Saturday, January 31, 2009

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize: Tod Papageorge - Telegraph

Deutsche Börse Photography Prize: Tod Papageorge - Telegraph: "Central Park in New York has been many things to photographers and filmmakers, but few have characterised it as a garden of Eden. Tod Papageorge, the American photographer, walked the 'high, untended tow-tipped grass' (as he writes) of the location during the years 1962 to 1996. The experience produced his exhibition, Passing Through Eden: Photographs of Central Park, which gained him a place on the shortlist of four photographers nominated for the Deutsche Börse Prize 2009."

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Recent layoffs in the workforce - Recent company layoffs - Kodak - Los Angeles Times

Recent layoffs in the workforce - Recent company layoffs - Kodak - Los Angeles Times: "Recent layoffs in the workforce
Eastman Kodak Co.

Announced: Jan. 29

Number of layoffs: 3,500 to 4,500 jobs

Reason for the cuts: It posted a fourth-quarter loss of $137 million on plunging sales of both digital and film-based photography products. Sales slumped 24 percent to $2.43 billion from $3.22 billion a year ago, hit by a sharp slowdown in demand for digital cameras and inkjet printers, lower royalties from patents and unfavorable foreign exchange rates."

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Canon profit tumbles, predicts further slide | Reuters

Canon profit tumbles, predicts further slide | Reuters: "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Canon Inc (7751.T), the world's largest digital camera maker, reported an 81 percent fall in quarterly profit and predicted a further slide in annual profit to a 14-year low this year, hit by slumping demand for cameras and office equipment and a stronger yen."

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Washington Times - PHOTOGRAPHY: Frank perspective

Washington Times - PHOTOGRAPHY: Frank perspective: "PHOTOGRAPHY: Frank perspective
A landmark photography book turns 50 with an exhibition devoted to prescient views

In the mid-1950s, photographer Robert Frank captured an unsentimental picture of America that still resonates today. He spent two years crisscrossing the country to chronicle ordinary people and discovered a population separated by racism, social isolation, political manipulation and rampant consumerism - divisions still ingrained in the culture

Today, the unsettling, gritty scenes of "The Americans" still look fresh, arrayed in a timely exhibition at the National Gallery of Art celebrating the 50th anniversary of the publication."

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Edward Steichen - International Center Of Photography

Edward Steichen - International Center Of Photography: "An exhibition of 175 works by Edward Steichen drawn largely from the Condé Nast archives, this is the first presentation to give serious consideration to the full range of Steichen's fashion images. Organized by the Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, and the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis, in conjunction with the International Center of Photography, the exhibition will open at ICP after an extensive tour in Europe."

Friday, January 16, 2009

CCL Computers | News > Article - Digital cameras and video: Obama portrait shot by Canon digital camera

CCL Computers | News > Article - Digital cameras and video: Obama portrait shot by Canon digital camera: "After a presidential campaign full of firsts, another has been added to the list: Barack Obama's new presidential portrait was the first to be shot using a digital camera.

While the press release on the President-elect's official website, change.gov, didn't give specific info, camera buffs across American soon pulled the Exif file data from the image to reveal that the 1916x2608 resolution shot was taken using a Canon EOS 5D Mark II"

In focus: Liz Jobey on Michael Fried's rigorous analysis of contemporary art photography | Art and design | guardian.co.uk

In focus: Liz Jobey on Michael Fried's rigorous analysis of contemporary art photography | Art and design | guardian.co.uk: "For anybody interested in the changing nature of photography over the last 30 years, Michael Fried's Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before is an important book. The reputation of its author – one of the leading art historians and critics of the past half-century – is guaranteed to capture the attention of photographers and artists alike. Its size and thoroughness, over 400 well-illustrated pages in a large art-book format, distinguish it from the many volumes of critical theory that contemporary photography has spawned in recent years. And the title unambiguously states that photography matters as art, which settles one long-debated question at a stroke"

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Homer's 'Eagle Lady' dead at 85: Alaska News | adn.com

Homer's 'Eagle Lady' dead at 85: Alaska News | adn.com: "HOMER -- Jean Keene, the 85-year-old 'Eagle Lady' whose feeding program draws hundreds of bald eagles and scores of nature photographers to the Homer Spit each winter, died Tuesday evening in her Spit home.
Keene had been unwell but continued to feed fish scraps to the eagles this winter. In 2006, the city banned feeding of eagles but allowed Keene to continue feeding until 2010."

