Shankbone

Wikipedia photos to be deleted

David Shankbone — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 03:20:18 +0000

It’s hard to remember, but in 2006 Wikipedia had just said copyrighted photos–like publicity shots and film stills–couldn’t be used. This was a huge deal and caused a lot of bitterness. People were angry. Senior editors walked off.

Times change: today, no respectable editor would argue for the wanton use of copyrighted images (there are a few ‘certain circumstances’).

Back in the day, I uploaded images to Wikipedia that lacked the basic standards of information. In 2006, you didn’t need to justify the work’s import nor its origin. The rules were fast, loose and ever-changing.

A small subgroup of my Creative Commons photos were uploaded in that era. They may now be deleted.

They are no loss. In 2006 I was shooting with a Fuji 1.3px point-n-shoot. But also included were my crappiest-but-favorite uploads from 2002, Cuba and Imitation of Christ.

So here are two Creative Commons 3.0 licensed photos to be deleted from Wikipedia. These photos are no loss for the encyclopedia. They are unremarkable and low quality. But they are personal favorites because of what they symbolize in my photographic and personal development.

I decided to clean them up a little, so I give you the original, and the cleaned-up version I would have uploaded today:

The original above is of Cayo Levisa, a private island where Ernest Hemingway used to fish off the coast of western Cuba in Pinar del Rio. There are only 20 bungalows to rent on the entire island. It’s unspoiled in a way that I know that once the American travel embargo is lifted that it will never be the same. Unfortunately, this is the best my low-res 2002 digicam took. Below is my 2010 improvement of it:

This photo below was one of my street shots of the recycle hounds that gather around the Key Food recycling center where they get cash for their deposits. There are people who make their livings by walking the streets of New York looking for discarded aluminum cans and bottles. These people usually fall into two categories (based upon my observation over 10 years): Asian immigrants and long-term homeless people who might be better classified as “independent spirits”. This was my 2006 attempt to capture them:

And here is how I would have uploaded the same shot today:

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NYC Wedding March – September 26, 2010

David Shankbone — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:12:09 +0000

Poster on 57th and 9th Avenue:

The 7th NYC Wedding March, September 26 @12pm in Foley Square. www.meny.us/march

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Joaquin Phoenix is a poser

David Shankbone — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 23:07:59 +0000

Corner of 57th and 9th Avenue. Notice the bird coming out of “Joaquian Phoeniox”‘s brain.

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Flushing Meadow Corona Park skate park

David Shankbone — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:11:44 +0000

After reading the New York Times article about the new skate park in Queens at Corona Park, I invited my nephews up to try it out. Verdict: they loved it. They had scooters, which is bigger in New Jersey than New York (a skateboarding city). According to the Times, the City is trying to become the international center of the fast-growing sport. They have been on a construction spree of skate parks (here’s a list). The Corona Park one, however, was designed with skaterboarders and is judged to be the best for them in the city. Scooters will still have fun at CP, but the park is really designed for skateboards.

Here are some Creative Commons shots (taken with my cameraphone):

The world-famous Unisphere from the 1964 World’s Fair.

The skate park

Matthew and Richard look on as Joseph jumps the stairs on his scooter.

Queens Theatre.

Exhausted on the subway from a day of scootering.

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East Village Park and Williamsburg Bridge photos

David Shankbone — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:34:48 +0000

It was a beautiful day in New York yesterday, perfect late August: 85 degrees and sunny, with a slight sea breeze.

I took Little Man to my favorite park in New York: East River Park. I love it because is in my neighborhood, and it’s rarely crowded so there are a lot of places Little Man can play and roll around in the grass. The City has been paying a lot of attention to the waterfront of the New Yorkest of rivers, the East River. The views of Brooklyn from the new esplanade are incredible, and the Williamsburg Bridge stretches over my end of the park.

I used my much-loathed Samsung Memoir cameraphone, which was able to produce a few good shots.

These are all licensed Creative Commons 3.0 attribution:

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100 People I Photographed for the Creative Commons

David Shankbone — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 22:51:16 +0000

Back in the summer of 2006 I set out on a project to create a body of high-resolution photography that allowed the public to use it, even alter it, without my permission.

I initially hosted this project at Wikipedia, because back then very few articles had photographs for a lack of freely-licensed imagery. I also wholeheartedly supported what they were doing at Wikimedia and still do. I wanted to contribute. So I focused on what I considered the most difficult subject to illustrate: biographies. Photos of famous people. Not only actors and athletes, but also politicians, poets, presidents, porn stars; nobody was off limits. Within four years I photographed over 800 people. Very few release photos of these subjects to the public, and almost never at my resolutions.

My recent CC portraits include the Time 100, the Tribeca Film Festival and Joan Jett.

Any new work I produce–which is sporadic–is hosted at my Creative Commons Flickr Photostream. Over on Flickr, I compiled a list of my 100 favorite portaits. Click the image below to see the ones that meant the most to me.

