June 17, 2008
The aptly-named Mexican Hat, UT, also the namesake of a neighboring town.

on flickr

June 17, 2008
Looking eastbound along Utah 128 just west of the off-road capital of the world, Moab.

on flickr

Bounce Baby
Galactic

(rss subscribers click through to listen)
link to iTunes

Among my fondest childhood memories is sitting outside on the front porch and watching a good thunderstorm.  I know a few people who are just terrified to death of them, a fear I’ve never quite understood.

Early yesterday morning I set up a couple of microphones outside and recorded 30 minutes of the pleasant thunderstorm that rolled through. Often when I’m sleeping, I like to put on quiet, instrumental music, but there are other times when I really enjoy listening to recordings like this.  There’s nothing quite like waking up to a good storm.

Here’s yesterday’s recording of rain, thunder, and birdsong:

(RSS subscribers click through to listen)

Thunder occurs throughout the audio, with good examples at 1:22, 2:43, 4:30, and 6:18

Before I took an interest in photography, I didn’t really pay much attention to the subtle differences in how photos displayed online.  The more of my own photos I posted and put artistic time into, however, the more anal I became about how they appeared across various browsers, applications, and operating systems.

Switching from a PC to a Mac was like going from Courtney Love to Courtney Cox.  I can’t say enough good things, and I won’t be going back to a PC, even though once upon a time I was among the most ardent, loyal PC guys out there.

About the time I made the jump, though, I noticed that my photos were displaying a bit different in Firefox on the Mac than they had on the PC.  Then again, I had also switched cameras about the same time, so I had to sort out whether it was the camera, the computer, the Photoshop, or the Firefox.

What I noticed was that images appeared slightly “washed out” in Firefox, that is, as compared to how they looked in Photoshop.  Once I would copy the photo out of Firefox and paste it back into Photoshop, it looked the same.  It was like some funky mind trick, but it led me to believe it was the browser.  It wasn’t bad — just enough to make an obsessive-compulsive, anal perfectionist lose sleep.

If you’re a Firefox 3 user, you’ll do yourself a favor by performing this quick and easy little fix, making photos across the board display true to their originals:

1.) Open a new tab with Command+T (CTRL+T on a PC)
2.) Type about:config then Enter
3.) Click the button that says, “Ill be careful, I promise!”
     (Note: it’s possible to screw things up in the configuration, but we won’t be doing any of that)
4.) Paste gfx.color_management.enabled into the search filter
5.) Double-click the entry that pops up so it says true.
6.) Restart your browser.  You’re done!

You can read more about color management on Wikipedia.
Courtney photos from hecklerspray.com

Sorry for the lack of posts this week.  But I did want to thank everyone for the overwhelming response to Copyrights and Wrongs.  The comments, emails, and echoes on other blogs have been an encouragement to defend my hobby!  I haven’t yet decided on a course of action, but I am putting some thought into it.

The last week has been hectic.  I turned 26 and let some friends get me intoxicated, after which my body reminded me that I’m not 21 anymore.  Add to that a couple of interesting (and one bad) days at work and I’m just now getting all caught back up.

Today’s a day off, and I promise, there will be at least one post a day for the next week.

I have learned a lesson which brings a whole new meaning to “Intellectual Roadkill”. If I’m honest, the subject of copyrights didn’t really hit home until my intellectual property was used commercially, without my permission:

Yesterday, thanks to a phone call from Mitch Harper (Fort Wayne Observed) and an email from Brian Spaulding (What’s Going Down[town]), I learned of a flyer which uses one of my photos. The flyer advertises a beer tent going on during the Three Rivers Festival, on the northeast corner of Harrison and Columbia Streets. This beer tent, of course, is managed by a local company.

I do business with this organization, both personally and professionally, so here I choose my words carefully.  Yesterday afternoon I made a call to a senior official with the company who informed me that one of their graphic designers and webmaster, Kristin, was responsible for this flyer. Furthermore, he told me that no less than ten thousand of the flyers had already been printed and distributed, and that recovery of my bastardized intellectual property was, at that point, impossible.

The photo that was used is my personal favorite. I put more time, effort, and even money into making it than any other yet, and it has been the only one for which I have been able to make a little money selling prints.  There is a 44-inch, matted and framed version hanging in my home (pic).

The company representative called Kristin, who told him she “found the photo in a Google Image search.“  I have searched Google Images every which way I can, and the only listing I can find for this photo is its Flickr page, which clearly states:  © All Rights Reserved. Regardless though, as a corporate graphic designer, Kristin should know better than to use Google’s image search as a stock photo library for corporate promotional material.  This behavior is reprehensible at best.

Focusing on other parts of the photo and doing a little Googling of my own, it appears that the street signs and pole came from a copyrighted photo by Larry Stritof, which was featured on Boston.About.com:

You may recognize my photo as part of the banner for Fort Wayne Observed.  Many months ago, Mitch Harper approached me and asked to use it, which is more than kosher with me.  Fort Wayne Observed is not a commercial enterprise and frankly, I’m flattered.

Kristin, on the other hand, did not contact me, I was never able to approve the manner in which my property was used, nor did she offer me any money to use my photo in 10,000 advertisements. I think $500 would have been a good starting point.

I’m not trying to sound self-absorbed here, but her actions are unacceptable.  It is certainly one thing to use such material in a not-for-profit, fair-use setting, but adverts and flyers are a whole different ballgame, and they made more money off my artwork than I ever have, without compensating me or even asking.  That’s what I find supremely disappointing.

June 17, 2008
Driving from Salt Lake City to Monument Valley on US 191 just south of Moab, UT, one sees a spectacular arch appear around a bend in the highway: Wilson Arch.  Quite elevated from the road and perched on a tall skirt of slickrock, Wilson Arch is accessible to sure-footed individuals willing to make the short, steep hike in 100+ degree heat.

At 91 feet wide and 46 feet tall, it was hard to leave such a magnificent piece of God’s creation.

And in the event you’re wondering why I was wearing a long-sleeve shirt and a hat when it was 102 degrees outside, it’s the same shirt and hat I’m wearing in the banner photo of this site :o)   …kinda had a symbolic purpose.

June 16, 2008
On my way to an of-the-beaten-path location in the middle of the Utah desert (and trust me, it was really off the beaten path…), I saw this Coldwell Banker sign posted in front of a good hundred-thousand acres of open land.  This was open cattle range, and there wasn’t a fence as far as the eye could see.

I thought it rather comical that this sign was the tallest structure I had come across for a good two hours of backcountry driving.  And it’s things like that that make me want to move out there.

Matchbox
The Kooks

(rss subscribers click through to listen)
link to iTunes