Over the River

Last Thursday’s photowalk sure was a lot of fun. Ten of us met on the Esplanade and hung around there for a while. We headed into the Back Bay and headed down toward the Public Garden alternating between Marlborough Street, the public alleys and Comm Ave. The chimneys and chimney pots were something that caught my attention. I went to college at Emerson back in the 80s and spent a lot of time in the area but never notice the chimneys. Here are a couple of the ones I liked:

We ran across a group of people at the First and Second Church (at Marlborough and Berkeley) discussing a kid’s book one of them had recently published. I took a few shots in the area but nothing special.

The two Hancock buildings looked great that evening and I did take a couple of pictures of each:

The Public Garden is always pretty nice. I’ve wanted a shot of the ether statue for a while and was able to grab one:

After the Garden we headed down Charles Street and over the top of Beacon Hill. There were a few nice things to see up there. Here’s one I like of a utility symbol mural on Revere Street:

We refreshed at Kinsale and went our separate ways. I still had to walk over the river to get back to my car in Kendall Square. Crossing the Longfellow Bridge, I stopped a few times to take shots of traffic passing. Here are a couple:

All in all, it was a pretty fun night. I got some good pictures and am looking forward to seeing everyone else’s shots soon.

Technorati Tags: Boston, SMCBoston, Photography, social media

Yes the photowalk I’ve been planning is almost here and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to it; but after my own recent experience with urban outdoor photography and a spate of other posts along similar veins, I wonder if I ought to be.

Let me give you a taste for what people have been saying:

A few days ago, I fretted about the possibility that Boston might follow places like New York and Silver Spring, Maryland, and try to restrict what you can take pictures of in public places.

Turns out it’s already happening, even without any action by municipal officials.

Universal Hub - Restricting street photography in the Boston area

Welcome to Boston

Also known as NAZI FUCKING GERMANY! Or the SOVIET FUCKING UNION! I’ve written about the idiocy of our domestic reaction to terrorism once or twice, but it continues to piss me off. I was up at an unholy hour this morning to get someone to Boston’s South Station. It was a wicked nice, foggy morning, so afterward I thought it would be a good idea to wander around the waterfront and take some pictures. Silly me: PHOTOGRAPHY IS A TERRORIST ACTIVITY.

fornya.com - Welcome to Boston

So how will some number of camera-toting clowns snapping the city be seen by the powers that be? Will it be recognized as a legal and protected assembly of carefree clicksters? Or will we be viewed as a coven of creeps casing the city for strange and nefarious purposes. Being an over-the-toptimist, I always expect the best . . .

How about you? Have you felt the man bearing down on you for doing your thing with camera in hand?

If you want to come and join the fun, here are the details:

Thursday, July 12th
6:00PM
The Esplanade (at Gloucester St.)
Map

Technorati Tags: Boston, photography, trouble

Today’s New York Times ran a cheery story on New York considering requiring permits and insurance for public photography. Boooooo!

Some tourists, amateur photographers, even would-be filmmakers hoping to make it big on YouTube could soon be forced to obtain a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance before taking pictures or filming on city property, including sidewalks.

New rules being considered by the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and insurance.

The same requirements would apply to any group of five or more people who plan to use a tripod in a public location for more than 10 minutes, including the time it takes to set up the equipment.

City May Seek Permit and Insurance for Many Kinds of Public Photography - New York Times

It’s annoying how photography has become a suspect activity. Yesterday, after I parked my car at work, I noticed a crane lifting three girders at a construction site a few blocks away. Without thinking twice, I pulled out my camera and took a few pictures.

While I was shooting, a security guard came over to ask what I was doing. She accepted my explanation (”taking pictures of cranes”) but seemed skeptical. What this article describes would make it easier for authorities not only to stop and question people for taking photographs or video but to prohibit it in some cases. I guess we’re a long way from the days when photography was an innocent and acceptable hobby . . .

What do you think; and how often are people being stopped for taking pictures?

Technorati Tags: Photography, New York, New York Times, Ray Rivera, Permits, Registration, Insurance

I say it all the time - I love Flickr. It hasn’t been long but I have tons of fun taking and sharing photographs. I’ve wanted to do a group photo thing for a while and just decided that Thursday, July 12th is the right day. Anyone interested should come down to the Esplanade (at Gloucester) at 6:00.

Technorati Tags: Boston, Flickr, events, July, Esplanade

I can’t stand the how much the differences between people are emphasized; and how those differences are used to fuel hate and jealousy and hurt and hardship.

If you think about it, the world we share right now was once just an empty void in the vacuum of space. Somehow (and frankly, the specific how isn’t that important) all of us now here, and all who came before and all who will come after share a common origin. And all of us will share the common fate of someday not being here.

