Information Overload

Posted on | July 31, 2010 | No Comments

Too Much Information

Are we really at the point of total information overload?

How we got here

Let’s stand back and view the expansion and dissemination of information over the past 30 years since the advent of mass user networking. Even before the internet and hypertext protocol were developed  as a means to share information more easily the groundwork was laid for the ever expanding mess of data that we have available today. It crept out of universities in the 70s through home consumer networks and Listservs in the 80s and exploded with the birth of the web in the 90s.

As the number of websites grew and came to be indexed, (as we all probably know), search was developed and marketed as a means to find the information we wished to consume. Now the information was out there and we just needed to know how to look for it. This passive means of data interaction works great assuming you know how to look for what it is that you want to know but what if you don’t know what it is you want to know? You know? That’s when the technology of information consumption made it’s next leap …

Stop! I think it’s happening again

Along comes RSS that offers to feed us information without us needing to lift a finger to search for it. Sure you initially have some limited activity in setting up an RSS reader but with tools like Google Reader and Google Alert we no longer need to hunt for information, we just need to sit back and consume it.

We can think of this process like the chocolate production line episode from I Love Lucy. If you’ve never seen the episode or the show for that matter, GOOGLE IT. If you’ve honestly never seen it Lucy and Ethel have no issues at first with the trickle of candy (information) but it quickly overwhelmed them and they have a hard time reacting to it, comedy ensues, and the candy speeds up even more before the scene ends.

As a more personal example in my Google Reader I subscribe to more than 70 RSS feeds. Some of those are aggregators so the number of posts I get each day is often over 150. I have them categorized by subject but at times it still is overload and my retention is probably very low.

In fact I decided to write this post only after seeing this in my Google Reader:

That’s from the website: thxthxthx.com which shows a thank you note everyday. Now, this isn’t off of one of the 70+ RSS Feeds I get. It was from another section in my Google Reader where I can see things that my friends who also use Google Reader want to share but it makes a great and very true statement. By the time I get done reading all the new posts in Google Reader there are more of them there.

The Answer

There are already books published about the effects of this kind of information overload on our brains. It’s frightening to me at least that there are serious physiological changes that have been observed and documented that can scientifically be traced to our changing means of information consumption.

So how do we combat these changes?

The truth is that there is little chance that people are going to slow their consumption. We’re not going to go back to 3 TV channels and no internet. True there are those that limit their exposure but does this actually have a positive effect or do they just read and consume things at an even higher rate because they know they have a time limit? Can their activities be equated to the use of filters on cigarettes? A means that only purports to have a health benefit when in actuality the smokers just suck harder.

I can come up with two ideas on my own though I can’t actually develop either myself.

One idea is to create a more targeted flow of information. RSS is great but when we add key-wording in no longer am I getting each post from a photo-blog that often features mediocre nudes, lackluster portraits, boring “art photography”, and amazing architectural photos. If I add in the keyword restriction or only subscribe to posts that are from the architectural category then I get to see what I want and the signal comes through the noise a little stronger. I also see a lower number of total unread posts in my Google Reader which doesn’t make me think – crap, I can’t look at all of these, I’ve only got 20 minutes before I need to leave.

So idea one is to add a new layer to RSS would be beneficial and really already exists. It’s category based RSS and some sites do offer it – it just needs to be more widespread.

The second idea is to stop beaming bright light directly into our eyes.

These new tablets and iPads and things are really cool but when are the even cooler thin, readable in all light, vivid color, electronic ink devices going to get here? Right now we are bombarding our eyes with the lights from our computers and that stimulates the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) but we don’t fight or flee, we just keep reading or watching.

Maybe someday soon there will be a device that works more like a newspaper with full color vibrant photos, that is small, flexible, and doesn’t require back-lighting to be read. They’re working on this stuff but when will it get here?

I know that the Kindle has an e-ink display but it doesn’t have color and that’s going to keep it from being able to replace newspapers and magazines. Not so much because they include images in stories but because they do so in ads. For them (so far) it’s the web, these tablets, or nothing.

So really I don’t have all the answers and those I have I can’t implement alone but I think we need to start to critically think about ways to adapt the consumption to the consumer because they’re not going to stop consuming or even slow down until they are forced to. I know I’m not.

