The Unwilling Model

MetalPhoto Models, People, Portrait 1 Comment

So, I have three step daughters and one of them is kind of camera shy which is a shame since she’s a really beautiful (and sexy) young lady. I have done my darndest to influence here to be less anti of being the one in front of the camera, last Saturday while at a Halloween event for kids (she’s the mother of the little redhead you’ve been seeing every now and then here) I simply took command and put here in front of the lens so I could take a few portraits.

Really lousy conditions though, outdoors early in the evening with little light and thick clouds making everything look gray and dark, but I did the best I could.

She really is a sight for sore eyes and I hope she’ll agree to get in front of the camera more frequently in the future.

No more excuses!

MetalPhoto Bitcoin, Commercial, Crypto 1 Comment

A lot of people are feeling poor these days, poor as in not having money, and time and time again I have suggested they should start doing crypto to earn a little extra. The common view on crypto is that it is all fakes scams, which is not true. Sure, there are a lot of crooks out there trying to scam you out of your money, you just have to choose carefully after doing some research into the various programs. The most used arguement for not engaging in crypto is that there is no way to get your money back into the real world which is just baloney and I have just proven this.

Free of charge you can obtain a no fees MasterCard from Wirex, all you need is to have €10 in your account with them. Your can use the card to withdraw from any ATM and you can use it to make purchases both online and with local merchants.

When I got my card in the mail I promptly activated it and made a small purchase at the local convenience store just to verify that it actually works, so I bought a candy bar paying for it with Bitcoin (BTC).

There are a few perks with the Wirex account and their MasterCard:

You get a 2% kickback on all purchases into your account.

There are no exchange fee when using your card.

You can stake both crypto and fiat currencies, on crypto you get a 10% annual interest and on fiat (Euro and USD) you get 16%.

Go get your Wirex account right now

The Wirex website front page can be found here but please use the link above to sign up.


Want to get more tips and ideas on crypto? Please follow Going Crypto where most of my crypto related posts will appear.

Elon Musk is a hypocrite

MetalPhoto Bitcoin, Commercial, Crypto, Dogecoin 3 Comments

The last couple of days the crypto market took a nose dive, especially Bitcoin lost, and it’s all because of that so called business man that goes by the name Elon Musk. Earlier this year he invested a shitload of money in Bitcoin and also announced that his Tesla cars would purchasable using this crypto.

Suddenly this week he announced that this wouldn’t happen and that it would be because of fossil fuels being used for mining and transactions. It’s not like the Bitcoins are dug up from the ground, the mining is digital and is run by electricity. The same electricity people driving his Teslas use to charge the batteries. Will they also begin vetting people buying those cars to make certain the only use “green” electricity? Does he understand that all banking systems are run on the very same electricity?

As a business man Musk should have done his research already before purchasing Bitcoin instead of rushing ahead creating a surge. To be honest I’m convinced he purposely have done this to get a nice little tax write-off without considering all the small investors he’s screwing over when destabilizing the market. It must be nice to have the means to do this, but most us don’t and are losing money because of that crook.

Looking at the very graph Mr Musk himself have published on Twitter you can clearly see that there is a massive rise in power consumption beginning at the same time as he himself bought all those BTC’s creating a buzz luring a lot of people to begin mining and trading. In fact, the root cause for this increase is none other than Mr Musk.

Now he’s pushing Dogecoin instead. Honestly, doesn’t those mining rigs run on the same electricity? Or do they siphon the juice out of thin air? Give it a month or two and he’ll most likely do the same thing all over.

Musk should be concerned over the impact his Spacex operations have on the environment rather than crypto mining. Those rockets sent up surely aren’t giving 100% clean exhaust fumes. Where’s the concern over the impact the mining for metals for his cars has? Or the strip mining for lithium for the batteries? Or the impact the cars batteries will have once they’re unusable in the future?

Elon Musk is a hypocrite.

Elon Musk as the crook he really is…

Excursions

MetalPhoto Kids, Miscellaneous, Nature, People, Seasonal, Summer 2 Comments

Finally some nice weather with sun, blue skies and warmth, at last I can get going with the Alphas generating loads of nice imagery to share with the world now that my joints will begin to cooperate a little. The last two days have been filled with excursions together with a friend into some nooks and crannies of the county where I live.

One of the nice places visited today was a small lake called Ljusgrytan where a lot of people ventured out to enjoy the weather and fish for trouts. I got some really good shots while walking all the way around the lake, for instance this strapping young lad trying to hook a nice fish or two.

HELL NO!!!

MetalPhoto Concert, General, Miscellaneous 2 Comments

Finally, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, I thought. The other week I was approached by an online rock publication about a collaboration with me as a concert photographer. At last something happens and I might have a chance to salvage the sinking ship, sinking because of all those pesky restrictions imposed due to the Chinese affliction.

Yeah right!!!

When I recieved the agreement document they wanted me to sign the light faded instantly. They wanted exclusive rights to the images published by them and that could have been acceptable, but they wanted them without compensating me. They wanted me to provide them with unique concert photos that normally sell for between 2,000 and 5,000 USD each with exclusive rights.

Yeah, no, that ain’t gonna happen!!!

It didn’t stop there though. They wanted me to agree to surrender copyright without compensation if and when they arranged promotional shoots with artists. The usual way is that a publication (or anyone) who is an intermediary for these shoots get a finders fee, a precentage of what the photographer is paid, but the rights to the material remain with the photographer.

Yeah, no, that ain’t gonna happen either!!!

To sum it up, all I can say at this point is HELL NO!!!

In Flames

MetalPhoto Seasonal, Spring, Walpurgis 2 Comments

Bored out of my skull with no events to shoot and to top it all off lousy weather as well so nature walks with the Alpha is out of question. Not even the traditional Walpurgis Night celebration will take place this year, no assemblies with more than a few spectators are allowed because of that Chinese affliction. Fuck the Chinese. At least I can dig out photos from last years celebration trying to remember the feeling of welcoming the arrival of spring.

In fact, this is the second year with this celebration to welcome spring is cancelled just as so many other events. This year as well as last year will be forever lost for me as an event photographer.

SONY DSC

Yellow

MetalPhoto Bugs, Floral, Nature, Seasonal, Spring 2 Comments

Two weeks ago we finally got some warmth and blue skies, that lasted for a weekend and then it went back to being cold and mostly cloudy. There has even been snowfall a couple of times since then. I do believe the weather Gods are amusing themselves on our behalf.

Hopefully it’ll soon turn around and the warmth will come. Then I can at last get a little better in my joints and get going with showering you with great pictures. At least I got a shot of a colts foot with a flower fly on top of it that weekend a fortnight ago.