Landscape, Nature and Travel Photography

Today it was announced that Richard Pombo has lost his bid for reelection to the US Congress. For those that treasure the preservation of our environment this is a huge victory. Richard Pombo, frequently monitored for his frighteningly unfriendly environmental policies, has been eager to push forward policies to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, open US coasts to off shore oil drilling and rewrite the Endangered Species Act.

As the nation notes the change in the political winds today with the close of the 2006 elections, we should take even greater note to the impact by which replacing one person can make. Today in regard to the environment this is the biggest and best change that could have been made. My spirits have been raised and I am again optimistic that improvements can be made in regard to securing our natural resources and environment not just for future generations but for the health and well being of the ecosystems that exist in our country.

So this morning, as I was turning in my absentee ballot, I thought it might be interesting for my “photo of the day” to capture a tight shot of someone handing in their ballot. Before taking my camera out I asked my neighbor who was running the voting precinct if it would be ok to do so. Interestingly I found out, from her answer, that in California you cannot photograph in a voting precinct with out the approval of everyone in the room AND you can’t capture any portion of a ballot that might reveal how someone voted.

It makes sense if you think about fighting voter intimidation, but I just wanted a tight crop of the votiing box and any paper would have sufficed. Apparently this is something best to plan for and my off the cuff request was sunk. It just goes to show you… you learn something new every day.

For those that use Flickr, I’m a recent convert after lurking for sometime (my Flickr page), this recent development might be of interest. FlickrHits.com is reporting that some images are being blacklisted from inclusion in the Explore section due to participation/association in groups that advocate “scratch my back, scratch your back” comments.

Read more here on FlickrHits.com

This past weekend I had the opportunity to photograph Icer Air 2006. It was quite different than last years Icer Air, but still very entertaining! I took way too many photos, but already have a few favorites (see below). Later I’ll post more photos including some harrowing wipe outs.
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Taken in the Marin Civic Center, a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Architectural Abstract I Hosted on Zooomr

As I prepare for a fast approaching presentation on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge I discovered a hidden gem missed in my earlier screening of my trip photos. Some how I looked past this image when it is the best double rainbow photo of the trip. Looking at this image makes me long to be back in the Arctic… during the summer. More images like this can be found in my Arctic Refuge series.

If you’ve been tracking my Photo A Day project you’ve probably noticed I haven’t updated anything since since July, just before my trip to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. So whats the deal?
I am still actively participating in this project. I have a large backlog of images to post. I will start adding more images next week. Between starting a new job, enduring a kitchen remodel and now reorganizing my office from the ground up I’ve had a tougher time setting time aside to post my images let alone take them. Stay tuned as there is some good stuff to come.

Recently I’ve been reading more of Robert Scoble’s postings and a topic he recently started discussing struck a cord with me. His fairly recent post Getty images: a photo business under pressure was of interest from a work standpoint two fold. In addition to pursuing a profession in photography I’m also a web strategist for a tech company here in northern California. The points made in Robert’s post hold true in my eyes on some level. The social media component of Flickr and Zooomer (photosharing sites) are going to have a deep impact on how stock photography sites including Getty transform over the next few years. There is a significant caveat to this statement though.
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