The Online Photographer: Websites and links

Websites and links

Monday, 19 September 2011

Yes, Nicholas Cage is a Vampire

I know, I spend way too much time on the internet—hey, somebody has to do it so you don't have to—but sometimes I run across something that really makes me laugh.

The story here is that an Ebay seller apparently found this old carte-de-visite showing a Nicholas Cage lookalike—and reached what is surely the only reasonable explanation, which is that the photo proves Nicholas Cage is a vampire.

I love that. "Personally, I believe it's him and that he is some sort of walking undead vampire, et cetera, who quickens/reinvents himself once every 75 years or so," wrote the seller. Logic inaction, as Jon Stewart might put it.

eonline.com reports that "the collector revealed that the antique memorial photo is a portrait of Lieutenant G. B. Smith, a Confederate prisoner, that was taken in 1864 at Johnson's Island prison camp in Ohio."

The auction has either ended or been taken down. The asking price for the proof of actor Cage's undeadness was $1 million. I secretly hope the end of the auction means that somebody paid it! That would be an impressive sucking of blood.

Mike

UPDATE: Turns out there is much more photographic interest to this story than meets the eye. If this is indeed Lt. G. B. Smith, a.k.a. Lt. Robert M. Smith, Confederate prisoner at Johnson's Island, then he might be the man who apparently set up a clandestine photo studio and darkroom while in prison! The fascinating story was featured on the PBS show "History Detectives" and can be found at timesnews.net, the website of the Kingsport, Tenn., Times-News. Thanks to D. C. Wells for this.

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Original contents copyright 2011 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by TBannor: "Yep. And Rob Lowe hasn't aged a bit during his career. Coincidence? I think not."

Featured Comment by Hugh Crawford: "Aren't vampires unphotographable? On that basis alone I have to doubt this."

Featured Comment by Eli Burakian: "Interestingly, my uncle produced a film in 1988 called 'Vampire's Kiss,' in which the main character, played by none other than Nicolas Cage, thought he was bitten by a vampire and consequently believed that he was turning into one. I'll ask my uncle whether the fact that he was actually a true vampire had anything to do with his getting the part."

Posted on Monday, 19 September 2011 at 07:11 PM in Visual Culture, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (25)

Tuesday, 06 September 2011

There Goes Another Ten Seconds...

...Of my fifteen minutes of fame.

Advanced Photographer magazine has included TOP in its September issue as one of "This Month's Must-Visit Websites." Here's what they said:

Our thanks to the editors. The September issue of Advanced Photographer includes reviews of the Olympus E-P3 and Canon 85mm ƒ/1.2 lens, and an article about grids for on-camera flash units. You download the issue digitally as well.

Mike
(Thanks to Patrick Dodds)

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Posted on Tuesday, 06 September 2011 at 09:32 AM in Blog Notes, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (25)

Monday, 18 July 2011

Photography at Lynda.com

My friend Steve Rosenblum, who wrote the review of Peter Turnley's Paris workshop the other day, introduced me to Lynda.com about three years ago (...I think. Maybe four). I've subscribed ever since, and have used it intermittently, mainly for coming up to speed on specific aspects of specific software programs (most recently, spreadsheets—ugh!), but also to combat the murky, mucky feeling I occasionally get that I just don't know quite enough about a piece of software I'm using.

Personally, I have a peculiar and annoying affliction where computers are concerned: procedures I don't use regularly tend to wend their way out of my head somehow. You know those people who only have to learn something on a computer once, and then they've got it forever? I'm the opposite. I'll master something completely, and a year later I've forgotten it all and I'm back to the proverbial Square One. So I use Lynda.com for routine reviews, too.

For those of you (few, I would guess) who don't know Lynda.com already, it's the oldest, biggest, and probably best online software training site. Subscribers have access to thousands of hours of video tutorials segmented into easily identifiable smaller snips.

So let's say you already know Lightroom 2 but have just gotten Lightroom 3, and you want to know how to export to Flickr. So you'd skip "Lightroom 3 Essential Training" and go to "Lightroom 3 New Features." There's you'll find an Introduction, nine sections, and a Conclusion—with 53 subsections in all. You'd go to section 3, "Exporting from the Library," and find the subsection "Setting Up Flickr Publishing Services." A 3-minutes, 47-second video later, and you know what you need to know, having gotten it in a more easily ingestible format than scrounging for the book or wading through online help.

Photography, specifically
Lynda.com sports a pretty generous photography section. Mainly, it's organized around software, as you might expect. But it's also got some basics sections, a few tutorials from people such as the legendary glamour photographer Douglas Kirkland, and one-offs like a lecture by Rick Smolan (who did all those 24/7 books, among other projects) or 36 minutes on how to do group shots.

I can't begin to vouch for all the photography content: it's probably the part of the site I use the least. (I'm normally off banging my head against software puzzles in less familiar arenas.)

However (and here we get, finally and at long last, to the purpose for this post) there's now a new section called "Foundations of Photography: Black and White" with tutor/presenter/lecturer Ben Long that weighs in at just over three hours total.

Every digital B&W recommendation I've ever made has been controversial, so I assume all possible recommendations will be...including this one. Tutorials by their very nature are too advanced for some students, too basic for others, and hit only the occasional Goldilocks just right. But I'm looking forward to poking around in the 39 subsections of the B&W tutorial to test how my always-aging knowledge matches up to the current wisdom according to Lynda.com.

Mike

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Featured Comment by John King: "I've looked at some free preview tutorials at Lynda.com and they are very good. The ongoing subscription model doesn't work for me though. I prefer to pay once and access the material when I want a refresher or quick reference. Just like my library of books. George Jardine's video tutorials are my favorites and he does an excellent job of explaining digital B&W in his Adobe Camera Raw series. It is very high quality instruction with a pay once, access forever model. George was a Lightroom specialist at Adobe for many years, so it's hard to imagine anyone more qualified on this subject."

Featured Comment by MM: "Ah, Lynda, the untold secret of many a graphics professional!

"It's been my observation that—assuming a personal teacher or tutor isn't available—some people learn technical matters best from books and others learn best from videos. Neither way is better or worse, but I would guess that most people gravitate one way or the other.

"A few years ago, after counting up the number of weighty 'Learn Photoshop' and 'Learn Illustrator' and 'Learn Dreamweaver' books on my shelf, all of which remained largely untouched, I realized that I was never going to learn software from studying books (for what it's worth, I do love books and have a large non-technical library).

"So I subscribed to lynda.com. Since then I've never let my subscription lapse, because as a working professional in graphics fields, $300 a year for unlimited training and review, 24 hours a day, anywhere in the world, is relatively small potatoes. Obviously the equation is different for hobbyists who aren't planning to make a living with their software knowledge, but in one month with Lynda ($25) they can still, for example, learn Photoshop inside and out.

"True story: My nephew recently graduated from an Ivy League college (4 years = a fifth of a million dollars). Another relative asked me what to get the kid for graduation since the grad wants to work in visual/creative fields and jobs are very hard to come by. I replied that a year's subscription to lynda.com will do far more to help him reach his employment goals than anything he learned in his four years of college. Yes, I know, one should never equate a liberal-arts education with vocational training, but the financial comparison is pretty interesting."

Featured Comment by Stephen Best: "I watched 'Foundations of Photography: Black and White' in its entirety and, though I didn't learn much and had a few points to quibble with, I found it an excellent introduction to not just B&W production, but the language (less so meaning) of photography itself. Ben Long is an engaging presenter and the strength of this talk is its completeness, showing him out shooting and trying to make something of the results. I would think many here could do worse than spending the money and watching this and a few other talks to make their $25 worthwhile. Certainly it will give pause to some here hanging out for monochrome sensors."

Posted on Monday, 18 July 2011 at 09:56 PM in Software, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (12)

Thursday, 31 March 2011

The World's Best Photography Magazine Tries a Different Revenue Model

Given the previous post, this might be as good a time as any to note that the World's Best Photography Magazine (my nickname for the New York Times) is transitioning (again) into being a pay site. The deal is that your first 20 visits every month are free, but if you want to visit more often than that you're going to have to subscribe.

As a "content provider" in web terms, sort of, I can sympathize. The bills have to get paid somehow. The Times is probably outscaled for the web; the web is a mist of fine particles, and doesn't lend itself quite naturally to providers of buckets full of information. Even the mighty Times is usually experienced by browsers of the web a drop or two at a time: you follow a link to an article or two, then surf away again—you don't spread the web version all over the kitchen table and wallow in it for 45 minutes over a bagel with coffee.

The Week: what a newsweekly should be
The cap limit is likely to be just an annoyance to most users. From that perspective, the agument is that a spoiled and entitled internet audience, foiled from accessing the Times' content, will just go elsewhere, to wherever the information is free. (I'm even put off from visiting sites—and, much more importantly, from linking to them—by free registration firewalls.)

The New York Times building, across from the Port Authority. From Wikipedia.

The argument from the other perspective is quite a bit more chilling: it's that the world is increasingly full of vampires, and no one is tranfusing any blood. Even I am a sort of vampire, half the time: witness the subject of the previous post. Jim Lewis is a TOP reader, and leaves comments here from time to time, but all I've done with that post is to point you to an article the Times paid him to write and then gave us all for free.

My recent favorite magazine has that pall over it, too. The magazine is called The Week, recommended to me by my brother Scott, whose reading recommendations are sparse but always good. Apropos my analysis 13 months ago of old TIME vs. new TIME, The Week's inspiration is the original TIME magazine. Much more modest, though. It's a slender rag (I like that about it) with all the news in it that can be crammed in, and just the news, and as briefly as possible. The Week is just what I want and need from a news magazine: it's what I have time for. It's the exact opposite of the direction the foundering Newsweek took when it lately moved to becoming a collection of long essays, something I don't really need (and, actually, don't really trust: I don't always know where the authors stand, and I'm not sure to what extent their analyses are interpretations or arguments, explanation vs. persuasion). But The Week is produced by a skeleton staff and is largely cobbled together from other sources: that is, it's vampirish. It still strikes me as a very valuable, but it's essentially a glorified clipping service. It combs the news and sifts and winnows it, and thanks for that—I do need help processing it all—but what it's not doing is much original reporting.

Of course, the New York Times is often cited in The Week as the source of its news. Along with many other sources, of course. The Week reports not so much on events, but on what the Times, and others, are reporting on events. You see the distinction.

The 30% Rule
The problem, of course, is that not everyone can be a vampire. Someone somewhere has to get down on the ground, do the shoe-leather work, and grind out the content. I do feel I provide a fair amount of original content—mostly in the way of opinion, entertainment, and commentary—but, for the most part, I'm not a reporter. I'm not out in the world gathering news. I'm not a replacement for the Times sending Jim out to work up an article on Herr Steidl.

What the situation reminds me of is what a naturalist I spoke to a number of years ago called "The 30% Rule." He was with the Michigan DNR, and I had contacted him to pick his brain about the controversial destruction of a local swamp. Speaking of America's wetlands, he said that the draining and filling of the first 30% of wetlands was essentially inconsequential; it didn't really matter (past tense because that 30% is gone now). The environment could spare it. The middle 40% is a gray area—arguable. But the final 30% is absolutely critical to the ecology of the nation's lakes, rivers, and streams: we destroy the last 30% of our wetlands at great peril to the hydrology of the land, the health of the ecosystem. Thus, business and development interests who claim that destruction of wetlands in the past hasn't had much bad effect are correct, but environmentalists who say the last remaining wetlands must be preserved at all costs are also correct.

I think The 30% Rule might apply equally to news-gathering organizations as well. You can kill 30% of them right off the top and hardly feel the loss; the middle 40% are debatable; but the last 30% are essential to the functioning of a free democracy and the interests of an adequately informed public. We're clearly in the middle 40% right now. But we're headed towards dangerous territory. Especially with the public wells increasingly polluted by uneducated demagogues and propaganda channels, somebody has to do original reporting under old-fashioned standards; everybody can't just repeat what somebody else said somewhere else.

To put it another way: we don't need a dozen photographers clustered around the corpse of a child who was shot by police. But we sure as hell need one.

Mike

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Featured Comment by HT: "I forgot about your old blog post about old Time vs. new Time magazine. Have you seen this video from The Onion? Hits the nail right on the head."

Mike replies: That is hilarious. Thanks, I needed that.

Featured Comment by Jessica: "Jessica here from The Week. Thanks for the praise—we actually saw a nice spike in traffic today thanks to your post! We appreciate it. Are you on Twitter or Facebook anywhere? We'd love to link to you. Thanks!"

Posted on Thursday, 31 March 2011 at 08:59 AM in Visual Culture, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (41)

Wednesday, 09 March 2011

Blog Notes: Hyperlinks Are Our Friends!

By Ctein

My second-favorite feature of webpages is hyperlinking. (My favorite is the ability to correct errors after publication. Enhances the illusion of infallibility in a most satisfactory way.) Links are what make webpages uniquely useful and informative. If it weren't for them, we might as well just exchange Word docs.

Links let me do two very important things. The first is that they save me the trouble of reinventing the wheel, authorially speaking. If I think readers need to review background material that I've written previously I don't have to write it again nor expect them to dig up back issues, like I would with a print magazine. I just provide a link. It saves me time because I don't need to rewrite material that was already satisfactorily explained. It saves readers time because if they're not really interested in the subject or know it backwards and forward, they don't have to wade through 500 words of repeated material to get to the point.

