Free journalism

Now that I have your attention, the closure of the The Kamloops Daily News compels me to comment, after all everyone has an opinion and I’m an asshole. (I’m not completely convinced that expression was explained to me accurately.)

In the Beginning
I chose to leave the car business in 2006 against some advice to study photojournalism.

My career had stalled, I had become both bored and frustrated with my work and I couldn’t bear the thought that being my future for another thirty years.

After prayer, contemplation and gaining some insight into who and what I am, journalism became a welcome, interesting and exciting direction to pursue.

Fiona and Jocelyn wedding July 16, 2011

Fiona and Jocelyn wedding July 16, 2011, a set on Flickr.

Speaking of weddings finally posted, I shot this earlier this year.
Yes, I gave Fiona and Jocelyn their pictures ages ago.
It was a beautiful wedding with great people.

Via Flickr:
Fiona and Jocelyn's wedding was held at the Coal Harbour Community Centre overlooking Coal Harbour (obviously) and the North Shore mountains. The wedding officiant was Judy, who also did my wedding.

Wedding pictures finally posted.

Wedding, a set on Flickr.

I finally got the long promised wedding pictures posted. My wedding, September 18, 2010. It was an amazing day, everyone was wonderful. Best of all, I'm married to the best wife in history.
Special thanks go to photographer Lyndsay de Jonge for shooting.

The best non-porn article on the Internet

I read the Huffington Post for the articles.

Really.

I've been reading for several years, they have great articles on US and international politics.

Really.

HuffPo, as the kids call it, was a People's Voice winner of the 2008 Webby awards in the political category.

And then I found the best non-porn article on the Internet.

Miss California Carrie Prejean's breast implants made news the past few weeks, but they are not the only enhanced pair out there.

Below is a slideshow of many famous, barely famous, and oft-flaunted chests, some confirmed implants and some just rumored to be implants, so perhaps real.

Click through and see if you know who they belong to.

Guess The Celebrity Breast Implants (PHOTOS)

In case you weren't aware, the article has PHOTOS!

I suppose this is the equivalent of a page three girl, but still.

This article doesn't discuss whether the implants were done for personal satisfaction or professional necessity, or what "professional necessity" might imply about a given profession.

The article does not discuss how these women view themselves before or after their implants.

The article certainly doesn't discuss the possible health implications.

And this isn't an article about nose jobs, it's about (pardon the pun) titillation.

Titillation on a political blog.

Yes, it's a tough economy out there, but does the HuffPo really have to present soft porn as news?

Related Links
Huffington Post
Page 3 Girls [The official page(!), apparently]
Blogcritics Culture - Female Objectification and Sexism in Mainstream Media
Media Objectification of Women - A Definition and Consequences of Sexualized Female Representations
Undergraduate Research Community - The Objectification and Dismemberment of Women in the Media

On my way to the camera store

I'm thinking of buying a second camera body.

I'm thinking of either buying a used Nikon D200, like the one I already have, or a new Nikon D300.

I'd love a D700, but it's a little out of my price range right now.

Anyhoo, I was doing a little online reseach about the expected lifetime of my D200's shutter since it already has about 40,000 cycles on it.

Then I came across this video.

Parts of it are a little technical, but I think it will still stand up well.

Down at the demonstration

In cities across Canada today supporters of the Liberal, NDP, Bloc coalition gathered to show their support in rallies organized by the Canadian Labour Congress.

In Vancouver, supporters rallied at the convention centre at the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Well, the supporters and DJ Lawrence.

DJ Lawrence is a non-partisan PSAC member who does not support the coalition, and he has the balls to say so in the middle of the Vancouver rally.

Or, he would have said so in the middle of the rally if he'd been allowed inside.

Under the watchful eye of hotel security, Lawrence maintained his vigil in front of the hotel.

"PSAC had a hand in organizing this," Lawrence explained, "they publicized this with their membership, I'm a member of the union and I don't have a choice in that, and I don't have a choice in paying union dues.

"I'm quite certain it was done on PSAC time, which means it's on my union dollars, I don't agree with that.

