A Year in Trees

It's a bit more than a year, but you get the idea. I did not realize that trees were playing such a central role in my photographs until I started to photograph trees themselves with all their unusual shapes, textures and colors.

In each of these photographs, trees play a central role in the composition. The trees are either the main subject or they frame the photograph. In several cases, the trees create balance and perspective.

This collection of tree photographs spans 4 countries (Brazil, Chile, Mexico and the United States) and two states in the US, California and New Mexico.

I hope you enjoy the tour.
Radzfoto

Using the work of others to build something better

From Schmap selections

From Schmap selections

Recently I received a request for the use of a couple of my photographs (above) from an online mapping and travel guide company called Schmap. This company searches the photo sharing website Flickr for photographs that they like and then ask the owners for permission to use them as part of their online service. As an amateur photographer, I was flattered to receive the requests and I immediately gave them permission to use my images.

When I told my friends and family about this, almost everyone asked: "Are they paying you?" It never occurred to me to ask for money. I was simply pleased that more people would get to enjoy the two photos that they selected. This question made me think about the fundamental idea behind Creative Commons which is to offer a flexibile licensing structure so that others can build on your work. All of my photographs and all the content in this blog are marked as "Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License".

I realize that Schmap may make some money from the use of my photographs. I am happy for them to do that. Some photographers may be angry that the "value" of the photograph is somehow lessened by us amateurs. But I think that photography is going through a dramatic shift from "profession" to "vocation", not unlike what blogging is doing to the mainstream press. This does not mean that professional photographers will disappear. There will still be a place for professionals who are hired to shoot events, models and specific assignments. However, many photographic requirements will be satisfied through the self-organized content on the Internet.

A couple of months ago, I saw a video presentation on ted.com by Clay Shirky entitled Institutions vs. collaboration (see the video here) that specifically addresses the social transition from institution to collaboration. He argues that certain tasks are being done through strong communication tools such as cell phones and the Internet that allow groups of people to self-organize and for others to benefit from this type of self-organization in ways that the individual contributors don't even realize. He describes the use of "tags" for photographs in Flickr and how they help organize searches for photographic content. In my particular case, Schmap was looking for specific content for their travel guides and searched the images that individuals had uploaded to Flickr.

Mr. Shirky does not apply a value judgement to this transition. He merely describes a societal process that is occurring. For me, it is enough to know that my photographs are now published and that others will enjoy them or that they will be useful. I know many amateur photographers from my youth before the Internet and before digital cameras that have large collections of negatives, slides and prints sitting in boxes. It is impractical to scan large quantities of photographs, so they just scan a small number. But, in my case, Schmap selected photographs that would not necessarily have been my first choice. The ability to search through a large collection with the use of tags provides a new way to view and use photographs that was not possible before. Schmap is building a business around that concept.

I hope that others find ways to use my photographic efforts to build bigger and better things.

Radzfoto