Blog - My Soapbox
Bilder gratis? Ja, aber...
Sehr geehrter Herr Marquardt,
wären Sie damit einverstanden, dass wie eines Ihrer Bilder für die Internetseite der 
Fakultät der Uni verwenden? Selbstverständlich würden wir Sie als Urheber benennen sowie einen entsprechendne Link bei den Bildnachweisen anbringen. Wir könnten uns vorstellen, dass dies auch eine schöne Werbung für Sie darstellt.
Es ginge hierbei um folgendes Bild, welches sich auf ihrer Happyshooting-Seite befindet.:
Ich freue mich auf Ihre Antwort und danke Ihne bereits für Ihre Mühe.
Beste Grüße,
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Das Bild dürfen Sie gerne verwenden unter Angabe "Foto: Chris Marquardt" und Link zu http://www.chrismarquardt.com in direkter Nähe des Bildes.
Schöne Grüße,
Chris Marquardt
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Guten Abend Herr Marquardt,
leider entspricht es nicht den Richtlinien zur Gestaltung von Websiten der Uni , den Bildnachweis direkt am Bild anzubringen. Wären Sie auch damit einverstanden, Sie - wie die anderen Urheber - im Impressum der Seite samt Link aufzuführen?
Mit Ihrer Zustimmung würden Sie uns wirklich sehr helfen.
Beste Grüße
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Hallo Herr ,
leider entspricht es nicht meinen eigenen Richtlinien, Bilder ohne entsprechenden Link in unmittelbarer Nähe (zumindest auf der selben Seite) für eine Gratisnutzung zur Verfügung zu stellen. Ich lebe von der Fotografie und damit auch davon, dass meine Bilder mit meiner Person in Bezug gebracht werden können. Sobald die entsprechende Nennung oder ein Link in einen anderen Bereich der Website, z.B. ins Impressum, verschoben wird, wird diese Assoziation für den Betrachter unnötig erschwert bis unmöglich. Die Nennung des Rechteinhabers bzw. Urhebers in der Nähe des Bildes ist zum Beispiel in Zeitungen üblich. Falls das in Ihrem Fall nicht möglich sein sollte, müssen Sie leider verstehen, dass ich der Nutzung nicht zustimmen kann.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen,
Chris Marquardt
How Bugs Bunny Saved His Creator - Funny How Things Transcend
I've been a huge fan of Radiolab for years. Great insights in every episode, wonderful stories and characters - Radiolab is always at the top of my list of must-listen-to podcasts.
But once in a while, Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich release an episode that goes deeper, that touches on things that I didn't even know were there.
Like this one (I've just listened to it for the third time):
It's a deeply moving story about someone that pretty much everyone in the world had some form of exposure to: Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny. And Tweety Bird. Sylvester the Cat. Barney Rubble… the list is much longer than that.
Here's the catch though: I grew up in Germany and when I watched those cartoons as a child, they were always dubbed. I never heard the original voice of Mel Blanc growing up, instead it was always their German counterparts. You can hear an example here. And as similar as they tried to make them, they were obviously very different.
So why did this story still touch me at the level that it did? Is it because over the years I've had at least a little bit of exposure to the original voices by Mel Blanc? Or is it because of Jad's editing magic?
I believe it goes deep simply because it's a wonderfully gripping story that's masterfully told. Add in a splash of cultural knowledge combined with a healthy dose of curiosity and you've got a powerful mix.
Thanks Jad and Robert for Radiolab!
PS: while you're at it, why not help keep this a free podcast?
What I've learned from the painful Simplenote outage. The cloud is great when it works...
It's amazing when you put things in the cloud and they just work. My email is in the cloud, and it works. A lot of my documents are in the cloud, and it works. The hiccups – if there are any — are usually rather small. Maybe an outage for a few hours that is quick to recover.
A few years ago, I was looking for an online solution to put my notes on. You know, small notes, little todo lists, no formatting, just text-based stuff. The kind of stuff you would usually put on Post-it notes and stick them to your monitor. That was before Apple introduced iCloud and had their notes working in that ecosystem.
That's when I found Simplenote. It comes with an iOS client, it has a web interface, and there are several clients on the Mac that work really well. Sorry, make that used to work really well. My client of choice is nvalt, a fork of Notational Velocity, Super simple notes editing, super fast and simple search, exactly what I was looking for in a notes client. And you can set it to save your notes locally as text files, which makes it really easy to integrate them into your operating system. Now spotlight also finds them. Oh, and did I mention Dropbox sync? You get the picture. Life is awesome!
I was so impressed with it, that I quickly signed up for a paid account.
