Monthly Archives: June 2008

You can’t take pictures here

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This happened earlier this spring, but I didn’t have my blog going then, and I am just getting around to posting now.

So what constitutes public property? I was wandering around work looking for things to take pictures of near by. I saw a couple of motorcycles parked at the side of a building, so I walked down a sidewalk between the Law Enforcement Center (a county building) and a parking lot. I had just taken this picture :


when a police officer asked what I was doing. I said I was just taking pictures, and she said it was private property. I politely told her sorry, I thought that the land surrounding a county building would be public. She pointed at the one arm bandit gate on the parking lot and said this parking lot was private property and you had to have a parking pass to be here. I didn’t feel like arguing with the officer, but I didn’t follow the argument, so I left.

I am starting to hear of all sorts of stories about photographers getting hassled taking pictures. Don’t even think about using a tripod. See Scott Kelby’s story here.

I got directed to PhotoPermit.org that has lots of stories and info about getting and trying to avoid being hassled by security guards or police.

There is a great PDF on a photographers rights here. Just don’t expect to be left alone for waving this paper around.

Where is the new D80/D90?

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Nikon last released the D60, before that the D300, and before that the D40x/D40. I have the D40. What’s next? I am hoping it is a refreshed D80. Call it a D90. The rumors have been flying recently for a release this month, June. Nikon has released quite a bit recently, so thinking of a D90 in June seems a bit premature, but that seems to be the prevailing wind. The D80 is two years old now, so people think it is time for an upgrade. I think that Nikon has had it’s hands full taking over the bottom end of the spectrum. I think that September is more likely. Why? That is when the next big photo show is. Photokina 2008 is in September in Germany. Last year this show was where the D60 was released. It will make the D80 long in the tooth, and I am hoping for sooner rather than later, as this rumored camera is targeted as my next purchase.

Bring on the cards.

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The cards are here. The fedex truck drove away a few minutes ago. I blogged about this deal here. The deal is even better than I thought. There is more in the box than just the card. With each 4gig Extreme III card, there is also a card reader, a little pouch that can hold at least two cards (in their tiny cheap plastic cases) and some rescue software. Sandisk also claims to warranty the cards for life. Pretty sweet. Now to see if I get the rebate, which would put the price at $20 apiece.

I also ordered a batery for my D40. I am going to try the Adorama branded one. Hopefully it will work fine as a backup. Not sure how to test it short of just holding the trigger and counting shutter clicks vs doing the same with the Nikon version.

Saying goodbye to your best friend.

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So, this is a post from Aug 19, 2005. I had to repost it, because I didn’t import the old blog. It is not related to photography or computers, but on the anniversary of Busters passing, I decided to go find it from the database. I wrote this when he left for Cleveland.

How long have you known your best friend. I suppose some poeple don’t even have a best friend, but I do. I have know him for 12 years. That is a long time. I hardly know anyone other than family that I have seen on a regular basis for that long, other than my best friend. I know that he has been better to me than I have been to him. I have tried though. He has never demanded anything. I have often turned my back on him, but I always came back. He was always accepting. That is why it is so hard this time.
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Where’s the Aperture Love

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Several of the blogs and books I see on photography talk about Photoshop (full, not Elements, but that’s another post) and Lightroom. Not Aperture. I realize that Aperture only runs on a Mac, and Lightroom runs on both Windows and Macs, but information on the web is scarce. I tried to come up with a list. This is all I have.

Thats it. Really? All of those sites have links to each other, and no where else I can find. What gives? Where is the info on settings for best sharpening results, or how to get different looks out of your pictures. I have read articles on using Lightroom for this recently, but I have trouble transferring the knowledge over. Anyone know other resources?

Support your local camera.

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I have a tripod. I bought a Slik Sprint Pro a while back. It was a tough decision. I didn’t have the money for carbon, so I was pretty much left with, kinda light, but not the most stable, or kinda heavy, and quite stable. I went for the kinda light option. I figured that if I got something too heavy, I wouldn’t take it anywhere. What good would that be?
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Want to take more pictures for cheap?

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I was just about to order a couple of SanDisk Extreme II 2gig cards for about $20 a piece. Then I saw that SanDisk has a rebate going until the end of June. Different vendors have different rebates, but through Adorama, you can get a 4gig Extreme III for $19.95 after a $30 rebate. Their rebate gets you a Visa gift card you can use anywhere. If you want, Adorama will add 10% if you want an Adorama gift certificate. Shipping is free too. Buy two, and you get a $70 rebate total. Yikes. Sign me up.

Check your backups

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In my backup strategy, I mentioned, like Scott, I had a small 2.5 inch drive that I could use to keep a backup of my data when on the road. I don’t use it much. I don’t travel often, and I am not allowed to use it at work.

So, with a trip coming up in July, I thought I would test it out. From a short trip to Rochester MN last weekend, I had some images on my laptop. (I hadn’t deleted the cards before getting the images to the main computer though) I copied the masters to the portable, then imported them into Aperture from the external drive. Oops. Several garbled images. Reformated the drive and I tried again. Same thing, different images. Dead drive, or housing. Guess I am going shopping.