Another terrific post by Melissa over at The Non-Designer – Don’t Try This at Home

This morning I woke up with a pretty bad toothache. Instead of calling the dentist, which I felt was a waste of my time and my money, I decided to take care of the predicament myself. I grabbed a pencil, a pair of pliers, some duct tape and proceeded to remove the problem tooth. Although it didn’t exactly turn out so favorably. In fact, I did much more damage and caused myself some unnecessary and agonizing pain.

Perhaps this analogy is a little extreme, and I’m not relating “working with a designer” to “a trip to the dentist”, but I’m using it to illustrate the fact that certain tasks should be reserved for professionals.

This is really disturbing. It looks like some of the photos of the Israeli air raid on Qana were staged for the photographers. Possibly by the photographers?

EU Referendum

And, whoever said the camera cannot lie forgot that photographers can and do. Those lies have spread throughout the world by now and will be in this morning’s newspapers, accepted as real by the millions who view them.

The profession of photo-journalism thereby is sadly diminished by them, and the trust in those who took them and in those who carried them is misplaced. Truly, we are dealing with loathesome creatures.

Update: Instapundit is disputing the interpretation of the timestamps (dateline) of the photos, among other things.

The photo conspiracy seems to be based on the ignorance of how wire services work; its author has confused the dateline, which indicates when the wire service loaded the photos into their system, with a digital timestamp.

Mostly I was disturbed by the parading of the bodies, and repetitive photographs. Not that a photographer shouldn’t take lots of photos, but the what appeared to be staging or restaging of the photos. Some of this is cleared up by the dateline confusion, but not all as far as I can tell.

To see the countryside properly, it’s all about the mode of transportation. My favorite mode of transportation is of course the horse. Here’s two of the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting.

Seringa on the North face of Old Goat mountain in the late 80s.

Hickory, the best packhorse ever, bar none.

I must confess that I trained both of these horses, though their greatness was in spite of that, rather than because of it.

I’ve been thinking about my home state of Washington lately, so I’ve dug up a few photos from previous wandering.

Columbia gorge North of Chelan Falls.

Columbia gorge South of Wenatchee.

Nothing makes you feel more lost in the mountains than running into a herd of these…

Big Engine vs. little hippy car. An interesting test of aerodynamics. Very funny. h/t to Freedom Folks

Update: In case you’re completly bored, take a look at Yahoo! Widgets. It’s actually kind of clever. I’m using a desktop calendar that’s kind of nice. I’m constantly having to verify dates, this makes it easier. And of course I managed to find a hilarious waste of time to play with too.

An interesting interview with John Anthony Craig, photographer (by himself?).

I enjoy being a photographer: I am lucky enough to earn a living without having to actually earn a living. Photography and composition is my life, there is no separation or ending/starting point of my work day.

What is the best creative example that you can remember? My dog running in the woods (peace with all)

Hard to argue with that last comment. Very few things appear so honest as a dog at play. So expressive and joyful, they are exactly what they appear to be. I’ve taken a lot of pictures of my dogs over the years, here’s one of my favorites.

A very humorous video clip over at Nothing Special: John Stossel on graphic design

John Stossel’s 43 second take on graphic design. Which is actually longer than 43 seconds… You’ll figure it out. Very funny.

Spam comments are way up this week. Spam Karma is working well as usual, it’s all getting filtered without any input from me. It’s kind of humorous to see what people try to put on my site. You’d think people would try something a little more subtle. Most of the comments are justs lists of words and links to gambling sites. One comment was from someone who called himself Mickey Rourke. Do you think nobody is going to notice the three page list of keywords and links signed by Mickey Rourke? Idiots. If this post follows tradition it should get hit with spam comments within the hour. For some reason any post with the word spam in it gets hit almost immediately.

Update: I was wrong. I got hit by another 20+ spam comments, but none on this this post. Apparently it drew fire, but nothing well aimed.

I’m almost working today. Using PhotoShop a lot, so it’s still not like a real job, but it almost feels like it occasionally. Preparing a couple hundred photos for print. Minor stuff mostly, removing signs of day to day wear and tear, folds, scratches that sort of thing. About half of the photos date from the fifties, the rest from the last decade or so. Comparing the quality of the photos is kind of sad. Photographs were worth something in the fifties. You got dressed up, or at least prepared. People took care of their photos. The modern photos I’m getting are crap. Photography lost something when it became so easy. Nobody values good photography when anyone can be a photographer. We seem to have replaced good photography with cheap snapshots of everyday life that nobody remembers five minutes later.