A couple of weeks ago things began to crumble. First a few hiccups when syncing, then things got progressively worse until finally the worst happened: Simplenote syncing broke. Okay, temporary move to the web interface, right? That should be fine. No, it's not - lots of notes are duplicated and things are still crazy and pretty much unusable, it's a huge mess. The Simplenote team claims, this is down to Amazon Web Services having an issue, and in the case of nvalt, there also seems to be the Google cloud component involved, that has issues on the server side too. When it rains it pours.
My communication with Simplenote's premium support (the one for paying customers) so far resulted in excuses. And I'm stuck. I can't use nvalt because sync is very choppy. I can't use the Simplenote web interface as that's broken for me too. I'm stuck because I relied on a service that used to be simple and reliable but has gone bad because .. well, why has it gone bad?
I'm not sure what to make of all of this. On the one hand, Simplenote is basically a free service and free services need to be financed some way. This is why I quickly signed up for the paid account. I figured that such a great service needs to be paid for, so it stays around as long as possible and with as high quality as possible. Unfortunately it seems, that the service was built on a pretty unstable foundation.
On the other hand, can we fault the Simplenote team for trying to run this service as cost-effective as possible?
I think we can. If you offer a service, even if it's a free one, there will be expectations and it's your job to manage those. Especially, if that service runs flawlessly for years. Great performance creates great expectations. I'm in a good position though. Having lived in this online world long enough and on both sides of the fence, as a customer and as a service provider, I know to manage my own expectations. Which is why I did pay for the service in the first place. Others won't have the experience that I have, so as soon as they start paying for a service, the picture changes. And their expectations will be higher than they should be.
I'm sure the Simplenote issues could have been avoided if the team had set everything up with the required redundancy. And as a paying customer who doesn't have an IT background, this would be my expectation.
What can we learn from this experience? By all means, build your own redundancy! Whenever there is a free online service, I need to make sure to have that data around in some other way. My Google docs get backed up locally once an hour (using CloudPull). I did set up Simplenote to synchronize its data with Dropbox. You need to have a safety net if you put things in the cloud. I even do a local backup of my Dropbox.
The cloud is great when it works, be prepared for when it doesn't.
Little helper of the day: Keyboard Cleaner
There's one small tool (literally, it's 32kb in size) that I've had on my Mac laptops since day one, it's called Keyboard Cleaner.
Now, it won't actually clean your keyboard, but it will serve one important function, should you plan to do so: it will turn off all the keys, so you can clean away. The only key combination that's still active is CMD-Q with which you quit the app.
It's tiny, and it's brilliant, especially if you're on a laptop.
» Keyboard CleanerChris, when will your apps be available on Android?
Every time I release an update or a new iPhone app, I get this question. Will there be an Android version? When can we have it?
It is very very flattering that you are so interested in these apps. I wish, it was easy to just write these apps for every platform. I would even like to be able to do them for PalmOS and WebOS. But it's a simple game of economics that keeps me from doing it.
Incident Light Meter is a hobby project, it's pretty much a very small niche app that I've written myself, in my spare time. Chances are that through app sales I won't even recoup the time that I have invested in the research.
The only reason I could do Incident Light Meter is because I already spent a lot of time to acquire the basic skills and infrastructure to write iOS apps (this includes a ton of paperwork). It was an interesting experience, and it was very much outside of what I actually love to do, teaching photography.
I actually spent time and tried to get comfortable with Android development, but got stuck fairly early in the process. Then there is fragmentation. Even if I could to develop an Android app, to make the experience as good as with the iOS PocketChris apps, I would have to have at least 5 to 10 different Androids devices lying around here for testing. Different screen sizes, different processor capabilities, different operating system versions.
The dirty truth is, most developers don't make a lot of money with their apps. None of the PocketChris apps are mainstream enough to be a big seller. And I don't have the marketing power behind these apps that others do. So in the end, they serve a small audience, and I am glad that they make just enough to recoup the development costs.
And it only works, because I do most of the work myself. Johannes might disagree, as he has written the framework for the educational PocketChris apps. But he only had to write that once. For every new educational PocketChris app, it is full writing and sorting and editing and picture editing effort for me.
So again, I wish I could do PocketChris for every single platform, but if I don't learn these skills myself, chances are it won't happen. And I don't see my core competency see in writing software, it's in teaching photography and making people better photographers.
… unless you are an excellent Android developer who wants to prove me that it is easy and that it can be done without much effort and with excellent results across different Android devices and OS versions.
It's official, we're going to Tibet in 2013 and you can join!
I wanted you to find out first-hand: we're going back to Tibet in 2013 and we will again take a group of photographers! The adventures in 2009, 2010 and 2011 have changed my life. This is your chance to experience this too.
This will be the fourth Himalayan Workshop, and believe me, you'll learn lots - lots about photography and a lot about the Nepali and Tibetan culture.
It's a wonderful experience that you will remember for the rest of your life! It is also a photo workshop.
