September 1, 2008

Links 32

Reverse Graffiti

1. 35 Greatest Works of Reverse Graffiti

2. Remember 'go outside and play?' - As children, my siblings and I spent countless hours playing outside, unsupervised. In retrospect, there were many times when we could have been injured or gotten into some other serious trouble. Had my rather nervous mother really known what we were sometimes up to, she would never have let us go outside again. But luckily she did let us go out, and I can say those hours were perhaps the happiest in my life. From the editorial:

Reader, if you're much over 30, you probably remember what it used to be like for the typical American kid. Remember how there used to be this thing called "going out to play"?

For younger readers, I'll explain this archaic concept. It worked like this: The child or children in the house -- as long as they were over age 4 or so -- went to the door, opened it, and ... went outside. They braved the neighborhood pedophile just waiting to pounce, the rusty nails just waiting to be stepped on, the trees just waiting to be fallen out of, and they "played."

"Play," incidentally, is a mysterious activity children engage in when not compelled to spend every hour under adult supervision, taking soccer or piano lessons or practicing vocabulary words with computerized flashcards.

An article from the Daily Mail explores the trend over four generations and maps the decrease in roaming area. Having said all of this, I'm completely sure I would not let my own children wander very far unsupervised! I wouldn't even give them the same freedom I enjoyed as a child. So, have the risks really changed, or have our perceptions simply changed? Is it a little of both? This issue fascinates me.

3. The Critics Need a Reboot. The Internet Hasn't Led Us Into a New Dark Age - One perspective among many, but worth sharing (mainly because you don't encounter it very often).

4. Some E-Cards - 'For when you care enough to hit send':

e-card

5. On the Limits of Memory - another strange and lovely photo gallery from the wonderful Square America. Take some time to browse through the whole site. There are lots of gems, many quite hidden. (Definitely check out Square America and In The Booth.)

old photo

01 Sep 10:22 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Link Dump '08, Photography

August 28, 2008

Links 30

Polaroid

1. Jamie Livingston's Polaroid a Day - Jamie Livingston took a polaroid nearly every day for eighteen years. It's not so much that he took a photo every day -- many people these days take multiple photos each day -- but that he took a good photo almost every day. Or maybe it's just that there's something about a polaroid. I don't know. Anyway, take a look at this mental_floss article. The Wikipedia entry provides links to more information, too.

2. Lawrence Lessig on McCain on Technology - I'm a big fan of Larry Lessig. Check out his critique of John McCain's technology policy. (These issues are a big deal, folks.)

3. I drove past a number of wind farms, in a number of states, on my trip from Utah to Texas. The enormous alien-looking machines spinning slowly in the air can be a strange sight. It struck me that even a clean, renewable energy source like wind power has tradeoffs. Don't get me wrong; it beats a coal or nuclear power plant. However, I can understand why some people might take issue with living next to them. It's worse if you're a bird or bat. For example, wind turbines make bat lungs explode. Ech.

4. Fleshmap: Musical Genres - I've seen lots of links to this lately, but I'll share it because a few of you probably missed it. It's a chart of how often a part of the body is sung about, sorted by musical genre (from a sample of 1000 songs). It's interesting how hip hop stands out from the rest. Oh, there are actual photos of body parts, so it's NSFW. If you go to the main site there are a couple of other odd little 'studies'.

5. Radiohead's 'House of Cards' video - 'House of Cards' might be my favorite cut from In Rainbows. The video is worth mention, too. (If you have a fast connection, it's worth downloading the high res version from Radiohead's site.) Instead of using lights and cameras, they used "just data" (from Geometric Informatics for the closeups and Velodyne LIDAR for the landscapes). The effect is pretty cool. Plus, you can get the data from Google Code to do with as you please. The site also has a making-of video, viewer, and more.

28 Aug 19:10 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Link Dump '08, Music, Photography, Politics, Technology & Computing, Video

June 28, 2008

Phone Sex Operators

This link was floating around the web a few weeks ago, but as I was about to delete it from my bookmarks list, it seemed worth sharing: Phone Sex Operators. It's a collection of photos and descriptions, taken from a new book by Phillip Toledano, in which he "takes us into the boudoirs of nearly 30 phone-sex operators so we see their faces and also hear their stories—each operator gives his or her take on the business."

28 Jun 23:40 | Link | Category: Photography

March 26, 2008

Elephant snapshots

Langur

From the Daily Mail:

We revealed the amazing story of how four tiger cubs were captured on special cameras in logs carried by elephants - giving the most intimate insight into their early lives ever recorded.

Now, we show for the first time other creatures of the jungle caught in this extraordinary - and pioneering - way.

Cheeky langur monkeys, a rare sloth bear, spotted deer and a leopard with her cub are just some of the other animals that film-maker John Downer came across in his fascinating experiment.

He fixed webcams to four elephants. One carried a "trunk-cam" - a device resembling a huge log concealing a camera which could be held in its trunk and dangled close to the ground.

Another had a "tusk-cam" hooked over its tusk. The elephants moved so steadily that the images are pin-sharp. Other log-cams were left on the forest floor.

26 Mar 18:12 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Photography, Science

March 19, 2008

Natural Fashion Show

Natural fashion

From the Daily Mail:

With colourful make-up of bright yellows, startling whites and rich earth-reds, flamboyant accessories and extraordinarily elaborate decorations, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the designs in these images originated in the fevered mind of some leading fashionista.

Yet far from the catwalks of New York, London or Paris, these looks are the sole creation of the Surma and Mursi tribes of East Africa's Omo Valley.

19 Mar 21:15 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Photography

December 17, 2007

8 Years of Daily Photos

I'm don't understand the allure of taking a photo of yourself every day (though every year can be interesting). Maybe it's fun for young people, but at some point you realize you're just getting older and worse looking ever day. But it seems like millions of people do it. Millions have also done the time-lapse thing, but this dude is so good at keeping the same expression day after day that it actually works:

Also check out Homer Simpson's:

(via J-Walk Blog)

17 Dec 10:50 | Link | Category: Humor, Photography, Video

December 3, 2007

Polanoid

Very cool: Polanoid.net

Hungry for real analog, good smelling pictures in a digital world, we decided to swim against the stream and to reset our focus and start the biggest, best and most instant online photo community ever. Stuffed with millions of Polaroids, collected and uploaded by Polaroid addicts all over the planet.

Polanoid.net

03 Dec 23:30 | Link | Category: Photography

September 30, 2007

Extreme rich-poor divides

There are some remarkable photos of rich-poor divides at deputy-dog.com. Like this one:

Photo: Rich-Poor Divides

30 Sep 20:16 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Photography

September 21, 2007

The Stray Shopping Cart Project

Stray Shopping Cart Project

Artist Julian Montague classifies and documents stray shopping carts in strangely intriguing photographs. There's even a book.

In Australia and the UK, abandoned shopping "trolleys" are apparently considered a significant problem... the Aussies have declared war on them. (And, as Gomez fans may know, there are often hotlines you can call to have the things picked up.)

Back in another lifetime, I even documented a few stray carts myself:

Abandoned Shopping Cart
(click to enlarge)

21 Sep 20:12 | Link | Category: Art & Entertainment, Photography

October 26, 2006

Fixer-Upper

It's slightly ironic that this video was created by a company trying to sell beauty products. Still, it does a good job of showing how billboards and magazines are completely distorted compared to reality.

You should also check out these excellent images: Celebrities without makeup.

Celebrities without makeup

26 Oct 16:18 | Link | Category: Photography, Video

September 6, 2006

Library Photos (or "Hot Library Smut")

I found this post at the nonist and had to share.

