Video: Paris in Motion

Fun and cool.


Paris In Motion (Part I) from Mayeul Akpovi on Vimeo. Read the rest of this post...

Fun with panoramic photography

I've been having fun lately with a free iPhone app called Photosynth. It's an app for making panoramic photos.

And while I don't like the fact that the app shrinks your photos (it limits the size of the panorama, otherwise the phone wouldn't have enough memory to stitch all the photos together), but it does a tremendous job of making panoramas IF you know what you're doing. Meaning, when you rotate the camera for a panoramic photo, you need to keep the point where the light hits the (metaphorical) film stationary, you pivot the camera around that point - rather than keeping yourself in one place and moving the camera through the air. (Read up on parallax and you'll see what I mean).

Anyway, I went out with some French friends tonight for dinner, and before we went to a place called Aftersquat, an old squatters' house of artist that the city of Paris bought, renovated, and turned into a huge multi-level artists' workshop.  It's at 59, rue de Rivoli (get off the Metro at Chatelet and take the Rue de Rivoli exit, it's right across the street).  You can visit any day from 1pm to 8pm and just walk around and check out the place - there's art EVERYWHERE.

I was really liking the stairwell because, with all the colors, and some banners hanging down, it was more interesting than the run of the mill spiral stairway photo, so I shot some photos.

Then I decided to move to the other side of the stairs and see if the view appeared any different. It did.

Then I thought it might be fun to take a Hipstamatic photo of the stairwell, from the same position, using another app on the iphone.

I really like the Hipstamatic photo, it's interesting how it totally changes the same image, and thus the mood of the photo.

Then I decided to take a panoramic photo using the Photosynth app.  This got interesting because it's rather difficult to tell how the photo is going as you're taking it.  You really can't tell all that well if the app itself is getting confused by the scene you're presenting it.  What I mean by "confused" is exactly what happened when I developed the photo when I got home.

First, the "'good" panorama:

Do you see how a good panoramic photo can invite you into the space, and let you experience the location in a way that a regular photo can't?  What I like about photos like this, using the panoramic feature, is that you see what I see as a photographer, what my eye sees.  You get a sense of the motion, the color, the symmetry and the forms that caught my eye and made me want to snap the photo in the first place.

Now the "bad" panorama, that I kind of like:

Photosynth messed up the photo in the most wonderful way.  It got confused by the spiral stairwell and started turning it in on itself, with what I think is a great result (that's me at the bottom left in the green shirt). I'm forgetting the name of the guy, but it looks like one of those logically impossible drawings of the staircases that twist into each other forever (or like a staircase at Hogwarts).

And unrelated to the squatters' house, here's a panorama I took once I got home tonight to Chris and Joelle's neighborhood in Montparnasse.  It had just rained, and I love Paris in the rain, for photography at least.  The city shines all the more when it's wet at night.

So there you go with a walk-through of how I look at a photo, and how panoramic photography works, doesn't work, but sometimes still does even when it doesn't.

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A little Paris park blogging for your morning coffee

This is a lovely little park near Metro Cour Saint-Émilion (just east of Bercy).  I was waiting to see the Batman movie (which I didn't love, felt too simple - though Anne Hathaway and that kid from 3rd Rock, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, were amazing).

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Paris blogging: Le Jardin de Luxembourg

Built by Marie de Medicis starting in 1611, the Luxembourg Gardens now house a wonderfully large public park and the French Senate. It also happens to be about two blocks from Chris and Joelle's place, so it's a nice place to walk around if you have nothing else to do.

Sunday was such a day.

Petanque is a popular game with men in France (one gets the sense that it's more popular with working class men), and it's fun - I played it once in Mali, of all places.  None of my friends play it. It's hard to miss the Petanque fields in the Jardin de Luxembourg.  The people watching the game are almost as much fun to watch as the players.

Another popular staple is in the center of the park - a big fountain where children push little sailboats back and forth, and chase the ducks, in this case an adorable duckling.

