This week I've been attending OSCON here is Portland for the British Magazine Linux Format.
Oscon, also known as the O'Reilly Open Source Convention is a huge conference of open source software developers. My main job is to photograph the subjects of several interviews that will be run in Linux Format over the next several months. Today the trade show begins. One of the things I love about photography is that it provides me with looks into worlds I would never have cause to experience otherwise. Already I've learned more about Linux and the Open Source Community than I had ever known before.

Last night when returned home from OSCON there was an email waiting for me that was as good as any Christmas gift: Adobe Lightroom beta for Windows was finally available for download.
I'll write more about this as I have the opportunity to work with this program.

It's been a some time since I started this blog and have not been great about making posts. It always takes a while to form a new habit. I was going to write about photography in a philosophical sense, but instead, recent events have motivated me to craft a posting about flag burning.

It was a huge relief last week when the senate rejected a proposed anti-flag desecration amendment. However, the slim one-vote defeat, not to mention the perennial resurfacing of this issue is more than a little troubling.

Personally, I like to think that the spirit of America is strong enough to weather any criticism or insults that others might throw at it. It also seems to be a truism that the only speech that needs constitutional protection is speech that is unpopular, offensive, or critical of the government.

Whether a flag is being desecrated depends so much on context. It requires law enforcement to decide if a person's intention is patriotic or disrespect. Such distinctions would seem to fall into the purview of Thought Police.

What bothers me most about the anti-desecration movement is that I don't believe a symbol is worthy of legal protection. Any particular flag can be protected, either because it is private property, public property or because it is an important historical artifact. If I take a piece of paper and draw an American flag upon it, to say that the paper is now sacred and protected from desecration by law is just state enforced idolatry.

This illustrates my point well.

If you can't make a political rant in your own blog, where can you do it?

First Post

It seems every photographer has a blog now, so I'm guessing it's part of the job description. Though I have not done much writing for a long time, it seems like as good a time as any to give it a try. When I was younger I used to keep a journal, but somehow lost that habbit as I moved into my mid-twenties. When I did that there was always some inkling in the back of my mind that I was not just writing for myself, but that someday someone else may be interested enough to read it. Now blogging brings exhibitionist motivation to a new level when it comes to documenting one's life.

Given the potential for an audience I will will attempt to make something that is a little bit interesting and avoid pathalogical rumination.