Default Photos in MySpace

Today I ran across a term I hadn’t heard of before–the default photo. Evidently, a default photo is the photo used to identify yourself on MySpace.

Just in case if you were struggling to figure out how to find and change your profile (default) photos, I’m going to spill the beans here:

To insert or update a default photo in Profile 2.0, MySpace’s new profile-building platform, go to My Profile>Customize Profile and click on the Edit Basic Information icon (it’s a picture of a pencil and paper) where it says Basic Information. In the dialog box that comes up, scroll down to where  it says Photos. You’ll see your default photo there. To change it, click on the Change Photo button under it. This will take you to your My Albums page. Click on an album. Your pictures will appear with empty circles under them. Just pick the image that you want as your default, then click Done. Oh, when the dialog box disappers, click on Publish on the far top right window of the Module page.

Kidman Goes Weird Playing Arbus

I had a chance to see the movie “Fur” about Diane (that’s Deeann) Arbus last night. While it was a little slow, it was suductive.

For those of you who don’t know who Diane Arbus was, take a look at the “Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in the Bronx, NY, 1970.” Arbus is the girl wonder of candid photography, as this picture shows.

Some people would say Arbus photographed freaks. That’s where the movie “Fur, An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus” comes in, which was made in 2006. The freaks come alive in the movie as much of a part of humanity as say you or I, that is when they are among their own.

Robert Downey Jr. plays a man enveloped in fur, a guy with a severe case of hypertrichosis, and Nicole Kidman plays the woman who ends up lusting after him. Both hold their own in this fantasy creation of Arbus’ life. While the movie is imaganary, you get a peek into the era in which Arbus worked as the set and costume design brought the mid-20th century to life. As for the romance, the disturbing scene where Kidman shaves Downey’s body is a bit overdone. After all is said and done, Kidman is beautiful in the movie, almost as beautiful as Downey is after his body is shaved.

Small and Light dSLR

The Olympus E-450, a dSLR camera, weighs less than a pound.

I was surprised to have read today in the New York Times that Olympus made a dSLR camera that weights less than a pound, making it the world’s lightest dSLR camera. Where have I been? At any rate, a new model of this mini-dSLR camera–the E-450 comes out this summer.

This camera is perfect for beginners because Olympus has left in the scene modes from its point-and-shoot models.

The 10 megapixel camera has shutter speeds from 1/4000 to 60 seconds, and a Bulb mode that lets the shutter stay open for 30 minutes.

The camera also has a rechargeable battery, which is more than I can say for the Pentax K-200D.

Other features of the camera include: dust reduction system for its sensor, Live View mode and ISO speeds up to 1600.

Florida Photographer Dies

Photograph of one utility worker saving the life of another.

Another photographer (Helen Levitt recently died, too) has died at a ripe old age this week.

He’s Rocco Morabito, famous for his candid photograph of one utility lineman saving the life of another. He was 88.

Morabito had been a photographer for the Jacksonville Journal.  The photograph of the two linemen were taken as he was on his way back from covering a 1968 railroad strike. Morabito won a Pulitzer Prize for the photograph.

Another photograph that stands out from his 42-year career in photojournalism is a class of children and a rabbit (paws on heart) reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. That photograph was published in Life in 1958.

In World War II, Morabito served as a B-17 ball-turret gunner. Just in case if you were wondering what that is, there’s another guy with a Web page who also served in that position.

Blog Review Monday

Ahhh, here it is Monday again…and it’s time for 101 Quick and Easy Secret’s blog review.

Today’s fascinating blog is Photocritic.org.

THE LAYOUT I’d give it a 8. The blog owner, Haje, has a good eye. He places images and text so the blog looks appealing overall, however he has too much repetition on the Home Page. He has three areas where you can click on links to various articles on his blog. Grant it, each area pulls up different posts–at the very top of the Home page are image links, next to the large avatar are titles and image links and strewn across the center of the Home page are featured articles with titles, image and summaries.

CONTENT I’d give it a 9. The content is varied and interesting. Articles provide fascinating looks into everything from Native American portraiture to making double exposures using Photoshop. The Google ads, though, interupt the flow of the articles because they are placed right smack in the middle of each article. He covers eyebrow-raising topics PG style such as “Nude Photography 101″ with a poll asking readers if they’ve ever photographed anyone in the nude. Last, he has useful info such as the post, Top 50 Photography Websites.

WRITING I’d give it a 10. This guy is funny and, at times, irreverant. With lines such as “Of course, with the modern world’s paranoia about nudity, it’s not easy to know where to begin…” you get a look at not only the subject of photographing subjects, but also the feelings that will be encountered by both photographer and viewer about the subject. The writing comes with a lot of thorough research into a topic. Take, for example, the post, Food Photo Tricks. He lists every trick in the book for making food look yummy, some of which will make you lose your appetite. In essence, turns out to be an opportunity to play with food. What fun!

OVERALL I’d give the blog a 9.5. You’ll get carried away reading this blog, spending nearly an hour reading it. That’s way more time reading than with many other blogs.