Do you have any ideas how to do that? If so leave them in the comments or better yet start a tech company that changes the world.

Don’t Frack Up My Neighborhood

Posted on | July 17, 2010 | Comments Off

Can you believe this fracking guy?

I sent the following letter to the folks that want to destroy my local environment (by “fracking” the shale in an around Pittsburgh):

Please don’t drill. You’ll ruin my water, my air, my life. Are the lives of millions of people really worth the money that you’re after? There are alternatives to your addiction to fossil fuels. You can get help, honestly. Put down the drill before you kill us all.

I sent that email to: MyRangerResources.com via their website after seeing an advert they had up on the Post Gazette’s website talking about how clean they are and other such total bullshit.

Here is the voice mail I got back (I may be paraphrasing a bit here):

Hi Don, my name is soulless evil PR guy and I got your email. I want to tell you that we don’t want help with our addiction to fossil fuels, we can stop at any time, and we don’t really see it as a problem. I really think that you are the one with the problem because let’s face it you use fossil fuels and things in your computer and your phone require fossil fuels and I bet that you drive places and so really isn’t it you that has the problem. Look solar and wind are great but we’ll always need fossil fuels as a back-up because burning stuff is great, who really wants to live forever and besides we burn coal now and coal is dirtier than the gas that we are willing to poison all of you to get to. Hey, I mean, I have kids that live in Pittsburgh and since I care about their impending deaths I’ve been preparing them by feeding them hi-test bullshit laced with lots of methane, just to prepare for the end. Remember, you really can’t stop us because we are too powerful, have a nice weekend (it may be your last).

So that got me thinking and I realized that …

I pay for their lobbyists salaries

Full of piss and vinegar (the fuel of the future)

Misappropriation of funds

Green consumer goods

Green Gadgets

Now that I’ve got that off of my chest I want to talk a little bit about green consumer goods because I’d really like to NOT be paying that guys company. How hard would it be for them to make me a phone that uses plant based plastics?

Sony is now making the “W Series” laptops which at the Consumer Electronics Show in January they unveiled as being a “green computer”. Marc at About.com’s Green Living blog questioned why they are not using more recycled material in ALL of their products – great question really. As Consumer Reports mentioned back in 2008 we won’t see green TVs for quite a while because (unlike computers) the Federal government doesn’t buy a whole lot of them. Read their (short) explanation here.

The folks at Green Peace have this cool little scale that shows you which electronics manufacturers are greener. Sony ranks fairly high (higher than most).

Green Cars

I’m blown away by the fact that the best we can do is the Prius. Don’t get me wrong – it was a good stepping stone to get people to think about getting away from gas but the batteries on those things are really toxic, they still use gas, and few Americans are going to want to wait for a full charge. When we want to get in a car and go we’re going to do it. If we can’t we’re not going to keep that car long.

Air Power

In France there is a guy who has gotten a lot of press talking about his design of an air powered car but some people say it’s just an investment hoax. I truly hope not. There are other people working on the problem too I guess – even the US government. If you power your compressor with renewable energy an air powered car is the answer to the fossil fuel addiction. The issue is the engineering problems that must be overcome are pretty serious.

So what do we do?

I guess we just have to wait for these things to become available but we really should be demanding them rather than sitting back and taking the bullshit that people like Mr. PR man tries to feed us. The facts are clear – fracking is dangerous and they have no reason to be responsible about it or clean up any mess they make. I encourage everyone to write to these folks, write to your Local Government, State Government, and the Federal Government and tell them to knock it the frack off and invest in the future, not the past maybe together we can make a difference.

Business Verification

Posted on | July 4, 2010 | 1 Comment

I’ve seen a lot of advertisements lately for companies that offer business verification. Even the phone book is getting into the act I guess the idea is that they are adding value to their service by making sure you’re not an unscrupulous business owner. I’ve been fairly suspicious of these sites but recently (as in this morning) I decided to give one a try. I signed up with Thumbtack.com to talk about the event photography service that I offer through WDO Photography.

