If you’ve ever tried your hand at sports photography or attempted to capture an action shot, you know that regular cameras can be kind of wimpy when it comes to extreme photography. The Hero 3 digital wrist camera seems to address every potential problem a sports photographer or simply a photographer who gets himself into extreme situations might encounter. It’s waterproof, for one thing, so you can take photographs of your friends underwater if you ever decide to throw a pool party. Or if you’re going snowboarding and you want to get some pictures while you’re actually in motion, this seems like a great little device to help you get shots without any fumbling with a huge camera. It spares you the trouble of trying to adjust the focus and whatnot. There’s a built-in self-timer as well. Apparently it is waterproof for 100 feet, and extremely lightweight as well, weighing only 4.5 ounces (this is important, obviously, because it is strapped to your wrist). It can either lie flat on your wrist, or it can flip up. I’m not an incredibly fashionable or hip individual (that would be my girlfriend), but I’d say it’s pretty hip looking. I have considered (am still considering, I mean) buying this for myself, for my Christmas present, because I’m learning how to kite surf and it might be fun to document my progress on film. I also imagine it’s a good camera for a night out on the town: you don’t have to worry about getting too drunk and losing your camera, because it’s conveniently strapped to your wrist. Speaking of which, it’s Wednesday today! Happy Wednesday to all my readers out in cyberspace. The work week is almost over. For you San Francisco readers that means dollar well drinks at Sadie’s Flying Elephant, one of my favorite bars in Potrero Hill.
A hero lies in you!
“I can see what’s happening. They don’t have a clue”*
Here’s a goofy contraption for anybody who has ever harbored fantasies of becoming paparazzi. The Proviewer digital 5.0 megapixel binocular camera, which is—yes, you guessed it!—both a set of binoculars and a camera, is the perfect camera for when you are bemoaning your seat in nosebleed section at a concert, performance, or sporting event. Never again will you struggle to make out who that ant-sized celebrity in your photograph is. This camera allows you to zoom in as much as eight times more than a normal camera. As with most digital cameras, there is also an option to capture video footage. It comes with a flip out LCD screen. My cousin Herbert lives in LA, in Echo Park to be exact. He’s always telling me that he sees the cast of Grey’s Anatomy just walking around his part of town. Because it’s one of my favorite TV shows (I just have the biggest crush on Sandra Oh), I always ask him to take pictures for me, but he never does. He’s too “cool.” Anyway, this camera should be a perfect Christmas gift for him. Maybe it’s a little creepy to be using binoculars at a coffee shop, but I think it is still an awesome gift if I do say so myself.
*That’s a quote from Lion King, by the way. “Can you feel the love tonight,” as sung by Simba’s meerkat friend, Timon.
The real animal planet
One thing that’s become downright trendy these days is seeing the world from an animal’s point of view. A few months ago, I saw an art exhibit about animals that included the work of artist Sam Easterson and his “bird cams,” which gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “bird’s eye view.” Sam is interested in points-of-view from non-human beings. For his “bird cams,” he strapped tiny cameras to the heads of several species of bird. I saw the world from the point of view from an ostrich, a chicken, a duck, and some others. Apparently, Sam Easterson has also created an “octopus cam” and a “sheep cam,” as well as buffalo and alligator cams, and countless other animal cams. He has collected footage from over fifty different animals—even seemingly dangerous ones. The miniature cameras Sam uses are ones normally used for surveillance purposes. He then strips them of their plastic casings, leaving only a circuit board and lens. He hopes the videos will cause those who view them to better appreciate the natural world. [
Wonderful Shot dog camera by Takara Tomy– which is exactly what you suspect it is: a camera strapped to your pooch, so you can see from his or her point-of-view– is a 3.5 megapixel camera with 8 MB internal memory, a rechargeable battery, and timer that goes every 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, or 60 seconds, so that your dog can take pictures all day while out roaming. You can control the camera to take pictures using a remote control. Another option is setting the camera to take pictures at the interval you specify. It comes with a collar clip, and instructions in English.
Recently, Photojojo, a neat website that often features DIY photography projects, posted instructions for making a DIY doggie-cam—the poor man’s version of the Wonderful Shot dog camera.