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Pakistan flood devastation statistics

David Shankbone — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:39:40 +0000

Here are the numbers from the United Nations on the breadth of devastation in Pakistan from the floods:

1,539 people have died and 17 million have been directly affected
1.2 million houses have been destroyed, leaving an estimated 8 million homeless
3.2m hectares of standing crops have been lost or damaged
2,055 people have been injured
1.6 million have received food aid
2 million people have received drinking water but “large numbers” have no access to water or sanitation
Reports on increasing migration towards Sindh province from other affected areas [BBC]

According to the BBC, the UN has raised 70% of the $460m needed for emergency relief.

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Cordoba House / Ground Zero mosque protest photos

David Shankbone — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 21:14:39 +0000

I dislike that opponents of the Cordoba House have won in branding it the ‘Ground Zero mosque’ – more evidence that it’s mostly non-New Yorkers, who generally prefer calling it the ‘World Trade Center’.

I ventured out to take some Creative Commons shots of the protesters and supporters of Cordoba House, but there were only a handful of supporters when I arrived at noon. If people are not against Cordoba House and think it’s fine, they aren’t particularly enthusiastic with support. That would explain the lackluster support turnout. I would say there were about 500-1000 people who showed up for the actual protest.

These images may be re-used and cropped – they are licensed Creative Commons 3.0. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

This was the small crowd of supporters of Cordoba House.

Below are shots of the protesters:

Click here to see more images of the protest at Flickr.

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The void in my blogging (and some photos)

David Shankbone — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 23:54:03 +0000

I received a few e-mails from people wondering why I haven’t been blogging, and there isn’t really a reason. I’ve been busy with work, I don’t have much to say and I’m in a creative rut. I don’t enjoy writing about politics because of how absurd the national discourse is right now; it feels a little degrading to write when ‘terror babies‘ and U.N. conspiracies pass for mainstream issues. If Jack Stuef and Josh Fruhlinger weren’t around, I don’t know how I would make sense of the right wing (Poe’s Law). I’m in love with Jack Stuef.

Work is busy, though, and the few hours I’m not putting in at the office I am working on a story that’s been in my head for awhile.

I have, however, been keeping my Flickr Creative Commons photostream alive with randomness. So, to fill the void in my political rants and meaningless observations, I include a few recent uploads.

COLD SPRING NEW YORK WITH SANDY ORDONEZ

If you are an old timer Wikimedian then you will remember the days when the public relations guru Sandra Ordonez was cutting her teeth at the Wikimedia Foundation in St. Petersburg. Sandy and I have become good friends, and she and her husband José hosted a weekend retreat for various New York artists and intellectuals at their country compound in Cold Spring in the gorgeous Hudson Valley.

The property they rented for the summer has a main house, a four bedroom guest barnhouse, a boat house, and a private pond that you have to traverse by boat to visit the abandoned 19th Century graveyard that contains perhaps 30 graves. All on their private property.

Above: The boat house, with the main house in the background. We were out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by trees, nature and silence (except for our loud laughs and conversation).

Above: Dave and Sandy in the abandoned 19th Century graveyard across the pond on the property. There were about 30 graves there of people lost and long forgotten (until we were there).

Above: Sandy and Maria laughing late into the night by candlelight.

Above: The Little Man enjoying the flowers in the country air.

See more Cold Springs photos at my Flickr

FIRE ISLAND BIRTHDAY 2010

I was kind of surprised at how “racy” my sister said she found my Fire Island birthday photos. Actually, both of my sisters found them……racy. I asked the one why, because there are no shots of anything salacious like people fucking or doing anything other than dancing and having a good time. She paused for a moment to think about it, and then she laughed and said, “Yeah, I know, but I guess it’s what I don’t see. The mind fills in the blanks.”

Ha! I was a saint and just enjoyed hanging out with my friends. Here are a few more shots:

Michael Lucas, Nonie, Rafael Alencar, David Shankbone and Ernesto Altamirano at the Hotel Belvedere.

Michael and Nonie at the Belvedere.

I don’t know what we were thinking: Judas carrying crucified Christ.

Michael, Nonie and Ernesto trying to catch fish on the Great South Bay.

See more of my Fire Island Creative Commons photos at Flickr.

LITTLE MAN & THE PIGEON

Finally, below are two shots of Little Man’s unrequited dream captured on film. His lifelong goal, since he was little (he’s five and a half now) is to catch a pigeon. He tries often, and never comes close to succeeding. Then one morning we leave the building for his morning walk and right outside in our alcove is a pigeon with a broken wing. Helpless, hapless, flopping about. Little Man was so excited he could barely contain himself. Alas, I did not let him realize his dream because it was not a fair fight.

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Rihanna video with Eminem about Chris Brown?

David Shankbone — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 02:19:06 +0000

Eminem has already said that this video is based on his tumultuous relationship with his ex-wife Kim. But against the backdrop of the abuse at the hands of Chris Brown, the chorus sung by Rihanna to the mini-movie of an abusive couple has many people wondering if it’s not just Eminem singing from experience.

Must be seen: