Posts in Photography

Polaroid hinted at a potential rebirth for instant photography today with this teaser sent to Engadget. Looks intriguing; the slot at the front is just enough to get me lusting after this. Will be really interesting to see if they can recapture some of their former glory with a new instant camera. But in this day and age of 8MP camera phones I wonder if the thrill of the instant physical copy might be lost on most. How ever would you Facebook it!!?

I’m personally hoping for some nice balance of tempered throw-back aesthetics with a healthy dose of new features. From the vague image they’ve provided, it’s looking pretty clean. But knowing how they roll now, I’d be surprised if they really pull it off.

Of course, you can always just use Impossible Project film with your SX-70…

Via Engadget

Architectural photographer (sounds like a pretty good gig right?) Benny Chan’s Traffic! series depicts aerial views of rush hour traffic around Los Angeles, a place that’s no stranger to the phenomenon. Beautifully shot, I’d love to have one of these huge on a wall somewhere to remind me of how we — sort of — have it better here in SF. Click the images for (very) large versions.

More shots over at GOOD

Well I finally downloaded Instagram, after much ado. Prior to actually downloading the app, my understanding of Instagram was that it infested my Twitter stream with photos affected with filters I spent most of my first year at design school trying to apply to everything (posters, shirts, CDs, food etc). It was really annoying. “What is with all these forced vintage iPhone PHOTOS!” was the common refrain while clicking through my Twitter folk. (Kind of like the vintage film effect in Jersey Shore. WHY. Or so I’ve heard…)

I downloaded it over the break as part of some research I am doing for a new app I am working on (completely unrelated; I was basically downloading the entire app store and Instagram happened to come with it). Anyway after playing with it for the last few days I must say I am a convert, a fan. I get it now: it’s fun to see completely mundane photos suddenly become awesome with the tap of a finger. Cruddy picture of airline seats with poor light and an iPhone lens? No problem! Apollo filter and it looks like Hunter S Thompson just got up to go to the bathroom.

Of course I’m kidding around, but I actually am a fan of the app. Filters and mega-vintage filtering aside, the real power of the app is the social component. This doesn’t seem surprising now, but remember that there were tons and tons of other camera apps before it that played a similar card (vintage-izing) but left out this crucial bit of Twitter-esque following. The app now sits squarely between Facebook and Twitter on my iPhone and I find myself clicking it just as often to see if any of my friends have posted new pictures or ‘liked’ any of mine.

Definitely consider myself addicted, at least for the time being. However there are a number of frustrating bits that I hope they address sometime soon. First, there is no web component or ability to do anything at all anywhere but the phone. The website lets you…change your password, but I can’t direct you to my entire feed or anything. You have to download the app, search for me, then follow. An annoying process. Also, what’s the deal with the popular tab? It’s almost as mysterious as the frontpage of FFFFOUND. I would love some more powerful search, sort and filter capabilities. And I swear if they start charging $$ for additional filters…

My username is alexcornell if you can find me! Some of my first Instagrams are above.

Philistine DSGN is a anti-art collective out of Brooklyn, NY that is run by Danny Scales. In my mind he finds the beauty in what most people might see as darkness but since i’ve known him I see it as pure care taking of what should be visually appealing and interesting during a time where a lot of darker looking design is so ordinary and without surprise in my mind.

It’s been a while since I wrote about my most cherished 5DMKII. I drove down to Santa Barbara this weekend to catch a Neon Tree’s concert and brought the 5D for the trip back up the coast. Was hoping to get some sexy landscape shots (inspired by Mr. Navis and his multiple Big Sur adventures).

Overall I was very impressed with the camera’s performance. I continue to think that I have absolutely nothing to with any “good” pictures the camera takes. It is an incredible piece of equipment. On my Japan trip I felt like I could hand the camera to a 5 year old, instruct them to run around in circles taking pictures, and get it back with pure gold on the memory card. With the 50mm locked in it seems like it can do no wrong.

All that said, I wasn’t really in love with anything I shot on the drive up. I was trying to time the light with my journey so I would be at the most epic locations around 4pm. A fair plan, but Nepenthe (very tasty) took 1 hour longer than I expected and my dreams of sun-drenched cliffs were thwarted. I was happy with the above shots though — the first one reminds me of a painting.

Getting the rig into the concert wasn’t super easy (neither was shooting amongst hundreds of bouncing UCSB students…). Next time I’m saying I’m a member of the press (because I am right? Sort of?).

The rest of my pictures are up on Facebook

…the science fiction realities of the earth’s ends

Indeed. Swiss photographer Dan Holdsworth makes the somewhat normal look absolutely surreal. I chose to focus on the icy project above because it vaguely reminded me of a Minus the Bear album cover I love. Be sure to check out the rest of Dan’s portfolio as there are many other projects of equal quality but drastically different subject matter.

via FFF

A few weeks ago I had symptoms of what I’m calling Leica love—it seems like a feverish desire more than anything. Stumbling upon these photos of a special edition M8 only intensified it. Check out how clear and sexy these product shots are.

While the camera is amazing, you’re dropping $8,500 on it and I would think that the packaging should be extend further rather than just the typical cardbox box with inserts. Perhaps a red velvet/suede lining in a completely metal case or something along those lines would be the way to go.

Wouldn’t you agree?

Also Leica, don’t hesitate to call if you need help designing the new packaging.

Images via Hypebeast

Just checked in on Matthias Heiderich (who we covered a while back) and he’s got some beautiful new work up. I love how he blurs the lines between photography and design.

Matthias Heiderich

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj4WqJGQu1Q

Here’s some serious power on the cheap for your next photography outing. Gizmodo details how to sync your DSLR and iOS device up for wireless shooting and image transfer. I’ve been wanting a system like this but assumed it was insanely expensive, this method will run you about $75 (assuming you already own an iOS device). My only potential issue with it would be transfer speed; notice how there is never a continuous shot of the photo being taken and the image arriving at the iPhone. The remote shutter functionality is enough for me though.

Source Gizmodo

I just got back in from Toronto which was the last stop on the short Tycho tour we just did (I was joined by Dusty Brown and Zac Brown for the live sets). I just wanted to thank everyone so much for having us, we had a great time playing for you and couldn’t have asked for a better vibe. Our very own contributing writer Shelby White was on hand at the Seattle show to shoot with his 1D MK2. As you can see (above) the results were beautiful, he really captured the feel of the lighting that night. And that last one of Dusty is amazing!

I’m going to take a break from shows for a little bit here while I tie up some loose ends on the music front, but we’ll be hitting the road again — and making it to a lot more cities — once the album comes out and we have time for a proper tour.

Images Source: Shelby White / Wanken Blog