ken zirkel

NPR’s program “On the Media” has a great piece about portrait photographers and journalistic ethics. They interview some of my favorite portrait photographers including Jill Greenberg, Platon and Martin Schoeller. The basic point of the piece, I think, is how the subjectivity of artistic portraiture — which necessarily reflects the photographer’s own point-of-view — [...]

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I used to own a Widelux panoramic camera. I bought one in the early 1990’s, then sold it when I got a digital camera (and, truth be told, I was unemployed and needed the money). I don’t really miss it much; scanning the film was such a pain, and you can of course approximate [...]

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Years ago I read an essay by novelist John Irving, in which he suggested that talent is overrated. That is, hard work can overcome a lack of inherent talent.
I do believe that to be the case, and it was fascinating to come across a recent essay by Malcolm Gladwell that essentially expands on this idea. [...]

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Pictured is me in my night riding gear. I like to be as bright as possible on the road at night.

Double spotlight on front handlebars (unfortunately, only one works at the moment)
Three Hokeyspokes on the front wheel
Christmas Light set around the main triangle
Reflective safety vest
Rear blinky lights on helmet, seatpost, and vest

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This reminds me so much of 1992. That one, was the first time Democrats had won the White House since I was of voting age. This one is sweeter because the victory is more transparent — no third party candidates (ie, Perot), Obama got a clear majority, not a plurality. And because Obama may have [...]

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I don’t understand why so many places went for touch screens. Paper ballots have proven themselves as reliable mainstays in much of New England. They can be machine counted, hand counted, and recounted as necessary. They are pretty intuitive and easy to use.

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