I have to apologize for not updating the blog lately. I am very busy moving to a different house and all the packing and dragging stuff over keeps me a bit too occupied. Hope to put some more posts on soon :)
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Moving
I have to apologize for not updating the blog lately. I am very busy moving to a different house and all the packing and dragging stuff over keeps me a bit too occupied. Hope to put some more posts on soon :)
Sunday, December 02, 2007
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
www.delirinotturni.net
I sort of overlooked to mention that I’m honoured that one of my photo’s is being used on the front page of my friend’s blog. Her blog is in Italian, so unfortunately I can’t read a word of it, but you should check it out here. It looks good ;)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Little photography on wintery days…
Little photography on wintery days…
(click on image to view large) – interior of the Eiffel tower
When I go to work in the morning it’s dark, and when I come home after work it’s dark as well. That makes shooting during the week at home a bit complicated (as I prefer to shoot in natural light and don’t like artificial light at all when it comes to photography) I am running out of stock with my photos, so I hope I can do some shooting again soon… Macro’s of some simple house hold objects are on my mind, but we have to see what happens…
In the meanwhile please just have a look here to have a look through some of my other photographical work…
(click on image to view large) – interior of the Eiffel tower
When I go to work in the morning it’s dark, and when I come home after work it’s dark as well. That makes shooting during the week at home a bit complicated (as I prefer to shoot in natural light and don’t like artificial light at all when it comes to photography) I am running out of stock with my photos, so I hope I can do some shooting again soon… Macro’s of some simple house hold objects are on my mind, but we have to see what happens…
In the meanwhile please just have a look here to have a look through some of my other photographical work…
Friday, November 16, 2007
Some thought about "Fair Trade"
I’ve been reading some interesting posts on the message board of the very interesting site of Black Gold.
Black Gold is a movie highlighting the un-fair trade of coffee between African countries and rich Western countries.
On the message board, some people are asking that if the African coffee farmers don’t get that much money from farming coffee, why would they not farm something else then? Food for example. After all, this could be for their own consumption as well as being exported when there is an overproduction…
Unfortunately it is not that simple. Coffee and Cocoa are simply exported from Africa because they are difficult to grow in North America and Europe. Therefore there is a need for them, which creates the opportunity for Africa to export.
This must happen under the rich countries’ rules though… (or rather, the WTO’s rules, but since the WTO is mostly directed by the rich countries, it’s pretty much their game…)
For example, Ghana can export raw cocoa duty free to Europe, but a 25% tariff is imposed if they process that cocoa before exporting it to Europe. It is this processing (tinning, roasting, labeling) which helps a country earn more money and develop its manufacturing base - and which allows its economy to grow. While fair trade could be Africa's ticket out of the vicious cycles of poverty, unfair trade rules make it difficult for Africa to develop their trade and industry… (source: DATA)
In the case of crops, these could indeed be grown in Africa, only if their farmers had the money in the first place to buy seeds for the crops, and the additional money to farm their lands professionally (as most crops are more difficult to farm than coffee or cocoa, which even grow wild…)
Besides that, in a lot of cases land in Africa is not owned by the farmer, but rather by the government, or the tribe that the farmer belongs to. They see that they can make some money from exporting the current produce, so they naturally think they better keep it this way, rather than changing their produce to a product that can’t be exported at all…
And why can’t a product like simple crop be exported? Because in the view of many people the WTO mainly protects the trade of the rich countries, who have a strong trade in farm-produce already… any import from other countries would damage their own turnover, and therefore this is strongly discouraged.
Many people feel this has to stop in order to let 3rd world nations develop to their full potential. African nations must be able to setup their trade according to their own standards and implement the industry that goes along with that.
Only where to start…?
As long as the WTO is governed directly by the rich countries, things won’t become better…
Research done from DATA and Black Gold
Please read more on these sites about the subject of “fair” trade…
Black Gold is a movie highlighting the un-fair trade of coffee between African countries and rich Western countries.
On the message board, some people are asking that if the African coffee farmers don’t get that much money from farming coffee, why would they not farm something else then? Food for example. After all, this could be for their own consumption as well as being exported when there is an overproduction…
Unfortunately it is not that simple. Coffee and Cocoa are simply exported from Africa because they are difficult to grow in North America and Europe. Therefore there is a need for them, which creates the opportunity for Africa to export.
