Bigfoot Found? Nothing Sharky About It

The blog sphere just lit up with the unexpected news that Bigfoot has been found...and no this is not a joke.

According to SearchingForBigfoot.com-and about 320 alternate sources-Tom Biscardi, Bigfoot hunter and part time huckster will unveil DNA, video and images, but not the actual specimen he "collected" in Georgia on Friday.

The supposed discoverers, Matthew Whitton and Rick Dyer, are believed to have shot the 500lb critter in the woods of northern Georgia. Whitton is a Clayton County police officer who has been on medical leave after being shot himself in July and Dyer is a former correctional officer, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

As of this morning, Pacific time, Biscardi's website had crashed (there's a lot of cryptophiles out there) with few further details. We loves our monsters.

We'll keep you updated-actually we won't-but you can check in for regular updates at these sites. After all, we're all about sharks, not Bigfoot:

eFlux Media

Crunch Gear (Images)

Digital Images-Untrustworthy?

We love being on the "subject of the day" and right now it seems digital media is front and center.

Yesterday we dove into the ongoing debate about underwater digital photography for commercial use.

Knowing that with the basic tools available anyone can doctor an image-how does the commercial industry police it's self? Or does it even try?

We suggested a unique approach, one we're pretty sure will be shot down by those who make a living from slightly doctored images. But where is the credibility in digital and how do we move from "Here's the image" to "Here's the true image?".

In case you're wondering how prevalent this problem is, take for example the latest issue with Iran. This morning accusations of a fourth mystery missile in a digital shot seen round the world.

Underwater Photography-A Case for Photoshop

We booked a diver the other day to Isla Guadalupe who turned out to be an "old school film photographer".

As we discussed the relatively recent and meteoric rise of commercial digital photography in the industry he said, "90% of those commercial images are photoshopped".

Which opens an interesting debate about the current trend in commercial underwater photography, and elegant solution.

Underwater shooters are without a doubt a rare breed of photographers. With the advent of digital shooting along came the ability to change and modify the images ad hoc. Long gone are the days where the final image was the final image causing those that had honed their craft on film to cry foul. Now a decent photographer can be a fantastic one by changing the image after the shoot with powerful tools available throughout the marketplace.

Exactly what makes a great underwater image? How many modifications are acceptable? And will we as consumers of those images ever know?

The answer to that has an elegant solution. Digital media allows each image to be tagged. The solution would be for a software program (typically the same program that allows you to modify the image) to keep track of each and every modification, and for those who use these images commercially to share with the public each and every change.

This would change the current digital underwater photography paradigm from "here's the image" to "this is a true image".

Case in point, the image we started this blog post with. Fake.

Shark Finning-A big idea to "Chew On"

A while back we had a conversation with the CEO of Wild Aid Peter Knights. Wild Aid is the "master of the message" getting major players in the entertainment and sports world to come forward and do pro wildlife PSA's (Public service announcements).

We spoke about an idea we had about viral PSA's for a cash prize. Here's how it works. In the USA alone there are hundreds of small, upcoming, digital media production houses all looking for work. These folks are, in a word, brilliant-but they lack the main stream exposure they need to get the entire world to see their talent.

What if someone offered a $50,000 cash prize for the best anti shark finning viral video based on several criteria, one of which would be the number of downloads.

It's called a force multiplier. Now hundreds of PSA's that catch the eye and showcase raw digital talent would be all over the place, spreading the message in multiple languages, and multiple formats-being seen by the world.

$50,000 may seem like a lot-but when you consider a single Wild Aid PSA has a donated value of many hundreds of thousands, you get the idea. Here's an example of a commercial shark video that has become viral. Imagine if you changed the message slightly how many people would be affected. By recent counts 87,000 and growing: