How To Make A Spy Camera

Feeling Paranoid? Or just want to record your fellow passengers on the subway? Go ahead. Make their day.





Walker Evans, New York, 1938

True Kick Ass Technology

With all the seductive hype surrounding Apple's launch of the iPad one could be forgiven for being befuddled about where the true technological miracles lie. Gizmodo had a recent post detailing the upcoming auction of one of the original cameras belonging to Jacques Mande Daguerre. Estimated to sell for around 700,000 Euro it comes in a bit more pricey than an iPad. But really, which one would you rather have?

Exclusive First Look at The Apple Tablet

From Tuesday's New York Times: with "the widely anticipated introduction of a tablet computer at an event here on Wednesday morning, Apple may be giving the media industry a kind of time machine — a chance to undo mistakes of the past." True, perhaps, if you also believe in unicorns, fairies and pixie dust.

I'm A Photographer, Not A Terrorist

From the Londonist. "On Saturday, Trafalgar square saw the I'm a photographer, not a terrorist mass turnout defend the rights to street photography and protest at the abuse of terror laws. This peaceful, jolly and snap happy event, attended by both pro and amateur photographers, and a few stray tourists, was in response to a series of high profile detentions of photographers under s44 of the terrorism act."

A Few From the Weekend

Mactini

Next Wednesday is the big reveal day for Apple's new iTablet or iPad or iSlate or what ever iT's going to be called. The hype is building to full crescendo. While iM looking forward to seeing iT iCant honestly say iT's something iFeel iNeed.

Wham! Bam! Here Comes Pam!

There have been a lot of movies made about photographers and the world of photography. In most cases the posters made for the movies were often better than the movies themselves. It goes without saying that most of the films about photography paint an amusing and inaccurate portrait of the life of a working photographer. Except for Friday Foster. The poster below draws an accurate portrait of the world of photography. An adventurous world of danger and glamour that is comprised of sexy, heat packing photographers with a fondness for telephoto lenses.

What The Katz Dragged In

I haven't been to Katz's Deli in a few years. I thought, since we were near, it might be fun to swing by with the kids and grab a quick lunch. The place was mobbed! I mean packed. Like an airport during a holiday snowstorm. Still, a good, but harried time, was had by all.

Pierced

I've never had my ears, or any other body part, pierced so I was kind of looking forward to witnessing my daughter having her ears pierced. My son and I spent the days leading up watching some horrific piercing clips on YouTube and we were taking bets on how things might go down. Ava seemed to sort of understand the process but I was sure there would be some serious screaming, tears and drama worth documenting. Nothing! She showed a bit of enthusiastic anticipation that was followed by a steely resolve and that was that.

Picture Pun Fun

Today is Monday, Martin Luther King Day.







MOON and Doris DAY

MARTIN lawrence, lex LUTHOR, burger KING, and doris DAY.

You Buggin! - Quote of the Day

"Once photography enters your bloodstream, it's like a disease." - Anonymous


If you look closely you can see the camera around the little bug's neck. Could be a Nikon. Or a Canon. Can't really say. It definitely has a telephoto lens on it though.




Picture Credit: Gary Schneider, Entomological Specimen #11, 1992

Picturing A Cheater

The Daily Beast has put together a nice series of baseball cards of the ball players that would comprise baseball's first "All-Steroid Team." You can see the rest of the raging and puffy, starting lineup HERE.

Does Contemporary Photography Have A Gas Problem ?

It seems as if a lot of photographers, and their subjects, have been inhaling helium lately. I recently received 3 of the images below on invitation cards in one week alone. While it's not unusual to see photographs of people suspended in motion and untethered by gravity there does seem to be an abundance of these kinds of pictures floating around lately. Photography, at least since the time of Lartigue, has always excelled at this fantastic technical feat. Still, it strikes me as curious to see so much of it getting airborne at once. I suspect the fact that it's now so prevalent is signal that it's soon to come down for a landing.



Jaque-Henri Lartigue, 1913




Bill Henson, Floating Girls Series, 2000-2003




Daniel Gordon, Flying Pictures. 2001-2004





Denis Darzacq, Hyper # 8, 2008




Jerry Uelsmann, Untitled, 1966




Julia Fullerton-Batten, In Between, 2009

Eggleston At Cheim & Read

If you should find yourself in New York, or in front of a computer, you might want to check out the new William Eggleston show, "21st Century", at Cheim & Read. You can see much of it HERE. The premise of the show, such as it is, is that all of the exhibited photographs were made in this century. Although I liked the show it's a pretty thin concept for an exhibition and the picture selection does feel a bit arbitrary. Of course I'm of the opinion that with Eggleston it's nearly impossible to assemble a bad show.











All of the above photographs are by William Eggleston, via Cheim & Read gallery.

Being A Photojournalist is 11 Less Sucky Than Being A Roustabout

From the Huffington Post: "Everyone knows the media world has been suffering, but how bad is it? A new ranking of 200 jobs in the US in 2009 puts "Reporter (Newspaper)" as #184.But, being a newspaper reporter is better than being a Photojournalist (#189), a Dairy Farmer (#197), an Ironworker (#198) and at #200, a Roustabout. A roustabout, the internet says, is an unskilled, temporary laborer employed in something like an oil field."



Selection of Jury Delays Snyder Trial, New York, 1927. Times Wide World Photos