Landscape, Nature And Travel Photography

Back when I was discussing Consuming Color I noted I’d be sharing more of my work that explored this topic. Here is a second piece to a larger body of work I’ll be releasing in the near future. I couldn’t help but sneak this preview out before the weekend. Stay tuned for more.

Color Abstract II

Technorati Tags: Fine Art, Photography, Landscape, New Mexico, White Sands National Monument

Before the tidal wave of change that swept through my life the past couple months I had intended to write about the privacy controversy surrounding Facebook. Back then Facebook not so elegantly made their “closed garden” an “open garden” and in the process made a lot of people angry. Facebook’s privacy settings were and still are confusing. Facebook heard the uproar though and attempted to make some changes.  This post is Part 1 of 2 3 on the topic of privacy and social media. Facebook for better or worse has grabbed our attention on the topic of privacy but there is much more to discuss and much of it provides great opportunity.

Facebook’s Permanent Impact on Privacy
At one time the title of this post was going to be “Privacy: Facebook Wins, You Lose”. On some level I still feel this way, but in short Facebook provides a service that to many is worth giving up some if not all of their privacy for. The problem with Facebook is they’re not very ethical about this… they force their privacy changes on people. Jason Calcanis put it best in his assessment of why Facebook is not trustworthy. I should state that I whole heartedly agree with Jason on principle.  But why did Quit Facebook Day flop with only 1 in 15,000 accounts being deleted?

I personally was a bit caught up in the arrival of my son when this was all happening, but that was fortuitous as it gave me time to better understand this question. My wife and sister are on Facebook quite a bit. Why? It’s the one place you can go to see an instant update of everyone you know. No digging though email or haphazardly taking instant message chats. Convenience trumps privacy… for now. Of Facebook’s 500,000,000 members you’re likely going to have a good number of friends and acquaintances that are on the site making it easy to track news and updates with in your social circle.

Let’s be clear from the start Facebook operates in a constant state of conflict. They make it easy for you to share information about yourself to your friends, but they make money from sharing your information with other companies. The two goals are diametrically opposed in regard to privacy. Complicating this is that Facebook started out as a “closed garden”. What I mean by this is that Facebook was originally developed so your information was private, to be shared only with people you knew. Now they’re being influenced by Twitter and seeing more income opportunity exists in the free flow (public display) of your information. For the past several years they’ve been slowly realigning their system to maximize how they share your information… making it an “open garden” by removing their walls / barriers of entry. Problem is they got millions of members to join under the guise of privacy. It’s important to note here that the public display of your information has helped Facebook.com become the #1 visited site surpassing Google.com.

Once Facebook hit a certain size in audience, let alone traffic, Facebook won and you lost. You have forever lost. Enough people have said its OK to reveal their information publicly, even if its not for you. The ability to have Facebook revert if not significantly modify their system is lost and they’re betting that you’ll never leave because it’ll be too difficult for you to reestablish your network elsewhere. A new open source solution with greater respect for user privacy such as Diaspora could arise… but it will be a while. (Ironically even Mark Zuckerberg founder of Facebook has provided money for Diaspora to get off the ground in a PR move to show good faith.)

So seriously at this point how likely are you to quit Facebook over privacy? Slim to none I bet even with news yesterday that 100 million Facebook users had their public data stripped from Facebook and made available via a download.

Next on the topic of Privacy:
Facebook’s flip-floping business model has thrust you and I into a position to rethink what privacy means to us, but as you’ll see in my next post as a business owner this shift in privacy has its upside. Stay tuned for “Social CRM: Opportunity Knocking”

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You’ve found my blog, but you’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg… follow me on Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed.I also invite you to listen and subscribe to my podcast “EXIF and Beyond” featuring photographer interviews and the chronicles of creating some of my photography

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Technorati Tags: Social Media, Facebook, technology, privacy

Often hidden in the fog of the northern California coast is the Farallon Islands. On rare days from San Francisco the atmosphere is clear enough to see their outline across 27 miles of the Pacific Ocean. Virtually out my backdoor is a view of these distant islands. The 850 foot elevation of this particular vantage point from my neighborhood helps in conjunction with the 840mm focal length used to capture this image. Of all my years in San Francisco this particular day provided the unique combination of clear view and amazing color in the sky. While the Farallons are often concealed in fog on this evening they were concealed in a curtain of color.

