I Shot It.com's Child Photo Competition

   This morning I got notice that one of my I Shot It entries had been awarded a "Mark of Excellence Award" in the child photo contest by judge Lisa Alessandra Kutselnig.  I Shot It  is a relatively new phenomenon to me. Their Facebook page passed 200,000 likes earlier this summer, and many of my Facebook "friends" were liking photos or competitions from the  I Shot It web site. So, about three weeks ago I thought I would try entering. Obviously, this was shot awhile ago. Here is the awarded photo ...  I still get this same look whenever I ask Sam to clean his room or do a chore. :-)

 

The I Shot It web site slogan is "The Best Photo Competition". I have to admit there is really an impressive amount of activity on the site. There are multiple contests in progress at all times, and some with cash and/or Leica equipment as prizes.

Child Photo Competition 2013 No 3 Finalist Page 

I Shot It web site link

I Shot It facebook link

Interesting Fox Islands info

While at Peterson Park in Leelanua County last week - I noticed I could see both Fox Islands to the North west of the park, and approximately 25 miles out into Lake Michigan. Some google searching reveals each island sports an air strip, but no residents. Rather curious - don't cha think? Apparently, there are a total of three lighthouses as well. One on the north island and two on the south. According to this wiki..."South Fox Island boasts some of the most spectacular freshwater maritime scenery in the world, including towering dunes, virgin cedars, and untouched beaches." I've never been able to see them from Peterson park before, but only from the north end of Cathead bay. All I had mounted on my camera was a nikkor 35mm f1.4 ais lens. Here is a 12,000 pixel panorama stitch of the view (resized), and a zoomed in crop. (click to see larger versions)

Here are some of the sources I surfed...
Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_Islands_%28Michigan%29

Article titled "It doesn't make sense"
http://www.leelanaunews.com/news/OldArchive/Special_Interests/It_doesnt_make_sense.html

Historical Information by the Beaver Island Archipelago....(the islands are part of an archipelago)
http://terrypepper.com/lights/michigan/southfox/southfox.htm

A Great Map
http://mapcarta.com/Northport_%28Michigan%29

The Black Sail

Sometimes you just instantly recognize a scene. It hits you very hard, and you know it is rare. I was packing the car to return home from up north when I looked out across the water. I love watching the waves, but a sight greeted me that I have never seen before. A large sailing vessel with a black sail. It seemed to be chasing a group of small white sailed sail boats to the south. I quickly unpacked the car to get to my camera bag, because the black sail boat was closing the gap quickly. Click the photo for a larger view

Phoebe

Phoebe is the name of our new cat. She is the second cat rescued from under a porch or deck in fifteen years that we have adopted. All our five cats are rescues except Lucy - whom we will not talk about today. I brought Phoebe to the studio the other day, and she literally turned the session into a game of pounce on the photographer. I was using some old manual focus Nikon lenses for some of the shots, and it was a challenge to get her in focus with all the running, and hopping she was constantly doing. This first photo was with an auto focus lens...

 

  The next photo is when I just grabbed her with my left hand, and shot the photo with the right hand. I titled this ... "I don't want to stand still". She was free within a couple seconds, but what she did afterwards surprised me. She began pouncing on me from 3-4 feet away...she would land on my camera and nibble on my ears. I had a manual focus lens mounted at the time, and this is the best I could capture of a mid air pounce.

 

Just as quickly she ran out of steam, and fell asleep. When she first came to us she had this cobalt blue haze over her eyes like the spice induced one in Frank Herbert's "Dune". Now the blue is fading away to a greenish hazel color...very pretty.

 

Click on photos for larger versions

Exit Strategy?

With the news that the Chicago Sun-Times has fired it's entire photo staff it raises some questions. How could management be so antithetical to their stated goal of reaching their audience in it's visual media of choice - the web? By firing the professional visual experts in their own organization it makes one wonder what they were thinking? A quick search  found a Pulitzer prize winner among the 28 photographers fired.

 It's doubtful that Chicagoans will voice their displeasure with the unavoidable lowering of visual media standards at the Sun-Times which must occur.   In Chicago there is no media monopoly. In New Orleans the citizens didn't quietly accept the gutting of their over 170 year old media institution, The Times Picayune. Covered by the New York Times just two weeks ago.  Article Here   However, here we are again, witnessing the gutting of another media voice by management seemingly bent on destroying their own corporation.  Is this the Chicago Sun-Times exit strategy?

In a "2011 Pulitzer Prize Winners" series of articles from the Sun-Times.
http://www.suntimes.com/pulitzer

Isn't this the very kind of multimedia that management claims they want?
http://www.suntimes.com/pulitzer/4903706-582/photo-essay-go-behind-the-scenes-with-area-5-detectives.html

A Poignant Sunday - April 14th 2013

I want to thank Rick Martinez for inviting me to the Sunday Press farewell. As I entered the building from the north entrance I was struck with the sweet aroma of ink. Smells really do trigger memories, and at 155 Michigan Sunday April 14th a flood of memories overwhelmed me. The poignancy deepened when passing the empty marketing department, but I could hear music coming from editorial. A brief round of hellos and plumbing the depths of ackwardness ensued. Kept asking what I assumed were former employees what they were doing now. Only to discover they were still current employees. Ooops, I'm really outta of touch, and only knew about the farewell because of Rick.

Soon I felt a bit like a party crasher, and had an urge to visit other areas of the building. The first spot I went to was  just outside the editorial photo department. On 9-11-01 I was standing watching a little TV perched on a pillar with many others in the newsroom as tower 1 burned. Then the second plane hit. I can still hear the newsroom gasp in my head, and the instant realization that this wasn't any accident. Next I went to Photo, Imaging, and Dispatch as Rick and I visited. I slipped away to visit where my desk had been in marketing, and headed back towards editorial. When I reached the double doors at the top of the escalator I saw the banners from the pinnacle of the Press's achievements were still hanging. "We're on Top of the World" declared the middle one.  I looked down the escalator toward the lobby. Then went to the lobby to visit the press room window - all that was left was the bed of concrete and steel that use to house the presses.  This is what I saw, and it was enough contrast for the day.

 

March 2013 - Mom

A hard act to follow

My mom is amazing. She is in better health than I am 40 years her junior. She has been incrementally packing up her life in little plastic shopping bags and having family and loved ones carry it all away bit by bit. She has never mentioned her intentions, but it is clear what they are. This photo was from a lunch this March, and the highkey is to reflect on a life well planned.