The Online Photographer

Metrics

I just did some delving into the site stats for all of our history since 2007. TOP exceeded 30,000 pageviews 49 times; but the post I've always named as being our all-time record, "Sony vs. Nikon vs. Canon," from Wednesday, 17 December 2008, which attracted 54,575 pageviews, is actually only in 7th place all-time. The runner-up post by the actual numbers, which attracted 86,517 pageviews, was "Are UHS-II Cards Worth It?" published on Friday, 16 January 2015. The all-time draw unfortunately concerned a scandal: "The Sad Fall from Grace of Nicholas Nixon" drew 103,723 pageviews on the day of publication, Thursday, 05 April 2018, and a whopping 210,993 views the following day. At least I assume that must have been the attraction; the next day's post was about a tree that fell in my backyard, which I can't see being of interest to 210k people even though the picture was kinda nifty. Often, with a really heavily looked-at post ["popular" didn't seem quite the right word here], especially one for which the traffic is driven by referrals, the biggest traffic happens the day after.

The only way we could have gotten such an overwhelming number of visits on one day is for one or more much larger sites to link to our post, but I wasn't aware of what was happening at the time. Anyway, it's nice to know what the all-time record was, although I could wish that our most-viewed post was about something more...positive. I'm surprised it came so late in the arc of TOP's lifetime.

Yesterday's count was 13,566 pageviews. That's about two-thirds of the average daily traffic TOP got during the "glory years" of roughly 2011–2015, but I'm happy with it. [UPDATE: I forgot that there are also 9,275 people signed up to receive the feed, although it's more difficult to know how many of those read any particular post. I suppose a lot of people look at the title and don't read it? Like any newspaper.]

Another Nixon
And speaking of Nick Nixon, in looking into his current status I came across a recent annual installment of his series "The Brown Sisters"—as you no doubt know, Nick took large-format portraits of his wife and her three sisters annually beginning in 1975. He did one in 1974, but it was in 35mm and he threw it away because he didn't like it as a picture. Well, here's the one from 2020, the first year of the pandemic, taken "socially distanced":

Everybody's had to adapt.

I also ran across the following, which I thought was interesting, in a LensCulture interview, a description of how he became a photographer:

When I was in college, I had a bunch of jobs, and one of them was in a bookstore—a big, fancy art bookstore. In my spare time, I started to look at photography books and art books. I saw that Ann Arbor offered a summer course in photography for people who weren’t in the art school. Because I had seen Cartier-Bresson and I had looked at some of the books, I thought, “Oh, wow. I should do that.”

I signed up, and on the first day, that was it. The first day, I thought, “This is what I’m going to do.” All of a sudden I wasn’t a coach anymore—I was a player. Even if I was going to be a bad player, I’m a player. The future was uncertain, but it was instinctual. I thought, “I don’t care, I want to do this. I love it.” I was just smitten. I went down to the local drugstore, which was also the camera store. They had a Leica M3 in the window, a used one. I loved Cartier-Bresson already, but I didn’t know anything about him. I didn’t know this was his camera. I saw that thing and I thought, “Boy, that looks like a way to make pictures.” I went right in and I put $270 out of $300 I had in the world right down on the counter.

Whether he knows it or not, or accepts it or not, he will never outrun his disgrace, and the meaning of his life's work will forever be touched with it. A shame.

Mike

Update: RSS Feed

I don't know much about how this works, but I think the new feed is working already—several readers have told me so. There are new link addresses, inactive first to avoid any mixup (I'm still having problems loading content):

Feed URL:	https://feeds.feedblitz.com/theonlinephotographer
XML URL:	https://feeds.feedblitz.com/theonlinephotographer&x=1
Mobile Friendly:	https://feeds.feedblitz.com/theonlinephotographer&m=1

And you can see the feed, and subscribe, by using the new module at the top of the left-hand sidebar on the site. As I mentioned before it might take overnight for it to propagate. On the good side, Feedblitz lets you subscribe to specific comment threads.

Hope this solves the problem.

Mike

Featured Commments from:

Thomas Mc Cann: "I use Netvibes as a desktop. Lack of posts from TOP led me to believe you were sick. To my surprise, up popped 14 unread items on your feed today. I read your blog every day and have done so for years, so the absence of posts had been a real disappointment. Glad you weren't ill."

Dave Pawson: "Please add the links as clickable, rather than images, Mike?"

Mike replies: Added. Thanks.

RSS Feed (Blog Note)

UPDATE Monday evening: It turns out that the old feedreader was no longer operating. I set up a new one, but the metrics update overnight, so the new feed won't be working until tomorrow. I'll let you know the new link tomorrow.

To say I don't understand feeds is an understatement. But by following instructions, hopefully I set it up so that it will work.

