Input Resolution

Tom Ang’s recommendation on input resolution in his book Advanced Digital Photography:

Broadly speaking, with images of average proportions, images smaller than about 150 pixels long cannot show anything but the broadest structure of a picture. For web use, images generally need not be longer than 720 pixels–which is also adequate for smaller prints (i.e. half the size of an average postcard). For fair-quality prints and output to 8 1/2×11 inch size, you will work in the 2000-2500 pixel range. For good quality work, the numbers rise to image lengths of 3000-4500 pixels.

Adorama lists their recommendations on their print order site.

Interview with Mark Budman of Vestal Review

Mark Budman is the publisher and editor of The Vestal Review, a quarterly dedicated to “flash fiction.”

Wayne: What term do you prefer for flash fiction (short short, flash fiction, micro fiction, etc.) and why?

Mark: I prefer “flash fiction” because of its connotation of swiftness, dynamics and intellectual flare; it brings to mind an image of a bolt of lightning, the sound of thunder. By Vestal Review’s definition, a flash is an intense story under 500 words, with a plot, characters and great language.

Wayne: Has there been a rise in the flash fiction form, and if so, what has convinced you that there has been? For instance, what have we seen in terms of the quality/number of literary magazines and anthologies we now see? Have you found any essays or articles about the form that have been seminal or influential?

Mark: Since March of 2000 when Sue O’Neill and I started Vestal Review, I have seen an explosion in the numbers of literary magazines that publish flash – a definite volume increase. Quality has also improved, but unfortunately by a smaller margin. Everyone thinks they can write flash but not everyone has the talent and determination to succeed. I should actually reverse the terms – determination first and then the talent. As for essays, Jason Gurley’s “Flash What? A Quick Look at Flash Fiction,” comes to mind.

Wayne: What social trends, if any, do you think are influencing the popularity of the flash fiction form?

Mark: Instant gratification has always been an American trait. Flash fiction is an ideal media for people on the run who still retain their intellectual curiosity.

Wayne: What technological trends are influencing the form?

Mark: The proliferation of digital media has reinforced the notion of instant gratification. For people used to CNN, e-zines and blogs, flash fiction with its swiftness, intensity and dazzle seems like a good match.

Wayne: What attracted you to editing a publication that focuses on flash?

Mark: I have loved the genre since I first discovered it, by reading Shapard’s and Thomas’ Sudden Fiction series. At the time, the number of magazines that published flashes was limited. The only way to rectify that was to start my own publication that would promote the overall genre and my vision of it.

Wayne: What is it about the flash fiction form that attracts writers? What kind of writers are most attracted to the form?

Mark: Flash is the most concentrated, intense and poetic sub-genre of fiction. A good flash, replete with a cohesive plot, rich language and enticing imagery, is perhaps the hardest type of fiction to write. A good flash is so condensed that it borderlines poetry. A good flash engages your mind not only for the short duration of its read, but for a long time after. The skills learned in writing flash can be applied to longer genres, allowing the author to write with brevity, intensity and precision. Any writer who is familiar with the genre is attracted to it.

Wayne: What kind of readers are most attracted to flash?

Mark: All readers enjoy flash, but the ones who have no time for words enjoy it the most.

Wayne: Where is the form headed next? What do you think about the experiments to distribute fiction and poetry on cell phones and other devices? How much longevity do such experiments have and why?

Mark: I see flash transcending the written word and rapidly moving into the world of sounds. Isn’t that what original story telling was all about? A story told around the fire to a crowd of attentive listeners, a story sung by a bearded bard in the banquet hall lit by torches. Since no one has time to build a fire today and since torches would probably violate one local ordnance or another, a cell phone, a car radio and other technical means that allow an instant delivery of flash to the listener will benefit flash fiction.

Should White Collar Crime Pay?

My article “Should White Collar Crime Pay” appears in the latest issue of Turn Left.

Poor Wayne’s Leica

This weekend, I was without my Nikon D1, which I use as my backup camera. Picked it up today, along with my Canon Canonet GIII QL, which I finally had repaired. The Canon GIII has been called the “poor woman’s Leica (by Karen Nakamura),” and it has a fast 40mm/f.17 lens. It’s nice to keep a Canonet around, since it is the kind of camera that I remember my father using when I was growing up. Should be fun taking it around town to test the solidity of the repairs. Wein cell batteries are available to replace the now banned mercury batteries that the camera used to use.

Kyle Cassidy compares his Canonet to a Leica M6: well, at least the Canon truly is less expensive. Stephen Gandy seems to like his Canonet: “The viewfinder is large, bright and very usable, though admittedly not up to Leica M standards. It’s a very smooth operating camera, a pleasure to use.” Scott Young finds a lot to love about the camera.

Travel to Taipei

The New York Times talks about travel to Taipei.

The people, too, embody all the complexities of a country that is at once forward-looking and historically aware, internationally plugged in but diplomatically isolated, and as multiculturally hybrid (influences include China, Japan and the United States) as it is full of hometown pride. That pride has generated what may be Taipei’s most vibrant cultural movement. It’s called “tai-ke,” a phrase that originally meant “redneck” but has now come to encompass a youth-focused lifestyle that celebrates both the déclassé (flip-flops, Long Life cigarettes) and the haute (Gucci, Macallan).

Peter Maize’s Zoom Out

Smalltown TV anchorwoman Amy Spencer and grocery stockboy Brian Tyler have one thing in common in Peter Maize’s novel Zoom Out. Both are bored with their mundane lives, aspiring for something better. Odd that those aspirations take them both East: Spencer to a seemingly dead-end broadcasting job in Hong Kong; Tyler to backpacking and doing funny drugs in Asia.

Maize spends too much time focusing on the curiosities of southern Chinese culture, like locals standing on toilet seats and the inscrutability of Asian bosses, too little real insight on how Eastern and Western cultures swirl in a cauldron like Hong Kong. The novel picks up when a mysterious storyteller comes onto the scene, and Spencer finds herself in the middle of student protests in Tiananmen Square.

Moving to Word Press

Just moved my blog from Typepad to Word Press. Please update your bookmarks!

Valeze – Circus in Outerspace (photos)

Images at Photoshelter

Rain at Madison Square Garden

Fans of Asian pop star Rain. Rain (Ji-Hoon Jung, 이름 / 정지훈) made his U.S. solo debut at Madison Square Garden on February 2, 2006.