mallory. Fishnets. #01, 2009

Blogger's default upload is five images at a time so I am going to see about not posting more than that at a go. Forces me to do some editing. :)


Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Iranians Protest Election: in Photos

Unknown photographer
Canon 30d, f4.5, 160th sec, 40mm.
5:25pm June 13th, 2009, Tehran, Iran.

This is Iranians protesting the election results. From Tehranlive.org . No idea who took the above image, but it's Pulitzer worthy. Images like these, are reminiscent of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that deposed the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and brought Ayahtolla Khomeni to power. Nothing like this has come out of Iran in 30 years. and despite the government's best efforts, this time the revolution will be broadcast online. Even if media in the west are giving low to no priority to it.

Unknown photographer
Canon 30d, f5.6, 1/250th sec, 25mm.
4:43pm June 13th, 2009, Tehran, Iran.

Unknown photographer
Canon 30d, f5.6, 1/250th sec,
4:42pm June 13th, 2009, Tehran, Iran.

Unknown photographer
Canon 30d, f5.6, 250th sec, 17mm
4:21pm June 13th, 2009, Tehran, Iran.

Unknown photographer
Canon 30d, f7.1, 1/250th sec, 53mm
4:34pm June 13th, 2009, Tehran, Iran.

Unknown photographer Canon 30d, f7.1, 1/160th sec, 70mm
6:44pm June 12th, 2009, Tehran, Iran.
(Election Day)

This Revolution will be online.

More post election images here and here.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Nude Mona Lisa

Read over on the Discovery Channel that a painting has surfaced that may very well based on a lost work of Leonardo DaVinci. It appears to be a nude version of the Mona Lisa.

"The frontal look, the position of the hands, the spatial conception of the landscape, with columns at the sides, show a clear link with the Mona Lisa's iconographic theme," Alessandro Vezzosi, director of the the Museo Ideale in the Tuscan town of Vinci, was quoted as saying in the Discovery article.

He goes on to say that the theory goes that there are at least six nude version which are very close to being Da Vinci's. All are attributed to the Da Vinci school. The most likely scenario is that his followers got inspired by a now-lost original.

Is it just me, or are there no nipples in that painting?

Perhaps I was unintentionally channeling the master when I created this early last year:

Amy. Torso, 2008

The intention behind my image was that Amy wanted to send a pic with no nipples to one of her friends. Reason being, she said, was that's how most DVD movie covers are no matter what girls are wearing. G rated and nipple free. None showing. It was an amusing thing to try. No subtle messages or sub texts to the image. :) I did like the marble sculpture/Holga feel to the post work though.

** People seeing this on Facebook will not be able to see the nude image above. You will have to check it out on the post on my blog.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

A debt repaid. A modern parable.

Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.

He enters the town's only hotel, lays a 100 Dollar Bill on the reception counter as a deposit, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.

The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Dollar Bill and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.

The Butcher takes the 100 Dollar Bill, and runs to pay his debt to the pig farmer.

The pig farmer takes the 100 Dollar Bill, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.

The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Dollar Bill and runs to pay his debt to the town's prostitute that in these hard times, gave her "services" on credit.

The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Dollar Bill to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.

The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Dollar Bill back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.

At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes back his 100 Dollar Bill, saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.

No one earned anything.......... However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism..

--found here via Will Spaetzel's twitter.

Have a good weekend everyone. :)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Toronto City Guide Photoshops black guy into photo

On the cover of a City of Toronto Summer Fun guide, the city used a stock image and used PS to replace - badly - the head of the male with a black male. "The goal was to depict the diversity of Toronto and its residents," John Gosgnach, communications director for the social development division of the city, was quoted as saying in the National Post piece about the images.

Are there not photographers in the employ of the city who could shoot pics of an actual blended family in Toronto? Probably not, but I bet they could find a ethnically diverse stock photo somewhere. Or solicit one of actual Toronto residents.

That and learn how to Photoshop better.

Mr. Sack, who oversees city communications, was quoted in the article as saying:

"We're in one of the most diverse cities in the world. I hope that doesn't pose a problem for anybody. Capturing that diversity is not difficult. That's been our general experience."

Except this time when they couldn't do it. And had to fake it. Shame really, as I read somewhere Toronto is one of the most diverse cities in the world...

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Replace writer with photographer. And pay him.

A video by well know American writer Harlan Elison (Star Trek ep. "City on the Edge of Forever", Bab 5, several Hugo and Nebula awards)



He very aptly gets the point across that your time as a writer, or photographer, or artist, is worth something. And if you ever have a moment where you think, "meh, I will do this one for free..." play this video. And if they don't call back because they didn't get the freebie they wanted from you... well so what. However, Harlan does say that more colourfully.

