Skolai Images » Social Media

Keyword terms, web traffic, & SEO

Carl D — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:32:01 +0000

Web stats, graphs and keywords and search terms - click the image to view a larger version of this "photo".

Hey Folks,

By now, everyone with a website knows something about keywords; in some ways, keywords are your website. Many multi-national corporations have an entire section of their company marketing team devoted to the study of keywords. What are people searching for, and how do people find your website?

Keywords aren’t all about search engines though; via social media you have a powerful tool to drive traffic to your website. And keywords help enormously with that.

Another reason to not solely focus on search engines is because, well, search engines don’t search; they index. They should be called “index engines”. People search. So as you construct some form of marketing plan/s, think about people, don’t think about search engines. “Personas” is the buzz word advertisers and marketing folks use; What are people looking for that you have to offer?

Here’s a snapshot that tells a story. Guess which single keyword drove this spike upward.

Cheers

Carl

Obiter dicta: Art and social media

Carl D — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 19:42:36 +0000

The difference in audience between a discussion about art

& a discussion about SEO and social media

says what about our priorities?

A Photographer’s Guide to SEO & Social Media

Carl D — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 12:56:28 +0000

Hey Folks,

What’s your page rank? How many friends do you have? Retweets? Have you shared anything today? What’s your title tag? Incoming links? How’s your website rank?

Now that summer is over, and it’s officially “office season”, you’re probably spending your time doing much of what I’ve been doing lately; website work, photo editing, marketing and promotion via the sticky, tricky and infinite webs we call SEO (Search Engine Optimization) & Social Media (making me wonder what, exactly, Anti-social Media might be).

SEO is a pretty tricky beast. It’s a lot of research, reading, re-reading, web-coding, overhauling, reviewing, more research, re-coding and hair pulling. It’s mostly a lot of trial and error; it’s not a given, for example, that what works for one site is applicable and relevant for another. And it’s almost certain that what works on the article you just carefully absorbed will not work on your website. So, it’s mostly guesswork.

Sometimes the results are what we hoped for, and we pat ourselves on the back, and think how clever we are. Sometimes, despite all out best efforts, the old googles kick our superbly optimized page to the bottom of page 11 on their results; this really hurts when you see some trashy, 1993-styled geocities looking webpage showing up on the first page of rankings.

So, we turn to Social Media; If you can’t get to page 1 on google search results, maybe you’ll just bypass all that and get a gazillion Plus Ones on your site; that’s gunna count for something. So we schmooze and kiss a$$ and sell what’s left of our souls on Google Plus and facebook, telling everyone how much we love what they do and how wonderful the “community” is. And we finally get another person add us to their Google Circle.

Life’s great.

So, after, days of coding, and looking at restyling .css sheets to float content pages right and sidebars left and javascripts to the footer and h1 tags and link title tags and img alt tags and so forth, I thought I’d put this article together to really help you with your photography efforts.

The single best SEO advice, and best Social Networking effort you, as a photographer, can invest in is to go outside and take photos. Repeat.

Cheers

Carl

Northern lights, Chugach Mountains, Glenn Highway, Alaska.

Obiter dicta: Social Media and Redundancies

Carl D — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:46:56 +0000

Social Media, with all its tweets, posts, shares, likes, pluses and retweets

The internet’s foolproof insurance against avoiding redundancy.

Carl on Google Plus

Carl D — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 12:48:23 +0000

Backpacker hiking in snow near Mt Jarvis, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Please click on the image above to view a larger version of this photo.

Hey Folks,

I’ve signed up an account with Google Plus, and would like to invite all of you Google Plus users to ad me to your groups and lists there. I’ve only just started my account there, but it looks like a great network. There are some fantastic photographers on there, among some of my favorites; Guy Tal, Ron Niebrugge, Michael Gordon, Gary Crabbe Dan Mitchell, Jim Goldstein and a host of others; some really great images on there, so if you haven’t got an account yet, it might be worth checking it out, if for no other reason than to follow the work of folks like this.

My Google Plus page is here.

Cheers

Carl

PS: Oh, and the photo above really has nothing to do with Google Plus; it’s from a hike I did last fall up to Mt Jarvis, and just happens to be a shot i like a lot. Of me, of course!

RAW files and stock photo sales

Carl D — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:15:24 +0000

A bull moose standing on the fall tundra in Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska. Vegetation includes Dwarf Birch and Alaska Willow. Please click on the image to view a larger version of the photo.

Hey Folks

Recently I saw a tweet the other day from photographer Richard Bernabe: “Just had a photo editor demand raw files to process as they see fit. I turned the deal down.”

I saw and enjoyed at least some of the following conversation. We discussed the merit of sending out a RAW file to a photo editor instead of some other file format, such as a tiff or a jpeg.

