State of the Art

Blurb to Host Free 11-day-long Photo Book Workshop in NYC

2010-10-19T16:22:34-04:00

Are you going to be in the New York City area any time between now and Halloween? If so, head on down to SoHo for a very cool series of photography workshops being put on by Blurb.com for FREE.

Starting Thursday, October 21, the book-making Website will be hosting various speakers, workshops and discussions every day at their temporary space located at 60 Mercer Street in SoHo. The events go until October 31^st.

Workshops include topics like: “Compelling Cover Design,” “Handmade Gifts for Booklovers,” “How to be a New York Fashion Photographer,” “The Perfect Portfolio,” “Getting Your Work Out There,” “Photo Book Tips and Tricks” and more.

Customer service pros and Blurb employees will be on hand all 11 days to help answer any questions you may have about making a great photo book. For more information and to see the full list of workshops and discussions, head on over to Blurb.com.

Find the Perfect Camera Bag With Help From BagExposure.com

2010-10-18T12:43:57-04:00

There are literally thousands upon thousands of camera bags out there meant for everything from storing and protecting your gear while you traverse the Alps, to comfortably carrying your camera on a day trip to the zoo. So how do you know which bag to get?

BagExposure.com is a recently launched "Web Magazine," that offers reviews and information about all sorts of different kinds of camera bags both big and small. It is definitely an invaluable resource for anyone in the market for a new way to carry their gear.

www.BagExposure.com

Artist Paints Photo-Like Images of View Out a Rain-Soaked Car Windshield

2010-10-15T13:48:29-04:00

Top: Image by Gregory Thiekler. Bottom: Image by Dan Bracaglia

While the two images above seem pretty similar in their subject-matter, a view from within a car on a dreary day, one of the two is actually a painting while the other is a photograph. Can you guess which is which?

Give up? The top image was painted by Washington DC-based artist Gregory Thiekler and the other was shot by us. Thiekler is actually a hyperrealist painter whose work is meant to imitate a photograph that appears to have been taken by someone stuck in a car on a rainy day—a fascinating concept.

When we came across these images, we too were fooled into thinking they were photographs, but quite the contrary. To see more of Gregory’s incredibly realistic images, check out his Web site: http://www.gregorythielker.com/.

From: FlavorWire.com

Artist Photographs Happy Meal Once a Week for 180 Days, No Change in Appearance

2010-10-13T13:06:30-04:00

The infamous Happy Meal. Top: Day 1, Bottom: Day 180. Photographs by Sally Davies.

What originally started out as an argument over how long it would take for a McDonalds Happy Meal to get moldy, turned into a scientific experiment and eventually a fascinating photographic project.

On April 10, 2010, Sally Davies, a New York City photographer, purchased a Happy Meal with the plans of letting it sit out on her coffee table, uncovered, to prove a friend wrong who was convinced it would get moldy and rot after only a few days.

Sally began photographing the burger and fries daily and posting the images on her Flickr. After a week, the Happy Meal’s appearance looked virtually unchanged. This was when Sally realized two things—first, that her friend was indeed wrong and second, that she should hang onto the meal to see just how long it would actually take to rot.

180 days later, Sally had acquired 27 images of the burger (after the first ten days, she began photographing the meal about once a week). The scary part: the first photo of the fresh burger and fries looks almost identical to the burger and fries photographed a half a year later.

How does that sit in your stomach?

From: Yahoo News

British Wildlife Photography Awards Announced

2010-10-07T18:00:54-04:00

Photograph by Steve Young/courtesy of the British Wildlife Photography Awards 2010.

The winners of the British Wildlife Photography Awards have been announced—this year’s grand prize went to Steve Young for his powerful image of a herring gull (above). He was awarded 5000 Euros for his efforts.

This is the second year of the now annual contest. From October 14-30, the top 90 images will be on display at Hooper’s Gallery in London. Additionally, a book of all the winners will be on sale and can be purchased HERE.

For more information and to see the other winners, head on over to: www.bwpawards.co.uk.

From: The British Journal of Photography

Lego(Leica) Maniac Builds World's First Lego M8...and it Works

2010-10-06T17:12:26-04:00

A Leica M8 and it's doppleganger.

One Lego(Leica) Manaic used a $55 Lego Digital Camera Kit, some black bricks (plus one red circle piece) and a bit of creativity to build his own working Leica M8 Lego replica.

