Brooklyn Snow

I really should remember to go somewhere warm… soon.

Posted in Brooklyn, New York, Weather
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Wow, is it February already. Where the hell have I been.

Oh yeah…

After Martinique, I spent the holidays freezing and damp high in the Peruvian Andes. This trek was organized through Adventure Life. For the most part, it was great. Some time in Cusco acclimatizing ourselves to the altitude, then off to the Ausangate region for 6 days climbing over 17,000 foot passes, meeting Andean people, watching baby alpacas being sheered and sometimes born, visiting the markets, sampling local cuisine like guinea pig and strawberry beer… and basically taking in the gorgeousness of the often brutal landscape. (There’s a desktop or two available over at mybestdesktops.com)

After the trekking, we took the easy train route to Machu Picchu… Truly breathtaking ruins, but I wouldn’t recommend taking the train all the way there and the town of Aguas Calientes was a bit too touristy. Finally we spent the New Year in Lima drinking Pisco Sours and exploring.

Although there were many memorable experiences along the way, it was hard to compete with a month in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Additionally, there were some hiccups with Adventure Life… I should remember to think twice before using them again.

Immediately upon retuning to New York I had a single day to relax before heading down to Savannah, Georgia for a work shoot. The fruits of that labor should be launching soon. I should remember to chat about it then.

Then it’s been heads down working.

I should remember not to work so much… and travel more.

Posted in Holidays, Photography, Travel, desktop, downloads
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Le M Burger Avec Bacon

While in Martinique, I kept seeing ads for the Le M burger at McDonald’s. When traveling, I try to sample local McDonald’s just as an experiment to see how different cultures and local tastes shape international products, so naturally I had to try Le M.

This is not your average Mickey D’s! Just check out the photos.

This is real food. It tastes like a real burger! It has real bread!!! And it even uses real cheese!!!!

I should remember that even McDonald’s is capable of making real food… if only for French people.

Posted in Caribbean, Food, Photography, Travel
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St. Pierre - Little Pompei of the Caribbean

The island of Martinique is a gorgeous overseas department of France (like a state) right around the middle of the Caribbean chain of islands. Last weekend, I managed to take a whirl-wind spin around the island and came away very impressed.

I should certainly remember how fantastic the streets/infrastructure is, how clean they keep the place, how friendly the islanders are, how magnificent their volcano is, how delicious fresh crushed sugarcane juice is, how light and refreshing the Lorraine‘s are, and how much I would love to return for a leisurely stay in St. Pierre.

Posted in Caribbean, Photography, Travel
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The Dark Knight

There are tons of reviews for Batman: Arkham Asylum out there from people way better equipped than me with writing talent and video game insight. The only thing I could add as an almost fanatical devotee of The Dark Knight (not just that latest movie), is that this is the first Xbox 360 game I have completed to 100%. The truly amazing part is that getting to 100% wasn’t a chore. Almost all of the Riddler collectibles and other achievements could be completed with just some common sense and a little skill. I never felt like I didn’t have enough information to solve any puzzle put before me… but never felt like the game thought I was in idiot.

The challenge room achievements took a bit more work, but they’re called challenge rooms, right? And that’s the bottom line on the game: the challenging parts were challenging, but not impossible making for a deep, engaging, atmospherically spot on experience.

Many other people have voiced their disappointment with the ending, so I won’t bother adding to that pile. (It wasn’t very good.) One thing I didn’t hear complaints about was Harlee Quinn‘s redesign. I, personally, wasn’t a fan. But these are small complaints against an overall fantastic game.

Anyway, I should remember that somewhere out there, there are people who love Batman as much as I do. Thanks!

Posted in Comics, gaming
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A few months ago, I wrote about tracking down stolen images with TinEye. That tip generated a lot of conversation about  the ownership of original photography with level headed rebuttals from folks who understand that copyright protection begins the moment a work is set and that “copyright over a work immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work.” Read more about that here.

Yes, that’s an oversimplification and the law isn’t quite so cut and dry unless the work is registered with the government (still not 100%), but that would have been all the information needed to cover the uses outlined in that post.

