Before you visit an area with the intent to take photographs, pros will tell you it’s best to scout the location first. The benefits to scouting an area seem obvious, but in case you aren’t convinced, here is what Seattle-based photo guru Chase Jarvis has to say on the topic:

Scouting. Whether you do it weeks, days, or hours in advance, you should–if at all possible–build time into your schedule to visit the location before you shoot. Take into consideration how the light looks, where the sun moves, logistical challenges, etc. Take sample images and look at various angles. Make a game plan.

Now, if you’re like me (read: not doing this commercially) you probably don’t have a lot of interest in taking a vacation to scout out your vacation. But that can’t prevent you from doing a little scouting. Hit the jump for my tip:

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Last night–August 28 - 29th brought a huge storm to the Phoenix metro area. While I had no frame of reference apparently natives were rather freaked out. Today I found out that it ripped the roof off of new construction at Arizona State University, toppled old palm trees, and blew out windows. Since I had no frame of reference–having not lived here for any length of time — I thought it was a dandy summer storm. Thus I proceeded to stand out on my deck and take photographs. Here are two photographs of the lightning that preceded the rain and mega-winds.

Lightning in Tempe, AZ

Lightning in Tempe, Arizona

It’s the end of the Internet as we know it. Back when I was in middle school, AOL was sending out free CDs for X number of minutes free on their dialup internet service. Quickly that gave way to all-you-can-eat world wide web buffet that we know and love today.

But (cue ominous drums) now this is extinct. On October 1st, a major supplier of high-speed broadband internet, Comcast, will start restricting it’s service. They aren’t restricting it as in the early days — by time — they are restricting it by bandwidth. According to the Washington Post, Comcast will be allowing 250GB of content to be transferred per month.

Granted, 250GB is a lot of bandwidth and you’re only likely to run up against that limit if you do things like download and watch movies online from Netflix, frequently use your Apple TV, maintain a website that has a lot of media content, play intense online games for hours on end, live on YouTube, or a variety of other tasks. Your basic idea of get online to check email, stocks, and news isn’t going to hit the limit.

Comcast, like a few other small cable companies, are implementing these restrictions because their network is shared. You share bandwidth with your neighbor. As such, when your neighbor watches Netflix, your internet connection goes to pot. Rather than upgrade their infrastructure — or subversively block P2P file sharing as they have in the past — this is Comcast’s solution.

My solution is to never use Comcast again and I suggest that you do the same. For those lucky enough to live in Verizon’s FiOS network area — switch to them. If you’re not, switch to DSL anyway. While 250GB is enough for most users now, this is a dangerous precedent. As more users come online and Comcast realizes that a 250GB cap is not reducing network usage significantly — that cap will come down. Eventually you will be paying a set amount per month, then $X.00 per gigabyte. Since Comcast is amending your Terms of Service, you should be able to get out of any early termination fees if you press hard enough.

In a similar article by news.com Comcast will “not [provide] any tools to help users monitor their current usage. An FAQ on Comcast’s support site simply suggests that customers do a ‘Web search’ for bandwidth metering software that will track this amount for them.”

So, what happens if you violate the (currently set at) 250GB cap? According to the Washington Post article first-time violators will be given a “warning call” from customer service. On the second offense, your Comcast account may be suspended for a calendar year.

To Comcast: I sincerely hope your subscribers do not agree with these new terms and as such take their business elsewhere if at all possible.

Continuing the search to find my purpose.

Parole & Probation

While looking through the Occupational Outlook Handbook (OOH) online, I found this table:

This table is showing that Arizona, Oregon, and Washington have some of the highest concentration of parole/probation employees. What does this mean for me? Not a whole lot. It appears (according to the next table I’m going to show you) that in Arizona at least, that concentration is elsewhere (Yuma and Tuscon). I can’t find an opening for Parole/Probation in my current metro area — nor could I find one in the Portland metro area. I shall continue to look.