A lot of readers have contacted me asking when the RSS feed is going to be fixed. I just reset the RSS feed settings—can someone please try it and tell me if it's working now?

If it still isn't, I will look into that this afternoon, and, if I can't figure it out myself (likely), I'll enter a Help Ticket about it.

Mike

Question for You (Blog Notes again)

Well...I need to vent a little...I worked all day yesterday until three in the morning (actually a little after) and broke Blogger. Seriously. Took me six hours to build a beautiful new site and then six hours trying to fix it after it broke—which was, admittedly, roughly analogous to forcing an elephant to thread a needle. I've always known I'm bad with computers, "but this is ridiculous." (A tagline made famous by Fred Flintstone, a fellow caveman whose computer skills mine would rival, but never mind.) It's broken. I have to start over.

I don't know how I do it.

Anyway: TOP is going to relaunch. I don't know when, I don't know how, and I don't know where. But one foot in front of the other. One day at a time. We'll get there.

Thanks, I needed to get that off my chest. Me building a website is like a fish knitting a sock.

It's possible it might kill me (murder was attempted last night at two in the morning, I'll just say that), but the new site is intended: 1.) to show photographs to best advantage, big and beautiful; 2.) to be free, not subscription-based or tied to any payment system (I depend on my Patreon supporters, but they pay if they want to, not because they have to); 3.) to be on the Web, not delivered by email (which would make it a newsletter); and 4.) to be responsive, for convenient and pleasant access on phones and tablets. Finally, 5.), free of irritations will be given a higher value than slick, hip 'n' pretty. All five of those are the priorities. Not necessarily in that order.

Which brings me to my question: what might you like to see on a new, revamped, modernized, you-friendly TOP of the mid-'20s?

Mike

P.S. Never fear, I saw the new Fuji. Next up.

Featured Comments:

Bob Keefer: "Thank you for pledging that TOP will be 'free of irritations.' These days almost all of the web—even many sites that should know better—is plagued with incessant pop-ups and cheap, sleazy clickbait. I appreciate you standing your ground with TOP."

Hang In There!

Typepad's Engineering team is continuing to work on restoring all the features of their blogs, including this one. I know a lot of you are experiencing a variety of issues; I am too. This all stems from an unsuccessful attempt starting on Saturday night to migrate Typepad's blogs to a new data center. The attempt had to be called off. I guess the best counsel for now is patience—

But I'm sorry for all the folderol and botheration!

Mike

Featured Comments:

Greg: "An IT person once told me that 99% of his job was to fix unsuccessful migrations and unsuccessful fixes."

Kye Wood: "Long time IT professional here. People are always amazed and shocked and disappointed when computer software crashes out. Programmers are always amazed and surprised and thrilled when their code not only runs, but actually appears to work!"

Geoff Wittig: "My son is a software developer. He has worked for a big name as well as smaller firms. I asked him why (for example) medical record software sucked so badly. My practice's electronic record system has multiple frustrating bugs and has periodic 'upgrades' that invariably involve a week or more of crashes and new bugs.

"He noted the fundamental conflict between software quality and corporate profits. Reliable, effective, bullet-proof software takes time, skill and effort to create. It takes more time to de-bug it and make sure it's amenable to updates and extension. 'Good enough' software can be cobbled together from existing code and output from low-cost overseas programmers. Good enough to run a demo that looks impressive and to sell the product, but not good enough to be a solid, reliable platform. Once customers buy the product, the sunk cost of purchasing it and training employees to use it are the velvet handcuffs preventing a switch to something better. So software companies have a powerful incentive to cheaply create a product that's good enough to win sales, and much less incentive to produce rock-solid code that costs a bit more to develop."

We're Back (9:25 p.m. Monday) (Blog Notes)

Very sorry for the interruption in service! And, Happy Halloween.

Typepad had planned on a 12-hour outage for maintenance. Obviously something went wrong, and the outage approached 48 hours. Evidently the planned maintenance project had to be abandoned. And then, this afternoon, after the blog went back up, I wasn't able to add new posts right away. TOP still isn't loading some images and some links don't work, but we've been told those will be restored in due course.

I'll resume posting new content tomorrow morning as usual (including a funny image I had been saving for Halloween). Later in the month that starts tomorrow TOP will celebrate 17 years of existence, 15 of those on Typepad; it's been our happy home for a long time. They have great customer service for us bloggers and have always addressed questions and difficulties with dispatch. This outage was a bit nerve-wracking for Yr. Hmbl. Ed., but "this too shall pass," in the famous words of the medieval Sufi poets, and we'll be back to normal. The eternal promise of the weblog, a word that made its first appearance in the language in 1997: "More soon!"

Thanks for your patience.

