We discovered this wonderful book ‘Electronic Television’ by George H. Eckhardt earlier today and were thrilled to find this vision of future photography transmission inside it (it was written in 1936):
While Eckhardt describes this method of transmitting an image impractical in order to demonstrate the superiority of television transmission, it is fascinating to Continue reading
Having spent most of his life building things for other people, photographer Rene Smets of Lummen, Belgium now enjoys his retirement by designing and constructing unusual wooden cameras which he would then go on to use for wet plate collodion photography. On the 3rd of October René set himself a project for the winter; to build a camera lens made out of wood. He would then go on to spend an exorbitant amount of time over the next nine days bringing his idea to life.
Rene documented the process with photographs, but like all great makers, started with a self made design first of which he would follow throughout the process:
This is how the lens would start its life. Two different pieces of Belgian wood that have been dried over a twenty year period. On the left is Buxus wood, Continue reading
Hilla Becher, best known for her and her late husband’s monochrome typology photographs of industrial Germany and perhaps more importantly the ‘Becher School’ has passed away in Dusseldorf on Saturday at the age of 81.
Instantly recognisable and often presented in large grids Hilla and her husband’s iconic photographs of Gas plants, silos, water towers and other industrial buildings throughout Germany immortalised them forever in photographic history books. Their influence among documentary photographers and artists who value their 1972 collection of pure forms in architecture has transcended generations and will continue to do so.
Without Hilla & Bernd Becher it is unlikely we would have ever got to know many of their ‘Becher School’ disciples who have gone on to carve out incredibly successful international careers themselves, among them include Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff.
For those unfamiliar with the Becher’s work, here’s an excerpt from BERND & HILLA BECHER, a 2006 film by Michael Blackwood.
Via Lemonde.fr via Zeit.de.
TFTP Jorg.
UPDATE: Chris Niccolls has been in touch with Phogotraphy. Niccolls says the scene the the end of the video was not faked as stated elsewhere. Niccolls now says the drowned 300D will be used as a prop in further videos.
Phogotraphy maintains that the stunt at the end of the video, wether it was intended to mislead or not combined with saying the camera has no use is a bad example to set to future camera owning generations.
I want to talk to you about a mediocre video that’s currently blowing up on the Photography subreddit at the moment. It’s not particularly funny and despite its promise, interesting either. The premise is sound enough; review an old DSLR by comparing it with a modern equivalent. It’s something most photographers could do without picking the thing up, but I stomached the whole 12 minutes to see what transpired.
Chris Nicholls comes across genuine enough and once you can get over the fact he sounds exactly like Owen Wilson (isms et al) his candid review of a working Canon 300D Continue reading
In the last week acclaimed Italian writer Riccardo Gazzaniga shared his feelings about a photograph that we will all know and recognise in a Facebook post. Phogotraphy reached out to Riccardo who has kindly allowed us to share his words.
Sometimes photographs deceive. Take this one, for example. It represents John Carlos and Tommie Smith’s rebellious gesture the day they won medals for the 200 meters at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and it certainly deceived me for a long time.
I always saw the photo as a powerful image of two barefoot black men, with their heads bowed, their black-gloved fists in the air while the US National Anthem, Continue reading
Perfection is so 2007. Unless you’re still stuck in the ever turning escalator of commercialism you’ll have noticed these days imperfections are very much in vogue. So when ultra-hip blog ‘The Rescued Film Project’ started experiencing technical glitches with their scanner, it was like churning out instant art.
In what looks like a malfunction capturing the higher end of the dynamic range in each scan, the near to over exposed objects have been replaced Continue reading
Sexism flourishes still today in all walks of life. If women aren’t treated as second class citizens you can be sure they’re still held in contempt. Colin Pantall, author, photographer and lecturer at University of South Wales believes that the photography world is no exception. Recently he wrote an article on his blog exploring the harassment some female photographers face in the workplace when trying to ‘make it big’. Phogotraphy reached out to Pantall and asked how we could help lift the lid on what he dubs the ‘curator’s casting couch.’ What follows is his response.
I’m rather naive, so what I thought might be a relatively isolated problem is far more widespread than I imagined – a statement which will leave half the readers of this blog snorting in derision. But everybody who got in touch told me this is exactly what large numbers of young women photographers talk about when they get together. At Arles, at Paris Photo, at Unseen, at Houston and so on.
One woman mentioned her experience of the curator’s casting couch, something that doesn’t feature in any professional development how-to-get-a-show features that you periodically Continue reading
Have you seen this wonderful photograph circling various social media in the last 24 hours? It’s a picture of dwarf planet Pluto transiting the face of the Sun, revealing a beautiful hazy blue atmosphere. The minimalist, dark frame has been a hit with scientists, observers and artists alike, not just for the implications this atmosphere may hold for the former planet, but for its eerie, perfect beauty.
At the Phogotraphy office we pondered on how easy it would be for us to take this image ourselves. What type of rig we’d need, how much forward planning and at what expense? Turns out, it’s pretty simple actually. So ever the givers we’ve decided, exclusively, to share this easy 10-step-how-to-guide on photographing the atmosphere of Pluto. Continue reading
Last week acclaimed photography curator Charlotte Cotton, author of Photography as Contemporary Art and Photography is Magic (PiM), took some time out to do a Reddit AMA (ask me anything). Charlotte answered a whole bunch of questions on photography and it’s current status, and where she thinks it may be headed.
She gave us some really interesting pearls of wisdom on how she curates exhibitions and plans her writing alongside some insights into Continue reading
Dave Grannan, CEO of Light has just unveiled a strange creature camera that is set to change the way we approach everyday photography. It’s about the size of a chunky phone, has 16 lenses, comes in all black and promises to revolutionise the photography industry.
If you suffer from tyrpophobia look away now
What is that? Continue reading
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