Just replace the word writer in your mind with photographer every time you hear him say it.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Blockr day, again...

Blockr
© Mike Wood Photography
(Creative Commons image)

Everyday or couple of days, my Flickr-ing starts out with blocking at least a few accounts. My Flickr profile clearly says don't bother adding faves or friend requests if you have no pics and so on. They don't get it.

Therefore in March of '08, I took a moment to make that graphic. I know it won't help 100% but felt it couldn't hurt. Well, since then I have blocked a further 500 or so people who are image collectors or just have net porn on their accounts. Someone should research a likely a correlation of a lack of reading comprehension skills amongst that crowd...

So on what seems to be a three month cycle, I put my Blockr image back on top of my stream on Flickr. Today, it was in dishonour of my blocking my 850th grey collector - those generic iconless members on Flickr who just collect other people's pics but have none of their own. Or just have net porn. Or just have their own dangly bits on display - as I described it back then. Having really really nasty pics, and or adding me as a friend so I get to see close up and untidy dangly and undangly bits- sometimes in use with eachother - (often first seen while I am sitting in my fav coffee shop and checking out who is adding me) is pissing me off. NO PICS, and or NO ICON, and or FAKE PICS and or nasty n dangly = BLOCKING YOU. Not debating this.

Don't get me wrong, and I hope I am not being seen as hypocritical here. I shoot nudes. I have been known to look at them and be inspired by them. But I am not into looking at swingers pics etc. The artistic part of 'artistic nude' or 'artistic erotica' is sort of what I am emphasizing and what is usually lacking in badly lit, grainy, poorly composed and usually ugly pix... That along with image thieves, much like that site in Germany last week, annoy me.

I thought I blogged about this about 15 months ago when I posted it, the image above, on Flickr for the first time, but apparently not.

Feel free to copy and post the image in your streams if you are on Flickr. I was pleased to see the other day quite a few people are using it on their pages, and they are free to do so. It is the only image on Flickr of mine that is Creative Commons. All others are All Rights Reserved.

Seriously, who has between 10,000 and 50,000 favs and 10 pics purportedly of their own all uploaded one day 3 years ago? Really. If yer gonna make up an account on a photo sharing site, at least go through the motions....

(851 blocked now...)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Is your camera reliable?

Found this interesting blog post comparing of flaws and faults between different Canon and Nikon bodies, flashes and lenses. I wish they had commented on Olympus point n shoots too. :|

Kinda really busy right now so posting will be iffy. Going to post a recent shoot shortly however. Oh, and I have had some positive responses to my search for nude models for a series of outdoor shots this summer. If you are interested read the previous blog post and get in touch.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Seeking models for outdoor nude photo series

Untitled,
© Mike Wood Photography, 2008

I will be shooting a series of artistic nudes this summer outdoors in abandoned or empty run down locations. I am in need of a few people (female and or male, 18 and up and can prove it) who are comfortable being artistically nude in front of a camera and would be fine if the images were potentially displayed in a gallery show/online at some point in the future.

If you are interested and live in the general London area, please contact me via Facebook/ ModelMayhem email, my web email, or DM on Twitter. If I don't know you already, send me a link to your modeling portfolio page if you have one. Alternatively, email me if you don't have a model page but think you would like to be involved. If you know anyone who might like to participate but might not see this post, forward them the information.

There is one awesome location I need to use ASAP as I sense it will be demolished soon and will be part of a sub division- I ideally would like someone tall ish with a fit dancer's look as it would suit the location/pose really well.

These wont be long complicated involved shoots: each will be at a single different location, and won't take a lot of time aside from getting to and from the places.

These will also be TFCD shoots (so you will get all your images on CD and any ones I do post work on) and won't be paid, but if any prints are sold, as is my regular policy, I will certainly compensate the model or models at that point. I wish I could compensate models before hand, but I don't currently have the budget for that.

The last time I posted something like this I got some good and unexpected responses so I thought I would try this again.

Please do get in touch if you are interested or want more information. I look forward to hearing from you.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

The Client Vendor relationship in the real world

This is applicable to photography and a whole host of other things I think. And sadly true.



--found via SwissMiss.

Bit busy at the moment, regular blogging with photos n such will resume shortly. :)

Mike

Mike Wood Photography

Seth Godin: On the Tribes we lead

Fascinating TED video with Seth Godin talking about the tribes we lead. He argues that the web and social media on the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit: the tribe. Tribes that are based on shared ideas, values, a common purpose, and give everyday people the ability to make change and make a difference.

Seth Godin is the 'Purple cow' guy of the marketing world. Which, if you are not into marketing that might not mean anything to you. But if you are a small business or are into marketing yourself, it should. Either way, the video is a good watch.

Mike

Mike Wood Photography