—Mike

P.S. And I hope the Comments work too, but I don't know if they do! If not, they should be working again soon. Would someone please leave a comment as a test? UPDATE: Comments are working.

Scheduled Maintenance Planned For Saturday Night, All Night (Blog Notes)

Scheduled maintenance coming: Lots of problems lately. I'm happy to report that Typepad (TOP's host) has successfully migrated to a new data center. More maintenance is planned, and you might have trouble logging on from Saturday night to Sunday morning, Eastern U.S. Time: "During a window from 9:30 pm U.S. Eastern Time on Saturday, October 29 (01:30 UTC on Sunday, October 30) to 9:30 am U.S. Eastern Time on Sunday, October 30 (13:30 UTC on Sunday, October 30), there may be periods where Typepad blogs are down." That's TOP's least-trafficked time of the week, so it might not be a problem for you, but be prepared for it.

Everyone should be seeing the header again.

In a separate matter, Norton assures me that TOP has officially been declared "Safe" and that its (Norton's) customers will no longer receive a danger warning from them (Norton) when trying to log on to TOP.

All is well. [UPDATE Saturday morning early: I spoke too soon. Typepad suffered DDoS attacks on Friday and was intermittently down. Every time this happens—there have been a few instances over the years—they manage to get it sorted out, so I'm hoping that with the maintenance tonight will solve the various issues. Sorry again if you've experienced any trouble.] Please remember that TOP might be down over Saturday night.

Mike

Scott: "Got the Cloudflare message a few minutes ago."

Mike replies: Apparently you'll have to contact them yourself, because as far as I can tell there's no mechanism for people like me to get in touch with them.

John Krumm: "The Cloudflare thing is likely just the new servers being cautious. I’ve seen it before after DOS attacks. Likely TypePad will have to fix."

The Norton Problem (Blog Note)

We recently had a spate of readers who were getting a warning from Norton saying TOP is not a safe site and that they should keep away. While it might sometimes put your discretionary cash in danger by encouraging you to buy a new lens, TOP is not otherwise dangerous.

(Somewhat suspiciously, all this happened right after an old subscription to Norton's services expired, and I declined to renew.)

If you had that problem, here's the rundown: TypePad tells me you're probably getting that warning because I linked to a site that is considered unsafe. First of all, sorry. Second, I don't know which link caused / is causing the problem, so if you could follow the "full report" link in your warning and let me know if there's any indication of which post is causing the trouble, I'd be grateful.

Third, I went to Google's Safe Browsing site status at Google Transparency Report and ran my URL, and TOP got the little green checkmark: "No unsafe content found." Then I went to Norton Safe Web, and requested a report for TOP, and got the green box with a big "OK" in it and the word "Safe" below it. So as far as I can tell both Google and Norton are now giving TOP the all clear.

So hopefully that means you are not getting the "danger / keep away" warnings from Norton any more. If you are, please let me know. And thanks to those who reported the problem the first time around! I'll try to do better about being careful what I link to.

—Mike, ABSCW (At Best Semi-Competent Webmaster)

Blog Note: Patchy Problems

Something's been going on with TypePad recently. TypePad, launched this month in 2003, is the blogging service I've used since 2007 for The Online Photographer. Various readers have been finding the blogsite down or slow when they try to log on as usual this week, and...so have I. This happens from time to time over the years. The team at TypePad is very responsive to issues (it's the reason I chose them in the first place—TOP was originally on Blogger, Google's platform, but it wasn't manned by humans and when something went wrong there was nothing you could do). These occasional issues have always gotten resolved in the past. The place to go for updates is TypePad on Twitter.

Everything's working for me this morning. But I just wanted to apologize to you if you've had any problems in the past week or so.

TypePad is going to be "migrating to a new data center," whatever that means, later this month. "The maintenance window will be during off hours to minimize the impact." Off hours here in the USA might not be off hours where you are. As I learn more specifics I'll pass them along. Meanwhile, I'll do a fresh site backup to capture any new material since the last backup, and, as usual, keep my fingers crossed.

—Mike, with his Maintenance Guy hat on

 

Good Sleep (COVID Update)

Not everything has a silver lining, but, for me, COVID has had one. I was discouraged that I was still testing positive at Day 16, but I slept around the clock again on Wednesday night...11:00 p.m. to 11:00 a.m.

It's been nostalgic to revisit, in very early old age, the way I used to be able to sleep when I was younger. I'm not into having COVID, but I've enjoyed being able to sleep. I suffer from a form of insomnia called EMA—early morning awakening. I often pop awake at 4:15 or 5:30 or some ungodly early morning hour and, more than half the time, can't get back to sleep. Well, on Thursday morning I got dragged out of sleep at 5:45, looked at the internet for a while on my tablet, conked out again, and enjoyed basically a whole second night's sleep. I haven't slept that late in years.

