The Chinese Year Of The Dragon Has Arrived !

http://blog.mikesryukyugallery.com/2012/01/welcome-chinese-new-year-with-bang.html

Photography Tips

Here is a blog page attached to my website that saw over 23,000 visitors during the year 2011. Check it out and feel free to leave your comments, or suggestions. Mike’s Ryukyu Gallery: Photography Tips

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,300 times in 2010. That’s about 3 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 12 new posts, not bad for the first year! There were 28 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 25mb. That’s about 2 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was March 4th with 120 views. The most popular post that day was Hey, It’s The 21st Century !.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were stumbleupon.com, digg.com, solofemaletraveler.com, reddit.com, and slashingtongue.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for ryukyumike.com, ryukyumike blog, white cats and dogs, man five toe socks, and dijicam.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Hey, It’s The 21st Century ! March 2010
12 comments

2

Lookin’ Back April 2010
17 comments

3

Everybody Has Black Hair ! March 2010
8 comments

4

Cats and Dogs March 2010
11 comments

5

Remember the Good Old Days? April 2010
8 comments

The Early Years Pre-Dijicam

This is a photo taken of me, oh, I don’t know, maybe forty-some years ago, back when I was a chick magnet and could play and sing Hank Williams tunes and drink Smirnoff Vodka ’til the sun came up and still put in a good day’s work. Danang, Vietnam 1968 ?

  
Now, that’s a pretty old photo and I was really shocked when the photographer who shot it with his film camera contacted me a few months ago. Ron Meadows, damn, we were sidekicks. He taught me how to play that guitar, or one just like it, 42 years ago!

Well, the world evolved. We have digital stuff everywhere, now. That’s how Ron found me, scanned a photo he probably had stuffed in a shoebox or scrapbook all those years and emailed it to me. He searched for me a long time, before the internet was invented, spent money looking for me, even. After awhile he figured I was dead. Along came the digital age, the internet, scanners, digital (Diji, in Japanese) cameras, Facebook, laptop computers, satellites, GPS, Celular Phones and lithium batteries and I’ll be a sonovbitch if Ron didn’t find me!

Before I really do die we’re gonna get drunk together, maybe, one more time. Thanks, Ron, we’ll do beer and not ride Harleys, OK?

 

Lookin’ Back

Over the past year I’ve been fortunate enough to have gotten published in alot of places and I think now’s a good time to review some of the lessons I’ve learned. In no particular order here they are:

 

Editors are people:

It took me awhile to figure that out.  I know some of them can seem demanding.  They’re probably busy folks and under more stress than freelance writers.  They have deadlines to meet and I imagine they have a lot more juggling of articles to do than we could ever dream of.

For some reason, I used to picture editors eating their offspring  just so they have more room at the kitchen table but, most of them really don’t.  They’re actually humans, just some of them have their antennas tuned in to a different frequency.

Editors who send rejections are pretty decent folks. They take the time to write back to you and tell you what you’re doing wrong.  I save every one of them and use them as guidelines for my next submission. I figure you don’t have to like editors; they have to like you.

Everybody makes mistakes:

When something goes wrong, whether you did it or the editor did, get it fixed, as quickly as possible and move on.  I’ve pulled some doozies when my Spellcheck was sleeping on the job.  The damn thing doesn’t know the difference between Maria and Marla, years from tears, far from fart, goof from golf and probably rapper from paper, for all I know.  It’s a good idea to have a second opinion; get someone, anyone to proofread your work before you submit it.  That’s kinda tough sometimes when you’re in a foreign country.  Most of my proofing is done by email.  Other times, I’ve caught errors after my submission’s gone and I’ve looked it over a day or two later but, had time to catch the editor before it hit print.

Then, there’s the times an editor had a computer hiccup and misspelled something in the editing process. A misspelling actually gets published.  If you don’t tell them, you’re not doing them any favor.  They can usually make corrections online and will thank you for your support.  Next thing you know, you trust them and they trust you.  That can be a good thing but, it also lead me to make the…..

Biggest Mistake of my one year writing career:

One editor trusted me with WordPress before I really knew what it was capable of doing.  So, playing around with it one night, while she was out doing whatever editors do,  I accidentally posted an article, right on the front page of her magazine!  Damn, what are you supposed to do?

I couldn’t do the manly thing; blame it on my wife because she wasn’t here.  Dammit, I didn’t mean to submit a story.  I was just experimenting.  If it had been something halfway decent, I might have let it go but, this was garbage.  After I cussed and said, “Holy Frickin’ Sugar” a few times I sent an instant message or Tweet, not sure if it was invented at the time.  Anyway it went something like this, “OMG,  I just published an article on your website, by accident.  It’s on the FRONT PAGE, where are you?”  Within minutes we were in a conference call and got it straightened out.  Old people shouldn’t have that kind of access until they know enough about WordPress.  So, now I don’t.