For myself, I can’t see any reason to not send a RAW file if an editor or graphic artist requests it, unless there was some very highly unusual and extenuating circumstance; the only one that springs to mind is if the final image was a manual blend of multiple exposures, and/or a panoramic stitch that I’d put together. Even in those circumstances, I suspect I’d most likely explain to the person I was dealing with about the amount of time involved in finishing the product from camera to computer screen, and suggest they simply use the finished 8-bit tif or jpeg file, but if they felt they really wanted the RAW files, I can’t see why not; it’d mean they have to do (in some cases) a whole lot of work I’d already done, but if that’s what they wanted, I can’t see a good reason to refuse.

If someone paid me to mow their lawn, then said they were going to mow it again, I’d have no issue with that. And while it’s true something like mowing a lawn isn’t a valid comparison to the artful process, the exact same kind of thing happens in art all the time.

Some of the world’s greatest musicians get called in (and highly paid) to record a track for an album. Let’s say a drummer named Steve Gap is hired to play drums for a studio album. Steve comes in, plays the track and then finds out the producer is going to hire another drummer to redo the hihat track? Happens all the time. Or the producer is going to use Pro Tools (a musician’s version of photoshop) and completely alter the snare track. Or the kick drum? Happens all the time.

Let’s say a photo editor calls and wants the moose photo above (happened the same week I saw the above tweet). I’m not going to have an issue if they choose to crop both sides in to the moose’s body, though that would drastically alter the mood of the image. That also happens all the time. or they crop it to a vertical composition. Or they pump up the saturation somewhat? Happens all the time. In fact, if the editor is going to do all this work, I’d probably see MORE sense in giving them the RAW file, as that contains more data to work with, more information for them to adjust and tweak the image for their usage than a tif or jpeg would.

Similarly, the argument of “giving up creative control” is somewhat dishonest. An editor is free to make all kinds of adjustments to any image you send them, and I doubt many photographers in today’s photo stock market are going to demand the printed image be cleared with them before final publication. In other words, whatever creative control you might be giving up with RAW files can be similarly lost with any other format; with the potential of the final image only rendering even worse, because we gave them a limited data set to work with.

A lot of folks call the RAW file the digital negative; and it was perfectly common in the days before digital capture to send out slides, be they originals or copies, for photo editors. That’s HOW we sold our photos. So I simply don’t see how it’s any different now – unless, of course, folks are so intensely photoshopping and adjusting their RAW images that they don’t want editors (or anyone else) to see the original RAW file (and I’m not suggesting this is the case with Rich, above, at all, and don’t mean to imply otherwise).

If it were me as photo editor, I’d need to have some particular reason to request a RAW file, simply because I’d rather let the photographer do the work of the conversion process. But, if for some reason it worked better for me to get a RAW file, I’d do it. I just can’t see a single reason for a photographer to refuse to send out a RAW file for a stock photo sale. If the editor wishes to deal with a RAW file rather than a tif, or jpeg, more power to them, I say.

Cheers

Carl

Click This; April 2011

Carl D — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 03:58:00 +0000

A coastal brown bear, Ursus arctos, walks along Brooks River shoreline at dawn, backlit, Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks

Next up in this series of news of the month pieces.

This month, I haven’t been spending as much time in the woods, and even less reading the news. Mostly, I’ve been grating sandpaper over my eyeballs … more commonly called “working on website updates”. I need to take about a year off, and learn how to do this properly, then start over from scratch and rebuild everything (yeah, that’s gunna happen).

Below I’ve compiled various bits from around the web that held my failing attention long enough to actually read through the piece. Feel free to add your own stuff of note, I’d love to see some things I’ve missed.

In a completely random order:

Photography Stuff

Northern Lights Photos I saw this the other day. A nice compilation of photos and a video of the Aurora, both borealis (northern) and australis (southern). Included are shots of the aurora both from space and IN space. Hubble space telescope photos of the aurora on Saturn. That’s a first, for me at least. And definitely check out this video/time lapse Terje Sorgjerd at the bottom of the post. Very cool.

A new blogger (for me, anyway). I wasn’t familiar with fellow Aussie photographer Mitchell Kanashkevich until I read this recent post on the aspirations of a Travel Photographer. Nice discussion, and his site is worth keeping connected to. Google reader time again.

Extreme Sheep LED Art This is simply way, way, way too cool. I mean, awesomely cool. “We took to the hills of Wales armed to the teeth with sheep, LEDs and a camera, to create a huge amazing LED display. Of sorts”. Do yourself a favor and watch this video. Do yourself 2 favors, and watch it again.

What’s wrong with global Photojournalism? Photographer discusses the state of photojournalism today, as presented in the recent “world’s top press photography contest”. A better discussion might be on the point of such contests.

Quote #1: “What the events reveal is the thinness of the margin on which modernity lives.” Bill McKibben, on the tragedy in Japan.

