Photo This & That

Well, I don’t mean how to trap an animal, make fire, cook it, create shelter and purify water all with a pocket knife; what I’m referring to is surviving if your laptop goes down whilst away on assignment.

I’ve never actually had to use this technique, but for years have had this as an insurance policy. Imagine this, you’re on a dream assignment abroad. You’ve got great pictures and your picture editor is desperate for the images. You boot up your laptop and…..nothing; its dead.

I have two USB memory flash drives; one for a PC and one for a Mac. They have a full host of all the software I need to be able to work. Image editing software (Aperture, Photo Mechanic, PhotoShop, FTP programs, settings for FTP and email servers, image rescue and so on).

With most software now purchased over the internet, its very easy just to keep the installer files and their associated serial numbers together in folders. You can also download trail software and not install it, but keep the installer files on your flash key.

If it all goes wrong, I can either pop into an internet cafe and ask them nicely if I can load up my software, find someone friendly with a laptop and do the same, or pop into a store and buy one! On a Mac you could even go one step further and have your whole operating system on a USB flash drive with all your software and settings and if your hard drive goes down, you just boot off the flash drive. I haven’t actually tried this yet, and I know it’ll be slow, but it will save the day.

If you’re wondering which ones to get, Test Freaks have done a round up of 21 flash drives and put them to the test.

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Posted in Computers and Software, viewpoint

Gleb Garanich’s Crying Man Sequence

Posted on December 19, 2008 | Leave a comment

Following on from the previous post, I’m so touched by this set of images, that with kind permission from Reuters I’d like to share the entire sequence.

I first saw the pictures in French “Photo” magazine when attending Visa Pour L’Image in Perpignan earlier this year. Those that are familiar with “Visa” will know that its an incredible collection of exhibitions and projections of the best images from around the world. However, no other set of images touched me as much as Gleb’s photographs of the mourning man holding his dead relative after their homes were bombed by Russian war planes in South Ossetia. I was standing in a little shop and looking through the magazine, and nothing during the whole week moved me as much. Incredible.

This is the caption that ran with the image:

A Georgian man cries near the body of his relative after a bombardment in Gori, 80 km (50 miles) from Tbilisi, August 9, 2008. A Russian warplane dropped a bomb on an apartment block in the Georgian town of Gori on Saturday, killing at least 5 people, a Reuters reporter said. The bomb hit the five-story building in Gori close to Georgia’s embattled breakaway province of South Ossetia when Russian warplanes carried out a raid against military targets around the town. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich (GEORGIA)

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Posted in Uncategorized

Best Images of 2008

Posted on December 19, 2008 | Leave a comment

As the year comes to a close, here are a few links to the best images of the year. To say they are well worth a look, would be an understatement. There is some stunning work.

My personal favourite news image of 2008, because of its strength, emotion and respect is by Reuters photographer Gleb Garanich (above) from the war in South Ossetia. If any image is deserving of a Pulitzer and a World Press Photo award this year, its Gleb’s. Its part of a series, but this particular photograph captures the whole war in one frame. A stronger case for a stills picture having more power to convey emotion and the story than any other medium, I have not seen this year, or come to think of it, for a very long time.

Here are the links:

Posted in Photography, Pictures