When I wrote that first post, there were plenty of funny examples of my works finding their way into company’s and people’s commercial uses. I wasn’t trying to be mean spirited about the whole thing, it was more of a humorous take on unauthorized appropriation for small commercial endeavors… but what happens when it’s not a small or humorous commercial endeavor?

That was just the case when I woke up this past Sunday morning and during my normal morning routine, watched a heart wrenching video about Tainted Meat on the New York Times website. At the very beginning of the piece was this photo:

I immediately recognized it. I’d taken that photo of a garden gnome in an old lady’s front yard while in California last year… but I honestly couldn’t believe that the Times could have overlooked getting authorization of this photo I’d made available for personal use on mybestdesktops.com.

I so couldn’t believe it, that I didn’t even double-check the photo until the following day when I overlaid the Times crop over my original.

There was no question. That was my photograph in a New York Times video piece! I immediately, checked with my photographer, photo editor, illustrator friends and a copyright lawyer on the best course of action. Some were more official or threatening than others… but I thought the best thing would be to call the producer of the piece… this must have been an unfortunate oversight.

To make a long story short, dealing with the folks at the Times was a pleasure and action was taken swiftly to correct the problem. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the work they do and can completely understand how this sort of error could occur.

In the end, I got credited just below Pulitzer prize winning photographer Damon Winter… and the story has really gotten a big response that could turn into positive change in the meat industry.

I should remember to keep shooting… this could be going somewhere.

Posted in Photography, Tips, desktop, wallpapers
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Safe Haven Irish Music Session

Every Wednesday a group of talented traditional Irish musicians gather at a small bar in South Park Slope. I’ve always had some strange attachment to Ireland. It may just be due to my name and its ties to the country, but nevertheless Ireland has always interested me.

Anyway, when I was asked to photograph a session at Safe Haven, I jumped at the chance just for the fun of it. Thankfully the photos came out well in my opinion. It may be due to the Irish whiskey Noel kept pouring me throughout the night… or maybe just the fantastic vibe that evening.

I should remember to swing back by Safe Haven one of these Wednesdays.

Posted in Brooklyn, Friends, Music, New York, Nightlife, Photography
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PatrickBennettPhotography.com

Whipped up a new site just for travel photography. Visit PatrickBennettPhotography.com to view the just the best stuff.

Posted in Art, Design, Interactive, Photography, Site Maintenance, Travel
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Finished another photo… Hmm… Need to keep trying.

Posted in Art, Friends
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Walking in the Atlas

Back from a month in Morocco largely spent trekking across the High Atlas Mountains, there’s one question people keep asking: “Was it what you expected?” What I expected? I had no expectations since I’d never done anything like this before. I simply couldn’t imagine what it would be like.

Physically, it started out demanding. Quickly became extremely demanding. Then settled into a rhythm of continuous challenges that began to feel easier only due to their consistency. Somehow when a day was ending and you imagined there was no way you’d be able to go on, the following day you would do just that.

Walking

Visually, the mountains were truly stunning. Everyday we would find ourselves dwarfed by the most ruggedly gorgeous vistas. Interestingly enough, the 3 major climbs on the trip (Jebel Mgoun (13,356 ft), Jebel Anghomar (11,837ft), and Jebel Toubkal (13,671 ft)) revealed the least inspirational images. Not to say that seeing for miles over the High Atlas wasn’t inspiring, just that there were more varied, interesting things to see walking the valleys and high passes.

Berber Girl

In the end, however, it was the people of Morocco that really made the trip an extraordinary experience. Passing through the nomadic and semi-nomadic berber villages that hadn’t really changed in thousands of years, being accosted by inquisitive village children, spending time hanging out with our berber muleteers smoking Marquis, eating lunch at Young Mohammed‘s house, taking time out from doing my laundry to challenging some village kids to a game of “king of the rock” in a cold river, celebrating my birthday at a gite with an improvised chocolate/mint cake… these all made the trip the truly amazing experience it turned out to be.

On a side note, my new gear performed flawlessly! The boots alone were lifesavers that earned me the distinction of the only member of our group without hideously blistered feet. Additionally, I used every single piece of equipment I brought. Even my Adventure Medical Kit.

I should do my absolute best to remember as much of this time as possible… hopefully some of the thousands of photos I took and placed in a Morocco Photoset on Flickr will help.

Posted in Photography, Travel, exercise
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