Washington Times – EDITORIAL: Obama’s abortion war
“Only three days into a new administration, the president of “hope” and “change” revealed that, in this enormous matter at least, he will not be a new leader who will work towards a kinder, gentler, more unified America. Instead he is immediately exacerbating old wounds in the body politic: He is simply a wolf in sheep’s clothing. “
Monthly Archives: January 2009
Presidential Memorandum: the Mexico City Policy
Mexico City Policy – Voluntary Population Planning
What it does: "The Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151b(f)(1)), prohibits nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that receive Federal funds from using those funds "to pay for the performance of abortions as a method of family planning, or to motivate or coerce any person to practice abortions." The August 1984 announcement by President Reagan of what has become known as the "Mexico City Policy" directed the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to expand this limitation and withhold USAID funds from NGOs that use non-USAID funds to engage in a wide range of activities, including providing advice, counseling, or information regarding abortion, or lobbying a foreign government to legalize or make abortion available."
What Obama Said:"These excessively broad conditions on grants and assistance awards are unwarranted. Moreover, they have undermined efforts to promote safe and effective voluntary family planning programs in foreign nations. Accordingly, I hereby revoke…"
So now my tax dollars are being used to pay for and promote the practice of abortion in foreign countries. *awesome*.
Country Sunset (4 of 4)
Country Sunset (3 of 4)
Country Sunset Blue (2 of 4)
Country Sunset (1 of 4)
Photo Analysis: Along the Tracks
Along the Tracks by Chromasia.
You use this HDR technique a lot, and it adds a surreal quality to the images. In this case, I like the subtly. I prefer it in fact, to the the image you posted a few days ago, of the church interior.
I’ve always been fond of the desaturated color palate. It conveys a feelings of bleakness, and if you aren’t a bright person by nature, that studied lack of pretension (is use pretense lightly, i’m not sure its exactly the word i’m looking for) is soothing.
Compositionally i like the use of leading lines. Looking out into eternity adds to the restful nature of the photo. It also adds a bit of mystery. Where do the tracks lead? The subject itself taps into the cache of trains and brings to mind a bit of nostalgia, emphasized, I think, by the desaturated color palate.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of contrast in composition lately, and this photos use of it is interesting. In some ways, because of the use of HDR, there is less contrast over all in the dynamic range. HDR compresses the extreme ends, and this photo in particular has flat elements to its color.
on the other hand, you brought out contrast in color, in order to emphasize the texture of the tracks and railroad ties.
I noticed the HDR gradient effect, where in the texture of the tracks, it almost looks like a mask of clouds was added. That gives the photo as a whole a slightly dirty look, like it has been abused, which lends itself to the photo along side the overgrown nature of the scene.
Overall I see abandonment, nostalgia, and a touch of wanderlust all cast in a sense of heightened drama.
Very nice. :)
Notes and musings on photography taken during a recent workshop…
Everything communicates something
Start with what you want to say, start with the story.
Know where you are going. (what’s your destination)
You are answering the question WHY. Why is the photo important. How am I going to use it. What am I trying to say.
Knowing how you’ll use it is important, partially because the end product may introduce constraints such as aspect ratio, resolution, etc…
When thinking about the why, ask yourself, what compositional elements do I need to tell that story.
Consider not just your own perspective, but consider the perspective of your intended audience. Consider the cultural context you will be communicating in.
Powerful images eliminate distractions.
Re: portraiture, know your subjects personality. Find ways to draw that personality out to say what you want to say.
Emphasize what is.
Art is about drawing attention to specific elements in life and the world around us. We use all sorts of techniques to warp what is seen to add emphasis to the parts we think are important. Boring photos emphasize nothing.
All images are relational, by which we mean, we relate the subject matter of the image. You, as the artist, define that relationship and manipulate it, in order to create in the audience an emotion.
Elements of composition
Dimension
– Texture
– DOF
– Foreground/Background
– Shadow (directionality of light)
– Rim lighting
– Size of subject
Perspective
– Shooting down,
– Shooting up, Shooting at subjects level,
– Profile,
– Mug shot, etc…
Balance (deliberate use or disuse)
– rule of thirds
– symmetry
Time/Timing
– Progression (DOF, repetition with slight changes)
– Freeze frames
– Repetition
– Blur
Leading Lines
Contrast
– light/dark (more contrast adds impact. The faster you go from light to dark in a gradient the more rich a photo will appear.) (see the concept of compression as it relates to dynamic range, similar to the way an audio engineer will use compression)
– anachronism (using two objects that don’t fit together – wrong time periods, opposing ideas [short/tall, thin/fat]- to emphasize the differences between the two.)
Know when to edit. Not all photos should be kept.
– Is the photo deceptive, unflattering?
– Quantity doesn’t mean quality.
Be familiar with moods/emotions. Be able to recognize them quickly, know how to work with each emotion.
Basic compositions for portraits:
– face
– head/shoulders
– waist up
– full profile
almost anything else is awkward.
Link
How your friends’ friends can affect your mood – life – 30 December 2008 – New Scientist
it is becoming clear that a whole range of phenomena are transmitted through networks of friends in ways that are not entirely understood: happiness and depression, obesity, drinking and smoking habits, ill-health, the inclination to turn out and vote in elections, a taste for certain music or food, a preference for online privacy, even the tendency to attempt or think about suicide. They ripple through networks "like pebbles thrown into a pond", says Nicholas Christakis, a medical sociologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, who has pioneered much of the new work.
Misperception, Bush, politics and the press.
With a post title like above, you probably expect a long article. But i’m not a voluminous writer. Over the past several years one of the things I’ve seen over and over again, both in the news, and in my personal life, is that our perception of the world is rarely complete. We just don’t see the whole picture, and that happens not just occasionally, but most of the time.
Too see a situation for what it really is, wholly, is rare. very rare.
I cite this article about impressions of Bush as an example.