The kit, which is available on Amazon for $54.95 in pink, features a 3 megapixel sensor and internal memory that can hold up to 80 images. User “Schfio Factory” uploaded his Lego-Leica doppelganger to the popular Lego creation-sharing site MOCPages.com.

Click HERE to see “Schfio Factory’s” original post.

From: PetePixal.com

Italian Project Photographs 28-Gigapixel-Images of Famous Paintings

2010-10-04T16:57:57-04:00

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli. Top image: Zoomed all the way out. Bottom image: Zoomed all the way in on an eye. www.haltadefinizione.com

Haltadefinizione or HAL9000 (Open the bay doors HAL), is an Italian project that undertakes the process of photographing extremely high-definition images of famous paintings and putting them online for everyone to see.

Works already available in their interactive online gallery-viewer include: Da Vinci’s Last Supper and Annunciation, Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus, Verrocchio and Leonardo’s The Baptism of Christ, Gaudenzio Ferrari’s Life Stories of Christ, Pontormo’s Deposition, Agnolo Bronzino’s Elanor of Toledo, Francesco Paolo Michetti’s The Daughter of Iorio and Caravaggio’s Bacchus.

Earlier works that were photographed, like The Last Supper, consisted of 16 billion pixels, although some of the newly photographed works consist of a mind-blowing 28 billion pixels (which is technically less than half the pixels of the “world’s largest photo,” a 70-gigapixel image of Budapest). The images are made up of thousands of individual photographs taken with Nikon cameras (newer images were shot with D3X’s while older ones were shot with D2X’s).

The project’s Web site claims that the goal of taking such detailed images is to provide an experience that one could only previously get through viewing each respective painting in person—although with 28 billion pixels, one can zoom in on a painting (via the online gallery-viewer) to a point that previously could only be seen using a magnifying device.

Currently, Haltadefinizione is working to digitize an additional 24 paintings from the Ufizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

While we still highly recommend seeing these famous works of art in person if you have the chance, viewing them on Haltadefinizione’s site is a real treat. The detail that can be seen when zoomed all the way in is unbelievable.

For more information, check out Haltadefinizione’s site.

From: LinesandColor.com

Library of Congress Duplication Services offers reprints of famous American Photographs

2010-09-29T17:33:32-04:00

Images like this famous portrait of President Abrham Lincoln are available as reprints. January 8, 1864. Gelatin Print. Photograph by Mathew B. Brady, Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

My grandmother use to tell me, “The library is full of things you don’t know.” And she was absolutely correct—although in this case, her aphorism doesn’t refer to just any library, but the Library of Congress.

Through the department of Duplication Services, you can pick through and purchase a photographic print—made from the original negative—of many of the images in the Library of Congress archive. The average price for an 8x10 is about $40, although there are numerous options for size and paper quality of the print requested. Everything from presidential portraits, to famous historical events, even select images by famous photographers like Mathew Brady and Walker Evans, are fair game. It should be noted that while the selection is large, the availabilty and usage of all the images are dictated by their copyrights.

Head on over to The Library of Congress to search their vast archive and to pick out your own personal piece of American history to take home. Also you can follow the link for more information on the reproduction options: Duplication Services.

Color Photographs Shed a Different Light on the Great Depression

2010-09-27T17:37:00-04:00

Residents getting ready to serve the barbeque dinner at a local fair held in Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from a color slide. Photograph by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress.

Walker Evans’ images of Great Depression-era American families are up there as some of the most captivating and telling photographs of our nation’s history (they are certainly some of my favorite images ever taken). But one criticism that could be made of Mr. Evans’ photography is that his use of black and white film makes the already “depressing” era, even more dismal. Now I know most people at this point would say, “Well that is because color film hadn’t been invented in the late 1930’s when Walker was shooting,” but that assumption is incorrect.

The folks over at EyeCurious.com recently discovered that a massive archive of color images taken during the same depression-era Walker so famously documented, is available for anyone to see at the Library of Congress Flickr page.

The photos show a simple yet vibrant America. Shot by various photographers working for the Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information, the images give color to a period previously thought by most people to be colorless.

