November 2013

Eric Kim Hits the Pavement with SF Street Photographer Jack Simon

There's something inspirational about watching a seasoned photographer work at his craft -- whether it's a studio photog who molds light to his will or a street photographer whose demeanor and results both scream professionalism.

Jack Simon falls under the latter of those categories, and in the video above, fellow street photographer Eric Kim takes us behind the scenes with Simon as he walks the streets of San Francisco.

OKDOTHIS: An App for Photographers that Never Lets You Run Out of Ideas

One of the more difficult things about being a creative is having to come up with fresh ideas on a daily basis, constantly challenging yourself and expanding your horizons. These things aren't always easy and it's not uncommon to find yourself in a creative rut with (seemingly) nowhere to turn.

Thankfully, there's a new app in town that is designed to help you out of those kinds of situations while simultaneously keeping you on your game even when you are inspired. It's called OKDOTHIS.

Photographer Captures the Uplifting Story of His Premature Son’s First Year of Life

A few commenters have on occasion joked that we need to add a "tenuous links to photography" category for those stories where, strictly speaking, there's not much photography involved. The video above might quality, but we ask your forgiveness ahead of time because, a) there is a link, and b) it is one of the most touching, uplifting and inspirational things we've seen in a long time.

Gorgeous Photograph of a Cap Cloud over the Sierra Nevadas

Sometimes you run across a photo that causes you to feel equal parts wonder and envy all at the same time. Wonder because the photo is just amazing; and envy because... well... you didn't take it. The photo above by photographer Guido Montañés is such a photo.

Humor: Portraits of Wet Dogs Taken Mid-Bath

Our quest to continue giving dogs the attention they deserve in the photography world continues (for the record, we don't dislike cats... we just think they get too much attention). We've had dogs shaking, dogs licking and now, for the sake of rhyming, dogs dripping.

This series is called Wet Dog, and it's a fun and funny series by pet photographer Sophie Gamand of Striking Paws Photography.

Photog Uses Face Paint to Create Stunning Portraits that Look Two-Dimensional

The 2D or Not 2D series isn't the first time Russian photographer Alexander Khokhlov has dabbled in painting his models faces and taking striking portraits of the results. His Weird Beauty series got quite popular, with black and white designs jumping out at you from the faces of his made-up models.

2D or Not 2D, however, is different -- and not just because he used color this time. It's different because the point of each photo is to trick your mind into thinking you're looking at a two-dimensional painting.

Boomf Makes Instagram Photos Edible by Printing Them on Marshmallows

This might just be one of those services both the loves and haters of Instagram will like. Because while other services print your Instagram shots on magnets or postcards, Boomf prints them on... marshmallows.

So, you see, if you like Instagram you get to turn your favorite photos into edible confections, and if you don't, you get to eat all of those pretentious selfies, food shots and cappuccino pictures you so despise. As Michael Scott would say: "win win win."

Stop-Motion Tribute to Steve Jobs Created by a 14-Year-Old and an iPad App

Here's a bit of inspiration that should help start your Wednesday off on the right foot -- whether you're preparing to stuff your face tomorrow or today is just another hump day. It's a short stop motion film that pays tribute to the late great Apple CEO Steve Jobs, and it was created by a 14-year-old with some time and the Foldify iPad app.

The Nine Hundred Dollar iPhone Photo

I’m not going to say that we flew down to Florida to get a picture, because we didn’t. We flew down to Florida to see my grandfather, who is 94-years-old and my son’s only living great-grandparent. All my own great-grandparents passed away long before I was born, as did my husband’s great-grandparents.

So I’m not saying that we flew down to Florida to take a picture, but I’m admitting we wanted one. A photograph of four generations, all alive at the same time. Proof that it had happened. Me, my son, my father, and his father.

Apple Awarded Patent for Lytro-like Light-Field Camera System

A patent filed back in September of 2011 was finally awarded to Apple today, and it has the whole photo world atwitter. That's because this patent describes a camera system that would use the light-field technology made famous by Lytro to take refocusable images -- and it could work inside portable devices such as an iPhone.

That's right, light-field technology in an iPhone... now you see why everybody is excited over something that is, after all, still just a patent.

On Design: Searching for a More Visual News Site

When the Chicago Sun-Times laid off its entire photo staff last year, I commented that one of the problems was the utter failure of website design to appropriately showcase photography. Above is an example of the current design and the way photography is displayed.

Leica Acquires Swiss Large Format View Camera Manufacturer Sinar

Leica began its takeover of Swiss view camera manufacturer Sinar all the way back in 2006, when the German company acquired a 51% stake in Sinar from Jenoptik. The real goal, however, was only truly achieved yesterday when both companies announced via press release that they had reached an acquisition deal.