The oximeter
If you get COVID, a handy device to have around is something called a "fingertip pulse oximeter," or just "oximeter" for short. It's that little clip that goes on your fingertip that measures your pulse and the oxygen saturation, or the percentage of oxygen, in your blood. A normal, healthy adult or child with functioning lungs has a blood oxygen level of between 95 and 100%. My impression from various things I read about COVID early on was that people who are otherwise asymptomatic can have a condition called "happy" (also called "silent") hypoxia, which means you have low blood oxygen levels but you're not aware of it. Fingertip pulse oximeters were widely recommended during the early days of COVID as a way to detect happy hypoxia. However, in poking around on the web, I came across a study at Penn Medicine that indicated that automated text messaging—regularly asking people with COVID whether they felt short of breath—was just as effective in terms of outcomes as patient self-measuring with an oximeter.

However, I don't get automated text messages from my doctor's office asking me about shortness of breath. In fact I've yet to see a sign from them that they're interested in how I'm doing. So I've been using the oximeter. There are a zillion pulse oximeters on Amazon; this is the one I happen to have, not that that matters. I just slip it on my finger a few times a day to check. Mainly reassurance, I guess.

After I encountered that Penn Medicine study, though, I figured I might need to know a little more, from an expert. So I reached out to John Hansen-Flaschen MD, a TOP reader who is also a highly distinguished pulmonologist (as well as, of course, a photographer). Here's what John told me:

Early on, when COVID infection was frequently life threatening, some people were found to have a low blood oxygen level before they developed severe shortness of breath. Other chest infections did not typically do this. Also, there was no quick COVID testing then. So, at that time, we encouraged people to buy a finger pulse oximeter and to test themselves at the first hint of any new respiratory symptoms.

Current omicron strains do not behave this way, so we no longer recommend pulse oximetry for early detection. Instead, when someone is known to have acute symptomatic COVID, a pulse oximeter can be useful in deciding when to go to an emergency room and when to be admitted to a hospital. A drop in oxygen % saturation of greater than 4 mmHg to below 92% is a reason to go to an ED for further evaluation. Below 85–88% may be a reason to admit someone.

So I guess I'm doing the right thing keeping an eye on it. John also told me that I'm at risk for long COVID, mentioning that "our clinic is overrun with people who have this distressing condition." Yikes. But then, I guess we've all known all along that COVID is inherently a "yikes" kind of thing to start with. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have that.

Finally, I called my doctor's office, and was told by a nurse that people who've had COVID can continue testing positive for up to 30 days even if they've recovered. She told me to stop testing myself, sort of implying that all I'm doing is driving myself crazy. So, okay.

Anyway, I am feeling a lot better—the penultimate remaining symptom, a cough, seems to be almost gone. The ultimate remaining symptom seems to be...good sleep. Not sure if I want that to go away. But I guess I'll know I'm really better when it does.

Good health to you and your family! In all ways, and always.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Migrant Mother, by Sarah Meister. "Each volume in the One on One series is a sustained meditation on a single work from the collection of MoMA." Forty-two pages with many illustrations. An engaging guided tour of the history and lore of "American photography's Mona Lisa."

This book link is a portal to Amazon. You're very kind use our links, as they help support the site.

B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Tom Burke: "Very glad to hear you're getting better, Mike. Like you, the cough has been the last thing to disappear for me.

"You mentioned above that you're still testing positive. Is that PCR tests, or lateral flow test? It's well known that PCR tests can continue to pick up non-infectious viral proteins anything u to 90 days after infection.

"I think I mentioned in an earlier comment that I had found a reference to a study that looked at when people stopped being infectious. I've dug out the references. First, the summary from the Imperial College site; and this is the link to the study report in the Lancet Respiratory Medicine journal.

"The message seems to be that the study found that less than a quarter of cases were shedding virus before the onset of symptoms; and that lateral flow testing was a poor indicator of the onset of infectiousness, but was very good at spotting the moment when you cease to be infectious. In my case I tested negative on two days in succession at the end of my illness (10 days after symptom onset) so I was OK to go out. Four days after that, however, a PCR test (in connection with a survey I'm enrolled in) came back with a positive result. I decided that the latter result was an example of the problem with PCR test results after you've been ill."

Blog Note: Mike Has COVID

I've got the dread disease I guess. I tried three different home tests, all of different brands; two were slightly past the use-by dates. One showed no trace of a positive line; the fresh test kit from the pharmacy seemed to show a line but so faint it was barely on the threshold of perception; and on the third it was even fainter—there might have been a line or there might not have been.

The doctor's office, though, says any kind of line, however faint, means a positive test, so I guess that means me.