Another neat staple in the park around the mini horses for kids to ride.  This time around, it was kind of odd - the horses were all tied together, by themselves, in the middle of the park.  So, I started petting them.  Soon, others saw what I was doing and we got a nice little crowd of parents and kids petting the horses.  Only in Europe would no one worry about a lawsuit.

The horses were beautiful, especially as the sun started going down.

The other big thing to do in the garden is sit and people watch, or read.

I love the way the French manicure tress.

As you can see, it's quite a large garden.  One word of warning, stay on the pebble pathways, and not on the grass - it's a no-no and the cops will yell at you.

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Video: Portland weather timelapse

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Welcome Home: Scott Ostrom's struggle with PTSD

Scott Ostrom served four years as a reconnaissance Marine, deploying for two tours in Iraq. Now 27 years old, he suffers from severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Since being honorably discharged from the military he has struggled to maintain healthy relationships or keep a steady job. But the most difficult thing for him has been coping with his chilling memories of Iraq, and what they mean for him going forward:

The most important part of my life already happened. The most devastating... Nothing is ever going to compare to what I've done, so I'm struggling to be at peace with that.

Craig Walker of the Denver Post is set to receive a Pulitzer Prize in Feature Photography for his photo essay, entitled "Welcome Home," which documents Scott Ostrom's life as a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The photos, and accompanying captions, provide a sobering reminder that the cost of war is measured in more than lives, dollars and poll numbers. I encourage readers to view the photo essay here.

As of April 2012, 6,422 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and 47,545 have been injured in combat. Countless more, including Scott Orstrom, suffer from post-traumatic stress.

Between 106,000 and 116,000 Iraqi civilians and 12,793 Afghan civilians have been killed have been killed. Thousands more have been injured; millions more have been displaced.

The next time our leaders consider sending American troops overseas, be it for promotion of American values or cynical national interests, they should think about Scott Ostrom. I challenge anyone to look at "Welcome Home" and, with a straight face, tell me that the invasion of Iraq was worth it. Read the rest of this post...

Spring in DC photo essay (my pics)

DC is the land of azaleas.

Springtime, even when it's still dipping down to 40F at night, is a flowery pollen-filled time in Washington, DC.  This town, and northern Virginia (and I assume Maryland too), is just covered with azaleas everywhere you look.  They used to drive me allergies insane, but the shots have helped a lot these past few years. (These are iphone pics.)

Even more azaleas.

I tried growing an azalea on my balcony in a pot, it looks more like the Charlie Brown Christmas Azalea.  It's getting donated to my condo's rooftop some day soon.

My sad two year old encore azalea.

DC also has a lot of trees that may, or may not, be cherry trees.  They all bloom at the same time, and while we usually think they're all cherry, I suspect many are not.

I'm assuming cherry blossoms.

More cherry blossoms?

I'm a big fan of Japanese Maple trees.  I have one on my balcony that does surprisingly well, other than in August when it burns. I get too much light, and there's really nowhere to protect it.  Am hoping my bamboo will grow big enough to help some year.

Mini Japanese maple.

And my bignonia is finally starting to bloom.  This will be stunning when it stretches across my entire balcony railing in a few years.

My bignonia.

These are quite fun.  They're trees at a local foundation, cut in the French way.  They're pruned every fall in a way that makes the ends of the branches scar into this knuckle looking thing. I love them.  You'll see them all over France. I remember once, when I was 19 and living in France, being told that they're called "Grandma's knuckles."

Grandma's knuckles

And finally, Sasha is ever vigilant in the park, waiting for the ducks to come back this summer.

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iPhone 4S or professional camera?

The iPhone photos tend to have too much brightness, but not too shabby in general. Click through for lots of examples. Read the rest of this post...

It was a gorgeous day for a walk with the dog

Click the photo to see a larger version.

