I just uploaded the latest issue of ISO, the Tisch Photography Magazine, to the ISO website. This issue is full of interesting interviews with photographers Peter Curtis, Katie Kline, Thomas Prior, Emily Shur, and César Vega. There’s also a slough of articles along with a gallery of images centered on Mystique. Check it out by visiting the website at http://www.isozine.com –> Issues. You can also download the issue by clicking here.
If you’ve been to my website lately you would have noticed a link for Bike & Build. This summer I plan on cycling across the country in order to raise money for affordable housing projects like Habitat for Humanity.
I’ve crafted a thorough letter that can be read here or you can view a summary below…
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Bike & Build is a non-profit that organizes cross-country biking trips for 18 – 25 year olds. Since 2002 they’ve raised over 2.4 million dollars for youth-oriented affordable housing projects. Starting June 18th I’ll join together with 30 other students as we pedal from Boston to Santa Barbara. We will average 80 miles a day, stop for six “build days” where we trade our bikes for hammers and work on housing projects, and each night stop in a different city to conduct a presentation about the cause.
My training has already begun and during the spring semester, in addition to volunteering with a local Habitat chapter, I will push through 500 miles on my bike prior to the trip.
In order to go on the trip each rider must raise $4,000 for the organization. Thus far I have raised a little over $1,000 which means I have a long way to go. If you are at all interested in donating please visit this link to read my bio and donate directly.
During the trip I will be updating this blog to let you know where we are and how we’re doing. And, of course, there will be a ton of images.
If you have friends or family that are interested in cycling please forward this on or link to my website.
In the past six years the world of photography has made tremendous leaps with its various forms of digital cameras. In the future, I imagine, we will look back on today as a milestone. Nikon has announced the release of the D90. All basic specifications aside, the most important aspect of this new camera is its ability to capture high-definition 720p video. Lately, from what I have gathered, everyone from photo editors to journalists and fine art to commercial photographers are wondering what direction photography and the media are heading. We’re facing an era where print media is slowly becoming obsolete as the Internet opens new doors, and professional photographers are looking on in uncertainty as the average consumer becomes the owner of a semi-professional digital SLR. There is a lot of speculation on the subject, and seemingly very few answers to the larger questions. This can be attributed to the fact that many companies are developing software that has untapped potential and there’s no telling what the general populace will do with it once it is at their fingertips. Microsoft is making leaps and bounds to take all of the millions of photographs uploaded to the Internet and amass them into a single place where the photographs become less of a flat image and more of a window into the landscape in which they were taken. The software, known as Photosynth, can be seen in a demo video here.
Gigapan
In a similar direction, I had the pleasure of watching Illah Nourbakhsh, a professor in the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, demonstrate one of their machines known as the Gigapan. This little device takes an everyday digital camera and maxes out the zoom as it pans around the room and then couples with software that stitches all of these photographs together, creating an enormous panorama (a gigapixel image). You can explore these gigapixel images here. These new twists on what used to be a straightforward practice have people asking, Is Photography Dead? In the article Plagens states, “The next great photographers—if there are to be any—will have to find a way to reclaim photography’s special link to reality. And they’ll have to do it in a brand-new way.” This brand-new way will undoubtedly spring up from the myriad of new processes brought about by all of this evolutionary technology.
One of the most poignant for me in recent memory is the way the people working with MediaStorm have managed to combine stop-motion animation with stills, video, and audio, to create extremely compelling narratives. Since this discovery I’ve found myself more interested in the potential for the combination of video and still photography and, at long last, Nikon has made the combination a comprehensible possibility. The camera, for one, is inexpensive ($999). But most importantly, the photographer will not feel out of their element while experimenting with video. All the tools needed are now housed in a single place. Although, from watching the videos, the camera is not foolproof. There is no autofocus and I would imagine the audiopickup is less than spectacular. Nonetheless, for those looking to experiment (i.e. me) this is a hint at what is to come and provides an easy outlet for testing the waters of the cinematic practice. Now, if only Canon would hop on the bandwagon.
P.S. Here is a video of Chase Jarvis testing out the camera:
The opening ceremonies to the Beijing Olympics have proven not only that China has an enormous population, but also that they can control those numbers with skill and beauty. Considering the enormous scope of performers (15,000) it’s hard to imagine the pressure on the photographers assigned to cover the event. Although, with such a spectacular performance it would seem impossible to take a bad photograph. Because of this, I moreso imagine what the pressure’s like to break apart from the swarm of other photographers and produce something original.
TIME.com posted a rather general, but nonetheless awe-inspiring, gallery of the ceremonies. I have a feeling I’ll be keeping a closer eye on Newsweek’s Visions of China photography blog. One of the three photographers contributing is additionally updating his own blog. See Vincent Laforet here. I’m already impressed by the in-depth look at his technique in photographing the fireworks display. I don’t understand how he finds the time.
