Saturday, May 26, 2007

The Future of Photomeming

This is not a shaming, repeat, NOT A SHAMING. But we know some of you love virtually lifting the net curtains on the windows chez Meme and living our lovely lives vicariously (I don’t know if I’ve ever used so many v’s in one sentence. Oh. There’re another two right there) through the intimate glimpses we provide here on Hall (Hey! There were REQUESTS. Seriously.) So, here, reproduced faithfully, is our over-breakfast conversation from Friday. You know you want to be us.


MS: Where are all the anchovies?
MM: You finished them off last night with the rice-pudding that Bob-Cat refused to eat.
MS: I thought they were skinny dates. So what’s Photo Friday?
MM: ‘futuristic’
MS: ¡Ay, caramba! Lessee! What we got? The one eyed man: In the future jacks will be really, really big. Leggnet: In the future all carousels will be really, really fast
MM: jkirlin: In the future there will be tall buildings made of concrete. Neverhappen: In the future there will be a curious yet pleasing mix of architectural styles
MS: HKDigit: In the future, hedgehogs will be bioluminescent. Detour: In the future, asking your Magic Eight Ball will become a lot more complicated
MM: Steve Barru: Rubber band balls will be the shopping malls of the future. Levitation: In the future, the ban on smoking in public places will be lifted
MS: torekimi: In the future, robots will be frustrated by the lack of nose to pick with their one finger
MM: OK, this is just getting stupid now.
MS: Feed me.

You aren’t ready to witness the rest of our morning.
So, in the interests of audience participation, we ask you to go visit Photo Friday, have a look around, come back here and comment with your interpretation of this week’s entries.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Banana of the Future


Hello Photo Fridayers *waving*

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Mr Iron Western Flatline

We, your noisy upstairs neighbours, like some of you better than others and most of you better than none, and one day as we were lying about on the Bare Mattress of Love chins in hand lazing around the Laptop of Love we decided that we liked IronFlatline and WesternFlatline equally.

Who ARE they, we pondered. Maybe they are cousins?? So we did a little hand over hand Googling (Which is really better with two) and sure enough he/she/it was the same person!

Imagine our joy to find that we didn't REALLY like two people the same but really liked the same person twice! That will save on the Photo Meme Hall of Shame Christmas Card List.

So we decided to subject him to the Photo Meme Hall of Shame Interview and never got around to asking him his name. HE IS STILL A MYSTERY TO US. But one we are both now much more smitten with. (Ok, mememonitor a bit more than memeshame)

So get ready to like him if you just met him and better if you didn't.

1. Who are you and why are you doing this to us?

I go by the name of The Iron Flatline. It's a variation of a Gibson character called The Dixie Flatline, but with cooking skills. I do this because this creative outlet represents the fingers I crossed while entering into the Faustian bargain that enables my lifestyle.

2. How many Flatlines are there? have you changed your name? Why? Did you get married?

Well, The Western Flatline is my site. There's K The Uploader, Tiny Chef, and Lil' Flatline, none of whom contribute, but all of whom are featured regularly. Being a Flatline is both things, a religion and a culture. It's possible to be a Flatline without believing in blog, and just taking part in the holidays. What's important is calling your mother regularly.

3. Do you know Kerrin?

No, I do not - though at closer inspection of her blog I realize that she is a parent of multiple boys, a fate we share. Is she hot?

4. What equipment do or have you used? Are there any manufacturers you'd like to praise or bad mouth here?

I buy extremely fancy gear. I learn through elimination, and by having the best cameras I know a bad picture couldn't possibly be an equipment issue - the problem must be somewhere behind the viewfinder. I have a Leica M8 with various fast lenses, and a little Leica D-Lux 3 that has manual settings and captures raw files. The best camera is useless if it's laying at home, and the D-Lux is small enough that it is always with me, especially when flying. I also have a Canon 5D with lots of heavy 'L' glass, but it's getting very little use.

5. What other hobbies do you enjoy or enjoy inflicting upon others?

I'm a pretty good cook, and for years my "nom-de-guerre" online used to be The Iron Chef. Then the show came to the US, and suddenly it was a popular name. It was often taken whenever I joined a forum or community, and I was tired of thinking up new names. I used to play a lot of online video games, esp. CS and UT.