I’m still not sold on these companies, especially the ones that charge for their service when there are sites like Yelp and other review sites that consumers can freely check to find reviews on businesses. What made me think twice this morning was that I could improve my SEO by getting listed on this site so I decided to give it a try. I’m still working through setting it all up right now but it appears that I’m the first photographer in Pittsburgh to have done so or at least the first to have gotten a custom URL through the site since I jumped on /Pittsburgh-photographer which should help my page rank.

Thumbtack seems to be a legit service from what I can tell and I’d probably recommend it to others. They do charge for some things but reviews and testimonials appear to be free which is great. I’ve just got to get my clients to post some for me now. So we’ll have to see how all of this goes. I’ll write an update on the subject later if all goes well, or doesn’t.

WordPress 3.0

Posted on | June 20, 2010 | Comments Off

WordPress 3.0

If I or someone else has built a website for you on WordPress and you’ve logged in within the past few days you should see a notice under the header that looks like the image on the left. It’s letting you know that WordPress 3.0 is out. Does that mean you should update? Maybe.

Who should update

If somebody else built your site you should ask them if it’s alright to update your WordPress. If I’ve designed your site please sit tight as I’ll be updating you very soon. All of my sites should be updated but I’ll need to make sure your site will update without issue first. That means that I have to make sure your plug-ins and add-ons are working.

Why Update to WordPress 3.0

WordPress 3.0 has a ton of great new features, many of which existing customers may not use but there are a few that can help make your site more useful like the new menu module which allows for multiple menus. I don’t have any clients on WordPress with multiple menus (because before it wasn’t possible) but if you’re an existing customer who is interested in adding additional menus or are a new customer looking for a designer who can build you a site on a reliable platform such as WordPress that needs multiple menus shoot me an email and we can talk about your needs.

For more info on the changes made to WordPress in the 3.0 release please check the codex page here or watch this video:

Search optimization for your mail box

Posted on | June 12, 2010 | Comments Off

Efficiency Fetish

It’s no secret that I’m a bit of a geek but what you might not know about me is that I have a serious efficiency fetish. That doesn’t sound right exactly but what I mean is I really need things to work efficiently. I can’t stand extra steps and time wasting. When a client or a friend asks me to email them something that I’ve already sent I find it very annoying. It’s especially bothersome when they want something I sent them within the last few days – stop that.

Did you even try to find it?

Now I understand that a lot of people are very busy and that they get a ton of email and I can even look past the fact that some folks maintain somewhat disorganized inboxes. That being said sometime I want to scream, “did you even seriously try to look for it?!?!”

What I’m really asking is did they bother to use the search function in their mail client? Did you even know that Microsoft Outlook has a search function? It does as does every free web-based email service.

Why don’t people search?

It may be because on the rare occasion that one does run a search most of the time they don’t find what they are looking for. Why is this?

I assume that it is because most people don’t create email messages that are meant to be searched for. That is that they are not formatted to be easily retrieved by a search engine. Clearly Google’s search technology is not the reason that one can’t find a message sent to their gmail account. The reason they can’t find it probably has more to do with the fact that the sender wrote a poor subject and the content is likely to be equally poor in it’s ability to be searched.

How can we fix this?

The Wrong Way:

I think the wrong way is to outsource the problem. There is an entire industry that has grown up around the idea of creating easier to search email archives.  That is an industry that is trying to devise a more accurate search but the problem is so rarely the search algorithms or even the search parameters.

My opposition to this  goes back to my hatred of inefficiency. Here we have people capitalizing on a problem rather than solving it. I’m in no way opposed to people making money – I’m opposed to people doing so without providing a truly valuable service.

My Observations

The problem, as I see it, is that we send email willy-nilly without so much as a thought about it being found later. Email, like their younger cousin the tweet, are put out and forgot about, in abundance. In fact more and more of them are being put out without any thought.

For several years now there has been a small dedicated, (some would say crazy), group of people that have pushed for some sort of formal guide to email writing. They want people to think about what they are writing and to only send emails that are necessary. Some go as far as to say – unless you’d send it in a postal letter don’t send it in an email. I’m not behind that idea, in fact I prefer email to phone calls, (for business), because you have a written record of the conversation. It also saves me time because if I’m on the phone I’ve got to write down what they are saying anyhow.