Capture NX2 tutorial I wrote a post a while back about Nikon Capture NX2, and how much I preferred the results to Photoshop’s ACR. Here’s a quick tutorial from Nikon on making some simple adjustments with the program. Things are never as simple as tutorials suggest, but this is helpful.

Composition I’m always in 2 minds about these kinds of articles. In some ways, they’re useful, but in so many other ways, they just seem to regurgitate old rules that don’t need to be regurgitated. Zappa’s “Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar” comes to mind as a response. Still though, it’s nice to read something like this once in every great while.

Fair Use and Photos A Photo Editor’s take on a recent decision in federal court. The case involved a claim of Fair Use, by Richard Prince, Gagosian Gallery, Lawrence Gagosian and Rizzoli International Publications, after photographer Patrick Cariou filed suit for copyright infringement. Prince “appropriated 28 images from Patrick’s Yes Rasta book for his Canal Zone exhibit at the Gagosian gallery”. Good news? Photographer wins.

Odds and Ends

Branding Do you brand? Do you think it’s important? Do you know what it is and how to do it? Do you want to? “Your brand is a promise to the client”. A few tips here on the subject.

WordPress Plugins WordPress is a great, great blogging platform. Virtually every “blogger” I know uses it. A few plugins here might be helpful to improve your photo blogsite. Which reminds me I need to install the Supercache plugin soon.

Artists and Facebook USA Today has a news article titled “Artists draw on Facebook to connect, or sell their work”. I wonder if next week they’ll have a scoop showing that chocolate tastes great. Seriously though, interesting article, looking at how something like the net is a boon for some artists, and a hassle for others.

AWARD WINNERS 2010 National Medal of Arts and National Humanities Medals were awarded by President Barack Obama. A list of winners is here. I’m jazzed that Sonny Rollins (pun intended) was awarded a medal, and also James Taylor, Quincy Jones, and Wendell Berry. Congrats to all the winners, what a great achievement and recognition.

Quote #2: “The creative person is both more primitive and more cultivated, more destructive, a lot madder and a lot saner, than the average person.” - Frank Barron.

Waste Land A documentary film following photographer Vic Muniz in Brazil. Muniz set out to change the lives of an impoverished group of self-assigned pickers of recyclable materials. “Creating portraits of the garbage pickers, selling them as high art, and giving all the money back to the community”.

Mount Blackburn at dawn. Winter photo, from Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Environmental Stuff

Tuamotu Kingfisher – less than 125 of these birds remain today, living on a tiny island in the South Pacific. “as a result of development and human-introduced”. A researcher is working with farmers and other island inhabitants to stem the extinction. At stake? “50,000 years of uniqueness and evolution”. An interesting approach. Article here.

The End of Overfishing? Article by By Michael Conathan, CAP’s Director of Ocean Programs. Suggests that climate change overrules managing proximate factors. We can tweak everything else, for sure, but at the end of the day, the climate will decide. Climate Progress is a great site.

Climate Change and the Russian boreal forest “The Great Russian forest is the size of the contiguous United States. It has experienced significant documented warming over the last several decades … tree species that are more tolerant of warmer weather are advancing northward at an increasing rate as species that are less tolerant to a warmer climate are declining in number.” Another article from Science Daily. For further reading, a look at how the Arctic Tundra might look before too long. Hank Shugart, professor of environmental sciences. “Warming creates more warming.”

What is Marine Wilderness? Article by ‘The WILD Foundation’, and a quick survey to take if you want, examining our precepts and notions on wilderness – and a question about marine wilderness. “Wilderness is what we believe it to be”. True? False?

Wolves and the ESA Recent action on the issue of Endangered Species Act listing of wolves in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. “conservation groups and the U.S. Department of the Interior (DoI) reached a compromise to remove protections for the animals in two states”. Details here.

Trapped Alaska magazine editor Tim Woody writes a blog about finding a wolf in a trap on a recent trek near the Portage flats. It’s a dilemma; legally, one is not allowed to do anything in such a case. I’ve often wondered how I might response if I ever have the misfortune to come on such a scene.

Bison versus mammoths What caused the extinctions of so many species of enormous creatures in North America 10 000 years ago? “experts debate: climate change, overhunting by humans, disease—or something else? Eric Scott, suggests it was something else: namely, the immigration of bison from Eurasia.” Scientific American article here.

Lessons from a Calamity Bill McKibben may be the best of the current crop of environmental writers. Andy Revkin highlights recent articles by Bill McKibben and George Monbiot — both leading voices of environmentalism, on lessons we might learn from the tragedy in Japan. McKibben is fantastic.

Quote #3: “If you fall into the creeks up there while fishing you die dont you?” - internet question about Alaska.

That’s it til next month. Please do add anything you really enjoyed. The only qualifiers are that you must have actually read the article/watched the video/browsed the photo/s, AND thought the link actually worthwhile sharing. Put everything else on Twitter.

Thanks folks.