The second thing links let me do is build on information. Knowledge isn't inherently subdividable into self-contained kiloword chunks. Many of my articles assume, of necessity, that you are familiar with information I've provided before. Some topics get followed over many articles, spread out in time. Links connect you to the necessary background material. Make use of them, please, especially before asking questions or posting comments. As often as not, you'll find your query's already been addressed.

I know there are some readers who don't like this. They would like all the pertinent information to be self-contained and in one location. But, honestly, it's just plain not possible. Not without making each and every article intractably long. Not to mention wasting my time reinventing/writing that same wheel. I mean, it's not like I write just to hear myself talk.

(Well, okay, I do write just to hear myself talk. But after I've heard myself say something once, I'm bored with me. Short attention span. I don't need to hear me say it again.)

Whatever. I'd much rather put my time and energy into writing about new things instead of rehashing the old.

I also know there are plenty of websites that abuse their links. They treat every article is if it is the start of a Joycean stream of consciousness monologue, with seemingly every other word linked to some document somewhere that vaguely relates to it. Mike and I both work very hard to avoid that. When we put in a link, most often the content will be directly pertinent to what we're writing about now.

So please follow those hotlinks. When Mike or I refer you to a previous content, trust that we will have a good reason for that. Far more often than not they will provide some background that you need to know to fully understand or appreciate the current article.

Ctein

Ctein's regular weekly column appears on TOP on Wednesdays.

Mike adds: Since I've been invoked here, I figure maybe I should chime in. Linking is an art, not a science. The principle I follow is: I try not to do anything that would annoy me if I were you. In my world the reader always, always comes first. But not linking enough can sometimes be as annoying as linking too much.

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Posted on Wednesday, 09 March 2011 at 05:29 AM in Blog Notes, Ctein, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (31)

Tuesday, 01 March 2011

A Congress of Eagles

You wildlife guys are going to be envious, I warn you. Ever come across 125–150 bald eagles in one place—right next to the highway?

Mike Plews shot the video, and sent me the link. (The only irony is when he says "A spectacular sight for anyone traveling down Interstate 29 today." Seems to me this is just the sort of thing that people would drive right past on the freeway with no idea of what they're missing. And if you don't see it, it isn't there.)

Shot with a Sony EX3 with a Fuji 14x lens with a doubler. Mike says he grabbed one of the cameras from sports because it has a bit more reach. Wildlife is not one of his everyday subjects.

Mike J.
(Thanks to Mike P.)

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Posted on Tuesday, 01 March 2011 at 09:28 AM in Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (9)

Wednesday, 12 January 2011

Random Snaps: Pete Tsai

Worth a smile: Pete Tsai took a picture of his friend Bea through Vivian Maier's camera. Clever idea.

Mike
(Thanks to Jeff Goggin)

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Posted on Wednesday, 12 January 2011 at 01:14 PM in Random Snaps, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (22)

Tuesday, 28 December 2010

Must-See TV

Photo by Vivian Maier from the Maloof Collection. I can't see to know for sure, but I hope those two little white lines in the foreground are two discarded matchsticks on the sidewalk....

Seriously, I mean "must see." If you do nothing else this week, you should watch the video of Chicago Tonight's telling of the Vivian Maier story. A terrific presentation of one of the absolute best stories in American photography from the decade now ending. Or American and French photography, I should say, since Maier was Franc0-American.

The video was prepared in conjunction with the first American exhibit of Maier's work, which will take place at the Chicago Cultural Center next to Millennium Park in downtown Chicago from January 8th to April 3rd, 2011. Here's the link to the Cultural Center's page about the show.

I have to say I love what I've seen of this woman's photography, and the story of her and her accidental rescuer John Maloof ranks right up there with Berenice Abbott rescuing the work of Eugene Atget. I'm definitely unchaining myself from the leg of the desk and firing up the bus and trundling down to Chicagger for a gander at the show.

Don't miss the video. Heartwarmin' stuff for the holidays.

There's also a nice article by Nora O'Donnell at Chicago Magazine online, from its January 2011 issue.

Mike
(Thanks to Gary Mortensen, Tom Kaszuba, and Peter Turnley)

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Featured Comment by Christian: "Mike, I don't know how you feel about us linking to other people's blogs in your comments, so if this is un-kosher please feel free to not approve the comment.

"Portland photographer Blake Andrews posted about her pictures on his blog, "B," and in the comments there comprise an interesting (especially to a lay person such as myself) conversation. Mr. Maloof even chimes in some, including talking a little about his experiences curating Ms. Maier's work."

