Archive for September, 2009

10 year old expired 120 film, holga

I love everything about this photo:

(via Carl W. Heindl on flickr)

chase jarvis: the best camera

Photographer Chase Jarvis has release a new iPhone photo app called The Best Camera, as well as a new book to go along with it called The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You. You can find out all the info on thebestcamera.com.

The app looks pretty good, I haven’t tried it yet but it has a bunch of cool filters with cute names (jewel, paris, slate, candy, light, dark, fade, contrast, warm, cool, desaturate, vignette, square, frame) that make me want to try them. It gets even better though because the app lets you easily share your photos online, which I think is what a lot of photo app’s are lacking. So you can upload to Facebook, Twitter, email, or even to thebestcamera.com which is probably the most interesting option because then it will post the combination of filters you used, and in what order you used them so other people can get the same look.

I love the idea behind the app and the book, because I also believe everyone should take more photo, and why not use your phone? Also, the images from Chase’s book are pretty amazing considering they were taken on an iPhone. I love anything that reinforces the idea that it’s not the camera, but the photographer that makes a good image.

Check out this video and get inspired to start taking more mobile photos:

Here are some images from the book, The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You. Makes me want to make my own iPhone photo book!

nuit blanche: toronto w/ smartphones

I’m iffy about attending Nuit Blanche this year, just because last year was sooo crowded it was basically impossible to see or experience anything. Maybe this year I’ll try and check it out a bit later once all the tourists and families have gone home for the night. In case you don’t know, Nuit Blanche is an all night art festival that’s happening October 3rd, here in Toronto. This year I’m a lot more encouraged to go though, because of this smartphone app, Night Navigator. It’s available for iphones and blackberries.

Here’s a list of what it does, from the website:

Scan complete project details and public transit routes
View maps and get directions
Use GPS navigation to locate the closest projects
Recommend your favourite projects
Find out which projects are creating a buzz
View and send real-time project photos
Access My Night, your personal itinerary planner
Vote for Scotiabank People’s Choice

It also has some photo recognition software called Capturefy, which tracks where you are when you take a photo of the sign, and gives you more info based on your location. Futuristic!

Pretty cool in general, and I’d mostly be interested in checking out other people’s ratings and reviews of what exhibits are worth checking out, it might save a lot of walking, because there’s a lot to see. Keep it in mind if you plan and going out and seeing some art that night.

(via blogto.com)

bobby neel adams: family tree

I thought this was a cool project idea by photography Bobby Neel Adams, it’s called Family Tree. The portraits are stitched together family members, fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, etc. The interesting part is that each portrait is manually torn apart and glued to the other, no Photoshop here. Check out some of my faves below:

timelapse street light with bugs

Normally I think bugs are kinda gross. But these timelapse photos of a streetlight with bugs flying around it are actually really beautiful. Who knew insects could make art?

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

flickr gallery: turned away

So I wrote yesterday about how excited I was for flickr galleries, and already I’ve been looking through them and finding so many cool collections! I really liked this one “Turned Away” by user kdeluga. This is also a subject I am often drawn to in photography. Check out some of my favorites below, and definitely get on flickr and look through the galleries that people have posted, there are already a lot of them there and so many great ones!

cordelia hediger: doppelganger

I wanted to tell you about this amazing photographer I just discovered, Cordelia Hediger. Her series “Exit” reminds me of Francesca Woodman, you have to check it out in her portfolio to see what I mean. Today though I’m going to post about her latest series, “Doppelganger”.

Here’s her artist statement from her website:

Fear, hope, joy, despair, and destruction are some of the emotions and feelings I explore photographically. In this series Doppelganger, my persona is the central figure, performing a psychological struggle with my own Doppelganger, a ghostly double of a living person, widely understood as sinister and a harbinger of bad luck. Each image is constructed from six to nine photographs, in which a pictorial narrative is carefully choreographed into a single image. Throughout the series, the characters face each other, watch each other, exploring an internal dialog and struggle which exists between the conscious and the unconscious. The topics, often complex, are captured in rich and lush colors using flower patterns and polka dots, which allow a level of dry humor to take over.

Check out some of my favorites from the series below:

flickr: unleash your inner curator

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of flickr, I often find amazing photos there from unknown photographers, which is one of my favourite things to do. They’ve just created a new feature, which I think is amazing, galleries. Basically, a gallery allows you to be your own art curator, and showcase up to 18 photos or videos around one theme, or photographer, or whatever you choose! Very cool idea, since I already use it to find new photography. This way, it’ll just be easier! I can’t wait to explore all the galleries that flickr users create.

Check out some of my favourites from the Broken Wings and Flying Things gallery:

mathieu hubert: stereoscopik

I came across these diptychs by photographer Mathieu Hubert, the series is called Stereoscopik. I remember these viewfinders, I had one when I was a kid! I love nostalgia and retro stuff so this is right up my alley. I like how they imply that the person and the image they’re viewing is related. In the artist statements, Hubert writes: “It could either be what the sitter is really seeing, or it may well be their own memories or even some sort of repressed desires.”

Check out some of my favourites:

cassandra c. jones: found photography

Extremely interesting Boing Boing video interview with artist Cassandra C. Jones. She uses photography found on the internet and “glues” images together to create her art and to explore how we relate to these images. And I totally want to buy her wallpaper: