creativity
Black and White inspiration
Summer is here so you might notice the frequency of posts might slow down a bit, but of course when you say things like that, the opposite usually happens. Who knows, but I’m going to try to spend more time outside shooting and having fun with the family.
And to get some inspiration how about some amazing black and white images of majestic animals in Africa. Nick Brandt from the U.K. has a portfolio of images that have incredible detail and a surreal feeling. This image of a lion just blew me away. I wish I could afford his prints, his work is amazing.
Check out all the images by clicking on the image below
Inspiration for a gray day
It’s a gray day here in Vancouver so here’s Spencer Murphy, a photographer that Scott Kelby mentioned in his blog and whos work fits perfectly with the mood of the day especially the landscapes.
“Best Camera” by Chase Jarvis & Ubermind
Fans of Chase Jarvis found a nice surprise this morning when they checked his blog for the latest news. It seems Chase has been working on an iPhone App for a while and it has finally seen the light of day this morning.
The App is called Best Camera and the name comes from the popular phrase “The Best Camera Is The One That’s With You”. This App gives you a bunch of filters and tweaks you can apply to the photos taken with your iPhone and is similar to other Apps on the iPhone (Camera Bag comes to mind) where you can get creative with your shots. The big advantege Best Camera has is that it has included a social aspect to the process. Any images you create you can then share with all the popular social networks from within the App.
You give the App permission to access your Facebook, Twitter, etc. and then using the Share button your photos get sent to all those sites at once. This really is a reflection of the whole philosophy that Chase has promoted for a long time. He is one of the most, if not the most open and generous photographers out there when it comes to sharing his knowledge and experiences.
Here’s a couple of images from the App in action:
The icon for Best Camera
This is the startup screen. A nice simple interface. I really appreciate good design and this just works.
Here are the main sections explained
I first went into the Settings and approved all the logins for my social media sites (Facebook, Tweeter etc.)
Then it was time to try things out. I loaded an image into the App by tapping on the second icon at the bottom. This takes you to the Camera Roll on your phone. You can also take a shot with the camera. I selected an image and I was ready to start checking some effects.
The first effect I tried was Candy. It gave the shot a nice saturated and contrasty look. I really like the intense orange colour of the beer.
I applied the changes and was brought back to the main screen.
I tried the Vignette icon and this is what I got. Cool.
If at any point in the creative process you want to remove a filter or go back to where you were a few steps back, you just press the icon with the two circles in the upper right hand side of the main screen (looks like 2 filters one on top of each other) and you are taken to this screen where you can tap on the “x” above each filter. It’s like having an “undo” command.
Finally when you are happy with your image you click on the big arrow at the bottom of the main screen and you select which social media sites you want your shot to appear in. It’s that simple.
Overall I really like this App. It is super simple to use, the interface is perfectly designed and it runs great. I think the social aspect is what’s going to make it a bit more popular with users than the other Apps that do similar things.
There are a couple of filters that I wish Best Camera would offer that you can find in it’s direct competitor Camera Bag but that’s a minor thing and I’m guessing that future versions of this one may offer more filters and effects. My ideal App would be Best Camera and PhotoGene (the other App I use on every shot I take) rolled into one. That would be iPhone camera heaven.
This is a great App and at 3 dollars it’s a must buy in my book.
Fantastic Painting with light
Light painting by Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza
Just found this set of images by Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza that I think are amazing. I immediately started thinking about the process to create them and it looks very elaborate and fun. Looks like they are using some sort of wand with light sticks at the ends so he then twirls it to create some incredible circular shapes. Check out the whole gallery, really worth it if you like this stuff.
Amazing Light Paintings | Abduzeedo
Better
I’ve been a follower of all things created by Merlin Mann for a few years and his post called “Better” back in September 2008 has become a kind of mantra of mine. I revisit it once in a while because it reminds me that photography (or whatever activity you have decided to pursue in life) should always be focused on doing better.
Here’s how he starts his post…
Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.
These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical.
Later he says…
To be honest, I don’t have a specific agenda for what I want to do all that differently, apart from what I’m already trying to do every day:
- identify and destroy small-return bullshit;
- shut off anything that’s noisier than it is useful;
- make brutally fast decisions about what I don’t need to be doing;
This post is totally worth the 5 minutes its going to take you to read it and it’s impact might last you way more than you might imagine. If like me, you’ve gotten tired of all the noise and the lack of substance in most of the content we consume then go read this and then go make things better.