"Whether I agree or disagree, they didn't ask their members about this, they don't have a mandate to do it, and as far as I'm concerned they're supporting a traitorous attack on our government."

Supporters streaming out of the hotel at the conclusion of the rally met Lawrence's protest with respect.

"Only a few people got in my face and were nasty about it," he said laughing.

"I wish they'd allowed me to go in, it seems to me a big part of Canada is having different opinions and respecting each other for them."

Related Links
PSAC [Official site]
Canadian Labour Congress [Official site]

Bonus Video

The end is nigh (No, really it is this time!)

Sign number one: A black man elected president of the United States.

Sign number two: Toyota reduces its forecast profit by half

Sign number three: Gas is less than $1.00 per litre.

Nice legs, shame about the face

Previously on A Boy and His Blog:
"I was going to post about Taiwan's relationship with China, but then I saw this:"

Your regular programming has been pre-empted to bring you the following special blog-cast:

SMALL CHILD NOT CUTE ENOUGH TO BE ON TELEVISION

BEIJING (AFP) — The little girl who starred at the Olympic opening ceremony was miming and only put on stage because the real singer was not considered attractive enough, the show's musical director said.

Pigtailed Lin Miaoke was selected to appear because of her cute appearance and had not sung a note, Chen Qigang, the general music designer of the ceremony, said in an interview with a state broadcaster.

Um, just, wow.

Just so you know, the hideous child, Yang Peiyi, is the one on the left.

Chinese officials recommend you not look too long because... well... you know.

I have to admit that as I was watching a rebroadcast of the opening ceremonies, I wondered if the child was lip synching because the mouth didn't seem perfectly synchronized to the music.

When I watched Sarah Brightman and Chinese singer Liu Huan I didn't think their lips were synchronized properly either, but I leapt to the conclusion Brightman wouldn't perform to playback, so I assumed the sychronization problem was just latency in the stadium's audio system.

Now I wonder.

In Other Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony News
I didn't see the footprints fireworks in the opening ceremonies rebroadcast I watched on the CBC, but apparently NBC's included a little bit of trickery they weren't completly transparent about.

They faked them.

(Boing Boing) The fakery was unearthed by a local Chinese newspaper, The Beijing Times, which revealed that a 55-second sequence was created by a visual effects team, which included a series of giant footsteps made by fireworks.

Confusingly, this actually took place in the real ceremony, but the organisers felt that the sequence of 28 footprints would not be accurately captured live, so they faked it.

This was the disclaimer during the broadcast:

Lauer: "You're looking now at the footsteps of history, quite literally, coming from the old center of Beijing, near Tiananmen Square, to the new area of Beijing, this national stadium, along the north-south axis. You're looking at a cinematic device (my emphasis) employed by Zhang Yimou here -- this is actually almost animation (my emphasis). A footstep a second, 29 in all, to signify the 29 Olympiads. "

Costas: "We said earlier that aspects of this opening ceremony are almost like cinema (my emphasis) in real time. Well, this is quite literally cinematic."

Lauer: "This is signifying China's march of history outward from the center of Beijing, And now the footsteps arrive at the stadium."

I'm not sure I would have fully understood what was meant during what is supposed to be a live broadcast.

For me "almost like cinema" is not full disclosure.

Recreation of an event for news purposes can be a useful way to tell the story.

In photojournalism, it's called a photo illustration (my emphasis), and reputable photographers will emphasize to their editors the importance of disclosure to the readership.

Reputable editors will not have to have the importance explained and will be slightly annoyed.

But the disclosure will happen.

Um, just, wow.



Related Links
China Olympic ceremony star mimed [BBC]
China digitally fakes 2008 Olympics fireworks [Boing Boing]
NBC Olympics [Official site]

Ontario files

Shortly after I bought my first video camera last summer my good friend Jim and I went out to shoot a thunder storm passing over Belleville.

It was a fun night, the storm lasted a really long time, Jim shot stills and I figured out how to shoot lighting on video.

