Beckerman Mermaid Day in Photo Museum
And by Leanne Staples
Jul 062011
Jul 052011
That’s right. I’ve taken a simple idea and am developing it further.
I’ve launched the DAVE BECKERMAN MUSEUM OF PHOTOGRAPHY on Facebook. The idea is so simple that it’s hard to believe no one has done it yet. Probably they have, it just isn’t well known. But the idea is that you message me or share your photo or your photo album (it needs to be on Facebook) with me www.facebook.com/dave.beckerman
I will then go through the image or maybe wander off to other photos on your site, and look for really good original images to post in the Photography Museum.
The idea came to me when I was walking out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art – after having seen the latest modern photography show. I can’t afford to do a physical museum, but I can spend some time curating other people’s works.
The reason that you don’t see it much on facebook (although there are groups that attempt to do this) is that people are so consumed with getting their own work seen. But if you can forget about your own work – there’s a mutual benefit – both for the curator (who garnishes likes for that page) and exposure if the page becomes popular for contributors.
Jun 292011
http://www.facebook.com/beckermanphoto?sk=photos
After I created a “page” called BeckermanPhoto on Facebook, I discovered that the normal export plugin for Lightroom wouldn’t post to pages. So a bit of searching turned up:
Jeffrey’s Export Plugin for Facebook / Lightroom by Jeffrey Friedl
I like his business model. Donationware. The way it works is this:
You get a fully functional plugin. After six weeks, you can only upload 10 photos at a time. Your donation is up to you.
So far – so good. I am watermarking the images going up to Facebook since I don’t really trust them. But I also need them given that they control most of the population, if you know what I mean. You ignore them at your own peril.
At least, if they decide to take my stuff and sell it or use it in someway that annoys me – (unlikely but could happen) someone will have the annoying task of cloning out the logos.
The plugin is more sophisticated than the previous export plugin I was using which I don’t even know who it’s made by – Adobe? A third party. Whatever, this is a much better and more flexible export plugin. It gives you more choices as to where to publish, and what should be done when, for example you delete a file from Lightroom that’s been published to Facebook. The only qualms I have, is that Facebook changes things so often without telling anyone – that unless you’ve got some “in” with them – you may be surprised as a developer to suddenly find that your plugin has stopped working.
I wrote something about this in a previous post where the other day an export plugin was banned (for no reason that anyone has figured out yet) and all the photos that were uploaded by it were deleted. Maybe it was just a mistake. Whatever.
In short – if you are using Lightroom and looking for a good way to publish to a Facebook page, or even if you just want to publish to your wall or profile etc. – this plugin is working fine (so far). I’ve only used it for one day and haven’t tried all it’s features yet. There are templates that look pretty powerful that I want to experiment with.
Jun 262011
The only known photograph of “Bill the Kid” sold for $2.3 million at an auction in Denver. In another life, I was contracted to write a “real” bio of Bill the Kid for documentary. I spent a lot of time in the New York public library collecting facts and theories. I don’t know where any of that info is now. It was a long time ago, and the documentary was never – at least to my knowledge made.
Jun 252011
flickr.com
Flickr is ranked #31 in the world according to the three-month Alexa traffic rankings. It belongs to the “Social Networking” category of websites. Compared with all internet users, the site’s users are disproportionately childless, and they tend to be highly educated women browsing from school and work. Visitors to the site view an average of 9.3 unique pages per day. Visitors to Flickr spend about five minutes per visit to the site and 26 seconds per pageview.
(How in the world does alexa know that most flickr users are childless? And is there a relationship between childless women and photography?) Continue reading »
Jun 242011
Yep. July 4th will make it a year without a cigarette. However, I have been smoking a few small cigars a day (good ones when I can get ‘em) and not inhaling. I’m not saying that it’s healthy, but I do enjoy them, and haven’t been arrested yet by Mr. Bloomberg. In fact, no one has been ticketed for smoking in the parks as far as I know.
Switching to cigars (I like the half corona Huppman or of course the Davidson if I can afford it or get offered one by Matt) and the Siglos are very good also. I don’t really know what the story is with taxes etc. because I by them on the web and they’re about four times as much (no kidding) in my local convenience store, and not as fresh either.
Jun 232011
I’ve written a lot about what I see for the future of cameras, and about all the stuff that is uselessly stuffed into today’s digital cameras. But I ran across a post about something called a Light Field Camera which did go beyond anything I could have dreamed of. The reason is that these cameras (and you’ll need to read the link to get some idea of how this works) – the Light Field Camera does not need to be focused at the time of shooting. It can be done in post-processing.
Yes, and it doesn’t mean that you are using some extra wide angle lens, or that you are using hyper focal distance – or anything like that at all.
“To acquire this additional data, Lytro cameras include an innovative new light field sensor that captures the color, intensity and vector direction of light rays.”
This was such a camera already exists was a revelation and for now I’ll just give you the link to the Lytro Blog.
Jun 222011
It’s been a month. No meat. No dairy. Lots of carbs. Lots of rice and beans. No fish. Lots of hummus. Potato and pea and lentil soup (home made) and delicious.
I’m not counting points, or calories (wouldn’t have the discipline to do that) but simly moved to vegan diet, although I still do hae an egg once in a while.
Didn’t weigh myself to begin with, so can’t say how much I’ve lost – but pants which had been tight are all loose. I had to ut a new notch in my belt. And had some other effects as well: my sinuses cleared up and my sense of smell became more sensitie. Haven’t had an urge for meat. Hae been either making or buying eastern and middle eastern foods which get by without meat for protein.
Other tings to note: stopped experiencing afcid reflux or any sort of reflux.
Why did I do it on the spur of the moment? I’m not exactly sure. I’ve gone vegetarian before, but not to this extent. No cheese! Drinking Almond milk. NO SUGAR! Or at least no ADDED SUGAR. Coffee in on the list – but no soy milk (I don’t like soy stuff if I can help it) and no sugar, incluing any of those substitutes.
In fact – no substitutes. No make-believe hamburgers. If I’m not going to have real hamburgers than I don’t want soy burgers.
And so the results other than the loss of a few inches around my waist – I don’t sleep as well (which is why I’m writing this at 2 a.m.) but that will go away at some point – I think my body is just confused. No heartburn – not at all. Even if I eat something spicy before going to sleep. My bones feel better. I never had it diagnosed, but I was usually pretty creaky in the morning, and that has disappeared.
And so – that’s where it’s at. As mentioned before – I’m not some sort of holy body now – since I switch to cigars rather than cigarettes – but that goes along with my middle of the road philosophy, i.e don’t go completely nuts about this stuff. Keep the things that give you pleasure.
So for a while anyway, I’ll call myself the Vegan Photographer which has a nice alliteration.
