Landscape, Nature And Travel Photography

The View That Could Be

Learn more about SOPA and its ugly twin PIPA in this short 4 minute video.

Write your US Congressperson and Senator to urge them to vote no on SOPA and PIPA. Do customize the title and at least the first line of the email that is generated so staffers know its not just a form letter with out thought.

This year we had an amazing turn out for the Best Photos of 2011 blog project with 289 entries, topping the results for best photos of 2010,  best photos of 2009, best photos of 2008 and best photos of 2007! Participants spanned a spectrum of skill levels from hobbyists to professionals and covered a wide variety of genres including landscape, macro, nature, photojournalism, portraiture, event, wildlife, fine art photography and more. There are likely many names you’ll recognize below and many others you won’t. I highly recommend visiting each entry as I have. Even after 5 years of running this blog project I’m blown away by the talent of those that take part. It is truly inspirational to see so much creativity and beauty. If your curious to see photos I personally enjoyed look out for the entries with *** next to them.

1. JMG-Galleries Best Photos of 2011 – Jim M. Goldstein
2. Dalal al-Dhubaib’s flickr – Dalal al-dhobaib
3. www.mawpix.com – Matthias Wassermann
4. 2011 Retrospective – Alex Wise
5. Jon McCormack Photography – Jon McCormack ***
6. Top 10 of 2011 a Exploring Light Photography – Chris Moore
7. The year in review: My favorite 2011 Photos – Ed Rosack
8. Dave Wilson Photography – Dave Wilson
9. Top 10 from Behind The Clicks – Mohammad Noman
10. Art in Nature Photography: Best of 2011 – Floris van Breugel ***
11. Alaska Photography – Mike Criss
12. My best photos from 2011 – Lasse Sørnes
13. http://www.500px.com/photo/3230405 – Keivan Zavari
14. My Five Best Images of 2011 – Peter Cox ***
15. My Top 10 images of 2011 – Charlie Widdis Photography
16. MY TOP PHOTOS FROM 2011 – Chaz Curry ***
17. Best of 2011 – Juan Guevara
18. Stories From Home – David Patterson
19. My Best Of 2011 – The Photographs – Sven Seebeck
20. The Uprooted Photographer – Zach Frailey
21. Top ten wildlife photos of 2011 – Burrard-Lucas Wildlife Photography ***
22. Eleven From Twenty Eleven – Jacob F. Lucas ***
23. My ten favorite photos of 2011 – Stefan Bäurle
24. Changing Perspectives – Jenni Brehm
25. 2011 Top 10 Photos – Andrei Olariu
26. Best Photos of 2011 – Ahmed Almuhairi
27. Favorite Photos of 2011 – Pat Ulrich ***
28. Top 11 of 2011 – Younes Bounhar
29. Natural California – John Wall ***
30. 2011 – A Review – Jim Denham
31. yeeehah.com – William R. Bullock
32. 2011Top11 – Kate Church
33. Top Ten Photos of 2011 – Steve Cole
34. Top 10 of 2011 – Brian Rueb ***
35. http://www.davidjohnstonart.com/index.html – David Johnston
36. 7 Images of Denver in 2011 – Neil Corman
37. My Top 10 for 2011 – Lon Overacker
38. Craig Ferguson Images | The Year That Was – Craig Ferguson
39. My Best Images of 2011 – Clark Crenshaw
40. “Sort of the best of 2011: ants – Jeroen Mentens
41. Best Photos Of 2011 – Dawnstar Australis – Daniel McNamara
42. Skolai Images – Carl Donohue ***
43. Favorite 10 of 2011 – Alan Dahl ***
44. Tony’s Blog – Tony Unwin
45. Best of 2011_Laurie Rubin – Laurie Rubin ***
46. FlixelPix Best Photos of 2011 – David Cleland
47. Ilja Melnikov – Ilja Melnikov
48. Best of 2011 – Rob Tilley ***
49. Free Roaming Photography 12 Best Photos from 2011 – Mike Cavaroc ***
50. Adventures Through the Lens: 2011 in Review – Rebecca R Jackrel ***
51. Top Photos of 2011 by Gary Crabbe / Enlightened Images – Gary Crabbe ***
52. My 10 Best Photos of 2011 – Michael Russell
53. Digitized Chaos’ 2011 faves – Rian Castillo
54. Top 10 Photos of 2011 – Mike Chowla
55. John Fujimagari’s Best of 2011 – John Fujimagari
56. 10 Best Landscape Photos of 2011 – Cody Duncan ***
