Mike Munhall

Are you ready for CameraPhone365? I am. I’ve been tinkering with a new photoblog (http://www.mikemunhall.com/cameraphone365/) that integrates very well with flickr. This new photoblog will be dedicated solely to my CameraPhone365 project. I still have some tweaking to do and I have to clean up the test photos, but I think it will serve me well. My CameraPhone365 project will begin January 1.

What is CameraPhone365?
Every day, for one full year, take a picture with your cameraphone and post it to your blog.

Where did this idea come from?
The idea for CameraPhone365 came from two places. I had just finished a blogging project, NaBloPoMo (National blog Posting Month), where you write a post on your blog (not necessarily a photoblog, just a regular blog) every day for the month of November. There was no way that I could actually write every single day, but I knew I couldn’t fail if I could just post a photo from my cameraphone on the days that I didn’t have anything to say. A picture is worth a thousand words, right? There was simply no way I was going to miss a post if all I had to do was simply snap a picture and email it to my blog. As far as NaBloPoMo is concerned, it was sort of cheating, but it turned out to be a fun way to blog.

The other source for the idea of CameraPhone365 is Project 365, another project where you post a photo to a blog every day for 365 days. The difference between CameraPhone365 and Project 365 is that in this project, you snap photos with your cameraphone.

Can I do my own CameraPhone365 project?
Heck, yeah. And I hope you do.

What do I need for my own CameraPhone365 project?
You need a mobile telephone that will take pictures and a blog. You will also need some way to get the pictures from your cameraphone to your blog. How you do that is up to you. I am emailing my photos to my flickr account, and using the flogr photoblog software on my website to display the photos. flogr does all the fetching of images for me so the only thing I need to do is email the photos from my phone to my flickr account. This, to me is the simplest way to do it.

Another option for getting your photos from your camera to your blog using flickr is to set up a special flickr email address that will post images to your Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad or other blog. You can get information on how to do that here. I used this method on my regular blog (here’s an example ) and I found that it worked very well.

You don’t have to have a flickr account to do your project. There are other online photo services that can be used, and there’s nothing wrong with skipping the online photo-sharing sites altogether and using the brute force method of downloading the pictures from your phone to your own harddrive, then manually posting the pictures to your blog. Use whatever method works for you. If you need help, send me an email or ask your question in the comments of this post and I’ll do what I can to help.

Do I have to post every single day?
Yes and no. At the end of your project, you should have 365 posts, each containing a photo from your cameraphone. A different picture should be posted to your blog every single day. I think it would be unreasonable, though, to expect everyone to be able to do the actual posting every single day for a year. The one requirement, therefore, is simply to have a different picture posted every day. If you have the time to download your photos and manually post them to your blog every single day, more power to you. If it is easier for you to create multiple posts in a single sitting, then do that. Just remember to have one post for each day of the year by the end of your project.

What about leap years?
On leap years, February 29 is a free day with bonus points if you post anyway.

Can I post more than one picture per day?
Sure.

Do I have to use a cameraphone?
Yes. Otherwise, this would just be another Project 365. The point of CameraPhone365 is to make it a little easier for non-photographers to start and finish the project. Being a photographer myself, I don’t think I’d be able to actually complete a Project 365 unless I could use a camera that I carry with me every minute of every day - that is, my cameraphone.

Why should I do a CameraPhone365 project?

• It gives you a healthy, clear complexion.
• People will like you.
• It’s fun.
• It’s a great way to document your life.

What else do I need to know?
Nothing, really. But, I would like to know about you. If you plan on doing your own Project 365, tell me by emailing me at (cameraphone365 _at_ mikemunhall.com). I want to know if you think this is a good idea and I’d like to see the progress on your blog. I’m toying with idea of creating a website for this project and letting people (like you) register and see the other participants. It could be its own huge mega CameraPhone365 industry one day.

I’ve been photoblogging for nearly nine months now. Here are a few things I’ve learned about blogging photos.

The photoblogging community is huge. The internet, being the wonderful thing that it is, has spawned thousands of photoblogs and hundreds of photoblog communities. Cool Photoblogs, Photoblogs.org, VFXY, and Photo Community are just four of the hundreds of photoblog communities out there. Each of them have hundreds or thousands of photoblogs listed. Finding inspiration is easy by browsing the new photoblogs that are added every day.

There are a lot of bad photographers with popular photoblogs. I’ve learned that the popularity of a photoblog, as rated or listed by a photoblog community website, is not always proportional to the quality of its photographs. Because it is popular, it is always displayed in the most prominent areas of the community websites. The popular photoblog’s high ratings just perpetuate its popularity. Conversely, there are a lot of good photographers with unpopular photoblogs. Legitimately good photoblogs sometimes get buried in the community photoblog websites and are never noticed.

Keeping up is difficult. I think most photobloggers try to post one photo every day. I find this extremely difficult to do without diluting the overall quality of photography on the blog. I’m happy posting three good photos each week and leaving out the four that I’m not truly happy with.