Cheers

Carl

Click This – March 2011

Carl D — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 18:37:55 +0000

Backcountry Skiing trip, Kuskulana River, Mt. Blackburn, winter, Wrangell St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska.

Hey Folks

The next of the monthly series for 2011. The biggest news, of course, in photography this month was the Oscars. I, of course, missed them. Again. Ahh well – there goes pop culture, I spose.

The next biggest piece of news is that I’ve been spending quite a bit of time out of town, tooling around in Wrangell – St. Elias National Park, enjoying the mountains. A few days here, a few days there; beats the heck out of navigating the treacherous icy roads of Anchorage. And much more interesting than reading the news.

Below is what caught my eye this month. I’ve been in the mtns a bit, so might have missed some good stuff. Feel free to add your own stuff of note.

In no particular order:

Photography Stuff

Flickr Loses 4000 Photos. Popular photo hosting website, Flickr, screwed up and deleted over 4000 photos belonging to longtime account holder Mirco Wilhelm. “Wilhelm had e-mailed Flickr customer service about another user’s account which seemed to be packed with stolen photos — a violation of the site’s policies. In trying to delete that errant account, the Flickr employee accidentally nuked Wilhelm’s.”

Canon 200-400mm lens. One lens all my friends who shoot Canon gear have been lusting over for a long time, finally announced. A 200-400mm F4 lens – “Designed for Canon’s leading range of EOS Digital SLR cameras, the new lens will be an ideal addition for sports and wildlife photographers, offering exceptional flexibility with a built-in 1.4x extender that creates an increased focal range of 280 – 560mm.”. Have at it, folks, I’m sure this will be a popular piece of gear.

Extinct Species Photos. New York Times does a short slide show; “A Gallery of Species Lost and on the Brink”

Amazing Mountain Lions. How many wildlife photographers would love an image of a mountain lion? how about a photo with 8 mountain lions in it. All wild. Check this out.

Quote #1: “In the tension between light and dark is the power of the universes”. Peter Matthiessen, The Snow Leopard.

Most Surprising Photos of 2010. TIME Magazine displays a great Photo Essay, 21 photos from 2010. Some great stuff. #5 will blow your mind. Yikes! #13 is pretty amazing as well.

Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem A Photo Essay. – “a generally intact ecosystem; all the wild critters that were here a couple of centuries ago when Lewis and Clark passed through the Northern Rockies – wolves, grizzly bears, bison – are still here.” Dave Showalter has some nice stuff here, on the NRDC’s website. Good work.

American Pastoral. This is a must read. Mark Meyer, Alaska photographer, has an excellent piece here on a recently proposed bill in Florida by Florida Senator Jim Norman (R-Tampa) – the bill “would make it a first degree felony in the Sunshine State to make visual depictions of any property without written permission where agriculture operations are being conducted. Other first degree felonies in Florida are murder, rape, kidnapping, sexual battery, and child molestation. Burglary of an unoccupied structure and third degree grand theft are only third degree felonies.”

Aurora webcam. A webcam showing auroras. Useful tool for folks wanting to go out and maybe see or shoot the lights.

Facebook Changes. Recent (again) changes to Facebook are reviewed here on the Photo Editor website. As with everything to do with “the Face”, seems like every rose has its thorn.

Gave Our Kodachrome Away. Nothing lasts forever, not even those “nice bright colors”. Seems Dec 30 was the end of the line for this photography classic. There’s not a single place left to process Kodachrome film. “On Dec 30, 2010, Dwayne’s Photo in Parsons, Kan. will stop processing Kodachrome”. I know, I know, it’s now March. So what?

Artists and Alchemists. Speaking of film, here’s a film about film. Seems a little over the top to me, from the trailer here, but I know some folks will be keen to see this film. “In this digital age, a growing number of artists are reviving 19th century techniques to create modern photographs. Artists & Alchemists is a feature length documentary that follows ten contemporary and renowned photographers employing antiquated photographic processes.”

Photo Tips. Bret Edge puts a nice post on his blog with some helpful reminders to improve our photos. Excellent advice. Nice discussion follows the blog. Sweep the edges of the frame!

Odds and Ends

Customizing Facebook Pages. This guy did it. Nice job, too. Photoshelter blog present Nathan Armes’ work on customizing his facebook page. Will be interesting to see if this catches on. Here’s Nathan’s Facebook page.

Gmail users Some helpful hacks and tips to make gmail even more user-friendly. Gmail is the bomb. With these tips and tricks, gmail rocks even harder. For example, a link to the official gmail keyboard shortcuts page. eg. Click ‘J’ to open or move your cursor to the next oldest conversation.

Quote #2: “In art as in life, form and subject, body and soul, are one.” – Ed Abbey.

Canabis and Psychosis. Scientific America publish an article about an upcoming paper; “This particular study found that marijuana use is associated with early development of psychosis.” Put the pipe down, kids.