57. Best photos from 2011 – Janis Janums
58. Best Photos Of 2011 – David Leland Hyde ***
59. PhotogAbby’s Photoviews – Abigail Gossage
60. Do Not Get On or Off While in Motion – G. Kaltenbrun
61. Tony Wu’s Underwater Photography Blog – Tony Wu ***
62. 12 Months – 12 Favourite Images – Petr Hlavacek | NZICESCAPES IMAGES ***
63. Alpenglow Images | Greg Russell Best of 2011 – Greg Russell ***
64. An End of Year Retrospective for 2011 – The Top 11 Images of ’11 – Derrald Farnsworth-Livingston
65. 11 from ‘11 – Dru Stefan Stone
66. William Neill’s Top Forty Images for 2011 – William Neill ***
67. Dave’s Best Of 2011 – Dave Reichert
68. 10 Best Photos of 2011 by Scott Thompson – Scott Thompson – Scott Shots Photography
69. My best 10 images of 2011? – Duffy Knox
70. My 5 Top Photos from 2011 and Photography Year in Review – Tommy Holt
71. Russ Bishop Photography – Russ Bishop ***
72. My Top 10 Favourite Images of 2011 – John Dunne Photography
73. Asif Patel Photography – TopPhotos2011 – Asif Patel
74. The Best of 2011 – Neil McShane (aka Mononeil) ***
75. Top Nature Photographs of 2011 by Mark Graf – Mark Graf ***
76. Year 2011 in 10 photos. – Filip Lucin
77. Views Infinitum: Best of 2011 – Scott Thomas
78. Dobson Central Photography – Top 10 Photos of 2011 – Ken Dobson
79. “The Best of Myrmecos – Alex Wild ***
80. Your Favorite Shots from 2011 – Fred S. Brundick
81. Patrick Gensel – The Best Of 2011 – Patrick Gensel
82. 100 Favorite pictures from 2011 – Patrick J Endres
83. My Ten Favorite Photos of 2011 – Randy Langstraat
84. KennethVerburg.nl – Kenneth Verburg ***
85. Naturography: My Top 5 for 2011 – Mike Spinak ***
86. Edith Levy Photography – 2011 A Year in Review – Edith Levy
87. G Dan Mitchell Photography – G Dan Mitchell ***
88. Jonesblog – Bryan William Jones
89. Timages’ 2011 Top Ten – Tim Mulcahy
90. naturalvision-photo.com – Derek Griggs
91. Favorites of the Year: 2011 – Ken Trout
92. Beetles in the Bush – Ted C. MacRae
93. Chuqui 3.0 – Chuq Von Rospach
94. Peter Carroll Photography – Peter Carroll
95. My photos of 2011 – Frederico Quintao
96. http://raptorgallery.wordpress.com – Glenn Nevill
97. Best of 2011 – Brad Barton Photography – Brad Barton Photography ***
98. Rocky Mountain National Park 2011 / Non-Rocky Best of 2011 – Erik Stensland
99. My Favorite/Best Photographs of 2011 – Inge Fernau
100. Best Photos of 2011 – Ryan Golias
101. Best of 2011 – Larry Rosenstein
102. Best of 2011 – Mellimage
103. The Quiet Picture – Year 2011 In Pictures – Minna Kinnunen
104. My personal Top 10 images from 2011 – Alexander S. Kunz / Daylight Colors
105. 11 Best of 2011 – Olivier Du Tré ***
106. Best Photos of 2011 – Jim Coda ***
107. Living Wilderness: Best Images of 2011 – Kevin Ebi ***
108. Oxherder Arts – Best of 2011 – Don Schulte
109. my best images of 2011 – Rhoda Maurer ***
110. http://www.stamates.com – Jim Stamates
111. Organic Light Pan – Youssef Ismail ***
112. Rick Diffley Photography – Rick Diffley Photography
113. Best Images of 2011 – Robin Black ***
114. PhotoWalkPro – Jeff Revell
115. Highlights from 2011 – Roman W. Schatz
116. Uncommon Depth – Roberta Murray ***
117. TKM Journal – Highlights of 2011 – Kent Mearig
118. Amanda Herbert’s best of 2011 – Amanda Herbert Photography
119. Google+ – Umes Shrestha
120. Anne McKinnell’s Top 10 Images of 2011 – Anne McKinnell
121. Best Photos of 2011 – Jim Maher
122. www.fredmertzphotography.com – Fred Mertz
123. Top 10 Photos of 2011 – Ireena Worthy
124. 11 in 2011 – My Favorite Photos – Debra Feinman
125. 2011 Top Ten Plant Photos By John Manuwal Photography – John Manuwal
126. www.azaelmeza.com – Azael Meza
127. David Sharp – The Best of 2012 – David Sharp ***
128. Looking back at 2011 – Ivan Makarov ***
129. Best Photos of 2011 – Pete Miller – USKestrel Adventography
130. My favorite 10 of 2011 – John Christopher
131. Neil Creek – Photographer – Neil Creek ***