6. Where else can we see your photos? Do you have any side projects?

I do most of the artwork in my house, and have a lot of images (esp. abstracts) that I've printed very large and display at home. Other than that it's really only my blog. I pimp it mercilessly by submitting entries to various photo-memes, but I still can't drive any traffic to it. Part of the problem is apparently that my site doesn't work well in Internet Explorer. A friend of mine built it, but he's moved and has found a paying gig.

7. What is the best photo that you missed?

There's probably a shot every hour that I wish I could capture as I'm seeing it right then and there.

8. Tell us your worst habit.

Good God, where to start... I eat too much, I eat too fast, I eat things that don't go well together and then I wonder why I feel queasy and gain weight. I argue online with people that I don't know about topics I don't really care about. I pick my nose, I make fun of vegetarians, and I am too understanding of the other side.

9. Have you ever done anything heroic? (i.e. solved crimes, saved someone from a burning building or untied them from railroad tracks, fought injustice, donated organs) If not, why not? If so, please include press clippings.)

Yes, I have.

10. If you weren't doing what you do now, what else WOULD you be doing? Photographer doesn't count.

I dunno, photography is the only real thing I know. I don't actually have any tangible meaningful skills, which is why I'm a business man. It's not like I'm a doctor, carpenter, or musician. Maybe I'll be a Rabbi later in life, but I'll have to patch up my relationship with the Big Guy first.

11. What are you wearing?

A dark-grey Zegna suit, a hand-made shirt and shoes, and a tie that I like less than when I bought it. I'm sitting on a plane on my way to London for a meeting, hence the grown-up outfit.

12. Have you no shame, Sir?

No, because The Iron Flatline is a construct. When we put on our glittering ballroom gowns, we can all be drag-princesses for a night.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Live Shame

Sighted at Shutterday: Europe

Rich Legg

However, we will defend our friend Rich Legg, who is nice, by saying the post DID mention something about a South Sea paradise. And we praise him for his restraint for not posting his self portrait for Moody Monday: Rich

Live Shame

Submitted by an Agent X from Photo Friday: Large

jkirlin
SF
Martin Taylor

MAN DOWN! MAN DOWN!

Sirs,

I tried. I really tried.

But when the mighty Photo Friday unleashes a topic as loosely defined as last week's Amber, apparently anything goes.

Shameful submissions were found. Many. Oh so very many... but it's clear that any color between canary yellow and maroon constitutes Amber. Maybe it's a question of screen calibration, or maybe the public school system's art program has let us down once again.

But regardless, apparently any monochromatic image that isn't blue (I even found a lime green) will have to be acceptable. ...and let's not even talk about girls called Amber. At least they're all pretty, which helps when slogging one's way through 402 submissions.

Thus I declare failure, and retreat. I must rest. This the new topic is Big... I am bracing for the storm! Hold fast.

Agent X (An altogether different Agent X as previous)

Friday, May 18, 2007

Retro Shame

This just in from ...erm...Agent X:

You could find a full week's worth of "Hall Of Shame" content at PhotoFriday any given week. This week's "Amber" challenge is no exception. Please have a look at these shame-worthy entries:

Ce que je vois, ce que je sens ("artiste photo")
I guess her name must be "Amber" right?

stevendavid.eu ("AMBER_BRIDGE")
Simply putting the name of the theme in your link title does not a relevant submission make....as this clearly demonstrates.

jeremycharles ("~AMBER ALERT~")
Simply putting the name of the theme in your link title does not a relevant submission make....as this ALSO clearly demonstrates.

Scarlett ("Scarlett")
That is a cute puppy. We'll have to take Scarlett's word for it that its name is "Amber".

still life ("still life")
This is so far from being relevant that I am not able to think up a snarky comment to make about it.

Five totally non-relevant entries out of my first twenty five random link visits. That is 20% folks, and I suspect this ratio would hold.....or get worse....if I checked all the submissions. But who has the time?




Sadly, Agent X, we often do.

Good work, Agent X.

Live Shame

This sent in by Agent X

We love PhotoFrank and he apparently loves us.

This posted for Shutterday: Strangers

Send your live and retro shaming to photomemeshame@gmail.com

Thursday, May 17, 2007

CALLING ALL AGENTS X!

