The new face of multimedia

Multimedia has changed how we look at story-telling photography. It allowed us to transcend the boundaries of still photography with the union of audio and video. Now cameras like Canon's 5D Mark II and Nikon's D90 are going to take this even further. I'm sure most of you have already heard of the HD video features that these cameras now offer. If you haven't seen what these cameras can do in terms of HD film making, you should check out a couple of Vincent Laforet's videos shot with the 5D Mark II.

Nope, that's not a photo, its a clip from Vincent Laforet's HD video taken with a Canon 5D MKII.

The videos that Vincent Laforet has been producing are stunning, and really demonstrates the capabilites of DSLR HD cinemotography. At some points during the videos, I had to ask myself "is that a photograph or video?" The HD features on these new cameras are definitely not gimmicks, and with these cameras just being released this is only the start. Expect to see photographers implementing these new capabilities in multimedia projects in the future. Of course, we've seen video implemented in multimedia projects before but they often lacked in quality. Another problem with trying to implement video was the hassle of carrying a video camera, but now that a camera can both shoot amazing photographs and amazing HD, we should expect to see video playing a big role in future multimedia.

Vision over Quality

I checked out photography-on-the.net's forum the other day. If you haven't been to it before, its a forum dedicated to Canon photography. Its been a while since I last visited that site, the last time being around the time I purchased my first DSLR about 2 years ago. I flipped through the categories, occasionally reading a thread here or there, and I soon decided that I was sick of it. I was sick of how it was packed full of pixel peeping, 100% crops, and the constant criticism of OOF and noise. Granted this all has its place in terms of testing equipment, and POTN's forum is a pretty good resource for all things equipment, but when these sorts of critera start to seep into the critiques of work, now thats when I get a little upset. Stop worrying about quality, and start thinking about the vision being portrayed.

Of course quality is a rather subjective word. I personally consider a "quality" image as a good representation of what the photographer is trying to say, but for the sake of this argument I'm referring to quality as such aspects as sharpness, noise, etc. I've read a lot of critism of work based specifically on these criteria, and its pretty disappointing. It's disappointing because once you start getting into these aspects, you really begin to criticize the capabilities of the camera rather than the vision of the photographer. If such criteria were the basis for what is considered a "good" photograph, the works of photographers such as Paolo Pellegrin and even Henri Cartier-Bresson himself would not qualify as a "good" photograph.

Blurred and dark, must not be a good photograph.

The photographs above are a part of Paolo Pellegrin's award winning book As I Was Dying. It is a grim look into the suffering that had taken place in front of Pellegrin during his time around the world. The photographs throughout the book are dismal and dark.. and also largly blurred, but this really portrays what Pellegrin was trying to get at. It is almost like the cold-sweat recollection of a nightmare. His vision is clear through his vague photographs.

Intense vingette, Subject is rather soft. Not a good photograph?
(photograph by David Burnett)

Holgas are a true testament to how a good photograph doesn't need "quality." Holgas are terrible cameras. They tend to have a problem with light leaks and intense vingette. The plastic lens doesn't really help with clarity either, but these imperfections are really what makes the images that Holgas produce beautiful.

pretty awesome

The photographs that have been published on LIFE magazine are pretty awesome. Since its birth in 1883 names like Robert Capa (you may remember the LIFE darkroom incident, where Capa's photographs from Normandy were ruined) to Dorothea Lange have filled the pages of LIFE. There's another thing that I find pretty awesome, and that is Google. Google is probably the most widely used search engine on the web, so much so that it has almost gained its place in our language as a verb.

"Whats the capitol of Uruguay?".."I don't know, google it." (It's Montevideo, thanks Google.).

And now these two awesome things have joined together to create something pretty awesome; a digital archive of LIFE photographs on Google's image search engine. According to the LIFE archive page, you can search from millions of LIFE photographs from the 1750s up until today. Flipping through millions of photographs may sound like a daunting task, but of course Google's search engine makes it pretty easy to find a photograph. The LIFE archive page organizes the photographs based on the era (1860s to the 1970s) and categories (people, places, events, sports, culture), and of course a search bar. If you found the photograph you were looking for, say the famous Dorothea Lange photograph of a migrant mother and her child below, you can expect them to be in a large resolution. They generally run in the 1000s by the 900s.

Photograph by Dorothea Lange, found on Google's LIFE archive.

I have to point out a negative about this archive though, and it is that Cooliris doesn't support it. I mean it really isn't a big deal, but the first thing that crossed my mind when I saw this archive was how cool it would be to browse through LIFE photos on Cooliris. Oh well, can't have everything I guess, right? NO WAY! CoolIris, get on that!

