I recently read an article that stated in 2002, only 57% of Americans read a book. In Canada, a mere 6% of those surveyed said they spend their free time reading. According to a survey done in 1998 by the Department of Canadian Heritage, only 61% of Canadians had read a book in the last twelve months.

Recently, I recommended a book to Lynn, and it occured to me that it might be fun to start a website dedicated to the marriage of literature and photography.

What I have in mind is this:

Photos of people reading
Photos that remind you of a book
(for example, if you snap a shot of an old man yelling out a window to a boy on the street - "You there, Boy - what day is this?")
Photos that were inspired by a book
Photos of books
... etc, etc, etc.

If you like this idea and would like to participate, please send photos to:

artiseverywhere@gmail.com

Once the site is built, it will be here.

Thanks in advance to anyone who participates.

Jay

Zoran's description here:

"Zoran Milich a photojournalist captures daily real life people pictures in black and white on a 6x6 format (square pictures)."

And from Zoran's site, about what he shoots:

"People. And what they create and destroy. I use a 6x6 Yashica 124G. I also shoot with a morphed digital camera Cannon 1DS digicam melded with a 1940s Crown Graphic press camera."

Yeah, I have one of those too.

I'll call you "ZEE"
http://www.zoranmilich.com/zee/

Well, everyone seems to be going interactive! Brandon has a new Wiki and for all the current and future members of the photoblogring there is a new forum where any discussions can be started regarding the webring, as well as a more direct (and accessible to all) way of addressing questions and concerns regarding the ring. It's a bit quiet in there at the moment (and perhaps will be most of the time) but everyone is welcome to pop in!
:-)>

So, we have a Photoblogs Wiki now! I really see a lot of potential here. The wiki will allow the community to maintain a lot of things that I simply can't do on my own. In particular, we can get a To Do list and a FAQ up an running very easily. And I know this can evolve in many unexpected ways as well.

Check it out and let everyone know what you think.

And be sure to thank the nice folks at Revise Media for sponsoring the wiki and giving us the server space.

Plateaux by Markus Schafer is slick! Be sure to look at his shots in the root of his site too.

Lately there has been a burst of activity on Photoblogs.org. This is both very exciting and also a little bit of a concern for me.

As it stands, I am the designer/programmer, tech support, customer support, press contact, business contact, and referee for this site. I've enjoyed being in this multifaceted role, mainly because I'm learning quite a bit and meeting lots of very interesting people.

Lately, though, I've been getting several emails from people who are concerned that I'm not being as responsive as I should be to their needs. I can fully understand their point-of-view... After all, they're right. So now I'm turning to you for advice.

Photoblogs.org isn't a business for me. It's a hobby. It's something that I do in my spare time because I enjoy it. And since this spare time is limited, I'm finding it more and more difficult to keep up with the demands that Photoblogs.org requires of me.

So... What are my options here? Any suggestions?

I don't want to get into the big Digital vs. Film debate, because really, everyone has their preferences. But I wanted to get a better feel for who is shooting with what?

I know a lot of people have ditched ther film cameras to go all digital. And I also know people who have gone from digital to shooting all film.

a) Do you shoot with Digital, Film or Both?
b) Did you get interested in photoblogging because of your digital camera? Did you switch to film afterwards because of it?
c) Which do you prefer?

Personal I like having options and I find you can get different looks and feels depending on if you use digital or film. So I have both a digital and film SLR as well as a variety of other film cameras.

What do you shoot with?

Cheers
Rannie

Does anyone have any idea what to do about other sites ripping off your work? I got an email a few minutes ago telling me that sithlords.hu (recently registered at photoblogs.org under the member name of everyesno) has used one of my images for their July 7th entry. My image can be seen here.

I've emailed them and told them they're in violation of my copyright but any other suggestions as to how to deal with the pilfering scumbag(s) would be gratefully received.

Here's what I can tell you about Paris:

* It is very easy to be a photographer here.
* Especially so as a film photographer. There are really, really good shops literally all over the place that specialize in just film and paper. The good stuff, in the cooler. I want for nothing.
* The public use of cameras is extremely common here (thanks to tourism), so it's impossible to tell who's doing it "for real" and who's just taking snaps for grandma back home. This makes street photography (of all kinds) an incredibly less invasive process. Stealth is good. No one flinches when you bring out the 80-200mm f/2.8. They've seen it all before.
* Spéos, the school, has been one of the biggest disappointments in my life. I highly recommend you save your money if you were planning on going there. The faculty consists of hostile professional photographers who clearly think they have better things to do than teach photography. It's bad enough that I'm dropping out and swallowing the cost of the course because it's such a stressful place to be.

So to summarize: Paris has been good to me, school has not. My approach as a photographer has been to treat the city as I would any other large metro environment, in an effort to capture a side of the city I think most outsiders don't know about and also to avoid the clichés that are so, so easy to fall into here. I promise I won't be posting any pictures of the Eiffel Tower ;o)

Also, if any fellow photobloggers are going to be here over the next two months, I'd love to get together to talk photography and speak some English.

Yes, I know that this site is currently number one with a bullet on the Hot list but I want to spotlight it anyway. I wish there was a way to contact Ryan or leave comments on his site, but instead I'll do this
Great photos, nice design, and as a bonus features pictures of people in my home town (some of whom I recognize) as taken by a visitor from Detroit.

Ryan, are you out there?

The Snowsuit Effort
http://snowsuit.net