This must happen under the rich countries’ rules though… (or rather, the WTO’s rules, but since the WTO is mostly directed by the rich countries, it’s pretty much their game…)
For example, Ghana can export raw cocoa duty free to Europe, but a 25% tariff is imposed if they process that cocoa before exporting it to Europe. It is this processing (tinning, roasting, labeling) which helps a country earn more money and develop its manufacturing base - and which allows its economy to grow. While fair trade could be Africa's ticket out of the vicious cycles of poverty, unfair trade rules make it difficult for Africa to develop their trade and industry… (source: DATA)
In the case of crops, these could indeed be grown in Africa, only if their farmers had the money in the first place to buy seeds for the crops, and the additional money to farm their lands professionally (as most crops are more difficult to farm than coffee or cocoa, which even grow wild…)
Besides that, in a lot of cases land in Africa is not owned by the farmer, but rather by the government, or the tribe that the farmer belongs to. They see that they can make some money from exporting the current produce, so they naturally think they better keep it this way, rather than changing their produce to a product that can’t be exported at all…
And why can’t a product like simple crop be exported? Because in the view of many people the WTO mainly protects the trade of the rich countries, who have a strong trade in farm-produce already… any import from other countries would damage their own turnover, and therefore this is strongly discouraged.
Many people feel this has to stop in order to let 3rd world nations develop to their full potential. African nations must be able to setup their trade according to their own standards and implement the industry that goes along with that.
Only where to start…?
As long as the WTO is governed directly by the rich countries, things won’t become better…
Research done from DATA and Black Gold
Please read more on these sites about the subject of “fair” trade…
Thursday, November 15, 2007
some more pictures...
click on image to view large
click on image to view large
click on image to view large
click on image to view large
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Trouble getting my hands on the new Apple OSX
It's been 2 weeks now since Apple released it's new operating system for Mac, and i simply can't buy it!
Not because I don't have the money, not because I don't have the time... Because it's not in the shops!
It was sold out rather quickly (as expected) and that's ok. I don't really need to own it on the day of release.
But the bad thing is that even the Apple retailers here in Dublin don't know when they might have a copy on stock again. They don't know when Apple will suply them again, and just have to guess that "it will be next tuesday..." etc...
I love Apple Mac and it's uber-userfriendly operating system, but I can think of one thing where Microsoft is better: Distribution...
Not because I don't have the money, not because I don't have the time... Because it's not in the shops!
It was sold out rather quickly (as expected) and that's ok. I don't really need to own it on the day of release.
But the bad thing is that even the Apple retailers here in Dublin don't know when they might have a copy on stock again. They don't know when Apple will suply them again, and just have to guess that "it will be next tuesday..." etc...
I love Apple Mac and it's uber-userfriendly operating system, but I can think of one thing where Microsoft is better: Distribution...
Thursday, November 08, 2007
philosophy on genetic modification
This is going to be a long one…
After I saw an excellent documentary on Discovery yesterday, called The Real Superhumans and the quest for the Future Fantastic, I was amazed to see that some people have “a genetic enhancement” which enables them to do and experience things usually not possible for average humans.
The show also shed light on the research which a Chinese doctor is doing into stem cell modification, by combining the genes that cause “superpowers” with usual genes, and thus eliminating weaknesses out of the human race... (hence the term “Future Fantastic”).
Research is currently carried out for example into the genes that cause certain people to be more intelligent than others, and the technicality to plant these genes into foetuses or baby’s in order to ‘enhance them’.
If this would be a possibility, and we could enhance people from birth, making people smarter, erase illnesses and handicaps… Surely that could be a good thing. It would eliminate a lot of risks in life…
But the world would be rather dull, wouldn’t it?
Now we can admire and respect people with a certain handicap or illness for their capability to live everyday life, and we can learn from it, as well as people of other races, who are genetically different from us.
But if these would be eliminated through genetic modification, we would not have this admiration or respect anymore…
I think it could be nice to be a bit different than other people, not necessarily through a handicap, but just genetically.
Being genetically less able than others can challenge us to improve ourselves and learn to become just as good as others around us.
But if the genetic modification of stem cells would truly take off, I think there would be less difference between humans, and it would be more difficult to find our own individual identity. I think the world would become a bit boring…
After I saw an excellent documentary on Discovery yesterday, called The Real Superhumans and the quest for the Future Fantastic, I was amazed to see that some people have “a genetic enhancement” which enables them to do and experience things usually not possible for average humans.
The show also shed light on the research which a Chinese doctor is doing into stem cell modification, by combining the genes that cause “superpowers” with usual genes, and thus eliminating weaknesses out of the human race... (hence the term “Future Fantastic”).