132. JohnLPhoto Best of 2011 – John Lemen
133. Momentary Awe – Catalin ***
134. 2011 Top Ten – Andrew S Gibson
135. “Crest, Cliff and Canyon – A. Jackson Frishman
136. 2011 – A Good Year – Margaret Summers
137. Favorite Photos from 2011 – Richard Wong *** – Richard Wong
138. latoga photography – Favorite Photos of 2011 – Greg A. Lato
139. Looking Back – 2011 – Derek Fogg
140. My Photo Blog – Ron Niebrugge’s favorite photos from 2011 – Ron Niebrugge ***
141. My 10 Favorite Photos of 2011 – Dan Bailey ***
142. My 11 favorites from 2011 – Kurt M. Lawson Photography ***
143. Happy New Year – Lori Ann Cole
144. My Top 10 Mixture – Ashley Cottle
145. Google+ Beach Photography – Jennifer Brinkman
146. Top 10 images of 2011 – Denise Goldberg
147. www.azaelmeza.com – Azael Meza
148. Erwin Kessing Photography – Erwin Kessing
149. The Closing of the Year – Eustace James
150. Mark Feenstra Photography: 10 Favourites from 2011 – Mark Feenstra
151. Best Photos of 2011 – Ingo Meckmann ***
152. Dynamics of Light and Shade – Richard Murphy
153. My 20 Best from 2011 – David Maurer
154. Top11 2011 – Patrick Ottoy
155. Best of 2011 – David Edenfield
156. Little Time Machine – This was 2011 – Pete Carr
157. The Owl and the Wildcat – Jen Joynt
158. Best of 2011 – Alison Wells
159. My 2011 Best Nature and Landscape Photographs – Steve Sieren ***
160. Best photos of 2011 on Flickr – Jono Hey
161. Best Photos of 2011 – Ken Snyder
162. Best Photos of 2011 by Ilya Genkin – Ilya Genkin ***
163. My best of 2011 – Terri Jacobson
164. Piya Trepetch Photography – Top Ten Images from 2011 – Piya Trepetch
165. My Best 10 Pictures for 2011 – Barbara Newson
166. Woo’s 2011 in Pictures – Gary Woo
167. My (Possibly) Ten Best Photos from 2011 – Jim McCoy
168. Favorites – 2011 – Daniel Leu ***
169. Closescapes Favourites From 2011. – Marshall Black
170. Nature and Landscape – Small Choice 2011 – Ben Schreck
171. http://wernerpriller.wordpress.com/ – Werner Priller ***
172. Peter de Rooij’s Top 10 for 2011 – Peter de Rooij
173. Best photos of 2011 by ISIK MATER – ISIK MATER
174. Best Photos of 2011 – ysvry
175. Focused Planet Photography – Justin Scicluna
176. Best of 2011 by Carl-Johan Rådström – Carl-Johan Rådström
177. Western Skies Top 11 From 2011 – Björn Göhringer
178. My Best People Shots – Matt Goode
179. Darin Rogers Photography: Best Of… – Darin Rogers
180. http://www.juzno.com/ – Rob Castro
181. Remembering 2011 in Photos – Aaron Hockley ***
182. Favorites From 2011 – Brad Mangas ***
183. Robb Hirsch Best of 2011 – Robb Hirsch ***
184. Best Photos of 2011 – Sathish Jothikumar ***
185. My best underwater photos 2011 – Suzy Walker ***
186. Year 2011 in review and favorite images – QT Luong ***
187. “10 From Michael Toye – Michael Toye
188. Photoimagery.net – Peter McCabe
189. 2011 – Our Favorite Images of the Year – Isabel & Steffen Synnatschke ***
190. ylitalot.net – Juha Ylitalo
191. Top Ten Photos of 2011 – by Brian Grzelewski – Brian Grzelewski
192. Jim Nickelson Favorites of 2011 – Jim Nickelson
193. 2011: My Top Ten Images – Michael Frye ***
194. My Top Images of 2011 – Andrew Kee
195. Favorites of 2011 – Simon Ponder
196. 2011’s Top 10 Picks – Vidya Narasimhan
197. My Top Ten Favourites from 2011 – Adriana Glackin
198. Top Ten of 2011 – Fedor G Pikus
199. Best Photos of 2011 – Hady Moslehi
200. Mara @ Fantasia – Photo Round up of 2011 – Mara Acoma
201. My Journey through 2011 – Kevin Thornhill
202. My 10 personal favorites of 2011 – Marleen Hallaert
203. Favorite Photographs From 2011 – Seung Kye Lee ***
204. Best Photos of 2011 – Michael Gerken
205. Simple Photography – Jay Shah
206. My Top Ten Photos of 2011 – Mike Isaak ***
207. http://lensmankc.com/?p=811 – Amit Jung K.C
208. baliultimatephoto.blogspot.com – Hendra Wiguna
209. My Favourite photos from 2011 – Alan Owens
210. John Dusseault’s top 10 of 2011 – John Dusseault