Teach Our Children

Here is a thought – when I was in school we were taught how to properly format and write business letters and the difference between them and less formal letters. Why not teach kids how to write a proper email? I’m sure that in some more progressive school districts this has already begun but I’m just as sure that they are not teaching searchability. If we learned how to write searchable emails we’ll end up with more thoughtful, better structured, and more worthwhile communications. The best part is we’ll also be able to search through our inbox or archive and find what we are looking for.

What about the old people?

When one is trained to work at an office they are asked if they know MS Office and how to use a multi-line phone why not ask if they know how to write a searchable email? If they don’t train them. If you’ve got to train someone to use your system why not make searchable email part of your system?

SEO and SEOM

Subject Matters

Searchable mail is just as simple as the searchable web – create an informative subject that matches the content. If your content is time specific, say it’s about an event, place the date of the event in the subject. A good example of this is when I book a photo job I send an email with the date of the job in the subject.

The Content

What you put in the body should always be informative too. As a gmail user I have conversation threads, that is emails that are back and forth replies about the same subject. Google groups these for me and that’s one of the functions I love the most about gmail. Even when email clients don’t do this they usually append previous messages to the body of an email (gmail does both) which means you have a continual record with the latest additions on the top. The benefit of this is that by adding content you’re creating more stuff that can be searched which is great because you end up with a more searchable file most of the time. The downside is that if someone changes the subject but not the thread you end up with conflicting data and less searchability.

So when writing an email we should all be aware that if we’re changing the subject we should create a new email to address that subject.

Ambiguity is ugly

Just because you anticipate a long thread with lots of back and forth, there is still no excuse for ambiguity in emails. If you just physically talked to a coworker about a subject that doesn’t mean that you should ever send an email that doesn’t address what you were talking about or that refers to discussion without putting into the body of the email what was said. Is that a pain in the ass? Sure but what happens in 3 months or 4 years when you don’t remember what was said and are trying to piece together what an email means? All of a sudden your minor pain in the ass is a huge problem either because of a he-said-she-said situation of because your memory has failed and you don’t remember if it your coworker told you it was the red wire that needs cut or the black one.

Give Searchability a Try

So now that you are aware of the issue will you try to make your emails more searchable? I’m sure that if you do you’ll find you get fewer requests for you to resend the same email you sent the day before. Give it a try, spread the word, and let’s make the world a better, (more searchable), place.

Crowd Soresing

Posted on | June 9, 2010 | 4 Comments

Background

I’m a graduate of the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (AIP) and I am, believe it or not, proud of the things I learned there, the instructors I was taught by, and the folks that I graduated with. I say believe it or not because these days AIP is broken. As is most of the rest of the for-profit education system.

For Profiteers

The whole idea of “for-profit” education, (i.e. someone making their living off of people trying to receive an education), is pretty much morally bankrupt to begin with so I guess we can only expect, that in the last decade, when profit, greed, and personal gain, seemed to be spiraling out-of-control that such an industry would be leading the way in the charge to maximize profits at the expense of the people they were purporting to serve.

Now to be honest there is still a strange dichotomy at these schools. Between those that they hire to educate who actually (for the most part) seem to want to educate people and really want them to succeed and the corporate greed that permeates the administrative staff where the mantra is clearly – squeeze them for money and do the absolute minimum to keep the government and regulators off our backs. I’ve written and bitched about all of this many times before and I only bring it up again because I read a disturbing article on Linked In (which you may not be able to access but that is) also available here.

Sinking To New Lows

The article is about Crowd Sourcing for design. In the article the author quotes a slimebag who is making his living off of conning starry-eyed young designers into doing spec work while his company acts as a middle man and collects on the end results of hundreds of artists submitting work for jobs that they’ll never be paid to do. In return the few that land a job are given free legal advise and an assurance they’ll get paid (eventually) while the 109 other creatives starve to death.

Think of American Idol for each and every design job from a logo to a photo shoot to the design for a new dress. Though the contestants on American Idol have low overhead. They might have bought a new outfit, got their hair and makeup done. A photo-shoot can cost hundreds of dollar, a complex logo may take a week and thousands of dollars worth of programs and computing power and not being paid for the work that they do should never be an option.