All you need for this easy project is a Gorillapad and a digital camera. You screw your camera to the Gorillapad and bend the legs around your dog’s neck. You should adjust the settings on your digital camera, so it either takes continuous video footage, or is configured to capture images every minute. Voila! You now have your own homemade doggie-cam.
I’m not a dog owner, personally, but imagine that the dog-cams work just as well on cats, though I can’t imagine the footage being particularly exciting. Who knows, maybe I’m wrong, and Joseph turns out to be a better photographer than I am. “Cat-cam” does have a nice ring to it, though.
Salt ‘n peppa.
The artist Rita Botelho has made these absolutely great salt and pepper shakers out of film canisters. They cost $35 at the MOMA online store (you can also get these gift-wrapped), but that seems a little steep for salt and pepper shakers that look like film canisters. You could probably make your own using film canisters and a sharp thumb tack or thick needle, poking them into the shape of an S and a P (make sure the holes are big enough for the grains to pass through). Anyway, what a great idea for recycling film canisters you no longer have use for. Other uses for film canisters include: matchstick holders (they’re great for keeping your matches dry when you go camping), toothbrush protectors (cut an appropriate-sized hole in the lid and protect your toothbrush while you travel), containers for quarters (or other coins, though quarters fit so perfectly and are convenient for Laundromats and toll booths), pill containers (you can even get a series of them and label them with days of the week, if you’re a several-pill-a-day kind of person), or a dispenser for a roll of stamps (cut a slit in the lid).
What are some of the ways you use empty film canisters? Leave your comments below.
Fell in love with a camera
Some exciting news for all you White Stripes fans out there. I am probably the biggest White Stripes fan of all time. OK, maybe that’s not true. At least out of everyone I know. The first time I heard “Fell in love with a girl” was absolutely transcendent: Meg White’s drumming was so simple and yet so spot-on (it doesn’t hurt that she’s the cutest thing!). Anyway the music was just the first thing that drew me in. I’ve become a huge fan of the Whites themselves actually. They’re so enigmatic and so great (are they married? Are they brother and sister? What a mystery! Actually, in case you didn’t know, the Detroit Free Press produced copies of the marriage and divorce certificates, so the mystery’s been solved. But it was fun while it lasted!) They were so great acting in Coffee and Cigarettes, plus I thought Jack’s producing on Loretta Lynn’s Van Lear Rose was just so great. As if he weren’t cool enough already, Jack has the same birthday as me: July 9. Coincidentally we share the same birthday as Courtney Love and also Tom Cruise. Anyway, I’ve written about Lomography before (namely the Diana camera, which they recently re-released), but the folks over at Lomography are coming out with a new special limited edition of White Stripe Lomography cameras, which is spectacular news for a rock ‘n roll and retro camera junkie like myself! There are 3,000 Jack Holgas and Meg Dianas, both very stylish looking in red and black. The cameras themselves are no different than the standard Holgas and Dianas, except for the colors. They’re selling the cameras in starter kits that include the cameras, an additional fisheye lens, three filter sets, a Peppermint lens filter; the Meg camera comes with a “Nobody Knows How To Talk To Children” ringflash and Peppermint film mask filter. Each set retails for $180. You can read more about the cameras at the White Stripes official website.
Seriously aerial photography
Everybody knows that espionage has long been an important aspect of warfare. In the early twentieth century, the German military collected photographs in order to keep tabs on their enemies. But these were no ordinary photographs: they were aerial shots, taken from above, and the photographers were none other than pigeons. A German engineer named Julius Neubronner created a small analogue camera with a timer that could be fitted around a pigeon’s neck. The military took note of this and soon the pigeons were put to use, stealthily sneaking pictures of unsuspecting enemies from above. This wasn’t the first time pigeons were used for military purposes, of course. Homing pigeons also used to carry messages in tiny capsules back and forth between European battle zones. They were faster than more conventional means of message delivery, and would frequently contain information about soldiers who had been made prisoners by enemies. Read more about pigeon photographers at PigeonBlog.
