Creative gala, new cards, uploader update and The Square

Buffalo.com photo by Ben Kirst.

A few quick notes -

1.) We FINALLY have new cards. I'm going to start mailing them out later today. Let me know if you want to pick them up from me directly.

2.) The folks at Camp Good Days have specifically requested a photographer for their Creative Gala at The Hyatt in downtown Buffalo on Saturday night. The theme is Star Wars. Although it is a black-tie event, there will be folks in costume, and you personally will not be required to wear a tux or an evening gown - although if you go, please dress appropriately (business style). This is a great cause, these people are good sports and they like getting their pictures taken...so please feel free to volunteer if this seems interesting or important to you. They'd love the coverage.

3.) An update on the bulk uploader: well, there are a couple things holding it back right now. First of all, we're abler to make it work on our network and some outside networks...but not all outside networks. Obviously, that is a problem.

Second, we want to make sure all of the proper functionality is built into the uploader because it doesn't make much sense to release it to you incomplete.

Anyhow, I believe that is all...just a reminder that we will be at The Square tonight, rain or shine, and all are welcome to come hang out and help us with photos, contests, handing stuff out, etc.

Archive updates

Two issues of note:

1.) All of our old Spotted videos are now online at MyBuffalo. Thing is, they are currently posted "last to first..." The oldest videos are showing up as the most recent.

This will change...our vendor is going to re-map the videos to account for original date of posting. But, bottom line, your old videos are now on the site and should be associated with your account.

2.) I said that we had 50K photos at MyBuffalo...well, that accounts only for 2009. Oops.

We have A LOT more photos from 2008 and 2007 that have not even been added to the system yet. I had no idea! I undershot how many photos we had by, well, a few hundred thousand.

Good thing our programmers are a little more conscientious than I am. The guys are working on how they're going to add all these pics...so I will let you know.

The good news, though, is that your old photos are still alive.

Tonight at The Square

If you're going to help out at The Square tonight for the Robert Randolph Band concert, please send me a confirmation email...all are welcome! We have Joan Osborne concert tickets and concession tickets to hand out (and for you to enjoy), so that should make the whole "smile for the camera" process a little easier...so come on down.

Here are the instructions for this evening:

1.) Meet me at the merchandise tent by 6 PM. I will give you your cards and giveaway items there, and you can go take photos from there. This will also be our staging area throughout the night.

2.) If the weather is bad, you can skip the event...although I will note that they will hold the concert, rain or shine, unless it is a lightning storm. We'll tough it out as best as we can for as long as we can if there is going to be a concert - but I certainly do not expect you to put your camera (or health) at risk by traipsing through the rain!

3.) I usually park on Broadway on the east side of Michigan Street. It's tough to find close parking, to be honest, unless you want to pay to be in one of the lots on Washington or Ellicott - and I hate to pay to park, personally.

I'm heading over there around 4:45 - 5 PM, so if you have any questions, call me on my cell at 244 2557.

Thanks everybody! I hope to see you tonight!

Where did all my photos go?

You may notice that not all of your photos - particularly your old photos - are associated with your account at MyBuffalo.

We are working on this.

The photos were migrated - but for some reason, the site is only displaying the last 10K to be posted. That leaves approximately 40K photos in the system but unable to display.

We should be kind of proud - we migrated such a huge volume of photos to MyBuffalo that the site isn't sure how to handle it...

...but please be aware that we will get this sorted out. I personally am down about two years' (and 200 events) worth of photos, and I definitely want mine back, too.

...and here's the storm

I have already received some feedback on MyBuffalo - some good, some...constructive (ha ha), and as you may imagine, we are a little overwhelmed with all of the little fixes and details and issues that come out of any Web site launch. If contact is a little spotty today, I apologize in advance.

Anyhow - the most important message I can give you right now is this:

What you see is NOT the finished product.

We will be rolling out new tools and features daily - including the bulk photo uploader that you may have noticed is currently missing.

Hang in there - it's a big change for everyone - and we will make this transition as a team.

If you have questions, comments, or concerns, email me or call me - but I'd really like it if you messaged me through the MyBuffalo site! I'll try to get you answers as quickly as possible.

Burn, baby, burn!

Buffalo.com photo by Sean Rudyk.

Into local history? Are you a pyromaniac? If the answer to either question is "yes," you may really enjoy writing a story or taking photos of this excellent event at Niagara Falls this weekend...let me know!

RECREATED FRENCH FORT TO BE SET ABLAZE NEAR THE BRINK OF NIAGARA FALLS

Event kicks off Old Fort Niagara’s 250th anniversary commemoration

WHAT: As part of Old Fort Niagara’s 250th anniversary of the French & Indian War, the Fort will reenact the burning of Fort du Portage (also known as Fort Little Niagara) at the brink of Niagara Falls.