Question from paul logins: "I don't get it. Why do you 'hope those two little white lines in the foreground are two discarded matchsticks'?"

Mike replies: Because it would be what's called a "telling detail." It would mean that the two ladies with the nearly identical legs and nearly identical shoes and nearly identical dresses and nearly identical handbags are puffing on cigarettes together. And probably holding them just the same way.

It helps give the picture a narrative (in that it helps answer the picture's basic question, "why are those two women sitting there?") and helps me imagine some of what the picture doesn't show....

Posted on Tuesday, 28 December 2010 at 03:00 PM in Photographers, historical, Visual Culture, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (51)

Thursday, 23 December 2010

'The Viewfinder Story' is Published (Leaked?)

When the Fuji X100 site went up the other day (something we announced here), a tab called "The Story" was left blank and listed as "coming." It has now been published. Or at least, the story of the lens has been published—and it's interesting enough (back focus is only 5.3mm—take that, SLRs!). As for the story of the viewfinder, it's available—but only by guessing and plugging in the likely URL. Maybe we're jumping the gun just a bit in saying it's been "published"—it doesn't seem to be linked to the main site yet and probably isn't intended to be "live" yet. You might want to take a look soon, as Fuji might yank it. (Although it will certainly be back eventually.)

Some cynically say that the X100 offers nothing new: very wrong. What's new about this camera is the hybrid viewfinder.

"...For those who have a deep familiarity with cameras, it was wondered whether such users would like to once again experience the pleasure of shooting photos through an extremely clear and sharp viewfinder."

Even through the translated, careful and somewhat opaque language of the marketing website, the excitement and enthusiasm of the design team's "'Eureka' moment" comes through.

The hybrid viewfinder design team:
Takashi Soga, Hitoshi Miyano, and Shigeru Kondo

This sparked an idea. If we were considering a custom LED display, why not a custom LCD panel? This would not only enhance the freedom to display information content, but also open up a broad range of display item variations such the display of histograms and 'floating' text. This concept suggested one after another display patterns and applications.

One look through the prototype confirmed the development team’s confidence in the selection of an LCD panel as they viewed the sharpness of the frame and floating text—a quality that they likened to looking at the control panel of a luxury car.

The result? Hitoshi Miyano: "I am proud to say that we have developed the best viewfinder on any camera that has ever borne the Fujifilm brand." Takashi Soga: "This is the only viewfinder of its kind in the world."

It remains to be seen how good the viewfinder actually is, but it is the only one of its kind in the world, and it is a genuine innovation. Seems significant to me.

One small revelation: the brightness of the viewfinder's LCD projection is tied to the camera's light meter! And the viewfinder has its own shutter. Interesting.

Here's the link, with the caveats mentioned in the first paragraph. I'm about to shut the site down for Christmas, so I won't be around to correct this if the link breaks—just be aware of that.

Mike
(Thanks to Bharat Singh)

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Posted on Thursday, 23 December 2010 at 11:06 AM in Cameras, new, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (39)

Friday, 17 December 2010

'Making Sharp Images' for TOP Readers

Lloyd Chambers has generously set up a page offering a discount to any TOP readers who are interested in a one- or two-year subscription to the interactive website "Making Sharp Images." The two-year deal amounts to two years for the price of one.

As Lloyd pointed out in the comments to Ctein's "Leasing Knowledge" post, the fact that you can't "own" your own copy of the material is really no different from a movie you see in a theater, a play, or a lecture you pay to hear. I respect those who have philosophical objections to the format, but it is what it is—if you're interested in the topic and ready to learn about it, it still might be well worth your while.

If you haven't seen it yet, the Table of Contents gives a good idea of what's available. As you can see, it's going to take some commitment on your part.

Lloyd has also made discounts available for his other products as well. Here again is the page for TOP readers.

Mike

Posted on Friday, 17 December 2010 at 03:53 PM in Photo-tech, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (19)

Wednesday, 15 December 2010

Brenda Ann Kenneally at the Bag

Photo by Brenda Ann Kenneally

Sandra C. Roa's short introduction to Brenda Ann Kenneally—who had to get out of Albany and landed in Troy—at Bag News Notes. "I really don't have any desire to go to another country...there's so much to do here."

