Amazing

I am not normally driven to post about another set of work, but this article on the BBC about a 13 year old Mongolia girl who uses a golden eagle to hunt.

Just amazing.

Take a little time to check out the images and the story.


I think the combination of amazing photos, compelling subject matter, and a really unknown 'something' makes it a very interesting story and photo session. Well done.

U2 items...

I had some inspiration over the weekend and snapped a couple semi-quick setup photo of some U2 items I had re-found after a two year interruption. (they were put in a box I had forgotten about)

The first item was the very first U2 item I ever received. It was either 1985 or 1986. My sister gave me a copy of U2 Boy on cassette. I was amazed they had the same album on both sides! I played that little tape a bunch.
I broke out my very rarely used home made light box, setup on the floor, and found a couple shots I liked. I was down to two images- one more vertical, one more hortizinal. Both were solid in terms of technical... however, one worked better than the other in terms of spacing.





The other images were taken from a blog post I saw about using glass. Not lenses, but rather a sheet of glass. Oddly, we had a couple pieces of glass left in the house when we moved in. Whatever, never used them for anything. I took it and tried to simulate the style from the post. My piece of glass was just not big enough to make it really work. (After I broke everything down, I found a piece twice as big- dangit)
I had to use two lights to get the front of the disc/case lit properly.... not sure it pulls off the effect I was hoping for- but it is was fun to try.

Here is the end result of the U2- Unforgettable Fire. (signed by Bono)

2013- wrapup

I haven't been exactly attentive to this photo related blog. Tis true. I also haven't felt super inspired either for the past month or two. So I wanted to reflect on some of the photos I took over the past year, at least publicly shared photos. I realized when I went through my photos that I felt pretty darn good about those I posted.

First however, a small follow-up to my cold archiving debate I was having. I finally decided to nab a 3 TB Seagate external drive for $105. A great combination of space, storage, and ability. The blu-ray disc solution was daunting as I would have to baby sit the burning, whereas I if I needed to I could plug, copy, and come back in a day if I needed to. I am not saying it is the best solution ever, but it is the one I was able to justify for the cost and effectiveness.


Photos I enjoyed from 2013, one per month:

January:


February:


March:


April:


May:


June:


July:


August:


September:


October:


November:


December:

Cold media archiving

I am soul searching here.

I do not know which way to go for future archival of media. Media in my case is the raw images I shoot in, videos, backups of old family material like photos from devices.

What to do?

I have a 1.5 TB media drive in my machine now. It holds lots. However, it is getting full. In the past I have burned off to DVDs. That is becoming problematic as several times I need to span a single days worth of material on to multiple DVDs. A pain.

The next step for me is to find a bigger solution for holding "cold" backups.  (not on-line, have to be pulled or found off disc or other non-active storage)

For my hot, or current, back-up solution- I am using BackBlaze. Love it- unlimited backups incase things go poof.


I also realize I am not an amazing corporation or super talented photographer. So elaborate rotation and backup is not the way for me to go. If I had my way, I would have a HUGE local NAS (Network Area Storage) with super on-line backup. However, money and effort being what it is- this is not a goal or need for me. Well, until I win the lottery.


I have found two possible solutions:

#1 Blu-Ray disc backups. A single layer, Blu-Ray disc can hold up to 25GB of data. Pretty good. The drawback- I don't have a blu-ray burner. So thats about $65 for the cheapest on NewEgg right now. Next is the cost per disc, which for a spinel of about 50 discs runs about $30. ($0.60 per disc of 25GB, or about $0.024 per GB)

#2 External hard-drive. There is a 3TB drive for $120 right now. ($0.04 per GB) Plug in, copy, paste- unplug and store.


The question for me is- what do I believe will fail? Spinning platters of the drive, or optical media? Both will not be moved. Both will sit until needed. Both have ups and downs for each.

I cannot figure out which way to go for cold storage back-up! UGH.