Grain Edit (one of my favorite blogs) has turned 1! To celebrate, they’re having a giveaway with all sorts of prizes including a chance to win 2 ISO50 posters. So head on over and enter to win: GrainEdit
Posts by Scott
Grain Edit 1 Year Anniversary Giveaway
Another Nikon Full Frame Coming?
Just in case you’re in the market for a new DSLR and all of the recent announcements weren’t enough for you, this supposedly leaked ad from Nikon Japan just hit the web. The word “Big” appears next to a shadowy DSLR body, perhaps insinuating an impending compact, full-frame Nikon on the horizon. Here’s to hoping this potential model bridges the rather large chasm between the D90 and the D700 and maybe even throws in some of that HD video lacking from the D700 for good measure.
Via Engadget
Scott Sunn: Tracer Visuals
Lusine went on after my set in Seattle last Saturday and he had some amazing visuals going on during the show (his set was incredible by the way). I went upstairs to check out the source of the amazing imagery and found the guy you see above, Scott Sunn AKA Tracer Visuals, literally DJ’ing a pair of 8mm reel to reel projectors. He was winding the reels and alternately covering the lenses with his hands to produce effects and transitions. It was pretty amazing to behold; I’ve never even heard of this concept much less seen it in action. I was lucky enough to be able to talk to Scott after the set and what I learned about his method and sources was even more incredible than watching him work. Apparently he had access to a job site where a school district building was being demolished. The building being demo’ed housed a library of vintage reel-to-reel educational films and he was able to take away six truckloads of film, his truck bottoming out on a couple of the runs. I can’t even begin to imagine how exciting this would be. I think it would rank up there with finding a couple suitcases full of money buried in the woods. He now uses these films in his VJ sets and the results are amazing.
I was too busy enjoying the set to get many good shots of the action, but you can see a few rather blurry stills above and a video from another show below. The top image is, of course, the man himself at work. For the photography geeks out there, it’s a multiple exposure set with a fill flash and slow shutter speed to capture some motion after the initial exposure. I snagged it with the D80 which ended up performing rather well that night given the low light conditions present at the venue. Might have to rethink that upgrade…
You can find more info on Tracer Visuals at his site or his Myspace page. He apparently also worked on the Radiohead tour. Below is a video of Scott VJ’ing a Lusine show back in April of this year. Forrest, I’d have to imagine your head has nearly exploded at this point. Time to hit the swap meet.
In The Presence of Mahogany
Found these beautiful LP covers (1999 and 2000 respectively) on Mahogany’s MySpace page. You may remember Mahogany from a couple of my previous music posts, here and here. I’ve always loved the artwork for Mahogany’s releases and these early examples are no exception.
Sonnenzimmer Design
Some very nice work by Sonnenzimmer. Via FFFFOUND
Big In Japan: Foldable Rooms
This video for Toshihiko Suzuki’s Kenchikukagu first struck me as sort of funny just for the fact that it’s highly reminiscent of those “Kitchen of The Future” type ads from the 50’s showcasing a bunch of “innovations” most of which were either highly impractical or just downright ridiculous. But after watching it, I want the whole set. Suzuki’s folding rooms are just that, rooms that fold up when not in use. They’re quite well designed and actually seem very practical for the space-challenged and/or OCD level organizers among us. I don’t think I would go as far as to outfit my entire home with these but one or two for choice tasks would be nice. The best part of the whole deal is that these aren’t just concepts, you can actually buy them from Amazon Japan. The worst part? They’ll run you around $7,500 each.
Via Complex
Vasava’s Impossible Objects
Avalanche Magazine
Loving these Avant-Garde-Esque covers. Via FFFFOUND
John Chiara and The Giant Camera
John Chiara is a local San Francisco photographer who built his own truck-sized camera. He details it’s operation in the above video and it’s nothing short of impressive the way he creates and manipulates the exposures. John’s process and results are fascinating, and it’s not just about the scale of the camera, the results themselves are truly beautiful. You can see more of his work at the Von Lintel Gallery site and get more info at the LighDark site.
Lomo RedScale
Lomo has released "the world’s very first pre-loaded and ready-to-shoot RedScale film" and the results look pretty interesting. Redscale is an old concept; it involves loading the film backwards and shooting through the base which has a protective coating which shifts colors into the red. Now you don’t have to go through the hassle of loading your film backwards to get this effect. Lomography