It’s not a matter of If, but When…
Apologies for a tech comment here, but since we’re all captives of these computers, it seems appropriate to post a remind to BACK UP YOUR DATA. I’m a freak about it, as anyone knows. I got famous for this bizarre Wall of Drives photo that I shot in my living room, before I broke down and wrote the (second mortgage) check for that Apple XServe.
So now, I am a “back up your data” freak. But what happened to me this past Friday night, right before Labor Day Weekend, was unique, and for some reason I never considered it could happen: my Startup Drive crashed. That’s the drive with your Applications, and your System, and your Desktop, and your ITunes on it. I make a policy to never really store anything on that drive — I always store jobs on the XServe or on these LaCie RAID 5’s that I keep. Now, it seems idiotic that I thought that way, but somehow I thought the StartupDrive was immune to problems. (To my credit, I did backup my Documents and my Pictures folder regularly).
So anyway, I started up my main Photoshop machine on Friday morning, and it booted, but then shut down, (it made a weird click sound from inside the G5 tower box, and then powered down), during the startup process. I tried to boot from the CD but got a Kernel Panic. So I made an appointment to the Apple Store for Saturday morning. The nice guy there shook his head, and in that somber voice, says, “I hope you had it backed up; I’d go and buy a new Western Digital and get started reinstalling”.
Before I bought a new drive and surrendered, I thought to run DiskUtility on the failed drive, and it came up as a total failure, in bold red type. I swear there was even funeral music coming out of the machine during that point. As a last ditch effort, before I chucked it, I ran DiskWarrior on it, and amazingly, IT SAVED THE DRIVE, and I quickly double backed up everything.
SO…. Repeat after me: “I will go to the Apple Store and buy that Time Machine thing, and I promise to install it”. Imagine having to go back and reinstall all those Applications, and rebuild and tweak all those Preferences. And then promise to use Backup Software EVERY SINGLE DAY. You can set it to auto-start, and run once a day, or twice a day, or whatever you want. It will run itself, once you set it up the first time. Please don’t feel what I felt on Friday morning — realizing the boot drive was dead, and wondering how many precious and time-consuming files I’d lost.
Here are links to have in your back pocket:
Tiny bus-powered GTech drives.
If you’re really bold, LaCie RAID.
If you’re out of control, XServe RAID.
And this does not only apply to photographers, with gigs of information. Ironically, yesterday, a friend called me in the car, and said that his friend’s Dell had died on him, and it contained all of his digital family photographs. Imagine LOSING THAT! He had only that one copy, on that one drive; no back-ups. Don’t let this happen to you. Yes, it’s not sexy, and yes, it’s a drag, but losing your family photos would be a horrible thing.
Arne Svenson: Forensic Heads
Interesting concept. Snip quoted from Julie Saul gallery: The current project which has occupied Svenson for several years is the recording of sculptural forensic heads, constructed by master forensic model makers in which he somehow brings life back to these forgotten victims.
Matt Mahurin: Candid, honest interview
I’ve followed his work for years. He’s a true master in my eyes. Here is a good interview, and even though it’s from 2005, it still holds true today.
Here’s a snippet:
“Then after I made the movie, I chucked everything. That’s when my whole life changed. I got married, I got sober, I got life insurance, I got a mortgage, I got car payments, and my life got better. Those things weren’t even on my radar when I first started becoming an artist. I was just this wildly ambitious workaholic nutjob running around. But life changes, you know? I basically got rid of everything. I got rid of my penthouse apartment, I got rid of my studio in the Village. I went out and bought the house that my grandfather built on the beach, and just refocused my life. I’m 46 years old now, and I started from the bottom again. You let go of all those trappings, that accoutrement of success– flying first class, dealing with all these rock stars, staying in cool hotels– and then all the sudden you’re back filling out your own FedEx forms, balancing your own checkbook. But I realized the only door left for me to walk through had the word “asshole” written on it.”
Read the full interview in “Tastes Like Chicken”
Recent project for Jack Daniels
We just finished another Squires project for Jack Daniels, shot August 11-15th. As usual, we chose the hottest week of the entire year. Thank goodness there’s a small swimming pool at the luxurious Lynchburg Country Inn, for a beer and a swim at the end of the day, (to wash off the ticks and chiggers).
Here is a quickie video of the barnstormer flying over us:
Anyway, here are some Outtakes and some Crew Shots from the project:
(In order, below):
1. Creative Director Nelson Eddy hung by the neck, on the spirit tree near the old Dan Call house.
2. Art Director Jeff Porter located an old cropduster plane, and the pilot gave us all crewcuts as she blew over us. She made about fifteen-twenty runs before we ran out of light.
3. Photo Assistant Joel Hood standing in for a polaroid for Ron, one of the Jack Daniels tour guides. This is in the Old Cave, which is now closed to the public, (ever since the lawyers went down there).
4. Assistants Joel Hood, Casey Brooks, and stylist Shannan Shepard trying to dodge Rodney Irvin, as he dove off the Rope Swing, off Kitchen Hollow Road.
5. Assistant Derrick Hood sits in for a Polaroid inside the Old Cave.
6. Parking Earl’s tractor out in front of The Iron Kettle, (where we ate breakfast every morning).
7. A Mennonite family, trying to watch the same five snakes that we were trying to watch. It was a hot day, and the snakes were out everywhere, lying on the flat rock. Falls Mill, in Belvedere, Tennessee.
8. Abandoned swimming pool at the old Dan Call house. Almost surreal to see an in-ground pool there.
9. Fog on the river, during a rainstorm, heading back to Lynchburg.
10. AD Jeff Porter located an old hunting cabin, somewhere so far in the country that I could never find it again. It’s bizarre to be looking through the camera viewfinder, looking at snow, when you’re shooting half-naked and it’s 95 degrees.
Also, here are some final chapters from prior years’ work:
Obama Poster download, for you to print
I kept looking on ebay for large Obama posters for my yard, but never ordered one. Either they were sold out, or the type was too funky for even my taste. So I started Googling “digital downloads Obama yard sign”, and finally found this fellow in Louisville, Kentucky that had three images. The idea is to download the file and then print it out on your own printer. I downloaded one of them, rezzed it WAY up, and did some really quick (read: bad) blurring of the background, to get his face to pop more, and then printed it out on my 44″ Epson printer. It’s now on my front porch, for every car and pedestrian to see. I also altered the image (with the owner’s written permission), and added Biden’s name to the bottom, to update it.
I tried watching the convention last night, but the “made for TV-ness” and the whole Pelosi-deer-in-headlights-as-she-reads-teleprompter thing just made me almost turn it off. The only two genuine moments of the night were Ted Kennedy and the Obama children. I am about as anti-tobacco as they come, but I was missing those old B/W TV conventions, with the nutty people all hyped up on caffeine and nicotine, waving signs and smoking cigarettes. This current version is way too Olympics/choreographed for me.
Anyway, I am sticking this Obama poster on my server for you to download. If you want, open it in Photoshop and rezz it back down. Click below:
JPG of Obama poster, 42″ high (zipped).
And here is the original page from the fellow in Louisville:
Caleb Charland
I like the humor and Sanford and Son quality in this guy’s work. I’ll bet a visit to his studio would be fun. Nothing better than matches and time exposures.
(found via laurel ptak blog).
Michael Kenna, all in one place
I stumbled on this one page that appears to be every single photograph that Michael Kenna ever shot. But as you scroll down, you can feel the immense catalogue of imagery that this guy has accumulated.
http://trinixy.ru/michael_kenna.html
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