Research is currently carried out for example into the genes that cause certain people to be more intelligent than others, and the technicality to plant these genes into foetuses or baby’s in order to ‘enhance them’.
If this would be a possibility, and we could enhance people from birth, making people smarter, erase illnesses and handicaps… Surely that could be a good thing. It would eliminate a lot of risks in life…
But the world would be rather dull, wouldn’t it?
Now we can admire and respect people with a certain handicap or illness for their capability to live everyday life, and we can learn from it, as well as people of other races, who are genetically different from us.
But if these would be eliminated through genetic modification, we would not have this admiration or respect anymore…
I think it could be nice to be a bit different than other people, not necessarily through a handicap, but just genetically.
Being genetically less able than others can challenge us to improve ourselves and learn to become just as good as others around us.
But if the genetic modification of stem cells would truly take off, I think there would be less difference between humans, and it would be more difficult to find our own individual identity. I think the world would become a bit boring…
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
the problem about global warming
I don’t like Al Gore’s “preaching” about Global Warming. Politically motivated or not, there are too many ‘facts’in his book and movie that have since been disputed by other scientists…
Here are 2 links to youtube video’s that explain my reasoning very well.
They are parts of the documentary “The Global Warming Swindle”, broadcasted by Channel 4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwlqDIVCy1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsp-LiqZOQ4
Here are 2 links to youtube video’s that explain my reasoning very well.
They are parts of the documentary “The Global Warming Swindle”, broadcasted by Channel 4.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwlqDIVCy1M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsp-LiqZOQ4
Thursday, November 01, 2007
I am now a Utata member
I am now a utata member. It seems to be a rather nice community where artists can share, publish and comment their work of photography, but also publish in a mild form of jounalism or even poetry.
It's based on the flickr comunity, but takes the publishing and sharing of art a step further where comunity is concerned.
Have a look for yourself on www.utata.org.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
happy halloween!!!
(click on image to see large)
As we were driving through county Donegal in the north-west of Ireland over the weekend, we found this great little beach. it was soooo windy that we almost couldn't stand upright... still managed to get a few nice shots though
I only slightly cropped the photo, and diffused the light a bit in photoshop. no hdr. the difference is that diffusing the light only gives it a bit of a softer texture (which i like), whereas hdr completely changes the exposure levels (which i don't like)...
for a good example of HDR editing I can recommend having a look on
this site. This guy has some of the best HDR work, but as you can see, it's not the same :)
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Image search on Google
On a different note, I just noticed that Google shows some of my photography when “Stephan Wita” is typed in the search field and filtered on finding images.
This is due to some 3rd parties being able to browse through Flick’s database without restrictions, and thus showing everything that comes up with my name from Flickr.
Now, I have no objection against Google showing my artwork (after all, that is why I blog most of my work), however it also shows a lot of photography that is somehow linked to my name, but not done by me!
Due to some tagging by Flickr, my name is automatically linked to some images made by my contacts, or images I might have replied on. But as Google doesn’t make this clear, I hereby just wanted to point out that not all photo’s you see on Google under my name as a search-term are made by me… (the best way to find out which are made by me, is clicking on them to view)…
This is due to some 3rd parties being able to browse through Flick’s database without restrictions, and thus showing everything that comes up with my name from Flickr.
Now, I have no objection against Google showing my artwork (after all, that is why I blog most of my work), however it also shows a lot of photography that is somehow linked to my name, but not done by me!
Due to some tagging by Flickr, my name is automatically linked to some images made by my contacts, or images I might have replied on. But as Google doesn’t make this clear, I hereby just wanted to point out that not all photo’s you see on Google under my name as a search-term are made by me… (the best way to find out which are made by me, is clicking on them to view)…
Touring around Ireland
I just returned from touring 3 days around the beautiful countryside of Sligo and Donegal, in the North-Western part of Ireland. The weather was really autumnlike, but I did manage to make some good pictures. I’m a bit busy this week, so post-processing has to wait a little, but I hope that I can post some of them sooner or later…
Friday, October 26, 2007
Lufthansa
(click on image to view large)
this was taken in berlin's excellent museum for technic.
it's stuffed to the ceiling with planes, trains, cars, bikes, machines, boats etc...
a place where men can talk a whole day about break-horsepowers and say things such as "wow, look at the bumpers on that model" without getting nasty looks... :p
(oh, and the pic is not HDR edited!)
anyway, i'm off to ireland's westcoast for the weekend and hope i will return with some nice black & white pictures of beaches and mountains...
have a nice weekend!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Monday, October 22, 2007
Some more pink stuff...
