Tag: milwaukee

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Help Portrait Milwaukee

Help-Portrait Milwaukee The idea behind Help Portrait is really simple… It’s about photographers using their photography skills to give back to the community.

On December 12th, 2009, photographers around the world will be grabbing their cameras, finding people in need, and taking their picture. When the prints are ready, the photographs get delivered. Yep. It really is that easy. And by the way, we don’t want to see your photos. This is about GIVING the pictures, not taking them. These portraits are not for your portfolio, website, or for sale. Money isn’t involved here. This holiday season, you have the chance to give a family something they may have never had before – a portrait together.

Last year I did some Photoshop work for a family friend which involved fixing a photo of the family, with their grandmother, shortly before she died. It wasn’t a very good picture, just your typical snapshot with a point and shoot camera, but making the photo better, and something they could look at in remembrance was big deal to them. When I think about that, I think about how nice it would be to have a really well done portrait of the family for them to hold on to…

I’m really happy to see that Milwaukee-area photographers are jumping on board with this… Check out helpportraitmke.com for more information, if you can help in any way, it would really be appreciated. (I believe they are looking for organizations and sponsors to donate consumables for this endeavor.)

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MilwaukeeDevHouse4 Time Lapse

MilwaukeeDevHouse happened and you missed it… or you didn’t. Either way, you can watch this video that Time Lapse Bot and I created…

We used a real MiniDV camera this time, so we got double the resolution of the old camera, which is nice. We also had Sam Dodge doing a bit of Time Lapse Bot camera operation, so that’s cool…

I love how these time lapse videos encapsulate the events… I’m also in talks with SmallSharpTools.com to do another Time Lapse Bot upgrade, which will result in greater roaming capabilities of the unit.

You can also watch on blip.tv or grab the hires version if you like. Just adhere to the Creative Commons license and be cool…

Stay Tuned!

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BarCampMilwaukee4 Portraits at MKEDH4

Remember at BarCampMilwaukee4 when I took your photo? Well, I still need to edit all the shots, and I’ll be doing it at MilwaukeeDevHouse4 on Saturday, November 7th, 2009…

Oh yeah, you’re invited! MilwaukeeDevHouse is a hackathon-type event where we encourage you to come and work on something. Maybe some project you’ve had on the back burner for a while… maybe you need to upgrade your WordPress blog, test out some new Drupal modules, work on a Joomla theme, build a robot, or… edit 80+ photos. Hopefully I can also work on “The Faces of BarCamp” project as well…

facesofbc

Think of MilwaukeeDevHouse as a party where you can get some work done, but don’t have to. You can just hang out, socialize, and eat & drink if you like… it’s like a social network, but in real life. (You’re not limited to 140 characters, unless you want to be.) It’s a chance to learn something new and meet some new people. It’s full of “newness” or something!

Our pals at Bucketworks and Insomniac Development LLC will provide snacks and libations, and we thank them for that.

(P.S. I’ve been told this is a “pants optional” event, but I’m not sure what that means. Also, Time Lapse Bot will be there. Are these two things related!?!?)

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MilwaukeeDevHouse4

Yup, yeah, that’s right… It’s time for another DevHouse.

MilwaukeeDevHouse4 that is!

Back in 2008 we managed to throw 3 DevHouses, but we slacked in 2009, and this is the first of the year, but 4th in total. Math is hard.

Yup, yeah, that’s right… It’s time for another DevHouse.

MilwaukeeDevHouse4

So what is this MilwaukeeDevHouse thing? Well, I made a presentation before the first one, and it’s here, but if you hate pictures…

MilwaukeeDevHouse is relaxed, party-like atmosphere to hang out with friends (or make new ones!) and get things done… You know, that blog you’ve always been meaning to redesign, those photos you’ve been meaning to retouch, that Firefox extension or Drupal module that’s been sitting undone for 6 months. It’s like an all-night co-working session. At a house. Where a party is going on. Yup. Think of it like the late-night part of BarCamp where there aren’t sessions, but anything goes and people stare at computers all night long, hacking on who knows what.

Our good pals at Bucketworks are helping us sponsor this event, so a big thanks goes out to them.

Details? Yeah, we got ’em… over at Web414.

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Atomic Records

Atomic Records

Atomic Records, a mainstay of Milwaukee music, is closing…. and it makes us sad. Not just us, but pretty much anyone who loves music, and has been a customer some time in the past 24 years. For many of us, who first went there in the early years, it was the way we got music. (There was Ear Waves, Atomic Records, and Rush-Mor… and soon just Rush-Mor will be left.)

I started going to UWM in 1987, and it seemed like a weekly occurrence to walk down to Atomic and see what was going on… what fliers were up, what zines where out, what records we could find. Yeah, records… on vinyl… or tapes, lots of tapes from local bands, or 7″s from punk bands from wherever… you get the idea.

So it’s with great sadness we say goodbye to Atomic. (I tried to save them, really I did…) I’m sure if I go through my collection of vinyl, tapes, and even CD’s I would find a good amount that I got from Atomic Records. It’s weird, but I even remember specific events, like seeing about John Makay (teenage runaway from high-school) right across the street when everyone we knew thought he was in California or something… or the time Scott Schoenbeck saw me there, but didn’t know it was me cuz I was wearing blue jeans or something weird like that… Just crazy stuff that doesn’t mean much, except to me.

Atomic, we will miss you… you played an important part of my life, and the lives of many in Milwaukee (and surrounding areas where there were no record stores) when we needed it… Thanks!