Thinking about this made me wonder if there isn’t a way that people can start of share some of the things that make us all the same rather than the things that make us different. I’m a huge fan of Flickr and am often struck, as I look through people’s photographs, by how wonderful we are and how much we have in common. This led me to start a group in Flickr called The Same All Over The World.

Bert Kommerij, whom I met through Flickr, posted on the idea yesterday and it prompted me to try to get more people more involved.

The idea is to collect photographs of people which share some common elements:

- Wearing an outfit that is special/meaningful to them
- Seated outdoors in daylight
- In their “natural environment”
- Looking directly at the camera and smiling
- Holding a stone or a pebble (?)
- Tagged with TSAW

What do people think? Can we use social media to do more than create and participate in narrow communities around specific ideas and interests? Feel free to visit the group (there are no photos yet), sign up and share your thoughts on how this idea might be executed. If you’re not on Flickr share ideas here.

Technorati Tags: Flickr, photographs, people, same, similar, common, sharing, world, TSAW

For some reason, for a long time, I kept my various social media channels separate. I used Flickr for photos but didn’t really check out the blogs of people I know through Flickr. I read plenty of blogs but don’t check to see if the bloggers are also on Flickr or del.icio.us, etc. I’m trying to get better about this and here’s why.

On Saturday night (or Sunday morning) I was on Flickr and came across DoddieboBottie’s photos. I really really liked them and decided that the thing to do would be to write a post about them on my other blog. So I did. And the next morning I had an email from Dottie saying she’d read the post and thanking me.

Last night I saw that Alice Robison, one of the panelists on the fourth plenary session at MiT5 had posted something in response to my summary of the event. She had links to Flickr and del.icio.us and I went off to check them out.

For most people, this probably isn’t a big deal; but for me, for whatever reason, I’d been doing siloed social media and now I’ve decided to stop.

Technorati Tags: social media, silos, Flickr, del.icio.us, DoddieboBottie, Dottie Guy, Alice Robison, cha-cha-cha-change

SpotStory was a “side dish” at a WebInno event earlier this year. Their idea is to create a place for people to share and collect and comment on points of interest. It made me think of geocaching meets Flickr meets social networking - and all three are things that I enjoy.

Until this past weekend the site was in beta. I think I made one or two contributions but didn’t fool around with it much. I logged in on the past Monday to find that they’d taken off the wraps. Since then, I’ve been playing with the site regularly. I’ve added Spots from all over the place. The other day I posted a picture of the Picasso sculpture below of Flickr and someone posted that the same statue stands in Amsterdam - another Spot! And a tour!

Today I went through my photos of public art on the MIT campus. That netted out to more Spots and another tour. I’ve also had people post details on places I’ve seen and wondered about. Now as much as I like SpotStory, I’m not quite clear on the business aspect of the site and that may mean this is a short-lived service. But as long as it’s here, I’m happy to be an active part of the community.

If you’re into history, art and stories attached to specific places, I suggest you get on and check it out.

Technorati Tags: SpotStory, WebInno, GPS, Flickr, social networking, Picasso, MIT, sculpture, art, photograph, tours

Las Vegas. I’m not a fan. But as long as I’m here I’m going to have a great time - and I am. Last night I went out for cocktails and dinner and drinks (maybe too many drinks). I took a lot of pitcures but most of them were real crap. This one, of Shel Israel and Katie Paine, came out well.

Technorati Tags: Shel Israel, Katie Paine, New Communication Forum, newcommforum, SNCR, Newcomms, Las Vegas

Twice in the past few months I’ve been told off for taking pictures in stores. The first time was in Crate and Barrel and today it was in Home Depot. Despite being told that it was not OK, I took pictures in both places.

Here’s what kind of bothers me. Home Depot has a sign when you come in saying that there are no cameras allowed. Now I’ll be honest - I had never noticed these signs before today when I was told, “no pictures!” But here’s the thing, Home Depot has a cameras all over the store taking pictures of me and my family while I’m there.

The sign on the door doesn’t specify “No CUSTOMER cameras”, it simply says, ‘No cameras.” Since the store blatantly disregards its stated policy, why should customers be expected to comply?

I think that it is interesting that retailers somehow think it’s acceptable to record, save, review and analyze me while prohibiting me from doing the same. I’m just ignoring these absurd policies. Maybe I’ll have a shirt made stating that photographing or making recorded images of me is prohibited. What gives corporations the right to set this kind of double standard?

Here’s a couple examples of the the “forbidden” images:

Technorati Tags: Home Depot, Crate and Barrel, photography, policy, double standard