April Fools’ Day 2012 has come and gone. Even though we didn’t publish any bogus stories this year, here’s a quick roundup of other photo-related sites that did. The screenshot above shows Kodak’s homepage yesterday, which advertised a new kitten printing machine. Interestingly enough, there was a serious news ticker just below it that discussed the company’s bankruptcy status.
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With the recent camera releases (or maybe Spring fever) I’ve been rather amazed watching various photography forums have major melt downs during the last few weeks. I said something about cameras and lenses just being tools, not life and death, and got immediately annihilated. They aren’t just tools, I was told, they are the means to make a living for some people, and the passionate hobby of others. That got me thinking, though: I have friends who make their living as carpenters, and others for whom woodworking is a passionate hobby. I got to thinking how silly their forums would seem if they acted like we do.
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Editor’s note: This is a piece by photographers Bryan Formhals and Blake Andrews on how famous photographers’ styles are copied over and over again. Please do not read or comment if you take things too seriously.

The other day while reading the Internet I came across “The 10 Most Harmful Novels for Aspiring Writers.” I wondered whether there could be a list for photographers as well. I thought about it and then sent my list to Blake Andrews to see if he wanted to contribute and have some fun with it. Here’s what we came up with.
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Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres recently sent one of her staff members named Amy to a JCPenny to pose as a studio portrait photographer. As clients came in, Ellen watched the scene through a hidden camera and gave Amy exact instructions for what to say and do through a hidden earpiece. The resulting interactions between photographer and portrait subject(s) were hilarious.

(via Fstoppers)

Having a flattering portrait as your drivers license photo is difficult to achieve, but so is having a portrait that stands out as being bizarre. Reddit user adambard successfully accomplished the latter. He wanted a novelty drivers license photo, so he decided to shave half his hair and the opposite half of his beard. Just in case you’d like to follow in his footsteps, you can view a step-by-step documentation of his process here.

(via Imgur via Reddit via Laughing Squid)

Street photographer Eric Kim and DigitalRev host Kai Wong recently got together to do some street photography on the streets of Hong Kong. Kim and Wong have personalities that go well together (and look like brothers), making for some pretty humorous photographic entertainment.

Tech companies often like to create mini-documentaries featuring creatives who use their products — last year both Intel and Brother made videos about fashion photographer Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist). Well, it appears that some creatives are trying to troll Dell by spreading this ridiculous short video that explores the work of “renowned photographer Clayton Sotos“. It’s supposedly part of a new “Visual Innovators” series by Dell, and has amassed tens of thousands of views already since being uploaded yesterday. The most common comment left on the video is, “…”. Be warned: Soto’s subject matter may be disturbing to some of you and probably isn’t work safe for most of you.

Thanks for sending in the tip, Tom

An Alabama basketball fan named Jack Blankenship has been attracting quite a bit of media attention for his creative method of distracting opposing players when they shoot free throws: Blankenship printed out a giant photograph of himself making a strange face and waves it around while making the same face. His antics quickly caught the attention of sports writers, television cameras, and the Internet — one screen grab from a recent game has been viewed over half a million times already online.
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Last week we reported on a dispute between photographer Jonathan Kent and The Telegraph over the newspaper’s “use first and ask/pay later” policy. After contacting the paper over an image of his that was used without permission, Kent received a response from picture editor Matthew Fearn, who informed him stating that their policy is standard and due to the “ever-shifting nature of news”. In response, Kent wrote up a tongue-in-cheek letter likening the paper’s actions to borrowing a car for a joyride and paying for the use afterward.
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Photo meme alert: here’s a series of humorous images that have been spreading across the Internet like wildfire. They show the differences between what various groups of people think about what photographers do.
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