Declan's Blog

I had an extra day in Central NY, so Maureen suggested I visit the Corning Museum of Glass in nearby Corning, NY. I packed up the camera and headed over. It’s a very neat space, a working art glass plant with an informative museum grafted on to the front. I love watching glassblowing, so this was a great stop for me. Here are some of my favorite shots:

It was such a neat collection of historical and modern works, and people actually making things. I’m so glad I went!

After attending Access 2008 in Hamilton, ON this year, I drove down to Erin, NY to visit with my old college buddy, Maureen and her daughter Ruby:

They have a neat house in the woods:

Which let me grab some Fall color:

We hadn’t seen each other in 12 years, but we talked like we’d seen each other yesterday. Thanks for a great visit, Maureen!

They always try to get ya with the coffee break cookies.

I’m at another conference with too much free food.

Yesterday was a bad day to be my iPhone:

Thanks to @celerysword for the fix:

An array of banners in the new part of our student union.

Doesn’t “x” for eyes = death?

Very cool exhibit of tiny books where I work at Geisel Library.

Wow, 13! Happy Birthday no-longer-Little Girl!

I take a lot of pictures. I’m an amateur with a decent camera, so some of them are ok. I’ve never seriously pursued getting any of them published, but I’ve thought about it.

So I was pretty thrilled to get this email a few months ago:

:: Schmap: San Diego Photo Short-list
Hi Declan,
I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has
been short-listed for inclusion in the fifth edition of our
Schmap San Diego Guide, to be published late July 2008.
http://www.schmap.com/shortlist/p=35034345554N01/c=SH20282878
Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos has been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photo from our final selection
phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse online or download the fourth edition of our
Schmap San Diego Guide.
While we offer no payment for publication, many
photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap
Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and
are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a
maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and
link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.
Our submission deadline is Wednesday, 2 July. If you happen
to be reading this message after this date, please still
click on the link above (our Schmap Guides are updated
frequently – photos submitted after this deadline will be
considered for later releases).
Best regards,
Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

The link went to a permissions page to use the photo that didn’t seem bad. I Googled around to see if anyone else had dealt with them and looked at their site – and it all looked ok. So I said sure. Hey, I’ve got an ego… 😉

A few weeks later I get this in the mail:

:: Schmap San Diego Fifth Edition: Photo Inclusion
Hi Declan,
I am delighted to let you know that your submitted photo
has been selected for inclusion in the newly released fifth
edition of our Schmap San Diego Guide:
Downtown San Diego
http://www.schmap.com/sandiego/tours_tour2/p=2028D01/i=2028D01_29.jpg
If you like the guide and have a website, blog or personal
page, then please also check out the customizable
widgetized versions of our Schmap San Diego Guide, complete
with your published photo:
http://www.schmap.com/guidewidgets/p=35034345554N01/c=SH20281996
Thanks so much for letting us include your photo – please
enjoy the guide!
Best regards,
Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

Pretty cool! Indeed, if you go to http://www.schmap.com/sandiego/tours_tour2/p=2028D01/i=2028D01_29.jpg you will see some text about San Diego with my picture up at the top left.

I still had the feeling that this was too good to be true. The picture is an ok San Diego skyline, but it’s not great. There’s too much water for the frame size and the proportions are kinda dinky. Yep, them are pro terms… 😉 The main thing that was bugging me is that the URL they gave me had a specific URL in it.

So, I went to the root Schmap site and surfed to the San Diego map, explicitly NOT using their URL. As I suspected, I couldn’t find my picture at all.

I’m guessing that Schmap plays on the desire to have one’s picture noticed so that the photographer will link to their site, thus elevating their page rank. Rather than a promotion of my picture, they are using my desire to have my picture used to further their site with that widget.

Scam might be too harsh of a term… This is a form of mutual promotion, but it feels less than honest on Schmap’s part not to include the photo in a general search for San Diego.