“people do not doubt the veracity of their own photographs”
- Julius von Bismarck

This guy is brilliant. Watch the whole video. Ponder the statement that this artist is making.

The Image Fulgurator from volker racho on Vimeo.

This guy is vandalizing your photographs while you are taking them.

Part of me gets giddy thinking about the smack down that an analogue camera is giving to all those digital cams, and they don’t even know what’s hitting them. Like a ninja.
Another part of me gets warm fuzzies thinking about the political/cultural statements that can be made with this fantastic creation without anyone’s permission. Like a pirate.
Wait. A ninja AND a pirate AND analogue trouncing digital AND the MAN getting put in his place? I’m in love.

…also, I think I have all of these parts.

…also, I’m not really sure what I mean by the MAN, but I think you might know.

…also, I’m pretty sure Chuck Norris can do this with his eyes.

Check out the rest of his art/arsenal here: http://www.juliusvonbismarck.com/bank/index.php?/projects/image-fulgurator/

I found this lovely piece of retro Polaroid at the nearest Value Village. For $4 I figured it was worth it.

I had one PX 680 beta pack left from the Impossible Project, so I loaded it up. Here’s the first shot:

I took the kids to the Saturday Morning All You Can Eat Cereal Cartoon Party at The Metro Cinema this weekend. I asked my 8 year old to write down all of the shows and cereals that he could remember while we drove home from the theatre…

I’ve you’ve ever driven the California 1 north of San Francisco, you now that it’s important to keep your eyes on the road. The safe speed to travel changes every 1/2 mile or so, ranging from 10 MPH to 50 MPH. The grade changes continually as you alternate between sea level and cliff top, without end. And the view is sometimes amazing, and other times even better. I enjoy driving my little 5 speed manual Toyota Echo, and the day and a half we spent on this road was a real fun drive. Once we completed this section of the road trip and hit the relatively open road of Hwy 101, it took me a few minutes to adjust to the slightly less restrictive road conditions. The 65 MPH speed limit is light speed compared to the hairpin crawls I had been growing accustomed to, and the 7% down hill grade with two paved lanes PLUS paved shoulder was like driving in heaven. I was thoroughlyenjoying the smooth marriage between my little car and the new road conditions when the State Trooper reminded me that certain relationships are still not legal under California Law.

I still haven’t got the behind-the-curtain part of this blog set up the way I want, and as a result I haven’t posted much lately. This post is a response to the oldschoolphotolab.com Old School Photo Contest.

I chose this picture for several reasons. I took the picture with an original Diana camera, likely purchased by its original owner from a Sears Christmas catalogue circa 1955 for a dollar. Neon signs like this are disappearing one by one across the country and they are a treasure to photograph. And the price – in Niagara Falls, there are a lot of new hotels popping up like nobody’s business; and I can tell you with certainty that none of them come close to 50 bucks a night. So there you have it: old school camera, old school sign, and old school prices.
Cheers.

I woke up this morning to the announcement of a fresh new lomography camera. Sometimes this excites me, sometimes it does not. I have yet to purchase any of the last 5 or 6 releases, even though more than 300 piggies are burning a hole in my lomography-site-specific pocket. I’m just not impulsive when it comes to spending more than 30 bucks online I guess. This one might be different. It just looks REALLY cool to me. I think I’m leaning toward El Capitan…

Here are some details from the official news release.

La Sardina
The Fresh and Unique 35mm Fish Can Super-wide-angle Camera

Fishy Fantasy

Straight from the La Sardina fish market, Lomography brings you four stylish cameras that will take analogue lovers’ hearts by storm. Meet El Capitán, Fischer’s Fritze, Sea Pride and Marathon, the first four colorful clones (with a 1000 more to come) of the brand-new La Sardina camera. La Sardina is a point and shoot camera, using 35mm film and equipped with a plastic wide-angle lens that enables pros and beginners to shoot beautiful Lomographs easily. No need for long explanations at your local lab, the processing is really easy due to the regular format of the shots. As different as these four models may be, they all have one thing in common – a crazy wide-angle plastic lens and the best lens ring of all time.

El Capitán and Fisher’s Fritze are also equipped with Fritz the Blitz, Lomography’s newest and most powerful flash. Not only is this stunning flash the most powerful Lomographic flash ever, it also comes complete with 3 unique distance settings that allow you to set the power of the flash – giving you maximum creative control. This flash is also packaged with yellow, red and blue filters that will drench even the darkest pirate adventure in colorful light.

While its designs are flashy and stylish, the technical features of La Sardina are humbly reduced to the basics to enable even the greenest of greenhorns to make a first step into Lomography. Say hello to your new favourite camera!

