Black Friday 2012

After reading The Wal-Mart Effect by Charles Fishman, my feelings about Black Friday and shopping at Wal-Mart have been changed forever.

Fishman writes, "The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?"

I encourage you to read the book or at the least his article in Fast Company and the poignant 70+ comments that follow the article. You'll never feel the same way about the store and the effect on all of us, those who shop at Wal-Mart and those who don't.

Gifts from Hueless

I first learned of Hueless from C.J Chilvers in his blog, A Lesser Photographer. In Chilvers' review of Hueless, he quotes large format, landscape photographer Clyde Butcher, “Color is duplication, black and white is interpretation.” 

The most interesting thing about Hueless is that the software allows you to view and compose in black and white, rather than convert a color image to black and white. For $1.99, I thought it was worth giving it a try and I was not disappointed. During the past few months I've become an informal ambassador for Hueless, posting about 100 images on Instagram and Twitter.

As a result of this passion, the good people from Hueless allowed me to distribute five FREE copies of their black and white camera software for iPhone. Here are the codes:

• L6XX66L7P49R 
• AJJ4Y6YTL6Y6 
• 6TJTPTFFHPJK 
• FJL3T76ARLNJ 
• 36XWR637AA9H 

Instructions for FREE Hueless:

1. Launch iTunes and go to the iTunes store 
2. Press the "Redeem" button, normally in the upper right hand corner of your screen under "Quick Links"
3. Enter the code 
4. If the first code doesn't work, try the second, etc. (each code is good for one download)
5. If you download the software, please post a comment at the bottom of this blog entry and if you like the software, share the news

Selected Hueless Images

The following images were made with an iPhone 4 and Hueless.

21 Years Furthur

The first Grateful Dead song I ever heard was Friend of the Devil played by my college roommate a few years after the release of American Beauty. While, I do not possess a tie-dye shirt nor am I a self-described "dead head," I've enjoyed both the music, the people and the colorful "scene" since my early twenties. Over the years, I've seen several shows, the last one at Chicago's Soldier Field on Saturday, June 22, 1991 (see set list below). Jerry Garcia passed away in August of 1995, the day after our daughter was born.

Fast forward to 21 years to July 17, 2012 and I am once again near Soldier Field, Northerly Island to see Furthur, a band featuring Phil Lesh and Bob Weir, who are still touring, still helping to create the colorful scene that began in San Francisco when the Grateful Dead formed in 1965.

While much has changed in the world and within myself, it was a completely wonderful evening with friends and great music (see set list below). And, I brought back a set of the colorful "souvenir" photographs below. Each of these "dead heads" were incredibly kind and graciously accepted my request to take their photograph.

Soldier Field Set List - 6/22/91 

Set 1
Hell in a Bucket
Shakedown Street
Wang Dang Doodle
Friend of the Devil
Masterpiece
Brown Eyed Women
Let It Grow

Set 2
Foolish Heart
Looks Like Rain
Crazy Fingers
Playin' in the Band
Terrapin Station> 
drums>
space
Playin' Reprise
Black Peter
One More Saturday Night

Encore
The Weight

Northerly Island Set List - 7/17/12
Set 1
Here Comes Sunshine
Mississippi Half-Step
Cumberland Blues
Cassidy
Doin' that Rag
Lost Sailor
Saint of Circumstance

Set 2
Feel Like a Stranger
Passenger
Truckin'
Viola Lee Blues
Mountains of the Moon
Watchtower
Morning Dew
Throwin' Stones

Encore
Attics of My Life

35mm Film: The Adventure Continues

During the summer of 2011, I experimented with 35mm film while visting Cape Cod. I used a Pentax ZX-50 camera with Ektar 100 negative film and was pleasantly delighted with the results, particularly with the blue hues. See blog entry Adventure in 35mm Film.   

Several months later, I decided to "return to my roots" and get a little more serious about using film. I acquired the Nikon N6006 camera, shown below. 

Also, I started using The Darkroom, a lab in the San Francisco Bay area that was established in 1976. For $10 per roll, The Darkroom will process film and post 1,024 X 1,536 scans of each image online. Enhanced scans can be made for an additional $5 per roll. These 2,048 X 3,072 images are placed on a CD and shipped to you with the negatives and a mini-proofsheet.

Below is an example of an image of Lake Michigan that was made with the N6006 and Ektar 100 film processed at the Darkroom.

Inspired by my friend and fellow photographer Dan Fogel, I even used a roll of black and white film. Below is an image made with Ilford HP5 film also processed by the Darkroom.

Carrying both the film camera and the digital camera in the same bag offered the opportunity to make some comparisons. Below are two images that were exposed a few moments apart. The contrast is rather dramatic. Aside from a minor adjustment to straighten the horizons, no alternations were made to either image.

