Fans of Aaron Johnson’s webcomic, What the Duck can look sharp with new (and uber cute) WTD camera straps.
What The Duck already has a line of clever photo-related t-shirts and other merchandise, including a customized Flip cam, but the camera strap is the first actual WTD photo accessory.
The straps come in black and blue, with lots of ducks, for $35 from the customized camera strap makers, HighKey.
Someone spotted a wild version of Sony’s upcoming EVIL camera, the NEX3, at a pub in Asia recently and anonymous sent the photographs to the blog Sony Alpha Rumors. This comes just a week after an iPhone 4G prototype was found in a California bar, purchased by gadget blog Gizmodo for $5,000, dissected, and published.
The photographs show the camera (labeled NEX-3) with a 16mm f/2.8 “pancake” lens, which supposedly has image stabilization built in to make capturing video smoother. They also reveal an external flash mounted to the camera via a proprietary hot shoe system. Both this camera and its sibling, the NEX-5, are expected to have 14-megapixel Sony ExmorHD sensors, though the NEX-5 reportedly boasts HD-video capability, while the NEX-3 will be limited to 720p.
Sony’s upcoming cameras are meant to challenge the Micro Four Thirds system cameras made by Panasonic and Olympus, which also feature electronic viewfinders and interchangeable lenses (EVIL). The rumor is that Sony will be announcing these cameras officially on May 11th, and that they will be “aggressively priced” compared to Micro Four Thirds systems.
Here’s a tip for those working for companies that make gadgets: leave the prototypes and not-yet-unveiled devices at home when going to drinking establishments.
Verizon and HTC have recently unveiled the HTC Incredible phone, which runs on the Android 2.1 OS, and carries some pretty impressive camera functions.
Most notably, the Incredible has a whopping 8-megapixel camera, putting it a few megapixels shy of the average point-and-shoot on the current market.
Verizon announced in a press release that the phone provides “quick and easy access to Flickr for sharing and viewing pictures.”
The phone also has what looks like a fairly prominent, large lens (by camera phone standards), alongside two LED flashes. Additionally, the camera mode includes the ability to touch the screen in order select an autofocus point, along with impressive manual options to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, and ISO from 100-1250.
Though it’s unlikely to edge out the point-and-shoot just yet, the Incredible certainly seems to be designed with the photo enthusiast in mind.
The HTC Incredible is available April 29th and will cost $199.
A divorced Long Island couple decided to share custody of their kids, but they ran into a hitch over who got the family albums.
The ex-husband and wife were together for 21-years, during which they amassed some 7,000 family photos, most of them pictures of their kids.
The great debate sprang up over who actually held the rights to the photos in the first place.
The wife claimed that she was not in several of the photos because she was the one who took them. The husband accused her of not wanting to be in the photos in the first place and vindictive for wanting them now.
Presiding Family Court Judge Vito DeStefano had suggested that the couple scan the images and share the digital copies. The couple split the cost of scanning, $2,100.
But then it seems that the couple finally found common ground: they both hated the digital results.
The court eventually awarded the husband 75% ownership, and the wife got the remaining 25% — or more simply, out of each family album page, the husband keeps three photos, while the wife keeps one.
According to the New York Daily News, Judge DeStefano concluded:
The court finds that the husband was intricately involved with taking, compiling and cataloging the thousands of photos at issue… He equated his collecting of photographs of family with the hobby of collecting rare books.
It’s possible that the family album comprised of all Polaroid photos, but oddly, there’s no word regarding the original negatives.
(via NYDailyNews)
Image credit: aw/phOtoalBum by awshots
In 1927, a young photographer bought a print at San Francisco’s East West Galleries for $10 — roughly $125 today. Bernice Lovett could not pay the full price of the image at once, so she paid for it in monthly 50 cent installments. Lovett’s family held on to the photograph for over 80 years.
As it happens, the print was a signed, early print of Edward Weston’s Nautilus Shell, which became widely recognized as one of the greatest modernist photographs of all time.