I really like good candid photography. Good candid photography however, is still good photography. It has good lighting and color, it has a well framed image. I’m getting a bunch of poorly framed, poorly lit photos of people with somebody’s head cropped off, food in their mouth, and every other problem you can think of. I’ve received digital printouts, xerox copies, and Polaroids. They’re creased, folded, torn and otherwise abused. These are photos that have no value to their owners.

Good photos record a moment. They record a moment in it’s entirety. Looking at a good photo tells you the story of that moment. It can show you a glimpse of who a person was, or a glimpse of the world though someone else’s eyes. Shakespeare wasn’t talking about bad photography when he was writing MacBeth, but he could have been:

“…it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.” – MacBeth Act 5, Scene 5

Seeing this low quality of photos reminds me that there is nothing like good photography… Because this is nothing like good photography. That’s an old joke I know, but sadly appropriate.

Update: Just when I’ve given up all hope of receiving any good photos for this project I receive two very nice photos. A portrait of a gentleman with his dog, and a very well done candid shot. Apparently there is hope for amateur photography after all. A little anyway.

I found a new site I think I’m really going to like called The Non-Designer. Here are some of the things the author plans on covering:

- The Difference Between “Adobe” and “Acrobat” – She already hit this one

- White Space Is Your Best Friend – I hit this subject last month

- Realistic Deadlines – I didn’t think those were possible

- Do Not Try This at Home – This will to be good

- Photoshop: Not Magic Ssshhh! Don’t tell them that!

- Word: Not Design Software – I touched on this in Designer, Know Thy Tools

- The Logo is Big Enough

- PMS: It’s Not What You Think – Nothing funnier than a good misunderstanding about PMS

- Designer does not equal Muralist

h/t to Adventures in Blogging

A great post at Seth’s Blog: How to live happily with a great designer.

Why do some organizations look great… and get great results from their design efforts and ads… while others languish in mediocrity? I think it has little to do with who they hire and a lot to do with how they work with their agencies and designers.

Here are the things your design team wishes you would know:

more…

Pew Research Center: A Blogger Portrait

Some key findings.

• 54% of bloggers say that they have never published their writing or media creations anywhere else; 44% say they have published elsewhere.
• 54% of bloggers are under the age of 30.
• Women and men have statistical parity in the blogosphere, with women representing 46% of bloggers and men 54%.
• 76% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to document their personal experiences and share them with others.
• 64% of bloggers say a reason they blog is to share practical knowledge or skills with others.
• When asked to choose one main subject, 37% of bloggers say that the primary topic of their blog is “my life and experiences.”
• Other topics ran distantly behind: 11% of bloggers focus on politics and government; 7% on entertainment; 6% on sports; 5% on general news and current events; 5% on business; 4% on technology; 2% on religion, spirituality or faith. Additional smaller groups focus on a specific hobby, a health problem or illness, or other topics.

I’m looking forward to reading the complete study, but the preliminary information looks very interesting.

h/t to Mystery Pollster: New Pew Blogger Study

An interesting viewpoint on crime, by a self-proclaimed “relentlessly persistent offender”. “The place I belonged was prison. I would not have released me”

The last time that Steve Cattell was arrested, he had just committed 16 burglaries in four and a half hours.

He says that the longest sentence he was ever given was four years, of which he served 26 months – “and half of that was in an open prison, which is no deterrent”. He insists that, at that time, when he was a relentlessly persistent offender, “the place for me would have been in prison, and for a longer time than they gave me. I wouldn’t have released me.”

A shameless plug for a piece of software I want. I’ve downloaded the Beta3 version for Windows. It’s fantastic, and not even full featured yet. I strongly suspect I’ll be getting this as soon as it comes out. I can’t wait… Is it done yet?

Adobe Labs – Project: Lightroom

Project: Lightroom is Adobe’s effort to engage the professional photography community in a new way, giving you the opportunity to kick the tires and shape the feature set of a new tool being created just for you.

How about now, is it done yet? Have I mentioned that I’m impatient?

I just read a very good post by Jarrett Fuller called Plagiarism vs. Inspiration.

This is where I’m struggling. Where do you draw line between plagiarism and inspiration? Recently, I’ve been a fan of the vintage style of Justin Clark. If I design a web-site with a vintage theme, am I plagiarizing Clark’s work or am I inspired by his work.

If I am plagiarizing, then could it be plagiarizing to use the color green because some other famous designer uses green a lot? I feel that I have been affected and inspired by many different designers, but have never plagiarized. However, I still want to know when inspiration becomes plagiarism.

