November 2011

Michael Zhang

Living Pictures: Photo Collages of Windows Spotted Around the World

Photographer Anne-Laure House photographs illuminated windows at night in cities around the world, and arranges them into beautiful collages. She writes,

At nightfall, the windows of the flats that are lit up attract more attention than the façade of the buildings that frame them. Lit interiors become real tableaux vivants. The interior takes precedence over the exterior, and we can glimpse moments of people’s intimate lives. I am not actually interested in their intimacy as such, but rather by the space itself – the warmth of a particular light, the twinkling of a Christmas garland or the shimmering glow of a television, the corner of a painting. All these details stir my imagination and inspire my work. When I gaze at these windows, I like to tell myself a story. I capture these intimate moments and build my own structures."

The collage above shows windows seen in New York City.

Michael Zhang

Panasonic Unveils the Lumix GX1 for Serious Shooters and GF1 Lovers

After photos of the camera were leaked a week ago, Panasonic has officially announced the Lumix GX1. The camera should satisfy GF1 shooters who loved the camera but were unhappy about the consumer-oriented GF2 and GF3 followup cameras. The 16MP Micro Four Thirds camera features a max ISO of 12,800, a solid build, .09 second autofocus (with iPhone-esque touch to focus), a 3-inch touchscreen, RAW mode, and 1080/60i HD video. The camera ships for $700 (body-only) starting in December 2011.

Michael Zhang

Stunning Star Trails Photographed from the Australian Outback

Photographer Lincoln Harrison captures jaw-dropping photographs of star trails. Shooting from the Australian outback, he spends up to 15 hours creating each image of the night sky. Shooting with a Nikon D7000, Nikon D3100, and a wide assortment of lenses, Harrison captures a large number of exposures of the foreground and stars separately. He then combines the images (sometimes hundreds of them) into amazing photographs showing the sky dominated by colorful star trails.

Michael Zhang

Photos from Disposable Cameras Left with Notes in Various NYC Locations

A few weeks ago, Brooklyn resident Katie O'Beirne did a weekend project in which she left a disposable camera on a Prospect Park bench with a note asking passer-bys to snap a photograph. After getting the film developed and finding some cool photos, O'Beirne decided to continue with the project, leaving disposable cameras in a number of other spots around NYC. The resulting photographs can be seen on a Tumblr page she set up called "new york shots".

Michael Zhang

You Can Now Watch the Acclaimed Film ‘Bill Cunningham New York’ for Free

Update: For some reason the video is now showing as "expired". Not sure why.

Bill Cunningham New York, a movie that we mentioned back in March, can now be viewed for free. It's a documentary film about the life of New York Times fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, who's known for his candid and street photography.

For decades, this Schwinn-riding cultural anthropologist has been obsessively and inventively chronicling fashion trends and high society charity soirées for the Times Style section in his columns "On the Street" and "Evening Hours." Documenting uptown fixtures (Wintour, Tom Wolfe, Brooke Astor, David Rockefeller-who all appear in the film out of their love for Bill), downtown eccentrics and everyone in between, Cunningham's enormous body of work is more reliable than any catwalk as an expression of time, place and individual flair. In turn, Bill Cunningham New York is a delicate, funny and often poignant portrait of a dedicated artist whose only wealth is his own humanity and unassuming grace.

The movie has received extremely good reviews.

Michael Zhang

Camera Companies Need to Be Willing to Cannibalize Themselves

Kodak's fall from grace is an interesting case study that modern day companies can learn from. Even though the world's first digital camera was invented by one of its engineers, the company was unwilling to cannibalize its film business that, at the time, was making money hand over fist. By the time digital cameras started catching on, Kodak had missed the boat.

Michael Zhang

Lens and Film Wedding Boutonnieres

When husband and wife photography duo Jodi and Kurt got married last year, they were determined to do something photography-related for the guys' boutonnières. Luckily for them, Kurt's sister Lynn is a brilliant wedding stylist who helped make these one-of-a-kind designs. Kurt's featured an old camera lens, while the best man's was a flower made from film negatives.

Michael Zhang

Canon Unveils the EOS C300, Jumps Into the Hollywood Digital Filmmaking Scene

Canon's historic announcement is here, and as most people predicted, it's geared towards filmmaking rather than photography. The company just unveiled its new C300 cinema camera in an effort to break into a Hollywood digital filmmaking scene that's dominated by the Arri Alexa and the RED EPIC. While it's not particularly powerful in any specific category, the new camera comes in EOS or PL lens mounts, shoots 1080p video with a 4K sensor, has dual CF card slots, and offers high quality footage in a relatively small form factor.

Michael Zhang

Breathtaking Murmuration of Starlings Caught on Camera

Sophie Windsor Clive was canoeing on the River Shannon in Ireland when she came across one of nature's most beautiful phenomenon: a murmuration of starlings. This is when vast numbers of starlings fly together in giant, cloud-like formations. Luckily for Sophie, she had her camera handy.

Michael Zhang

Stop-Motion Music Video Shot Over Two Years with 288,000 Jelly Beans

Want to see what pure dedication looks like? This music video for the song "In Your Arms" by Kina Grannis is a stop-motion animation done with a background composed of jelly beans. It's a crazy project that required 22 months, 1,357 hours, 30 people, and 288,000 jelly beans. They could have used CGI, of course, but each frame was carefully created by hand and photographed with a still camera. It's even more mind-blowing given this fact: none of it was done with a green screen.

Michael Zhang

Divorced Man Sues Photographer for $48,000 To Recreate 2003 Wedding

It's not uncommon to hear stories of wedding photographers getting sued by unsatisfied clients, but one lawsuit currently underway in New York is causing quite a stir. Todd Remis (pictured on right) of Manhattan is suing 65-year-old studio H & H Photographers (on left), claiming that the photographers had missed the final 15 minutes of the wedding that included the last dance and bouquet toss.