Internet Explorer 9.0. Website updates all around, I suppose. What else can this mean? “Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9 web browser goes live”? As someone doing my own website work, I shudder everytime I hear anything about Internet Explorer. I hope it dies a slow painful death.

Free Hugs. This is pretty cool; a moving video of people offering “Free hugs” around the world. Seriously folks – Watch this clip.

A cow moose, Alces alces, stands outside a house, Anchorage, Alaska, winter. I shot this leaning out the window, with a 12-24mm lens. That's up close to a moose.

Environmental Stuff

Extinctions lost. Interesting read (by Richard Conniff) on the science of species extinctions. We forget that only a short while ago people didn’t actually believe an entire species could be wiped off the earth’s face. I wonder if the remaining deniers of evolution are simply holdovers from this earlier idea.

Ocelot in Arizona. This is a cool story. An all too rare ocelot spotted (clever pun) in the Huachuca Mountains in southern Arizona. Now we just have to Arizona Fish and Game don’t kill it. Seriously, though, great news.

Wolverines and Climate Change. “The new study shows that climate change might endanger wolverines in the mainland U.S. by eliminating springtime snow and significantly increasing summer temperatures.” Article in Nat Geo on wolverines and climate change.

Serengeti Highway.“A proposed two-lane road across the northern edge of Serengeti National Park in Tanzania would block the migration of 1.5 million wildebeest and threaten endangered species, according to a leaked government report.” E360 Yale have the item here, with all the links you need to follow it up.

Orcas and Grey Whales. Heavy duty - “Up to a third of Eastern Pacific grey whale calves born each year are eaten by orcas that prowl the tip of the Alaskan Peninsula”. Orcas are amazing creatures – fascinating read.

Amur Tigers. Amur, or Siberian Tigers, are in a crisis, apparently. “The effective population of the critically endangered Amur tiger is now fewer than 14 animals, say scientists. — Approximately 500 Amur tigers actually survive in the wild, but the effective population is a measure of the genetic diversity of the world’s largest cat.” BBC Earth news.

Playing God. Peter Gleick writes, on the subject of intentionally permitting a species to go extinct if an argument can be made that it will somehow help other species survive; “killing off a species of animal, or bird, or fish in the name of economic gain is reasonable, including legislators trying to weaken or destroy the Endangered Species Act .. is a moral, ethical, and political outrage”. SFGate article.

“The Limits of Laws as a Conservation Tool” Andy Revkin replies to the above here. “it’s pretty clear that this century will, in many situations, unavoidably see a shift away from “saving” species to conserving ecological function and diversity.” Recommended reading.

EPA Considers Pebble Mine. At long last – “The federal Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it will review the consequences of large-scale development projects, such as the proposed copper and gold Pebble mine, in the Bristol Bay watershed.” Good news but I doubt it’s good enough. Pebble Mine is a disaster waiting to happen – ADN article.

Gorilla Twins. More good news; “Twin mountain gorillas have been born in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda …. only the fifth set of twins ever recorded in the history of Rwanda’s mountain gorillas.” More importantly, apparently the population of this species is increasing, almost doubling in the last 30 years.

Cradle of Life. “Two dozen chemists, geologists, biologists, planetary scientists and physicists gathered here recently to ponder where and what Eden might have been”. Great article in the NYTimes.

Quote #3: Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They came through you but not from you and though they are with you yet they belong not to you.” – Kahlil Gibran

That’s the news from here til next month. If you have any items you’d like to add below, please do so. The only qualifiers are that you must have actually read the article/watched the video/browsed the photo/s, AND thought the link actually worthwhile sharing. Put everything else on Twitter.

Thanks folks.

Cheers

Carl

Click this.

Carl D — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 03:27:45 +0000

Hey Folks

The first of the monthly series for 2011. In no particular order:

Photography Stuff

A Video by Frans Lanting. A short video presentation on his Life Project, and how the ‘biodiversity project’ for National Geographic led him there. Quite possibly the only photography related “news” you need to give your attention to. Amazing.

Animal Photos of the Year. The UK’s “The Telegraph” present 30 Photos of the year, in the category “Feeding and fighting”. The first image is fantastic. Check all the categories for some more cool photos.

Photos of the Year. Naturescapes.net presents their Photos of the Year Gallery. Some amazing images here, all of them. Justin Reznick’s Grand Teton image is superb. Congrats to everyone.

Quote #1: “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

ANWR turns 50 Years old. And I’ll plug my own slideshow here. If you haven’t seen it, take a wander through the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge with this birthday tribute; 50 years since the establishment of the Refuge. Here’s to the next 50.

Photographers present their 2011 favorites. Jim Goldstein hosts the annual photo-pallooza, with well over hundred and fifty photographers offering their favorite images from the last year. Thanks to Jim for putting this together. Check out the work here.

