‘Life In A Day‘ is a historic crowdsourced documentary film that shows what the world was like on a single day: July 24, 2010. People in 140 countries around the world captured snippets from their lives on that day and submitted 80,000 video clips to YouTube. Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald and executive producer Ridley Scott then edited those 4,500 hours of footage into a 95 minute long feature film. After debuting at Sundance and being streamed on YouTube earlier this year, the film is now free to watch. Enjoy.
As the low-light capabilities of high-end (and even low-end) cameras rapidly improve, it’s easy to marvel at technology and forget how amazing our own eyes are, but here are some mind-boggling facts to consider: did you know that the human eye can detect as few as two photons entering the retina, and that, under ideal conditions, a healthy young adult can see a candle flame from 30 miles away? To see how mind-boggling that is, try using Google Maps to find a location 30-miles away from where you live.
Portrait-a-day time-lapse videos show the passing of time in a pretty striking way, but so does this project by a guy named Sam Klemke. Every year since he was 20 years old in 1977, he has made a short video of himself announcing the passing of the year. Now, 35 years later, he has created a compilation of the videos that allows us to travel back with him through time — from the digital age to the age of recording video on film. Maybe it’ll inspire you to start a photo or video project that spans decades!
Having a camera with you may get you better customer service at places like restaurants, retail stores, and hotels. Consumer advocate Christopher Elliott writes,
The last thing employees want to see when they’re delivering a substandard product or service is a shutterbug. If they think you might take a snapshot, or a video, of their incompetent actions, they’re far likelier to do the right thing. The presence of a camera alone is often enough. Try it sometime.
If you already carry a camera with you everywhere you go, then you’re already set! If you don’t, you might want to think about bringing one along whenever you’re in need of customer service.
February seems to be the month when lost photographers’ lives are saved thanks to their camera flashes. Last year around this time a German tourist was miraculously rescued when a woman spotted his desperate flashes on a live webcam feed.
Earlier this week a 29-year-old photographer was hiking in Devil’s Lake State Park in Wisconsin when darkness fell, causing him to became lost, wander off the trail, and fall 15 feet into a boulder field. The man spent two hours on the phone with rescuers before they were able to locate him in the darkness thanks to flashes he was firing off with his camera. He had developed hypothermia from the snow, but his camera flash saved his life.
The October 27, 1972 issue of LIFE read “A Genius and His Magic Camera: Dr. Edwin Land of Polaroid demonstrates his new invention”. The invention was the Polaroid SX-70 instant camera.
Back in 2010 we featured an interesting documentary about what the life of Pete Souza — President Obama’s official photographer — is like. Now, here’s a look at a different kind of official photographer: the team photographer of an NBA basketball team. Layne Murdoch has been shooting sports for over 30 years, and is the official photographer of the New Orleans Hornets. In this video he provides an interesting behind-the-scenes glimpse into what his coveted job involves.
Noah Kalina’s famous “everyday” project spanned six years of his life, but began when he was 19 years old. “Natalie Time Lapse” is similar, but begins when the subject is born and ends when she is ten years old. Even though the pose and expression are far from being as precise as in Kalina’s video, it’s quite interesting watching someone go from newborn to ten-year-old.