Digital image made with a Nikon D300

Film image made with a Nikon N6006 using Ektar 100 negative film

Rainbows

It is wonderful to run into a rainbow with camera in hand, even a faint one like this. This rainbow appeared at dusk, coincidentally at the same time as a partial solar eclipse at Gillson Park in Wilmette, Illinois on May 20, 2012. Nearly missed it as I was facing the sunset. Fortunately, my daughter pointed it out.


Here are a few other rainbow images from the past.

From the observation deck overlooking Lake Michigan at the Kenilworth Beach on September 23, 2011.


From the 24th floor of 401 North Michigan Avenue overlooking the Sheraton Hotel and the Chicago River in downtown Chicago on August 23, 2011.

On Newcomb Hollow Beach overlooking the Atlantic Ocean on Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, Massachusetts on August 1, 2011.


A double rainbow at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C. on June 23, 2008.

Gillson Sunset Image Honored by Flickr

Today, the photo above, “Sunset at Gillson Beach” became my sixty-third image to be included in Flickr's daily collection of “best” photos, called Explore. According to Pingdom, more than 4.5 million photos and videos were uploaded to Flickr each day in 2011. Of these, only 500 are placed into the Explore collection using Flickr’s “interestingness" algorithm.

According to Flickr, “There are lots of things that make a photo ‘interesting’ (or not). Where the clickthroughs are coming from; who comments on it and when; who marks it as a favorite; its tags and many more things which are constantly changing. Interestingness changes over time, as more and more fantastic photos and stories are added to Flickr.”  

Fluidr and Flickriver are excellent tools for viewing Explore images. Click here to see my collection of 63 Explore images.

Going Full Circle

Months ago I downloaded a $0.99 iPhone app called 360Panorama made by a company called Occipital. After checking it out for a few minutes, it was filed away in folder called "photo" and left unused and neglected. 

Our company SmithBucklin holds a few annual corporate events at hotels in Chicago and Washington, D.C. We usually take a few photos to use in the planning of future events. This year someone said, "wouldn't it be great if we could get a panorama image of this room." And it was then that I remembered the 360Panorama app already downloaded and ready to use. Within a few minutes, I was able to create a really nice interactive panorama that could be uploaded to a webpage and share with others. Creating a panorama is now "standard protocol" for the corporate events we hold. 

The 360Panoram app is very easy to use. You slowly move the iPhone camera in a circle to fill in a grid and when complete, save the image. You can then upload it to a personal page provided by Occipital. Below is a panorama created near our office in Chicago. 
 

Experimenting in Low Resolution

A few weeks ago, neighbor and friend Scott suggested that I give Instagram a try. With very little knowledge about this iPhone app, I was somewhat reluctant to jump into another social media platform. But, based on Scott's recommendation, I decided to download the free app.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover 15 million images (as of December 2011) neatly organized and searchable by users and hash tags. I quickly found really terrific low resolution photos of favorite subjects such as the Wrigley Building, Lake Michigan and Cape Cod. It seems that Instragram is for iPhone image-makers what Flickr, and other photo-sharing websites, are for DSLR photographers.

I posted a few images and within a week had a handful of "favorited" images and some "followers." Once comfortable with Instagram, I started incorporating other iPhone image software, such as Photogene and Photo Collage to work in concert with the Instagram tools. This image of the Wrigley Building in Chicago is an example of using Photo Collage before Instagram.



Also, Instagram can send iPhone generated images to other social media platforms inclduing: Twitter, Facebook and Flickr or by email. Here are a few more of the low resolution images from recent experimentation. Click on the image to see the full-size (612 X 612 pixel) image.

Boston Arts Academy Fundraiser

Donate to win an original photograph of Cape Cod

Mix together the Boston Arts Academy, the Boston Marathon and the special talents of two first cousins to come up with something a little different when it comes to fundraising. These nine photographic prints of Cape Cod are available exclusively to those who support Howard Lurie and the Boston Art Academy's 2012 Boston Marathon Team. The series of nine photographs were made by Jonathan Lurie during several visits to Cape Cod and selected by Howard as among his favorites. Each print is 15" wide by 10" tall and placed in a smooth, white, acid-free, archival mat board that is 20" wide by 16" tall and suitable for a standard-sized frame. The prints are valued at $100 each and signed on the back.

How it works
Make a donation of $50 or greater to the Boston Arts Academy by clicking on this link. Forward the confirmation email to howard.lurie@gmail.com and when Howard's fundraising goal is reached, he will randomly draw names and distribute the nine prints to the winners. If you have a preference for one or more of the prints, please let Howard know.

Atlantic Ocean Morning - July 30, 2010

Do the Impossible - July 28, 2010

Dusk at Newcomb Hollow - August 4, 2011

Long Point Light - July 24, 2010

Morning on White Crest Beach - August 2, 2011

Morning to the West - July 30, 2010

Sailboat at Dusk - July 30, 2010

The Chase - January 28, 2011

The Raft - August 3, 2011