The larger question that these images raise is one of how to best document our nation’s history. What do you think, does color photography give a more realistic and accurate view of our history or is black and white photography appropriate in certain instances? Take a look at the Library of Congress page and share your thoughts.

From: EyeCurious.com

Aeriel Image of Devil Rays on the Move Takes First Prize in Environmental Photo Contest

2010-09-24T16:19:39-04:00

Epoty.org/Bacroft. Photograph by Florian Sulz

German conservation photographer Florian Shulz, took the first place Environmental Photographer of the Year Award 2010 for his image of a few thousand Munkiana Devil Rays swimming in unity, a phenomenon never witnessed before. The contest, which is sponsored by the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management, recognizes both professional and amateur photographers whose work showcase and raise awareness for environmental issues.

While on a helicopter expedition off the Baja Coast of California, Shulz caught sight of the few-thousand-wide group of Devil Rays swimming together, something neither him nor his pilot had ever seen. Shulz was blown away by the beauty and scope of such an occurrence, especially as he witnessed it from above. His image originally won in the underwater category.

The contest received more then 4,500 entries this year from 97 different countries. The winning photographs from each category will be displayed at the Air Gallery in London, October 25-30. For more info head over to www.epoty.org. Also, to see the rest of the category winners check out www.dailymail.cok.uk.

From: www.dailymail.cok.uk

Getty Acquires, Restores Third Robert Johnson Image

2010-09-23T14:19:57-04:00

Photo by Robert Johnson Estate/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Robert Johnson, the early-twentieth-century blues singer who, as the legend goes, made a deal with the Devil in exchange for his musical talent, is best known for two things: The first being his incredible talent as a blues musician, influencing the likes of Eric Clapton and many others, and the second being the fact that only two verified images of the singer exist anywhere—until now.

The Getty Images Hulton Archive recently restored and published a third image of the infamous blues singer (above). Seen standing next to fellow musician Johnny Shines, the photo was donated to Getty Images by Johnson’s estate.

Follow the link below to see before and after images of the restoration process: Getty Images

InVision College Photography Contest Deadline Extended to Oct 8

2010-09-20T18:10:49-04:00

Nick Nichols

Alex Webb

Update: The deadline for the contest has been extended to October 8, 2010. Enter now.

The little town of Bethlehem—Pennsylvania that is—will host an all-new photography festival the weekend of November 5 through 7, and if you're a photo student your work could be a part of it. Called InVision, the festival will take place at the Banana Factory, the town's main arts venue. (The building actually was once a banana distribution warehouse, complete with the tarantulas that like to go along for the ride.) It will feature slide talks by top shooters such as National Geographic's Nick Nichols and renowned fine-art photographer Larry Fink, a printing workshop by former U.N. chief photographer John Isaac, and portfolio reviews by Magnum photographer Alex Webb, plus a special evening event called "Magnum and Microbrews" in which participants will drink regionally-made beers while hobnobbing with photographers from that venerable photo agency. There will be several exhibitions during the event.

One of these will show prints by the winners of the new InVision College Photography Competition. The work of approximately 30 student photographers will be chosen for the show, and first, second, and third cash prizes of $1,500, $1,000, and $500 will be awarded, plus two honorable mentions. You can submit up to five images on a CD for a flat entry fee of $25; the CD should be mailed (with check) to curator Rachel Akers at the Banana Factory, 25 W. Third Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015. Hurry, because the deadline is September 29th, and be sure to include complete contact information on he entry form, which can be downloaded at http://www.artsquest.org/invision. (Click the Exhibitions/Contest links.) Your work can be offered for sale, if you like, with the Banana Factory taking 35 percent; the proceeds go towards running the organization's programs for at-risk youth. To find out more about the festival itself, read all about it in the November/December issue of American Photo magazine.

The exhibition will be juried by Larry Fink and Ricardo Viera, executive director of nearby Lehigh University's art galleries. Winners will be notified by e-mail on or before October 11th. If you win, you'll have to make sure your actual printed, framed and/or ready-to-hang work arrives at the Banana Factory between October 22nd and 24th, whether mailed or dropped off. The size limit, frame included, is four feet square. The show will open to the public on October 30, with an opening reception on Friday, November 5, the same evening as Larry Fink's talk. It will be up for viewing through November 21—and the work of the winners and honorable mentions will be published in an upcoming issue of American Photo On Campus magazine.