Farallon Islands Curtain of Color

Photo Info:
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 600mm + 1.4x = 840mm,  1/320 sec, f/13, ISO 400, Compensation: +2/3

Technorati Tags: photography, fine art, Farallon Islands, color, stock photo, California, travel, landscape 

One thing I really enjoy about sharing my photography is that every so often a photo finds its perfect audience who can fully appreciate a core thought that inspired its creation. Case in point is my Light Lasso photo from Death Valley National Park that was recently published in the quarterly edition of the DarkSky.org quarterly publication Nightscape with a feature on “Seeing Blue, Blue Rich White Light”.

Darksky.org's Nightscape featuring Racetrack Light Lasso, Death Valley National Park

It is increasingly hard to find night skies that are not polluted by artificial light from our roadways, homes, towns and cities. The Sierra Nevada mountains, parts of the Owens Valley, Death Valley and portions of southern Utah are but a few places I gravitate toward to enjoy the stars. You’d be surprised even on a moonless night how bright the stars in night sky can be. To be able to see the arm of the Milky Way stretch from one horizon to another is breathtaking. Unfortunately such sights are increasingly rare. It’s great to see that organizations like DarkSky.org exist and in case you’re curious they do operate based on contributions/donations. I just made mine and hope you do to lend them a hand.

Technorati Tags: Death Valley National Park, Stock Photo, Stock Photography, Fine Art, Night, Racetrack, Darksky.org

This past Saturday I led the Sutro Baths Photo Walk here in San Francisco and was joined by a group of great photographers from all over northern California. This particular photo walk was one of many held on Saturday as part of the Scott Kelby Worldwide Photo Walk event. The weather was typical for San Francisco summers and ideal for longer exposure photography. For those that stuck it out there were great photo opportunities to be found. The photo walk started at 6:30, ran past sunset and I believe I was one of the last people to leave at 10pm. For those that joined me thank you so much for your participation and perseverance.

Technorati Tags: San Francsico, Sutro Baths, Photo Walk, Photography

If nature is my religion, the world is my temple.

Zen - White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Walk carefully in the most pristine of locations and you’ll hear whispers and see writing. What you hear and read will be as much a reflection of you as the world before you.

Wind Etching - White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Technorati Tags: Photography, New Mexico, Landscape, Nature, Stock Photo, Fine Art

As though time has stopped, waves of sand stand frozen in the heart of the vast dune field of White Sands National Monument.

Petrified Waves of Sand - White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Photo Details:
Canon 1Ds Mark III, 15mm fisheye, f/22, 1/200 sec, ISO 200

While light was softer in the morning to bring out the detail of these sand formations I’ve grown to love this view with the harsher late morning light. The larger view of the patterns in contrasty light reveal a hidden “Z” providing a unique compositional element for the eye to follow.

Technorati Tags: photography, New Mexico, White Sands National Monument, desert, stock photo, fine art

The only thing more serene than a pristine desert landscape is a desert landscape at night. Ironically the desert at night is a little less serene for its inhabitants. The cooler temperatures are preferred by the many nocturnal creatures calling the desert home. For visitors like myself there is no better time to witness the desert than under a full moon. You’d be surprised how bright the moon will light the landscape. In the photo below I actually had to notch the brightness down a bit so you’d know it was a night photo. To the naked eye (once adjusted to the dark) the landscape is bright and detailed. The only difference other than the lack of warm sunlight is the foot prints of the desert inhabitants are a little fresher. I kept wondering if I would run into a coyote or fox on my night hike, but following their fresh trails I was left to wonder where they might be in the infinite dunes of White Sands. I look forward to the next time I get to share another night hike with the creatures that call White Sands home.

Moonlit Dunes - White Sands National Monument, New Mexico

Photo details:
Canon 1Ds Mark III, TS-E24mm f/3.5L, f/10, 2 min 20 sec, ISO 200,

Technorati Tags: photography, landscape, nature, fine art, stock photo, New Mexico, White Sands National Monument, desert