Phogotraphy

The Making of Alex Timmermans’ Stunning ‘Swan Lake’

August 18, 2015September 3, 2015Phogotraphy3 Comments

It’s a cry photographers know all to well, “the final shot of the day was the one, I’d finally cracked it” and that rings true for Alex Timmermans’ most recent wet plate collodion creation ‘Swan Lake’. A man who strives in meeting a bar of perfection set so high he’s known to keep working on a set until sheer beauty is realised. Just take a look at the final plate.

Swan Lake by Alex Timmermans, 2015

What is so striking about this image alters depending on your perspective. Initially, the swan, which we know as a beautiful but fierce creature is mid-dynamic, calling upon a dancer somehow floating on water in a self embrace. The stage looks incredibly dangerous however Continue reading →

Space Odyssey 2015: Yep, this is a real photograph taken by astronaut Scott Kelly.

August 7, 2015Phogotraphy1 Comment

Two hundred and fifty miles above the Earth, a group of astronauts are orbiting our planet conducting experiments on the International Space Station. Occasionally they get to relax and have some down time and take photographs. Commander Scott Kelly, like one of his predecessors uses those precious moments in Space to take awesome photographs.

What you’re looking at is a photograph of (top to bottom) Earth, Jupiter, Venus and the Moon all lined up in the same image. The photograph was taken from the ISS on the 19th July this year and retweeted almost 10,000 times. Frankly I’m appalled at myself for not picking this up earlier, but better late than never.

The image strikes an uncanny resemblance to Stanley Kubrik’s opening title’s sequence to the 1968 film Space Odyssey 2001 or more likely, later in the film when we’re treated to a stunning view of the Jupiter & its moons suddenly aligning.

jupiter06 — Kubrik’s Space Odyssey 2001 (1968)

Don’t be fooled either into thinking Kelly’s image is anything more than a beautiful photograph of a conjunction of Solar System from his vantage point. This alignment has absolutely no effect on us, planets, our gravity whatsoever. In fact they happen quite frequently. If you’re interested in finding out more about our place in the cosmos and planning your next starry night photoshoot, check out Stellarium.org, a great tool for tracking objects in the night sky.

Via PetaPixel.

CLERA – The World’s First Fully Transparent Working Camera

August 6, 2015August 6, 2015Phogotraphy5 Comments

We caught up with Anton Orlov this morning who kindly agreed to guest post here on PhoGoTraphy and share his latest work:

The day has come my friends! After months of being nothing more than a dream and concept, weeks of experimenting and building, and days of testing and working out the kinks today at San Diego Museum of Photographic Arts I will be unveiling what I believe to be the first completely transparent and entirely functional camera. I call it CLERA, short for Clear Camera, and without further ado here it is pictured against the clear San Diego skies. It is the first camera where you can actually SEE the image projected onto the piece of photographic material during the exposure!

#CLERA by Anton Orlov

I came up with this idea while working in my dark box and developing tintypes. Those of you familiar with my work know that for the past few years the medium of wet plate collodion has consumed my photographic endeavours almost entirely.

Continue reading →

Common Sense Prevails – Freedom of Panorama Saved

July 10, 2015July 25, 2015PhogotraphyLeave a comment

In what may come as a surprise to most cynics, a photography based petition has actively changed a political debate and prevented a further erosion of photographers’ rights. The Freedom of Panorama has been saved!

Nico Trinkhaus handed over the petition which as of July 8th stood at 480,000 signatures in favour of the Freedom of Panorama. For a bit of background a draft law was due to be passed in the European courts which restricted the right for photographers, both amateur and pro to snap photographs of cities and landmarks without repercussion. Julia Reda had championed an expansion of the freedom of panorama to countries which don’t allow it like France, however this bill was turned on its head to threaten us all.

Today, Change.org confirmed that the mumblings of our elected oligarchs in the courts of Brussels had changed significantly in tone after receiving the petition approved by half a million people. Nico Trinkhaus said:

When I handed over the petition to MEP Julia Reda, she was “overwhelmed by the responses to the petition” and stated that “the petition has changed the debate in the parliament considerably and a lot of the parliamentary groups that originally voted for a restriction of Freedom of Panorama are clearly changing their mind about this.”

We’d like to extend a huge thanks to Nico and Julia whom without their support, go getting attitude and optimism for making this happen and protecting out rights as photographers!

Huge majority voted against the restriction of Freedom of Panorama! #saveFoP Thank you!

— Nico Trinkhaus (@NicoTrinkhaus) July 9, 2015

#SAVEFOP ! ! !

Criminal on Run asks for Better Mug Shot. Police Promptly Reply.

July 7, 2015July 25, 2015PhogotraphyLeave a comment

Social media conscious man on the run Daniel Damon was less than pleased when he saw a Facebook user post an unflattering photograph of him. The twist – It was a mugshot by Victoria Police of Australia appealing for his whereabouts.