British Library, London

Maybe I'm just a library junky (which is to say, maybe other people don't value libraries aesthetically) but I think the photos (from a book by Candida Höfer) are astounding. I've fantasized about what it would be like to visit historical libraries (starting with the Great Library of Alexandria), yet I have failed to take the opportunity to visit many truly awe-inspiring modern libraries. (Note that most of the libraries on the page are from Europe. I wonder why everyone seems to make museum trips to Europe, but no one makes library trips.)

I would love a copy of that book. For a taste of what it might be like to have big, glossy versions of the photos on that page, check out the panorama of the British Museum reading room (3 MB) from Wikipedia's "Library" entry.

06 Sep 0:33 | Link | Category: Libraries & Digital Information, Photography

August 25, 2006

High-Res Desktop Wallpaper

Antelope Canyon

I've long had trouble finding images to use as desktop backgrounds on my computer that are good, high-res, and free. I've previously mentioned using astronomy images from sites like HubbleSite and CICLOPS. For high-res photos of other subjects, check out the Wallpaper section at InterfaceLIFT. Not bad.

25 Aug 19:41 | Link | Category: Photography, Technology & Computing

July 13, 2006

Cassini photos

Titan beyond Saturn's rings

Cassini has returned some of the best photographs (in aesthetic terms) of any space probe. I've mentioned this before, but now I've found a great site for browsing and downloading the pictures. It's CICLOPS.org, the public site of the Cassini imaging team. Check out the Imaging Diary for a huge collection of spectacular images. It's still being updated with new images as Cassini sends them. Most of them are hi-res so they make great desktop backgrounds.

Another great site I think I've mentioned before is HubbleSite.

13 Jul 2:48 | Link | Category: Photography, Science

July 3, 2006

Photography Links

  • Burned by John Brownlow - "In 2001 I met a burn survivor who allowed me to photograph her. She told me that she wanted to be photographed so that people could stare at her without feeling embarrassed. It was such an extraordinary experience that a few months later I flew to a burn conference and set up a makeshift studio in a hotel room, and asked people to let me know if they would like their portraits made."
  • The Real Toy Story by Michael Wolf - "As a surprise for my son Jasper, I bought a sack (app. 600) of second hand toys at the local goodwill store and distributed them on every available surface in his room - surprise! The effect was stunning. As we examined the toys closer we made a discovery – every single one was made in China. Jasper observed: "I thought Santa and his helpers made toys!" It was then the idea came to me: what if I was to make an installation and cover an entire wall with toys "made in China" and juxtapose them with portraits of Chinese toy-factory workers?"

03 Jul 19:51 | Link | Category: Photography

May 11, 2006

Photography Links

It's been a long while since I listed photo links, so here are three:

11 May 21:43 | Link | Category: Photography

April 9, 2006

Why Do You Do What You Do?

Why Do You Do What You Do?

I was in my office late one night not wanting to be bothered. The phone rang, and I wanted to ignore it. But, I felt compelled to answer. Before I could start, a child’s voice blurted, "Why do you do what you do?"

"Write your own answer. Take a picture. Draw something. Upload."   "And read what others have written."

Interesting idea. I'd like to see it branch out and get a wider variety of photos/answers.

09 Apr 0:53 | Link | Category: Misc. Tidbits, Photography

March 31, 2006

This Page Unintentionally Left Blank

Back in January, I remember complaining publicly about being ridiculously busy and having time for nothing. This was a mistake because it drew the attention of the angry vengeful gods. Suffice it to say things haven't gotten better... in fact, a lot of shit has happened to make things much worse than they were back in January.

Anyway... in the time since I phoned in the playlist last week, the inbox is up to 135 unanswered e-mails and the bookmarks are up to about 270. It should be interesting to see how long it takes me to dig out.

One activity that has complicated my schedule during the last month has been making 36 visits to the zoo in the last 32 days. I finally finished the data collection portion of my observational research project, but I still have to digitize, quantify, and analyze the data.

