climate change activist and science communicator; event photographer; amateur mapmaker — advocate for a stable global climate, reduced nuclear weapon risks, and safe human-AI interaction
Equipment, examples, history – all matters photographic
Yesterday I was able to do some minimal processing of my photos from New Orleans and put them online, using a rented Mac Pro at a printing shop.
A number of them could benefit from additional post-processing, but it is tedious to spend time editing JPEG files in Photoshop. I prefer to stick to a photojournalistic style and thus spend less time in front of glowing monitors.
When I was in New Orleans, a local led me to this streetcar storage and repair centre.
I ended up with some pleasing photos:
I am working on processing and uploading all my New Orleans photos to Flickr.
One key lesson learned from my time in Washington: as a photographer, do not go to a major event without a decent laptop and a copy of Photoshop. My iPhone is great, but nowhere near sufficient to publish material professionally to the web.
Thanks to the generosity of a fellow photographer, I had access to a MacBook Pro for a few hours tonight and I was able to process and upload my photos from the Clay and Paper Theatre Company’s 2011 summer show: The Pedaler’s Wager.
The show was very colourfully and professionally put on, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. At the same time, I think it may have glossed over some of the hardships of pre-industrial life and some of the benefits of the current global economy. While there are certainly many critical problems with it, and much that needs to be done to make it sustainable, I do think it serves important human needs and that those who are most critical of it are often those who benefit from constant access to its nicest features. That includes things like modern medicine, communication technology, and transport. It seems a misrepresentation to say that the Industrial Revolution and its aftermath have transported the average person from a blissful pastoral state into a situation of agonizing bondage.
Of course, the purpose of art is not to carefully express both sides of every argument. By provoking us to think in new ways, art can give us a better overall sense of context and an appreciation for important facts that were previously concealed.
Things are likely to stay busy for a while, with little priority accorded to blogging. This Flickr photostream widget should provide at least some novel content as I carry on with executing whatever version of the move/travel plan proves possible. It will stay at the top of the page while I am busy, so there may be new posts appearing underneath.
I will also be updating Twitter and BuryCoal.
[Update: 24 August 2011] If you want information on the ongoing Keystone XL protest in Washington D.C., the best source of information is TarSandsAction.org.
Photos from the event are also being uploaded to Flickr frequently.
[Update: 5 September 2011] I still have lots of moving-related work to do, but at least I will be in Canada. As such, I am removing the ‘sticky’ property of this post. It will no longer stay perpetually at the top of the front page.
As processing power becomes cheaper and smarter software is produced, it seems inevitable that more and more people and organizations will begin to identify people automatically by recognizing their faces with surveillance cameras.
London’s Heathrow airport is planning to install such a system, and Facebook may be the ultimate database to let freelancers do it themselves.
To me, it is all rather worrisome. At a basic level, life becomes more paranoid and less creative and interesting when you are being watched at all times and all of your actions are being archived forever. It’s only a matter of time before photos from every fun party ever are being combed through by investigative journalists hoping to catch someone who has become famous in an embarrassing-looking situation. Facial recognition allows for the creation of databases that can be used for truly evil purposes, from suppression of political dissent to stalking and blackmail.
Like nerve gas, facial recognition technology is probably one of those things that it would be better if we could un-invent.
I walked around my building and neighbourhood, recreating the classic 1851 chess game played between Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky in London.
The game reminds me a bit of the Orson Scott Card novel Ender’s Game. The book features a battle where one side seems to be defeated but manages to satisfy the formal conditions of victory. This game seems like a nice reminder that the real objective is checkmate, not gaining or protecting material. Anderssen tosses away rooks and even his queen, all while setting up checkmate with two knights and bishop.
I may try photographing some other classic games in interesting venues, though it is hard to do in a way that makes the pieces completely clear. On this chess set, the bishops look too much like pawns. I am going to add some red dots to them – marking them like queen bees.
A year ago today, I got the Canon 5D Mark II digital single lens reflex (dSLR) camera.
I have been very happy with it. The image quality is great, especially in low light, and it is a lot more robust than the Rebel XS I had before. Everything about the camera is what you would expect from a machine intended for serious and intense use.
I feel like I have done a lot with the camera already, and that it has a lot of life and potential in it yet.
Sorry for the thin content here lately. I have been intensely busy with other things.
For instance, last night I took photos at a Young Canadians in Finance sponsored fundraiser for the United Way. The keynote speaker was Wayne Wouters – Clerk of the Privy Council and Canada’s top bureaucrat. The United Way has a press release up about the event, which includes one of my photos.
P.S. If you are planning to mail anything in Canada – or have anything mailed to you – it may be wise to do it soon.
P.P.S. You can solve chess endgames for free online, using the Nalimov Endgame Tablebases. Once you are down to six or fewer pieces (including kings), the number of possible chess positions falls off sharply. In fact, they can all be stored in just over 7 gigabytes of space.
Over the long weekend, I was lucky enough to see a show in Toronto put on by the Cyclops Cycling Oriented Puppet Squad.
More information on them is available through their blog and Twitter.