Get it now! shop.lomography.com/cameras/la-sardina-cameras
Read more about the La Sardina Camera! microsites.lomography.com/la-sardina
See the galleries! microsites.lomography.com/la-sardina/galleries

Technical Details
Film Type: Standard 135 roll film
Exposure area: 36 x 24mm
Lens focal length: 22 mm
Aperture: 1:8
Angle of view: 88 degrees
Focusing range: 0.6m – infinity
Shutter speed:  N (1/100), B (bulb)
Multiple exposure: Independent MX switch
Flash contact: Unique Fritz the Blitz flash contact
Flash Sync: first curtain X-type synchronization
Flash Battery: 1xCR123A
Tripod socket thread: Standard 1/4″ tripod socket
Cable release: Universal cable release socket
Retail price: El Cápitan, Fischer’s Fritze with Fritz the Blitz Flash: EUR 89 / USD 99; Sea Pride, Marathon: EUR 49 / USD 59

I am a collector. I have a variety of hobbies, but when it comes down to it, collecting is the prevailing theme. As this blog testifies, one of my prominent collecting habits centres on photography. We are at a unique time and place in the world of photography. Professionals who need accuracy and expediency, and who’s livelihood depends on their ability to deliver the product have switched to digital. It makes sense. It’s not a matter of “analogue vs. digital, which is better?” That discussion is best left to those who spend more time browsing flickr discussion threads than actually touching cameras. It’s also a time when film is being discontinued and developing processes are disappearing. And conversely, it’s a time when it’s trendy to shoot with film, in a “hey-look-at-me-I-have-a-fashionable-hobby” kind of way. I am not primarily a photographer, so the perspective is completely different for me. I collect, and I enjoy the challenge of collecting. My finite budget dictates that I seek and discover economic ways of collecting, so that I can collect more. My collection is primarily about functioning cameras. I like to take pictures, but that doesn’t really make me a photographer. (I have a piano, but no one has ever called me a pianist.)  I digress.

In order to test the cameras that I collect, I need film. Film costs money. Not only that, it costs money to buy it, and then it costs money to process it. I have managed to cut my costs by only paying to process it and then scanning it myself, and I have a secret for getting film for free. Remember the professionals I mentioned above? They used to shoot with film. They still have some. They probably have some weird stuff you’ve never seen before. Here’s my secret: make friends. Play nice. Be interested and interesting.  Many professionals have a nostalgic soft spot for film, even if they haven’t used it for years. They may think it’s cool that you are using it. They might want to share their cool stash.

A fellow who’s daughter goes to school with my son just gave me a bag of film from his fridge. Unlike me, he actually makes a living taking pictures (and deserves to). Here’s the inventory he added to my stash: AGFA SCALA 200x – 120mm – 5 rolls, Fujifilm X-Tra 400 – 35mm – 5 rolls, Fujifilm 64T II – 35mm – 2 rolls, Kodak Ektachrome E100G – 35mm – 4 rolls, Fujichrome Provia 400F – 120mm – 2 rolls, Fujichrome Velvia 100F – 120mm – 1 roll, Fujichrome Velvia 100F – 35mm – 3 rolls, Kodak Ektachrome 64T – 35mm – 1 roll, Kodak Ektachrome 100Plus – 35mm – 1 roll, Fujifilm Neopam Professional 1600 – 35mm – 2 rolls, Fujichrome Provia 400F – 35mm – 1 roll, IR film ?? – 35mm – 1 roll. Pretty impressive? I thought so. I’ll shoot with it, and show him what I did. He might give me some pointers, he might laugh and tell me I’m crazy, he might decide that he wants to pull out a vintage camera himself, or he might just say “whatever” and invite me in for a beer. The things that I won’t do are: expect him to think I am awesome, or imply that we are equals (the addict doesn’t necessarily chum around with the pharmacist, unless of course they live in the same neighbourhood, and the addict hides it well, but that’s another story altogether).

What’s my point? I don’t know. Maybe I’m trying to say that I have an unnatural infatuation with cameras for someone who doesn’t really know that much about photography per se. Or maybe I’m just trying to say “Thanks Curtis, I can’t wait to try out this cool film”.

(He’s not the first one to give me free film – the rest of you are awesome too!)

…working on a review of this lovely vintage Canon Photura. There are some good reasons that you’ve never seen one of these…

Less than 2 months ago, Todd Bieber posted a short video about a roll of exposed but undeveloped 35 mm film that he found in the snow in Prospect Park on December 30th, 2010. He included images from the roll of film – which he had eagerly and curiously developed, and ended the video with a plea for anyone who knew anything about anyone in the images to contact him so that he could return the film to its rightful owner. I’d venture that he didn’t expect to be travelling to Paris to return the images himself, but that’s exactly what happened.

The link to Todd’s video was forwarded endlessly through emails, twitter, blogs, and facebook (I must have seen it mentioned hundreds of times), and he was inundated with suggestions (helpful and otherwise). He posted a follow up video drawing attention to all of the attention that he received, and finally received a helpful response from someone who knew someone useful. When I first watched the video, I was reminded of Amelie, and I’m not surprised that others have felt the same way.

Today, Todd posted “Part 3″, a third video that concludes his little adventure. It’s a feel-good movie with memorable phrases such as “never ever try to keep up with the alcohol consumption of a large German man” and “it’s easy to be nice”. Watch where his mission to return the film took him:

This is the kind of adventure that I am drawn to. People are analogue. At least in all the important ways. Where do you keep your film?

It happened once, it can happen again. If you find me I’ll buy you coffee and we’ll become friends – it’s the beginning of an adventure.

(Todd has posted all three short videos here: http://toddbieber.tumblr.com/)