Spec Work

For those not in a creative field spec work is work that you do prior to being paid, with the expectation of being paid if and only if you really wow the client. Often spec work is done cattle-call style where you are pitted against other creatives and asked to work for free in the hopes that the overlords will reward you for your skills. The client has no obligation to pay you for the hard work that you’ve done and in some creative fields they may even steal acceptable amounts of your work or use your work as the basis for what they ask some other schmuck to turn in for minimal payment.

Spec work is a huge problem in the industries that it touches because it causes new creatives to suffer and potentially starve while working for free and upsets the normal way of doing business which is – you find a product or service you like, you commission it, and you pay for it.

Stock Agencies

Now there have been some aspects of spec work that have been around for years – a good example is some stock photo agencies. When working for a stock agency one shoots a ton of work, ships it to them, they put a book together and these days a website where publishers can go to them to find a selection of HIGH QUALITY work from tested, agency approved and vetted, photographers. Some photographers made a lot of money off of shooting stock.

Micro Stock

Micro-stock agencies sprung up like weeds in the last decade and let nearly anyone with a digital camera show off their photos and then sell them for pennies. Overnight the bottom fell out of the stock industry. Why pay for quality work when we can get work that isn’t half-bad for pennies by just spending a few more minutes searching through a collection that houses more work. Never mind the fact that much of it is of lower quality and will never be bought or used for anything.

While stock agencies were not always staffed with and run by people with purely altruistic intentions they did have a business model wherein the nature of the business meant that everyone succeeded together. The photographer was reviewed before being accepted into the agency, when they sold a photo they were paid a solid commission, the agency took their share that they earned by vetting the photographer and compiling the work of said shooter, with the work of other top-quality photographers.

If a photographer couldn’t put together a consistent book of quality work they were not going to be hired by an agency. If they couldn’t hack it at any other job in the photo world they would soon find that out too and go back to doing whatever it is that their broken-heart was doing before they found out they were a hack.

Democracy Kills

The article in question calls crowd sourcing – design by democracy.

Design by democracy? Let’s get some things straightened out here. Clearly the person who penned the article is either being disingenuous or has spent zero time working in committees or attending corporate meetings.   There is nothing that hurts design more than a democratic process.

Democracy kills creativity

While it’s important to have creatives work with creative directors, it is the death of creativity when we leave design up to the masses to be censored, dissected, disemboweled, and left up to “the committee” to be discussed by those so removed from the process and often so removed from any ounce of creativity that they cannot see how their ideas destroy the integrity and ring the creativity right out of the project they are tasked with.

It is the difference between the average public art and that of top-graffiti artists like Banksy. Whereas Banksy designs statements, works of art, and creative masterpieces of a high artistic integrity most public art (done by committee) is bland, contrives, and pedestrian. It is at the whim of the property owner, the state, and the appointed committee and so must be without controversy, must be easy to understand, must be bland and emotionless.

That is what democracy does to creativity – it is the anti-creative and it should be. Democracy is a form of government. By the way - for those who don’t know, we do not live in a democracy. Democracy is crowd driven and mob rule. The loudest get their way and the most powerful slime their way to the top, manipulating the masses, and profit off of the minority groups that they keep underfoot while the majority revels in being the same as most, without diversity, and common.

It’s not just that the article supports these things as being “good for” creativity and the creative industries that is most disturbing.

What is Most Disturbing

What is most disturbing is the fact that the author and by extension the whole of the Art Institutes, the whole of EDMC, supports the notion of worthless middlemen exploiting the creative workers while adding absolutely no value. In the article they quote one Mike Samson, the co-founder of a dirt-bag company named crowdSpring. A company that is the needle to crowd-sourcing’s lethal injection. Mr. Samson is quoted as saying the following:

“Now talented newcomers can compete with established professionals based solely on ability.”

