Monthly Archives: December 2012

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Happy New Year!

20 minutes and counting until the new year in Tokyo – to everyone, hope you have a happy and safe evening, and see you in 2013!  🙂

#newyear   #happynewyear   #happynewyear2013  

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Reflective surfaces

I'm fond of reflections (what photographer isn't?) and I spent 10+ minutes trying to frame this shot just right a couple weeks ago.

I was on my way to the Drink and Click event and had just stepped out my office door and while waiting for the elevator, glanced out the window.  We're on the 18th floor; the sun was setting and I got a lovely shot of the Tokyo Tower (posted previously), when I glanced down and noticed how the light had turned just right to create this great reflection.

It wasn't particularly easy to shoot because I wanted to dial down aperture to at least f8 and keep ISO as low as possible, (in this case 200), which resulted in a 1/2 second shutter speed, so I got several blurry and badly composed shots before finally taking one I was happy with.

Unfortunately I couldn't avoid all of the unwanted reflections of my windowsill, but I'll take what I can get.  🙂

Ok, back to work, I just wanted to post this 😉

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Merry Christmas

It's not a christmas tree photo, or really reminiscent of your typical "christmas" things, but hey 🙂

A quiet christmas eve for me, spent resting at home (still recuperating from this nasty throat bug), but I'm definitely on the mend, and should be able to get out tomorrow for dinner at least (^_^)

I hope all of you have a lovely Christmas day with your friends, family, or loved ones.  At the very least, I hope you can kick back and relax for a while, maybe curled up with a good book and sipping on some eggnog, umeshu, or whatever strikes your fancy.  😉

Happy holidays all!

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Giovanni Piliarvu and 1 other was tagged in Jeff Matsuya's album.

Giovanni Piliarvu and 1 other was tagged in Jeff Matsuya's album.

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Haven't uploaded a photo to G+ for a while, mostly because I've been sick…

Haven't uploaded a photo to G+ for a while, mostly because I've been sick with a cold/cough/sore throat – and having to go to work while being sick hasn't helped recovery any 🙁

So I'm feeling pretty much like this guy I shot in the park last month.

On the upside, I've spent more time sleeping today than I have in ages – I think I've been in bed for about 10hrs!  And the sleep does seem to be helping 🙂

Hope your weekend is a little more enjoyable!

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Dawn from Mt. Fuji , Japan by Jeff Matsuya on EyeEm

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Well

this is less than cool.  I had just recently started using Instagram to post some of my images, but if this policy really kicks in on Jan 16th, then I will likely delete my existing images and only post privately.

I mean… being able to use and sell a person's images without their knowledge, not even giving credit to the photographer?  This just really bugs me.  I think that a lot of people wouldn't mind their images used without compensation, as long as appropriate credit is given.

I understand that a company has to make money, but these TOS are just too broad.  If they really wanted to use/monetize all the photos that are posted by their users (and there must be millions of photos posted daily), then perhaps they could try offering a stock/microstock photography service.  Even if users only got pennies per image, I guarantee that there wouldn't be as big a backlash – heck, MORE people would probably start using IG!

Edit: if some people want to save their photos from IG, this may be of use: http://instaport.me/export

#instagram   #instagramtos  

Reshared post from +Wil Wheaton

So Instagram is now going to use photos taken by its users in advertising, and they may or may not disclose to viewers when the advertising is happening.

I have no idea how this will work, and I'm once again glad that I don't use Instagram… but I know a lot of people who do, and many of those people are celebrities to some degree.

Here's what I'm wondering: if Kaley Cuoco uses Instagram to share a photo of her and Melissa Rauch doing something silly, does that mean that Instagram can take that photo and use it to advertise for something silly without compensating them for what becomes a use of their likeness for commercial purposes? I can see that being a pretty serious shitstorm if it happens.

This sort of dovetails with another concern I have about the automatic opt-in nature of much of our digital life: if I'm in someone's address book, and they use an app that grants the developer full, unfettered access to their address book, I've now had my information given without my consultation or consent to a developer, and I never even knew it was happening. 

Just as we have a "do not track" option for our webbrowsing habits, we're going to need to have something similar for other aspects of our increasingly-digital lives: from contact information to our location to moving and still images of ourselves. Because it's no long enough for me to be careful with my opt-ins and online sharing; now I have to ensure that every single person around me is careful, as well.

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Spent some time at the park yesterday enjoying the antics of this father and daughter – this is what #childhood should be about. #Tokyo #Japan #BW

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There's always terrible news stories on TV every day, to the point where one…

There's always terrible news stories on TV every day, to the point where one pretty much becomes desensitized to the never-ending images of violence around the globe.  However, hearing the terrible news of the shooting in Newton yesterday was heartbreaking.  I don't have children, but I genuinely enjoy being around kids and I know that I want to be a father myself some day.  

Learning that 20 children died in the shooting, that most (if not all) of them were no more than 7 years old… it twists my heart and I cannot begin to imagine the grief felt by the parents.

I went to the park today for my usual taichi lesson, and afterwards just spent some time walking around as is my wont.  While I was sitting down on a bench, I saw this father running around with his little daughter.  They were having so much simple fun that I sat there for almost 20 minutes, smiling as they rolled around in the leaves, battled with sticks, and played ball.  

This is what childhood should be about, for both parents and children, and I hope that this family didn't mind that I took a few pictures to capture and remember their happiness.

The world can often seem a dark place, especially after something like yesterday's shooting.  But watching these two made everything a little lighter for me.

Good night.

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