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Construction Photography CLICK | Issue #15

Construction Photography CLICK | Issue #15: "The Olympic Park in Lea Valley, East London, is now the Largest Construction site in Europe. With such a hive of activity and concentration of plant machinery the landscape is being transformed at an incredible pace.
Construction Photography is documenting this process with two High Definition cameras overlooking the site. Our ground breaking Time Lapse system takes two images every minute from two angles up to 2012 and during the Games with the ability to change the frame rate for specific events and activities on the site. This first glimpse of the footage shows the massive earthworks across the valley and the breathtaking sky of autumn."

Monday, January 12, 2009

CES attendance figures are grim at 110,000, down 22 percent » VentureBeat

CES attendance figures are grim at 110,000, down 22 percent » VentureBeat: "The International Consumer Electronics Show drew only 110,000 visitors — down 22 percent from last year — over its five-day run in Las Vegas, the lowest turnout in a long time."

Sunday, January 11, 2009

3M MPro | Technology

3M MPro | Technology: "3M scientists developed a breakthrough mobile projection engine designed for integration into virtually any personal mobile device or mini projector. Roughly the size of a wireless earpiece, and less than half an inch thick, the 3M mobile projection engine lets you expand your image, share your world."

Looks like we might be seeing digital cameras that can project an image onto a screen sometime in the not too distant future!

Canon had slow holiday sales, sees rough 2009 | Reuters

Canon had slow holiday sales, sees rough 2009 | Reuters: "SEOUL (Reuters) - The chairman of Canon Inc (7751.T), the world's largest digital camera maker, said on Sunday the company's year-end holiday sales were 'disappointing' and expected a difficult 2009 as an economic downturn hits consumer demand.
'We had very big influence from the deteriorated economic situation. Unfortunately we are not an exception,' Chairman Fujio Mitarai told Reuters on the sideline of a business meeting in Seoul.
'(Holiday sale) was disappointing but this is happening all over the world.' he said on the sidelines of a meeting hosted by South Korean business associations."

Saturday, January 10, 2009

AFP: Polaroid reinvents itself with instant digital camera

AFP: Polaroid reinvents itself with instant digital camera:
LAS VEGAS (AFP) — Polaroid Corp., the iconic inventor of the instant photo, has reinvented itself for the digital age, launching a digital camera which makes instant full-color prints."

Friday, January 9, 2009

Sunnyvale photographer shoots a rare moment at Yosemite - San Jose Mercury News

Sunnyvale photographer shoots a rare moment at Yosemite - San Jose Mercury News: "Amateur photographer John Harrison's 'Nature's Firefall,' which won the Aperture Nature Photography Workshop contest in December, is an extreme rarity.


In the image, Horsetail Falls cascades down the face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Splashed with the sunset, the falls glow as if on fire against the cliffs of jagged granite.
That particular effect can happen only for a few weeks during the winter when the sun is at the right angle, when there are no clouds and during the few months when there's enough snowmelt to produce the falls. In short, you won't see it during your next summertime visit."

Ohio U. prof chosen as White House photographer - Pittsburgh Business Times:

Ohio U. prof chosen as White House photographer - Pittsburgh Business Times:: "An Ohio University professor who documented the beginning of President-elect Barack Obama’s political career has been tapped to follow his days at the peak.

Pete Souza, an assistant photojournalism professor at the Athens school, this week accepted an appointment as official White House photographer for the Obama administration. Souza’s new post marks a return to the White House, where he worked as a photographer during the Ronald Reagan administration."

Abroad - Berlin Honors the Photography of Gisèle Freund, a Prodigal Daughter - NYTimes.com

Abroad - Berlin Honors the Photography of Gisèle Freund, a Prodigal Daughter - NYTimes.com: "BERLIN — Not all culture is global yet. Outside aging lefty circles in Greenwich Village or the Berkshires, the photographer Gisèle Freund mostly causes head-scratching in the United States. Among other reasons, she published unflattering pictures of Eva Perón in Life magazine in 1950, troubling the Argentine dictator and ruffling diplomatic relations, so the State Department officially declared her an “unwanted person.”"