Photography and Conservation. A video from the ILCIP, International League of Conservation Photographers. “In a new video documentary, some of the world’s foremost conservation photographers discuss the critical role photography plays in calling attention to threats faced by the natural world and in affecting global change.” Watch the Video documentary. “You really can’t have successful conservation without photography shining a light on it”.

Photography Business Plan. A helpful article on mapping out where you might want to head, starting now. Contrast this structured approach to the typical “let’s see what happens when we press this” strategy adopted by most “artist” types (yes, yes, yes, I know, gimmea break here, OK?) Start Your photo business plan for 2011.

Frog and a Snake. Of all the amazing images coming from the countless weather related madness around the world, this one is pretty wild. A frog hitches a ride on a the back of a brown snake to flee the flooding in Queensland, Australia.

Photo Editing Tips. Another article via Jim Goldstein’s blog, Experienced professional Gary Crabbe offers his advice on editing photos. A helpful read, well worth your time. Gary’s really someone to learn from, so this article is full of useful tips.

Aperture Blog. Aperture users would do well to subscribe to this great blog. With a new look, it’s a great site.

Nature’s Best Magazine. 2010 Winners published in Nature’s Best Magazine. Windland Smith Rice International Award Winners. Some wonderful photography here, of course. Look for Bence Máté’s Green-crowned Brilliant Hummingbird and Green Pit Viper – stunning shot.

Meditation and the Brain. Not directly “photography” related, but I’m sure the findings would be very similar had they studied making art. “an 8-week meditation course leads to structural changes in the brain”. Short article from Scientific America.

Odds and Ends

We are Cyborgs now. Technology is evolving us, says Amber Case, as we become a screen-staring, button-clicking new version of homo sapiens. Amber Case studies the symbiotic interactions between humans and machines — and considers how our values and culture are being shaped by living lives increasingly mediated by high technology. Good, short presentation.

Google and Bing? Who’s copying who? Google says Bing is “cheating, copying our search results”. Perhaps what’s most disturbing is Bing’s response, in the article: “Bing has been watching what people search for on Google, the sites they select from Google’s results, then uses that information to improve Bing’s own search listings. Bing doesn’t deny this.”

Quote #2: “We don’t like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out.” – Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

Science and People. Are we hard-wired to distrust science? “The absence of scientific evidence doesn’t dissuade those who believe childhood vaccines are linked to autism, or those who believe their headaches, dizziness and other symptoms are caused by cellphones and smart meters. And the presence of large amounts of scientific evidence doesn’t convince those who reject the idea that human activities are disrupting the climate.” This is a pretty interesting article, read it here.

Facebook Ads are up. Facebook continue to spread the word, and make every single word you utter someone else’s spam. Now they’ve “introduced a new advertising vehicle called Sponsored Stories, which takes all those shared “likes,” check-ins and other actions that are already being posted by you and your friends and turns it into a paid ad.” The folks at Facebook say who tested this out said ”it helped with brand identification and retention.” Seems like there’s no end to this stuff. Full article.

2010 Tops off a hot decade. And yet the deniers continue. “Topping off the warmest decade in history, 2010 experienced a global average temperature of 14.63 degrees Celsius (58.3 degrees F), tying 2005 as the hottest year in 131 years of recordkeeping.” From the Earth Policy Institute.

Winter on the Kuskulana River, Kuskulana Gorge, near the McCarthy Road, Wrangell - St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska. During the summer this river rages a dirty silty brown, a seething torrent of dirty water. At the lower water levels of winter, it becomes a beautiful turquoise. Fantastic place.

Environmental Stuff

Wilderness Debate. Is it jobs versus preservation, of jobs versus jobs? “For years, colleagues in the outdoor industry have recognized the tired, old sound-bite debate of “jobs vs. preservation” as overlooking the 6.5 million Americans whose jobs are created by the active outdoor recreation economy. It is as if the $730 billion contributed to the American economy annually did not exist”. A nice article by Black Diamond Equipment CEO Peter Metcalf.

Doug Peacock on Grizzlies. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, “Peacock talks about why the demise of white-bark pine will lead to more contacts between grizzlies and people, why the grizzly needs to be protected under the Endangered Species Act, and how witnessing the bear in the wild helped restore his spirit after his tour as a Green Beret medic in Vietnam”. Doug Peacock’s awesome. Check this interview out.

Durrell’s vontsira (Salanoia durrelli) Welcome to the world. Scientists “discover” the Newest Member of the Order Carnivora in 24 years. A mongoose-like creature in Madagascar. Of course “the creature may not be long for this world: much of its wetland habitat has been drained to grow rice”.

Conservation Biology. A great article focusing on climate change and conservation, looking closely at the National Parks and particularly Yellowstone. “As ecologists scramble to predict changes, park managers are gearing up for a new management style, which will have to include at least one of two approaches traditionally anathema to the profession: letting things change, or intervening aggressively to keep them the same. In many cases, choosing between these strategies will be the challenge.”