WE SEND THIS MESSAGE TO YOU FROM THE PORTABLE BARE MATTRESS OF LOVE ABOARD THE STEAMER THE EMPRESS OF INDIA EN ROUTE TO DAR ES SALAAM VIA LISBON STOP

WE TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO INTRODUCE TO YOU MINOR CHANGES AT THE PHOTO MEME HALL OF SHAME STOP

OUR INTRODUCTIONS ARE THREEFOLD STOP

1 LIVE SHAMING IS THE ACCEPTANCE OF EMAILS SIMPLY IDENTIFYING A POST WHICH YOU FEEL VIOLATES THE LETTER AND SPIRIT OF A CURRENT MEME RULE AND/OR THEME AND SHALL BE POSTED IMMEDIATLY UNDER YOU SECRET DESIGNATION (SEE BELOW) OR YOUR OWN NAME IF YOU ARE A DAFT GIT STOP

2 RETRO SHAMING IS THE ACCEPTANCE OF EMAILS OF GROUPS OF VIOLATIONS AND MAY OR MAY NOT REFLECT A CURRENT MEME OR THEME BUT JUST SOMETHING STILL STUCK IN YOUR CRAW OR THAT YOU MAY WANT TO EMBELLISH UPON (SEE OTHER SHAMING POSTS FOR EXAMPLES) YOU MAY POST VIA YOUR SECRET DESIGNATION (SEE BELOW) OR YOU OWN NAME IF YOU ARE A DAFT GIT STOP

3 ALL SHAMERS AND PARTICIPANTS WILL RECEIVE THE SECRET DESIGNATION OF AGENT X UNLESS THEY USE THEIR OWN NAME AND ARE DAFT GITS STOP

SHAMEES SHALL BE NAMED AS ALWAYS STOP

STAY TUNED TO THIS WEBSITE OR 21850 ON THE 13M SHORTWAVE BAND FROM 2300 to 000 GMT ON THE PHOTO MEME HALL OF SHAME RADIO HOUR FEATURING THAT OLD TIMEY MUSIC FOR MORE INFORMATION STOP

NOTE TO BINDI AND BOBCAT THE CAN OPENER IS IN THE MIDDLE DRAWER STOP

Feeling all warm and gooey about you all.

You know what we love, dear Shamers?

We love that you're all coming together to make friends, bitch about the memes, exchange phone numbers, arrange dinner rendez-vous (don't pretend you're not) and all here on the Hall of Shame.

We've got Mr Gorin Images and Flatline slapping each other on the back, Laanba and jkirlin setting up fanclubs and huddling, we've got Neene and msdedi on speed-dial, and Kerrin's talking to, well, everybody who doesn't know her.

Ooooh. We're getting goosebumps. Keep it up and go spread the word.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Our Shamers Hard at Work Again.

"Pssssssssst...Hall of Shame. Moody Monday 'rich'. Check these out.

an easter egg by Atomische

a Flintstone house by the Occasional Odd Crop

a bell pepper (!!!) by Uh!Log, which is not even remotely relevant, but rather a long exposure trial.... this MUST be called to the mat!

A train shot by someone called 'I use two forks!'"


as received at Hall of Shame HQ by semaphor in the early hours of Mothers' Day morning.

As I lay in bed scoffing the chocs Bindi and Bob-Cat presented me (your card got lost in the post, did it, Fuzzy Points?), Shame dug out a couple of other Moody Monday questionables to add to the diligent work above:
Hey Red posted a photo of a ‘Welcome to Ontario’ sign (Are you Canadians holding out on us? Are we on the cusp of the Great Ontarian Gold Rush of 2007?)
Fischimglas posted a macro of a cactus (A Fisch im Glas in worth two in the Sahara?)

So, Shamers. A new week, new themes. Get your shamings in to us pronto. Look how much fun it is.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Mr. Justin Jarret JARRETT Gorin of Gorin-Images

Very few people openly admit being supporters of the Photo Meme Hall of Shame. Hell, WE don't even admit it, but one member of this tiny cabal of people braver than we, is Jarrett Gorin. He was an early supporter and continues to offer helpful suggestions and sometimes even steer this ship. One of his helpful suggestion was that if we are going to link to him, we could at LEAST spell his name correctly. We are efforting that. It's NOT easy.

His photos and text figure prominently in the photoblogging community and he graces us here, in our little forum The People's Court Photo Meme Hall of Shame. After reading his interview, go to his photoblog using your Official Photo Meme Hall of Shame IP Anonymizers and when he doesn't see the traffic, he'll know it's you.

