Spreading confusion over the internet since 1994
Oak Park, Illinois. Too lazy to look up who the sculptor is.
Photo taken December 23rd, 2019, and processed in my digital darkroom October 31st, 2022.
An animated GIF created in Photoshop CS6, with photographs from Hipstamatic’s new “burst” option.1
Early-Morning-El.gif
Proof of Your Privilege
An alley I’ve photographed before methinks, but not with about six inches of snow covering.
Hipstamatic snapshot, using the Florence Lens, and BlacKeys Extra Fine Film
Currently #323 in Flickr Explore for December 12th, 2013.
You were talking in your sleep
Snow, Fulton Market, West Loop, Chicago.
Hipstamatic snapshot, using the Florence Lens and BlacKeys Extra Fine film.
Currently #252 in Flickr Explore for December 8, 2013.
I thought last month’s total was light, but I only worked on 51 images in April, probably my least productive month in a long, long time. Although, two of these made Flickr Explore…
Flickr: Archive of your uploads to Flickr in April 2013.
I was fighting off a few illnesses1, plus my birthday, plus general slackitude. C’est la vie.
Without additional blah-blah, here are my personal favorites processed in April, 2013.
Constitution of the United States
Hail To The Thief Redux
Byrrh
I have only had this once, at the bar at Arami while waiting for my table. I’m going to find a bottle of my own eventually.
Drink to the Men Who Protect You and I
While Your Traces Disappear
I’ve mentioned this photo before. I made myself a 16″ x 20″ print mounted on bamboo from The Darkroom. Turned out nice.
Peel Back the Sky
Your Arms Were Shaking
I wonder how many photos of the West Loop at sunset I’ve taken? A lot, I’m sure.
My first ever Vesper
James Bond doesn’t have the best taste in cocktails. Martinis should really be shaken, not stirred, so he got that right, but vodka and martini are two words that should never be joined in the same sentence.
Each Has His Burden
Lovely white birch in front of the lovely Bahá’í Temple in Wilmette.
We Have Never Been Very Pure
Manhattan Beach, LA. I’ve mentioned this photo before. I should make a print of it too.
Feel of rain in the face
Manhattan Beach, LA.
Birthday Pie
I wasn’t kidding, I did have a birthday this month. Cherry pie, of course.
Pinhole Self Portrait Circa 1994 I scanned this recently, unfortunately, the print is fairly damaged. Some friend of a friend who was a grad student at the ARTIC back in the mid-90s built the pinhole out of a coffee can, and brought a flash. I just posed.
Trust In Your Calling
Science Won’t Change You
Take A Walk Through The Land of Shadows
An Approximation of the Anticipation
A Harmony Not Rarefied
While Your Traces Disappear
Cool! Another photo has made it into Flickr Explore, and with even more favorites than the last photo got. I take and process photos every day, or attempt to, and I always do the best I can to transform the images into art. But prior to these two photos making Explore, I hadn’t been selected since April 2012. I realize the Explore algorithm is mostly computerized, and that there is an element of chance in making the cut – but still. Odd. And nice.
Funny, as I only sort of randomly selected this photo of the CTA tracks near Graceland Cemetery as a means to test new perspective tools in the Lightroom 5 Beta, and then tweaked the image a bit using the Google Silver Efex Pro plugin. The subject is a bit of cliché to tell the truth – high contrast black and white image of shadow perspectives, yadda yadda. I’ve taken many similar photos that didn’t get so much appreciation from Flickreenos. Still, I am happy with how this one turned out…
Click here for an embiggened version.
Or here to purchase a print for your own wall.
We Have Never Been Very Pure
Click here to view larger on black.
Venice Beach, last February.
Hasn’t happened in a while, but this photo made it into Flickr Explore April 9th1, reaching into the lower 200s. Funny, I spent less than ten minutes processing it in Photoshop (tweaking the contrast, cropping, then converting into black and white), and yet it became a hit. Go figure. There isn’t a prize or anything, just satisfaction in knowing that this photo is popular with the masses, and humbling, when you look at all the other great photos also contained in that day’s batch. I would not say each of those photos are my favorites as well, but a great number are super images.
I do like my own photo, don’t get me wrong. And in fact, I like it better viewed at a larger size.
Shameless hucksterism, prints are available for purchase.
I don’t have a clever story as to the photo’s title: probably a willful mishearing of a song lyric or something. Titles are a challenge, as we’ve discussed before.
Footnotes:
Need the Time to Stay Behind, originally uploaded by swanksalot.
Another view of the Lake Street El tracks
Currently number 393 in Flickr Explore.
Click the image to “embiggen”
Continuing a tradition: these are my 24 (!) personal favorites, all developed in my digital darkroom last month. In no particular order…
/ Posted in / 2012 / April (122 items)
(click here to see more Flickr: Archive of your uploads to Flickr in April 2012.)
