Category Archives: Internet & Technology

Internet & Technology

What do you name your hard drives?

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hard_drivesThe last time I checked I had at least 10 hard drives of various capacities.

They are just chocked full of images, some I’ve shot, others from friends and students.

The packrat in me doesn’t allow me to throw anything away.

Well, not exactly. I just wonder if there’s any photographer out there who claims to have his all his data in order.

It’s starting to get a little out-of-control.

My computing excesses aside, I never believed I would generate so much “data” in such a short time.

Of course, the fact that I am teaching compounds my computing needs for space.

My students are turning in their images even though on jpegs at their largest settings.

So assuming a class of 20 with an average of just 1-assignment-a-week and the average file being 3MB, that’s a staggering 60MB.

No offense but most of their pictures are out-of-focus, poorly exposed so I have to erase those files as soon as I grade them to free up space. Continue reading What do you name your hard drives? →

Internet & Technology

Restarting the Clock

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Wireless phone service always comes with a whole string of gotchas. As we approach the month of April when I’ll be finally rid of Sprint, they are all of a sudden playing nice once again.

I just got a friendly email from them touting the various upgrades to a smartphone and other plans.

That’s not the tune they were singing a year ago when I asked them to reduce the payment I had to make for trying to get out of my contract.

I had to pay them $300 for the 2 phones. You see like many unsuspecting cellphone users, I didn’t know if I changed something as simple as increase the minutes, pay them more each month, it restarts the clock.

Thankfully now there’s a lot of competition out there.

Restarting the clock is their mantra. That I’m afraid isn’t just the chant of Sprint. Direct TV does that as well. They offer a free DVR and if that DVR dies before your contract expires, they’re so nice, they’ll replace the DVR for free but … you guessed it…. they restart the clock.

Who else do you know restarts the clock in their dealings with you?

Internet & Technology, Malaysia, Photography

Geotagging

chan-2s

This portrait of my aunt, her grandson, her two sons and their wives was made near a seaside on the island of Penang, Malaysia where I was born. Conditions weren’t exactly ideal. See the original picture. The one speed light I had with me was insufficient to light this group but I was on vacation and didn’t have my usual gear. Lit by 1 flash placed on the right. If I had to do this over, I’d make sure everyone showed up at the time I asked. But having a second flash would have made this easier to remove that harsh shadow on my cousin’s face.

It just occurred to me when an “i-pal” recently asked for a recommendation for a location to do an “e-photo” session how geo-tagging may be useful.

Until now I was kind of skeptical of its usefulness.

I  have my favorite spots to for portraits,  but I never feel like I own those places.  Too often I hear photographers get very territorial about their secret spots. Continue reading Geotagging →