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July 30, 2005

Youthful Spirit

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 180mm

Children exhibiting their patriotism at a parade, London, England.

Posted by slewis at 9:24 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 29, 2005

Hyde Park Sunset

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 20mm

The shades of twilight over the Serpentine, Hyde Park, London.

Posted by slewis at 9:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 28, 2005

The Human Touch

Details: ISO: 400 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 24mm

A Service Team (the teen volunteer service operated for a time by the Zoological Society of Florida) member discovers how playful animals in the children's petting zoo section of Miami's MetroZoo can be.

Posted by slewis at 9:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 27, 2005

Grounded

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 400mm

Eastern Airlines jets lined up at Miami International Airport shortly after the airline shut down its operations in 1991.

Posted by slewis at 9:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 26, 2005

Pink & White Phalaenopsis Study #1

Details: ISO: 200 | Exposure: 1/2 sec. at f/32 | Focal Length: 90mm

The first in a study of a pink & white Phalaenopsis. The second in the study is available by following this link.

Posted by slewis at 8:46 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 25, 2005

Reflections

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: not recorded | Focal Length: 300mm

A pair of antelope at the waterhole caught in the day's last light.

Posted by slewis at 7:53 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 24, 2005

Testing Trackbacks...

We have started testing the trackback feature built in to the MovableType blog software. As a result, you should begin to see a hyperlink for "trackbacks" in addition to a "comments" hyperlink at the bottom of each entry.

I'll report in a few weeks how the testing is going.

Posted by slewis at 11:00 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Obsolescence and the OpenRAW movement

Some of you may notice that I've added the OpenRAW logo to the list of links. OpenRAW is a movement that seeks to have camera manufacturers openly document their raw image formats. Given that obsolescence is an unfortunate side-effect of any quickly advancing technology, the OpenRAW movement deserves credit for attempting to avoid the loss of information necessary to support older digital cameras. Even if you upgrade equipment, you may still want to be access older raw images one day.

Consider the advances that digital cameras have made in the last five years alone. Even consumer level cameras have seen the megapixel count rise and list of features grow while the prices have fallen. At some point, each camera manufacturer will stop supporting older digital cameras and devote its development resources to more recent cameras. When the support for older cameras ends, it is likely that the camera manufacturer will also stop updating the software needed to interpret raw images created by the camera. For most people, the lack of support for raw images probably doesn't matter because they shoot jpegs or some other established image format. However, those who even occasionally shoot raw images may find the lack of support will ultimately preclude use of the camera to capture raw images. The lack of support also means that anything shot in raw format today may not be accessible in the future.

This sort of obsolescence--what amounts to a forced upgrade at some point--has plagued the computer industry for years. I remember early flat-bed scanners that used proprietary software. When the world moved from Windows 3.1 into Windows 95, support for the old scanners ended and no Windows 95 software was written for the old scanners. The end result was that if you wanted to continue using the older scanner, you would have to set a computer aside--as if frozen in time--to continue running the older software, and if something went wrong, you were on your own. The same thing happened again when the world moved from Windows 95 to Windows 2000/XP. Support for older equipment ended.

While we may accept this sort of forced obsolescence when it comes to computers, this is a relatively new concept for photography. Cameras tend to have a relatively long useful life. For example, a Leica rangefinder camera manufactured nearly 50 years ago still works as well today as the day it was new. While most professional cameras may not have enjoyed as long a run as the Leica M-series cameras, they still tended to have a useful life significantly longer than what has been seen with digital cameras today. I question whether anyone expects to receive even ten years of service from one of the current crop of digital cameras. Given how prices have dropped and megepixels have jumped, being forced to replace a digital camera after a few years of service may not be a big deal.

Obsolescence with equipment is one thing. Obsolescence with the images themselves is an entirely different matter. I can accept that one day I will upgrade equipment. However, having recently stumbled across a box of images from a decade or so ago--including a number that were unedited--it caused me to wonder whether the images I shoot in raw format today will be accessible in a few years. I would like to think that in another decade, I will be able to pull out a CDROM of images from now and still be able to open files saved in raw format.

For more information about OpenRaw, take a look at their website, www.OpenRAW.org. For more information about camera raw (a common name for raw image formats), take a look at the Wikipedia entry for “Camera Raw” at Wikipedia.

Posted by slewis at 7:40 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 23, 2005

Celebration

Details: ISO: 400 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 400mm

A University of Miami defensive lineman celebrates after picking up a fumble and running it into the endzone for a touchdown.

