Up the Tree

  • SERIOUSLY! Have you checked out Strip Search?! It is a reality internet tv show for web cartoonists and has been my addiction for the past few days. I have been loving the competition so far and especially getting to know the cartoonists.

  • Vivian Maier Self Portrait
    Vivian Maier Self Portrait

    I first heard about Vivian Maier on the This American Life special The Invisible Made Visible. Aside from all the other wonderful stories and performances on the special, was the work of a photographer I had never encountered before. If you haven’t heard the story about Vivian Maier’s photographs, I won’t ruin it here. I would urge you to download the special ($5 digitally) and watch the amazing story unfold.

    Issues of Vivian’s posthumous privacy aside.

    Needless to say, I was blown away. I have known of many photographers’ work that is arresting, but Vivian’s raw output is incredible. Over the course of her life, Vivian generated 100,000 to 150,000 negatives and over 3,000 prints. That she was never known when she was alive and that we were almost robbed of one of the greatest American photographers, is a frightening thought. While I have selected a few of her photographs I would urge you to take a look at vivianmaier.com for an even greater collection.

    I, myself, shall be saving my pennies to hopefully one day afford one of her prints. She has served as an inspiration to my work lately and has shown me how much can be accomplished by just taking a moment to see the world.

  • Flickr has announced that all users will be getting 1TB of free photo hosting. That is pretty sizable free storage! Add to that, they have also announced that all images will be available at full-size and the deal gets even sweeter!

    I used to use Flickr way back before Yahoo bought them and for the most part, I really enjoyed the service. I even paid for it at one point, before I realized that I don’t like renting where I put my precious images.

    This news is a game changer in terms of photo storage and hopefully realigns Flickr as the serious photographer’s web storage option. Even their home page allows you to calculate how many photographs 1TB holds (The answer is, it is always a lot of photographs!). I was so jazzed, I quickly picked up a refurbished Cannon Rebel T3i Body (for $351.99) to replace my ailing Rebel XT now almost 10 years old.

    So, my advice is to dust off your Yahoo account and get snapping!

    Update: Flickr was sold and the first thing they did was back out of the 1 TB of storage. They didn’t keep it for existing users. Unfortunately, the profit model of a ton of storage for free is unsustainable. Google Photos did the same thing, however, I trust Google will be around in ten years. I’m not so sure about Flickr at this point.

    Personally, I now keep my photos backed up locally. Maybe something to explore on a self-hosted basis in the future. Contact me if you have any recommendations!

  • PlaceIt by Breezi allows you to put anything into an iPhone window super-convincingly. SWANK!

  • The Great Discontent may be one of the best designed magazine websites ever.