» find out more at www.himalayanworkshops.com
PocketChris Light Meter is ready!
It's here, it's here! The PocketChris Incident Light Meter iPhone App has been approved and is available at the App Store.
It'll let you use your camera and a grey card to do what you usually need an expensive incident light meter for: metering in difficult light situations. Like a pro. Check it out!
One item per line into an iOS check list is easy
Here's a quick life hack that has saved me tons of time in the past.
Sometimes I do checklists. Mostly for shopping. I've been looking for a way to combine the ease of quickly writing things into a text file one item per line and a simple tapable checklist app.
All other iOS apps seem to require some form of physical interaction between entering line items. Either you'll have to press a + button between items or something similar.
Enter Paperless, an iOS app that is available as an ad-supported free lite version or ad-free paid version.
As far as I know, there's no other checklist app that can handle the copy-paste of line-item lists with such an ease.
Bonus: dictating a shopping list with Siri is also easy this way, you just go "milk new-line bread new-line sugar new-line…".
» download the free version here
PS: yes, I know and used Taskpaper, but it never really worked this easily when dictating items.
An idea is born - PocketChris Incident Light Meter
Good metering is essential for good photography. So are good composition, good storytelling and good colours. But metering is above everything else for me. Photography is painting with light and if you don't know how to capture light, your photography will always be down to a hit-and-miss approach, always at the mercy of what the computer in your camera thinks is right (trust me, it's more often wrong than you think).
I've been pretty fed up with the trial-and-error approach of digital photography for quite some time. Take a shot, look at the display. Is it
too dark? Change the exposure, take another shot. Check the histogram. Is it too bright? Change the exposure, take another shot. Rinse, repeat.What has happened to understanding light and getting exposure right from the start?
You know me. I'm all about giving control back to the photographer. I'm all about busting photographic myths. And most important, I'm all about empowering photographers through knowledge.
Let's look at a few facts:
Fact 1: using an incident light meter will make it easy to get near perfect exposures. It does that by integrating the light that hits your subject from different directions.
Fact 2: an incident light meter will easily set you back $300 or more.
Fact 3 (and this is a lesser known fact): You can use an 18% grey card (cost: about $10) and some nifty math to achieve virtually the same results. All you have to do: take a couple of measurements with your camera and do some math.
It's interesting though how I ended up at this realisation.
It all started several years ago, when I got my first grey card. An 18% grey card. It turned out that in addition to helping me get great white balance, the card will also help me with getting exposure right.
For the last two years I've been handing out grey cards at workshops, helping photographers understand how this simple tool can take their photography to the next level.
Last month I spent a weekend at After Dark in Kansas City, a photography event that you have to experience to believe. It turned out to be a highly creative exercise while also allowing me to work in studio and available light environments with other photographers for three days straight. Wonderfully Immersive! And in the process, I ended up finally buying a light (and flash) meter. A Sekonic L-358. It set me back $300.
But I knew that in order to get to the next step, I had to make an investment.
Later that night, I sat in my hotel room, with the light meter, a grey card, and my DSLR and I did the first experiments, comparing the measurements from my DSLR with those from the light meter. I ended up spending the next 3 hours far into the small hours of the morning, shooting tests, comparing results, spot metering with my DSLR, doing math, with sheets of paper and a spreadsheet on my computer. Imagine a mad scientist and you're not far off :)
Once back in Germany I continued the tests, and after a few days with some more experimentation, I ended up with some solid math that worked well.
Now all I needed to do is make it simple for the photographers, and this is where my experiments with iOS development in 2011 and the experience with PocketChris came in handy. So I sat down and put it all together in an iPhone app: PocketChris Incident Light Meter.
The app is now in review at the app store and should hit the shelves within the next week.
You can find out more at www.incidentmeter.com.
Links: After Dark
An Incredibly Organic Process - Video from the Toronto 2012 4x5 Large Format Workshop
I didn't expect this workshop to sell out, but it did so, and pretty quickly too. I had such a wonderful time, and judging from the feedback, so did the participants. Here's the official workshop video:
Toronto get-together TONIGHT! Please RSVP
Yep, short notice, but let's say it's a test of how flexible (or how young) you still are.
It's pre-workshop night and that can only mean one thing: let's drink! (or eat, or just hang out)
I have made a reservation at 3 Brewers, 275 Yonge Street, Toronto, for tonight, 7pm.
Please RSVP! Click click here to let us know if you'll be there, so we can make sure we get a big enough table.
Hope to see you there!
Thirteen travel tips in case Air Canada loses your luggage
So I've had this little incident where Air Canada lost my luggage. Happened to me before. Not with Air Canada, but with Lufthansa. In Germany. They got it back to me within 4 hours.
Not so with Air Canada. It's a long story, you can read the details here.
