During my pre-trip research I had found that there was a Jewish Martyr’s square and an ancient synagogue.  Dr. Francie, one of the wonderful friends I traveled with is Jewish and my father’s family fled Poland just ahead of the Germans, so we both wanted to visit.

Since the 13^th century, through both Christian and Arab occupations, the population in Rhodes had thrived.  Before WWII there were more than 5000 Jews in the city supporting multiple synagogues.  Today there are less than 500 and one remaining historic building.  Down a series of narrow winding arched streets, you come to a simple door to a vanished world. 

 Designated a World Heritage Site and rebuilt through donations, the interior of the building has been gradually restored.  The wall paintings and iron work rebuilt. 

The attached museum lists the names of all the family members who were deported in 1943 and who mostly perished in Auschwitz in 1944. 

 Seeing the artifacts of daily life, the photographs of the families and the documents sentencing them to their deaths,  serve as a potent reminder that this kind of brutality still exists in the world and that we must speak up against it.

The sacred Torah of the synagogue survived the war.  The head rabbi was good friends with the imam of the largest mosque and entrusted him with its safekeeping.  Throughout the war, it was hidden beneath the podium where he pronounced his Friday prayers.

Only 150 people returned to Rhodes after the war.  To return they had to endure further trials and travails.  The caretaker of the synagogue Samuel was 17 when he came home.  His parents, brothers and sisters all gone, his cousins, aunts and uncles and most of his friends perished as well.  Now he serves as a living monument.  He speaks multiple languages and is incredibly warm and engaging as he talks about his journey.

  Look closely at his left arm. 

 The string of numbers crudely tattooed into his flesh should burn in all of us. 

The carved stone in the Martyr’s square is strong but his spirit is far stronger.  

None of us, should ever forget that this could happen to any of us.

The GP-1 measures about two inches square and fits neatly onto your hotshoe or can be attached to a camera strap.  Its operation is simple: plug the cable into the camera via the 10-pin remote terminal cable; turn the camera on; and wait for the LED to turn green.  In my experience, this takes less than a minute, but I’ve seen reports stating times up to two minutes.  It’s even faster after you’ve taken a few shots and turn the camera off to walk to another location, and then turn it back on at your new spot.  Here I’ve seen times as fast as five seconds.  Power comes from the camera battery, so there are no worries there.

I like to travel and geotagging has always been fun for me.  There are other methods to geotag images using separate GPS devices, but why would I want to go through all those extra steps when I can insert the data directly from the camera?  Once the data is attached to the metadata, you need a way to access it.  You can use my favorite application, Adobe’s Lightroom; the free Nikon software, NXView; or Apple Aperture.

Once you have imported the photos into Lightroom, you can find the information in the Metadata section of the Library module, located on the right side panel.  Any photo with the GPS metadata will display it here.

If you click on the arrow to the right of the lat/long, it will take you to a Google Maps page displaying your location when the picture was taken.  Click here to see where this image takes you.  Ain’t that neat?

When I post images with GPS data to my PBase account (www.pbase.com/radjr), you will see a notation under the image title.  Once again, you will be taken to a map of the photo’s location. This one was taken in Aruba.  Many other photo sites also have this capability.  The larger photo sites (Flickr, PBase, and others) give you the ability to geotag a photo after you upload it to their site.  If you have an account there (they’re free), you, too, can join in the geotagging excitement.

The GP-1 lists for $199.95, but you can get it for  much less than that by looking around at several photography equipment retailers.  Is it worth it?  It is for me.  You’ll have to decide for yourself.  It provides another way to have fun with your photography.

The issue today is model releases.  Do you need them?  My answer is “yes;” yours may be different.  My opinion is you should try to get a model release whenever you can.  Feel free to disregard my opinion since I’m not an attorney – although I have some great lawyer jokes.

This is a pretty complex issue, and there are lots of variations of laws from state to state and country to country.  Pro photographers will give different answers.  They love to indulge in philosophic discussions that begin with the age-old phrase of “What if…”  I’m not going down that road, since I can’t give any kind of legal advice (have I repeated that enough to be perfectly clear?).  Besides, this blog is a just to make you think about the issue.  Let’s just keep it simple.

The key ingredient in your decision is probably how you envision the picture will be used, but do you really know what you’re going to do with the image?  These are old pictures I took in the ’80s.  At that time, no one imagined the digital distribution systems of today or photo websites or blogs.  Al Gore hadn’t even invented the internet back then.  Yet, because I obtained a model release from my clients, I can still use these photos.

I’ve been a people photographer since I started taking pictures, back in the late ’70s, and I’ve always used model releases.  I’ve never had any trouble getting them from my wedding and portrait clients.  I also ask people when I’m out and about, shooting for myself.  I use this as an opportunity to pass out a business card and offer them some prints for their cooperation. If you scan the release and put them into your Adobe Lightroom database, you can always find the release.  I go an extra step and keyword relevant images with “Model Release.”

Yes, I even get releases from family members and friends if I really think an image has the potential to be used in my advertising or maybe a sale to a stock photo agency.  People who know me are used to me asking.  Some of already seen their pictures used in my work.  Since they usually feel free to ask me for a copy of the photos, I just trade it for a release.  If nothing comes of it, I’ve wasted a tiny amount of space in my databases storing the release.  Remember what your grandmother told you, “Do what is right, even when no one is looking.”

Last year, we attended a seminar with Ed Greenberg, a lawyer who specializes photography and copyright cases, and he was adamant that photographers should always get a model release.  I guess you might expect that, but he had some pretty compelling cases to illustrate his reasoning.  Another good resource for legal information is Carolyn Wright’s blog, Photo Attorney.