Photoblogging makes you a better photographer. One reason I started my photoblog was to watch the progression of my photography. I want to be able to look back in a year or two and see all the things that have changed, including my style, the subjects I’m interested in shooting, the technique I use to shoot subjects, and the overall quality of the images I produce. Assuming I regularly update my blog means that I’m regularly shooting material. One could only hope that over a year or two I would become a better photographer for my efforts.

Photoblogging is a great way to document your life. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then every picture that I post on my photoblog is like writing a thousand words on my regular blog. When I look back at a photo that I posted nine months ago, I can remember things from the day that I took the photo that I would not remember otherwise. It’s just like keeping a written journal, but in pictures instead of words.

Photoblogs provide a means for getting feedback on your photography. The comments that are left on my photoblog (the very few that are provided) help me greatly when trying to determine what is working and what isn’t. I am constantly surprised by the photos that turn out to be favorites. The photos I like the most are usually the ones that receive the fewest comments, while the ones that I think are borderline acceptable often get the most praise. My only wish is that I got as much honest feedback for the bad photos as I get praise for the good ones.

The photoblog itself is a good reason to get out and take pictures. Occasionally the photoblog itself is motivation enough for getting out to take photos. Without anything else driving me, it would be too easy for me to blow off an evening eating chips and drinking beer. Not that the photoblog is my only motivation for taking pictures, but having the occasional visitor keeps my camera in my hand more often than it would otherwise.

Living in Colorado affords me plenty of opportunities to photograph winter landscapes. The problem with winter landscapes in the mountains, though, is that the temperature can get beyond just cold. Frigid temperatures are a particular problem for me because I lug around an aluminum tripod that practically freezes skin on contact. Here’s an awesome solution I put to the test a few days ago on hike through Red Rocks park. It cost me four bucks.

This is a two-part trick. The first part involves six feet of copper pipe insulation that you can get at Home Depot for less than $2. Simply measure the legs of your tripod, cut pieces of the insulation to the appropriate length and wrap the pieces of insulation around the legs . The insulation comes in different diameters for different size pipes. My tripod legs are one inch in diameter, so the one-inch pipe insulation worked for me. I recommend the kind that is pre-split and has adhesive to connect the sides after you wrap the insulation around the tripod legs. The adhesive will stick a little bit to the aluminum and prevent the insulation for sliding around. Nevertheless, you could save a buck by buying pipe insulation that is not split and then just split it yourself. You’ll just need to use duct tape to keep the insulation from sliding around.

As an added bonus, the pipe insulation is perfect padding for when you want to carry your tripod over your shoulder on hikes. It weighs next to nothing so I plan on keeping it on my tripod permanently.

The second part of this two-part trick is a no-brainer: gloves. I’m a big fan of the $2 pair of cotton gloves that you find in the clearance bins at Walgreen’s every spring. The trick is to find thin gloves that provide enough dexterity to operate your camera in really cold weather. I wear them under my regular winter gloves on really cold days and just take off the winter gloves when I operate my camera. The added bonus of the gloves is that they make good padding for gear in the camera bag when you’re not wearing them on your hands.

Every photographer (or artist of any medium) gets into a creative rut now and then. This trick using Flickr and Flickriver is something I use to get new ideas for photographs. Even if you are not a photographer, Flickriver is a great source for fantastic photographs and I recommend, at the very least, a quick visit just to see some great photos.

First, you’ll need to know what Flickr and Flickriver are. (I’m sure that those of you living on the top side of the rock already know about Flickr): Flickr is a photo sharing website. It’s much more than that, really. But, for the purpose of this post, that’s all you need to know except that to do this trick, you need to have an account with Flickr so you can save your favorite Flickr photos for review later. Flickriver is a really cool website that taps into Flickr to fetch all of the most interesting photos posted there. The photos change each day, and each day there are hundreds of new, interesting photos to see.

Now, for the stupid trick. This trick is so simple (and so stupid) it’s almost not worth writing about it, but here it goes:

1. Go to www.flickriver.com. View the photos.
2. When you see a picture you like, click it to open the original Flickr page with the photo.
3. Hit the “Add to Faves” button. (You’ll need to be logged into Flickr to see the button.)
4. When you’re done browsing Flickriver, jump on over to Flickr and view your favorites.

See? I told you it was simple. Stupid, too. But, when in a creative rut, it’s a great way to glean ideas from great photos and get the creative juices flowing again. It works because there are so many Flickr users posting so many great photos all the time, that there will always be something that appeals to you. Flickriver consolidates all of those interesting photos in place for easy viewing.

Now, to really speed things up, you can use these keyboard shortcuts on Flickriver to move to the next or previous photo and to open the Flickr page containing the photo and the “Add to Faves” button:

• j: Next Photo
• k: Previous Photo
• v: Open Flickr

I really didn’t mean this post to be as much an advertisement for Flickriver. But, I admit, it really is a great use of the Flickr API.

Please allow me to toot my own horn for just a moment.

