What if you could keep your camera charged all day while shooting outdoors using the power of the sun? That’s the idea behind this conceptual camera strap designed by Weng Jie. The solar panels built into the strap harvest energy from the sun beating down on your neck as you’re shooting away.

Many cameras would need to specifically allow for this strap, but do you think this idea is feasible?

(via Yanko Design)

Here’s an amazingly awesome idea for business cards if you’re a photographer or photo enthusiast. Brooklyn-based photographer and designer Steph Goralnick created the above business card by hand, embedding some film between two layers of heavy stock. The resulting business card looks like 35mm slide film, except the film used was a negative.

(via Photojojo)

After shooting the engagement session of Tori and Austin, wedding photographer Sarah Yates took 500 4×6 photographs of the session and created this beautiful little stop-motion video. If you’re a wedding/engagement photographer, this might be a great idea for something else to include in your package.

Austin and Tori Stop Motion Engagement Session (via Photojojo)

Two weeks ago we shared a futuristic concept Sony DSLR designed by Tecnofotografia, and now they’ve done it again, with a concept design for a compact Samsung camera.

One of the main selling points of this concept is the fact that the external electronic viewfinder has a hot shoe of its own, allowing an external flash unit to be stacked on top:

What do you think of this idea? Should accessories that use the hot shoe have hot shoes of their own to allow stacking?

Prototipo de compacta con óptica fija desplazable (via Photo Rumors)

Forget complicated kite photography kits that actually require skill. UK-based industrial designer Matthew Clark has a fun solution for taking photographs from high up: the Aeriel Capture camera.

This concept camera has a 3 foot balloon built into the back of the camera itself, and has a 20 meter chord that doubles as the shutter release. Photographs are taken by simply flipping a switch in the hand reel.

The idea is great in that it would allow anyone to easily take some aerial shots of an event without wind or fancy aerial vehicles. The downside to the idea is that you need to have helium on hand to get it floating.

If this was on the market for a low enough price (i.e. $20), do you think it’d be a useful camera to have around?

Aerial Capture (via Wired)

P.S. For those of you technically inclined, here’s a tutorial for how to actually build a balloon cam.

Richard Renaldi has an interesting approach to street photography: he asks complete strangers to touch one another. The resulting interactions are documented in his project Touching Strangers.

Renaldi tells us,

I am a New York city based photographer who began a life long relationship with photography back in high school in 1984. I few years ago I became interested in the dynamics of group portraiture and this led me to the project you see here. The premise of this work is simple: I meet two or more people on the street who are strangers to each other, and to me. I ask them if they will pose for a photograph together with the stipulation that they must touch each other in some manner. Frequently, I instruct or coach the subjects how to touch. Just as often, I let their tentative physical exploration play out before my camera with no interference. Though these situations involve orchestrated collaborations between subject and photographer, the emotions captured are both genuine and honest. Touching Strangers encourages viewers to think about how we relate physically to one another, and to entertain the possibility that there is unlimited potential for new relationships with almost everybody passing by.

To see more of Renaldi’s work, check out his website.

(via Photojojo)

Image credits: Photographs by Richard Renaldi and used with permission

The Zero Angle Digital Camera is a conceptual design by Sun ho Sin and Jeong eun Park that protects sensitive components by hiding them when not in use.

The clamshell design allows to camera to be stored and carried safely without a dedicated camera case, keeping your LCD safe from scratches and bumps.

The design is reminiscent of a flip phone, except instead of flipping the camera “open”, one half of the camera is swung all the way around to provide the LCD screen for what resembles a traditional point-and-shoot camera.

What would be even more awesome would be if the camera was completely sealed when closed, protecting it completely from things like water, sand, and dirt.

The idea seems simple enough. Perhaps we’ll see this design in a real camera sometime in the near future. What do you think of this concept?

(via Yanko Design)

Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse is a historical consultant in Amsterdam who loves making photographs in the same locations as historical photos.

These amazing photographs were created by shooting new photos of old locations, and mixing them with the old photographs she finds:

Teeuwisse tells us,

I got the idea when I tried to find out more about some photos I found on a flea market. Trying to discover where they were taken I looked around my city, found the locations and took photos to compare then and now. Mixing them was just a experiment and because I was happy with the result I decided to do the same with other historical photos.

I am a historical consultant for film, tv, authors, museums, etc. and I even have a 1930s lifestyle. History is part of my daily life, I can’t help but see the shadows of the past.

To see more of Teeuwisse’s work, check out this set on Flickr.

Image credits: Photographs by Jo Hedwig Teeuwisse and used with permission

As online stock photography services and libraries have expanded in recent years, stock photography books have become more and more obsolete.

Advertising and communications corp JWT recently came up with an idea to breath new life into these dying books by transforming them into tools to help teach disadvantaged children to read.

“My First Book Project” started in JWT’s Cape Town, South Africa office, and has spread worldwide through the organization.

To help solve the massive literacy problem the country faces, we have created “learner books. ” By writing descriptions of what is displayed on each page we can help children in these communities learn to read. For example if there is a photo of a man sitting on a chair, we simply write “man” and “chair.” JWT has partnered with the worldwide organization, The Global Literacy Project (GLP) to bring these educational materials to children and adults in Africa as well as India. It’s a simple, yet impactful solution that allows us to give these books full of beautiful images a second life.

As the Internet becomes more and more accessible for those around the world, the same concept could be applied to Creative Commons photographs online, which can be used as a learning tool to improve literacy.

(via PDNPulse)

Image credit: Photograph by My First Book Project

Here’s a neat idea I came across yesterday: tossing a coin to explore your city or town.

Since the summer of 2004, Gavin Edwards has been taking walks from his home near the World Trade Center site in NYC and using a coin to determine his destination.

Periodically, I would leave my house and flip a coin. If it was heads, I’d go left. If it was tails, I’d go right. At every intersection, I’d flip the coin again: after an hour, I’d stop and photograph whatever block I was on.

If you enjoy street photography but need some motivation, perhaps give this a shot!

48 Hours from Ground Zero (via Boing Boing)

Image credit: chance by Vinay Deep