July 2012

Apple and Google Each Form Alliances in Preparation for Kodak Patent Battle

The deadline to put up initial bids for Kodak's 1,100 patent sale is Monday, and The Wall Street Journal reports that the two biggest contenders, Apple and Google, are forming "coalitions" with other companies in preparation for the all out patent brawl. The last time this happened, an Apple/Microsoft alliance ended up winning the battle against Google, that time over a patent sale by Nortel Networks.

Photogs Chime in on Snapping Photos of Tragedy When They Could Have Helped

The Guardian featured a gripping article yesterday that asked photographers to look back at some of their most powerful photos, and how they could have helped instead of standing by and taking pictures. On the one hand we've all felt that surge of indignation as we wonder "why didn't they help!?" On the other, only a photographer that has been there could understand what it's like to be under that kind of pressure:

DIY Photography Wall Art from Baby Crib Springs

Are you looking for creative ways to decorate your walls and display numerous photos without making it look like your crazy great-aunt’s hallway? Now you can with this ingenious DIY project!

While I would love to take credit for this idea, it is really my wife’s brainchild. Apparently a desire to decorate the walls, the concept of saving money while using up junk in one’s basement to make the house look pretty, combined with time spent surfing the web will generate exceptionally creative ideas like this. (Yes, there are others who have done similar. However, that was only discovered after the original brainchild was birthed.) So, let’s get started, shall we?

Portraits of Superheroes Living Ordinary Lives in Hong Kong

Superheroes usually do their world-saving work in big cities, but what if they lived lives that were as mundane as the civilians they're sworn to protect? Photographer Chow Kar Hoo has a creative series of photographs that show well known superheroes living rather ordinary lives in Hong Kong. Batman is seen strolling a night market, Wolverine is found making a living slicing up meat at a butcher shop, and Hellboy is spotted enjoying some late night hot pot.

Five Friends Take the Same Group Photo for 30 Years

Back in 1982, 19-year-old five buddies -- John Wardlaw, Mark Rumer, Dallas Burney, John Molony, and John Dickson -- went on vacation to Copco Lake in California and snapped a group photo (seen above). Since then, they've embarked on the same vacation every 5 years, staying at the same cabin, sitting on the same bench, and snapping the same photo (with identical poses and all). They're 48-years-old now, and the tradition is still going strong.

Magic Lantern Releases v2.3, Says It’s No Longer a “Hack”

For those of you who have never heard of Magic Lantern (or know it only as a 17th century image projector) as far as Canon HDSLRs are concerned, Magic Lantern is a firmware add-on that first appeared in 2009 for the 5D Mark II. Since then it has been ported to most Canon HDSLRS and, for years, it has been known as a hack that brave and/or curious Canon owners have added to their cameras in order to squeeze out more functionality -- in some cases a lot more. The risk, of course, was always stability.

Bump’s Flock App Takes All the Hassle Out of Sharing Photos with Friends

If you browse the photos in your iPhone's camera roll, there's a good chance there are some in there that you forgot to upload, email, or otherwise share with your friends. Whenever you're out with a group and photos are being taken, the end of the night always consists of handing out e-mail addresses or promising to upload photos to Facebook, but sadly, more often than not, we forget. Enter Flock, a new "magic" photo sharing app from Bump Technologies.

Portraits of Expecting and Empty Nest Parents

Photographer Dona Schwartz, a professor of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota, has an interesting pair of photo projects titled "On the Nest" and "Empty Nesters". The first shows portraits of expecting parents as they prepare to welcome a new member of the family. The second features portraits of parents who are coping with an empty house after their children have grown up and moved out.

The AFP’s Nikon D4 Robotic Arm Rig for the London Olympics

Well, there's no question about it: photography is going to the robots -- or at the very least Olympic photography is. First we saw Getty Images and the robotic rigs it was working on (among other things), then there was the Associated Press and its robots, and now we have a making of video from AFP showing off the D4 wielding rigs its photogs will be using.

Google Dubs Project Glass Pre-Orderers “Explorers,” Promises Secret Updates

It looks like at least one group of people will be in-the-know regarding Google's Project Glass, a group that has been dubbed "Glass Explorers" by the company's co-founder Sergey Brin. The group is made up of all the pre-orderers from Google's I/O event earlier this year who shelled out $1,500 to make sure they get their hands on the first of the wearable camera/computers.

Fortunately for them, that $1,500 also bought them acces to exclusive product updates, invites to events, and access to Google+ hangouts -- a veritable secret club missing only the secret password for access to the secret treehouse clubhouse.

Photos of Flamingos as Numerous as the Sand on the Seashore

Lake Bogoria in Kenya is home to one of the world's largest populations of lesser flamingos. When conditions are right, the lake turns into an eye-dazzling spectacle, with over a million birds congregating to feed on the blue-green algae in the waters. Wildlife photographer Martin Harvey was able to witness, shoot, and film one such gathering, and calls it "truly one of the worlds greatest wildlife experiences left on earth."

RIM Bringing Built-In Photo Editing and Instagram-Like Filters to BlackBerry 10

BlackBerry doesn't get much attention from App developers these days, and as such many of the photo apps iOS and Android users take for granted are expected to be sadly absent when RIM's new mobile operating system, BlackBerry 10, makes it onto phones. Still, the upcoming operating system has already made some waves using Scalado rewind technology, and according to CrackBerry, there's a lot more photo goodness on the way from RIM in the form of a full suite of editing options and Instagram-like filters.

A Photographer Shares His Experience Meeting Henri Cartier-Bresson

There are plenty of documentaries out there about famous photographers like Henri Cartier-Bresson; in Bresson's case there's even an hour-long interview we've featured. But while documentaries and interviews are informative and educational, there's nothing like a first hand account from a photog who actually had the chance to meet the legend. This video takes you back to May 1975, when Romanian photographer Andrei Pandele was fortunate enough to be Henri Cartier-Bresson's tour guide through Bucharest.