Check your facts:

This isn’t easy to do online but, it is important.  There’s an awful lot of misinformation floating around on the internet.  When you’re researching and a few Doctorates are disagreeing on Wikipedia, either put both sides of the argument in your story or go check Britannica; it’s a kid’s Encyclopedia but, always leads to some reliable references.  It must be against the law to lie to children in the UK, or something like that.

Promote your work and the publication it’s in:

Use the social media to promote your articles.  Online magazines bread and butter come from hits or views on what’s posted on their sites.  Most editors know how many visits have been made to your material.  The writers drawing the crowds are the ones magazines like writing for them.  If you promote your work, the homepage and other writers’ work, everybody comes out ahead.  It’s your way of thanking the editor but, I always make it a point to thank them by email, too.

Do whatever you can to make the editor’s job easier:

It may be something as simple as finding photos on Flickr to go with your article or sizing the photos yourself.  It could be typing in the html codes for your links or putting them in parentheses, just ask.  Every online publication has their own method and it’s not always included in their writer’s guidelines.

Make sure you know the publisher’s deadlines and get your work turned in early, not at the last minute.  Editors know the people they can count on and forget about those they aren’t certain of.

I’m always looking forward to being in new publications, lots of them.  So, what’s the big deal about LOOKIN’ BACK?

I’ll answer that with a question.

How many times has something sneaked up in front of you and bit you in the butt?

 

Remember the Good Old Days?

Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, typewriters didn’t have plastic keys!

This was a brand new laptop, just last month.  I’m probably still paying for it.  Haven’t even figured all this Window 7 stuff out yet and my “S” key is already melted!

They just don’t make machines like they used to.  I bet Mark Twain didn’t have half the problems we do nowadays with all this junk technology.  He probably had a real typewriter, one with wrought iron, metal keys; something you could leave a lit cigarette on, go get a cup of coffee and not have to worry about your whole house burning down and toxic fumes, stinkin’ burning plastic and all kinda pollution coming outa the machine.

Now, I know somebody’s probably going to try and tell me I should quit smoking.  And I probably should but, it probably won’t happen, at least not in this lifetime.  If you think I’m a miserable old goat now, you should see me when I try to quit smoking.

Smoking is good for some people and I’m one of them.  It drives the Doctors nuts when they give me physicals, stress tests and all those wierd  examinations.  One time they stuck me in some contraption that looked like a glass helicopter with a breathalyzer and a bunch of computer wires hooked up to me.  The technician had to leave the door open and wave his arms while he was screaming, “Inhale hard, exhale harder, longer, more, more , more, harder, a little bit more, more, more”!

When I flopped outa the bubble, all sweaty from huffin’ and puffin’ on his damn air tube he showed me the ticker tape with the results and said I did amazingly well. He wanted to know how long ago it was since I had my last smoke.  He figured I’d quit 30 years ago, or something and the Doctor sent me in for a follow up, I guess. When I told the guy I had my last smoke about 15 minutes ago, he almost choked !

And all the stories you hear about bartenders and airline stewardesses croaking from second hand smoke, hah!  They’re making it up.  I have proof.  Have your ever heard of a dog or cat catching cancer from people smoking cigarettes around them?

Now, I try and be polite and don’t smoke around non-smokers but, I won’t let them kiss me, either, at least not on the lips, anyway.

When the Doctors tell me I should quit because if I don’t, I’ll die, I just smile and tell them they’ll probably die someday, too.

Anyway, the laptop is fine.  I put the fire out and turned it upside down to shake all the ashes outa the keyboard and everything seems to be working perfectly. Wondering now if I shoulda spent the extra grand and bought a Mac.

Not in a Writer’s Frame of Mind

This probably happens to the best Writers in the World, sometimes!

You know what I’m talking about.  One of those days where words just don’t flow.

There’s all kinds of advice about it you can read online.

Take ten deep breaths.

Have a coffee break.

Take a hot and cold shower.

Go for a walk.

Do some Yoga.

Ride a bicycle.

Eat chocolate.

Rotate your socks.

Play your favorite music.

Treat yourself to some Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.

Salsa, Lasagna, Pizza

Stand on your head.

Water your plants.

Get drunk and phone home.

Well, I’ve tried them all and nothing seems to work.  Even the damn computers are giving me a hard time, today.

Extracted from an email I just sent:

“I went and fooled around with my Google Blog on the website and think I’ve really screwed it up. The site looks good enough but, I was building an Amazon Camera store and selecting only stuff I wanted to sell. Well, all the HTML Codes and whatnot, I had to copy and paste into a bucha jibberish I don’t understand, obliterated everything! Poor girls in their orange kimonos have POWERED BY GOOGLE on them!
But, other than that the site looks great. Mr Adsense Google may not like it though, I got him beat down to a little skinny banner at the top of the page. Wonder if anybody ever wrote a Google / Adsense / Amazon Affiliate / HTML Codes for Dummies book, yet?”