Metropolitan areas with the highest concentration of workers in this occupation:

Photojournalism

In other job hunting news: I also looked in the OOH for some validation on the idea that Photojournalism jobs are evaporating. According to the OOH this is a possibility, but more likely is that the PJ jobs are going to require a shift from being entirely newspaper printed photographs to more of an online presence. With traditional media having difficulty paying for itself — e.g. the layoffs at the New York Times — I fail to see who the new employers will be and if they will be able to support the equipment requirements of pro photogs. Or will everything be freelance with those that want to do the job required to purchase tens of thousands of dollars of their own gear?

I quote the OOH’s entry on another area of concern to those already in the field:

Photographers can expect keen competition for job openings because the work is attractive to many people. The number of individuals interested in positions as commercial and news photographers usually is much greater than the number of openings. Salaried jobs in particular may be difficult to find as more companies contract with freelancers rather than hire their own photographers.

Or, As Mark Hancock — a Dallas based PJ — said it:

There’s no lack of talented, dedicated, unemployed PJs. They want any job just as much as a new college grad. However, they have pro experience and pro awards on their resume.

I found out today, that by unplugging the cable from the back of my cable modem and hooking it up to my television I can, in fact, receive TV signal. Perhaps this is intended operation but I most certainly did not subscribe to a television package — I pay for internet. While I don’t get anything in HD, several channels are in Spanish, and a good one-third are shopping-based… I do get C-SPAN.

Granted, most of the year C-SPAN is incredibly boring to everyone but serious political pundits or the occasional Poly-sci major, but for the next few days the Democratic National Committee is hosting the Democratic Convention in Colorado. I’m excited that I get to watch.

C-SPAN, for those that don’t know, is a commercial free broadcast of the political process funded by a consortium of cable companies.

Y’know how sometimes you just can’t help but smile and how sometimes it’s just not enough. A friend of mine has recently started a website called InspiredSmiles.com — it allows you to tell the world (anonymously) what has just made you smile.

I think InspiredSmiles.com is a fabulous concept and a nice spin on the traditional social networking systems (like Facebook status and Twitter’s Tweets). If you’re a Twitter user you can sign up to have new smiles sent to you via SMS. Personally, I don’t see the value, but the owner — Eric Mann of Jumping Duck Media — writes, “it’s still refreshing to get a random ‘I’m happy today because…’ message while I’m sitting in a lobby waiting for a meeting.”

InspiredSmiles.com has started to accumulate a number of regular posters and has already attracted nearly 100 smiles. I invite you to head over there, check it out, tell the world why you are smiling. And who knows, perhaps by sifting through the previous posts you can find something to smile about.

I recently applied for a civilian position within the Phoenix Police Department for Crime Scene Investigator I. Because of this, I’ve started paying attention to the headlines. What immediately caught my attention was that a lot of people tend to get killed in Phoenix. At least more than I’m used to. So I went to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) website and looked up some data from the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). In 2006 Phoenix had 235 instances of non-negligent manslaughter and murder. Interestingly though, the violent crime rate seems to be similar to Portland. Below are some tables showing murder and violent crime rates (per 100,000 people) in Phoenix, Scottsdale (weathlier suburb), Tempe (suburb) and Portland, Oregon (my hometown).

Murder Rate (Per 100,000)

Violent Crime Rate (Per 100,000)

233 E Southern Ave Post Office

My roommate received a card from the United States Postal Service stating that there was a package to pick up at the post office located at 233 E. Southern Ave. No problem. I pull up Google maps and enter “post office” in a search for the phoenix metro area. I see a marker on Southern Avenue and I click on it. The address indicates that it is 233 E Southern Ave in Mesa and we start heading out there.

About 15 minutes later I realize that the post office we want is located at 233 E Southern Ave in Tempe — the other direction. Oops.

Upon returning home and searching the awkward post office lookup on USPS.com — there is no post office at 233 E Southern in Mesa. Thankfully, Google Maps provides a mechanism for having those inconsistancies weeded out. I clicked on “edit” and “remove” and told Google that the location doesn’t exist according to the postal service. Thankfully we were not trying to get a tax return out just before the deadline or anything of that nature.

Note: In the following story, names have been omitted to protect what is, in all likelyhood, a legitimate business. If you are in my area and would like additional details so you too can avoid this place, either take a good look at the clues I’ve provided or email me.