You count the first day of symptoms as Day 0, so I'm in Day 3. The symptoms keep moving around and changing. I had a toothache for the first three days, of all things—and late last night it departed. But last night I developed a wicked sore throat, the kind where you dread having to swallow; but my fever went down. My blood oxygen level is fine but my heart rate has been considerably elevated, by about 20 beats per minute. On the good side, I sleep through the night, so that's nice.

It's been good for pool. Something about being sick makes it easier to get into the "flow state." I play this practice game called "1-2-3" where you throw all 15 balls out on the table, and you only score the last three if you make all of the first 12 with no misses. The third-to-last ball is one point, second-to-last is two points, and the last ball is three points. So the possible scores are zero, one, three, and six. I did three total clearances yesterday—three sixes—and three threes, which is better than usual. On a normal day I'll score several ones and threes and maybe one six or maybe not. And a lot of zeros, meaning I failed to make it to the final three. (I'm trying to learn position play. I'm getting much better at it than I was, but still have a long way to go.)

[UPDATE: After writing this I was so concerned about having bragged on myself that my pool game went all to pieces. Or maybe I should blame that on being sick, too. —MJ]

The doctor's office says on Day 6 I can resume normal activities...even if I still have symptoms. According to the ever-changing guidelines, vaccinated people are presumed to be contagious for no longer than five days from the onset of symptoms. Fortunately I wasn't around people much at all before the symptoms appeared.

I went back on my plant-based diet two weeks ago, and as of this morning I've lost 16 lbs. in 12 days. Too fast. But how much of that is the food and how much the illness? A little of both I guess. On a plant-based diet you aim to lose about a pound a week. You have to eat a lot to keep the weight loss that low, and I just haven't had sufficient appetite.

Anyway, you don't need to hear the blow-by-blow. Things happen to all of us, and they seem important to us while we're in them. The bottom line is that things might be a little sparse around here for a few days while I deal with this. Being sick is never easy when you live alone; everything that needs doing still needs doing. And all I want to do is go lie down.

...Which I guess I will go do right now.

Mike

Herman Krieger: "Sounds like you got the bug!"

Skip Davis: "I am so glad that I have been wearing my face mask when I visit your website.... Get well soon."

Bob Feugate: "I’m very sorry to hear that you’ve got COVID. On the other hand, I was delighted to see from these comments that Herman Krieger is still as sharp as ever. His website is packed with visual puns and always rewards a return visit." [Ed. note: Herman, 95, is TOP's honorary oldest reader.]

Jim Arthur: "I stumbled across a quote recently which seems to apply to your predicament so I thought I’d share. Feel better, try not to work too hard, and maybe enjoy some lotus tea.  :-)  "

For my own part I reckon being ill as one of the great pleasures of life, provided one is not too ill and is not obliged to work till one is better...to lie there careless of everything, quiet and warm, and with no weight upon the mind...to watch the soft shadows come and go upon the ceiling...not only to be a lotus-eater but to know that it was one's duty to be a lotus-eater.

—Samuel Butler

ADDENDUM (Blog Note)

(Just wanted to mention: it occurred to me this morning as I lay in bed before getting up that the real reason I write OT diet posts is probably that they inspire me. Every time I write one it makes me enthusiastic about redoubling my efforts to cook and eat healthily, and I get strength to resist my bad habits. Because the reason I'm so preoccupied with this stuff is that I naturally have bad food instincts, so I have to make up for that with knowledge and conscious effort.

So thank you for putting up with me. Because I need the kick in the butt.)

Mike

Book o' the Week

Home Fires Volume II: The Present. There is of course a Volume I: The Past.  TOP reader Bruce Haley has produced documentary work relating to conflict, humanitarian crises and environmental/industrial/land use issues for 30 years. He received the Robert Capa Gold Medal for his coverage of the ethnic civil war in Burma.

These book links are a portal to Amazon.

Today at B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Thank You

I'd just like to thank everybody for using my links. Blogging about photography was a great business for half a dozen years, and people thought I was in it for that reason. I wasn't; I was in it because I'm a content-creator and I care about the subject. Now it's getting a little thin, and I'm still at it. At the bottom of every post you'll find a book link which is also a gateway to any purchase at the big A site, and a link to B&H Photo for Americans. I have to follow strict rules about how I can promote those links, so I depend on readers who are supporters to take up some of the slack. A big thank-you to all of you who do.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Grit and Grace: Women at Work in the Emerging World. Unfortunately, this will be the posthumous swan song of the indefatigable documentarian Alison Wright, whose untimely death at 60 in the Azores this year meant she never got to see it published. Wright's photography was inextricably entwined with her life's dedication to social justice, a sense of acceptance of humanity, and a roving search for beauty and color.

Our link to B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Going On Vacation

Just wanted to let you know...I'll be on vacation for one week starting on Saturday.

