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HELMUT NEWTON (1920-2004)


A photographic icon is gone. Internationally famous fashion photographer, Helmut Newton, died in an auto accident in Los Angeles yesterday (January 23). He was 83. Newton was known for his edgy fashion and nude photography.

Newton was born in Germany in 1920. He fled in 1938 to escape persecution as a Jew. After fighting with the Australian army in WWII, he began work as a professional photographer in Paris in 1957. He was published in Vogue, Elle, Stern, Playboy and many other magazines. His fashions photos were highly sought after and many books of his work are sold around the world. Much of his fashion and nude photography could be described as sparse, austere, and cold.

His book SUMO gave new meaning to the phrase "coffee table book". The massive 480 page book weighs over 65 pounds and measures 31 x 32 x 6.6 inches in size (those dimensions are not a misprint). The book sells for an amazing price of $3,000 (that is not a misprint either) at Amazon.com. Shipping is extra. The book comes with its own stand which is included in the price of the book. Such a bargain! To see and read more about this huge book, or to buy it, go here.

A much more affordable book of Newton's work is Portraits: Photographs from Europe and America at $24.50. Photos of celebrities and wannabees are done in Newton's unique style.

Australian citizens, he and his wife June (married in 1948) have lived in Monte Carlo since 1981.

At the age of 75, Newton decided he had photographed too many naked women. This was an unexpected decision. "I just had a bellyful and realized I had shot enough nudes to last a lifetime." Helmut and his wife June gave an interview about this sudden decision at Salon.com.

You can buy Newton's autobiography here.

Articles about Newton are currently posted at CNN and the Washington Post.


David Lynch and Isabella Rossellini by Helmut Newton, OCAIW Gallery

 
AMAZING GOOGLE!

Google is not only my favorite search engine, it can do lots of other things.

Where is the 303 area code? Just type 303 into Google and click search.

Want to convert ounces to pounds? Just type 897 oz to pounds and click search.

To check on a flight, type American 1257. If it is currently in the air, it will even show you where.

To check out a Universal Product Code, type UPC 034707055407.

Want to do some quick math? Type 87+36 or 512/16, or (3*46)/23.

It is 24 degrees Celsius in Tahiti. What is that in Fahrenheit? Type 24 degrees c in f.

What does a word mean? Type define: sprite.

Whose phone number is it? Type 269-349-7775.

Want to call someone? Type in John, Doe, city or John, Smith, state. Google will list addresses and phone numbers.

Want to track a Fed Ex, UPS, or U.S. Postal Service package? Just type in the tracking number.

Want to buy a nativity set from that business you visited in Alaska? Type phone Windsong Designs, Alaska.

You can get stock quotes, street maps, news headlines and more. You can even shop for the best prices at Froogle.

Pretty amazing! Learn more here.

 

Thai Dancer, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

What Time Is It?

Even though Papeete, Tahiti is slightly east of Anchorage, Alaska in longitude, and the sun rises earlier in Papeete, it is one hour behind Anchorage in clock time. Why? I don't know, but it is.

When it is 10 AM in Anchorage, it is only 9 AM in Papeete. I discoverd this on the World Clock at TimeandDate.com. It not only tells you what time it is anywhere in the world, you can go backward or forward in time, pick any location, date, and time and it will tell you what time it will be, or was, everywhere else in the world.

This site is not ultra precise. That is to say, it can vary from UTC (Universal Time Coordinated in Greenwich England) by a few seconds, but it is close enough for most people's purposes. If you want to call a friend in Kathmandu, it is nice to know they are 5 hours and 45 minutes ahead of UTC (Kathmandu is not in any standard time zone).

You can create you own personal time clock with different cities around the world. Other helpful features are multi-time-zone meeting planners, calendars, time counters and more. Type in the year you were born and look at the calendar for that year.

This interesting site can be found here.

On to part two of this article.



What Day Is It?, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

If you are really curious, pick the "USA" version of the calendar, go to the year 1752 and look at the month of September. Surprised?!

That is no mistake. Eleven days are missing from September.

