blogging reflections

One Door Closes, Another Opens...

Tue, 1 Dec 2009 11:33:03 -0700

As of today, this blog is closing, going on hiatus--pick any euphemism you like. Thanks for all your support and if you want to keep up with my exploits in the world of photography and anything else in Faraceland, you may follow me on Twitter. You can also check me out on FaceBook too,

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:16:06 -0600

ODE TO DIGITAL MEDIA
By
Joe Farace

Digital documents it was said, would replace paper
But why or why are stacks of paper stacked so high
at Office Depot
E-mail, it is sad to report, has killed letter writing
and what’s happened to love letters or letters from home?
They are gone

Digital photography, it was said, would replace film
and it’s done a good job so far as my frig is full
of out dated film
In the eighties, video was the next big thing.
It killed slide shows only to be replaced itself
by PowerPoint

And now my iPod can capture video and even my
cat shoots movies and posts them on
his Facebook page.
If in the land of the blind a one-eyed man is king
what will happen when everyone shoots video?
The still photographer will be king.

The Future of Photography

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 10:14:31 -0600

I wrote the following piece for the December ’09 issue of Shutterbug that always has a section called “Future Tech” where writers are asked to submit what they see on photography’s horizon. I decided not to submit it because the people I really wanted to read it—photo execs—wouldn’t because all they care about is next quarter’s results. So it’s being presented here as a “DVD extra” that shows the kind of stuff that goes through my head when considering the future of photography.

I remember when this feature started oh-so-many years ago and some of my erstwhile colleagues began predicting science fiction-y (Hey, I loved Watchmen) photographic advances such as implanting cameras into human eyes likes we were all so many Jaime Sommers and Steve Austins. Thank goodness that hasn’t happened, as least not yet. For my own part, I’ve been on a several year tirade ranting about what the industry was not doing to preserve its own future and to all the photo marketing execs out there I have two words for you: General Motors.
Nobody listened and nobody cared but you see, I love photography; I love the history, tools, craft, and art and it breaks my heart when I see so many industry leaders making what I see as fatal or worse, no decisions about where the future of photography is heading. I was initially concerned when consumer electronics companies (of all things) got into real photography producing digital SLRs but now I believe that companies such as Panasonic, Samsung, and Sony may be the only possible saviors of photography because the world they live in is driven by the marketplace’s need for constant improvement. If the innovative Sony Alpha 900 had a Nikon or Canon nameplate on it would be the best selling digital SLR in the USA but it doesn’t so it’s not.
If an author proposes a book on photography for young people, publishers reply that there’s not a market for it thus helping fuel their self-fulfilling prophecy. When I suggested a “yo-yo man” approach to promoting photography to young people, it was greeted by polite silence from every manufacturer I suggested it to. Yet Volkswagen used this very same approach (and even used yo-yos) to sell $18,290 New Beetles. Manufacturers who don’t think the same approach will sell under $1000 entry-level SLRs are suffering from corporate myopia or maybe contrary to the long view usually affected by Japanese companies have become instead infected with the same get-rich-quick mentality that is currently the cause of so much economic distress.
So here I am again (using another Watchmen reference) acting as Walter Kovacs and claiming “the end is near” and maybe that’s because as Apple improves the iPhone and its competitors raise the cell phone bar it won’t be long before digital point and shoot cameras start heading the way of the passenger pigeon. I don’t have an Apple iPhone because I hate all cell phones—call me a luddite if you must—but do have an iPod Touch and I expect to see a camera in that model soon, maybe even by the time you read this. I’ve used Mary’s iPhone to make some photos and the process is quite pleasant and a lot more fun than many digital point-and-shooters I’ve tried over the years. Image quality from the iPhone 3G is pretty good too but maybe that’s not the point anymore?
So what’s it going to be? A future of e-mailing, Twittering, FaceBooking images made with our cell phones? Can cell phone and “real camera” photography even co-exist in the future as they do today? Unfortunately, the future is not is your hands because if you’re reading this you’re already an enthusiast but instead it lies with our children and grandchildren who see traditional photography epitomized in the horribly off-target YouTube video Olympus produced for the wonderful E-P1 as something grandpa does. Will it be as the actor in that woesome video clip says when he signs off “Smile for Poppy.” Is that our future? I hope not.

If You Have a Great Product, Contact Me

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 08:43:06 -0600

With apologies to MTV’s Pimp My Ride and its irrepressible host Xzibit.
Recently a company’s PR person contacted me about a new product and since it sounded interesting I asked him to send me a review unit so I could evaluate it for my Digital Innovations column in Shutterbug magazine. Shortly and suspiciously after that my Editor received an e-mail ostensibly from a reader complaining about my mentioning a similar but a competing product in my PMA show report. For some reason, many readers consider any mention by me or even a review to be an endorsement. It is not. Please see my blog entry entitled “A Question of Bias“ to get my official take on this. (It’s in the archive.)
But here’s a word to the wise PR person who may be reading: Please do not have one of your fans or employees contact my editor and bash me for covering a product and then oh-so-conveniently recommend one they think this is so-much better. This kind of obvious pimping especially when aimed at my editor will not endear me to your product. In fact, it will have the opposite effect.
If you have a great product to sell or market, contact me directly via the e-mail link and www.joefarace.com and I promise you an honest evaluation for consideration as a review or in Digital Innovations.

The Ballad of GI Joe

Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:14:57 -0600

I was not a fan of either the GI Joe toys or TV series (too old, you see) but I know that some of this blog’s readers are. If you have not already seen this delightful video courtesy of the folks at FunnyOrDie.com that was created by Daniel Strange and Kevin Umbricht.