Earlier this week, I brought my camera to one of my observation sessions and snapped some photos. Along with the annoyance of taking photos through glass, there wasn't much light - and I refuse to use a flash on zoo animals (even though they're probably accustomed to all the idiots placing their cameras up to the glass and flashing right in the animals' faces). Tamarins are severely hyperactive, so a slow shutter speed would simply lead to blur. I kept the aperture open all the way in order to keep shutter speed as fast as possible (which in turn affects depth of field, making proper focusing a bit of a trick). The results weren't too bad, though. I chose ten of my favorites and uploaded them to the site. Click the photo below to browse through the pictures.

Golden Lion Tamarin

31 Mar 23:25 | Link | Category: Human/Primate Evolution & Behavior, Photography, Site/Life News

January 19, 2006

More Photos From Space

Orion Nebula

A great site I forgot to mention last week is hubblesite.org. Among other things, the site boasts a great selection of amazing Hubble photos. For starters, check out the Picture Album.

Many of these images are great for desktop backgrounds. My display's resolution is 1680 x 1050, so even the pre-sized 1280 x 1024 'wallpaper' images look pixelated. Luckily, the site also provides extremely high resolution versions of most of the photos. Visit the News Center for the best hi-res photos. Check out "Abstract Art Found in the Orion Nebula," for example.

19 Jan 20:04 | Link | Category: Cool Links, Photography, Science

January 11, 2006

Photography Links

Tenant home

11 Jan 19:16 | Link | Category: Photography

January 9, 2006

Photos From Space

Mimas in front of Saturn

I'm a huge sucker for space photos. Planets, moons, galaxies, nebulae, stars, asteroids... anything, really. If you're the same, check out NASA's Planetary Photojournal. It contains an abundance of great pictures of the solar system (and other parts of the universe).

Lately, my favorite amazing photos are the ones of Saturn returned by Cassini. Check out Mimas in front of Saturn's rings, this photo of a tiny Mimas above the rings, and the color image of Dione in front of Saturn.

And, although I know I've mentioned it many times, visiting Astronomy Picture of the Day is always a good way to start the day.

09 Jan 21:32 | Link | Category: Photography, Science

December 17, 2005

Photography Links

Nikon Small World Gallery

17 Dec 10:58 | Link | Category: Photography

November 16, 2005

Photography Links

Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

A few more photography links I should have included last week:

16 Nov 21:01 | Link | Category: Photography

November 11, 2005

Photography Links

Mt. Timpanogos

It's been a while since I posted photography links, so here are a few:

11 Nov 17:08 | Link | Category: Photography

October 21, 2005

Camera Toss Photos

Set a long exposure, throw your camera in the air, and - if you don't drop the camera - you can end up with some really cool pictures. Check some out under the Flickr tag camera toss (now at over 1500 photos).

(via J-Walk)

21 Oct 21:24 | Link | Category: Photography

October 3, 2005

Photography Links

03 Oct 18:22 | Link | Category: Photography, Science

September 18, 2005

Photography Links

I've forgotten to post any 'photography links' lately. Here are a couple:

18 Sep 19:49 | Link | Category: Photography

September 12, 2005

Laser Art

Check out this flickr photo set that resulted from pointing a laser into a digital camera.

12 Sep 13:43 | Link | Category: Photography

August 24, 2005

Photos of ghost towns

Some nice ghost town photos here: Ghost Town Gallery. Some of the towns don't look very interesting, but there are a few really cool places to check out. If you're itching to visit in person, the site has a handy clickable map to help you get there.

