Things that distracted me this week, 3-4-11

The work of Daro Sulakauri is simply engaging. She is a native of Georgia, the European country and not the southern U.S. state, and she has a gorgeous sense of light. Add an equally sophisticated sense of composition and her photos become near perfect. She’s part of the PDN’s 30 feature on emerging photographers.  Her website is deep and there’s a lot to look at. Boy, I wish I could shoot a fraction of what she can.

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Three Women is a scripted video cast with actors, produced by Eric Maierson, a producer over at Mediastorm.  The video, however, isn’t about moving images. The piece is virtually all still images with voice-over from the actors. Maierson has an interesting perspective:

Photographs tell these stories, not video, as I wanted viewers to have the opportunity to linger, to consider in a way that only still images, in their slowing down of time, can afford.

It’s an interesting short piece that has that strong compositional sense that a still photographer brings to video. It makes me wonder if someone could pull off a longer piece driven almost entirely with still images.

Brunch

Things that distracted me this week, 2-18-11

Irna Werning has one of the most crafted portrait series I’ve seen. She starts with an original photo from the past — sometimes 20 years old or more

http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

and often either a snapshot or a portrait studio photo.  She then recreates the same pose, clothes and photographic look of the original photo with that same person today. Very campy feel to it and she is flawless in reproducing the effects very different camera styles. Paired together, the photos also achieve something difficult in photography — spanning time.  Though the photos are separated by decades they seem like they are also nearly simultaneous.

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The Ice Book (HD) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.

Things that distracted me this week, 2-11-11

Apparently, if you’re really smart and you want to be a boss, you know that being openly creative is a career problem. So what happens in an industry that needs innovation, like newspapers, if your leaders are the product of this kind of tradition?  Chunka Mui writes on Forbes.com:

First, many current leaders are the product of past biases against creativity. This calls into question their likelihood and, perhaps, ability to be creative. It might also be hard for them to inspire, recognize and lead the kind of creative, innovative moves now required.

Second, the smartest people have learned over time that being openly creative is not rewarded. If open creativity has long been a career-limiting move, the rational response to admonitions to pursue creativity and innovation is to resist or adopt a “wait-and-see” attitude.

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For the impatient ones in the crowd . . .

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Judging is underway at POYi. In years past, it was tucked away comfortably in Missouri and the results came out quietly. now, they are posting the winning images in real time, but not the photographers names until the contest is over. The New York Times  photography blog LENS has an interesting piece by  James Estrin.  His opening paragraph is on point:

I have always thought that photojournalism contests lead to bad photography. They encourage young photographers to make images like the ones that won in previous years instead of pursuing their personal vision.

His also admits that like all of us, he has entered the contests and anxiously awaited the results.  And I also noticed that the feature photo category, once the home of community photojournalism,  is again completely filled with photos from crisis regions. Estrin also mentions this LA Times multimedia  photo essay on gang violence by Barbara Davidson that is one of the prize winners, although we can’t congratulate her yet because her name is currently being withheld.

Things that distracted me this week, 2-4-2011

The NFL Best Shots of 2010 is still some of the best sports film out there. I watched NFL Films when I was a kid and I am now convinced that the special blend of super tight cropping, slow motion replay and dramatic music helped making football into the national obsession that it is today. With the Super Bowl approaching, enjoy this smash mouth inspired short film.

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Once, a long time ago, Kirk McKoy was an Orlando Sentinel photographer. but he’s been with the LA Times now for years and this is a really good behind-the-scenes video of a fashion shoot with Kirk. I like that the the video is really specific about technique while still emphasizing the shoot itself.

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Poynter talks with newspaper website folks, especially the Miami Herald, about online video.

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Very nice aerial coverage of the Chicago blizzard by Trib photographer Alex Garcia on the Assignment Chicago blog.

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My fav viral of the week.  Makes me nostalgic both for my old Volkswagen and for Star Wars when I was a kid.

 

It’s hip to be square

Coffee cup at MadFish, St. Petersburg Beach, Fla. photo by Tom Burton

The Hisptamatic app for camera phones as become such a trendy cell-phone photography app it has inspired a gallery show. Mashable reports that a UK gallery is staging an exhibit. What weirds me out is that of the seven photos previewed in the blog, three resemble photos I’ve made with the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone.

The coffee cup, the palm trees, and the b/w portrait of a pretty women all have some similar approaches (compare here). So I don’t know whether to think that photos I make with my phone could be gallery worthy in the UK or that I am no more clever than a bunch of other folks?

Palm trees at Megan's Bay in St. Thomas. photo by Tom Burton

Susan, Caribbean cruise. photo by Tom Burton

Things that distracted me this week, 1-28-11

Famous wildlife photographer Jim Brandenburg writes on his blog about dragging out a 30-year-old 500mm mirror lens and using it for critter pics. Because his new digital gear has such good high ISO settings the fixed aperture f/8 of the mirror lens isn’t a problem. And, he likes carrying the tiny mirror lens compared to monster 500mm he usually uses. I loved Brandenburg’s book Chased by the Light where he shot a single frame each day for three months. I like this blog post because it also has the phrase “I tried an old technique of grunting like a lovesick bull.”

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I like the style of this personality profile. It get’s to the point a little slower than what we are used to, but the feel is really interesting. It’s called Intimidator but it’s not about Dale Earnhardt. It’s about a mechanic.

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Ken Kobre compiled descriptions and links for all of the movies nominated for an Oscar in the documentary category.  The movie Roger Ebert loved so much didn’t get the nomination he thought it deserved. Oh, well. The big name nominee is Exit Through the Gift Shop, a film about graffiti artist Bansky. You can find the full-length feature on Netflix and Hulu or watch the trailer below;

Things that distracted me this week, 1-21-11

Brothers Tim and Noah Hussin are riding recycled bicycles across the U.S., meeting people, talking to them and making interesting films about them. And then they post them to their blog. Tim is a UF grad who hit all the prestigious internships before graduating and heading out on this adventure with his brother. The films are really engaging. The only downside is the films are large enough that it takes a bit for them to buffer, so be patient.

And, I have to love any story series that begins with this amazing soundbite:

“We like to get our dead animals, get ‘em nice and full of maggots and feed them to our lovely, lovely girls.”

Take a look at American Recycled.

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The 360-degree panoramas from the Disney dream. Gary Green did a a great job of choosing the best place to set the photo so viewers really can feel what it’s like to be there.