Photo Sales - Rights and Prints

December has been a good month for photo sales.

• A woman in FL, a former Saugus resident, bought 9 prints of Saugus scenes. She wanted them for Christmas gifts. She chose Saugus River Lobster Boats, Route 1 Traffic at Night and Kane's Donuts.
  
  
• A new book called "Amazing and Unusual USA" will feature 3 of my photos of Clark's Trading Post. Printing is schedule for April 2009.
  
  
• The Sea Ketch Restaurant owner bought rights to one of my images last month.
  
  
• This month I received another request for usage rights for several photos on a different Hampton Beach Web site. 2/5/09 Follow-up: (I was willing to allow free usage if they could have provided hyper-linked credit, since they were a non -profit. They were not willing to do so.

Facebook & Social Networking

I recently signed up for an account with Facebook after hearing other adults talking about their use of it.

After seeing so many MySpace pages cluttered with all kinds of unsightly stuff, I wasn't interested in social networking sites, assuming they were all like MySpace, which allows users to customize pages to a point where they become an assault on the eyes.

FaceBook is different, cleaner, more organized, more useful, easier on the eyes! I understand Facebook is becoming more popular than MySpace, and I can see why.

I'm finding Facebook very interesting. I'm amazed at how many people that I know are using it. For me it's mostly relatives, nieces, nephews etc.

Upon signing up, users can find FaceBook friends via their AOL Instant Messenger Buddy Lists or from e-mail address books. (I chose not give FaceBook my ISP e-mail account password.) Users can also find other facebook members by searching their high school by year of graduation. Watch-out cla$$mate$.com! (Classmates wants you to pay before they'll allow users to reach each other.)

Once a Facebook member, you're able to see all of your friends content, their friends etc. One of the features is a rolling list of things friends have recently done, like pictures posted, comments on pictures, where people are, what they are doing etc. Having only been a FaceBook member for 1 day, I may add more to this blog after I learn more.

Comments on this and other entries in my blog are encouraged.

Stock Photo Sales

I've been spending more time uploading image to the Net. Today I got a call from someone at a Hampton Beach restaurant. They were looking for rights to use this photo when they update their Web site. I outlined my reasonable fees for Web use. I expect I'll hear back from them.

Summer is Gone...well, mostly ! Sept '08

We had one of the coolest Augusts here in Saugus Massachusetts, in my recent memory. The AC wasn't on much around the house. Even the heat bug was quiet most of the time and rarely heard before noon. Didn't seem to be a good year for the spider crop either.

Founders 2008 day almost got rained out. Clouds and a soggy forecast may have hurt the turnout.

My son and I attended this afternoon's Red Sox game, a 4-3 victory over Toronto. Riding the Green Line gives me motion sickness!

Andre Rieu & Johann Strauss Orchestra

I guess I have a wide range of musical tastes or maybe I'm just getting old.

Last night we attended the Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra concert. Fantastico!

I would probably have not have known of this Andre and his orchestra, if it had not been for my mother, would would call me up so I'd tune in when his concerts were aired on PBS.

The show began at 7:30pm at the TD BankNorth Garden and ran almost 2 1/2 hours. A 40 piece orchestra, Andre Rieu and a variety of tenor and soloist singers made for a fantastic evening of music.

"Binoculars might have been nice to bring" I thought, as we drove to catch the Orange-Line train to Boston. Turns out binoculars were not needed. To the left and right of the stage were two HUGE monitors, each about 50 feet wide. Live close-ups of the performers were simulcast during the show.

Selections included, The Blue Danube Waltz, a Mozart Medley, America the Beautiful, Amazing Grace, to name a few. A tear-jerking rendition of Ave Maria was sung by Mirusia Louwerse.

The one selection I was hoping to hear most, was not in the line-up, The Second Waltz.

The music was drastically different than the rock concerts I attended on the same site in the old Boston Garden during the 70's. Bands like Jethro Tull and Aerosmith and left my ears ringing.

I wish my mother was still around to have attended the concert with me last night. She would have loved it, as I did.

Florida Photos

Below is a link to photos I made during a recent trip to Florida. Thirty four Florida beach and wildlife photos are featured. One is in twice, by mistake.

The slide show a Flash presentation, which might not display properly on all browsers and might not display at all, on others.

The Flash slide show presents the images at different sizes, depending on the size of your Web browser window.

Did you know that most Web browsers can toggle from normal view to full screen view using the F11 key? Try it now. Hit your F11 key. Hit it again to return your browser to normal. During full screen your task bar will likely disappear.

I recommend viewing the slide show at full screen view. I don't recommend changing (F11) during the slide show. Toggle the thumbnails off during the slide show by clicking the small icon under the photo at the lower left.

The Florida Stock Photos presentation was made with Adobe LightRoom. Feel free to comment on this or any other entry in my blog using the comments link under each.