Or as I read:

“Talented newcomers can starve while working their asses off to create work they don’t get any pay for, while myself and my company collect and continue to encourage them to starve. “

This is just another way for unscrupulous companies to get creative work without paying for it. It means that ALL creative will have to do more work defending invoices and quotes, it means that “newcomers” will struggle even more for longer, and it means that filth like Mike Samson have sunk to a new low in the race to be the most useless of middle men.

You Just Keep Me Hanging On

There are a ton of people in this country that buy scratch-off lottery tickets. They keep doing so because they win two dollars here, five dollars there. Encouraging this kind of spec-work is no different that encouraging the poor to keep wasting money on scratch-off lottery tickets. In fact it’s worse because while the lottery benefits the elderly these con-artists are conning artists while they fill their own pockets.

Leave it to Goldman Sachs backed EDMC to support even more ludicrous ideas that will only ensure they maximize their enrollments and profits at the expense of the students they trick into believing the hype spewed like an infectious puss from the foul mouthes of Mr. Mike Samson and his despicable kind who encourage this idiotic way of raping designers and stealing money from the pockets of workers slaving away in industries with slim enough profit margins. While their biggest supporters (EDMC) has already installed a siphon on their future earnings (by way of student loan debt).

Traveling to The Guest House at Lost River

Posted on | June 5, 2010 | Comments Off

Where it’s at

As usual I’ve been a little too busy to blog regularly but I had to make an exception to mention an amazing place that I escaped to a few weekends ago.

The Guest House at Lost River is located in Hardy County, WV and is nestled in the mountains between Moorefield, WV to the west and the peaks that make up the western ridge along the Shenandoah to the east.

The Guest House is found mid-way up the mountain, along a winding country road that snakes out of the Lost River Valley to a secluded mini-Eden. This isn’t the Holiday Inn just off the Jersey Turnpike. The Guest House is the secret getaway, weekend retreat, or mid-week escape plan. It’s a secret that you want to tell everyone about. You wan to make them jealous, you want them to know that you’ve found that perfect place that you can sneak away to tucked into the bosom of the West Virginia’s mountains.

A little geology

The Lost River is really the Capon River which is part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed but just north of Lost City the river goes underground and isn’t technically known as the Capon until after it reemerges. The mountains and valleys that pour out around are often called the Blue Ridge though technically they are part of the Ridge and Valley province of the Appalachians. Though the granite base that makes up the Blue Ridge is still hiding under the base of these peaks and to those with only a passing interest in the science behind these mountains it’s generally acceptable to call these the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Natural beauty

The river, the mountains, and all the wildlife that comes along with it make a visit to Lost River worth it. That’s probably why the state established Lost River State Park which is just down the road from the Guest House. The state park is the home to a number of popular trails – some climbing to over 3,200 feet leading you to spectacular vantage-points with breathtaking views.

The park also has horse riding seasonally and of course there is fishing and lots of other things to do. The area is overflowing with natural beauty and the plants and animals that you’ll find here are spectacular. The Oak, Mapple, and Pine trees are wonderful as are a variety of song-birds, wild turkeys, flying squirrels, and a diverse collection of reptiles and snakes.

If you’ve come to Lost River for the outdoor adventures The Guest House is within a short drive from Dolly Sod, Seneca Rocks, Canaan Valley, and a world of adventures in the West Virginia wilderness. If you’re out to explore the wild and wonderful the Guest House makes a great home base.

The Guest House

So now that you know what you can do while away from the luxurious comfort at the Guest House I guess it’d be a good time to talk about what you’ll find back at the Guest House. The Guest House has a full range of luxury extras from the basics like a great swimming pool to everything from an onsite steam room, two hot-tubs (one inside, one out), a game room, workout center, onsite masseuse, and more. I didn’t get to take in nearly enough of these but the next time I will be sure to try as many of them as I can.

The Grounds

Outside the flowers, trees and megalithic stones that litter the grounds and nearby national forest make the setting ideal. Living in the city as I do and seeing what humans are capable of, how we are able to adjust and warp the world around us is fascinating to me but seeing what nature herself is capable of when left to her own is a welcome challenge to the powers of mankind.

Here there is no fighting, no wrestling with nature to contain and direct it. There is only a harmony and a resonance of her mighty beauty in the complimentary landscaping that ties in and blends with the environment.