The leaves are in full fall color and it was pretty nice day today in DC, after our near snowstorm the other day, and weather in the 60s expected for this week.  I took Sasha for a walk in a park near my place that's very grand "old DC."  The park is coming back, as is the neighborhood around it (it's been coming back for forty years).  Sasha has become my great defender of late, all 12 pounds of her. Nearly every time she sees another dog she lunges like she's going to attack them, snarly and growing, only to have the leash stop her just in the nick of time.  Of course, those rare times that I don't stop her, she meets her prey muzzle to muzzle, the other dog looks back at her, usually bemused, and Sasha quickly runs for cover behind either my legs or the owner of the other dog.  That's my little Cujo.

Speaking of which, here she is, earlier this evening, resting with her head buried underneath my couch pillows.  She's half bichon and half yorkie, and loves loves loves to burrow.  Pillows are her friends.  I got a kick out of this one, however.  She quite literally just stuck her head under the pillow and fell asleep.

And here are a few more shots from the park today.  Just a lovely day.

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Time lapse pumpkin grows to 1487 pounds

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Picnics in Paris are a nighttime affair (my photography)

I've written before about picnics in Paris.  They tend to happen at night, preferably along the Seine, sitting on the concrete quai or picnic tables set up for the annual Paris Plage event, where the city turns a couple of miles of frontage road along the main river into one big month-long beach party.

One of the nicest things about going anywhere in Paris in the summer is the journey getting there.  The city is just so damn pretty it hurts.  It truly makes you reassess your life, even a bit, knowing that this is the route these people walk every day to work, to meet friends, to go the doctor, etc.  Their mundane daily existence is our number one tourist destination.

I decided to shoot some pics today only with my iPhone and its Hipstamatic program.  A number of them didn't turn out, but I like how these did.  It's a neat program, and under the right circumstances can add an interesting effect to your photos.  I took all of these on my way to, and then back home from, tonight's picnic near the Pont Marie.

My all time favorite picnic spot, familiar to
anyone who's ever lived in Paris: the Quai de Bourbon.
(It's on the Ile St.-Louis, to the left as you cross the
bridge from Notre Dame.)

Parisians take full advantage of the Seine, and
the rare, of late, sunny day. Women will often
sun in this same location topless.

Nice view on my way to the picnic.

People playing pétanque "baci ball" on Paris Plage.

A lone guy enjoying a near full moon right next to our picnic spot.
The tourist boat, Bateau Mouche, has just passed.

Paris Plage (r) as I cross the Pont Louis-Philippe
 on my way home to the metro.

Notre Dame (l) from behind.

The required shot.

The Cité metro station.

And back home again at Vavin.

As for what I'm doing here, I come every August and house sit for my co-blogger and friend Chris and his wife Joelle, while they go on vacation. Someone needs to take care of the plants, and the cats who have grown to treat me as family, though there's always the chance they simply think they now own me.  I did my study abroad here, a scary long time ago, and still have no idea how my parents let a 19 year old kid with one semester of French under his belt go live in a place this far away, and this beautiful, for a year - but God bless them. Read the rest of this post...

How lots of social media is stealing the rights to your photos

An excellent summary of how far too many social media services and sites are basically stealing the rights to your photos without you even realizing it. I'm a lawyer, and I can't even understand some of these privacy policies.  More atBoing Boing. Read the rest of this post...

Is a Hipstamatic view of the war in Afghanistan simply a gimmick? What is photojournalism?

An interesting find on the NYT Web site, that raises the issue of what counts as photojournalism. At question is a recent award a NYT photographer won for chronicling our troops in Afghanistan, using his iPhone as his camera AND using an iPhone app called Hipstamatic to alter the photos. The photos are fabulous, but some critics claim that by using a program that makes the photos look more "cool," the result is no longer photojournalism.

First, one of the photos:

The photographer responded:

We are being naïve if we think aesthetics do not play an important role in the way photojournalists tell a story. We are not walking photocopiers. We are storytellers. We observe, we chose moments, we frame little slices of our world with our viewfinders, we even decide how much or how little light will illuminate our subjects, and — yes — we choose what equipment to use. Through all of these decisions, we shape the way a story is told.