Click here to read Better.
Michael Clark Web Seminar
Bogen is having a seminar with adventure photographer Michael Clark on July 17th so any of you out there into this kind of cool photography should sign up asap. I’ve been a fan of Michael for a while now and I highly recommend you check out his website and sign up for his newsletter. Cool photography from a cool guy.
Friday mixed bag
A couple of quick things that have been buzzing through my head recently:
iPhone 3.0
The new iPhone 3GS is too expensive for me and the new features don’t justify the crazy cost to get it so the upgrade to the new OS will have to do this time around. I just did the upgrade to 3.0 and haven’t had much time to play with it but it looks like there are some nice new features waiting to be discovered. My favourites up to now:
- Cut / Copy / Paste is awesome
- Search will be big time saver
- MMS is handy when an email is overkill
If you have an iPhone this is a must upgrade. No issues at all installing it.
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CEF Solstice Shoot
Yesterday I participated in the Compassionate Eye Foundation’s Solstice event by helping Steven Errico in his photography shoot. The theme was “urban gardening” and the location was on the 7th floor of a downtown condo that has a garden terrace with a variety of vegetables and herbs planted. The images Steven shot were really cool and the whole crew had a great time. Check Steven’s site for some great photography and keep an eye out for his images showing up there soon.
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Whithin the Frame
Last week I attended the unofficial Vancouver launch of David duChemin’s book “Within the Frame”. David is a freelance, humanitarian photographer based here in Vancouver and his enthusiasm is so contagious that you just want to go out and book a trip everytime you are around the guy! Now with the book out you’ll have this feeling every time you turn a page.
There are many extensive reviews of the book out there (here and here for example) so I’ll just say that since the day I got the book I want to shoot a lot more, but with a different perspective, a more open attitude to what I’m seeing through my camera lens. Highly recommended.
lego coolness
While browsing photo sites and other cool places to find inspiration I recently found this series of shots on flikr recreating famous photos with legos. Since yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen square military crackdown, which the chinese government conveniently calls “The June 4th Incident”, I thought a link to the flickr set by Mike Balakov would be appropriate. Of course the Star Wars legos in some of his other sets makes the visit to the site extra cool.
Click on the photo to go check it out
Tanks at Tiananmen
Epson Print Academy
I’m currently teaching an advanced Photoshop class and this summer I’ll be teaching a class about using and converting Raw files, for that reason I’m constantly trying to keep up to date on all things Photoshop. Tomorrow here in Vancouver, the Epson Print Academy rolls into town with some cool people appearing on stage and I’m attending Track 2 of the tour.
Jeff Schewe, Greg Gorman and Andrew Rodney are scheduled to be there tomorrow. I’m also looking forward to checking out the brand new Vancouver Convention Centre where the event will take place.
Jeff Schewe is a photographer and Photoshop guru from Chicago. He is a master at Photoshop and from his bio I see that his first digital photo assignment happened in 1984! What could THAT have been? I mean Apple’s Quicktake camera released 10 years later in 1994 was 0.3 megapixels (640×480)!!
Greg Gorman is known for his amazing work shooting hollywood stars and now has an amazing gig as host of his own workshop for photographers that takes place at his Mendocino, California home.
Andrew Rodney is a colour management specialist that has worked with Photoshop since version 2.5 and wrote what is probably the bible for all aspects of colour management on a computer.
I’m hoping that the sponsorship that Epson offers on this tour takes a bit of a back seat to the actual information I can use. To use a geeky phrase, I’m hoping the “signal to noise ratio” is in favor of useful information and that it’s not an Epson commercial every 15 minutes. I’ll report back on that.
At the time of this writing there is still room available to join the workshop which runs from 9:30 am to 5 pm tomorrow. The cost is $99.oo CDN with lunch included. Clicking here will take you to the sign up page.
The Big Picture – Hubble
If you haven’t visited the Boston Globe’s “The Big Picture” site you are missing out on some great photography. The whole idea behind the site is to show amazing journalistic photographs in a big size! The topics they select are usually very interesting and amazing to see in a large format.
The latest series is on the space shuttle mission to fix the Hubble telescope and the shots are awesome. One of the great images shown is of 2 shuttles ready for take off which I believe is the first time in history that this has happened. It almost feels like the future we were promised a long time ago!
My new venture. Learn photography with me.