The photograph will be sold in April at Sotheby’s auction house and is estimated to fetch somewhere between $300,000 to $500,000.
American vacationers John and Patti Muldowney took a snapshot during a snorkeling excursion off the coast of Aruba last fall, and turned up a photo that shows what appears to be human skeletal remains.
Five years ago, 18-year-old Natalee Holloway went missing while on vacation in Aruba. Aruban authorities suspected the remains may belong to Holloway, and have renewed their search for a missing girl’s body last weekend with little luck. However, forensic experts do not think the photo is of a body at all, but might be a product of rock formations and overactive imaginations.
In any case, this mystery might have been easier to solve if the Muldowneys’ camera was equipped with a GPS capability.
(via CBS News)
Last week we reported that a photographer was in hot water after photographing public art and selling it as stock photography. It just so happens that a new case has arisen involving just the opposite: sculptors basing work off a photograph without permission.
The above image, “Sad Vader”, is a popular photograph made by New York City-based photographer Alex Brown that has become ubiquitous on the Internet and sometimes published without crediting Brown. UK-based sculptors Craig Little and Blake Whitehead of littlewhitehead created a sculpture based on the photograph titled “Spam” due to how the photograph can seemingly be found everywhere on the web. Here’s a photograph of the installation:
When emailed by Brown, the artists replied,
On all the blogs we found it on, none of them mentioned the maker of the image. We never knew the image had been taken by a professional photographer.
In an email to Photo District News, Brown states,
My main objection to all of this is that I exhibit this image in galleries and sell limited edition prints, [...] By appropriating it, they directly undermine my ability to do so.
What are your thoughts on this situation? What action should be taken?
(via PDNPulse)
Update on February 10th, 2010: Dave, a reader, tells us that the British Journal of Photography got in touch with littlewhitehead and received a pretty lengthy statement. Here’s a snippet:
We contacted Alex immediately after hearing of his concerns and asked if there was anyway we could deal with the situation amicably. We assured him it was never our intention to upset him, nor was it merely to copy what he had already done. However, instead of replying to us, he has selected certain parts of this email and posted blogs slandering us plagiarists. He has also contacted galleries we’ve worked with also slandering us plagiarists. We do not really believe this is an appropriate first step towards dealing with the situation amicably.
Image credits: Sad Vader by Alex Brown. Spam by littlewhitehead.
Personalized mugs with your mug on it, photo blankets, and good ol’ fashioned framed pictures are all fine and dandy, but they can get old fast.
We posted a few personalized photo gifts in yesterday’s PetaPixel Photography Gift Guide 2009, but here are a few more ideas to get out the old and in with the inspired:
I have a few wonderful friends who have gifted me with a growing number of framed photos, but quite frankly, I have no place to put them anymore! And some of the photos are so outdated (visualize: awkward age) that they’re a tad embarrassing to have out in the open.
Self-published photo books are a modern twist on the photo album, and have a classy look and feel. Even better, they can be stored easily on a bookshelf!
There are a lot of great photo book sites and software out there, and especially around this time of the year, most of the sites have some sort of discount.
These are just a few to check out:
Sure, mounted 11X17 prints are pretty epic, but over time, most digital prints can deteriorate.
Showcase your masterpiece on canvas! It’s pricier, but even more epic. Costco offers photos printed on canvas starting at $29.99 for an 8X10 print.
But remember, if you give the gift of a photograph, pick something that is timeless, iconic, or extremely significant. Instead of framing a posed, toothy photo of your buddy and you, pick a candid photo or one that captures a special moment in your friendship. Or better yet, use one of your favorite still life, landscape, or street scene photos as a gift. Let your photography shine!
Digital picture frames are so 2008, but they still make fresh gifts if you spruce it up a little!
Instead of gifting an empty frame, or generic photos, try something unique utilizing the frame’s display. Make a stop-motion film that will loop with the playback feature of the frame. Use the frame to share a photo story or take photos with a certain theme and make the gift-receiver guess the theme.