I’ve discovered, the best thing for me to do is yell at Mr. Google, Amazon Dot Kom, Billybob Gates and MR HTML Codes loud enough for them to hear me through the monitor.  Tomorrow, I bet I’ll be writing.  We’ll see…..

 

Cats and Dogs

Don’t ask me why. For some reason cats and dogs aren’t natural enemies in my part of the world.

The “white rat” of a pup in the photo is my better half’s critter. Allegedly, he’s part Maltese. The other two critters were at the beach with their master. He had a miniture Winnebago-style camper. Well, a Toyota, something or other with a tin house mounted on the back.

Anyway, the guy looked like he’d been drinking sake from a gallon and a half bottle, all night long so, I think he tied his dog and cat on opposite ends of the leash; that way they could walk themselves and save him alot of trouble.

Now when I’m out walking I’ve got two Huskies who don’t realize they’re guests in this country. Cats are natural enemies to them. They were safely out of the way when this photo was snapped; tied to a big tree snapping, barking, foaming at the mouth and trying to uproot the tree and get at the kitten.

This was the first time the little “white rat” ever saw a cat and he looked more interested in figuring out what the rope was for than he was in shaking hands with some strange creature reaching out to him. And I know what the little Pug was thinking. “C’mon, fool. try something stupid”.

Now, the racket the big dogs were making woke-up the old papasan leaning against the rear tire of his camper. So he uses his large sake bottle as a crutch to help him get up on his feet. I lit a smoke for him and asked if I could take a few pictures. “Um” he grunts. That meant OK. He even tried to have me bring the Huskies over for a group photo. I explained that those big dogs were from outa town and there would be a big mess if they got too close to the cat. “Um”; he understood.

Well, now I’m starting to wonder how many other parts of the world have dogs that don’t kill cats, just for the fun of it ?

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

3/28/2010 Photographer Michael Lynch of Kin, Okinawa, has won Second Place for February in the prestigious photography contest sponsored by BetterPhoto.com, the site’s founder, Jim Miotke, announced Sunday.

More than 17100 entries were submitted to the online photography contest, which attracted contestants from around the world and featured 10 separate categories.

Lynch’s stunning image, “Parting Shot”, garnered top honors after being submitted in the Travel & Place category.

See more at My Website

Everybody Has Black Hair !

Friday I went to an Elementary School Graduation for my Granddaughter.

Participation is mandatory for these events.  In Okinawa, family is a big thing.  Whatever the event, everyone attends.  Not that I would have skipped-out or anything like that.  It’s just, being a photographer, I get stuck shooting everytime, anybody, anywhere does anything.

My Granddaughter is special, though.  She’s the first; number 1 and she knows it. She’ll be a teenager, this year.  We go back aways, together.

Knowing a gazzilion kids would be bouncing around on the wooden floor, bumping into my tripod or popping up in front of my lens, I  begged the organizers to let me climb up to the concrete balcony surrounding the auditorium.  It was great, just myself and one other cameraman had the whole place to ourselves.  We had a clear, unobstructed view of the whole place.  Awesome !

Walking around, above the hundreds of students, parents and teachers below, I found the places I could get the best light for my photos, wherever the graduates would be moving.  While the speeches, singing and all the other unimportant stuff was going on, I set up my tripod and made setting adjustments on the camera.  Then, started composing some practice shots.  That’s when it dawned on me, some students were wearing black, some white, some black and white.  I had no idea what colors my Granddaughter was wearing.  I hadn’t seen her ahead of time.

AND EVERYBODY HAS BLACK HAIR  !   So, I started zooming-in looking for her.  I couldn’t find her, anywhere.  Damn.

Too far away to yell downstairs to the wife, son-in-law or daughter to point her out to me, I kept scanning and searching.  I recongized all her friends she brought by after school over the years.  Kids who ate my ice cream and cookies and anything else I didn’t hide were all there.

So, I took close up pictures of everyone I recognized and wide angle shots of the whole crowd.  If she was there, she’d be in some pictures.

Then, I started thinking maybe they had her stuck somewhere in hiding.  She was always an honor student, grade-wise, anyway.  Maybe all the smart kids are hiding in a closet and they bring them out to get their diplomas, last.

Two hours in the balcony and I took around 50 pictures when I heard the Principal say, “Owarimashita”.  It’s over.  What ?

So, I scramble downstairs and find the family, before the mass exit starts. ” Where’s, Marin?” I ask the wife and daughter.  “You know, the kid I came here to shoot”.  I couldn’t find her anywhere.  I shot pictures of everybody in the place but, never found my Marin.

She was in the front row, wearing black, third from the right.  I didn’t recognize her.

SOMEBODY RESTYLED HER BLACK HAIR !