I am Going to be a Published Photographer!

Several months ago I entered a photo contest hosted by Photography Forum and sponsored by Canon. That was around April of this year. They said that it would not be judged until this fall.

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail. From Photography Forum…

I have been chosen as a finalist!!!

While that does not mean I am going to win any Canon gear (yet) it does mean I am going to be published in their book, “Best of Photography 2009″ come this December! So I am going to be a published photographer at 15 years old!

Now which picture got me selected? My most popular on flickr.

Unreal

And here it is available at it’s original resolution for download! Enjoy

Unreal by Matthew F. — “RPG Master” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

P.S. When my mom read the letter, she cried

My Entry for the Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase

From the site:

The Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase is an opportunity to show off high quality free culture content in Ubuntu. At the heart of Ubuntu’s ethos is a belief in showcasing free software and free culture, and with each development cycle we open the opportunity for any Free Culture artist to put their work in front of millions of Ubuntu users around the world. Although the space restrictions are tight, and we are limited to how much content we can include, this is an excellent opportunity for artists everywhere.

I really hope I win!

The Hardy Heron by Matthew F. — “RPG Master” is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

A Home Without Windows

Well, my parents finally did it. They gave me permission to wipe the family desktop (which ran Windows XP) and install Ubuntu.

How it all Went Down

First I had to back up all of our important documents and photos which was 16gigs total. Most of the backing up was easy… except for exporting my mom’s emails from Outlook Express. It’s kinda hard when the Inbox is 4gigs.

After that came the installation, which if you’ve installed Ubuntu yourself you know how easy it is. But after that came my favorite part, Breaking It In!

“Breaking it in” involves downloading updates, installing codecs (flash, mp3, DVD), installing apps that aren’t included (tracker, Songbird), adjusting the fonts (installing Liberation fonts, change DPI settings), and tweak the theme settings (*with my parents input ).

So far they like it. The only one who’s not happy is my sister because now she can’t play any of her old Windows games. Not like she was really played Diner Dash anyway…

*If anyone is interested, my dad decided on New Wave.

My New Minolta Lens!

My grandfather has been a (amateur) photographer for a long time and I’ve known this. What I didn’t know until yesterday was that he owned a old film Minolta SLR. He was showing it to me and my dad yesterday. I was holding it in my hand and checking it out. He was telling me that if I wanted it I could keep it (he has replaced it with a Canon dSLR). I really didn’t care about it seeing as how it used film.

But then it hit me.

This camera was a Minolta, and it had a 70-210mm lens attached to it. I lens that could be attached to my Sony A200! Now I wanted it!

Only bad things is my grandfather smokes allot so the lens slightly smells like tobacco.

And so here I am, the owner of a 70-210mm 4.5/5.6 Minolta Lens. I am quiet happy.

(I also now have his old Minolta SLR too )

Songbird 1.2 is Here!

Today Songbird, my favorite media player, just got a nice little upgrade! I’ed download it… but the .deb on getdeb.net is outdated

But for those using Windows or Mac, go get it!

http://blog.songbirdnest.com/2009/06/18/songbird-12-is-here/

EDIT: GetDeb has got the 1.2 .deb

I am really enjoying the built in Last.fm player.

I Made a Wallpaper!

I’ve found a great Bible verse and turned it into a wallpaper.

I made a 4:3, 16:9, and 16:10 version so anyone can use it

Enjoy.

Social Networking and The Bible

Today I rediscovered delicious.com   I mean I’ve had an account there for a while but I just never used it. But today I realised how easy it makes sharing your favorite bookmarks! So, if anyone cares heres my delicious. I’ve also added an “About Me” page with some random information and a list of links to all my accounts around the web (digg, stumbleupon, last.fm, etc.).

Also, today I’ve decided I am going to finally read the Bible from front to back! As I read I am recording my favorite verses. Sometime in the future I plan on putting the PDF here for anyone to download.

E3, Senior Portraits, and Creative Commons

Sorry, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted anything.
A few things have happened since I last posted. E3 was two weeks ago, then last week I took my friends senior portraits, and then last night I put most of my pictures under a Creative Commons By license. Now I’ll go into more detail…

My Opinions on E3

What I am looking forward to:

1. Super Mario Galaxy 2
2. Metroid: Other M
3. Scribblenauts
4. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
5. The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks

That is all.

Senior Portraits with Chelsea

My friend Chelsea was kind enough to let me take her Senior Portraits.

And they turned out great!

And close by was this awesome looking Heron!

Creative Commons

Well, after much thinking I finally did it. I put most of my picture on flickr under a Creative Commons By License. I say “most” because all my portraits are under a By-NC-ND License.

So what does that mean? It means I am ok with you doing anything with those pictures as long as you give me credit for being the original creator.

…So get to remixing!!!

Leica Cameras, Why are they so Special?

While looking through the latest B&H catalogue I came across a unique looking camera.

Picture from Wikipedia. By the user Rama

I like how it has this nice retro look to it. But then I looked at the price…

$4,000

Oh my! I thought to myself “This must really be a nice camerea!” I wanted to go check out how it rancked campared to other camera (in regards to image quality) so I went to dxomark.com. Here I was thinking that it would in the top 30, but no, it was in 46th place! My Sony a200 is in 34th place and I only paid $400 for mine!

So I ask, why are Leica cameras so expensive (and/or special)?

The Youtube Dilemma (Please Help Me)

I’ve been wanting to upload that video I made the other day onto other video sites like Youtube and Vimeo… but I came across a article that has made me feel unsure about it. I would like to ask all you random passer-bys a question.

I put that video under a Creative Commons By-NC-SA license. If I upload that video on Vimeo or Youtube would it mess up my license?