211. Favorites of 2011 – Plastic[Picture]
212. Farsighted – Ron Artigues
213. Google Plus – Darren Harmon
214. Bill Hornbostel Photography – Bill Hornbostel
215. Korwel Photograpy blog – Iza Korwel
216. Favorite Photos of 2011 – Elizabeth Brown Photography PhotoBlog – Elizabeth Brown
217. 2011 Highlights – Alan Grinberg
218. TJTPhotography.com – Ted Truex
219. Thamer Al-Hassan Photographer – Thamer Al-Hassan
220. Top 11 of ‘11 – Brian Arnold
221. Looking Back – 2011 Top Ten – Jessica Sweeney
222. Light Coming Back – Favorite Images of 2011 – Jennifer Durham
223. My Favorite Landscape Photos of 2011 – Joshua Cripps
224. Favorites Photographs from 2011 – Sudheendra Kadri
225. João Almeida Photography – João Almeida
226. Le meilleur de 2011 – The Best of 2011 – Francis Gagnon
227. Five Pictures for 2011 – David Lloyd ***
228. Ian Ference – Google+ Top Photos 2011 – Ian Ference ***
229. Marcin P?kalski – Google+ – Marcin P?kalski
230. www.thephotographerblog.com – Mandy Jones
231. My Top 10 of 2011 – Clement Biger
232. russell.tomlin at Flickr – Russell S Tomlin
233. Yosemite – Sheldon Neill
234. My Top 10 shots for 2011 – Greg Berdan
235. Best of 2011 – Dan Baumbach ***
236. Top Photos 2011 by Mark Dodge Medlin – Mark Dodge Medlin
237. The Carey Adventures – Peter West Carey ***
238. http://www.wildernessadventureimages.com/ – Michael Burkhardt
239. “Looking at the West – Andrew McAllister ***
240. Photos and Ramblings by Steve Mattheis – Steve Mattheis
241. My Favorite Photos of 2011 – Brandon Doran ***
242. Shanti Gilbert – Best Of 2011 – Shanti Gilbert
243. “10 of 2011 – David S. Ottavio
244. Best photos from 2011 – Mark J P
245. Heather’s Flickr – 2011 Top 10 – Heather Wallace
246. Ben Chase Photography – Benjamin Chase
247. Hypo-theses – Ian Stimpson
248. “Best photos of 2011 – Robert Kusztos
249. “Best of 2011 – Anton Huo
250. Best of 2011: JMG Gallery – Stephen Zacharias
251. Flickr Best of 2011 – Esther Reyes
252. My Top 10 of 2011 – The Siggins Photography – Richard Siggins
253. Andrew Benson | Best of 2011 – Andrew Benson
254. http://www.johnpaulcaponigro.com/blog/ – John Paul Caponigro ***
255. Google+ – Jim Davis
256. Beckmann Images – Best of 2011 Images – 500px – Matt Beckmann
257. Google + – Paul Conrad
258. Avelino’s Best of 2011 – Avelino Maestas
259. JMK Photography’s Best of 2011 – J. Krasner
260. Rob Dweck’s Top 10 From 2011 – Rob Dweck ***
261. www.myFedoraPhoto.com – Neal Fedora
262. Best of 2011 on Google+ – Robert Mann ***
263. My Top 10 Best Photos from 2011 by Matt Suess – Matt Suess ***
264. My Favorites from 2011 – Michele Wassell
265. My Top 10 Images of 2011 – Tom Bushey
266. A Selection of Favorites from 2011 by Christine Hauber – Christine Hauber ***
267. Favorite Images from 2011 – James B Martin
268. Kauai 2011 – Sharon Willson
269. “Best of 2011: Top 10 – Mark Hespenheide ***
270. shirley lo photos – shirley lo
271. Google+ – Christina Lawrie – Christina Lawrie ***
272. My Ten 2011 Faves – Rich Greene
273. Sunset at Vizhinjam – Agnisoonu K
274. Gary Randall Photography – 2011 – Year in Review – Gary Randall ***
275. 2011 faves – Anthony Chiong
276. NewmanImages: 2011 in Retrospect – Jay and Sue Newman
277. My 11 favorite pictures of 2011 – Marc Perkins
278. My Best Images of 2011 – Vaibhav Tripathi
279. My Best Shots 2011 – Annika Ruohonen
280. Top 11 Photos of 2011 – Shane Srogi ***
281. Wolfcats Top 10 images – Wolfcat
282. Alexander Filatov Photography – Alexander Filatov ***
283. Wendy Baker Photography Best of 2011 – Wendy Baker
284. My 6 best of 2011 – Patrick Smith
285. randomfire: The best of 2011 – Ramin Miraftabi
286. Closing California Parks – Eliya Selhub ***
287. MY BEST OF 2011 – Stan Rapada
288. 2011 Top 10 – Kyle Jones
289. 2011 Studies | Best of 2011 – Oskar Bruening ***
     Special Thanks To Oskar for his technical contribution to this list!