Of mice and men…and cameras
Here’s a super cool to way to reuse that old computer mouse that’s lying around. A DIY photographer named Dave Schlier was able to turn an old computer mouse into a remote shutter release. Everyone goes through phases of taking pictures of themselves: for some people this phase lasts longer than others. In any case, you can now take pictures of yourself using an old-fashioned computer mouse! Since everything’s becoming wireless these days it’s a neat way to recycle your old, now obsolete mice, and can work with many Pentax and Canon cameras. One of the mouse buttons is used to trigger the autofocus mode and the other button is pushed to take a photograph. There aren’t too many supplies, and they are all easy to acquire: a 3/32” stereo jack, 3 or 4 wire cable, and an old mouse with two buttons. See more pictures of Dave Schlier’s repurposed computer mouse at Flickr.
Princess of cameras
The Diana camera, like the Holga, is a plastic “toy” camera from Hong Kong that shot sixteen 4×4 cm images per roll. It was first produced during the sixties by the “Great Wall Plastic Factory.” In the United States, it cost a few dollars per camera. The camera was famous for the dreamy, ethereal look created by the camera’s plastic single-element lens and spawned many copycats, including the “Future Scientist,” “Megomatic,” “Snappy,” “Windsor,” and “Zodiac.” The original Diana featured two shutter settings, three aperture settings, and manual focus. One downside to the Diana was that nearly all cameras had light leaks, and had to be taped up to prevent exposure. The tape then had to be removed whenever the film needed to come out. To fans, however, this was no big deal—a small price to pay for the lovely pictures created by their beloved Diana camera. I’m in complete accord.
Which is why I was so excited by this news: though production of the Diana stopped in the seventies, with the increased demand for higher quality cameras such as 35mm cameras and Instamatic cameras, Lomography has recently re-released the Diana camera—improving upon it and calling it the “Diana PLUS.” The Diana PLUS has new features such as a pinhole function, which allows you to take pinhole shots with a super wide-angle perspective, an endless panorama function (which allows you to take a sequence of pictures very close to one another) and a shutter lock feature, which is great for photographers who like to have more control over their variables.
Amazingly, this man, Allan Detrich has amassed the world’s largest collection of Diana cameras and Diana copycat cameras.
Get Shorpy
Shorpy calls itself “the 100-year-old photo blog.” I’m pretty sure there were no bloggers 100 years ago, but there was definitely photography, and a lot of it is featured in galleries on this blog. When I’m stuck in a photography rut or feeling uninspired by my subject matter at the moment, I peruse Shorpy and that usually does the trick. Shorpy is just rife with ideas and inspiration. The site features galleries about all sorts of things, including cities, factories, kids, mining, pretty girls (love this category!), railroads, rural America, and sports. There’s even a members’ gallery, where people can display their own work.
Speaking of old photography, I recently stumbled upon an online gallery of Victorian post-mortem photography.
Not sure how many of you are familiar with this: After people died in the 19th and early-20th century, it wasn’t uncommon for people to have photographs snapped of their loved ones. Well, back then, I suppose photography wasn’t so “snappy” in general. It did, however, go a lot more quickly than painting. Apparently, because photographs taken after death were much cheaper and quicker than portrait-painting, many families who could not afford to have their portraits painted had these post-mortem pictures taken instead. The subjects were posed as though they were asleep or upright, as though living. I guess it didn’t seem so morbid back then, since people died a lot younger and more frequently than they do now. There were a lot more things to die from. Now that I think about it, there is a kind of tranquil, peaceful look about these. Doesn’t it seem strange, though, that there are sometimes living children posed with their dead brothers and sisters? I would feel troubled.
3-D Photography
Who doesn’t love 3-D? If you ask me, we should all embrace three dimensions. After all, we do live in them. Me, personally, I’m always finding myself in line for the latest IMAX films (I especially like anything underwater, involving sharks that look like the real deal). I’ve always been a big fan of those 3-D glasses with one red eye and one blue as well as Magic Eye.
Anyway, one camera I’ve always been fascinated with is the Nimslo camera, a 3-D camera invented by Jerry Nims and Allen Lo that was introduced in the 1980s.
It’s a 35 mm viewfinder lenticular stereo camera with fixed focus and automatic exposure. It has four lenses that take four pictures all at once, each from a slightly different point-of-view. When you send the camera’s negatives for lenticular printing, the printer assembles the images together under a lenticular screen, a sort of plastic sheeting (as I understand it). The company went out of business—I think in the mid-nineties—but devout Nimslo fans still exist, by what I can tell from internet searches. You can find Nimslo cameras cheaply on eBay. Some people like to fiddle with their Nimslo cameras to adjust them to other uses.
