John James Audubon, a French-American ornithologist (a person who studies birds), became internationally known in the 1800s for his ambitious goal of painting and documenting all the different bird species found in the United States. His methods, however, weren’t exactly bird friendly. To prepare his subjects, Audubon would first kill them using fine shot and then fix them into striking poses using wire.
Ornithologists these days have a much better way of capturing birds for science: mist nets. The nylon mesh nets virtually invisible to birds when suspended between two poles, and allow scientists to capture, study, and release the birds unharmed. Photographer Todd R. Forsgren wants to be the modern day equivalent of Audubon. His project titled Ornithological Photographs consists entirely of photos showing different birds caught in mist nets. Read more…
Say you’re shooting a wedding, and say for some reason you’re taking a food break, and say for some other reason you happen to be taking that break while the father is giving a toast you should probably be taking pictures of. You’d think that given all of that, you’d at least keep a low profile…
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. Read more…
Videographer Michael Justin Porco walked around Central Park in NYC a few days ago snapping photographs, after starting to shoot photos for a time-lapse of Bethesda Fountain, it began drizzling and he only shot ten frames (one every 5 seconds using an intervalometer). When he reviewed the frames, he was amazed to discover that he had accidentally captured a sequence of photographs showing a man proposing to his girlfriend.
And that’s when I saw it. Directly in the middle of the frame, as if I had planned it: a man proposing to his girlfriend. 50 seconds. 10 pictures. A fleeting moment now relive-able.
I don’t know who this couple is or where they’re from. I don’t know if they’re New Yorkers or here on vacation. Finding them will be near impossible. But in this social world of Facebook and Twitter, I’m hoping we can track them down. This is something they should have.
Earlier this year a roll of film lost in NYC was returned to its owners after the story went viral on the Internet… and the owners lived in Paris! Porco is attempting to do the same thing with these photos, so if you know anyone who got engaged in Central Park on Saturday May 7th at around 12:41 pm, contact him!
Reynaldo Dagsa, a local councilman in Manila, Philippines, was celebrating on New Year’s Eve with his family when he was shot in the chest and later died on the way to the hospital. His family later discovered that Dagsa had accidentally captured his killer on camera while taking a picture of his wife and daughter moments before he was shot.
The photo was handed over to police and the Philippine Daily Inquirer, which published the photo on its front page. This resulted in the identification and arrest of the assassin, a suspected car thief named Michael Gonzales whose arrest was ordered by Dagsa last year. A lookout named Rommel Oliva was also captured on camera (seen to Gonzales’ right) and is being hunted by police.
Here are a couple photographs that made their way onto the Internets today via a Japanese website. They seem to be actual “spy” photographs of the camera with an L lens attached, and it looks like a tilt-screen does in fact exist on the back. Read more…