A stockade of the former fort will be constructed and a small encampment of French soldiers and Native traders will be established, interpreting military and commercial life along the Niagara frontier in the early 1700s. Fort du Portage was established by the French in 1751 along the upper Niagara River. During the French & Indian War, it was burned to the ground to resist attack by the British.

WHEN: Saturday, May 30 at 4:00 p.m. ** Encampment will be established from 12 noon – 5:00 p.m.

WHERE: Along the Niagara River near the unused eastbound section of the Robert Moses Parkway and Niagara Falls State Park in Niagara Falls, NY This summer, Old Fort Niagara will commemorate the 250th anniversary of one of the French & Indian War, including one of the war’s most dramatic episodes – the siege and capture for Fort Niagara.

This War played a pivotal role in shaping the United States and Canada as the outcome was British control of North America, including Fort Niagara. A schedule of living history and battle reenactment events are scheduled throughout the summer.

...and the winners are...(and other notes)

Buffalo.com photo by Darleen Stry.

...well, I will preface this by saying that the overall winner of the Spotted Spring photo contest was Darleen Stry's gallery, Spring is Here.

The next two runner-ups were Bill Parker's Signs of Spring in WNY gallery, and Tom Kuenzi's Sprung!! gallery. Both Bill and Tom's galleries received the same number of votes from our photo interns.

Now, I know I said that the top two vote-getters would get the gift certificates - but maybe it's the sun in the sky, or the fresh smell of cut grass in the air, or being too lazy to figure out a tie-breaker...but I think both these gentlemen deserve a gift certificate.

Therefore, all three of our contestants - Darleen, Bill, and Tom - will receive a $25 gift certificate to a local restaurant for their troubles. Thank you for the photos!

I am open to more contests, and ideas for contests, amongst our interns...please share your ideas with me and I will be happy to help promote anything which spurs interest in our Spotted internship.

• This leads me to another topic that I've been meaning to address.
  
  I feel like I have been a bit of a grump with all of you in the program lately, and I do not mean to be. If you are reading this blog, odds are good that you are one of the people who are genuinely interested, active, and involved in the Buffalo.com internship program. You're not the people I want to be grumpy with. You're the people who I want to be happy!
  
  Unfortunately, we have been losing interns lately, either to attrition or other commitments, and it's been more difficult to get people out to as many events.
  
  Plus, due to some pretty major new projects that we will be rolling out this summer, we have been unable to do a lot of intern recruiting. We've also been unable to be as hands-on with the program as we have been in the past ("we" meaning Deanna and me). This will be worth it in the long run - there are some very cool things coming down the pipe in the near future - but it means that, for the long-term health of the site, things have suffered some in the short-term. I completely acknowledge this state of affairs.
  
  I do want to say thank you to everyone who has stuck with the program - we haven't had a lot of new blood in the last 6 months, so the people out shooting or writing stories are people who have been committed to the program for more than their required term of service, that's for sure. Please hang around...good stuff is on the way.
  
  
• In another blog post, Dan Ruggiero raised a great point - there has not been a lot of diversity on Spotted in the last year or so. Buffalo has a fairly diverse community, and a lot of our events really seem to focus on specific events in specific parts of the city or region.
  
  I agree with Dan completely on this point, and this is something that we want to change this summer. I think this is very doable. That being said, I will reiterate my request from a week ago - to grow as photographers and writers, to grow as a Web site, for that matter, we need to step outside of our comfort zone from time to time. We need become more representative of Western New York. I have some ideas on how to make this happen, and I will take a lead in making sure this is, indeed, the case.
  

Thanks for all the volunteers!

Buffalo.com photo by Rick Penny.

I've lost track of how many people have volunteered, but thank you to all of the photographers who called/emailed about the Buffalo Bills photo op this morning. We were actually invited out there directly by the Bills, which is a great step in terms of relationship-building.

Jeff Poole was the first volunteer and he will be shooting the photos. Jeff does nice work, and I look forward to seeing his shots.

A new events list will be out later today...thanks again, everyone.

Catching up for the weekend

Buffalo.com photo by Carey Colella.

I was out of the office today - had to go to Forestville for a funeral on my wife's side of the family. I apologize if I owe anyone an email or a return phone call, I will try to get to it ASAP.

A few notes:

• Please remember that we have a tour of The Buffalo News scheduled for the interns on Monday, Feb. 16 at 10 AM. Sign-ups have been a little light so far. If you can make it, it would be great to have you see the inside of 1 News Plaza.
  