(click on image to view large)
yet again, a flower macro... and not even a good one. anyway, i have a bit of a backlog in post-processing some photo's i shot in berlin and paris so in the mean time there'll be some flowery-stuff...
the funny thing also was that when i flew to Berlin, I had my 300mm lens loose in my backback, which showed up as a 'mysterious object' on the custom's x-ray, which caused some nervous searching through my backpack by the customs officer...
I usually carry my camera and lenses in my backpack and never had this problem before...
Also, 4 days to go until the release of the new Apple OSX and really looking forward. very curious about what they come up with. have a look over at apple.com for a sneakpeak :)
Friday, October 19, 2007
Back from Berlin!
(click on image to view large)
Just back from 6 days in Berlin and (again) it was amazing. I love the city :) among else we went to the Sony Centre in Porzdammer Platz of which you can see the fantastic architecture in this picture. Basically it's a square with various shops, restaurants, offices and a cinema, all covered by one giant roof structure. I'm not a big fan of modern architecture but this one is an exception.
I also made a few pictures in Berlin's museum of technique, which I hope to upload soon.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
1 before the holidays
(click on image to see large)
1 last post before we will fly to Berlin tonight for a week. So I won't be posting for a little bit, but hope to bring lots of nice photo's :)
bye!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
not suitable for cold winters
(click on image to view large)
spotted this lovely old room on marie antoinette's estate when we visited versaille palace last month
Monday, October 08, 2007
just a louzy flower macro...
(click image to view large)
Can't think of a title for this one (pls mail with suggestions...). Also think the bokeh is a bit stupid on it... somehow i find that it doesn't work...
Anyway, went to see France vs. New Zealand rugby match last saturday and it was extremely exciting with France being the winner, no doubt because of loud encouragement of 'some' viewers ;)
4 days to go until we go to Berlin for a week and expect to do some good photography there...
Friday, October 05, 2007
Chevrolet
(click on image to see large)
I love art-deco! and when in Luxembourg back in August I spotted this front grille of a Chevrolet. I love how all these little art-deco features are incorporated into the complete design of this car...
Luxembourg was nice too.
1st picture
(click image to see larger)
I took this picture last week in the Botanic Garden here in Dublin. I recently purchased a 52mm macro filter that i desperately wanted to test in the botanic garden. I've spend more than 5 hours there, and still haven't covered the complete garden (it's not that big...). will go back soon to shoot some more...
my first post!
Hi All!
On this blog i want to post some of my favorite shots of my photography that I usually publish on my Flickr-site. Please do have a look on www.flickr.com/photos/stephanwita if you'd like to see more.
I've been seen holding a camera at the age of 3 (there's pictures to proof it...) and since then have always kept my self busy with photography from time to time, taking the simple snapshots on holidays etc...
I've taken it to a more serious level in early 2006 and in 2007 i purchased my digital SLR camera, which i primarely shoot with.
Please not that all work on this site is copyrighted and it would really upset me if you'd use one of my photo's for your own gain while claiming it for yourself or commercial use. Please just drop me a line on stephwita@yahoo.co.uk to get my ok.
Also, works are for sale and will be sold without digital signature or digital framing where applicable. just drop me a line in case you're interested.
And as you do with a blog, i will try to put some thoughts with my posts etc. the usual stuff i guess. we'll see how it goes...
Cheers for dropping me a line anytime you like just to say hi, give any suggestions or comment my works of photography.
On this blog i want to post some of my favorite shots of my photography that I usually publish on my Flickr-site. Please do have a look on www.flickr.com/photos/stephanwita if you'd like to see more.
I've been seen holding a camera at the age of 3 (there's pictures to proof it...) and since then have always kept my self busy with photography from time to time, taking the simple snapshots on holidays etc...
I've taken it to a more serious level in early 2006 and in 2007 i purchased my digital SLR camera, which i primarely shoot with.
Please not that all work on this site is copyrighted and it would really upset me if you'd use one of my photo's for your own gain while claiming it for yourself or commercial use. Please just drop me a line on stephwita@yahoo.co.uk to get my ok.
Also, works are for sale and will be sold without digital signature or digital framing where applicable. just drop me a line in case you're interested.
And as you do with a blog, i will try to put some thoughts with my posts etc. the usual stuff i guess. we'll see how it goes...
Cheers for dropping me a line anytime you like just to say hi, give any suggestions or comment my works of photography.
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