24 Aug 19:24 | Link | Category: Photography, Travel

August 16, 2005

Photography Links

16 Aug 0:08 | Link | Category: Photography

July 13, 2005

Photography Links

13 Jul 19:50 | Link | Category: Photography

June 29, 2005

Photography Links

29 Jun 22:00 | Link | Category: Photography

June 19, 2005

Photography Links

19 Jun 21:14 | Link | Category: Photography

June 13, 2005

Photography Links

13 Jun 0:14 | Link | Category: Photography

May 24, 2005

Photography Links

24 May 21:40 | Link | Category: Photography

May 20, 2005

Photography Links

20 May 23:24 | Link | Category: Photography

May 2, 2005

Cloud & Weather Photos

If you're fascinated by clouds like I am, check out The Cloud Appreciation Society. There are quite a few nice photos in their gallery. This also reminds me that one of the local weather forecasters here in SLC posts cool weather photos that are pretty fun to look through as well.

02 May 11:39 | Link | Category: Cool Links, Photography, Science

May 1, 2005

Photography Links

01 May 11:10 | Link | Category: Photography

April 4, 2005

Photography Links

04 Apr 19:53 | Link | Category: Photography

March 30, 2005

Photography Links

30 Mar 23:18 | Link | Category: Photography

March 24, 2005

Photography Links

24 Mar 15:29 | Link | Category: Photography

March 19, 2005

Photography Links

19 Mar 13:26 | Link | Category: Photography

March 17, 2005

Photography (+Travel) Links

  • Notes from the Road - a superb site that isn't just about photography... it's more of a travelogue, full of beautiful descriptions, captivating photographs, stories, and thoughts. I loved this one.
  • Polar Inertia - excellent: "Armed with a laptop computer and increasingly aging Winnebago, our editor-in-chief Marcel E. Yarnow has brought together artists and writers who can tell the story which has been ignored by all others. It is the story of the highway, mobile home, fast food chain, suburbanite, truck stop and industrialized landscape, which characterize our growing nomadic culture."

17 Mar 13:31 | Link | Category: Photography, Travel

March 13, 2005

Photography Links

I found the first two through the J-Walk Blog and the third one through growabrain.

13 Mar 22:47 | Link | Category: Photography

January 28, 2005

Photography Links

28 Jan 21:51 | Link | Category: Photography

January 15, 2005

Photography Links

A few interesting photo links:

15 Jan 13:20 | Link | Category: Photography

January 6, 2005

American Ritual

My webhosting company features a site in each of their monthly newsletters. This month's site was American Ritual. Check "Current" and "Archive" for some nice photos.

06 Jan 23:11 | Link | Category: Photography

January 5, 2005

2004 In Pictures

Most news organizations have put together "best of" photo collections for 2004. I liked the collection from the New York Times best.

05 Jan 23:14 | Link | Category: Photography

December 11, 2004

Today's Photography Links

11 Dec 23:01 | Link | Category: Photography

November 17, 2004

Today's Photography Links

17 Nov 16:47 | Link | Category: Photography

November 16, 2004

Unguarded Moments

Pete Souza worked as a White House photographer for the last five-and-a-half years of Ronald Reagan's presidency. Unguarded Moments is a nice collection of candid and often behind-the-scenes moments. The highlights (IMHO) are the boy making faces, Michael Jackson in the middle of a private chat between Ronald and Nancy, Reagan throwing a paper airplane, and re-writing the speech after the Reykjavik summit.

16 Nov 16:57 | Link | Category: Photography

October 15, 2004

Today's Photography Links

15 Oct 20:57 | Link | Category: Photography

September 27, 2004

Today's Photography Links

27 Sep 19:17 | Link | Category: Photography

September 26, 2004

Today's Photography Links

26 Sep 23:54 | Link | Category: Photography

Omni-directional Panoramas

Check out these cool omni-directional panoramas from Greg Downing. Use the full-screen links. (You'll need QuickTime if you don't already have it.)

26 Sep 21:45 | Link | Category: Photography

September 23, 2004

Today's Photography Links

23 Sep 22:33 | Link | Category: Photography

September 21, 2004

Today's Photography Links

21 Sep 22:23 | Link | Category: Photography

September 8, 2004

Today's Photography Links

A few months back, I was posting photography links from my endless bookmarks list... for whatever reason, I stopped doing it. The list is still endless, so here are a few more. I'll try to remember to post more links on occasion.

