Markus Hartel has a photoblog dedicated to life in New York City. The blog, Urban Views, highlights small glimpses into the daily hum that is the City. I love the way he catches those moments we’ve all seen walking around any big urban center. Hartel doesn’t stage his photos in anyway, which not only lends authenticity to his subject matter, but also leaves the view with a feeling of “oh, I have so been there”.
Could anyone possibly look at this photo and not burst out into full grin? It’s not just that this man looks like he just fell out of an Iggy Pop show at CBGBs in 1977 to take the pooches for a stroll. It’s that he’s walking two little pocket pets that you just know are named “Lady Barkington” and “Sir Snuggledoodle”.
Awwwww yeah…. Here we have a man cruising down the street in what has to be the best ensemble in the history of mankind, which is fabulous enough, but the toddler pointing at him makes this such a wonderful moment. He’s chattering away on his cell phone bringing his awesome to the streets of the big city when a two year old reacts exactly the way a two year old should act when confronted with a pepto pimp. The subject is about to react, but we’ll never know if the preschool protagonist will be met with scorn or a big grin. I suspect the latter.
I learned from my husband, who worked in NYC for many years in the electronics industry, many of New York’s electronics vendors are hassidic jews. It’s such an interesting visual dichotomy seeing men looking very 18th century programming their iPhones, PDAs, digital cameras, etc. This image just screams “New York” to me.
I stumbled on this amazing macro photography site this afternoon. I not only love the way he photographs his subjects, but find it interesting to read his opinions on his subjects, the way they were shot, etc. I’m a fan of macro photography, and these are some really lovely photos.
The Daily Lomograph is an interesting site in that it isn’t updated daily and isn’t comprised of actual Lomographs. There is an internal debate amongst lo-fi photographers (photographers purposely using cameras that yield images that are comprised of light leaks, inconsistent color, etc.) about the use of the term “Lomography”. Is Lomography pertaining solely to images created on cameras manufactured by the LOMO Corporation in Russia, or to images made by any lo-fi camera? To extend the debate further, most “lomographers” insist the images must be made on a film camera - digital cameras are a no-no.
Which brings us to The Daily Lomograph, a site comprised solely of lo-fi digital images. The author, Dirk Matthews, doesn’t update his “Daily” blog on a regular basis, but he does post some interesting images created on his digital cameras. Most of them certainly aspire to the “Lomo” aesthetic and I like some of the comments he includes with the photos. I’d like to see him experiment with actual film cameras, as taboo as that seems to have become.
I have to admit, I carry my point and shoot with me everywhere, often opting to leave the giant Nikon bodies at home. It’s a matter of convenience, and, quite frankly, the point and shoots really have gotten quite good. Plus, you can’t sneak a D70 into Hammerstein Ballroom. Cameralabs.com has an excellent article debating the pros and cons of each.
I just discovered Media Convert, a website that converts all sorts of file formats into different file formats. I had an Open Office document that I needed converted to MS Word, and it worked beautifully. I mention it here because it also converts graphic file formats ranging from Photoshop PSD files to Palm Pixmap files (which I use on my Treo 650). It is a really amazing site.
After posting about Poynter Online’s excellent article on the new medium of audio slide shows, I stumbled on Scrapblog, a free site that allows anyone to create audio slide shows using their neat java interface. The have a bunch of template themes and you can add your pictures using direct upload or from your Photobucket, Yahoo Photos, Flckr, or Webshots accounts. You can add all sorts of extras like videos and music. Right now the site is under beta testing, but it appears as though it will be a useful and fun tool in the near future.
One of the first things I anticipate doing with this blog is a comprehensive survey of photo management software. I want to assess cross platform applications because while I believe that the Mac is still the go to machine for photographers and graphic artists, you can’t deny the sheer number of Windows users. For the record, my primary machine right now is a Mac G5 with a 23 inch cinema display, but I spent most of my life on PCs.
I’m very interested in the battle brewing between Apple’s Aperture and Adobe’s Lightroom. I’ve been trying to make due with iPhoto and iView Media Pro, but with over 10,000 photos in my library, it’s been tough. I’m going to look into some other apps as well; suggestions are always welcome.