He goes on to point out that the winning photo used a zoom lens and a small depth of field to single out the faces of the subjects. That's hardly how the scene looked to a real person live on the scene. Nor was the scene in black and white in real life, it was in b/w in the photo. Wasn't that playing with our emotions, and the photo to evoke something that wasn't really there?

I love my Hipstamatic app, and have been using it more than my real camera for a while now. Some of the photos are amazing, to my eye. Here are a few of mine.

In each photo, I "saw" something special that I wanted to capture, and the final photo does in fact capture the mood that I felt when snapping the shot. But, I certainly didn't know exactly what the Hipstamatic was going to do to the photo, not exactly, nor whether it would help or hurt the final product. In these three cases, I think it clearly helped. Does that mean these photos, while perhaps aesthetically pleasing, are not a true reflection of the scene itself? Are they simply "chance" and a gimmick, and not reflective of any skill on the part of the photographer?  Does it matter if the photos are in fact a true reflection of the scene the photographer saw in his own photographer's mind's eye, and wanted to capture?

In other words, is this really photography, is it even art, or is it just a gimmick?

PS I'm also intrigued by the photographer's choice of using the iPhone instead of his professional camera.  He notes in the piece that by using his cell phone cam he was able to put his subjects at ease - after all, who isn't used to their friends taking pictures with their cell phones.  Somehow, a cell phone cam isn't as unnerving to its subjects as a real camera.  Specifically, the photographer suggested that he'd have never been able to get the shot I posted at the beginning of this post had he used a real camera, the troops would have scattered. Read the rest of this post...

Send us your Christmas photos (Hannukah works too)

Hannukah works too. Just send us a great photo of your holidays, and we'll post it in the box in the upper right corner of the blog. If you're photo-savvy, send a jpg or gif that's at most 500px wide. I can resize them (so send them anyway if you don't know how to shrink them down), but it's easier if you do.

So send your Christmas (and Hannukah, and/or "holiday") photos to:
photos AT americablog DOT com
And it goes without saying, feel free to add some context to the photo, explaining the circumstances, the time, a funny story (or a sad one), and old photos are always welcome too.

NOTE: By sending us your photos you are granting us permission to publish them on the blog, and you are attesting to the fact that you have rights to the photos. Please only send us YOUR photos. Thanks, JOHN Read the rest of this post...

A quick tour of Stockholm

(As always, click any photo to see a larger version.)

Nothing fancy this time around, just wanted to show you a few shots I took in Stockholm the past couple of days. I'm in Sweden at the invitation of the Swedish Netroots. We've been working together for the past year and a half (or longer) on helping building the international progressive Netroots, something I've been working with the Greeks, Spanish and French on as well. This week was the first time I was free, and since I was in Europe already, it seemed a good time to come by - especially with the Swedish national elections happening this coming Sunday, I'll be able to observe how the Swedes electioneer (albeit without understanding a lick of Swedish).

Anyway, it's a great country, and Stockholm is just a lovely city. Can't say enough good things about this place. And, the stereotype is true. Lots of blonds, and the people are just gorgeous.



Ah yes, I took this shot earlier today. Noticed some political party campaigning on a corner, and noticed far too many cops hanging out nearby (this is Sweden, after all, not a ton of violence). Well, I soon figured out that this was the Swedish Democrats party, not to be confused with American Democrats. The Swedish Democrats, I'm told, have troubling ties, and/or a past, with Nazis. Lovely.



This is just a cool HDR photo that I took on my daily walk to and from the hotel. It's a pedestrian sidewalk in downtown Stockholm.



This is a political rally last Sunday for the Swedish Social Democrats (the good guys). Attending was an actor I didn't know, until someone pointed out that he was the father of the blond vampire guy on True Blood. Then I got excited.



A marathon I ran into on Saturday.



A neat new-ish building along the river that evokes a bit of the Sydney Opera House.



And finally another fun HDR photo. The town is simply empty at night, and this was relatively early (10ish). Read the rest of this post...