Food in Phoenix Metro is expensive. Perhaps the native Phoenicians (I’m pretty sure that’s what they’re called) don’t think so, but it is. At least it’s expensive compared with the fertile Wilamette Valley. Here’s an example. Cheese is nearly twice the price. Yes, no joke. Tilamook cheese is the only non-mega-food-distributor cheese and it costs nearly $12 full price. Hint: Don’t buy it full priced. We’ve been lucky to find it for $7 with a “frequenty buyer card” at the nearby Smart & Final. Pasta cannot be found for $1.00 a bag. Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is nearly $2. Can of refried beans: $1.50. (We buy a mega-huge-resturant-size can for $3). Meat is, unfortunately, also expensive. A bag of frozen chicken breasts may cost you $10 or $12 — something available in Oregon for $6 or $7. We’re adjusting, but it’s slow.

Which brings me to the current story. I have been searching for a cheap food, warehouse, WinCo-like store for a while.

• Smart & Final: It’s a restaurant supply store and seems almost Costco like, but much smaller.
• Costco: We haven’t been there to determine pricing because they require a membership
• Fry’s Foods: Is, unfortunately, nothing like the electronics super-store by a similar name. It’s run by Kroger and feels almost identical to a Fred Meyer (for those from the Pacific Northwest).
• Bashas: Locally owned, feels like a Safeway… a non-renovated Safeway
• Food City: Caters mostly to the latino population, which is fine. Prices are similar to Fry’s. Great if you’re looking to cook Mexican food… you should see their tortilla selection!
• Safeway: Is not a grocery store apparently. It kind of looked like a Rite Aid. It has a grocery section, but that’s about it.
• Albertsons / Osco: Generic grocery store. Similar to, well, Albertsons. Locally it’s somewhat of a minority and similar to Bashas.
• *name removed*: The subject of our story.

We went to this place, rather East of our apartment hoping to find a WinCo like store. I found them on the internet where they had some current deals posted… LIke Silk Vanilla Soy Milk for $.99. Ridiculously good deals. Meat seemed fairly cheap, too. So we drive out there. Apparently the place is in an old Rosarita factory. To me, that says that the place is big.

When we get there it’s quite obvious that it’s an old factory, but nevertheless we press on. As we approach the place (which is decently busy I might add) we see a guy coming out with a cart full of stuff. But he’s not coming out of a door, he’s coming out of plastic strips. The type that were seen on old factories/warehouses to keep the cold air in, but allow for easy movement of pallets. Sketchy bit #1.

Sketchy bit #2 is apparent immediately upon walking in. First big room is the refrigerated section… and it’s not very cool. Kurt tested the apparent temperature in the floor coolers by touching the “frozen” beef. He states that it didn’t feel like it was in the appropriate temperature range. I look at the frozen bag of chicken. The bag is unmarked clear plastic and is selling for $1.

Sketchy bit #3: we walked into the produce room, which smelled way funny, and noticed boxes of produce thrown onto the tables. Walla Walla onions. $.29/lb…. are Walla Walla’s even in season?

Sketchy bit #4: huge, generically marked cans of stuff lining the canned food section. Name brand cans were mostly dented and weren’t even stacked.

Overall: The whole place feeled dirty and a little bit uneasy. Seriously, you think that anything you eat from the place could give you a serious case of salmonella… or worse. In the end Kurt and I scooted out of there pretty quick after arrival with a case of the heebie jeebies.

While I miss Winco, I think our shopping trips will mostly keep us contained to Smart & Final and Fry’s from now on.

In North Tempe, Arizona lives a giant structure with lots of tubes and lights and power lines. I saw it as soon as I exited the freeway into Tempe and I knew, as did everyone else on the trip, that it needed to have a night photo taken. Last night I finally ventured over there (after a failed trip to Camelback mountain), and took this photograph.

From their website (http://www.aps.com/general_info/AboutAPS_18.html): Operated and owned by APS, the natural gas-fueled Ocotillo Power Plant, in Tempe, Arizona, has two steam and two combustion turbine units that are capable of generating about 340 megawatts. The APS Solar Technology and Research (STAR) Center also is located on the grounds of the Ocotillo Plant and performs state-of-the-art research and development on solar and other renewable generation. Ocotillo also is the location for the Tempe/APS Joint Fire Training Center.