The World’s Newest Cat. Scientists have determined that the Clouded Leopard actually exists in 2 distinct forms, or species. “This big cat is so enigmatic that researchers only realised it was a new species – distinct from clouded leopards living elsewhere in Asia – in 2007. The first footage of the cat in the wild to made public was only released last year”. Pretty cool article here, with a video.

Polar Bear’s Epic swim. “A polar bear swam continuously for over nine days, covering 687km (426 miles), a new study has revealed … researchers say that increased sea ice melts push polar bears to swim greater distances, risking their own health and future generations. …. “This bear swam continuously for 232 hours and 687 km and through waters that were 2-6 degrees C,” says research zoologist George M. Durner.

High school biology teachers and evolution. This is disturbing. “The central theory of biology is evolution, yet a new study shows that most high school biology teachers are reluctant to endorse it in class. .. about 60 percent, “fail to explain the nature of scientific inquiry, undermine the authority of established experts, and legitimize creationist arguments.” I wonder if math teachers resist teaching pythagorean theory?

Shark-eating Orcas. Wow! Fascinating read (and yes, I agree SA shouldn’t have called Orcas “Whales” – they’re dolphins) … ”one type of killer whale, or orca, has been found to dine on an unusual dish: shark. But these ‘offshore’ killer whales of the northeastern Pacific pay a high price for their tough-skinned preference — their teeth become worn right down to the gums”. 2 of the 3 well-studied northeastern Pacific orca have been known since the 1970s: One, the ‘residents’ eat fish, and the others, the ‘transients’, eat marine mammals, like sea lions. The 3rd, known as ‘offshore orcas’ “were first identified in the late 1980s, but what they prefer to eat has been a mystery up to now.”

Quote #3: “The difference between pornography and erotica is lighting.” - Gloria Leonard

Thanks folks.

Cheers

Carl

Stuff to Click On – Oct 2010

Carl D — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 22:02:27 +0000

Chuck and his MSR hubba (tent) on the coastal plain, ANWR, Alaska. We spent 2 weeks rafting the Canning river, and this photo was taken toward the end of the trip. It wasn't as cold as it looks; Chuck's from Florida. Good times indeed.

Hey Folks,

I’ve decided to make some changes to the blog and will be trying to get them up and running in the coming months. The first one is in this particular post. I want to post a kind of ‘Clips of the Month’ page; videos, photos, articles, quotes, whatever, that caught my eye during the month. I find nowadays there’s simply so much amazing material getting blasted around the web that it’s about impossible to keep up with even a fraction of it. Facebook posts and Tweets come down the pipe a mile a minute, all pushing (and pushed) down the page, completely gone; disappeared before I’m done reading the actual link; it’s a frustrating race to the bottom. I end up missing most of what folks post out there.

That’s compounded by a popular trend whereby (some) folks think it’s good to simply tweet and post every link that runs across their monitor – which wastes an awful lot of time for the receiver. Rather than simply tweeting every single post that says “Hey, check out this totally awesome photo”, I thought it might be useful to post a collection of links that (a) I’ve actually visited/read/watched, and (b) I honestly thought were not just above the banal, but that I felt were pretty cool/interesting/and yes, even awesome. Hopefully posting them as a blog page makes the content a little less transient, as well. We’ll see if the idea is a good one or not. It’s simply a collection of links to articles, photos, etc, that I ran across, one place or another, and thought were actually worth sharing.

Photography Stuff

Awards. Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, 2010. One of the most prestigious photography competitions in the world. Definitely worth browsing these images.

New eBook by Guy Tal. Creative Landscape Photography. An instructional text aimed at “intermediate and advanced photographers seeking to evolve their skills beyond the basics.” What’s not interesting about that? I’m going to review this book more closely in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

More exceptional images winning awards. Charter Institute of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) Environmental Photographer of the Year, 2001, Awards. Some great work here.

The Key To Findability. A nice article on Digital Asset Management (DAM) and database-driven search. Effectively, how to manage your sh** so you (and others) can find it. John Mancini’s article here.

The Nikon Post: David duChemin has it right. “I am approaching this post with trepidation knowing what kind of strange misplaced fury these issues bring up in some people. If only some people put as much energy into” their creative lives, eh? But you are not those people, so that’s why I’m not keeping this to myself. In other words, he knows that few things garner readership on his blog like a post about switching from Canon to Nikon (or vice versa) … Read David’s article —>

Extreme Exposures. Annenberg Space for Photography honors 5 great photographers with this series – Clyde Butcher, Michael Nichols, Paul Nicklen and Donna & Stephen O’Meara. See the slideshow online at Treehugger.com (check out photo #10).

National Geographic Photo of the Day. A great way to start your day. Click and browse National Geographic’s Photos of the Day. Galleries of wildlife, landscapes, adventure, black and white, people, etc, etc. Some really nice images here. Check out, for example, this photo of Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, Iceland erupting.

