From A Photo Editor:  Photojournalist James Nachtwey, winner of a 2007 TED Prize, has been using the funds for a major story.  On October 3 the story will be revealed online and presented in public spaces around world.

Wikipedia: James Nachtwey

James Nachtwey’s web site

Update 10/3/08:  James has announced the project.  It’s an effort to create awareness around the worldwide XDR-TB epidemic.  XDR-TB is a drug resistant form of TB that killed 1.7 million people in 2007.  To view James’ portfolio about the epidemic and for more information about XDR-TB click the logo above for “XDRTB.ORG”.

PFARS Campaign Image #02

The second image in my pro bono campaign for the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad.

Scott, pictured above, was helped by Peter Simon, EMT, in 1996 when he was struck by a car while bicycling.

The coming convergence is on our doorstep with announcements of the Nikon D90 and the Canon 5D Mark II, both still cameras, dslrs, offering flavors of high definition video.  The photo Internet online world seems to have gotten itself into a tizzy with buzz and noise on how great this is.  I find myself though shaking my head a bit.

It’s not that I don’t think this is cool.  It is. To see the stunning quality of the high def video, to see the ability to work in little to no light, to see the control over the image with the lenses we all already use – it is very cool.  But where were we two weeks ago?  Where we all doing our work in a funk because what we really wanted to do was direct?  Did we all have a moviemaker trapped inside of us because the equipment limited us?

As professional photographers, with the switch to digital, the stories about clients who purchase their own digital cameras and then think they can do our jobs are a dime a dozen.  After Nikon’s and Canon’s recent announcements I have to think there’s a bar somewhere filled with filmmakers all huddled around the glow of a laptop, reading the various forums and blogs, and having a great laugh.  ”Look at the still photographers, they think they can do our job!”

Don’t get me wrong, I want to try the high def video on the 5D Mark II. I am curious to see its capabilities and its usefulness but if I’m smart I’ll remind myself of my current camcorder (a standard def mini-dv model) and my Mac.  I, like many, had grand plans.  I would edit my video in iMovie, make small movies and post them online for family and friends.  I did do this initially, a half-dozen times or so, but then it ended.  It’s time consuming to edit and I’m already chained to my computer for my still photography so I balked at even more computer time. Now when I videotape something I plug the camcorder directly into the tv to watch the footage.  It’s simple and easy and adds no extra time to the process. Maybe I’m just a still photographer at heart.  Are you?

Michael Davidson, Senior VP Bank of America

Photographed in the new Bank of America Tower, September 17, 2008.

Barry Benepe, Co-Founder of New York City's Greenmarkets

Photographed in the Union Square Greenmarket, September 3, 2008.

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Back in July when I wrote about MyWeather Mobile I said, “In a future update I’d like to see the ‘Trend’ forecast expanded from twelve hours to twenty-four or thirty-six hours – with that change this app would be perfect.”  MyWeather Mobile has done just that in version 1.1 adding thirty-six hour trend data into a full screen window.  They’ve also added detailed current conditions to the mix.

This is a very handy app for planning weather related assignments and for getting current weather information while on location.

Current Conditions detail:

36-Hour Trend:

Selecting a time will give you an icon showing conditions:
sunny, partly cloudy, cloudy, rain, etc.

As is often the case I’ve thought of one more thing that could be added – sunrise and sunset times.  MyWeather Mobile are you listening?…

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Canon 14mm f/2.8L II Lens, Gitzo "Giant" Tripod Full Extension

A couple of years ago I got a new Gitzo tripod I had seen at Photo Plus the fall before.  Fresh on the market at that time, it has been a great tool – carbon fiber for strength and weight savings plus it can get a camera over nine feet off the ground when a center column plus tripod head are added to it.  It’s nice for every day use since it has more heft than a standard carbon fiber tripod (many CF tripods are too light requiring you to add a weight to them for stability) and the added height comes in handy on architecture assignments or when you have to shoot over things (like cars and street signs in an urban environment).  I added a geared column to mine and I use a Bogen compact geared head with it. The tripod is Gitzo’s tallest earning itself the moniker, “Giant.”

Canon 24mm TS-E f/3.5 L Lens, Gitzo "Giant" Tripod Full Extension

Henny Penny

Back in June, on assignment in New York City, we just missed being pummeled by some falling terra cotta.  Yesterday, we were in no danger but our location was in the new Bank of America tower at 42nd St. and 6th Avenue.  Prior, we were sitting in the plaza across the street by the HBO building, eating our lunch, and wondering why there were so many security, police and construction guys with walking talkies milling about.  Turns out a piece of glass had fallen off the BOA building 15 minutes before.

iPhone Email Invalidation

While on location yesterday I found that I could no longer send my domain name email from the iPhone.  Checking email on any account worked fine but outgoing jonroemer.com email would sit in the Outbox and generate the following message,

Sender address?  That’s me, I’m the sender.  How could my address be invalid? This has happened to me once or twice in the past but restarting the phone seemed to correct things.  In my current case it did not, doing a hard reset did not correct it either and trying the Edge network instead of 3G was of no help. When I got home being hooked into my wireless network did not remedy the problem.  Same message,