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Bunch of new Digicams from Casio

News - CASIO: "LAS VEGAS, NV, JANUARY 8, 2009 — Casio America, Inc. and its parent company, Casio Computer Co., Ltd., released some exciting details about its upcoming digital camera models today. Soon to be released are the slim, compact High Speed EXILIM models EX-FS10 and EX-FC100 featuring high-speed burst shooting faster than an SLR camera, and the EXILIM models EX-Z400, EX-Z270, and EX-S12, which make the most of Casio’s high-speed image processing engine to enable users to cut and paste moving subjects onto still backgrounds"

Sony Unveils World's First Wi-Fi Digital Camera With Web Browser

Sony Unveils World's First Wi-Fi Digital Camera With Web Browser: "LAS VEGAS, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- (CES Keynote) -- With a focus on making photo sharing easier and more convenient, Sony today introduced the world's first Wi-Fi(R) enabled digital camera that uploads photos and videos to Web sites through any public hotspot due to its built-in Web browser."

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

SanDisk/Sony announce 2TB storage card development

SanDisk Corporate Press Room Press Releases: "CES 2009, South Hall, Booth # 30659, LAS VEGAS– Jan. 7, 2009– SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) and Sony Corporation today announced the joint development of two expanded formats that will shape the flash memory landscape for years to come. “Memory Stick format for Extended High Capacity (Tentative name)” expands the “Memory Stick PRO” format series to achieve a maximum storage capacity of 2-terabytes (TB)1, while the “Memory Stick HG Micro” format enables a maximum data-transfer speed of 60 megabytes per second (MB/s)2, making it one of the fastest-smallest memory card formats to date."

Note that they aren't saying that they are soon going to be producing a 2TB memory card. What they are announcing is a new Memory Stick specification which will allow cards up to 2TB to be developed. The current maximum card capacity is 32GB. I suspect that a 2TB card is a long way off. At today's memory prices it would probably be prohibitively expensive. Today an 8GB card sells for maybe $50, so 2TB would cost $12,500 if priced at the same $ per GB!

The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record

The Empire That Was Russia: The Prokudin-Gorskii Photographic Record Recreated (A Library of Congress Exhibition): Here's an intersting website containing color images which were shot before it was possible to make a color print! The photographer took B&W images through three different color filters and the images were originally made for projection. The Library of Congress has now scanned and combined the original B&W negatives and produced color images (with very good color!) of Russia in the early 1900s.

New 26x ultra-zoom digicam from Olympus

Olympus have announced several new digicams for CES (the Consumer Electronics Show which takes place in Las Vegas every year. Perhaps the most interesting is the SP-590UZ. This is from their press release:
"CENTER VALLEY, Pa., January 7, 2009 – Olympus rewrote the rule book again for how powerful a point-and-shoot camera’s zoom can be with the launch of the new 26x optical zoom SP-590 Ultra Zoom.....The bright, f2.8-5.0 lens provides the equivalent of 26-676mm focal length....The SP-590UZ has a 12-megapixel sensor that enables consumers to achieve consistently sharp and vivid images when producing large-format prints or cropping/enlarging a portion of an image."

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Underwater camera/mask at CES

Underwater digital camera/mask on display at CES: The Underwater Digital Camera Mask – Explorer Series from Liquid Image Company allows snorkelers and swimmers to swim freely, hands unencumbered. It's rated to 5M depth and can shoot 5MP still images and VGA video.

It's available from ADORAMA

PENTAX Press Release - Optio P70 and E70

PENTAX News and Press Releases - : "GOLDEN, CO (January 5, 2009)…
PENTAX Imaging Company has announced two stylish, colorful, compact digital cameras: the Optio P70 and Optio E70. The ultra-slim PENTAX Optio P70 digital compact camera is a high-performance model featuring fast, advanced functions to make high-quality digital photography simple and effortless. With 12 megapixels for large, detailed images, a 4X optical zoom (equivalent to 27.5-110mm...

PENTAX also announced the latest model in the PENTAX easy-to-use, affordable compact digital E series: the Optio E70. Designed for new digital users, the Optio E70 offers simple operation with large control buttons in a compact, ultra-slim body. With a 10 megapixel CCD and a 3X wide zoom lens (equivalent to 35mm- 105mm..."