Posted by slewis at 5:48 AM | Comments (0)

July 21, 2005

Think Pink

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: not recorded | Focal Length: 600mm

Flamingo, Miami MetroZoo.

Posted by slewis at 11:06 AM | Comments (0)

July 20, 2005

Disagreement

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: not recorded | Focal Length: 600mm

A argument over a call between Florida State head coach Mike Martin and an umpire at the College World Series, Omaha, Nebraska.

Posted by slewis at 11:08 AM | Comments (0)

July 19, 2005

Shyness

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 180mm

A young girl hides from the camera in a park in Stockholm, Sweden.

Posted by slewis at 8:18 AM | Comments (0)

July 18, 2005

Juxtaposition

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 180mm

London, England.

While the police presence may seem reminiscent of more recent days, this image was actually taken more than a decade ago.

Posted by slewis at 7:27 AM | Comments (0)

July 16, 2005

Growing Pains

We are now nearly done reoganizing images on the Gallery server. In addition, we noticed that certain categories were taking a long time to load (particularly on slower connections). In order to remedy that, we have created additional sub-categories so that there won't be as many images grouped together in broad categories.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Posted by slewis at 6:24 PM | Comments (0)

July 15, 2005

Dome of the Rock

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 400mm

A view of some of the detail adorning the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem, Israel.

Posted by slewis at 9:30 AM | Comments (0)

July 14, 2005

Solitude

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 180mm

Enjoying the solitude of the Serpentine at sundown, Hyde Park, London.

Posted by slewis at 7:02 AM | Comments (0)

July 13, 2005

Attitude

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 24mm

Showing off a classic car, London, England.

Posted by slewis at 7:59 AM | Comments (0)

July 12, 2005

Stepping Into The Past

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 35mm

A stairway leading to the top of the Temple Mount, Jerusalem, Israel, and the mosque called the Dome of the Rock. The mosque was constructed in the late seventh century over the ruins of the Second Temple, which was destroyed by the Romans in the late first century.

Posted by slewis at 7:30 AM | Comments (0)

July 11, 2005

Casting a Web

Details: ISO: 400 | Exposure: 1/30 at f/11 | Focal Length: 300mm

A spider's web refracts the late afternoon sunlight.

Posted by slewis at 7:43 AM | Comments (0)

July 9, 2005

Tropical Flower

Details: ISO: 200 | Exposure: 1/60 at f/16 | Focal Length: 90mm

Posted by slewis at 6:46 PM | Comments (0)

July 8, 2005

Chinese New Year

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 20mm

Part of a Chinese New Year celebration, Chinatown, London.

Posted by slewis at 7:43 AM | Comments (0)

July 7, 2005

Sunset Ride

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 180mm

A couple enjoying a sunset ride in Hyde Park, London.

Posted by slewis at 7:35 AM | Comments (0)

July 6, 2005

Cooling Off

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 180mm

Racing greyhounds cooling off after a race, London.

Posted by slewis at 7:59 AM | Comments (0)

July 5, 2005

Agony Of The Feet?

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 180mm

A runner in the London Marathon stops to check his feet.

Posted by slewis at 7:07 PM | Comments (0)

July 4, 2005

Playing With Light (And Sound)

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: approx. 8-12 sec. at f/8 | Focal Length: 90mm

One of the easiest ways to play with light is to photograph fireworks. The truth is the pyrotechnics do most of the work, and with a little luck, you can catch dramatic combinations.

This particular image was created at a Forth of July celebration in Gainesville, Florida. The celebration culminated with the orchestra playing John Philip Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever" while fireworks exploded overhead. One of the things that makes this image memorable for me is that it was created in a very low-tech way: I used an old, manual rangefinder camera with the shutter set so that it would remain open as long as I held the shutter release. Instead of timing the exposure with my watch (or using an electronic camera where the exposure would have been dictated by a preset speed), I let the beat of the music dictate how long the shutter should be open. Thus, for me, the music became a part of the image.

Posted by slewis at 11:26 AM | Comments (0)

July 2, 2005

A Winter's Swim (Off The Beaten Path)

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 21mm

Sometimes the best way to go is off the beaten path. Had I not been wandering through parts of Long Island, New York, one quiet winter's day, I would have missed images like this.

Posted by slewis at 6:27 PM | Comments (0)

July 1, 2005

Character

Details: ISO: 100 | Exposure: Not recorded | Focal Length: 24mm

A participant in a parade, London.

Posted by slewis at 8:11 AM | Comments (0)

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