The method for shooting lighting on video is the same as shooting lighting on a still camera: point the camera where you think the lighting will be and hope for the best.

I'm pretty happy with the results, I hope you enjoy them too.




Related Links
Lightning [Wikipedia]
Belleville [Wikipedia]

Rememberance of Canada Day in Ottawa

As much as I'm glad to be back in my beautiful British Columbia, I have to admit Canada Day in Ottawa was cooler.

Related Links
Canada Day in Ottawa

Happy Monday

It's happened again!

No, not that. And, yes, I know there is a pill for it.

I had pictures published at my favourite blog, Jalopnik.

Okay, my second favourite blog, because, of course, yours is my favourite. (You know who you are.)

Jalopnik, they're obsessed with the cult of cars, you know, have a series, Down on the Street, which features unusual cars on the streets of Alameda, California shot by Murilee Martin, a regular contributor.

Down on the Streets has spawned a "bonus edition" of reader contributed pictures of unusual cars in their neighbourhoods.

I submitted this car because it looks like Jim Rockford's Firebird.

Who?

Jim Rockford was a fictional private investigator played by James Garner in the television series The Rockford Files.

Actually, it looks like the car used in the 1977-1978 seasons because they always used the current year Firebird, and the show ran from 1974-1980.

And, yes, this is a blog post about a blog post.

Related Links
Jalopnik
Down on the Street
Down on the Street Bonus Edition
My pictures at Jalopnik [Rockford car]
My pictures at Jalopnik [Datsun 710]
The Rockford Files [IMDB]
The Rockford Files [Wikipedia]
The Rockford Files [Fan site]
The National Firebird and Trans Am Club

Happy Friday

My favourite blog, Jalopnik, used some of my pictures for their Down on the Street Bonus Edition.

Jalopnik, "obsessed with the cult of cars", has a regular posting called Down on the Street where Murilee Martin, a resident of Alameda California, posts pictures of cars parked on the street.

With Alameda's warm climate cars survive there for years even if they've started to rust, unlike my beloved Geo Metro after one winter in Ontario.

Also, apparently, Alameda residents rarely drive their cars off the island, so in an automotive sense, Alameda is the island that time forgot.

The "bonus edition" part of Down on the Street started when Martin became inundated (I imagine) with pictures of cars from elsewhere. There have been many excellent submissions from Denver.

Anyhoo, I submitted some pictures and they were posted. Woot! Woot!

Oh, and if you're really not into cars, don't bother with the links below, because they'll just lead you to pictures of a bunch of old cars, and you won't understand why anyone in their right mind would want to see them.

Related Links
Jalopnik
Down on the Street
Down on the Street Bonus Edition
My pictures at Jalopnik

My School Project

At various times last year I claimed to either understand winter in Ontario or not understand it at all. Specifically here and here.

I was off my meds and drinking.

Apparently last year was a tough winter only if you're a pussy, or from Vancouver.

I'm from Vancouver.

This year, to my delight, there was snow at Christmas. Yeah!

We've past Valentine's Day and the snow is still here. Not so "yeah".

Last year even when it snowed I could get out and do stuff, this year they cancelled the Marmora Snofest sled dog race.

Two weeks ago I was supposed to go to Toronto to interview some people from the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War at their Houses not War Rally. While in Toronto I would be able to do the some interviews, capture some compelling video footage and maybe even see my good friend Monica and her sweetie pie Alberto.

That morning, my Beloved Instructor (He insists we call him that. It was either that or we shovel the driveway to Cobourg villa. Initially I thought shoveling was the better deal. It goes to show just how wrong one, me, can be.), Rob Washburn emailed to say he would not be driving from his Cobourg villa to school because the weather was too bad.

Slowly I worked through the logic that: if my Beloved Instructor, with his deep and vast wealth of experience believes it is unwise to drive from Cobourg to Belleville it is probably unwise for me to drive from Belleville past Cobourg to Toronto.

I worked all that out on my own. Neither my landlady Cathi nor her 10 year-old son Graeme had to help.