"Finding Myself" on Google Street View

As a long-time fan of Google Earth, it has been fun to view all kinds of places from above, especially my neighborhood and house.

Now Google has taken earth viewing down to the street level.

While using Google Maps I recently discovered Google Street View. Many heavily populated areas have been mapped out using a 360 degree field-of-view cameras, mounted on moving vehicles. The photos are taken about 10-15 yards apart and they have been incorporated into Google Maps.

After entering an address on Google Maps, the user can then select "street view". (Not available for all areas.) This brings up 360 degree photos taken as these roving recorders drove past the address.

Not only can you see your house, but people on your porch, cars in your driveway, license plates etc.

My son and I were using street view when we entered our address. We "drove" up the street just a bit and I said, "Hey there's someone walking." We pulled up along-side and my son said, " Hey Dad it's you!) sure enough, there I was, walking to the nearby mailbox to ship a slide scan order!

Click and drag on photos to look around or click on the arrows on the photos to "drive" up the streets

Although Google Maps Street View is a cool toy, I can see potential for it to cause some people trouble.

Examples: Spouse calls home from work after viewing pics of home on Street View: "Honey, who owns the blue sedan I saw parked in our driveway?"

Workman's comp investigator: "Dave, how is your injured back? Was that a washing machine you were lugging up your front steps?"

Woman to husband: "Hey Joe? Who's the woman you're sitting with on our local park bench?"

With millions of people looking at millions photos of their own neighborhoods, things like this are bound to occur.

Read someone else's blog about street view.

Readers are encouraged to post your comments and thoughts on this subject by clicking on the comments link below.

Water Heater Leak

The night before leaving on a 1 week vacation, we discovered water on our cellar floor. A leaking, 10 year old water heater was the culprit.

I'm glad we found the leak before our departure. Otherwise our basement would have flooded.

After getting a 3 prices from local plumbers I chose a Melrose based plumber. For $850.00 he replaced the gas fired 40 gallon tank, with a warranty extended to 12 years.

Rubber hoses to washing machines are another potential weak point in any plumbing system.

After this, I'll turn off the water main before leaving town for extended periods.

Saugus Pizza Choices

Being a pizza lover, I'm eager to try new pizzas at local restaurants around Saugus. Today, for the first time I tried Peter's Pizza, located at Hamilton Plaza on Hamilton St.

The pizza was,...well, not bad at all. I'll certainly consider them next time I'm ordering a couple of pies to go. The have a special, two large 16" pizzas, $14.99, any time, any day, no coupon needed!

Everyone loves delicious pizza at Prince Pizzeria on Route 1. Certainly some of the best pizza anywhere!

I like the pizza at the new Nick's Place in Saugus Center. However, it can be difficult to eat when the crust is so thin and soft at the center, not self supporting!

Comment on this blog at the link below with your recommendations for pizza in Saugus!

Rainy Days

Cold, rainy days like today make being indoors more enjoyable for me. Speaking of rainy days, I read somewhere only 1 out of 3 days are mostly sunny here in the Boston area, a stark contrast to sunny Florida.

Living in the often bleak New England weather conditions makes me appreciate warm sunny days. Wet conditions can make photography a bit more interesting too.

Readers are encouraged to post comments on my blogs by clicking on the comments link below. Comments will be moderated by me before going public.

Batteries and HDMI cables, at a good price!

I thought I'd give a new blog a try. I had a blog a while ago here on blogspot, but it never went anywhere. This blog will serve as an outlet for whatever I decide to write about.
It might be photography, or slide scanning or local Saugus stuff.

Maybe I'll use it to complain about the weather or the price of oil. Maybe I'll share some new bargains I've discovered on the Web.

Speaking of bargains, most of us lots of AA and 9 volt batteries around the house. There's never a good set around when you need it. Or, you've got a drawer full of half dead ones, and no battery tester.

Several months ago I needed a slew of 9 volts to refill smoke detectors. After about 33 seconds of a discriminatory search of the Web, I found http://www.batterywarehousedirect.com/

The per battery cost is MUCH lower than you ever find at local stores. The online ordering was easy and quick. Batteries were in my mailbox 2 days later. Shipping is less than $5.00, no matter the weight! After the first good experience ordering batteries there, I ordered 32 more AA batteries the other day. Once again, fast shipping, good price, no complaints. Did I mention the batteries are Duracell Alkaline?

HDMI Cables Price Gouging:
Many of you techno geeks are probably in need of HDMI cables for your new HDTV, cable box, Blue Ray player, Playstation 3 etc.
Some places are charging OUTRAGEOUS prices for HDMI cables. Average in-store prices run from about $15.00 to over $120.00 for the same product. A cable, is a cable, is a cable. If it's got gold plated contacts great. If it's got a heavy duty sheathing over it, it's a monster! Does that affect performance? No.

A quick search on Amazon.com should bring up HDMI cables for as little as $2.00 each.