Due to problems with the old Julian calendar system (dating back to 46 B.C. and Julius Ceasar), things had gotten out of kilter. By the 1500's mother nature and the calendar were off by 11 days. Due to an 11 minute and 14 second discrepancy (doesn't sound like much) between the "average length of a calendar year" (figuring leap years into the equasion) and the actual time it takes for the earth to go around the sun, things had been getting out of sync by about 3 days every four centuries. If things were not changed, Easter (on the calendar) would eventually occur early in winter. The first day of summer would occur when it always does in relation to the earth's journey around the sun, but the calendars would read September not June. Something had to be done.

Pope Gregory instituted two calendar reforms. In 1582, October 4 was followed by October 15, dropping 10 days out of the year to re-align the calendar with the actual seasons. Century years (1700, 1800, 1900, and so on), were changed from leap centuries (29 days in February) to non-leap centuries unless they were divisible by 400. 1600 and 2000 were leap centuries, but 1700, 1800, and 1900 were not.

Catholic countries made the changes immediately. Countries that were predominantly Protestant or Eastern Orhtodox did not make the changes until 170 years later.

By decree of parliament, England and the colonies made the much needed changes in 1752. In that year, September 2 was followed by September 14. People rioted, demanding their 11 days back.

Russia kept the old Julian calendar until the Bolshevik revolution in the 20th century. By then, they had to drop 13 days out of their calendar to get in step with the rest of the world.

 

Sarah, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

Are Wedding Photographers Overpaid?

I am not a professional wedding photographer, but I am annoyed anyway.

A CBS MarketWatch article listed wedding photographers as one of the 10 most overpaid jobs in the U.S. The tone in the article is not very nice either, claiming wedding photographers do poor work at weddings until they can find a better job.

I quote from the CBS article: "The overpaid ones are the many who admit they only do weddings for the income, while quietly complaining about the hassle of dealing with hysterical brides and drunken reception guests. They mope through the job with the attitude: 'I'm just doing this for the money until Time or National Geographic calls.' Much of their work is mediocre as a result."

Does this make any sense? Do couples go out and look for high dollar photographers that do poor work? If the photographers do poor work, does it make sense they will get a better job somewhere else? Get real.

I know a few wedding photographers and I have done a few weddings myself. Except for that rarefied atmosphere where high dollar celebrities pay high dollar photographers outrageous amounts of money to do their weddings, most wedding photogaphers do not make outrageous amounts of money. In fact, they make pretty ordinary amounts of money. The wedding photographers I know do it because they like to do it and they take pride in their work.

The average wedding photographer makes less than $25,000 per year and works over 45 hours per week. I've done enough weddings to know that the time I spend at the wedding is a fraction of the time I spend outside the wedding getting film processed, having prints made, and preparing orders for enlargements. The costs for quality processing and professionally made prints are more than most folks would guess.

The middle 50% of ALL professional photographers make between $16,000 and $33,000 per year. Another 25% make less than $16,000 and the top 25% make more than $33,000. A $47,000 salary would be in the top 10% of all professional photographers.

The CBS Market Watch article is here.

To learn more about what wedding photographers really make, the costs they have, and what they do outside the wedding to provide proofs and prints to the happy couple, read here and here.

The article that sent me down this track is here.

 

Northern Lights, Alaska, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

Sony DSC-F828 Review

The digital camera review that many of us have been waiting for has finally appeared. The news is disappointing.

Image quality of the Sony DSC-F828 is not up to par with other fine digital cameras. Phil at DP Review (my favorite digital camera review site) gave this camera a rating of RECOMMENDED and almost bumped it down to ABOVE AVERAGE. Alas.

Phil is clearly disappointed, and so am I. Not that I planned on getting an F828, but I had hoped it would be a worthy successor to the Sony DSC-F717 and thereby up the digital camera ante for all manufacturers.

For those who don't have prior experience with Phil's rating system, the very best cameras are HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, 2nd tier cameras are RECOMMENDED, next comes ABOVE AVERAGE, then AVERAGE and so on.

This is almost like camera update deja vu. Phil gave the Canon G5 a lower rating than its predecessor, the G3. I recommend the Canon G3 over the newer G5 on my primary website.

