While cleaning my office today I came across an old photo my uncle took when he brought my brother and me to our first game at Fenway Park. On August 14, 1983 the Sox beat the Royals 4-3 in the first game of a doubleheader.

I don't have any specific memories of the trip to Boston or the game itself. But what I still remember to this day is walking through the tunnel to our seats: The greenest-green field and the impossibly white uniforms (of the Red Sox, not the Royals' blue pajamas) were amazing for me to see, and still is today.

The photo shows Brian and me taking it all in before the game started. Thanks again, Rick!

If there's one thing I've learned from photography, is that you don't always know what your best shot will be. Sometimes I spend a lot of time planning and setting up a photo, shooting multiple photos from various vantage points, only to be disappointed by every one of them. Then other times I'll shoot a one-off photo without thinking, and that ends up the "winning" shot.

This is evident looking at my photos on Flickr. Some of my most popular photos ("popular" meaning highest number of views and favorites) weren't planned. One July 4th we watched the Boston fireworks from the top of the Museum of Science. When we were leaving I put my little point & shoot camera on the wall and took this shot of the Zakim Bridge in the distance:



I didn't think much of it — and I still don't particularly like the photo — but Flickr members sure seem to like it. Even more so was my cousins' wedding cake, which was near a window and I happened to notice how it looked while the sun was setting:



I think it's important for me to always be practicing and learning to the point where things become second nature. So when a perfect unplanned photo opportunity presents itself, I'm ready for it.

Justices, 5-4, Reject Corporate Spending Limit (NY Times)

Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

Is there anyone — other than the corporations and lobbyists, of course — who likes this ruling? Corporations are not people and don't deserve the same First Amendment protection.

The founders of this nation warned about the dangers of corporate influence. The Constitution they wrote mentions many things and assigns them rights and protections — the people, militias, the press, religions. But it does not mention corporations. (The Court’s Blow to Democracy)

The Supreme Court has handed lobbyists a new weapon. A lobbyist can now tell any elected official: if you vote wrong, my company, labor union or interest group will spend unlimited sums explicitly advertising against your re-election. (Lobbyists Get Potent Weapon in Campaign Ruling)

Perhaps it's time to update Old Glory...

I can be a pretty compulsive photographer — not a professional by any definition, but I do enjoy shooting…perhaps a bit too much. (When I recently told a friend that I shot about 950 photos on our weeklong Disney vacation, he commented "I don't think my parents took 950 photos of my entire childhood.")



But unlike a lot of people today, I still have them printed and organized in albums. I used to use Snapfish but switched to Shutterfly for the simple reason that they had an iPhoto plugin. Even though I preferred snapfish.com's user interface, allowing me to export my photos directly from iPhoto was worth dealing with Shutterfly's crappy site. I don't know when Snapfish finally released their iPhoto Exporter, but when I found it last month I happily switched back.

And as an aside, Snapfish's Christmastime shipping was amazing: I ordered almost 450 photos on December 21 as a gift to my in-laws (I printed and organized their photos for the year). I didn't expect to get the prints until early January, but they were delivered on December 24! So kudos to Snapfish for (unexpectedly) coming through — my in-laws loved the photo albums!

Hummer Production to End (NY Times):

GM will halt Hummer production at its Louisiana plant until sale of the brand to a Chinese company is completed.

I loved this reader comment:

Can't wait to see a Chinese-made Hummer with a big ol' American flag slapped on the back window.

I've never really been a fan of HDR images. There are a lot of examples on Flickr; some really boost the colors to near-cartoon levels, and others push their photos to a have a more dreamlike look. While many are interesting, I don't want that look for my photos, so I decided I didn't like HDR.

Well, like I ask my kids to at least try something once — "How do you know you don't like it if you've never tried it?" — I decided to give HDR photos a legitimate try. So yesterday on a trip to Plymouth I took my tripod and did some shooting while Jill did a little shopping. New England winter photos probably aren't the best to play with colorful HDR photos, but it did show me something: a more subtle use of HDR can really enhance photos — especially those with big variations in light and dark areas — without having to push it to overly-unrealistic looks.



I put some of my HDR photos on Flickr. I'll keep experimenting — especially when the colors of spring arrive — but I think having another photo tool available to me is a good thing to have, and I don't have to push it as far as some photographers do. (I agree with a commenter who said that too much HDR makes the technique the subject of the photo, rather than the actual photo subjects.)

If you're interested in creating HDR photos, check out this how-to.