1. Who are you and why are you doing this to us?

Who Am I: A 35 year old (36 this June) real estate developer who lives in Santa Barbara, California. Husband to the beautiful and intelligent Nichol, stepfather of 8.5 year old Spencer, and father of 3.5 year old Tristan. I started to do photography as part of my work, which involves presentations to Planning Commissions, Architectural Review Boards, etc. While shooting photographs to use in PowerPoint presentations, I realized that photography was fun in-and-of-itself. So I decided to take some adult-education classes on foundational photographic techniques in order to do a better job shooting photos for work, and to learn for my own entertainment. One day my boss gave me the paperback book "The Art of Seeing" from the Kodak Workshop Series. He had found it while cleaning out his garage the past weekend. This book, from the early 1990's shows many examples of photographs created from ordinary scenes and subjects, and attempts to teach you to "see" the world differently. I thought this was extremely cool, and I started to look at things differently as well, and then I began to photograph them. That is how I started to do "artistic" photography.

Why Am I Doing This To You: I started a photoblog in the fall of 2005 to display my non-work photographic efforts and get feedback. The guy who helped me set up my photoblog, Greg Lawler (author of the Zinkwazi photoblog), participated in a small, mostly local theme challenge here in the Santa Barbara area, and invited me to participate. That was the first time I ever heard of a meme. After a few weeks, I discovered other memes, so I began entering some of those too. Occasionally, a very interesting theme would inspire me to go out and make an image that I otherwise would never have thought about. Mostly, I entered memes because it was a good way to get exposure to a wide audience. So I guess the main reason why I originally entered, and continue to enter memes is shameless self-promotion.

2. What did you have for breakfast?

A bowl of Cheerios. Some blackberries. Then, a little later, a twenty ounce drip coffee at Starbucks.

3. Do you know Kerrin?

No.

4. What equipment do or have you used? Are there any manufacturers you'd like to praise or bad mouth here?

I have done all of my "serious" photographic work with Nikon digital SLRs. I love their durability and ease-of-use in the field. Right now I use a Nikon D2X. Before that, I used a D2H. Most of the time I shoot with the 17-55mm f/2.8 DX Nikkor lens. I also use the 70-200mm f/2.8 VR Nikkor a lot. I'd estimate about 85% of my images were made with one of these two lenses. They are heavy, but that is because they are full of very nice Nikon glass which produces fantastic, beautifully saturated, and contrasty images. I have also been using the 60mm f/2.8 Micro-Nikkor lens (they call their "Macro" lenses "Micro") a lot the past few months. It is a great lens, and also relatively inexpensive.

5. What other hobbies do you enjoy or enjoy inflicting upon others?

I am a "closet" computer nerd, and I guess I spend enough time messing around with computer systems (i.e. "improving" them) that this could be referred to as a "hobby". The computer I am using right now is one that I built from scratch.

6. Where else can we see your photos? Do you have any side projects?

Several of my photos have been added to "the Collection" at FILE (www.filemagazine.com). I have had a bunch of images featured on WeeklyShot. I was also recently invited to contribute to ONEXPOSURE (www.onexposure.net) a very slick web project by some guys in Sweden. For the most part, my images on display at these sites are the same images that are on my photoblog. You should check them out anyway though (the sites, not just my images) because you will discover some excellent photographers who you may have never seen or heard of before, especially at FILE.

I also have a public display of ten prints hanging from May 7th through June 25th at Starbucks on the corner of State Street and De La Guerra in downtown Santa Barbara. They get about 600 visitors a day on weekdays and 800-1000 visitors a day on weekends, so I am pretty excited to have the opportunity to exhibit at this location.

I don't have any side projects.


7. What is the best photo that you missed?

A bunch of backlit human figures (they were farm workers) standing in the middle of a sea of pure green row crops. The crops were running perpendicular to my line of sight, so you could only see the top 2/3rds of each person, and the people were silhouetted perfectly and casting shadows onto the green field in front of them, with a huge green expanse extending behind them and on both sides too. I was viewing this from on top of a freeway overpass adjacent to the field at an elevation of about 45 feet above it. With my telephoto lens, I would have been able to capture the silhouetted figures and their shadows with a huge green color-field all the way around them within the frame. I didn't take the shot, because I was driving on the freeway when I saw it. I had my camera gear with me, but I had to get home, and I thought to myself "It's OK, they will be out here again so you will have another chance". Well, they haven't been....at least not set up for an epic shot like that. So the moral of this story is if you have a) a few minutes to spare; b) your photographic equipment; and, c) a place to pull over, then STOP and TAKE THE SHOT.