New Kodak Cameras for CES 2009

New Kodak Cameras: "New introductions from Kodak deliver brilliant images, unique ways to create and easy ways to connect

Pocket-sized HD Digital Video Camera and 24x Ultra-Zoom Digital Camera Highlight Kodak Launches at 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show

LAS VEGAS, N.V., Jan. 5 -- Eastman Kodak Company (NYSE:EK) today introduced new products and services that make it easier than ever for consumers to make the most of life’s moments, from go-anywhere High Definition video recording to simple, automatic capture of brilliant images."

Google's Picasa image organizer now available for Macs

Picasa is now available for the Mac as a free download at picasa.google.com/mac/. Mac OS X version 10.4 or later is required, and the release is for Intel-powered Macs only.

Sony may announce drastic cost cuts: media | Reuters

Sony may announce drastic cost cuts: media | Reuters: "TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp is likely to announce closures of Japanese factories and major divisions early next month, the Times of London said on Monday, but the company denied any such plan existed.
The maker of Bravia flat TVs and PlayStation video game consoles faces halting sales and mounting piles of inventory in the wake of the financial crisis, even as a stronger yen bites into earnings.

Sony, whose empire encompasses semiconductors, movies and insurance, is braced for a series of measures that would abolish some of its domestic operations and transform the electronic giant's business, the Times said, citing company sources. 'We do not plan to announce additional restructuring measures at this time,' spokesman Atsuo Omagari said, in response to the report. 'We don't have any such plan.'"

Friday, January 2, 2009

Pick of the pics 2008: 24 hours in pictures | World news | guardian.co.uk

Pick of the pics 2008: 24 hours in pictures | World news | guardian.co.uk: "Pick of the pics 2008: 24 hours in pictures
Picture editors Lisa Foreman and Ranjit Dhaliwal choose their favourite images from a year of guardian.co.uk's daily gallery"

BBC NEWS | Technology | Nanotech could mean sharper snaps

BBC NEWS | Technology | Nanotech could mean sharper snaps:
"Researchers in Scotland have been given nearly half a million pounds to try to improve digital camera images. The team, lead by scientists at the University of Glasgow, are developing small nanostructures that would be used on light detecting image sensors. These new hi-tech chips would be used in camera equipment to produce sharper and more colourful images. The project is being funded by a £489,234 grant from the Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council"

Critic’s Notebook - The Polaroid - Imperfect, Yet Magical - NYTimes.com

Critic’s Notebook - The Polaroid - Imperfect, Yet Magical - NYTimes.com: "The next few months will end an era that began six decades ago with a contraption called the Model 95 camera. That accordion-style machine delivered instant photography at a price tag equivalent to some $850 today. The SX-70, which spit out color prints, arrived in 1972. American life during the late 20th century had found its Boswell.

The demise of Polaroid’s instant film cameras has been coming for years. Digital technology did it in. The decision this year by the company that Edwin Land founded to stop manufacturing the film has left devotees who grew up with Polaroid’s palm-size white-bordered prints bereft. They have signed up in the thousands as members of SavePolaroid.com. Digital cameras that print instant pictures have materialized to fill the void, providing a practical substitute. But as in most affairs of the heart, logic is beside the point."

JPG Magazine: Blog

JPG Magazine: Blog: "Today is a particularly sad day for all of us at JPG and 8020 Media.
We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009"

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Last Chance - Photographic Puzzles at Yale Art Gallery - Review - NYTimes.com

Last Chance - Photographic Puzzles at Yale Art Gallery - Review - NYTimes.com: In Photography, What Puzzles the Eye May Please the Mind

NEW HAVEN — Photographs are shameless. They’ll do anything to get your attention. They’ll show you celebrities in and out of their clothes, exotic creatures and objects, places and events that you would never otherwise see.

Another, paradoxical strategy for captivating viewers is to show them something they can’t immediately understand. Whether because of its visual complexity, its oblique perspective, its lighting, its degree of abstraction or the unfamiliarity of its subject, it’s the kind of photograph that makes you stop and think, “What the heck is that?” And it keeps you looking until you’ve figured out what it is you’re looking at.