More on Photographic Competitions

I have spoken about Photography competitions before - but only about the local "League" ones. Today, I am going to talk about a competition run by a commercial entity here in Scotland.
The Whitelee Windfarm is currently "planting" huge windmills over the Eaglesham moor, about 20 minutes from central Glasgow. They are owned (apparently) by ScottishPower, and are making all the right environmental noises on their web site. I have no issue with this aspect of their operation.
What I do have issue with is the use of a "photographic competition" that is nothing more than a "picture rights grab".
Whitelee (or ScottishPower) have decided that getting amateurs to submit photographs in the hope of winning a £130 point and shoot camera is the best way to get images that they can then use for publicity purposes.

Nothing wrong with that, you say?
And I might have agreed with you if I had not read the "Terms and Conditions" closely.

Number 13 states:
"All entries must be the original work of the entrant and must not infringe the rights of any other party. The entrants must be the sole owner of copyright in all photographs entered and are responsible for obtaining all third party permissions to the taking of the photographs and use of those photographs in accordance with these terms and conditions. In particular, you represent and warrant that consent has been obtained from any clearly identifiable person appearing in any image to the taking of the image and the use of that image in accordance with these terms and conditions. Further, entrants must not have breached any laws when taking their photographs."

So, it needs to be your own work - fair enough. You must have had permission to enter and shoot on the land from which you took the photo, and if there is a recognisable person in the shot, you need a model release. And lastly, the photograph must have been taken lawfully.
Simple for a professional, onerous for an amateur.

Lets look at number 14:
"Entrants must not have offered any of their entries for sale or been paid for any publication of any of their entries. In addition, all images submitted must not have been published elsewhere or have won a prize in any other photographic competition."

So, basically, they are looking for new images that have not been published, even on your own website, or your flickr or facebook page. They want you to go out and get new pictures for them.

Lets see what no 15. says:
"Entrants will retain copyright in the photographs that they submit to the competition. By entering the competition all entrants grant to ScottishPower Renewables a royalty-free worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual right to use, publish, reproduce and exhibit any or all of that entrant's submitted photographs in any media format in any of its publications, websites and/or in any promotional or marketing material and to grant such rights to any third party to do same. This may include, but is not limited to, use of the photographs in accordance with paragraph 12 above. No fees will be payable for any of the above uses or for any of the rights granted by entrants hereunder. Entrants whose photographs are one of the Top Ten also agree to take part in post-competition publicity. While ScottishPower Renewables makes every effort to credit photographers, including in printed reproductions of their work, it cannot guarantee that every use of the photographs will include photographers’ names."


Basically, you give up all rights (except copyright) for any use of the image forever, while ScottishPower go on using it for nothing in any form (even ones not invented yet) - and they can assign the right to use it to third parties (i.e. anyone else they want) - and this not only pertains to the winners, but to all entries. On top of that, the top ten have to help publicise the windfarm, and it is not even guaranteed that you will get a mention!

Let's put this in perspective.
The conditions of this competition would not be accepted by a professional photographer without a substantial fee - the licensing provisions are simply too broad. They negate the use of the image for any other purpose that might earn the professional some income - nobody wants to use an image closely associated with another business.
So Scottish Power have decided it is cheaper (both in terms of publicising their Windfarm, and in getting some images that they can use for any purpose forever) to offer a pitiful "prize" instead of paying out £1000's per image to a professional.

Bottom line? You're legally responsible for everything about the picture - if you are not in the top ten you get nothing, and your pictures could still be used under the conditions stated above. If you are in the Top Ten, but not in the top three, you get a "goodie bag" with unknown contents. What's the bet it contains promotional material for ScottishPower?

If you want to enter the competition under those rules, then go ahead. I think you're crazy, but that's just my opinion.

Why do I care?

I have wanted to "do photography" for many years. I remember being fascinated by the strange numbers on the lenses of the old film cameras that I used to see in my grandmothers garage (they belonged to my dead grandfather). When I got a bit older I got an old box brownie (second hand) but we couldn't afford to get the photos printed. I used to use that camera to pretend to take pictures.
Fast forward to today. I can afford a digital camera and a selection of lenses and other gear, and I am taking more photos than ever before. Sometimes I even think I've got a keeper.

Now, I am not a "joiner" - I don't join clubs unless they have a purpose relevant to what I need ( I was a member of several Chess clubs, when I fancied myself as a decent Chess player - now the goddamn GNU Chess programs beats me all the time!) and I have never joined a sports club or Gym or for more than a few weeks ( all that sweat and effort! ).

But I have joined a photography club.
And I put my pictures in to be judged in the local "League" competition.
And inevitably they get panned - sometimes on technical grounds, but mostly on "artistic grounds".
And that's fair enough, for the technical reasons.

But what most annoys me is the "artistic grounds". We all know that beauty/art/whatever is in the eye of the beholder, and my head tells me that the judge is applying his criteria and his experience to a picture, and that it is nothing personal, but my gut tells me the bastard doesn't know what he is talking about.

And you know what - both reactions are correct!