UPDATE: So this coming week the theme will be "Journey Through the Past." Here's the theme music! Each morning at 7 a.m. a link to an older post will appear, along with a few brief comments (although as usual, nothing on Saturday [UPDATE to the update: ended up having some time on Saturday morning. Woke up early]). Speaking of comments, you can leave new ones if you want to. But I won't be posting any "Featured" comments while I'm off.

Hope you enjoy the selection! I'll be back before you know it.

Mike

-

William A Lewis: "Have a good time. We'll look forward to the eight pics you edit down to.  ;-)  "

Mike replies: lol!

A Quarter of a Million Comments

On Saturday, 7/23/22, at 12:57 a.m. ET, Mani Sitaraman wrote:

"Mike, you'll be pleased to hear that I've been conveying, over the years and from over here in Asia, your positive impressions of Keuka Lake and environs to a couple of old friends on the East Coast. This latest, very pretty photograph [he meant the one of Bully Hill] is perfectly timed, as they've just set off to explore the area this weekend!"

And that was—drum roll!—this blog's Official 250,000th Comment (the software keeps track). All of them moderated, ~20k of them "Featured." Comments are one of the best features of this website, to me certainly.

That's 46.7 comments per day for 5,353 days, and 30.1 comments per post for 8,305 posts. Time gets behind us, doesn't it?

A little landmark along the way. I think Mani deserves a prize, don't you? Or a trophy.

Let me know if you're getting tired of seeing random iPhone shots. Took this yesterday. This is right at the limits of the digital zoom. Junior is getting a quick snack, and Mama is saying, "Yo, is that a 13? You should have waited for the 14 to come out."

I've always had fun with cameras. When I was a kid I shot with my Dad's Minox "spy" camera, and my cousin Kate's Kodak Disc Camera that she got for Christmas when she was nine (I used up all three of her discs of film, which shocked her), my friend Paul's Deardorff 8x10, and a Canon Xapshot that the Photo Department at the Corcoran owned. The Xapshot was a very early still video camera. I inherited a Zeiss Contessa from my late Aunt, and I had to take a bunch of pictures with that too. The iPhone fits right in there. Fun. In art school I shot a project (The Great Pigeon Safari—each picture featured a pigeon somewhere in it) with an ancient Kodak Instamatic. You could still get the film cartridges for them then, color negative of course, and then I made large prints on B&W Panalure paper. They looked good, too, although they were very far from sharp.

Mike

Book o' the Week

Grit and Grace: Women at Work in the Emerging World. Unfortunately, this will be the posthumous swan song of the indefatigable documentarian Alison Wright, whose untimely death at 60 in the Azores this year meant she never got to see it published. Wright's photography was inextricably entwined with her life's dedication to social justice, a sense of acceptance of humanity, and a roving search for beauty and color.

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Sroyon: "Not tired, but when it comes to phone pics, I think I would enjoy seeing more 'good photos' (broadly defined, I don't necessarily mean portfolio-worthy!), and perhaps reading the stories behind them, than photos which illustrate some ability or feature of the iPhone. Perhaps more photos like your tea mug, which to me was a 'good photo,' even if it was presented as illustrating a feature (parallax). Just my two cents!"

Mani Sitaraman: "Egad. When you wrote me an email the other day, Mike, saying that I'd written the 250,000th comment on TOP, I'd didn't realize you meant it literally! I took it to be a figure of speech, to indicate merely that that featured comment had been preceded by myriad user comments in the past on TOP, with its very loyal and active user comment section. I know I've done precisely nothing to deserve this entirely accidental, numerical spotlight, but it is very kind of you to offer me a prize. Being able to read TOP after years of reading Camera & Darkroom and Photo Techniques has been more than reward enough. But 250,000 comments! That's testament to the quality and attraction of TOP to all of us, and the quality of your columns are the reason we write. I am pleased, though, that that 250,000th comment was, fortuitously, about a picture of the very picturesque region of America, the Finger Lakes of New York State, that TOP is headquartered in."

Ray Hunter: "Congratulations on the observation of yet another TOP benchmark! Thanks also for the comments on Alison Wright. I was unfamiliar with Ms. Wright's photography-this book selection, like many you provide, introduced me to work that is new to me. At their best, photography monographs serve to make us want to know more about the person who made the images. I looked up her obituary, as well, and learned a bit more about her exuberant life. So sad to lose a bright star."

Matthew Currie: "Commenting on your 'Book of the Week,' I was sorry to hear, belatedly, of the death of Alison Wright. I went to Bhutan a couple of years ago for a National Geographic photo tour of which she was the leader. Aside from being a good photographer and teacher, she was an amusing storyteller and travel companion, much to be missed. Hoist a 'Dirty Mayor' (Citizen Cider with a hint of ginger that she recommended) in her honor."