  
• We are going to run some congratulatory advertisements for some of our 2008 intership award winners, so keep an eye on the print edition of The Buffalo News for to see some of your fellow writers and photographers (or yourself, depending on who is reading this). The ad schedule is as follows:
  
  Feb. 10 - Dawn Mongold
  Feb. 13 - Dan Ruggiero
  Feb. 15 - David Jarka
  Feb. 19 - John Kindelan
  Feb. 23 - Les Robinson
  Feb. 27 - Tom Proctor
  March 2 - Bill Parker
  March 6 - Lizz Schumer
  
  Now, there is a possibility that specific ads will be bumped if the paid ad inventory for that particular day's paper is sold out. If that happens, we will get you the new date ASAP. Congratulations again to all of our winners.
  
  
• Buffalo.com photo intern Nick Julian had a great idea a few weeks back - why don't we start a project where we photograph the sites of interest throughout Western New York and post the pics to Spotted? That way, anyone from outside of the community - or in WNY, for that matter - could get a good look at some of the great history and architecture of the region.
  
  Nick has already started with a gallery of photos from the Herschell Carroseul (sp?) Museum. They are kind of buried on the site right now, and I want to create a more prominent place for them...and for the other galleries we hope to get. Some places of interest could be the Central Terminal, the Richardson Towers...or any place you can imagine. I would love to get this rolling. Please let me know if you would like to be part of this project, and I can start working on booking tours for you.
  
  
• I feel like I had a bunch of other notes for you, but I am drawing a blank. If I remember what I was going to say, I'll type it up later.
  

Have a good weekend, everyone.

PS. Upload pet pics to the Puppy Love community gallery!

Get your pet's pics in The Buffalo News with Puppy Love contest

Buffalo.com photo by Ben Kirst

Get your pet's pic in The Buffalo News...how you ask? Just read on:

"We all love our pets, and in February, the Pets Place banner in The Buffalo News Classifieds is getting Puppy Love.

Post your pet photos to our special Puppy Love community gallery, and your furry friend may end up in The Buffalo News! We'll be picking pets to show off in the photo banner in The Buffalo News classified section.

Visit the Puppy Love gallery to post your pet photos, or to check out the area pets we love so much.

Want a new friend? head to The Pets Place at Buffalo.com to get a new pet for your home.

The Puppy Love contest begins on Tuesday, Jan. 27 and will run through Saturday, Feb. 28."

Ah, winter in WNY

Buffalo.com photo by Deanna Russo.

I am not a fan of winter. I do not like the cold, or the snow, or inching along in traffic at 10 MPH, as I did this morning. I live in Orchard Park and take the 219 to the 90-West to the 1-90 North to get to work in the morning, and the fastest I went today was probably 20 MPH. And that was for about 20 yards...and I almost got drilled by a tractor-trailer on the 1-90 merge because this guy almost missed his exit, so he decided to drive across two lanes of barely-moving traffic to make the turn. Good times, people.

Anyhow...my Buffalo.com "Good Soldier of the Day" award goes to Galina Tolmacheva, who braved the weather this morning to go to the Albright-Knox to take photos of an art installation that was canceled due to the weather. Sorry, Galina!

It's been rescheduled for tomorrow, so we'll see what happens...in the meantime, if you see me, I will probably be shaking my fist at the sky.

Video section is looking good, and a few other notes

Buffalo.com/Spotted photo by Darleen Stry.


Hey, I wanted to thank everyone who's been posting videos lately - Dan Ruggiero, Kathi Ross, Bill Parker, Darleen Stry, Eric Malinowski, and others - you are making the site look great, and I thank you.

I've been going back and forth with the people at Morris DigitalWorks - for those of you who don't know, Spotted is actually a vendor-provided product (we didn't invent it at The Buffalo News/Buffalo.com), and Morris is the company that provides it - about some video issues we've had. Those issues have included videos that appear to upload correctly and then disappear, video info that gets jumbled in the text boxes when it uploads, and things of that nature. supposedly, all of these issues have been resolved - if you have trouble uploading video, or upload a video that gets jumbled in the process, let me know because they are ironing out the kinks.

Also - you may or may not have noticed this with Spotted - but the site was upgraded recently and there are some new tools at my disposal. Once again, I can rotate photos and choose thumbnails - so if you notice that some of your photos have changed orientation or your thumbnail is changing, that's me working behind the scenes...of course, I would be very pleased if you rotated your photos and changed your thumbnail regularly...hint hint...but I understand that everyone is busy, and you are probably not a Spotted nerd on the same level as me.

Anyhow, keep those videos coming! We're featuring them on the Buffalo.com home page, and they have been getting a lot more traffic in the actual Spotted section (we also have a video tab on the Buffalo.com home page, but videos viewed at Buffalo.com don't count towards Spotted page views, if that makes any sense). And if you have any questions, let me know.