Man in stairway
I took this picture coming up on three years ago, a few months after having begun using the M8, which really allowed me to do much more street work than I had in the film days. Recently I got a pleasant surprise, learning that this image had been used for a book cover, my first. It was an even bigger surprise to learn what book it was used for:
Considering all the crap that gets published in a year it’s really cool seeing my picture on a classic like “Beautiful Losers”. So why is this post headlined, “Always the Last to Know”? Because the glacial pace of the publishing industry means that I learned of this only after getting paid, more than a year after the book came out. And it’s the UK version, not (as near as I can tell) a U.S. release. But I’m not complaining, no, not at all. It’s a real thrill.
The 1839 Daguerrotype Camera, from Westlicht
Westlicht auctioned off this original Daguerrotype camera over the weekend, for 732,000 euros (close to $900,000), making it the most expensive camera in the world. Here’s British Journal of Photography’s write-up, a link to Westlicht and my post previewing the auction back in January.
By admin | April 24, 2010
The most beautiful, compelling and tragic photo I’ve seen this year is part of a New Yorker article on a failed polar balloon expedition in 1897. A small version of the picture is included in the magazine’s online abstract (you have to subscribe to get online access to the full story). The picture shows a downed balloon, its gondola and two members of the expedition. The shape of the balloon, the twist of the fabric between balloon and gondola, and the gestures of the two men are exquisite. The image is a wonderful example of the power of form and captured motion made tragic by the context of the image itself.
By admin | April 10, 2010
Thom Hogan, the Nikon guru, has been unusually prolific this week on his blog, writing a series of articles on what he sees as the logical evolution of digital cameras that no one seems to have produced yet. It’s a long read, as bloggy things go. The most interesting section is called “The Camera Redefined” and basically he says cameras ought to be modular (allowing sensor swapping), ought to communicate with each other (his example is a wedding photog shooting with an assistant), and ought to be fully customizable (not like all those insanely complicated DSLR menus but customizable through apps like the iPhone & iPad). He makes a compelling point about the app situation:
My iPhone can tell me where I am, tell me where the sun is and the moon will be, put watermarks on my images, stitch panos, apply tilt-and-shift-like effect, email them or send them directly to places I want them, and much, much more. My US$7999 D3x can’t do any of those things. Doesn’t anyone else find something wrong with this picture?
He goes on to suggest that camera makers ought to develop an open operating system so the world can make apps for cameras (but first he says the Japanese camera companies need to learn how to make better software). Hogan’s ideas are interesting and would require a drastic shift in attitude by makers and users. The attitude shift by users may be underway, driven by the iPhone. Cell phone cameras are slowly catching up with point-and-shoots in image quality. They’re still a long way off in imaging ability, by which I mean flash, zoom, macro, lens quality, etc. Once the iPhone cam reaches a certain level of image quality and ability parity with the compacts, the app ability could easily push the iPhone past point-and-shoots as the snapshot camera of choice. But that’s the point-and-shoot world, not the “serious” amateur or pro market. Those users are a very conservative bunch, clinging to their brands with a death grip. Canon users hate Nikon users, Nikon users think Canon users are jerks and Leica users moan like spoiled children at the slightest change to an M body. But what if your iPhone could slide into the back of an M body and be the guts of that camera as well as the digital user interface for it? The size is about right. Maybe you could snap that iPhone into the back of a DSLR body, too? And the sensors could swap out, too? Leica got the user interface/ergonomics of the M camera right ages ago, better than anyone else in the business. The company knows hardware UI. Why not combine that with Apple’s brilliance at digital interface in an iPhone M10?