Mike
(Thanks to Michael Shaw)

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Featured Comment by Geoff Wittig: "Brenda Ann Kenneally's photographs of the inhabitants of her drug-blighted neighborhood in Brooklyn from a few years ago were unbelievably intense. Like Eugene Richards on a good day, which is saying something. Her photographs of the underclass in Troy, New York, are just as good. I also live in a poverty-stricken upstate NY community, and I find her photos almost unbearably tragic. These are the people I know. Yet when I listen to her describing her own work, I just can't get past her cigarette-scarred voice. I can't help thinking she hasn't escaped this self-destructive cycle at all."

Featured Comment by Eamon Hickey: "I second Geoff's opinion of Ms. Kenneally's work documenting the drug culture in and around New York City—among the best photojournalism I've ever seen. She is not unknown (she's won several important photojournalism awards over the years, and gotten the odd Guggenheim, etc.), but I think she's underknown—doesn't have the wider reputation she deserves given the quality of her work (or at least that used to be true back in 2005 or so when I first came across her; maybe it's changed since then)."

Posted on Wednesday, 15 December 2010 at 10:23 AM in Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (3)

Saturday, 04 December 2010

Dilbert Tries a Collaborative Photoshop Cartoon

I dasn't reproduce it, 'cause cartoonists can be ornery, but you can check it out here.

Mike

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Posted on Saturday, 04 December 2010 at 09:13 AM in Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (24)

Friday, 03 December 2010

Cool Cameras from Westlicht

From the current Westlicht auction in Vienna, Austria—

Zorki "Cut-Modell" counterfeit Leica

1920 Sanderson (English cameras like this come up on Ebay occasionally)

Elmo Elmoflex IIIF

Kern Sport-kamera

1952 Ilford Witness (best-ever camera name!)

One of only 100 Canon F-1 High-Speed cameras produced for press use at the 1984 Olympic Games in L.A.

1958 NASA Hasselblad used in the Mercury space program

Dubroni No. 3 outfit

Rare Panon wide angle camera

Kodak Stereo Cameras

Leitz Leica IIIg in box

Soviet-made Minox Riga spy camera (these are tiny, if you've never seen one)

Tomiyama Art-Flex-8x10 TLR (and this is enormous—note size of handle)

Bakelite cameras

Göerlitzer Stella studio portrait camera with rare Nicola Percheid lens

Belgian Louis Van Neck Excellentis detective camera, c. 1900

Olympus Pen FV half-frame black paint

Bermpohl Fotomeister wooden monorail

1996 Leica S1 Pro (first digital camera made by Leica)

The auction takes place tomorrow, and you can bid online. Note that there is a concurrent auction for photographs, including—to refer back to a post from a few days ago—a couple by Eadweard Muybridge.

Unfortunately I missed some interesting cameras—apparently when lots are pre-sold they're removed from the online listing (that was the case with the first camera here, which I hope I'm remembering the name of correctly). You know what they say: Oh well.

Mike
(Thanks to Michael O'Donoghue)

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Featured Comment by Kubiksovs: "Hey, nice list! (With a nice price tag, no doubt.) About the Minox—it was made by Latvians. Riga is our capital city and the Soviets occupied Latvia in 1944. And before that we were ocupied by Germans. When Soviets invaded, Minox was moved/sold to West Germany and the brand survived. Later the Soviets copied Minox cameras with Kiev brand. Just a little clarification."

ADDENDUM from O.G.: More about the Witness.

Featured Comment by David Bostedo: "Regarding the Leica S1—I never stopped to wonder why their new one is called the S2, but I guess that explains it. Neat."

Featured [partial] Comment by Chuck Albertson: "If I recall correctly, that mojo-motor Canon could zip through a roll of film in under two seconds, which is coincidentally the longest time anyone could hand-hold it...."

Featured Comment by Scott Kirkpatrick: "The Leica S-1 was a scanning back camera that was made for a brief period in the mid '90s. For an unforgettable description of its use in recording irreplaceable works of art, see this New Yorker story, which describes copying both sides of all of the Cloisters' Unicorn tapestries, and the horrendous task of reassembling the resulting mosaics of images with every thread in the right place."

Posted on Friday, 03 December 2010 at 10:27 AM in Cameras, old, Collecting, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (25)

Thursday, 02 December 2010

Luminous Landscape Will Be Back Soon!

The Luminous Landscape suffered a major server crash yesterday (Thursday) afternoon, resulting in the site's longest downtime in 11 years. Michael tells me the situation is under control and they're in the process of reloading the site from a backup. They hope to be back online as early as this morning. So if you've tried to log in and had problems, don't worry—all should be well before long.

Good luck to L-L, and we'll keep you posted of any further developments.

Mike

UPDATE: ...And they're back. After about 24 hours down, L-L is back online, and "It appears that there was no data loss." Good news.