My head is right - it is not personal - from the judges point of view, and my gut is right - it is very personal to me.

So, the bottom line is, I learn from the technical critique, and I get an insight into what another person thinks of my pictures "artistically" - and if I ever want to improve my pictures "artistically" according to someone elses criteria, then I can. But I won't. It's my "artistic" vision and I will continue to follow it. It might be judged to be crap by the world, but it says something to me ( and about me, for all I know!).
If you are going to "do photography" for your pleasure, then do it the way you want.

Participation

I spend a lot of time on-line. I look at hundreds of blog sites and hundreds of photos each month. I read dozens and dozens of articles on everything under the Sun - from the best way to live in a van to the progress of the Large Hadron Collider. I read tweets (hundreds and hundreds) and occasionally tweet something myself. I email. I surf. I flipbook.
In short, I consume. I consume in vast quantities, and I want more - and more - and more AND I don't want to pay (well, alright, a little bit - but not that much!).

In a second or two when I was not slurping up the products of someones else efforts, I thought:- "What would happen if everybody just produced ONE thing?"

Well, the internet would be a vastly more interesting place, for one. It might take some of the pressure off the inveterate producers of digital goodies, as well. It could help convince those organisations that simply moved their "real world goods" to the Internet (and continued to charge "real world" prices) that they don't own the game anymore. And, if you did it, it might even make you feel as though you were part of something bigger than you had ever been a part of before.

So, i just produced something - a slideshow of my photography set to music and themed with "a calming, tranquil" goal in mind. Each photograph is from Scotland, and while not technically perfect (is anything?), they are some of the ones that "stick in my mind" - for a variety of reasons.

Anyway, here it is, in a form suitable for an iPod/iPhone and one for the iPad/Mac/AppleTV and for all you HD fans, here's a 720HD version. The first is around 46M and the second is just under 160M, while the third weighs in at 272M. Large sizes, I know - but to make what I wanted I wasn't going to compromise (and spare a thought for me - I uploaded them from a 448k uplink :-( ). If you are a Windows user then either transcode them to your preferred format or install QuickTime for the PC.

If you like it, leave a comment. If you hate it, leave a comment.

iPad - Magic, or meaningless?

When the iPad was announced, I waded through all the facts I could find (as apart from all the anguished "it's not a computer/replacement netbook/whatever/" and all the "apple fanboy" cries of "brilliant/earth-shattering/world-changing" etc). And factual stuff was hard to come by, as was unbiased reviews.

My decision was to leave it until I could get a "hands-on" and see then if it fitted my work flow.

I got the "hands-on" from the apple store and one early adopter who let me have a play for a couple of hours in return for setting up his email accounts.

My decision was that the iPad was well engineered, but it wasn't a lap-top replacement, and it wasn't a net book, and it wasn't a tool I could use in my work regimen. Leave it until generation 2 or 3 and see what comes with those (like facetime (camera(s)), like the ability to move files on and off without a third party app or emailing them!).

So why is there a first-gen iPad sitting next to me as I write this?

Simple - I got work to fund one to help me support of all the iPads that were popping up all over the place.

So, has my opinion changed after a week with the iPad?

Well, yes and no.

I still think it is a well engineered piece of kit, it's still not a laptop replacement and it's still not a netbook replacement. I can use it in my work regimen though - to answer emails and to grab information from the Internet.

But the fundamental shift in my thinking is that the iPad is a device for consuming. Consuming films, TV shows, screencasts, podcasts, youtube, music, audio books, books, blogs, photographs, games and any other thing that Apple can push through the iTunes/App store interface. The battery life is brilliant ( I played the movie Avatar back-to-back 4 times and still had 3% battery left ), the screen is superb, the sound quality is up to Apples usual standard, and when IOS4 comes to the iPad, I should be able to "fast-app switch" while my magnatune music streams keeps playing in the background. This combination makes it an excellent media consumption device.

I have used the iPad for ssh access to my servers, and that works, but the app is an iPhone app run in 2x mode (double pixels) so that's a bit clunky, but it does work. Next, I need a remote desktop protocol app for attaching to my Mac and PC - then I can use it as a replacement emergency netbook (I use an Asus eeepc for that now (thanks sis!) ).

Overall, not magic, but certainly not meaningless, not by a long way!

(the iPad model I have is WiFi 32G - iPad picture Courtesy of Apple)

A Day in the Life

For IT Systems Administrators there are no "typical" days. There are "typical" tasks. Log reviews, software patches and updates, data retrieval, data backup, storage management, commission new servers, retire old ones, test new software, server performance checks, network performance checks, power regulation checks on the Uninterruptible Power Supplies, Air Conditioning unit checks, handling user queries and complaints, checking that all services are up and running (and running correctly!) and many many more smaller tasks that fall into the "preventative" category - all form the backbone of the Systems Administrator raison d'être.

Then there are the atypical tasks - like dealing with a flooded server room, moving your entire inventory of servers from one room to another, crawling around under the floor to find a possible cable break, running emergency power cables because someone forgot to tell you that there would be a power interruption that day and a hundred and one other things that can and do happen only occasionally, but that need to be dealt with by "someone".

