Entries from April 2008 ↓

This is neat: Photographer Mike Stimpson is recreating some classic photos using Lego setups. His re-creation of Charles Ebbets’s famed “Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper”:

Accompanying each shot is a credit to the original photographer, information about the shot (lighting, exposure, etc.), and a photo of the setup itself :

You can view the entire set on Flickr, or purchase prints via Mike’s space on RedBubble.

It’s 2008, and this is what I have to do to get video files off of my Sony DCR-SR82 HDD Handycam, and into an iMovie-digestible format:

1. Download video from the camcorder using the Sony-provided HDD Handycam Utility (crap) within a Windows VM.
2. Move videos from the offload directory to ~/Movies/Sony Handycam/Originals on the host system.
3. Send the offloaded .mpg files to VisualHub (MP4, highest quality, H.264 encoded), saving to ~/Movies/Sony Handycam/Exports.
4. Open iMovie and import Exports/* as new iMovie event, allowing iMovie to move files from Exports to ~/Movies/iMovie Events.

Sony: Please stop sucking ass, and produce some useful software for the creative world’s most popular operating system.

Apple: Please stop sucking ass, and build MPEG-2 handling and playback capability into iMovie and Quicktime, respectively.

UPDATE1: About the MPEG-2 component included with iMovie ‘08

UPDATE2: After raising a stink, I figured that I’d spend a little more time trying to figure out how to make my Handycam work with native iMovie ‘08. Turns out that you have to turn on the camera, wait for OS X pick it up as a USB storage device, and then hang tight for three or four minutes until iMovie detects that your USB storage device is actually a camcorder, and presents the import dialog. I’m glad that I can import native MPEG-2, but am somewhat puzzled by the delay.

A handful of (old) photos from the Spring Grove Cemetery First Annual Cruise-In, October 2007. Also, a test of the new Wordpress 2.5 gallery system. Enjoy.

It happens all the time: You’re happily snapping away in public[1], and the police, federal law enforcement, or private security approach and demand that you delete some or all of your photos. And, for reasons that each must justify personally and on a case-by-case basis, you determine that the prudent course of action is to delete said photographs. What to do to ensure that 1) you avoid further harassment and 2) you can still post those images on-line for all to see?

The way out in such a case is remarkably simple:

1. Always carry at least one spare memory card when taking photographs in public.
2. If you believe that compliance with a request to delete might be your only option, then by all means, delete away. Format the card in-camera if you must.
3. Do NOT take another photograph. Turn the camera off, and walk away.
4. Before you turn the camera on again–and certainly before you even think about taking another photograph–remove that memory card and drop in a spare.
5. Go home, and use a free and capable image recovery program to extract the “deleted” images from the original media.
6. Post them on-line, have them printed on t-shirts, or hand them out as stickers on the same street corner during the next big event.

[1] The operative word here is “public.” If you are taking photographs in an area where photography is expressly prohibited, you may be breaking the law. And failure to comply fully with the authorities might just buy you a night (or more) in jail. Don’t be a dumbass.