Steve Rosenblum: "Thanks for all the bazillion hours of moderating those comments, Mike! The fact that you have kept such close reins on the moderation of TOP is largely responsible for it remaining an island of thoughtful comity in a worldwide sea of internet garbage. That you have done that as the sole proprietor/moderator while also writing thousands of words of posts each day, feeding and walking Butters, and getting a few rounds of pool in is very impressive. Kudos to you!"

Woo Hoo

In NewYorker.com's special Family Issue today, Wednesday:

Note that if you're not a subscriber, you only get four (4) free articles a month. You can subscribe to unlimited digital-only access for $6 for 12 weeks, or $49.99 per year. It's possible it might be available on some news aggregator services such as Apple News, but I don't know.

I'll provide a link once it goes live. Really curious what people are going to think of this....

Mike

 

A Couple of Days Off (Blog Note)

I'm in the home stretch for my big piece for newyorker.com which will probably appear in July. Lots going on. We've been working on it for a couple of months now. I haven't time to attend to my regular duties today, so this week I'll write for TOP on the weekend. Sorry for the inconvenience!

—Mike, Chief writer, editor, housekeeper, and dogwalker

 

Creative Energy

marcin wuu wrote, in the comments to yesterday's post:

Hey Mike, did you notice how your articles come in phases, or waves, connected by subject? There's a Leica phase, Apple phase, Film phase, I Bought a New Camera phase, Pool phase etc? We're past the Leica, are we entering Camera Bags?  ;-)

It's true. That happens.

I believe it's mostly organic, though; for instance, after yesterday's post we were talking not so much about camera bags as stolen equipment, and a number of people have stories relating to that; those stories lead to other thoughts on the subject, which lead to more stories, and so on. The same post could have led in some other direction, perhaps assisting on jobs and not getting credit, or working for fathers or family members, or something like that. But that's not the direction it took.

I'm sure I direct it sometimes, emphasis intended, because it might be something I'm preoccupied with. The reason I claim it's organic, though, is that it happens the way it happens. That's what I've observed over many years of doing this. For instance, we could be talking about Kurt Markus right now and, let's say, what it means to photograph cowboys in the modern West, whether it's valid documentary or more like romantic nostalgia. But we're not. But there have been no comments on the Kurt Markus post, but a number of comments about my father's stolen bag.

Over the years, I've come to think of it as "energy." Some subjects have energy, others don't.

I do respond to the energy, too. Sometimes I'll wait to put up a new post because the last one is still getting a lot of response; the energy is there and I don't want to dampen it. Other times I'll work hard on a post but it doesn't get much of a response. In those cases I need to move on; no energy.

It's not 100% up to me. I try to create energy for pool, sometimes, hoping to do my little part to increase the fan base for my chosen sport, but my readers come here because of their interest in photography, and I don't have a godlike power to rewire their brains and redirect their interest. One way I got schooled about this was that, early on, when the audience was bigger, I had a great power to influence people buying books—did you know there were a number of books that we sold more than 500 copies of through our links? One surpassed 800 sales. That's influencing power! Especially considering that a full print run of a photography book might be 3,000 copies. But, when I've tried to recommend other books unrelated to photography, do you know how many we would sell? Six, maybe. Or 12, sometimes three, sometimes none. So it wasn't me...it was me + the predisposition of the self-selected audience, who were here because of their pre-existing and independent interest in photography. In short, Marcin's "phases and waves" are created by my energy plus your energy.

Heck, the site itself exists because it generated energy. I started this blog pretty convinced I would never have the discipline to write as much as one post a day, and my "stretch goal"—which seemed very unlikely to happen—was to keep it going for one full year (I had written a blog about politics prior to this one—it wasn't very good—that lasted about a year). Well, at its peak I was sustaining an average of something like 2.4 posts a day, and next November 28th we'll hit our 17th birthday, God willing. TOP has had energy.

Apply the concept to art
The idea of "energy" is significant because the same thing happens with creative work. You might have noticed it: sometimes you get what you think is a really good idea for a project, and and you strategize for it and gear up for it, but, when you get into it, it sputters...for some reason it doesn't "take." Like trying to start a fire and failing. How I experience it is that I don't have the energy for it. Literally, in that I feel logy and dispirited when I try to apply myself. Hence the term energy. Other times, you'll seize upon a subject and take off. Sometimes it might even surprise you, how much energy it has. Hard work doesn't seem like work, enthusiasm carries you along, and you might even take it further than you first intended. It can feel almost like it's not even up to you. If you read enough biographies of artists, you begin to notice how they find their energy as they work out what it is they're supposed to do in life, how they arrive at their mature styles and concerns. It might not be magical, but it sure is fascinating.