Posted on Thursday, 02 December 2010 at 08:57 PM in Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (10)

Tuesday, 30 November 2010

Ailsa McWhinnie Breaks Away

My friend and former boss Ailsa McWhinnie, Founding Editor Emeritus of the English Black & White Photography magazine, recently found herself in that unfortunately familiar condition, the dreaded shooting slump. So she headed to France's Belgian frontier for the "Hell of the North"—the classic Paris-Roubaix bicycling race—with her Mamiya, meaning to face up to her reticence about shooting strangers.

Ailsa in action (frame grab from filmwasters.com)

Filmwasters.com included the story of her day in a recent video podcast (Ailsa's star turn starts at 1:20 and goes until 7:55 or so).

If you've ever been in such a slump yourself, you might sympathize.

Both black-and-white photos above by Ailsa McWhinnie.

...And speaking of friends and former bosses, Ed Buziak, the Founding Editor of the U.K.'s Darkroom User magazine (renamed Camera & Darkroom prior to its unfortunate demise) is selling off some treasures from his print collection. Ed's wife Trish, always a fine free spirit, has long been an invalid, and can now move only her hands, arms, and mouth. Ed has cared for her selflessly for many years—I have honestly never heard even the shadow of a complaint from the man—but they get not a penny of help from anywhere, and Ed needs to raise some funds for Trish's continued care.

Ted Orland, The Zone System Shooting Range, a one-of-a-kind print
offered for sale by Ed

He's currently got 25 or 26 prints listed and there will be 15 or 18 more posted in the next 24 hours, including a lovely Ted Orland portrait of photographer Sally Mann and some pictures by the photo writer Tony McLean, as well as some of Ed's own. All the prints are very reasonably, even cheaply, priced. Bought one myself, this morning (Ted Orland's "Even Ansel Adams has to Earn a Living").

Ed and Trish are an ever-optimistic, high-spirited, loving older couple who live their life together to the fullest. Let's see if we can help sell out this lot, in support of a better holiday for both of them!

Here's that link again. Pass it along.

Mike

P.S. Yours truly wrote many articles for both Ailsa and Ed, once upon a time.

UPDATE from Ed: "Mike—just briefly to say 'a very big thanks' to you and everyone who has visited my site and bought prints (15 so far). Also, remarkably, visitors have also been reading my many pages of photo techniques, darkroom dodges and nature notes...with over 15,000 page impressions recorded in the past 15 hours! That's certainly up from my normal 650 or so impressions in a normal 24-hour period. So thanks to everyone again...and I hoped you also enjoyed what I have written. P.S. My wife Trish was awake most of the night—I kept saying quietly to her, 'Another print has been purchased' and she was so excited she finally said before snoozing, 'Will you put the Christmas tree up in the morning.' All the best to you, Ed.

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Posted on Tuesday, 30 November 2010 at 10:40 AM in Print Offers, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (15)

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

DxOmark for 2011

This came from DxO's PR agency this morning—all a quote except where indicated—

DxO Labs is launching a new update to DxOMark, the free resource for comprehensive data produced by DxO Lab's testing of cameras and lenses, today. The site has been updated for 2011 with several new features, new reviews and even more summaries of the most interesting conclusions that can be drawn from this data. There are also new, easy-to-digest views and scores that put the headlines front and center.

[DxOMark 2011’s key features include:]

A new ranking system for lenses that comes as a direct response to visitor’s feedback;

Easier navigation and data access from Home to measurement pages;

200+ new lens/camera combinations—making a total of 1,000 available on the site!

Please visit www.dxomark.com to see all of information DxO Labs has made available to the public for free. As you likely know, DxOMark measurements are generated to improve the performance of products like DxO Optics Pro and rely on DxO Analyzer, the world’s leading turn-key laboratory solution for image quality evaluation. Thanks to its accuracy, completeness, and reliability, DxO Analyzer has become the reference tool for numerous leading imaging industry players.

Mike

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Featured Comment by Steve G, Mendocino: "Lens test results from DxOmark and other tech sites like SLRGear and Lenstip are a great resource and I'd never knock them—I've spent enough time in various labs to know how much work goes into their reports and how frustrating it is to put in those hours knowing full well the limitations and errors of the tools and methods therein.

"But they're only a start in evaluating a lens. The next step is, for me, the GBC (Girlfriend, Backyard & Cat) protocol—taking the darn thing out and taking a bunch of dumb throwaway pictures under a wide variety of apertures and conditions, perhaps even using the 'on a tripod' variation of the protocol, to find out how the darn thing works for you. That, not MTF or lines per inch, is what counts.