I’m taking this photography course at BetterPhoto. It’s intended to help you discover what types of subjects you like to photograph. The most recent genre we studied was architecture. Here’s what the course instructor had to see about my submissions for our assignment:

All three of these images are exceptionally well done. The graphic design of the architecture in the Denver Convention Center and the Performing Arts Center is spectacular, and your compositions captured the drama and beauty of these two places. The twilight lighting you used for the convention center is stunning — it makes this building look especially good. The combination of the angles of the structure and your angle of view make this a wonderful shot.

I also like the simple, clever and compelling shot of the green container. The double image is intriguing, like deja vue, and the long shadow and rich texture are good. I like your framing, and I appreciate how meticulous you were in shooting this with all the verticals and horizontals aligned perfectly. That kind of precision comes from your engineering background, I’m sure — or maybe your engineering ability comes from your innate appreciation of precision.

To be honest, I think the images need a little more work so it’s hard for me to say I like them as much as the instructor did. It’s nice to get such a glowing review anyway.

I had been working on a really long post of an analysis of why I haven’t been producing great photos the last few years. The post was centered around a few things that I picked out of this book, On Being a Photographer. I ended up trashing that post because it just wouldn’t come together. I think it was because, while I thought the book made some valid points, I enjoyed reading it more than I actually believed what was being said.

The book has two authors. One is a well-known Magnum photographer. The other isn’t so well-known (but still talented and accomplished). Who the authors are doesn’t matter so much for the purpose of this paragraph. What does matter is that they wrote the book in a style that was very fun to read. The entire book is a conversation between the two authors. They discuss their topics as if the reader is ultimately the audience, but they rarely mention their audience. I’m sure this method has been used before, but it was the first time I had read a book written this way and it helped me get through (very quickly) a book that was, at best, just good.

On Being a Photographer contains not a single photograph or illustration. It is not a technical manual on how to use a camera or how to process images. It is a discussion between the two authors on how to think and act like a photographer. For that reason it is a different kind of book on photography and it is that reason that made it worth reading. If you want to know more, you’ll have to read it. It’s only 160 pages. You’ll get more out of the actual read than you would from a summary from me.

Dorrie and I got a little crazy a couple nights ago and actually went out on a weeknight. Our buddy Dan plays in a band called me llamo rosa and they were playing at the Marquis Theater in Denver on Wednesday night. They were the first of three bands to play that night so they went on early. That worked out really great for me, Dorrie, Nate, Laura and Jen, all old fogies that can hardly stay awake through the nine o’clock news.

We hadn’t seen Dan play, so this was a good opportunity to see the band. Nate also had a plan to do an interview with the band (or at least Dan) for Enfuse and I wanted to shoot some photos if the opportunity arose. (The opportunity did I arise, but since I couldn’t bring my camera into the venue I had to leave it in the car. Nate finally got to do a quick interview with the band outside the venue and by the time I fetched my camera they were just wrapping up so I had only a minute to prepare and fire off a few frames.)

I was thoroughly impressed with the band. More than just thoroughly impressed, actually; I really liked the band. The musicians are talented, the band is tight, and the material is really good. I can’t help but think that these guys are actually going to go somewhere with their music. My only complaint was that the vocalist tended to get a little punk rock with the singing. The screaming was missplaced relative to the rest of the music. When he sang, he sang well and everything grooved.

Anyway, this is an important story because 1) Dorrie and I actually got to see some friends, 2) we stepped outside our comfort zone and did something on a weeknight (Oh, God. We’re old.), and 3) the interview and photographs of the band were good practice for the interview and photography we’ll be sporting for the Nekromantix in May.

Buddy Nate recently landed a gig writing music reviews for Enfuse Magazine. Much to Nate’s pleasant surprise, this gig is turning out to be more than just writing reviews for a cool local art ‘zine; it’s turning out to be a fantastic opportunity to get music for free from all the labels and interview big-name bands as they come through Denver. Nate landed the interview with Nekromatix and was given a couple tickets to the show in May. The cool thing for me is that Nate asked me to photograph the band during the interview (and, during the concert if we get a photo pass). Talk about a hot job. Anyway, we wanted to use the me llamo rosa show as practice for the Nekro show and any other opportunities that come up in the future.

Today, I did it all.

I’ve been struggling recently with the fact that I have so many hobbies and projects that I’ve spread myself very thin and have been having a hard time getting anything finished. Not today. Today I started a project, finished the project and played with two hobbies - ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

It started this morning when I woke up and realized that, for the first time in months, I had nothing that I had to get done. I had no calculus homework, no job-work, no Christmas shopping, parent-sitting, tennis or any other obligations. The day was mine to do what I wanted with it. I considered spending the day shooting photos, cleaning the garage, cleaning the basement, building a new workbench, or finishing a book.

I decided to clean up and rearrange the garage since Dorrie has been unable to park her CRV without having to get in and out to make sure she’s parked all the way inside. Since I just upgraded the PowerBook with an extra 512 Mb of memory, I wanted to test out the memory and the Nikon controller software used automate my camera. What I ended up with after all of this was a time-lapse video (created with iMovie) of the garage-cleaning project. This was a blast to create. I’m going to do another one some time.

Beach in Carmel-By-The-Sea, California

French Beach, along the Juan de Fuca Marine Trail on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.