Category: Photography

O’Leno photos posted

IMG_1298.jpgEach January, the Gainesville Cycling Club convenes at O’Leno State Park north of High Springs for our annual “Chilly Chili Picnic.” The weather was fabulously cooperative. My friend Chandler and I traditionally lead a mountain bike ride through the woods and along the Bellamy Road. The river level was low this year so we got to take a group photo standing in the dry riverbed. Some went on road bike rides from the park and others rode out from Gainesville, ate, and rode back.

We had about nine pots of chili. I brought Emeril’s Turkey and White Bean Chili and came home with an empty pot and a lot of praise.

O’Leno has been a special place to me ever since the Summer of 1976 when we happened upon it during the Florida back roads vacation we went on that year. Those have been my favorite woods ever since I first laid eyes on the suspension bridge and the first time this child of the suburbs ever petted a wild, though pretty tame, deer. It was definitely part of the attraction when I got the opportunity to move to Gainesville in 1988.

Photo presentation online at my work site

Last night at UF, renowned photojournalist David Burnett gave an excellent presentation at the Union auditorium in conjunction with his exhibition opening at the Union gallery. The humor and enthusiasm in his talk was infectious and I came away with a lot of enthusiasm for the art form. Let’s see what I do with it. You can watch a replay of the presentation online, which I produced.

It was interesting to note that at any given time he could take a picture with a Canon D-SLR, a 4×5 Graflex, a Holga, or a digital point-and-shoot, which he produced to take a photo of the audience so he could show his Mom how many people came out to see him. I might have to pick up a Holga to play with.

I’m writing about this here rather than at work because this is where I blog about photography.

Update: After I sent him a tip, photographer, author, and editor Derrick Story posted a link to here and the webcast on his excellent blog, The Digital Story. I highly recommend his blog and podcast to anyone serious about their photography.

Football photos posted a while ago

Actual UCF Football FansI rarely go to UF football games, but I’ve been to far more UF football games as a UF staff member or Gainesville resident than I ever went to at UCF when I was an undergraduate student (which was none). The occasion was that it was my birthday weekend so my boss gave me his tickets as my birthday present. Unfortunately, a certain UCF fan that shall remain nameless here couldn’t accompany me. I’m pleased with the results given that the only camera I took with me was the little one.

I should do more here than announce photo sets

I really should. Maybe I’ll comment on the new TV season sometime. In the mean time, however, I have posted several photo sets over on Flickr.

  • First, at some point this Summer, I posted a somewhat complete album of pictures from my June vacation with Mom to England and Scotland. I later found some stragglers that may be added at a later date. Or maybe not.
  • In mid-August, I led a group from the cycling club on a ride, eat, and tube adventure at Ichetucknee Springs that we dubbed “The Strays Triathlon.” It was the only opportunity I really had this Summer to go tubing. Maybe I’ll get to go again in early Fall before the weather gets too cool for it. That is, if I can get a certain someone to go with me.
  • The week after tubing the Ichetucknee, I was off to Chicago for this year’s convention of the Society of Professional Journalists where I once again produced Webcasts of many of the sessions. I didn’t have much time for sightseeing, but came home with some neat pictures. I had the pleasure of meeting and getting my picture taken with Bob Dotson of NBC News. I will be posting some techie details about Webcasts on my work blog.

Photo News

Over the weekend, my cycling club had a picnic at Hart Springs and, of course, I posted photos.

I have been working for weeks on getting my vacation photos posted. I’m still not done, but thought it was time for a link here anyway. Stay tuned here or on Flickr for more. Still to come are more photos from Lacock Abbey, Avebury, and Scotland.

I also updated the “Random Craigs” at right this evening. Refresh the page a few times and you may see a new pic if you haven’t already.

Digital Photography presentation available

Digital Photography - An IntroductionI have posted my presentation from the aforementioned Digital Photography workshop. It got great press coverage, which unfortunately led to no additional attendees (at least from my informal “raise your hand if you saw the picture in the paper today” poll during the talk). The slides can be navigated forward by clicking anywhere on the slide. And if you move your mouse to the lower-right region of your screen, you will see additional navigational options.

Public Speaking Engagements

On Friday, April 21, I head off to Tampa where I will be giving two presentations, “Web Publishing Tips” and “Video and Audio for the Web,” at the annual convention of the Florida Scholastic Press Association. I have a soft spot in my heart for the FSPA because I attended the convention twice (’80 and ’81) as a high school journalist. The presentations are not open to the public, but the slides will be online afterward.

On Thursday, April 27 at 7 p.m., I will give a presentation on “How to select and use a digital camera” at the Melrose library. All are welcome to come and bring cameras or problem photos and get free advice on usage or improvements. I have given this sort of presentation before and have always been well-received. The first time I did this, I sold a photo. This presentation is free and open to the public.

slickr is, well, slick

slickr I installed the slickr screen saver on my office computer on Friday. I’m writing about it here instead of there because this is where I write about photography. It’s strange to write about it here though because it’s a Windows-only offering and I’m writing at home on a Mac. What slickr does, when activated, is show a slide show of photos from Flickr. It’s highly configurable, letting you show photos by tag or set if you’d like. The example shows a couple of photos from my tubing adventure last summer with Dana. I find it cool that it shows a different photo on each screen. This is not recommended unless you have some sort of always-on, fast Internet connection.