Quote #1: “When you trust your point of view, that’s when you start taking pictures.” ~ Rolling Stone magazine photographer, Annie Leibovitz.

Nature Photographers Head to Bosque. Naturescapes Photography Series: Bosque del Apache, New Mexico. Join Greg Downing, along with Deborah Sandidge and Tim Grey for a nature photography extravaganza this December, at Bosque del Apache, New Mexico. That’s gotta be a blast to attend.

How to land a gig. A short (and pretty cool) video by Alec Brownstein, showing how he landed a job with one of the top advertising agencies in NYC … “When top advertising creative directors Googled themselves, they got a message from me asking for a job.” For a total outlay of 6 bucks. Good ideas come from where? Take a look at this 60 second video.

Odds and Ends

Documentary Film about Gary Snyder. Author of “Practice of the Wild” (one of my favorite books) and poet laureate of deep ecology, Gary Snyder is featured in this documentary film about his life. Snyder rocks! The film premieres in NYC, Nov 12. This short, 2 minute trailer gives a hint of what’s to come.

Quip from the Onion! This appropriate quip from twitter: “NEWSWIRE: The Huffington Post has launched a new print edition featuring articles torn out of other newspapers.” Ha ha — classic! So much for News feeds, eh? Definitely add the Onion to your Twitter feed.

Quote #2: “A sycamore leaf helicopters down, gold, in the south wind. A train whistle blows lonesome to the west.” Now THAT’S a beautiful Tweet! Tweeted from @BluegrassPoet.

Social Media News: New York Times Has More Twitter Followers than Print Readers .. How does the NYT end up with 140 character tweets more valuable than their printed articles? An interesting read. “Could a future of so long print and hello headlines in 140 characters or less be far away? … “

Facebook in the News (again). Facebook and their Privacy Issues. An article on what you can do in dealing with the recent facebook debacle. F-b, it seems is just a pain in the a$$.

Quote #3: “A young painter who cannot liberate himself from the influence of past generations is digging his own grave.” — Henri Matisse.

What's cooler than being cool? Bret Debbold, checking out the Chitistone Canyon, Skolai Pass to Wolverine, July 2010.

Environmental Stuff

What Price for Species?A thought provoking article that discusses the question ‘why do species matter?’

The Great Bear Rainforest; Home of the Spirit Bear and (potentially) an oil/gas pipeline? Searching for the Spirit Bear, a video from abc News. They have a few videos on the Spirit Bear, or Kermode bear, in this series.

ANWR and Wilderness? Wilderness Designation for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge: “A planned study of possible new wilderness protections for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge has sparked a furor in Alaska, where energy companies have long dreamed of tapping oil reserves beneath its vast coastal plain home to herds of migrating animals. ……” - essentially, the US F&WS finally decide to study the refuge in order to (hopefully) designate wilderness protections. The sooner the better!

Arctic Warming? Scientific American article on Climate Change and arctic. People still think this is a ‘when this might happen’ issue, as opposed to the reality of ‘it’s happening right now. Crazy stuff. “Warming continues to shrink the snow and ice cover that defines the Arctic, signaling the region’s shift to a new climate pattern, scientists said yesterday. …. ”

Polar Bear News. A federal judge asks US F&WS why did they choose to list the polar as ‘threatened’ rather than endangered’. Article here. (hmmm .. now why would the Bush administration have done that, Carl wonders aloud?)

The Gulf Between Us: writer Terry Tempest Williams, via Orion Magazine, on the Gulf Oil Disaster.“This story in the Gulf of Mexico is not a new story. Living in the American West, I understand the oil and gas industry, both its political power in a state like Wyoming and its lack of regard for the safety of workers.”

The Wolverine. “Long viewed as mean, belligerent and solitary, appear to have gotten a bum rap, according to new research conducted at Glacier National Park.” Learning about the Wolverine. This is an interesting article about one of the coolest animals in the mountains – Gulo gulo.

Scientists Versus Think Tanks. A dozen scientists have written an article essentially pointing out the dishonesty of a couple of “independent” think tanks.. Apparently the World Growth International (WGI) and International Trade Stategies Global (ITS) 2 think tanks on logging and forestry, walk “a thin line between reality and a significant distortion of the facts”. WGI are simply lobbyists for the forestry corporations masquerading as an NGO operating for the world’s poor. Those think tanks are, not surprisingly, closely associated with conservative US groups such as The Heritage Foundation & American Enterprise Institute. Both Mongabay and Andrew Revkin have good articles on the story.

That’s the news from here til next month. If you have any items you’d like to add below, please do so. The only qualifiers are that you must have actually read the article/watched the video/browsed the photo/s, AND thought the link actually worthwhile sharing. Put everything else on Twitter.

Thanks folks.

Cheers

Carl