Now the Sony DSC-F828 has a lower rating than its predecessor, the Sony DSC-F717. The DSC-F717 received a HIGHLY RECOMMENDED rating from Phil back in October 2002.

Phil's complete review of the Sony DSC-828 is here.


For another and different take on the DSC-F828, read Michael Reichmann's review, follow up comments, and a second review.

 
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIALS

Two good sites for Photoshop tutorials are here and here.


Mt. Sneffels, Colorado, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

 
Protect Your Computer!
Say Goodbye to Internet Explorer!

"Why?" you might ask. For safety, convenience, no pop up ads, and speed.

IE (Microsoft Internet Explorer) has been around a long time and is the internet browser of choice for many people. About 60% if the folks that visit my website use IE, but that percentage has been decreasing over time. The percentage of people using Mozilla is rising.

Small wonder. New "vulnerabilities" have been discovered in IE in the last few weeks for which Microsoft has not yet released a corrective "patch." Recently discovered flaws in IE allow outside folks to run their software on your computer, steal your personal information without your knowledge, and alter documents on your computer.

One recent and uncorrected IE flaw allows a remote site to show you a legitimate site's address in your address bar (like "www.yahoo.com" or "www.microsoft.com") when you are actually at www.stealyourmoney.com. The fake site can mimic a legitimate site in oder to get your credit card number or other personal information. Your IE address bar will give you no warning.

Outlook Express (OE) has similar flaws that allow outsiders to infect your computer with viruses, spyware, and other nefarious problems.

Part of the problem is the flaws in Microsoft's software. Part of the problems is that folks who mean to do harm to your computer pick on IE and OE since they are the most popular and the most vulnerable.

You can diligently download the latest patch from Microsoft to fix these constantly appearing problems, if and when the patch appears. Or you can set yourself free.

I finally took my son Jared's advice (he is my computer guru) and downloaded Mozilla. I like it. It is much faster than IE and it is just as easy to use. Mozilla also blocks popups and has anti-spam tools.

Best of all, "Mozilla is immune to nearly all of the IE and OE problems, without any patching or worrying or keeping up on bug news" (Phillip Robinson of Knight Ridder Newspapers as quoted in the Dec 29 issue of the Colubus Dispatch). Robinson suggests what my son has been wanting me to do for months, switch to Mozilla.

Having multiple sites open is easier with Mozilla. You can still right click a link to open it in a new window, just like with IE, but you can also right click a link to open it as a "New Tab." All the pages you have open are accessed by tabs across the top of your page. Super neat! Try it.

There are several versions. Mozilla 1.5 is the current version of choice for lots of folks. I downloaded Firebird 0.7 and it is now my browser of choice.

I have never used OE myself, but I am told Mozilla's email program is superior to OE with better anti-spam tools. I can't vouch for that myself.

You don't have to uninstall IE. You can still use it whenever you think some slimeball hacker hasn't had a decent chance to get into your computer and steal your credit card numbers or bank account information. Think of it a living dangerously.

MOZILLA IS FREE! Such a deal! Download it from their site. If you don't want to download it, you can get the CD for a measly $3.95.

The next time tens of thousands of computers are infected by the latest virus due to weaknesses in IE and/or OE, you can sit back and smile!

I do use and appreciate a number of Microsoft products, but I have decided that IE is too risky to use as my primary browser and requires too much upkeep.

Go to Mozilla.org

If you are using Netscape, you also have immunity to many of the problems that plague Internet Explorer!

For more safe computing software, check out ZoneAlarm (a free firewall) , Spybot (free spyware detection), Ad-Aware (another spyware detector), and other software from links on my website. If you have a broadband conection (cable, DSL) you really need a firewall. You should scan periodically for spyware, just like you do for viruses. You can find links to all of this software here.

Happy Computing!

Jim

 
Christmas
Drew, Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.



I love Christmas. Why? Probably because Christmas brings up a lot of happy memories.

Growing up, Christmas almost always meant driving to northern Colorado to spend a few days with grandpa, grandma (who passed away when I was too young), aunts and uncles (10 of them) and cousins. Those days were filled with enjoyable times spent with a wonderful extended family.

