Aristocrat travel trailer in Canada

Queenie and I camped with the Aristocrat travel trailer in Canada last week.   We had four different campsites from Radium Hot Springs to North of Lake Louise. The picture above is from Redstreak on the hill above the town of Radium.  You can see my shadow in the picture on the right. Below is our camp at Marble Canyon.

We had a great time as usual, and it was a great way to escape the heat down in the states.  The 1979 Ford F250 purred like a cat towning the trailer, and one dude driving a new F350 even complimented us on old yeller. They just don't paint trucks yellow like that any more. The 1968 Aristocrat travel trailer worked well too.  We stayed comfy and and warm as temps dipped down into the 40s F at night.  The picture below is our last camp at McLead Meadows.  I didn't get a good one of the camp at Mosquito Creek. ( it had less mosquitos than Marble Canyon actually)

I almost hesitate to post any of my photos now as I don't want them ending up on someone else's site.., but it's hard to go into the Canadian parks and not be inspired.  It's a great place to do some vintage camping, and there's nothing like the smell of propane and coffee in the morning.  Has to be in Melmac to get the full effect...

My photos taken without my permission on HD wallpaperfresh.com

Despite stating on my blog that I reserve all rights to my photography, and to not use my photography without my permission HERE ARE three of my photos taken and being used without my permission. (as of 7-16_13 the photos have been taken down per my request or so it would seem.)

Who knows what else they've taken without asking or paying for?  Maybe they've taken one of yours?

UPDATE:  the site owner has taken one of my pictures down.  The one with clouds reflecting on the water.  But there are still two of my pictures up on the site.  I've asked that those be taken down too.  We will see.

UPDATE: 7-16-13  It looks like the site owner has removed my photos taken and used without my permission as per my request to remove them from the site.  To make sure I'm going to leave this post up for now.

I guess I'll have to water mark my photography now.  I can't figure out a better way to keep this from happening again.  None of this is fun.  I don't want my blog to be about a bitter dude running around trying to police the internet.  My first thought is to go back to keeping my pictures to myself.  The idea here was to share the photography and the associated experience.  It isn't about self promotion.

When I was in art school, I was really put off by the self promotion of it all.  I never liked the idea of self promotion when it came to self expression.  People would have a show and it was like, this is my art work, I'm so cool.  I really hated that.  At the same time now I don't want people taking my stuff and laying claim on it or selling it.  That's the other side of bother. 

I recently had a university student who felt entitled to take my photography without asking linking back or giving photo credit.  She even tried to convince me she had the right.  Her prof acted like it was an oversight and yet all of the non visual intellectual property had proper citation? What the heck?  If they had asked first and given credit, I probably would have allowed that use.   Others have taken my photos to make a buck where I'm sure it's hard to make ends meet.  I can actually understand that a little more but it still doesn't make it right.  

There are some people ask to use my pictures and for the most part I won't allow my pictures to be used. I'm not taking pictures to sell products or services, but to their credit they at least ask first and that's how it should be.  I'm always impressed when someone asks first.

This blog is about sharing a viewpoint.  I hope people come here and look around and share in my experience without taking bites out of me.  That's what we have insects for.

Copy Right Issues

I reserve all rights to my photography.  What do I have to do, put a big watermark across every photo?!  If that's what I have to do I guess I'll do it.

Despite putting a statement on my blog in each post stating that I retain all rights to my photos, I found these three of my pictures on a site called HD Wallpaper Fresh.  I've requested that they remove my pictures and we will see how they respond.  Who knows what else they've taken and without permission.

Here's my picture on HD Wallpaper Fresh taken and used without my permission.

Here it is again: I retain all rights to my photography.  Do not use my photos without my permission.

Bird is the word

So I was in the thrift store last week looking for Melmac and other various mid century things and I came across one of these vintage wall art birds.  I'm looking at this thing deciding how cool it is and this lady comes up and says "here's another one that goes with it."  So then there were two..

I walked out of the store without the birds and I thought, If I don't buy these birds, I'm always going to regret it.  So I looked in my wallet and found the ten bucks I needed and went back in and bought them.

I have to wonder a little about the old bird who used to own these birds..  The wing is coming loose on one of them but it just needs a machine screw nut. They say Style House, Japan on the back of them.  They're gonna ad style to my house!  I'll add them to the Gochenour collection. 

Kootenay National Park photo

Here's a picture I took in Kootenay National Park from when I went there right after all of the flooding in Alberta.  The river is usually a mineral blue color but it was running brown this time.
I reserve all rights to my photos please do not use without permission 

Mid Century Desk Lamp

My mom downsized and I just had to have this mid century desk lamp that is in the shape of a flower.  There's something really corny about it, maybe the green leaf, but at the same time there something really cool about it.  It's not trying to convince you it's a real plant or even a good representation of a real plant.  There's a certian honesty to it in that respect.  And if you put this lamp in your home, it wasn't like you were trying to impress everyone.  It was just fun and it's still just fun.

I can imagine sitting around back in the early 1960s watching the Judy Garland show on a black and white TV with this lamp on the end table.  And of course you'd want an ashtray right next to it in case someone wanted to smoke..  Where's my ashtray?

Mid Century Coolness

Mom had these mid century milk glasses so I appropriated them for the 1968 Aristocrat travel trailer. They will be perfect for camping.  At the end of a long day on the hiking trail we can pop open a carton of milk and relax by the camp fire.

Queenie picked up this cool retro Coleman water cooler.  It was made in Canada and that might explain why I've never seen another one exactly like it.  We can put our, Tang, Kool-Aid or even just cold water in it.