The air is pure and clean and the sounds, smells, and feel of the natural world here wrapped around me and welcomed me home.

The Interiors

Putting aside the great views at every turn outside at the Guest House and entering the buildings I found the interior furnished with antiques, fine art, big comfy furniture, and the beautiful touches of highly skilled interior designers. The wall colors are calm and inviting, deep blues mix with a blonde wood staircase and richer, slightly darker woods lead to the dining room which is large, full of white linen covered tables, and adorned with opulent touches of fine crystal, china, and silver that you’d expect to find at the Greenbriar. I don’t mean to make it sound overly formal because the rest of the complex can be dressed up or down and come-as-you-are casual is the norm at the lounge’s bar-room and patio area which are just down the hall from the dining room.

I’m dieing to photograph a wedding there to see the whole place dressed up but I love the casual nature of the place that helps to make those flairs and flourishes pop that much more.

If the first floor mixes formal and casual perfectly the second floor sitting rooms and game room bring the feel of a stay at “the lodge” or an upscale cabin into full bloom. As I explored I felt like I was in a private home of a close friend. The furnishings are all inviting and range from comfy tall wing-backs set up for conversing and sharing stories to deep sinking leather sofas that would be the prefect place to curl up with a book for an afternoon nap on a rainy day.

The game room is a great touch too. Too often when I travel I end up in a place that has very little character and almost nothing to do onsite. When I photograph weddings I’m always aware of those groups of gentlemen from both families whether they are uncles, grandfathers, cousins that stay in their own cliques or cling to their wives. These men look bored, and are clearly struggling, wanting to interact with the other family members and members of the new family they’ve just been tied to but staying where they feel comfortable and continuing to look bored.

They struggle because they lack the tools and implements of male bonding – they are without a game room. If given a place to play billiards, cards, or just a place to retreat to to discuss politics, religion, women, and other taboo subjects over a glass of single-malt scotch these men would bond and likely be found still chatting into the early hours of morning.

In my room

My room was furnished with a very comfortable bed – After riding all day from Pittsburgh and traveling throughout the county all day I was beat but the next morning I awoke refreshed and well rested without any sourness that can come with sleeping in an unfamiliar bed.

My room didn’t have a telephone or television in it but has free wifi. The Guest House is a place that you go to get away from outside world, your cell phone won’t work, and you don’t have to take advantage of the wifi to check your email but if you must I found the internet service fast enough that I was able to video chat with my Teresa (the wife) and Iggy (the dog) to let them know how great of a place that I was in. I was also able to upload photos at the same time and didn’t have any lag or audio interruption while chatting.

The Bar & Restaurant (aka the Lounge at the Guest House)

As a vegetarian I get worried when I travel but I found the food to be wonderful, there were not a ton of options for me but they were very accommodating. The staff was top-notch and, even though I didn’t have anything beyond beer, I’m told that the bar-tender makes a great cocktail.

I’m also told that they host a ton of great events at the Guest House – aside from being the perfect setting for a wedding or commitment ceremony the Guest House also has corn-hole tournaments, amazing holiday parties, GLBT friendly and GLBT specific events. They host drag events and even a “bear” weekend which is for gay guys that … well that look a bit like me … larger dudes that tend to be hairier than your average gay man and that like a little bit of meat on their bones. There are a million double-entendres in that paragraph – collect them all!

The location, just a few hours from DC also makes the Guest House a great weekend getaway spot for the gay community in the nation’s capitol. Being GLBT friendly is kind of their thing at the Guest House. Being open-minded, liberal, and having a handful of gay friends and family members I don’t usually bat an eye at visiting a place that caters to the GLBT community, especially one that has been around as long as the Guest House. It will be nice when the day comes that every place is inclusive for GLBT folks but sadly I think that future is still very far away.

The weekend I was there I met several older couples that were nearing or at retirement age. They seemed like they had some fun drinking on Friday night and got a little loud but not too crazy and were a lot of fun to eat breakfast with in the morning. Overall if you’re open-minded you’ll have a whole bunch of fun at the Guest House because that seems to be the biggest focus – having fun.