Then we have the administrative tasks of the position - the documentation of systems, servers, networks and services, the preparation of proposals for new/upgraded servers and services, the preparation of specifications for desktops, servers and laptops so that they will do the job at the most reasonable cost - and then there is the form filling for management - but enough said about that particular endeavour.

And after all that, we have the real reason why we are needed. When a service goes down, we need to get it backup as soon as possible - and that may mean 24 hour shifts, cannibalising other, less important servers/services and basically doing what is needed to ensure that that service is back up in the least amount of downtime possible.

There are many ways that could be used to describe the job of Systems Administrator, but my favourite is this one:

"So, Jock, you say you are the "Official Elephant Hunter and Disposal Person" for the City of Glasgow?"
"That's right"
"But Glasgow has never had a problem with elephants!"
"See what a good job I'm doing!"

You don't know you need me, until you need me.

A tale of two ISPs

I switched to Namesco as my ISP nearly 3 years ago, because they offered a fixed 2M package (my line had always done 2M and no more) with 100G download per month. I paid a year in advance.

Mostly, I got what I paid for - 2M download speeds and virtually unlimited data downloads. Occasionally, the Internet went away, but mostly it was fine. At renewal time, the cost of the 2M fixed package had increased, and the data allowance had gone down to 1G per month, purchase extra as required. After a review of my download habits, I decided 10G extra was enough. I renewed for a year, paid in advance to take advantage of a discount, and expected the same level of service as I had the year before. Didn't happen. Mostly, I got Internet at fluctuating speeds.
After another year, I renewed again, but this time with an 8M ADSL+ package that was cheaper than my fixed 2M package (by about £100 per year). That, if anything, was worse. The connection speed was up and down, the Internet took frequent holidays from me, and my ISP always started the diagnostics with "Please reboot your router" and then had me crawling under the desk to put the connection in the master socket (which was where it was from the last time!), then said the line test was fine etc etc.

Eventually I found mention of an ISP who appeared to be a little more pro-active on its customers behalf.

I rang their sales line and had a chat to a guy who listened to what I told him about my sorry tale and then said that they did not guarantee to get my speed back to 2M, but that they would at least get BT to run tests before expecting me to pay - and they agreed with me that a line capable of 2M just doesn't drop to .5M without there being a problem somewhere along the path from the exchange to my house.

Long story short. After just two months with these guys, I have had BT replace my line from the exchange to the pole at the back of my house and I now have an Internet connection that has been stable for 96+ hours at roughly 2.5M.

The name of these guys is "Andrews and Arnold" and you can find them at http://aaisp.net.uk . Read their Broadband page, then their Support page and you will get an idea of where these guys are coming from. Their charging model won't suit everyone, but it sure suits the way I work.

Obviously two months is a very short time, and a long term assessment of these guys will take time.

But 2.5M in two months from .5M? That's huge! Especially after the other shower did nothing for 7 months.

Clearing the clutter

Many years ago I was made redundant. This was quite a shock to me, as I had always considered myself to be a good worker, giving value for money to my employer, going the "extra mile" when required.

I blamed myself, as I thought it was my fault - but when I saw who was kept and who was fired, I saw that there was no reason (other than the management having a "plan" to reduce costs ) to choose one over another.

So, what to do?

At that time, things were, economically speaking, quite difficult and the prospect of paid employment was quite low. I knew computers, book-keeping, computer games, the meat industry and how to talk to people. I really liked playing computer (and console games) and as I had been in the console games sector, I thought I would see what could be done in that area.
Realizing that retail premises were not an option, I went mobile. I started a market stall selling the console games of the day (Super Nintendo, MegaDrive, Neo-Geo (look it up!) etc. ). The business kept me afloat until the PlayStation and other CD based formats came to the fore. Since they were easily copied, they followed the way of the PC and put many legitimate sellers out of business.
Shame, but that's life.

Fast forward 10+ years.

Our loft is getting added insulation soon, so it had to be cleared out. While in the process of doing so, I came upon the remnants of my console games selling business. I found an Atari Jaguar console (no games, so useless), an American SNES (Super Nintendo) still in its original box (no games, no "universal" adapter), an Amstrad 664 home computer (with disks), several hundred Commodore 64 games on cartridge and tape, and an MSX home computer (circa 1983), many spares for many different consoles and a lot of leads etc that were just plain useless.
I suppose I could have had a good old wallow in the nostalgia evoked by these items, but, you know what? I dumped them. Unceremoniously. Without real thought.
Why?
Because they were useless. Because they brought nothing to my life now. Because they had been sitting in my loft for 10 years, never looked at.

The sum total of what I kept from the loft clear out was my chess board and pieces, and some financial papers that needed shredding.

I am currently in paid employment, with the prospect of being made redundant yet again. As we know, economic times are hard (again). My base skill set hasn't changed much, but the world has.

So, what to do?

Haven't got a clue, really.

But at least my loft is empty.