If you're creative, you have to be sensitive to the energy, I think*. And willing to have the courage to make changes based on it.

Maybe that's another topic; but let's see how much energy this post creates.  :-)

Mike

P.S. Does anyone remember a saying about how a plan is an ambition with a deadline or something like that? I can't remember it or find it.

*One of my personal foibles is that I'm too dogged. I keep trying to do things even after I've found out I'm no good at them. You wouldn't believe how long I thought I was going to make a living as a portrait photographer. I had some early successes doing that kind of work—I did a lot of it and made some good money—but I have very little knack for business, and as a main business I failed at it—not just failed, but failed blatantly, comically, decisively, over and over again. It was clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was not going to succeed as a portraitist full time. But somehow I continued to not get the picture. The Universe didn't just have to whack me with the "Get-a-Clue" stick; it had to beat me repeatedly with the Get-a-Clue 2x4. (I still think I'd like to be a portraitist sometimes. I carry around various pet schemes in my head. They've been there a long time and doubtless won't die until I do. Success at these schemes is certainly possible, with the caveat that I'd merely have to be a different person than the person I am. To be good at business you need to be not just realistic but boldly realistic, I suspect.)

Book o' the Week:

Inspiration Leica Akademie (English and German Edition). A "group show" of 76 Leica Akademie photographers from 16 countries worldwide, curated by Heidi and Robert Mertens. It looks to me like this is going out of print soon, so act soon if you want one.

The book link is your portal to Amazon from TOP, should you choose to support the site.

Link to B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Grant (partial comment): "There is too much energy on the TOP site. My life is consumed by the articles that you post. There are too many fascinating links that I have not yet had the time to follow. I have three recommended books only partially read and two more still in the wrappers. Please, I need a break. The dandelions on my lawn are mocking me. Perhaps a food and diet phase would give me time to catch up on my life."

Mike replies: Dandelion greens are very healthy for you in salads.

Kirk: "I believe in the discipline of work. The more you work the more it flows."

Kenneth Brayton: "I have no energy for indoor photography. Just not there no matter how much I try. During COVID I have tried. But whenever I get outdoors it is a whole different level of energy. And much better results. Remember the days of 'Good Vibrations'? There is something to that."

 

Pierre Charbonneau Comes to Visit

You know a bit about me, if you've been reading this blog for a while. From time to time I also get to meet you. I got to meet TOP reader Pierre Charbonneau on the 3rd. You might have seen his name in the Comments. He came by on the first leg of a planned four-week journey taking pictures and visiting friends around the United States. We had lunch at the Chat-a-Whyle restuarant in Bath, which seemed apropos.

Pierre has had a successful career as a commercial location photographer. He started out in magazine and fashion photography, but eventually decided that his clients in that world tended to be fickle and influenced by who's in style at any given moment—he found that corporate clients are more loyal and less influenced by who happens to be "hot." He's almost exactly my age (65), and has been in business in Montreal, Canada, for 42 years. He said a typical assignment for him is doing all the publicity and instructional photographs for new commercial and private jet planes; he recently completed an extensive job doing all the photography for a new Gulfstream.

He's been reading me since very early on—since way back in Camera & Darkroom (originally Darkroom Photography) days. That's been a while. I took Jack's M10, hoping to show him a cool camera he hadn't seen before.

Pierre

No such luck. He had his own M10. He works with two lenses, a 50mm and a 35mm, one on the camera and one in a pouch on his belt. 

This is his answer to the question "what's your favorite M lens."

We met for lunch in Bath after he toured the Corning Museum of Glass. He speaks excellent English with a strong French accent. He's charismatic and knowledgeable and told me he's a photo hobbyist in addition to being a longtime pro. I really enjoyed lunch and I wish you well on the rest of your photographing trek, Pierre! Please stop by on your way back if you can.

Mike

This is Actually a Different Book o' the Week

It's Not About the F-Stop by Jay Maisel. Jay was suggested by Moose and this book was suggested by Albert Smith. I got to meet Jay Maisel once. Everybody should meet him in his books, if they haven't already. Might help; cannot hurt. Jay's is some of the most positive, hopeful, and generous picture-taking advice you'll find.

This book link is a portal to Amazon.

B&H Photo

Original contents copyright 2020 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Apology from Management (Blog Notes)

The previous post was...erm, not very good. The examples I picked confused rather than clarified the issue I wanted to highlight, and my thought process was a bit confused, and, as sometimes happens, I learned only during the ensuing discussion what I would have needed to know to write the post well in the first place.

I guess after 9,781 posts there are still going to be a few duds. And I still enjoyed the conversation. Thanks for the thoughts. So now onward!

—Mike the Ed.