Technorati Tags: Best of, Photography, pictures, 2011

Is the nearly impossible mechanism to obtain permits to hike Half Dome to blame for the death of a hiker this week?

I had an interesting conversation with my neighbor regarding the hiker that just recently perished on Half Dome this week as we’re both a 2-3 degrees of separation from her. What was an eye opener in the conversation is that few people hiked Half Dome that day because of questionable weather. Did the people who hiked Half Dome that day risk the questionable weather because it is so difficult to obtain permits? Or because there is no mechanism to redeem permits on another day if “rained out” (bigger risk being lightening)? Seems ironic that the permits could actually result in accidental deaths when they’re in place to prevent them from overcrowding.

Hikers Climbing the Cables on Half Dome - Yosemite, California

The Yosemite NPS Half Dome Day Hike site does say not to summit in bad weather, but there is no mention of a mechanism such as a “raincheck” provided by the BLM if conditions do not permit a safe summit. With such a difficult permit to obtain and such a long hike people who reach the cables might be unnecessarily tempted to ascend when they might otherwise try again another day.

Hikers Climbing the Cables on Half Dome - Yosemite, California (zoom)

From an example BLM site:

Can I get a “raincheck” after I pay my fees?

You can get a raincheck for the XXXXX permit areas only if you attempted to reach the trailhead and were unsuccessful. You may then apply for a raincheck voucher in person at the XXXXX Contact Station (or XXXXXOffice in the winter). You may redeem your raincheck voucher, at no cost, for a replacement permit dated within 30 days following your original permit, or within the same 30 day period the following year. Call the permits desk (xxx-xxx-xxxx) or the XXXXX Strip District Office (xxx-xxx-xxxx) with your voucher number to obtain a replacement permit.

Raincheck example: John Smith has a permit for 2 people to hike to XXXXX on March 18th, 2010 and he and his hiking partner are unable to get to the XXXXX Trailhead because XXXXX is flooded. Mr. Smith travels to the XXXXX Contact Station and applies for a raincheck voucher. He is issued a voucher that he may redeem for another permit before April 17th, 2010 or between March 19th and April 17th, 2011.