8. Tell us your worst habit.

Habits that don't affect anyone else by definition are not as bad as the ones that do. In that category, it would have to be my habit with the laundry. I frequently leave my clothes from the previous day either carefully draped over the end post at the foot of the bed, or carefully draped over the edge of the hamper, instead of IN the hamper. This seems like a minor infraction to me, but it clearly irritates the crap out of my lovely wife. Yet I still continue to do it. It would be so easy to simply put the previously worn clothes IN the hamper. Many days, I make a conscious effort to fight this habit, and I correctly execute clothing-into-hamper placement. But inevitably, one or two days a week, I will enter my bedroom and find it to be in good order, with the exception of my clothes placed conspicuously in the middle of the floor, or other times, lovingly deposited into my sink in the bathroom. Either case serves as potent reminder to me that this habit is causing my wife unnecessary grief.

9. Have you ever done anything heroic? (i.e. solved crimes, saved someone from a burning building or untied them from raiload tracks, fought injustice, donated organs) If not, why not? If so, please include press clippings.)

I haven't donated any organs or anything like that. I still need all of mine.

I "rescued" a lost dog about a week ago. I took Emma, our yellow Labrador retriever out for a final walk for the day at around 1:00 AM and encountered a small, friendly dog walking around unattended in the community orchard behind our house. It had a collar on, but it was too dark to read it. So I picked up the dog and carried him (the gender became evident when I picked him up) back to our house. When I got home, I learned that the tag on this dog's collar was just a registration tag and didn't have his owner's number on it. While I was upstairs attempting to reach someone relevant using the phone number on the registration tag, this friendly dog decided to take a piss in at least two separate locations on the Persian rug in our family room. Ten minutes later, I found his owners way down the street looking for him, and I reunited them. I then went home and attempted to clean up the piss before going to sleep. Does that count as a good deed?

10. If you weren't doing what you do now, what else WOULD you be doing? Photographer doesn't count.

I would most likely be an attorney, probably specializing in environmental or land-use law. Or possibly an I.T. professional. Or, the other thing I have always wanted to do is pilot private or commercial jets.

11. What are you wearing?

It is 12:40 A.M. I am wearing cotton pajama pants with a drawstring waist, and an old, very comfortable T-shirt.

Thank you, Mr Gorin-Images.

And now, to paraphrase Mr Gorin Images, we'll stop with the touchy feely interview crap (for a couple of days, anyway) and get back to our original mission: SHAMING YOU DAFT GITS because you are ALL DAFT GITS!

Friday, May 04, 2007

Whither WeeklyShot?

When we here at the Photo Meme Hall of Shame hold our staff meetings, heads in hands, lounging on the Bare Mattress of Love, we like to check on the general health of the various Photo Memes.

We like to check the new memes like Unique Exposures and Shutterday and measure their little growth spurts by marking with a pencil where the top of their pointed little heads come up on the Woodwork Surrounding the Door to the Room Which Holds The Bare Mattress of Love.

Then we hold our hands to the foreheads of other Memes that appear to be ill and make little concerned pouty lip faces and say 'cluck cluck' as we did for many months at Pxite, Macroday, a few of the Passing Tuesday Meme and now, sadly, Weekly Shot.

We once held up Weekly Shot as what a photomeme should be, a vibrant conversation on the high art of photography by the best of its practitioners, additionally, we compared it to the Lord of the Flies and a sort of Darwinism at work.

It looks now as though the Superorganism is collapsing under the weight of the egos involved.

We ask this of Weekly Shot participants (LIKE YOU, KING DOUGLAS, WHO HAS MIRRORED US OR SOMETHING FOR REASONS WE DO NOT YET UNDERSTAND or perhaps Mr Gorin Images who has overtaken ...neene... as over 1/4 of all our visitors or maybe even Mr Iron/Western Flatline who we thought was several people and as it turns out, is just one very nice one. (Although a buttinski! (Look for his upcoming interview when we get around to doing it.))) Whew...that was so many paratheticals, that I give up and create a new paragraph.

So if you are a Weekly Shot participant, past or present, and you feel like anonymously sharing with the vast right wing conspiratorial readership of the Photo Meme Hall of Shame, nearly all of which has been mentioned in this post, feel free to either email us and we will use the Photo Meme Hall of Shame Voice Changer to protect your identities, or if you are braver than WE are, you may leave said news in the comment section. Either way, we look forward to hearing from you. And if not, that's ok, too, for our aim with all this was really just to create a post where we could make a title containing the word 'whither'.