Chicago Sun-Times Concessions are Not a Victory for Photographers

News broke yesterday that four of the photographers fired in last May's mass-layoff instituted at the Chicago Sun-Times may soon be rehired, while others will see restitution payments, thanks to a new agreement reached by the Chicago Newspaper Guild. Under the agreement, four photographers would get their jobs back and some of the rest will see one-time payments of $2,000.

Some may be inclined to call that a victory for photojournalism, at least a small one, but they should reconsider.

Hyperlapse Captures Four Graffiti Artists Covering an Entire Warehouse

Back in June, graffiti artist Sofles was featured in a hyperlapse that showed him making his way around an abandoned building and creating various impressive tags at super speed. That video was received very well, so naturally, if one graffiti artist is good, four would be four times better right?

Google Confirms that RAW Capability and Burst Mode are On Their Way to Android

Last week, we reported the news that Android developer Josh Brown had discovered some juicy tidbits within the Google camera API: namely, that RAW capabilities and a few other features were in the works. That was just an interpretation of code, but now, it looks like Google has come out to confirm some of what Brown found.

Interview with ‘Radical Camp’ photographer Tina Schula

Born in Vienna and trained as a filmmaker in England, Tina Schula's photography combines cinematic techniques, portraiture, family stories and political history to create staged narratives of complex human drama. In 2009, she received her MFA in Photography from The School of Visual Arts in New York.

She was a finalist at Critical Mass 2013, Photoville 2012, The Print Center 86th International Photography Contest 2011, The Sixth Annual BamArt Silent Auction, Scope Basel 2010 and a winner of the  CCNY Darkroom Residency in 2010.

Chicago Sun-Times Reaches Agreement with Union, Will Re-hire a Few Photogs

News regarding the Chicago Sun-Times and its former photo staff is usually of the negative variety. Whether we were covering how the entire staff was unceremoniously laid off, or the fact that they were being replaced by iPhone photography classes, there hasn't been much positive news to report.

That changes today (at least to some degree) thanks to a settlement between Sun-Times Media and a newsroom employees union that managed to get four of the 28 photographers their jobs back, and secure a $2,000 one-time payout for the rest.

Shitty Rigs: A Site Dedicated to the Crappy Rigs Filmmakers MacGyver Together

You might have found yourself in this situation before: you're in the middle of a photo shoot and you find that you badly need to set up a shot or lighting that is, in fact, impossible to do 'professionally' given the gear you have on hand.

So what do you do? You go all MacGyver of course! You put together an off-the-top-of-your-head DIY fix that gets the job done (even if it doesn't look all that good doing it). The Tumblr blog Shitty Rigs is dedicated to showing off those brilliant, if a bit silly, creations.

Interview with Street Photographer Eric Kim

Whenever I look online for information or advice relating to street photography, Eric Kim’s name regularly surfaces. I’ve been reading his blog for a couple of years and in that time; I’ve watched his career and online prominence grow.

In comparison to other areas of photography, there’s relatively little advice online about street photography. But a number of photographers like Eric are helping to tackle this problem as well as build a solid and much-needed community for street photographers.

Photo Series Captures the Stunning Beauty of Siamese Fighting Fish

A few years ago, Bangkok-based photographer Visarute Angkatavanich started selling his work through microstock sites, and so he went in search of some interesting subjects to populate his gallery and generate some sales. Interestingly, he found what he was looking for in his own house: his pet fish.

Daniel Morel Awarded $1.2M in Damages in Lawsuit Against AFP and Getty Images

The Daniel Morel vs AFP/Getty Images saga has been going on since 2010 when the agencies first pulled his photos off of Twitter and distributed them without permission to several major publications. Now the saga has finally ended, and ended on very happy terms for Morel, who is walking away from the deal $1.2 million richer.

The Devil’s Photography Dictionary

Picture -- A representation in two dimensions of something wearisome in three. - Ambrose Bierce

I’m a fan of the satirical and cynical definitions of Ambrose Bierce, first written as a daily newspaper column and later collected in The Devil’s Dictionary. (It was originally called the Cynic’s Word Book, but so many politicians of the day called Bierce a Devil that he felt the new title more appropriate).

Beautiful Joshua Tree Time Lapse Captures Ecosystem Endangered by Climate Change

In May of 2012, filmmaker and photographer Sungjin Ahn set out to capture something both beautiful and somewhat rare: the Joshua Tree.

But what began as a simple time-lapse of the trees -- which can only be found in western Arizona, southeastern California, southern Nevada, and southwestern Utah -- turned into something more for Ahn when he discovered that Joshua Tree National Park might someday lose the right to that name.

Foldio: The Uber-Portable, Foldable Light Box for Smartphone Photography

A new smartphone photography product is making some serious waves on the Internet ever since the launch of its Kickstarter campaign just a few days ago.

It's called Foldio, and it's an ultra-portable (foldable in fact) light box for smartphone shutterbugs who want to add a new dimension to their work or take some professional-looking product shots.