What are your thoughts?

Hikers Climbing the Cables on Eastern Shoulder of Half Dome - Yosemite, California

Related Articles
600-foot fall marks 14th Yosemite death this year - Mercury News

Technorati Tags: NPS, Yosemite, Half Dome, permit, cable, hike, hiker

Don’t get me wrong I love social media and I enjoy interacting with friends, family and fans on Twitter, Facebook and Google+, but there are days I do need to remove distractions and get down to the business of work. Well I found a few solutions to hit the social media mute button and tested them out this past week. In case you’re looking for a virtual (working) cone of silence you may find the following solutions of interest.

• Anti-Social (Mac) – Block specific sites for up to 8 hours, you choose the sites and the duration.
• Freedom (Mac) – Block Internet access for up to 8 hours, you choose the duration.
• StayFocused (Chrome extension) – limits time you spend on distracting web sites that you set in the extensions configuration.

Personally I prefer bringing my laptop out to the beach to unplug and work, but that’s not always possible. In the meantime these applications seemed to do the job I needed. As you’ve guessed I’m a Mac guy so if you have PC or Linux equivalents you use that are recommendable add them in the comments so others can find them.

Technorati Tags: technology, social media, software

I’ve finally compiled a list of iPhone and iPad apps that I’ve found of use on my mobile devices. I’ve received numerous inquiries in the past as to what apps I recommend and to make things simple for everyone I’ve made this one master list. Included in the list are Social Media, Photography Research / Reference Tools, Photography Editing Tools, iPhone Camera Enhancement, Weather, Utlity, Business, Navigation, Entertainment & News, Art and Game app categories.

Take note in the right hand side of my blog I’ve added a section titled “Recommended”. In the near future I’ll be adding more lists here so stay tuned for more. In the meantime enjoy…

100+ Recommended Mobile Apps (iPhone & iPad)

Technorati Tags: photography, mobile, app, iphone, ipad, apple, list

If you’re as passionate about photography as I am, I have some great sources of photo inspiration for you to start your weekend.

Art of Composition Lectures

If you’re looking to improve your photography Art Wolfe (@artwolfe) is running a series of lectures on the Art of Composition in 5 cities through October. Check out the schedule here on his web site and if you sign up be sure to share that you found out about it via the JMG-Galleries blog. If you’re in the SF Bay area Art will be in San Jose on September 25th.

Inspiring Books & Prints

Michael E. Gordon (@MichaelEGordon) has released a folio of amazing large format black and white photographs of the Southern California desert aptly titled “Desert”. Thanks to Twitter I caught wind of the release of this folio right away and bought it without hesitation. Given Michael’s fine artistic eye and technical prowess I knew this folio would be great. Upon receiving it I was not disappointed, impressed not just by the great photographs, but the detail applied to the presentation of his work. At $99 “Desert” was a bargain. If you’re a fan of Michael’s work as well pick this one up before the price reverts to $129.

William Neill (@wgneill) has released an amazing collection of his early photos from Yosemite National Park in an eBook titled William Neill’s Yosemite: Volume One. William was kind enough to share a courtesy copy of his eBook with me and it brought back a flood of memories in reading his articles and viewing his photographs in years past. This particular eBook contains over 100 pages of inspiring photographs of Yosemite’s pristine beauty. If you’re unfamiliar with William Neill’s work this is certainly a great way to introduce yourself to his incredible photography. Well worth the $10 price tag for the digital edition.

David Sanger (@davidsanger) has a wonderful book San Francisco Bay, Portrait of an Estuary. David was kind enough to provide a courtesy copy of this book to me and its an amazingly well done book. The images & essays are excellent and the print quality is superb. If you’re attracted to the beauty of the San Francisco bay area or want to learn more about its rich natural history this is a must have. David has signed copies available on his site for only $29.99. Definitely worth checking out.

Have a great weekend and as I can I’ll continue to bring you more sources of photo inspiration.

At the end of this blog post are the 3 links to change your life and our planet for the better in 2010, showing you the way to reduce the amount of paper waste you receive.

The average person in the US receives nearly 11 pieces of junk mail each week, or 560 pieces a year. This amounts to 4.5 million tons of junk mail yearly, of which 44% goes straight to the landfill unopened and unread.