So, due to inclement weather I was unable to do interesting interviews and capture compelling video footage.

Stupid snow.

"Anonymous" Scientology protest

A group calling itself "Anonymous" called for worldwide protest against the Church of Scientology on Feb 10.

The church, which has many celebrity members including Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, was founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard.

Der Spiegel reported Scientology has about 8 million members worldwide in 2007.



Related Links
Wikipedia article on Project Chanology. The Project Chanology official web site is down (as of Feb 16, 2008). Hmmm.
Wikipedia article on "Anonymous".
Gawker leaked Scientology video with Tom Cruise
Times Online Transcript of the leaked Scientology Tom Cruise video.
Lisa McPherson memorial page
Church of Scientology official web site
Aaron Vincent Elkaim photojournalist whose pictures are featured in the video
Internet Archive music source

Okay, So Belleville Doesn't Totally Suck

I have just finished shooting an assignment for the Belleville Intelligencer.

"Big deal!" I hear you say.

"Yes, that's right, we said 'Big deal!'" You said, in reply to my quotation of what you said.

Wait, hang on, who's the bus driver?

Uh, wait a moment, where was I, oh, yes, I just finished shooting The Empire Classic Rock Festival.

"Big deal," I hear you say, yet again, and you go on to add, "if I hear Stairway to Heaven one more time I may have to kill someone, never mind if I have to listen to any more Pink Floyd."

I try to get a word in edgewise, but you won't shut up, "I've heard enough classic rock to choke Alan Freed."

Wow, you're really chatty.

And somewhat bitter.

No, my dear blog reader, this is classic rock that is classic to you, not the people who graduated from high school ten years before you.

On Thursday night I shot April Wine and Cheap Trick, Friday I shot Kim Mitchell and George Thorogood, and Saturday I shot Sass Jordan and Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo.

"Who the hell's Neil Giraldo?" I wish you'd watch your language.

Neil ‘Spyder’ Giraldo, beside being Pat Benatar's husband is an incredible musician in his own right. And producer. And song writer. Singer? Not so much. Of course, his singing is being directly compared to Pat Benatar's, so maybe one should cut him some slack.

Any hoo, it really floors me that Belleville can pull in acts of that calibre. The concerts themselves are held in The Empire Square, which is next to The Empire Theatre. At a different hour of the day The Empire Square would be called The Parking Lot Next to The Empire Theatre.

Whatever.

Actually, you can hear the music clearly at my house, which is great if you're a student who couldn't afford to go to the concert. Or couldn't get a media pass.

The acts were great, and it really is a credit to the people of Belleville to be able to support a festival like this.

Okay, so Belleville doesn't totally suck.

Oh, crap, now I have Stairway to Heaven going through my head.

Well, I Suppose if it's Dale's Number...

While I was up in Ottawa for Canada Day one of the things I saw which didn't make it into the video was this guy's ankle.

I was going to do a snotty post about the silly ways people connect with celebrities, and maybe even a word or two about the kind of people who watch NASCAR. Then I remembered I liked Dale Earnhardt too and was sad and shocked at his premature passing, further, who the hell was I to comment on what someone chooses to do with his ankle.

I have to admit, though, it did catch me off guard, I don't expect to see a racer's number tattooed to people's ankles.

For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, besides the number three tattooed on some guy's ankle, here is some context.

One Half of School is Complete

Apparently, I can't shoot news, and when I do it's not very well lit; on the other hand, I can fix it in Photoshop. At least this is one way to interpret my grades. (See below)

Another way to interpret my grades: a picture may be worth a thousand words, but my words will be better than the picture. (See below)

Another, nother way to interpret my grades: the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I can't shoot news, or light it, but I know how to put a portfolio together and I know how to make more than one picture tell as story. (See below)

This semester was way tougher than the first semester. There were times when I was working on the "what's due tomorrow basis". Unlike when I was in high school, though, there really was a lot of work to get done. My instructors were great and very supportive and my classmates worked together to create a collegial atmosphere.

