i'm honestly amazed...

that someone could write something like "shoot out" in the context of a lens comparison and NOT include photos.  again, the king-of-all-wanks ... wanked about 16mm lenses.  this is wank's response to not having images available to support what he has to say "The images were made at a secure test range and have not been cleared for publication. Even if I was at liberty to publish them, you'd be looking at about 25MB of data."

that's fucking amazing.  secret images of lawn furniture?  secret images of secret walls?  secret images of boring suburban architecture?  please.

i'm so amazed that anyone can take that dude's advice based only on his words.

so ... we've gotten two judge's choices for the uber street contest.  when i was going through it myself and applying aperture star ratings i noticed a couple things:

1)  photographs of streets ... not quite street photography in the correct context of street photography.
2)  some have no clue what constitutes street phtoography.
3)  EVERYONE should learn about naming their files.

it's hilarious.  i look at small details about photographer's work.  when i look at links to individual images i usually see dsc...something.  like wank.  he has no numbering scheme or renaming scheme on his work.  look at the file name of the photo.

10 years ago another photographer introduced me to one of the easiest and best methods.  take your name and i'll use the name herman t. wanksalot as the photographer name.

htw are the initials.

next use the date with the year first, then the two digit equivalent of the month and the two digit equivalent of the day ...

if htw shot something today the first file would be named htw20081008-001. 

in programs like aperture and photo mechanic it's very easy to start with the first number and set a sequence.  unless you're somewhat unfortunate and have to rely on programs like G.I.F.T. -- reference to this will be only understood by those who use it and hate it. ;)

creating a numbering scheme for your photos now will alleviate headaches in the future.

unless you're wank.

of course.

and since it's almost a sport pointing out how people like wank are people who would "never give up their monopod" nor just admit to themselves there's nothing they'd like more than to be a pro but ... they're "just not that good," i was surfing blurb last night and saw a link for a book by emily shur.  although i'm not a huge fan of what i saw in the book.  i really like her celebrity and portrait work.

although mr.wishes-he-was-a-pro-but-couldn't-get-representation says pros don't websites or blog, emily also has a pretty-well updated blog.  good for her.  i put her on rss.

as busy as a pro like she is ... it's cool to see that she does a lot of personal work.  in fact, it's very evident that her pro work has a deep root in her personal work.  not only ... but the fact she actually takes the time to do her blog and help just that one person out there who reads something which resonates so well ... it changes their lives.

that's fucking cool.

as irrelevant as wank is ... i think myspace should is as or more irrelevant and should just go away.  when you compare EVERYTHING about facebook with myspace ... it's just ... something to make you delete your myspace profile.  never really wanted to create a facebook profile but, honestly, i'm glad that i did.  they really do it right.

so ... yeah ... had a few minutes so i thought i'd just ... get it out. ;)

hope the markets are fucking you too much.

hope you don't have too much money locked away iceland.  feel sorry for some of the brits and the icelandics.  must suck ... what's going on.

yo, m, that email this morning about wanks and tripods made me laugh.  it's so fucking true and ... it's so sad ... it's funny.

time to shower and get outta here for a while.  but first i think you should watch this.  i love arguing with someone who has no basis for their arguments and clearly have no knowledge of things they really should.  like mccain supporters, of course. ;)

j recommended the ministry video. ;)

and think good thoughs for m ... not the one about the tripod ... but m-the-spaniel ... his stomach is all sorts of fucked up. poor spaniel.

cheers from just the slightly less warm l.a.

Comments

[Matt R]

Hard to remember to name things when your 'real' copy is in a binder somewhere. ;)

[C Weeks]

@matt: 'tis true but i even apply it to neg-scans!

[Mark Greenmantle]

Glad to say a chat we had back in ... '05 taught me about better file naming. Used your system since then.

I could start ranting about the idiocy of Wank's "test" but... no sense preaching to the converted eh. hehe

Imagine though him being pushed into a real work situation having to shoot a fast moving event in low light, where flash isn't allowed. *laughs*

I spent the last two nights showing one of my fav Swedish singers how to shoot without flash in nightclubs for kicks. I think he now wants to buy a D3 when he goes back to his band HQ in Germany. hehe

[Brian Webb]

Ministry's cool...got intro'd to them in college, 'bout the same time that the Smashing Pumpkin's first major album (Gish) came out. I like KMFDM a little better, though...just more accessible. But yeah, nothing says the LA riots like Ministry. LOL

Shit, 2 judges have selected their fav entries already. Now I'm getting nervous.

I think I just used my initials plus the title of the pic (like photos are supposed to have titles, right?) for the filenames. On my PC they're named by a keyword (usually the event or place name), an underscore, and the date. But then it's not really critical for me since I just shoot for fun and the occasional contest that I don't win. LOL

Have a good weekend. :)

[Scott]

I agree with you everytime you talk about Wank.. I dont understand either how someone can write without pictures..

Altho, i got blasted for doing a review of my sigma 18-50, because I posted (my) pictures with it.. Seriously.

Usually my RAW files stay file named (SAA-9999)

Thank you for the link to that photographers blog, the Maher video she posted made me laugh.

[Ovi]

Nice use of flash... both on her website and photos!

I still hate typepad but i learned how to use the rss thing...

And I'm shooting birds lately! Nothing better than quiet nature!

I do shoot models also but who cares?

Noone cares in lazy South italy!

Cheers,
Ovi

[Robert Price]

Now that is a great Idea on file nameing, thank you I am going to start useing that system. Well for my personal work at least.

So 25MB of data is alot now? Ha ha ha!

[grey_fox24]

When I looking at the submissions page, I found it kinda weird no one else had renamed their photos. I figured putting the photo's name along with mine would make sorting easier. Plus, I also read in a photo mag that it helps publishers remember your name when your submitting to them for the first time.

[Dan]

"hope the markets are fucking you too much."
One of the best typos(?) I've seen in a long time.

And being a Brit who's just started university, I was looking for a bank with a decent interest rate to put my student loan in.
I was this close to putting it in an Icelandic bank.
Partly because they had the best interest rates.
But also because, hell it's Iceland.
Geyser me up, baby.

[Elinor]

There really ARE a lot of people who have no idea of what street photography is. I sorted through ALL the images 3 times (at least), which increased my awareness of just how prevalent this lack of understanding of the genre really is.

[Rastislav]

So I see wank hasn’t slowed down... poor wank... no pictures to back his illusions of grandeur :)

Hope M gets better. Hope you’re doing well and not too tired.

Have a great weekend!

[christian rollinson]

i am guilty of posting a non street photo myself, purely due to being under the influence of alcohol. i liken the feeling of rising in the morning and realising the faux pas of posting a non street photo (when you know the judges hate that)to waking in the morning to the sight of a lady encountered in a drunken haze in a very dark nightclub. niether yeilds acceptable results ;)

[Noons]

think it's high time you break out again your "street photography guide".

you had it available in dA for a while, got it from there. maybe point a url to it?

some folks might not have had the benefit of following you all the way since way back then and it'd help them grok what street is about?

hmmm, I wonder if the Florida retired morons who helped vote-in the current admin are already doing it hard in their pensions?

it certainly f****d-up mine, gonna have to work another 10 years or so to get this one evened out...

[Rich Spencer]

You prompted me to write an essay Chris, how dare you!:
http://freeboprich.com/articles_73542.html

Rich*****