What's on my desktop this week

My desktop wallpaper changes periodically, usually when I run into a photograph on the web that really makes me stop and stare. Its pretty nice to turn on my computer everyday to a beautiful photograph. The photograph I have as my wallpaper this week was taken by photographer David Parson during his time in Palestine. I ran into it while I was looking through the portfolios of Eddie Adams Workshop alumni, and it definitely made me stop and stare. Within the panoramic frame of this photograph is shear intensity. The club of the Israeli soldier is at the peak of its build up. The faces of Israeli and Palestinian protesters confronting the soldier on the future spot of an Israeli "security barrier" made my entire body drop with emotion. Although their hands are up in defense, their faces look dead ahead and are filled with mixed emotions of fear and defiance. The face of the club-wielding soldier looks of indifference, a stark contrast to the other side. Talk about "the decisive moment." Everything in this photo is at its peak climax, and Parson utilized the wide ratio well (the majority of Parson's Palestine series is shot in this panoramic format) by filling it completely from left to right. It almost reads like a book, and the more I read it, the more intense it becomes.

Links:
David Parson's Website
Parson's Eddie Adams Workshop Profile

The Places We Live

For some, photography is a tool of empathy. A picture can, to an extent, put you into the life of another. Jonas Bendiksen's new photo series The Places We Live envokes empathy well, and does so by actually putting you into the homes of those who live in the slum areas of Caracas, Venezuela; Mumbai, India; Nairobi, Kenya; and Jakarta, Indonesia. He does this with an interesting use of panoramas to give the viewers a sort of tour inside the homes of families like the Aroris in Kibera, Kenya (below).

Bendiksen also sets the context of the situation in slums well. The series photographs the lives of these growing slums, and the culture and history that has formed there. The photographs are in a sort of color that is very familiar with Bendiksen's work. The colors are very surreal, with a musk of nostalgia to it.

The series will be exhibited at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway on June 6, 2008, and January 31, 2009. If Norway is out of your reach like it is for me, you can check out the photos on The Places We Live website. The book The Places We Live is also available now on Amazon, or you could pick up a signed copy at Magnum's online store .

How far we've come. How far we still need to go.

Stephen David speaking during an anti-discrimination rally on Purdue University's Campus. (Photo by Steven Yang)

The words “I have a dream” have long since resonated since they were spoken by Martin Luther King on the steps of our nation's capitol. It's been about 45 years since then and we will be sending our first black president to the same capitol to lead our nation. This is without a doubt a testament to our nation's progress and it will forever be known as a moment of great importance in American history, but we cannot be blinded of the road still ahead by the successes behind us. We still have a long way to go.

The photograph above was taken during an anti-discrimination rally at Purdue University, which recently found itself victim to discriminative acts. One of those acts involved the tree where the rally took place, which was defaced with racial slurs against Obama. The university condoned such acts, but groups such as the local NAACP and the Purdue Queer Student Union feel that more needs to be done. These events may be local, but that doesn't mean that such acts of discrimination are isolated. Discrimination continues to take place in this country and the rest of the world, and the events that recently took place at this university are reminders of this fact.

I've been seeing a lot of “Yes We Did”'s lately. This is of course referring to Obama's campaign slogan “Yes We Can.” Now that Obama is president-elect, it seems fitting to say that we did something, but we have to remember that we still have a lot more to do.

Static Movement

France 1932, Henri Cartier-Bresson

Still photography isn't always still. Movement can grace the surface of a photograph, and the famous Henri Cartier-Bresson photograph above is a pure demonstration of this. The lines off the staircase spiral like an awkward nautilus shell towards the curved shape of the road. Everything flows towards the left, and to end this dynamic flow of line and shape; the blurred movement of a man on his bicycle riding down the streets of the Var, France.

Barack Obama Wins!

Barack Obama, the 44th President of the United States.
(click to enlarge)

DIY Canon EOS Shutter Remote

Remote shutter releases can come in handy for a lot of things. Don't own one? Oh its cool, you can make one with just a couple of household items.

Stuff you need:
-Headphones with a 3.5mm connector
-Push Buttons (alright I guess those aren't really household, but you can get them at RadioShack for about $2 each.)
-Some sort of case to put it all together with.

First off you have to kill your headphones and snip the end of the cord. Now split the cord and you should see 3 different wires; Ground, Shutter Release, and Auto Focus. The diagram below explains each position on the 3.5mm connector.

Very life-like.

There is probably a way to figure out which colored wire is which, but I don't know it so figuring that out took a little trial and error. For me the wires were blue, red and gold. Blue was shutter release, red was the ground (common), and gold was auto focus.

Now grab your 2 push buttons and a container to assemble it with. I used some sort of a battery holder that I found laying around. You can really use anything to assemble it with, other tutorials I found on the web recommended using a 35mm film canister.


After putting the assembly together its time to solder. You're going to need a soldering iron and solder for this step. Soldering is pretty easy, you can find a tutorial on instructables. The wires have to be put together according to the diagram below.



Most cameras don't actually use 3.5mm connectors. Canon Eos cameras use either a 2.5mm audio connector (Most Rebel series cameras) or a N-3 connector (every other Eos camera). You can use a converter to get the remote to work with your camera. 3.5mm to 2.5mm converters are pretty common and are available at places like RadioShack. The only place I know of that sells N-3 converters is Calumet.

Plug the converter and remote into the camera and you're set.