According to Victoria police, Damon is currently in hiding after a no-show at a bail hearing relating to traffic and drug matters. However like any self-respecting criminal he didn’t want his moment in the limelight tinged with a badly lit, dazed looking picture.

So he politely asked the police if they could use a better one:

The canny officer in charge of the Facebook account was quick enough to respond with a witty message suggesting he visits a local law enforcement station to have his mug shot renewed. Unfortunately for the officers though, Damon isn’t that naive and says he needs to sort out some personal matters as well as arrange a lawyer first – ah, the leisurely life of being on the run.

Other mugshots have made the news recently, most notably the handsome Jeremy Meeks who wooed hearts globally before being offered a modelling contract off the back of his naughty past. Somehow I don’t think Danny Damon is going to be afforded the same luxury with his, although his social media prowess may open other doors.

The front lighting on the subject is particularly bad, so I guess Damon does have a point.

Experimental Video: Projecting Moving Images on to Clouds.

July 7, 2015July 25, 2015Phogotraphy2 Comments

In what has been hailed as the first of its kind, scientists have embraced the old art of the moving image to project an image of a galloping horse onto clouds from a plane.

Screen Shot 2015-07-06 at 14.17.41

The horse and rider, an obvious reference to Eadweard Muybridge’s photographic studies of motion appears as a ghostly green shadow in the clouds courtesy of a modified zoopraxiscope by artist Dave Lynch.

Here in the video you can see the contraption’s internal workings prior to scenes shot from a plane. If viewed from the ground it’s unlikely you’d see anything but flashing random lights dancing within the clouds.

Despite the feat of imagination it will have taken to achieve, the final product is still somewhat shaky and basic in design. We really look forward to seeing what advances in visual technology are made as a result. It’s worth taking a trip to Dave Lynch’s website to learn more about the collaboration involved in ‘Project Nimbus’ and the three years of documented effort that went in to its creation.

via Gizmodo via New Scientist.

Walmart Supermarket Refuses to hand over Photos of Couple’s Newborn Baby

June 26, 2015September 3, 2015PhogotraphyLeave a comment

An ASDA supermarket in the UK (who are owned by Walmart) caused quite a stir this month when staff refused to hand over photographs of a parent’s newborn baby, even though she was one of the people in the pictures. The reason? “They look too professional”

AsdaFamilyPicsSpat2

Lauren Breed, 28 visited the ASDA store in Albans Road, Watford to print the pictures she had taken by family friend Katrina Matthews. It wasn’t until after the photo lab had done the printing that they broke the news to the doting mother. Lauren was told that unless she could prove she owned copyright she was not going to be given the photographs. Continue reading →

How Microsoft made the Windows 10 Desktop Photograph

June 25, 2015September 3, 2015PhogotraphyLeave a comment

Bliss is widely accepted to be the most ubiquitous photograph to have ever graced our computer screens, simply because it was the flagship desktop wall paper that came with Windows XP. The image itself was a wonderfully evocative scene that inspired many interpretations, parodies and is still discussed academically today. One of the most common misconceptions is that it was CGI, or at best a very heavily edited photograph, however as the man who took the snapshot, Chuck O’Rear explained, it was little more than a medium format frame of some vineyards on film that Bill Gates bought the full rights to.

For Windows 10, we’re treated to this:

A highly stylised, light show that looks like a scene straight out of Tron Legacy. It’s a sanitised, far too perfect, completely constructed image that is as far away from Bliss as you can get. Despite still championing a photographer to produce the piece, the web is less than impressed. Continue reading →

NASA Releases Stunning Treble Crescent Moons of Saturn

June 25, 2015July 25, 2015Phogotraphy3 Comments

Have you ever heard how the location of a photograph can automatically give you the WOW factor? Well in Cassini’s case, the far flung spacecraft that’s been exploring Saturn for the best part of a decade has just that. It is absolutely relentless at sending back images home across 80 minutes of Space. Take a look at this universally stunning abstract NASA released on June 22nd.

Although the image speaks for itself, NASA as usual gives some great scientific details about the supposed conjunction occurring:

The three moons shown here — Titan (3,200 miles or 5,150 kilometers across), Mimas (246 miles or 396 kilometers across), and Rhea (949 miles or 1,527 kilometers across) — show marked contrasts. Titan, the largest moon in this image, appears fuzzy because we only see its cloud layers. And because Titan’s atmosphere refracts light around the moon, its crescent “wraps” just a little further around the moon than it would on an airless body. Rhea (upper left) appears rough because its icy surface is heavily cratered. And a close inspection of Mimas (center bottom), though difficult to see at this scale, shows surface irregularities due to its own violent history.

Cassini is no stranger to mixing science and art. Four years ago Chris Abbas compiled all of the travelling photographic Spacecraft into a masterful time lapse. It’s certainly worth watching again.

Via 500PX ISO. Image credit NASA.

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