And yeah, I have too many favorites this month. A good problem, but a problem nonetheless.
Where Did All The Blue Skies Go
Waiting for the Seed To Sprout
Golden Plowshares
Waiting for A Friend
The former USPS building, still not being developed.
River City and Van Buren Street Bridge
Washing the Trump
Don’t Reveal a Thing You’ve Learned
April 18th Blues
Franklin Street Bridge at Night
This one made it to Flickr Explore. Taken from the Holiday Inn at Wolf Point – my folks were in town for the night on their way to Italy for three weeks.
Wounded In The Line of Duty
Little Tramp
London.
Eyeing John Marshall Law School
Word Gets Around Eventually
World Weary – Copper Blue
World Weary – Red Bleach
World Weary – Duotoned
London Towers
Someone To Tell Your Troubles To
Suspicions
Painted Trees Overlooking LSD
Wherever I Lay My Head
Mysterious Language of Lines and Circles
Coach Has Arrived
Waiting For Air Traffic Control
Slide show version here
(Last month’s edition)
Without preamble (if you want explanation, check December’s children), here are my favorite twelve photos from February. There were 133 to choose from.
Via Flickr: Archive of your uploads to Flickr in February 2012.)
Help Me Make It Through The Night
Tell Me Why You Hurry So?
And I Still Do Not Know What It Was That I’ve Done Wrong
Secret Meanings
The Wind is Still
Good morning West Loop
Waiting For My Connection Back To You
Midwest Generation Fisk Station
I Know What You Are Remembering
Into A Single Thought
And If You Cross Your Fingers
Sugar Maple
Honorable mention goes to:
Snow Day!
Amusingly, this iPhone snapshot I took yesterday 1 made it into Flickr Explore, currently ranking #163. [Update: later this same day, now ranked at #24!!] Still don’t quite understand the Explore algorithm, as I’ve taken this exact photo dozens of times, or more, but this particular one resonated. I’m just happy it snowed finally.
What is Explore?
Explore is a Flickr feature with the intent of showing you “some of the most awesome photos on Flickr.” Photos are automatically selected by computer according to a secret algorithm called Interestingness (see below for more about that).
Is Explore a showcase for the top Flickr photographers?
No. It’s for photo viewers, not the photographers. It exists so that, at any moment, anyone who wants to view interesting photos can go to Explore and have a reasonable chance of seeing something interesting. Does that imply that photographs not in Explore are uninteresting? Of course not. There are many, many wonderful photos uploaded to Flickr each day that aren’t selected for Explore. But to serve its purpose, Explore only has to include a small sampling of all of the photos on Flickr (currently at 500 per day or about 0.005% of the daily upload volume). And Explore tries to show photos from as many different people as possible to create a diverse selection.
Explore is for the viewers. It’s a way for Flickr to show the world a sampling of what is being shared there. It’s there for those who are new to Flickr, who are lost in the vastness of it all and don’t know where to begin. It is not a “best of” listing of photographers. It is not a popularity contest.
What is Interestingness?
Interestingness is what Flickr calls the criteria used for selecting which photos are shown in Explore. All photos are given an Interestingness “score” that can also be used to sort any image search on Flickr. The top 500 photos ranked by Interestingness are shown in Explore. Interestingness rankings are calculated automatically by a secret computer algorithm. The algorithm is often referred to by name as the Interestingness algorithm. Although the algorithm is secret, Flickr has stated that many factors go into calculating Interestingness including: a photo’s tags, how many groups the photo is in, views, favorites, where click-throughs are coming from, who comments on a photo and when, and more. The velocity of any of those components is a key factor. For example, getting 20 comments in an hour counts much higher than getting 20 comments in a week.
(click here to continue reading Frequently Asked Questions.)
Flickr even owns a patent on Interestingness, aka Interestingness ranking of media objects.
According to BigHugeLabs, I’ve had 104 photos that made Explore (though some dropped out later), but who is keeping track! ahem…
Thanks, Flickr!
Footnotes:
Better viewed in Lightbox, of course.
under the Brown/Purple Line CTA tracks, River North. I realize I have hundreds of shots just like this, but love how the distant lines of the CTA tracks converge, especially in a black and white photograph.
Some guy in a beret, walking past an alley in downtown Chicago. Tri-X 400, in emulation, via Alien Skin.
Near Buckingham Palace, on Constitution Road1, in the middle of a fairly hard rain. We were huddled underneath an old, big tree, waiting for the rain to subside, when these ladies whizzed by on a bicycle, laughing hysterically. I was mad at myself that I didn’t get a chance to focus properly, but conversion to black and white (TRI-X 400 emulation) captured the essence of the moment.
Footnotes: