Financial tips for travelers to Greece in summer 2015

It's not often I write an article in this blog, which seemingly has no link to photography at all, but the finance situation Greece finds itself in, as it approaches national default on its debt is most definitely affecting travelers, including those in Greece primarily for photography. For travelers, Greece's financial situation has been sometimes perplexing, sometimes disruptive, and this week very difficult to overcome.

Greece closed their banks this week, but they are expected to open on Monday, July 6. At this time the ATM's throughout Greece are being refilled, but they are being emptied by travelers and Greeks as fast as they're being filled. Many travelers are reporting they have had to try as many as ten ATM's before they could obtain any cash.

Museums fed up with travelers' selfie sticks

They used to be called self-portraits. Today they have a shorthand name; “selfies.” With selfies becoming more and more popular, a piece of gear designed to help make selfies, the “selfie stick,” has emerged, and is causing major concerns and consternation at museums across the globe.

While smartphone selfies are a 21^st century phenomenon, the first selfies appeared more than 33 centuries ago. Archaeologists, discovered a selfie made in 1365 BCE by Pharaoh Akhenaten's chief sculptor Bak. The great Dutch painter Rembrandt van Rijn is the all-time king of the selfie. He painted self-portraits from the time he was a young man, until shortly before his death in 1669.

During the first half of the 19^th century selfies became a photographic staple. Robert Cornelius, a life long Philadelphian, is reputed to have made the first photo selfie in 1839. The famous US Civil War photographer Mathew Brady made many self-portraits.

Travelers have been making selfies in front of favorite sights such as the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, at the edge of the magnificent Grand Canyon, or while just having a meal on a cruise, since photography became mainstream.

Is Taylor Swift a hypocrite?

On June 21st, music superstar, Taylor Swift wrote an open letter to Apple Inc. explaining why she was holding back her album “1989” from Apple Music, the new Apple streaming service.

In her letter, Swift decried Apple Music's free three month trial policy, during which they were not going to pay royalties for playing any music. Apple is offering the free trial to entice users to sign up and eventually pay for the streaming service, but weren't going to pay the musicians, writers, producers and others who would be owed royalties, during the trial.

In her letter to Apple, Swift said of Apple's decision,

“I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company [Apple].”

Swift went on to say,“Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.”

New bird ID website and smartphone apps have been released

I don't know about you, but when I post an image in my galleries, Facebook, when published in a magazine or on the web, or even just printed, I want to be able to tell viewers exactly what they're seeing in the image.

Perhaps it's part of my engineering background or the journalist in me, but I'm always drawn to answer the “Five Ws and How” questions, “who, what, when, where, why and how.”

In journalism, the questions constitute the formula to obtain a complete story on a subject. Hermagoras of Temnos (1^st century BCE), an ancient Greek rhetorician (an expert in the use of using language effectively) is apparently the originator of the “Five Ws and How.” He defined seven “circumstances” which describe an issue as, “Quis, quid, quando, ubi, cur, quem ad modum, quibus adminiculis,” translated as “who, what, when, where, why, in what way, by what means.” (This is from Halm's edition of “De rhetorica” as Hermagoras's precise original quote hasn't survived the ages.)

French court's copyright infringement decision devastating to intellectual creativity in France

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who is considered to be the father of photojournalism. He was a master of candid photography and, in my opinion, the greatest street photographer ever. He coined the expression, “The Decisive Moment,” which has inspired generations of photographers.

I can imagine that Henri Cartier-Bresson is rolling over in his grave over the French Court's ruling that Gered Mankowitz's 1967 portrait of Jimi Hendrix wasn't proved to be an original work of his, because they weren't convinced its originality was the result of choices made by Mr. Mankowitz, despite agreeing that Mr. Mankowitz did indeed make the image.

What makes a photograph great?

It seems to never fail, that in an exhibition of photographs, there are always one or two which stand out from the rest. Even though decisions are mostly subjective about how great an image is, most people zero into the same few images they consider great.

Invariably it's not one or two characteristics of an image that make it great, but a host of them, and how they work together. Contrary to popular belief, the qualities which make a great photograph aren't a secret of professional photographers and editors. Anyone who thinks about it, can figure it out.

Arkansas Senate Bill SB-79 assault on photographer's rights vetoed

Today, Arkansas Governor Hutchinson vetoed the Arkansas Senate Bill SB-79, “The Personal Rights Protection Act,” which the Arkansas legislature had worked hard to pass.

The bill, which passed the Arkansas legislature last week was designed to protect the privacy and rights of Arkansas citizens, but unfortunately, in that effort, it would have effectively made street photography illegal for making or viewing, even from out of state via the Internet in the state of Arkansas, unless the photographer was able to obtain a written release from each and every person recognizable in each photo, with a few exceptions.

The bill, sponsored by friends of longtime Arkansas football coach Frank Broyles' family, in a far reaching, unfair way, would have, in my opinion, unconstitutionally expanded the definition of “commercial photography,” well beyond what has been settled law in the US for decades.

Real Life Consequences of Railroad Photography Dangers

I've been writing about the dangers of photography, videography and filming on, at or near railroad tracks for some time. In my recent article, “Update: Photographing near the railroad — Don't!!!” I included the example of the death of Sarah Jones, about what can and has gone wrong when people film on railroad tracks without the permission and cooperation of the railroad.

On February 20, 2014, during the filming of the movie “Midnight Rider” after two trains passed their filming location near Doctortown, GA, USA, the film crew setup to shoot a “dream sequence” on a railroad trestle over the Altamaha River.

Soon, a third train, which wasn't expected, came chugging across the bridge over the river connecting to the trestle. The crew had less than a minute to clear the trestle. It wasn't enough time, and as a result, second camera assistant, Sarah Jones, was killed by the train.

A giant in photographic gear innovation and invention has died: Paul C. Buff

Paul C. Buff, one of photography's greatest inventors and innovators passed away this week at the age of 78.

He lived through the depression era where his philosophy of life was formed. For decades Buff, an American, had been one of photography's most amazing lighting innovators, not only for photographers, but for filmmakers and videographers alike. Buff formed his company, Paul C. Buff, Inc. in 1980 as a research company.

Buff was a long time inventor and engineer. Some called him a visionary inventor. Prior to entering the photography lighting design and manufacturing world, he had been an audio recording studio owner, with many gold records. That business evolved into designing and manufacturing professional audio equipment. To this day Buff still remains widely recognized in the audio community for his savvy, innovation and success, especially with his high quality computerized recording console technologies. He worked with such music industry luminaries as Frank Zappa, Ray Dolby, The Beatles, Carol King and many others in the field.