photos category archive

This Building is a LIBRARY

In case there were any doubts.

Stark, institutional, and maybe we would say ugly, but functional. You can, in fact, find, read, and check out books here.

It is certainly easier to identify from the road than some other buildings, and there is something to be said for that.

There is also a 2816 x 2112 version of the picture.

This photo is shared under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 license, because much like the building, this web site exists to freely share information, knowledge, and culture, while at the same time not necessarily pursuing aesthetics as its highest priority.

Related: Inside the Library

Remarkable Free (as in free culture) Photography by Paulo Barcellos

I’ve had it in mind lately to write some book/music/movie reviews about non-free culture, which I have mixed feelings about. This is a site ostensibly devoted to free software and free culture, after all. I may end up writing those posts, along with some hand wringing explanatory notes (namely that I’m all about “free association and assorted miscellany” also), but I have no reservations about pointing to the work of Paulo Barcellos Jr. over at Flickr:

NYC, Blade Runner Style

I’m continually delighted that he freely shares all his pictures under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 license. (I’m guessing the older v2 license because that’s what Flickr offers as an option.) This is quality work, and releasing it this way bolsters free culture as we gradually move in …

Friday Free Wallpaper Post: Patio

My patio. It was wet. I thought it would make a good desktop background.

This image is free and I’m releasing it in to the public domain. I took a 2560 x 1024 pixel slice out of it to use as dual monitor wallpaper, and of course you’re free to resize it to 1600 x 1200, 1280 x 1024, 1024 x 768, or etc x etc.

2816 x 2112

(An advantage of dual monitors I’ve found in GNU/Linux is that you can have a wallpaper that stretches across two displays. In Windows–by default at least, and no easy way to configure otherwise–I was only able to have an image repeated on both displays.)

Lake Superior Rocky and Pebbly Shoreline

Penguin Pete wrote a nice tutorial on how to make 3D pebbles in the GIMP. I haven’t tried the howto yet but trust that it will explain things very well.

He wrote “Grab an example image of pebbles or rocks from online/creative-commons works. Since we’re only going to be sampling them for a few pixels, licensing isn’t as hot an issue,” which prompted me to think about these pictures I took a few years ago on the north shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota. We stayed in a small cabin right off this beach. I wish now I had taken more shots of wet pebbles, as the water brings out the colors better and makes a nice sheen.

Being a fan of free culture, I decided to put these out here as raw material for would-be tutorial users. …

At the Blue Ox Market

Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

“Up north” in Minnesota. Yah, sure.

This is the grocery store in Akeley, Minnesota. The mural is of Paul Bunyan’s blue ox, “Babe.”

Monday Photopost: Quebec City Wall Mural

Stacy Cashman has some great pictures of wall murals in Quebec City at her Rambling Traveler blog. Go there to learn more about the murals and see the uncropped and larger version of the picture below and two others.

I love the detail with the birds and the balloon having shadows. I also wonder what it’s like in these buildings with no real windows facing out.

Stacy makes all of her work available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, so I can heartily recommend her as a fine purveyor of free culture.

Of course, the nature of things today suggests that somebody might claim the art on the building is copyrighted and thus pictures of it are not free. I say, no way! If you …