Wrap up

I had an amazing time at the Guest House, so much so that I struck up a deal with them to do some photography and internet marketing work for them in exchange for a weekend stay with the wife for our anniversary. If you’re looking for a vacation spot this summer or are looking for a destination for a wedding or commitment ceremony do yourself a favor and check out the Guest House at Lost River. If you want to see more photos of the Guest House check out my flickr set here.

Jonas Lara Legal Update

Posted on | May 13, 2010 | Comments Off

PDN, and a bunch of blogs are now reporting that Jonas Lara, the LA photographer that was facing charges related to his documenting graffiti artists, has been cleared of all charges!

The judge dropped the case and ordered his gear returned to him which ends a case where he was being accused of a number of different crimes. The case was dropped after he was able to raise enough money to hire a criminal defense lawyer who would present a solid case that the public defender assigned to him refused to present.

What does this all mean? It means that truth prevails, that the rights of a journalist to document the human condition, even when what they are documenting is illegal. Let me just say that I’m no fan of vandalism. It takes up way to much public money to clean up graffiti and most of it is not art, (sure some is, but most isn’t), plus it’s almost always done without permission which is a violation of the rights of the property owner. That being said if we fail to allow or we prosecute journalists who document illegal activity we loose insight into what makes people do these things.

Lastly we must remember that there was no legal obligation for Jonas to report the activity that he was documenting.

Keep a Level Head

Posted on | May 6, 2010 | Comments Off

I came across this tripod head the other day: The Acadalus tripod head. It self-levels your camera with the horizon for only $5K. That’s a little less than what you’d pay for the Nikon D3X and a little less than what you’d pay for a digital back to fit a monorail view camera but it’s not going to be an impulse buy for anyone that’s for sure.

Who would need such a head for their tripod? To be honest I don’t know anyone who would. A good tripod head will have bubble levels. If you’ve ever hung a picture or built a wall you are probably familiar with bubble levels. You put the little bubble in the center circle and you’re level.

Now don’t get me wrong – this is very cool but trust me the novelty ends at the price tag. The technology used is the same stuff they use in flight simulators which is why it’s so expensive. I’ve not used it so I can’t be certain but it’s likely a quality product. That’s not my issue with it in the least. My issue is that it solves a problem that doesn’t exist. The marketers are trying their best but that includes this statement:

“Lets you focus on the subject, lighting and composition instead of wasting precious time fiddling with your tripod.”

Wasting precious time fiddling with your tripod? Unless this thing is going to dress me, drive me to the shoot, open my tripod legs, extend the legs, mount the camera onto the tripod and set up my lights for me is it really going to save me THAT MUCH time? No. The time it takes me to level my tripod, when compared to the time it takes me to do all the other prep stuff, is a drop in the ocean.

Here is a perfect case of people getting overexcited with an idea that solves a problem and not having anyone around to let them know that there really isn’t much of a problem and that they’d have been better off to move on to the next idea. Hopefully they’ve not produced too many of these.

Jona Lara: Art Documenter Needs Your Help

Posted on | May 3, 2010 | Comments Off

I was reading through my usual list of blogs when I found the story of Jona Lara on PDN Pulse. Jona’s situation is serious and is one close to my heart as someone who works to document the art work of others. Jona was arrested on charges that have changed a bunch of times while documenting the work of 2 graffiti artists in LA. Read the whole story at PDN Pulse but the short of it is this – his public defender is refusing to use his rights as a photographer/journalist in his defense and it could prevent him from entering into an MFA program that he was accepted into.

He’s raising money for his legal defense in order to hire a lawyer that can actually defend him. To learn more about his situation and to help him out visit his website.

UPDATE: Here is a link to a great post written by APE (A Photo Editor) wherein he talks with Photo Attorney, Carolyn E. Wright about the laws that might be in play for this case.

keep looking »

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About

W. Donald Orkoskey lives and works as an editorial and lifestyle photographer in Pittsburgh's Strip District. He also designs websites, teaches people about social media, and helps build stronger communities. In his "free time" he hangs out with his wife Dr. Teresa Orkoskey and their hairless dog Iggy, inline skates, tangos, and watches hockey - GO PENS!

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