Highlights of the semester included seeing a dogsled race in Marmora, being in charge of fundraising for the photojournalism 20th anniversary gala (The World Educates a Photojournalist), acting in the student film Chronicles of Daisy (I was soldier number 1, Brian Morton) and the end of winter.

The only real hardship this year, besides getting everything in on time, was when the second-year students all left for their internships, jobs and the rest of their lives. When I came to school I didn't expect to get to know the more senior students very well or become attached to them. Now I miss them. Bastards.

Again, I can't give enough thanks to the people who've helped me realize my dream. This has been such a great experience, I can't wait for next semester. Thank you all.

CRN	Subject	Course	Section	Course Title	Campus	Final Grade
5480	MEDI	1003	C	Civic Literacy 2	Main	92
5466	PHJN	1006	A	News Photography	Main	60
5468	PHJN	1007	A	Location Lighting	Main	68
5470	PHJN	1008	A	Portfolio Development	Main	75
5472	PHJN	1009	A	International Photojournalism	Main	91
5474	PHJN	1010	A	Multiple Pictures	Main	81
5476	PHJN	1011	A	Advanced Photoshop	Main	89
5478	PHJN	1012	A	Writing For Photojournalists 2	Main	82

Credit Summary

						GPA
Current Term:						80.55
Overall:						82.83

New Stuff on the Right

See that stuff on the right?

Below the weather report.

Below the blog archive.

Yeah, that's it, the links.

There's some new stuff there.

In no particular order, except from top to bottom:
Flickr Portfolio, I'm putting my portfolio online, I chose to use Flickr because it finds my cutlines (captions) in the electronic image file (very cool);
A Boy and His Web Page, not so new, because I never seem to get around to updating it, but I will soon (no, really, soon, it will happen)(stop looking at me like that);
Loyalist College, uh, that's not very new either;
Kevin Darby, if that's not new, that's not my fault;
John Wilcox, that's new (My very good friend Karen married a guy not named Duane, but John, who drove a 4X4, and worked at a mill. Now they live in Abbotsford and he's a cop. What a difference 13 years makes.), he started a blog, I suppose it's the only way Karen lets him get a word in edgewise;
The Ottawa Mission, I am shocked by the amount of homeless people in our nation's capitol, I thought there was a lot in Vancouver. The Ottawa Mission is people who've been trying to help people help themselves since before the great (what was so "great" about it) depression.

And that's all the links [pause] there are. (Trust me, if you say that to the cadence of "Shave and a Hair Cut, Two Bits" it's hilarious.)(Ask your parents)(Okay, your grandparents)

James Nachtwey

Golden Gaels and Redmen

I have no idea what you might think that title means, unless you know what it means. Last Friday (Yes, I know it's a long time ago, would you like to do my homework for me? [make sure you get me an A]), my classmates Dan, Jim and I drove out to Kingston to shoot the Queen's University Golden Gaels hockey team play against the McGill University Redmen. I didn't know about the Queens-McGill rivalry, according to Wikipedia

The hockey rivalry between Queen's and McGill dates back to 1895, when on Feb. 2 Queen's defeated McGill 6-5 in Kingston, beginning what is the second-longest existing active rivalry in hockey history (after the Queen’s-Royal Military College of Canada rivalry, 1886).

But even more interesting, again according to Wikipedia

The inventions of North American football, hockey, and basketball are all related to McGill in some way. The first game of North American football was played between McGill and Harvard in 1874. The world's first organized hockey club (known as the Redmen since 1927), played their first game on January 31, 1877. McGill alumnus James Naismith invented basketball in early December of 1891.

The game was great, fast with lots of hits and even a couple of fights. It was even better than going to a Belleville Bulls or Vancouver Giants game. I can't comment on the Canucks, because the last time I attended a Canucks game Tiger Williams was still playing. That's just what was happening on the ice, then there were the highland dancers and the pipe band. Yup, a pipe band at a hockey game. I like bagpipes, so I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

Oh, yes, there were also signs about which team had what disease and chants about who was having intercourse with what. It was a great evening and I will be going back.

The Redmen won.