Thinking of Spring

wheat, originally uploaded by edrahe.

Its supposed to be cold here this week and I really don't like that. So I was going through my files and found this shot taken last May of ripening wheat.

Two Steers

Two Steers, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is my first picture taken with my Leica D-Lux 3.

A cow egg

I showed this shot to a coworker and she said it is a cow egg that will hatch next spring. And I thought it was a round hay bale enveloped in fog on a windswept Iowa field.

What I did over Christmas vacation

046, originally uploaded by edrahe.

My wife and I spent Christmas with her parents in Oskaloosa, Iowa, a sleepy farm town (population 11,000) 49 miles southeast of DesMoines.

On Dec. 22 there was last minute Christmas shopping and my mother-in-law was finishing the last minute preparations for our big family gathering that afternoon. I, however, didn't have anything on my schedule and I read in the morning paper that Barack Obama would be making a stump speech at the Oskaloosa Middle School at 9 a.m. Sounded a good thing for a political junkie to do on his vacation so I grabbed my camera and went.

It was an interesting experience all around. And I talked my way into the press area (I knew that battery grip on my XTi was good for something), and probably got as good a picture as any of the working press. In fact, my shot looks very similar to the one that ran in the DesMoines Register the next day. The local newspaper, the Oskaloosa Herald, apparantly couldn't send a photographer. While they had a good write up they used a stock shot of the canditate. Had I known they needed a good picture I wouldn't let them use one of mine.

Ron Paul for President

Ed's Photo Daily endorses GOP canditate Ron Paul for president in 2008.

Red Meat

Red Meat, originally uploaded by edrahe.

I feel sorry for vegetarians, especially during the season of Christmas office parties and home entertaining. It was 100 percent corn-fed, 21-day aged prim filet, cooked to perfection. You could almost cut it with a fork. And it was delicious.

Photoshop Fun

verson3, originally uploaded by edrahe.

This is one of my first attepts at selective colorization. Or is it selective black & white?

Illinois Farm Bureau Photo Rights Grab

The Illinois Farm Bureau, the champion of the rights of rural Illinois citizens, seems to be engaged in a scheme to replenish its stock photo library with all rights and royalty-free photographs with absolutely no regard to the itellectual property rights of the same members it claims to represent in the halls of Illinois government.



Farm Bureau members who are amateur photographers whould beware of the fine print in the rules of the Illinois Farm Bureau's photo contest. (When you get to that site click on the cow picture for a PDF of the full contest rules)



The fine print in the entry rules contains the following provision:
"By submitting a photo, you authorize the Illinois Agricultural Association, more commonly known as Illinois Farm Bureau, to use your photograph for purposes of promoting the photo contest and other activities. You waive any claim of ownership or right to compensation for use of the photo."

WHAT????

Simply put, if an amateur photographer farm wife or farm husband enters picture of daughter Susie posing with her county fair grand champion Holstein, that picture becomes the all out property of the Illinois Farm Bureau and it can use the picture any way it wants. To any amateur photographer this would be flattering. What's puzzling is why the Illinois Farm Bureau feels the need to claim all rights -- the copyright -- without just compensation to the original copyright owner?

Stock Photography is a multi-million (at the very, very least) industry in the U.S. Formerly the bastion of hardcore weekend shooters and professional photographers, the proliferation of the Internet and photo sharing sites like Flickr have made photography accessible to the masses.

To the chagrin of legions of pro shooters a great number of these masses are darned good shooters who could care less about making a buck or two from photography, though more and more amateur shooters are wising up. Like me. I'm no New York shooter but I've learned over the last two or three recent years that publishers are willing to pay to license pictures. To the chagin of legions of pro shooters some amateurs don't realize that their photos are valuable to someone who needs that particular photo.

To the delight to large publishers, such as the Illinois Farm Bureau, these organizations take advantage of uninformed amateur photographers and devise photo rights grabs under the guise of "photo contests." The Illinois Farm Bureau isn't the first nor last organization to use this ploy. But I for one am calling foul on this one.

Photo contests are great, especially one that really do highlight the picture documentation of modern rural lifestyles. The Illinois Farm Bureau if it so choses can administer this contest without confiscating all rights of the entrants.

I