In the end, you’ll make your own decision.  Count me as a photographer who loves to take portraits of people and is smart enough to get the release.

When was the last time you gave some time to a worthwhile cause?  Well, you should.  I could give you the standard line of how good this is for your soul/karma/community.  Or how you’ve got a great life in this great country, and everyone should give back something to show their gratitude.  I could chide you that I’m tired of hearing people talk about it “taking a village” or how they are “compassionate conservatives,” and it’s time to stop talking and start doing.  I could do that, but, believe me, you don’t want me to climb up on that soapbox.  After all, this is a photography blog.  OK, I hear you….  This is an ideal way to work on your photography and post-processing skills!  These organizations are always looking for help publicizing their work, and you can help them out while working on becoming a better photographer.  You can put yourself into challenging situations – outside of the sterile studio – and you’ll make lots of new contacts.

Kathy, one of my long-time friends and a fellow blogger (read her at Reinventing a Bloomer), called me up late last week.  She works for St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children, in Norfolk, Va.  St. Mary’s cares for children who have severe disabilities as a result of birth disorders, traumatic accidents, illness or child abuse. They provide clinical, educational, recreational and support services with a gentle touch.  They were getting ready for their 21^st annual 5K run/walk fundraiser, and a last minute issue took away their photographer.  Could I help out?  Well, I’m a sucker for children, so I signed up.  So, today we are photographing a running event, so let’s talk about what you want to do in order to properly document it.

Think about the important parts of a race to create your shot list.  You’ll need some pre-race shots to set the scene.  Teams are always happy to get their photos taken.  Here is Team Hoyt getting ready to push the carts.

You always have some people who get into the spirit in strange ways – we had an astronaut on skates.  Lots of friends meeting again, before the race.  Don’t forget to take a couple of scene-setting shots, too.

As the race gets ready to begin, you want to catch the crowd, and they’re off!

Before, during, and after the race, take the time to concentrate on individual runners.  They always love to see their pictures.  This is always my favorite part.

The winner crossing the tape is a mandatory shot.  This was a fun run, so we didn’t have a tape, and the finish line was around a corner, so I concentrated on the runners as they neared the finish.

For more information about St. Mary’s Home for Disabled Children, go to http://www.saintmaryshome.org/.  Their donation page is at https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=db0cfd.

Throughout these photos, you’ll see Team Hoyt Virginia Beach folks.  They are another good group with a mission to bring awareness that the disabled can be integrated into the most challenging able bodied activities. They donated $10,000 to St. Mary’s cause. You can find out more about them at http://www.teamhoytvb.com/.  They are still setting up their website, but they have contact information up.

Have fun and give back to your community.  Go help a charity continue to do good things for those in our country with more life challenges than you.

Here are some of my favorite websites for information, inspiration, and innovation.  (Don’t you love alliteration?  Please, do not insult my intelligence by insinuating that alliteration is insipid and infantile.  OK, I’m done…)  I will only list a small portion of my favorites and will try to provide a variety of photography topics, since my current list exceeds 60 sites and changes quickly.  I probably visit a dozen or so on my list every day.

Mark and I are members of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (their main site is in our Blogroll).  The main characters in the NAPP are Scott Kelby, Matt Kloskowski, and Dave Cross.  Their sites cover a wide range of photo and post-processing topics, and their dry sense of humor appeals to us.  Their main sites are: Scott, “Photoshop Insider,” http://www.scottkelby.com/; Matt, “Adobe Photoshop Killer Tips,” http://www.photoshopkillertips.com/; and Dave, http://davecross.blogspot.com/. 

Another great site for post-processing is Deke McClelland, http://www.deke.com/.  Deke is a “self-appointed expert on all things graphics and imaging.”  Another guy with a strange sense of humor, his tutorials are great.  Like the NAPP boys, Deke has written many best-selling books – many of which I own and have read and re-read.  He is associated with Lynda.com, another great source for educational material.

Several of my daily visits are at sites that represent some absolute specialists in key areas of photography.  Joe McNally (http://www.joemcnally.com/blog/) is known for his incredible abilities with flash and other lighting.  He is hilarious in a seminar, so, if you ever get a chance to hear him speak, go do it.  David Ziser (http://digitalprotalk.blogspot.com/) is a highly-respected wedding and portrait photographer.  He also writes about photography business issues.  Moose Peterson (http://www.moosenewsblog.com/) is an outstanding wild-life photographer and a strong contributor to conservation causes.  Mark and I have paid to attend seminars with all the folks I’ve mentioned in the above paragraphs.  They are all great sources of photography/post-processing education.  All the information they provide on their sites is free of charge.

For a newer generation of photography blogs, you might try: Chase Jarvis (http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/), Zack Arias (http://www.zarias.com/), David duChemin (http://www.pixelatedimage.com/blog/), and Ree Drummond (http://thepioneerwoman.com/photography/).   These folks come at the issues a little differently than most.  I’ll leave it at that and let you go read them for yourself.

For just drifting through collections of other photographers’ work, I prefer photo.net (http://photo.net/ ) and Pbase.com (http://www.pbase.com/).  Both have some really high quality contributors.  You should look at other photographers work to see what is possible; get different approaches to the same problem; and for personal enjoyment.  Feel free to add any of your favorites in the comments section.  Remember, we’re supposed to be having fun.

These plums have nothing to do with this blog, but you have to have at least one picture in a photoblog, right?