US States That I Have Visited

create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

Better Flickr Photostream View Info

So you're addicted to Flickr and obsessed with knowing how many people have been viewing your pictures. Well, addicted and obsessed may be a bit extreme but it's still nice information to know. If you're running Firefox and you have Greasemonkey installed you're in luck.

Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension allowing for the customization of certain web pages to enhance their look and function. Tons of pre-canned scripts are available and easily installed into Greasemonkey to quickly transform sites with little or no user configuration. One such script called Photostream Graphr adds a little graph to the top of your Flickr home page to show you cumulative daily, up to the minute photo stream views. Over the course of a month you will see the daily trend develop in a graphed form. Mine can be seen as a squiggly pink line with a blue dot and the number 91 in the top right of the photo below...

Since I've just installed the Photostream Graphr on a new machine it's just starting to collect data but over time I should see trends on more of a monthly level. For an example of a Photostream Graphr with more data check out the post on Flickr here. I think the graph image has been updated in the most recent version but you should get the idea.

Links to the above mentioned software:

Firefox
Greasemonkey
Photostream Graphr

my Flickr pictures

Continental

continental_weeds, originally uploaded by thebandcontinental.

Continental is a post-rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area. I saw them once open for Do Make Say Think at the Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. If you're into that instrumental, indie sound you owe it to yourself to check them out. More details at their site here.

[murmur] San Jose

i saw one of these the other day in san jose, ca
and here's more from the site...

Explore [murmur]:

1. Go for a walk: bring your mobile phone, and head for the red dots on the map.
2. Find the green ear, and call the number on it.
3. Enter the code on the sign to hear people's stories about the place where you're standing.

[murmur] is a documentary oral history project that records stories and memories told about specific geographic locations. We collect and make accessible people's personal histories and anecdotes about the places in their neighborhoods that are important to them. In each of these locations we install a [murmur] sign with a telephone number on it that anyone can call with a mobile phone to listen to that story while standing in that exact spot, and engaging in the physical experience of being right where the story takes place. Some stories suggest that the listener walk around, following a certain path through a place, while others allow a person to wander with both their feet and their gaze.

602553: Jackson & 5th St
San Jose, CA

sanjose.murmur.info

additional coverage on Galding - A Travelers Weblog

muji journals

muji journals, originally uploaded by cjw333.

moleskin-like journals
from muji
tokyo, japan

Dusty Image Sensor

[dust seen at the top right]

I recently noticed that I somehow got dust on the image sensor of my Canon XTI so I had to figure out a way to take care of the situation. Being relatively new to the DSLR world I knew that I had some research to do so I could figure out how to remedy the situation. This meant a search around the net and a trip to a few local stores.

The first trip was to Keeble & Shuchat 290 Store in Palo Alto where a clean would take a few days. Unfortunately I don't remember the price but they were very helpful giving me tips on how I might try to take care of the problem myself. A quick tutorial on wet and dry methods along with the possibility of blowing the dust off of the sensor sent me over to the 261 store across the street. I was able to get some additional tips, saw some of the tool options and walked out with a blower for about $12.

The blower didn't help so next I was off to Kamera Korner in San Jose to see what they had. The first suggestion was for a cleaning service which would take a few days and put me out $65. I ended up with a bottle of Eclipse Optic Cleaning System for about $10 and two swabs for $8 each. After a bit more research I'm going to give this a shot.


Dust Cleaning Resources

- Sensor Cleaning Test a Flickr Set
- Google search for dslr image sensor dust
- Dust Removal Review from Pixinfo
- Cleaning Your Sensor by Thom Hogan (focused on Nikon cameras)
- Demystifying D-SLR Sensor Cleaning from cleaningdigitalcameras.com
- Sensor Cleaning Google Search

My Mobile Photography Setup

I recently purchased a Lowepro SlingShot 200 AW for my Canon XTI and I've found that it's a great bag to store my stuff. There are lots of pockets and the main compartment is customizable to accommodate many different camera/lens configurations. The sling style is comfortable and convenient but for some reason I haven't fully embraced this bag and I don't seem to use it when I'm out and about. Instead I have started using the following setup which is kind of a hack but it works well for me and is relatively versatile.




Case Logic SLR Camera Holster (SKU-SLRC-1) is the main compartment for my camera and works well with the XTI kit lens or my 50mm 1.8. This bag slips into my main bag...





REI Transit Day Bag
which holds the case logic, an extra lens, some accessories and various other things with room to spare. All of my gear is easily accessible and the bag itself seems to be pretty comfortable even when loaded. I also like the fact that it doesn't look like a camera bag. I'll have to see if this setup will remain my primary as my lens collection grows along with my gear but for now, this seems to be my best option.

Metros That I Have Been On

I came across this site in a Flickr thread here which lets you select the metros from around the world that you have been on. The icons above represent my list. You can make your own at b3co.com!

MWS & DB

I took this during a work trip to Sydney, Australia and I didn't think much of it at the time. The shot was just to fulfill one of my many photographic collections, in this case, that of manholes.

Months later I received an e-mail from someone claiming to be from Lonely Planet, the travel book people. They were interested in using my photo for an upcoming book on Sydney. At first read I thought the e-mail was a scam but decided to reply just in case. As it turns out, it was legit. This shot can now be found on page 69
of the Lonely Planet book Sydney Citiescape

step 8

step 8, originally uploaded by cjw333.

step 8: tack color, remove shorts, rejuvenate once
that just seems a bit wrong