There was always the traditional Christmas feast which would include wild game if grandpa had been fortunate on his most recent hunting trip through the fields of northeast Colorado. A few times we got to go along. We always had a blessing, and it would often be sung: "Be with us at our table Lord . . ."

We would often open gifts after Christmas dinner. Getting gifts was nice but having fun with the family was a lot more important. Sitting in grandpa's lap, playing horsey on uncle Ken's back, wrestling with whoever, making mud pies with cousin Linda. We went home from our annual Christmas pilgrimmage with lots of gifts, but mostly with lots of happy memories.

Packing a big family into grandpa's house was a trick. Every bed, hide-a-bed, and sofa was put to use. When we were small, they would put several of us cousins in one bed lined up like cord wood. One night I woke up in absolute darkness, standing in a room somwhere in the basement (I had walked in my sleep). I heard strange noises coming from in front of me (someone snoring). I reached out ahead of me and felt a bed, but it wasn't mine. I turned to the side and bumped into a table. I reached out and my hand went into a glass of water and I felt - - - teeth! Yeccch! I did not want to wake the person in front of me, so I lay down on the floor and went to sleep. The next moring I was back in bed where I started, squashed between several of my cousins. I don't know if I walked back in my sleep, or if someone put me back.

In the pantry on the back porch was a box of chocolate chips. Along with the other cousins, we would sneak out on the back porch and steal just a few chips. Not too many though, lest it be obvious. We did not learn until many years later at grandpa's funeral that our parents were sneaking chocolate chips too. Then we found out grandpa was actually buying several boxes of chips each year to keep up with the demand. 20 or more people stealing chips is a lot!

Each year brought the annual Christmas program at church. When we were young we had a chance to be a sheep. Later on we cold be a cow. If we were lucky, we became angels or shepherds in our teen years. Young adults played Mary and Joseph, older men were the wise men.

High school brought band and orchestra concerts at Christmas time, filled with all of those wonderful arrangments of Christmas music. I loved rehearsing for those concerts, and the concerts themselves were even better.

There was caroling on frosty December nights, followed by hot spiced cicer and hot chocolate back at church.

Diagonally across the street from our church in Pueblo, Colorado was an older home which would always be decorated in a way that looked splendid to our young eyes. There was a choir of carolers, Santa and elves, the traditional nativity scene, huge candles, and Christmas lights all over the house and in every tree. Christmas music played through outside speakers. After church on Sunday and Wednesday nights in December, I would walk to the corner of the church lot with the other kids and look across the street and listen in wonder. Bright stars twinkled overhead in the night sky, as well as one big one over the manger scene across the street.

Marriage, a job as a band director, and children brought more Christmas memories. Some years we had very little money for presents, but we did have good memories. We still have most of our first Christmas tree. A styrofoam base, a very large pinecone, and a string of inexpensive beads to wrap around the cone. Only the foil metallic angel that set on top has disappeared since we bought our first "tree" for less than a dollar, many years ago.

As a band director in Louisville, Nebraska I always hoped for an early first snow fall. On that day, I would hand out Christmas music and we would play to our hearts content. The Christmas concerts were always a treat. A few days later school would be out and we would head for North Platte and Denver for Christmas with my family and Melissa's.

After buying gifts one year for the children, we had less than $6 between us. Melissa took her $2.87 (more or less) and bought a gift for me at a drug store in North Platte, Nebraska. When she came out with her littel sack, I took the remaining $2.87 (more or less) and bought her gift.

We would buy the $1 Christmas albums that tire stores sold in the late 60's and early 70's. Tapes of those old albums are still family favorites and our children (ages 26 to 31) still look forward to us playing the same music each year while we open presents and have Christmas dinner.

All of our children were home some time or other this Christmas season. We had one Christmas celebration with two of them on December 26, and another celebration with two of them today. They all have spouses or significant others with families to spend time with.

I will end this little trip down memory lane. I hope you have a collection of memories that brighten this season for you. If not, I hope you begin some happy memories.

What a blessed season this can be. May there yet be Peace on Earth and Goodwill toward all of God's children.

Merry Christmas!