A Little Controversy (or, Rank the Racists)

Hokay.

I'm not a big Don Imus fan. Everyone knows what he said about the Rutgers women's basketball team, and to say that on the air was, well, inexcusable. Racist? I don't know about that. I think it was slang more than anything, but probably not exactly the type of slang Imus would use in polite conversation, and certainly not the type of pronouncement to make to a national radio audience, where, perhaps, a greater level of sensitivity awareness is warranted. Imus was crucified by many, especially Al Sharpton, and was fired by CBS. Right result.

Imus was criticized yesterday for asking about the race of Pacman Jones during a conversation in which Pacman's various nightclub arrests were discussed. Imus asked what color Pacman was (and you have to assume he already knew the answer). When told that Pacman is African-American, Imus responded, "Well, there you go." Imus later explained he was sarcastically trying to point out that Pacman was being racially profiled. Sharpton was skeptical. Pacman said he'd pray for Imus.

Then, a few months ago, The Golf Channel's Kelly Tilghman and Nick Faldo were talking about Tiger Woods' dominance. Faldo suggested that the only way the other Tour players had a chance to beat Tiger was to gang up on him. Taking that comment to its expected conclusion, Kelly piped in with "take him out and lynch him." Laughter. Sharpton went nuts, calling for Kelly's ouster. Kelly called Tiger and apologized. Tiger accepted. Tiger's agent blew it off. The Golf Channel first indicated that it would do nothing, then, after considering Sharpton's "entreaties," it suspended Kelly for two weeks. Shame.

Another recent ethnic/racial controversy arose during Sunday's fourth round of the men's U.S. Open golf tournament. As many of you now know, the tournament came down to a 19-hole playoff on Monday between Tiger Woods and Rocco Mediate (an Italian-American from Pennsylvania). Johnny Miller, a golf commentator known for saying what's on his mind (and a former U.S. Open champion), said that Rocco looks like the guy who cleans Tiger's swimming pool, and "guys with the name 'Rocco' don't get on the trophy." Miller later explained that he was referring to Rocco's "everyman" qualities. Poor judgment/choice of words? Sure. Rather like your preacher swearing during the sermon (think "Dammit, Moses." or something like that). As far as I know, Johnny still has a job. Sharpton has been absent, I guess because non-nappy Italian-Americans either are fair game, or can fend for themselves. (For the record, I like Tiger because of his amazing talent, but I really was pulling for Rocco-what a great guy.)

Can you rank the racists. Discuss what you want. It's a trick question. Sort of.

Empty

I haven't posted a photograph in a month. What the hell?

Off Balance

If things seem a little disjointed, fear not--your eyes are fine (yours too, Hamilton). I'm messing around with the layout, and learning a little HTML as I go. Being the famous tinkerer that I am, I'll have it all screwed up in no time

Old Body, New Shoes

After years months of hounding cajoling me to get back in shape, I think Julie finally pushed the right button. For Father's Day, she and Hadley got me a gift certificate to Rush Running Co., a new store in town owned and operated by Mike Rush and his wife, Allison (I think I have the names right, but I'm going from memory).

Like many places these days (golf stores being a good example), at Rush Running, you get custom fit for your shoe type. I am not a runner. But, I have owned running shoes, and I have long lamented how poorly they fit me and how my feet and legs ache after only a couple of hours. Turns out, not all running shoes are the same. The different types of support are for the different ways in which people's feet rotate during the stride. Mine happen to turn a little, so I need a mid-support shoe, something Mike immediately noticed on my test run through the parking lot.

Out come the shoes. Mike made me try different shoes on different feet and run through the parking lot to feel the difference. Ultimately, I chose the adidas Supernova Sequence (not to be confused with the adidas Supernova 7 worn by my foot-fitted wife--how sad we wear the same line of shoe!) and I have to say-WOW! What a difference.

Then I dutifully went on a run Saturday morning. Sunday, I was sore all over. Today it's raining, so I doubt I'll run. But at least I have a good excuse not to do so.

Update: It stopped raining, and I went for a late night run, equipped with better earphones for the Zen. I hate distance running, so music is a must, and headphones are, therefore, indispensable. Didn't do quite as much as Saturday, but worked on technique. My lungs are pissed.

Alternative to Pocket Wizards

Happy Day!

I have been itching to put together a respectable off-camera lighting kit on the cheap. A few more speedlights, a few shoot through umbrellas, stands, clamps, gels, etc. Nothing huge, just enough to do some respectable protraiture, particularly in the stock markets.

The one stumbling block has been radio slaves. You have to have a transmitter/transceiver for your camera, and a receiver/transceiver for each strobe. Pocket Wizards are the leading candidate, but cost-inhibitive at $180 a pop. Great if you're a pro. The other alternative has been these cheap little units put out by Gadget Infinity, loosely called "eBay triggers" because that's where you get them. I think there's one or two in between (Skyports, I think).

I learned this week that the guy/company who makes Alien Bees strobes is putting out radio slaves and transmitters. They look like PW's, but for not much money. I can't wait. Check them out here.

Happy Day!

Alternative to eBay

I have been trying to keep my eyes open for cheap strobe flashes. I want to get a couple more (I have one) to really get going with some off-camera lighting. Prime candidates are Nikon's SB-28DX and SB-80. The SB-80 is a generation behind the current SB-600 and the SB-800, and the SB-28DX is (I think) two generations behind. It doesn't really matter for off-camera stuff though, as long as you can set it to manual and as long as you can easily sync it up (no worries here, because they both have PC sync ports).

With probable thanks to the Strobist movement, it's hard to find these on eBay without paying a premium. I've started looking on Craigslist. In doing this, I have located one of each of the above units for competitive prices. For example, an SB-28 went for $107.00 on eBay last night; the guy on Craigslist wants $100. He has one of each. Possible package deal.

What to Do Today, June 20th

Couple of cool things today:

1. Julie and I celebrate our 1oth wedding anniversary, which is (I think) a pretty amazing thing, considering the selfish amount of crap I'm capable of handing out. We're celebrating by getting over a vicious little stomach bug that has terrorized the whole family since Sunday morning; and

2. Shoot! The Day (S!TD for short, not STD). This event is being put on by PhotoShelter in an effort to re-stock (pardon the unavoidably intended pun) stock photography libraries. The underlying motivation is interesting. It seems they surveyed purchasers of stock and learned that not only are these users not finding what they need, but, in many cases, they are underwhelmed by the quality of the images that are out there. The results they have put together is good news to people trying to break into stock (like me).

I may not get out and shoot much today (shame), but I've got some motivation to focus my stock efforts on what is really around us here in NWA--active seniors in Bella Vista and a very present Hispanic community.

There's a lot to shoot-get out and press the button.

High key shots (or, rockin' the white)

High key is all the rage this year. It's everywhere. In a recent edition of Picture magazine, there was an article on several different New York City studios available for rent. If I recall, without exception, those studios were set up for high key work. Even my daughter's ballet class photograph was high key. But this tutorial rocks the house. Thanks to David Hobby for the heads-up.

Now, if I just had 3 Alien Bees, 3 Pocket Wizard Plus II transceivers and a softbox.