"Of course, some will insist on the WBD (Wife, Backyard & Dog) protocol. Time does not permit a discussion of the obvious technical shortcomings inherent in this approach."

Posted on Tuesday, 23 November 2010 at 10:04 AM in Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (11)

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

Bits and Pieces

The purchase of a 65mm Schneider Super Angulon prompted Steve Smith, who has access to a CNC drill/router used in the manufacture of printed circuit boards, to build a do-it-yourself 6x12 cm panorama camera.

Damián Ortega's "Olympus, 2009," an artwork which consists of every piece of an old Olympus camera suspended in a real-life exploded view, prompts a short meditation by Sebastian Smee on boston.com.

And finally, TOP reader Clay Harmon got a new Nikon D7000—one of the first—but didn't find the bits and pieces in the box that he expected to find. (What's the book he tosses out at the beginning? Wasn't there supposed to be a new edition of that?)

(If you can't see the video here, here's the direct link.)

Mike
(Thanks to Philip Jelatis, Steve, and Clay)

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Original contents copyright 2010 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved.

Featured Comment by Paul W. Luscher: "Re Damien Ortega's piece: Atrocity! Butchery! Murder! Dissecting an Olympus OM like that (and a perfectly good one too, I'll bet). Isn't there a Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Cameras?"

Mike replies: Don't worry—the artist makes a big deal about including every single piece in his creations. To me, that says a good tech could always put the camera back together again. I'm just sayin'.

Posted on Wednesday, 20 October 2010 at 09:07 AM in Cameras, old, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (29)

Tuesday, 05 October 2010

Best Shot of a Bad Shot

Photo by Mark Pain, The Mail on Sunday

How can a golf shot be both very bad and very good?

That was the case when Tiger Woods hit an errant chip that smacked Mail on Sunday photographer Mark Pain right in his Nikkor 24–70mm lens—and Pain managed to get a shot of the ball right before it hit.

Pain's remarkable shot—and Woods' remarkably bad one—came on the 18th hole at the 2010 Ryder Cup in Newport, Wales, U.K. Woods, who is famously irritable about photographers, didn't object to Pain's camera stopping his ball for him.

(Is the guy on the right with the cigar famous for his Groucho Marx impression?)

The shot came in a winning effort by Steve Stricker and Woods. However, the Europeans carried the day overall behind the last-minute heroics of Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, reigning U.S. Open champion.

What we want to know is, why didn't Pain's Nikon D3s focus-track the ball?

Saturday, 18 September 2010

I'm Serious, I Want the Maltese Falcon

Jim Marshall (print by Ctein), Mick Jagger—Palace Laundry

I would never in a million years have seen this Guernsey's auction, but for the fact that my friend Ctein is selling off a portion of his collection of signed Jim Marshall photographs. But there's a lot of really cool stuff in this auction. Including, but not limited to, the pictures. I'm really curious as to who the John Lennon photographer is (lot 61) [It's David Spindel—thanks to Jeff and John Krill for pointing that out —Ed.], and I want the Maltese Falcon (lot 44).

Sam Spade: [impatiently] Now, let's talk about the black bird.

Kasper Gutman: Let's. Mr. Spade, have you any conception of how much money can be got for that black bird?

Sam Spade: No.

Kasper Gutman: Well, sir, if I told you...If I told you half...you'd call me a liar.

Some fun stuff there. Ctein's Marshalls, too.

Mike

Featured Comment by Archer Sully: "With the mention of the Maltese Falcon, I couldn't help but think of this bit from Adam Savage of Mythbusters. He starts talking about his quest for the perfect Falcon at ~6:45."

Mike replies: That's the craziest thing I've ever heard! Great. Thanks.

Posted on Saturday, 18 September 2010 at 08:23 PM in Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (20)

Sunday, 08 August 2010

Captured: America in Color from 1939 to 1943

Russell Lee, Saying grace before the barbeque dinner at the New Mexico Fair,
Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940

Take a leisurely stroll through a long-gone America, courtesy of the Denver Post's Plog site. A nice presentation of some of the material from the massive L.o.C. website, and a nice portfolio to look through on a lazy Sunday afternoon. As a bonus, there's some nice stuff in here for rail fans.

The book, which we recommended when it was current, is now out of print, but hasn't yet become hard to find.

Mike
(Thanks to several tipsters)

Posted on Sunday, 08 August 2010 at 11:26 AM in Photographers, historical, Websites and links | Permalink | Comments (14)

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