K.Haveman Photography

Shoot to…. Unflatter?

The internet is angry again, this time over Team USA Olympic athlete photos shot by Joe Klamar.

The set of photos showing some of the United States finest athletes showcases dubious lighting, odd posing and a complete lack of attention to detail. The question is why?

The photographer, Klamar is no amateur. A google search of his name seems to show that portraits may not be what he normally shoots but certainly he has an established career.   No trained eye, as Klamar’s must be would find these acceptable.

Some sources have speculated that perhaps it is an editorialized view of the athletes as less then perfect. After all, even a novice photoshopper should be capable of fixing many of the problems in this set. 

If this was so or if it was a joke as others have wondered who is pulling the strings? Klamar, CBS who posted the photos, the Olympic committee themselves? For any of them it seems an odd message for those who make money off of the event, (Hey these athletes aren’t that great, tune in.)

My guess, forget the deep message and think more publicity stunt. What a way to get people talking and to get US citizens feeling all patriotic and demanding that their people deserve to be shown better.

Whatever happened here we are certainly talking about the Olympics now, aren’t we?

For the full set visit here.

Back up and be Secure

If only we had a super hero like Buzz Lightyear to take care of all our worries.

When you decide to become a photographer there is a lot more to think of then just which camera to buy and how the heck do I make Photoshop work. There’s insurance, contracts, model releases, advertising, profitability and amongst more an often over-looked one, computer security.

My boyfriend works as a computer technician and the amount of days he comes home and says;

“A photographer came in panicked, all their files are on the system and it’s not working,” is simply astounding.

We all know we should back up, but many of us don’t until that devastating moment when a technician says;

“Your files are gone.”

If your a wedding photographer and you have clients photos as yet undelivered we just entered lawsuit territory but even without that any client is not going to be pleased.

More than just backing up to a separate drive/dvd we also need to be looking at how safely we run our systems. There are viruses, malware and spyware that will turn your system into a paper weight faster than you can download a memory card. 

I know some of you just climbed up onto your horse, puffed up your chest and said “I use a mac, we don’t get viruses.”

Well, before you ride off into the sunset  hold on for second.  Yes, your chances of becoming infected on a mac are slim. The OSX kernel is built on UNIX which has it’s own secure features that don’t leave it as vulnerable as our Windows brothers.  However macs have been exploited through java vulnerabilities and through word for mac 2004 and 2008 and versions. You can also unknowingly install trojans and phishing software yourself. If you’ve ever download software from a less than reputable place (and you guys know what I mean) you are opening the door to infection.  Yes, you are unlikely to be infected but never say never.

We need to be aware of the chances we take online and how they can come back to bite us in the rump. CBC published an article today about undetectable viruses. While the article talks mostly about a targeted attack that would not likely affect us there is new malicious code written all the time that your antivirus will not pick up.

Near the end of that article cyber-security expert Brian Bourne says he doesn’t like to  blame users. However we do have to take some credit. Whenever you go online you should treat it as though you just walked out the front door of your house. You take security measures for you and your belongings every time you go outside, we should be treating our voyages online the same way. The OS and program writers are like the police they are responsible for keeping us safe and doing all they can towards that but they can’t fill every gap.

In short, be sure to back up and to exercise responsible web habits. If you are on a Linux or Mac system yes, you are more protected but systems still fail which could result in you losing something important.

So easy to steal but so hard to live down

Stealing photos is nothing new in the online era but it doesn’t make creators of art any less angry.

Lately the internet has exploded with the story of a photographer taken down through social media after claiming someone’s photographs as their own. See this here.

Well a new case came across my facebook this morning, even more shocking because of the fact that they appear to be a professional company. The worst part though, was their reaction.

When photographer John De Bord found his photo on a cd cover put out by Aurel Productions I can imagine he was rather shocked as according to him he hadn’t given them permission.

Now, when this kind of thing happens the creative community tends to band together to get their displeasure known. Sometimes maybe prematurely, as we never know a company could have purchased a photo from a thief and not even be aware that they are dealing with “hot goods.”

However Aurel Productions took the distaste a step further when they responded to a supporter of De Bord using profanity and name calling, although they first did say the image was taken down. See the response here, but I warn you foul language involved.

For a company who is clearly in the wrong, either by their own hand or another this response is ridiculous and condemnable. 

I myself left a post on their facebook saying that their response showed they had no professional side. Withing moments I had received a reply saying I had no sides and good riddance.  It seems my post as well as others have been deleted and the page is now closed for commenting.

This will be hard one for this company to live down and much face could have been saved by at least being respectful right off the hop.

In today’s online world, stolen will work will be found. Respect copyright.