(I need to mention that I don't necessarily like everything I link to. So keep that in mind before you send me weird e-mails.)

08 Sep 1:40 | Link | Category: Photography

August 13, 2004

Aerial Photographs

Check out this amazing collection of aerial photographs.

13 Aug 0:05 | Link | Category: Photography

June 28, 2004

Time

This is a cool idea:

"On June 17th, every year, the family goes through a private ritual: we photograph ourselves to stop a fleeting moment, the arrow of time passing by.

(via Idle Type)

28 Jun 17:07 | Link | Category: Photography

June 27, 2004

Today's Photography Links

27 Jun 21:41 | Link | Category: Photography

June 23, 2004

Today's Photography Links

23 Jun 0:31 | Link | Category: Photography

June 11, 2004

Today's Photography Links

11 Jun 20:39 | Link | Category: Photography

June 10, 2004

Today's Photography Links

10 Jun 0:53 | Link | Category: Photography

June 8, 2004

Today's Photography Links

08 Jun 0:11 | Link | Category: Photography

June 4, 2004

Suburbia

Check out suburbia photos by Bill Owens. John thinks they are reminiscent of the work of Diane Arbus. He's right, quite a few of them are.

04 Jun 20:57 | Link | Category: Photography

May 24, 2004

Music video made of photos

The video for Sam Bisbee's song "You Are Here" uses a series of photographs to create a music video. It reminds me a bit of what the Snorri Brothers did by combining thousands of still photographs for R.E.M.'s Daysleeper video. Bisbee's isn't quite as sophisticated, but the flipbook-like picture stacking idea is cool.

24 May 17:06 | Link | Category: Photography, Video

May 21, 2004

Sim-Cam

Sim-Cam is a cool web trick for people learning about photograpy. You can change aperture and shutter speed to see how the settings will affect your photograph.

(via Cynical-C)

21 May 0:43 | Link | Category: Photography

August 15, 2003

Photos: Liberia and America, Iraq Uncensored

Photos:

15 Aug 1:31 | Link | Category: Photography

July 27, 2003

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Living Near a Freeway: a photo gallery

27 Jul 20:21 | Link | Category: Photography

June 10, 2003

Pictures of the Week

Check out Time's Pictures of the Week for May 31 - June 5.

10 Jun 22:45 | Link | Category: Photography

May 17, 2003

Lunar eclipse pictures

In Pictures: Total Lunar Eclipse

17 May 0:43 | Link | Category: Photography

May 14, 2003

The Parking Boys of Nairobi

In Pictures: The Parking Boys of Nairobi

14 May 19:59 | Link | Category: Photography

May 13, 2003

Growing up in Iraq

In Pictures: Growing up in Iraq

13 May 16:05 | Link | Category: Photography

April 30, 2003

Women and War

Photojournalist Jenny Matthews has been documenting the lives of women touched by conflict for over twenty years.

30 Apr 14:53 | Link | Category: Photography

March 19, 2003

Exactitudes

Check out exactitudes.com. (Don't forget to read about it here.)

19 Mar 0:49 | Link | Category: Photography

October 20, 2002

Stereotypes

Check out stereotypes over at ericmyer.com. Is that not cool?

20 Oct 23:17 | Link | Category: Cool Links, Photography

October 17, 2002

A Day In the Life of Africa

100 photojournalists (with the help of Olympus) recently documented Africa on one day. You can see the results at MSNBC in A Day In The Life of Africa.

17 Oct 0:21 | Link | Category: Photography

March 18, 2002

One Man's Eye

Today's trolling of the web resulted in the discovery of a nice photography site: One Man's Eye, photographs from the Alan Siegel Collection.

18 Mar 23:43 | Link | Category: Photography