So just in case you end up in the same situation and Air Canada (or any other airline for that matter) loses your luggage, here are my travel tips in case Air Canada loses your luggage as presented via Twitter:
Travel tip #1 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: always have a spare pair of socks and underpants in your carry-on.
Travel tip #2 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: wear fast-dry trekking clothes. Helps if you need to do emergency laundry in the sink.
Travel tip #3 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: a flat iron doubles as a laundry drying device if you had to wash clothes in the sink.
Travel tip #4 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: keep any even remotely needed medication in your hand luggage.
Travel tip #5 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: if your shaver is in the luggage, pretend your beard is a fashion statement.
Travel tip #6 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: Febreze air freshener is a great stand-in for deodorant. Never mind the floral smells.
Travel tip #6b in case Air Canada loses your luggage: Go to hostel & get free food. You will look & smell like a tramp. (thanks Simon)
Travel tip #6c in case Air Canada loses your luggage: Underpants can be worn for four days. Inside out and back to front. (thanks Simon)
Travel tip #6d in case Air Canada loses your luggage: After 2 days, use fly killer spray instead of deodorant. (thanks Simon)
Travel tip #6e to avoid Air Canada losing your luggage: Send luggage using DHL or UPS, don't consign it to your flight. (thanks Simon)
Travel tip #7 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: if after wearing the same clothes for 50 hours strangers offer you money, take it.
Travel tip #8 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: do NOT check any bags. I repeat: DO NOT check any bags. Ever.
Travel tip #9 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: shaving your hair off before the trip will save you from having to wash it later.
Travel tip #10 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: now that airlines charge $25 per bag, sending via DHL might be a better deal.
Travel tip #11 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: keep your Twitter devices always with you (thanks dl1ely)
Travel tip #12 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: before you complain, make sure you actually checked a bag (thanks Sven656)
Travel tip #13 in case Air Canada loses your luggage: don't be ridiculous, there's no tip #13, airlines don't do #13
Photo Day LIVE on August 18 2pm Pacific
It's another Photo Day and Chris has made his way up to the TWiT Brick House in Petaluma to talk photography with Leo Laporte and his guests!
The theme for this Photo Day is Photography outside the mainstream.
Among many other topics, Chris will hang out in studio to talk with Leo and his guests to talk about the origins of Tilt/Shift, taking pictures from kites, digging up 1850s photo technology to create true works of arts and - of course - he'll answer your questions!
Guests include Leo Laporte (Chief TWiT), Cris Benton (Kite Aerial Photography), Paul Sergeant (Tintype Studio) and Susan and Neil Silverman (travel photographers extraordinaire).
Tune in Saturday August 18, 2pm Pacific / 5pm Eastern / 23:00 Central European time!
Follow the show live at http://live.twit.tv/
Ask audience questions via Twitter (hashtag #photoday2012) or at http://tfttf.com/photodayquestion
4x5 Woes: Mills, Birds And A Leak
You know, one of the most satisfying things for me these days is to spend a day at an interesting location and take six or twelve pictures with a 4x5 large format camera.
It's hard work. It means to carry a heavy-ish bag over your shoulder and a tripod with a big camera attached to its end. It means to thoroughly set up the camera, check the angles, open the shutter, stick your head under a black cloth on a sunny day with
temperatures in the 90s. To focus on the focusing screen, you use a loupe that's hanging around your neck. It means to use a hand-held light meter, fish a film cassette out of your bag, load the camera, set the aperture, set the shutter speed, hope that you didn't get any of the steps out of sequence, pull out the dark slide and finally take the shot.It's error-prone too. It means that there are at least 10 different steps in the process of making one exposure where you can mess up. Accidental double exposure? Been there, have even done a triple exposure once. Forget to set the right aperture after metering? Yep, I have my share of overexposed large format negatives.
If it's that hard work and that error-prone, then why am I doing it? The answer is simple: in the end it's one of the most fun and rewarding experiences that I've had in a long time. Nothing beats creating something with your own hands and finally holding the result of that work in your hands. Or post it online for the world to see. Much more rewarding than any digital shot has ever been.
Over time you get better. Most errors you only do once, as it hurts to lose one out of just a few pictures you'll take that day.
Last weekend I brought my trusty Grafmatic film holder system, a revolver-type 6-shooter that allows you to keep 6 shots in one magazine. Very convenient, but also heavier than normal double cassettes. Which turned into yet another source of error. I accidentally brushed the Grafmatic at the wrong angle with my arm, while the dark slide was still pulled. This resulted in a nice big splash of light pouring onto the exposed negative for a brief time. Long enough to ruin the shot. So I thought.
I ended up actually being quite happy with it. Is it because it's one of my babies? Or is there something about a perfect 4x5 picture seemingly ruined by light leaking onto it?
Let me know what you think.
Here's another picture of the same day. And another one.
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