Bill Ward's Brickpile » flickr

BrickFest Photo Roundup

Bill — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:03:35 +0000

Man, did I take a lot of photos at BrickFest last weekend! I uploaded them all to Flickr from the hotel, but I’m still going through to add titles and descriptions. I also shot almost 3 hours of video which I haven’t even looked at yet.

The hotel net connection was spotty. I use the Flickr Uploadr program to upload files, and it apparently has some sort of bug that when the net connection drops during an upload, it uploads files again. I ended up with five copies of some of the photos! I had to manually delete the extras, and luckily I did it quickly before anyone had posted comments in all but one case – and that one case was a comment that was redundant anyway (the same observation had already been made on another photo).

The photos are organized into four sets: one for each day, and one for all the photos. Here are the links:

BrickFest 2009 Day 1: 40 photos (slideshow)
BrickFest 2009 Day 2: 106 photos (slideshow)
BrickFest 2009 Day 3: 197 photos (slideshow)
BrickFest 2009 (All): 343 photos (slideshow)

Enjoy!

LEGO Ads found via Twitter

Bill — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:49:18 +0000

A collection of LEGO ads with some very clever pictures. I recently subscribed to the RSS feed (in Google Reader) for a search for “#lego” on Twitter. This is a great technique to follow “hashtags” that I learned on Amy Gharan’s blog.

Anyway, back to the LEGO ads. I don’t think these are real ads, since some of them seem quite out of character for LEGO’s style (especially the sex/drugs/violence ones). They seem more like what a designer might propose to the LEGO company for use in an ad. But anyway, this one was my favorite:

SavaTheAggie’s #2602 Angus 0-8-8-0 Locomotive

Bill — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 17:06:11 +0000

I rarely blog about other people’s models, but I wanted to talk a little about the latest work by Anthony Sava (“SavaTheAggie”). It’s the Erie Railroad’s #2602 L-1 Camelback Angus class 0-8-8-0 Steam Locomotive.

This has got to be one of the ugliest pieces of machinery ever built in real life, but the LEGO model is so well done it’s almost beautiful. Well, almost. :-)

But what I wanted to highlight is the way he posted works in progress as a part of the project. People posted comments about the early versions, and he incorporated some of that feedback into the final design, making it feel much more interactive than most LEGO models that are posted online. I think Flickr is particularly good for this, since we can not only post comments on each photo, we can even draw a box on a particular area of a photo and write a comment (a “note”) for that area.

Personally I’ve never posted works in progress (WIP) pictures online. I think partly it makes me feel more pressure to complete the model. There are a lot of LEGO projects that I start but never carry to completion; if they were posted online I wouldn’t feel like I had the luxury of abandoning it if I hit a dead end or lost interest in it. I have worked on a few models collaboratively with others in person but never online. Who knows, maybe I’ll try it. If posting WIP pictures is at all responsible for the quality of this final model, then it’s probably worth a shot.

Oh, and happy new year everybody!

Brickshelf v Flickr

Bill — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:59:02 +0000

I’ve been using my Flickr account exclusively for LEGO photos as well as other things, like pictures from Earthquakes soccer games or various scenic shots I may take from time to time. I always tag my LEGO pictures with the lego tag though. I stopped using Brickshelf in 2006 when Kevin Loch suddenly shut it down. At that time I uploaded my back catalog of LEGO photos to Flickr and updated links in all the blog entries… what a chore that was! Then he said it would stay up after all, but I was so miffed I didn’t go back.

But I recently realized that a lot of people are still using Brickshelf. So, I’ve started uploading my pictures there too. I’m working my way backward in time through the blog, uploading all the photos to my Brickshelf account that are only on Flickr. I’m not planning on posting any links to the Brickshelf pics, but in case anyone finds me through that outlet, they’ll not miss what I’ve been doing. I am putting a ‘readme.txt’ in every folder I add, which has links to the corresponding Flickr page and blog entry.

How do you do your image hosting?

Windows Flickr Live Photos Pro

Bill — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:27:42 +0000

I saw this picture on the MICROSOFT: KEEP YOUR EVlL GRUBBY HANDS OFF OF OUR FLICKR group on Flickr.

Welcome to Flickr!

Originally uploaded by twisted intellect ❧

With Microsoft’s recent announcement of an offer to buy Yahoo! many Flickr users, including myself, are terrified about what will happen to our beloved photo-sharing site.

So I’ve started thinking about where I’ll host my photos in the future. I’m loathe to return to Brickshelf, with its decades-outdated user interface and absentee owner. Perhaps Picasa (Google) can fill the bill? Or maybe photobucket? Anyone have other suggestions?