diatribe

I was just reading an article in the New York Times entitled You Bet Your Tintype, Buckaroo on the tintype photography of Robb Kendrick. Check out his site to see some excellent imagery. Take an especially close look at his tintype work - absolutely amazing!

Adblock Plus: what would Jesus do? (Nick/Rough Type): “

Adblock Plus: what would Jesus do?‘ —’ I’m deep in a quandary.’ A couple of days ago, after calling Adblock Plus ‘the nuclear plug-in,’ I actually went nuclear.’ I downloaded the sucker and started using it.’ I was seduced by Noam Cohen’s description of the almost Zenlike sense of peace …

Source: ‘ Rough Type: Nicholas Carr’s Blog

Author: ‘ Nick

Link: ‘ http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2007/09…

Techmeme permalink

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(Via tech.memeorandum.)

Adblock Plus is not evil in any way. If publishers and advertisers would use less invasive advertisements there would be no desire (need) to block ads. Advertising has become progressively more and more invasive to the point that it over powers, in some cases obliterates, the content. Trying to read any type of content - which amounts to a page full of jiggling, blinking, animated graphics with some words (content) mixed in - is less than a pleasant experience.

So, what the publishers seem to be oblivious to is that ultimately customers are just being driven away because the once valuable content has become so lost in the distraction. The content is now devalued to the point that it is perceived to be more troublesome to suffer through the irritation of the advertising to pick out the few salient pieces. When it becomes overly burdensome to find the content amongst the ads a consumer is left with two choices - eliminate the ads or eliminate the publisher.

Where does the money go? It will follow the consumer. The damage has been done, attrition is rampant and the publisher will probably not recover. The root cause occurred far back - when the decision to give the quick, small, right-now, profit a higher priority than the long-term, larger, profit. It has become more important to get a few people to click now, before alienating them, versus a customer retention policy which is perceived to be beneficial by said customer and would, in the long run, garner the publisher more clicks and therefore more income.

The Internet is different from print and broadcast - it empowers the consumer, who is no longer at the mercy of the broadcaster or print publisher to the extent that they must take whatever is provided to them in those mediums. It amazes me that advertising on the Internet has really not progressed past this style of thinking. Tape decks and VCRs made it possible to record programs so one could fast forward through the commercials, the irritating parts, and consume the broadcast at leisure and one’s own time of choosing. Now, the DVR is fast making this manner of consuming broadcast media ubiquitous. CDs and connectors for digital music devices are eliminating the captive audience radio broadcasters once commanded. How successful would print publications be if the articles were laid out like many web pages? Where the text of the articles follows no decipherable pattern of flow making it easy to follow and consume but, rather, is bastardized into a series of ads interspersed with bits of text.

The Internet is such a powerful and enabling mechanism for delivering a message. Sticking to traditional metaphors for advertising placement and delivery will continue to be less and less successful as more and more consumers become aware that they are empowered and the technologies involved reach critical mass. Just because an advertiser wants consumers to see their ad is no longer a guarantee that all - or any - consumer will ever see the ad. Ads on the Internet need to offer value, contribute to and have a symbiotic relationship with the content in which they are presented. At the very least they should not go to such great lengths to compete with the content to such a distracting level.

Think context, think behavior, think attention, think retention - long-term, multi-way relationships providing mutually beneficial gain.

Technorati Tags:
internet, advertising, adblock plus

PhotoshopNews: Photoshop News and Information » Camera Raw 4.1 update: “Martin Evening, author of Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers has published an update to working with Adobe Camera Raw 4.1.”

(Via PhotoshopNews.)

If you do not already have Martin’s excellent book - reading through this kind contribution to the Photoshop community should be all the convincing you need to pick up a copy for yourself. The voluminous information contained within this book is indispensable for photographers using Photoshop to produce their final output. Explained and illustrated in a very knowledgeable and reachable way by a true Photoshop expert.

Technorati Tags:
digital photography, photography, photoshop

Isn’t it good to know that not all things in life are bad!

BBC NEWS | Health | Guinness good for you - official

The old advertising slogan “Guinness is Good for You” may be true after all, according to researchers.

A friend of mine mentioned having issues with shooting lately - not enough time, don’t know what to shoot, don’t have an active personal project, can’t think of a good concept for a personal project, etc. I’ve been thinking about our discussion for a few days and have come to the conclusion that for me - shooting more and contemplating less is effective. It’s very easy to get lost in the act of contemplation…thinking about the what, where and when…often, to the point of not acting on the contemplation and doing the shooting.

Sometimes, the wheels need to be greased in order to revitalize the pleasure and satisfaction we feel when indulging in the act of doing something we enjoy. A good, perpetual personal project is to take a bit of time to just shoot with no particular purpose or objective. Just capturing what catches my eye; not worrying about achieving any particular goal, result or purpose. Often times, while most of the images are crap (as are most of my images, most of the time, regardless of the motivation for putting viewfinder to eye) there will be one or two which may lead to a new personal project or stimulate an interest in exploring the subject to the next level.

I recently went to pottery barn with a friend of mine looking at furniture. I noticed that they had a table near the cash register with sale/clearance items. Included among these were bags of various small items to be used for decorating. I looked through several of the bags and settled on one with sea shells. I have really enjoyed working with these shells during the late evenings this week. I lay them out on my desk, examine them, find ones that have interesting patterns or shapes and proceed to set up, light, and shoot them. While the images in and of themselves are not extraordinary by any means, the process has served the purpose of keeping me in the correct frame of mind for my photography. A receptive, creative frame of mind - looking at the world around me differently - noticing it…

The proximity of this mini-exercise to my day-to-day life has also been the catalyst for starting a new personal project which came together because of what I had been shooting on Monday evening coupled with an article I read on Tuesday afternoon. So, rather than contemplating personal projects and concepts - waiting for some type of epiphany to strike - I take a closer look at the present surroundings and shoot what is interesting. It is a lot easier to shoot when there is a camera at hand; walking around with it will do wonders for my creativity. The simplest of rigs, body and a 50mm, fits the bill perfectly. Small, light, yet very capable of allowing exploration and flexibility in making pictures. I’m not talking about just randomly taking snapshots. Thinking and contemplating, while shooting, is imperative - it’s what drives us to fully explore an interesting subject. But, when shooting the thinking and contemplating is focused on a subject and exploring creative options - not aimlessly seeking an intangible. It’s the idea that, when I can’t think of something to shoot, I go shoot - I know it sounds odd but, it works for me.

Technorati Tags:
photography, inspiration, motivation, personal, photographing