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.
Archive for October, 2007
Fell in love with a camera
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.