The best thing I did at the beginning of 2009 was stop receiving junk mail through traditional mail. This year was the first year I’d only receive legitimate letters and bills with no paper junk mail. My wife on the other hand didn’t take my lead immediately. The difference in our daily mail was quite stark. I’d receive 1-2 letters and she’d receive numerous offers and 5-6 catalogs.

• 100 million trees are cut down each year to produce junk mail.
• 1 million trees offset 48,000,000 pounds of carbon emissions.
• Eliminating junk mail in the US would offset 480,000 cars.

-matadorchange.com

While I’m happy that I took the steps necessary to stop the flood of junk mail I’ve recently taken the added step of opting out of receiving phone books. I haven’t used a phone book in years and I never knew how to stop them from being delivered… until now. How much is wasted in the manufacturing of phone books?

According to StopThePhoneBooks.com approximately 615 million phonebooks were produced last year

• 500 phone books take:– according to a study in California
• 17 to 31 trees- depending on how much is new paper and how is recycled paper
• 4100 kwh (a 3 bdrm house in Colorado uses about 600 -1500 kwh per month– so that about 3-6 months of electricity)
• 7000 gallons of water ( thats about 14 gallons of water per book).
• Then –how many gallons of gasoline for the delivery trucks? Gas for the trash trucks? Gas for the recycling trucks?
• So– how much did we use for 615 million phonebooks ? — Well, thats about 1.23 million times each of the numbers above — in just one year. Two years ago they only produced 450 million phone books.

If you’re interested in taking a step toward breaking this cycle of waste I highly recommend opting out of receiving junk mail and phone books. In fact I challenge you to tell 10 friends about the ability to opt-out of of junk mail and phone books in order to fast track improving our impact on the environment.

The official way to opt-in or opt-out of credit card or insurance offers
OptOutPrescreen.com

Another resource to opt-out of other direct marketing offers (junk mail)
Direct Marketing Association (DMA) Choice

How to opt out of receiving phone books
YellowPagesOptOut.com

Additional Information on this subject:

• Native Forest Network’s Guide to Stopping Junk Mail
• White Pages Look To Go Greener – NPR

Technorati Tags: Junk Mail, Phone Book, Opt-Out, Recycle, New Year, New Year Resolution

A few weeks back I was hunting for music that I could use on a web based video and had a challenging time. As a photographer who cares about rights to my work being respected, I felt it was important to share that same respect to musicians whose work I wanted to use. Searching and gaining permission to use music for my photo video proved to be a huge challenge and got me to respect the Creative Commons initiative all the more.

While getting permission to use All Rights Reserved creative content is as simple as asking permission it can be frustrating. I’m normally a very patient person, but when I had my video ready to go and I found the music I wanted to use it seemed like an eternity to hear back from the artist. Eventually the artist wrote me back 48 hours later and gave me permission to use any of his work in the future regardless of current licensing designation. I was lucky and found a very cool artist to collaborate with.

Ultimately I burned a lot of time searching for music. It would seem that there is a huge opening for a site to be created matching artists who want to share their work in conjunction with other artists for promotional and non/pseudo-commercial purposes. To me having a directory that matches musicians and photographers to use each others work for mutual promotion seems like a win-win proposition. Until my dream of such a directory becomes a reality below are 5 copyleft resources to search for music and 5 royalty-free stock music resources.

An important note:
Music designated as “No Derivative Works license” cannot be used for photo videos as explained on this Creative Commons page Legal Music for Videos.
So even if you find music you like with this CC license you’ll still need to retain approval from the artist, so build in approval time as you plan your videos release.

“Under CC licenses, synching the music to images amounts to transforming the music, so you can’t legally use a song under a CC No Derivative Works license in your video.“

5 Copyleft Resources For Music

1. CC Mixter
2. Internet Archive
3. Jamendo
4. Proud Music
5. Film Music by Moby
   “‘film music’, is for independent and non-profit filmmakers, film students, and anyone in need of free music for their independent, non-profit film, video, or short.
   If you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that’s generated being given to the humane society.”

5 Stock Music Resources (Pay to License)

1. StockMusic.net
2. Shockwave-Sound.com
3. Triple Scoop Music
4. MediaMusicNow.co.uk
5. MagnaTune.com

Technorati Tags: stock music, copyleft music, copyleft, royalty-free,   royalty free, music, photo video, photography