He’s right about the fine line between plagiarism and inspiration. You are on the right side of that line when you allow someone’s design to affect your work, to change the way you think about design. You cross that line when you actively take someone’s work and present it as your own. The quote from Chuck Anderson defines it better than I could.

The key is to let what they do inspire you, and for you to take that inspiration and apply it to your own work. Not to apply it to your own copy of their work.

Note: Chuck Anderson’s site is down as I write this, so I can’t give a more direct link that that.

I’ve been really enjoying a website called CascadeExposures lately. Fantastic photography of the Pacific Northwest. Go check it out. Really… Are you still here? Don’t forget to come back!

Brenarlo at Taking Back North Dakota is Debunking the myth that the US would do the same as Israel

In 2003, a Border Patrol agent told Rob Krott, a senior correspondent for Soldier of Fortune magazine, that “The vast majority of the American people are totally oblivious that armed forces of a foreign nation routinely violate the sovereignty of the US. Our government is aware of these incidents, but refuses to take any steps to stop these flagrant violations.”

I found this on one of my Internet walk-abouts. It actually exists in several places and isn’t attributed to anyone as far as I can tell, so I won’t link to the commercial site I first found it on.

Defenders Creed
I accept and understand that human predators exist. Criminal or terrorist, they take advantage of our civilized society to prey upon the weak. They represent evil and must be confronted and defeated.

I believe that self-defense is a moral imperative, and that illegitimate force and illegal violence must be met with righteous indignation and superior violence.

I will not rely on others for the security of myself, my family and my community.

I proudly proclaim that I run with a like-minded pack. I do not amble through life with the mind-numbed herd.

I will train with my chosen weapons, maintain them and carry them in a condition of readiness at all times.

I will be mentally prepared and physically equipped to effectively respond to an attack or emergency.

I will constantly test myself against realistic standards to discover my strengths and weaknesses. I will turn weakness into strength.

I will seek to learn new skills and techniques, and then teach what I have learned to other members of the pack.

Be it with firearm or blade, empty hand or blunt object, I will hit my enemies hard, fast and true.

I will live a quiet and unobtrusive life, but I will develop and retain the capacity for swift and decisive violence.

I recognize that I am the modern equivalent of the traditional Minuteman, and that I may be called to service at any time against heavily armed enemies. I will respond effectively.

I accept that I am a pariah among some of my countrymen, and a quaint anachronism to others. I will not hold their ignorance against them.

I will win, or die trying.

I swear this creed before God, my family and my fellow citizens.

Author Unknown
Emphasis mine

A good article on spam e-mails. Why they’re sent and how to stop getting them.

Mac Love, Not War: Junk Email and Spam Abatement Strategies

Unwanted junk email or “spam” is a persistent problem for most email users, and usually gets worse. Since email is nearly free to send and there seem to be suckers born every minute to click on mortgage enlargement ads, these scams are too lucrative to disappear entirely.

The one thing I don’t see in this article is to carefully choose your e-mail client. Some work better than others for filtering spam. MS Outlook can be quite bad about not filtering properly and opening new mail (and spam) in the preview-pane when you don’t want it to. Sure you can leave the preview-pane closed, but it’s a nice feature when it works right. I changed to Mozilla ThunderBird a few years ago and it’s very nice. It’s filters work well, so I don’t ever see the vast majority of junk that I get. In the case of the few that get past it’s filters, it by default doesn’t open e-mails into the preview-pane, so I’m not accidentally opening junk. It also has another feature that helps for the random spam e-mail that I don’t identify properly. It by default doesn’t show images in e-mails unless it’s from a source I’ve approved. So junk mail that is opened doesn’t verify my e-mail address to the spammer as valid by downloading images.

I’ve taken unofficial polls a couple of times and I receive about ten percent of the volume of spam e-mail that most of my contemporaries do. Same level of exposure of our e-mail addresses, and the same Internet providers. The only difference I can find is that I’m more careful about how I handle e-mail, and I use a better e-mail client (they all use MS Outlook).

Photos of the Rakkasans of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team in Baghdad, Iraq.

Update: Blackfive is posting more Rakkasan photos. – HDW

Previous posts of Iraq Photos:
Faces of Iraq 1
Faces of Iraq 2
Faces of Iraq 3
Faces of Iraq 4
Faces of Iraq 5

Update:
More of Russell Klika’s photos are now available at Russell Klika dot com. – hdw