Indeed, now there are much better ways to get an aerial camera perspective that will make you the talk of the local photo community!  (With many more stories that involve awesome photos, and hopefully far fewer that involve tragic impacts! ;-)

Check out this awesome Kickstarter project called “Eye3″, that we found on Engaget:

…Unfortunately, it looks like it may be another two years before the American FAA even *considers* allowing the general public to send their DSLR’s zipping through the skies around their favorite photo locations.  For now, “UAV” photography such as the “Draganfly” RC helicopters  seems to be restricted to government use only.

And honestly?  I guess I can’t blame them.  I mean without a lot of strict regulation, this could spell disaster at any small municipal airport if some aviation photo nut were to get a little over-zealous…  And can you imagine a bunch of noisy, camera-carrying “birds” buzzing around all your favorite photo locations?  That quiet beach sunset? That serene national park?  Hmm, all of a sudden I’m having second thoughts here, even though the geek inside me is still giddy.

Personally, I’ve also always been a fan of KAP,  or “Kite Aerial Photography”…  Most notable is the great work by Scott Haefner, an “Urban Exploration” photographer who has been attaching DSLR’s to kites since at least 2002.  Of course you gotta have wind for this aerial option to work, but at least it’s probably a whole lot more affordable than a computer-stabilized, 5-rotor helicopter!  Also, of course it’s a lot quieter…  Personally, there has always been a nature-conscious side of me that tries to remember what is best for the natural environment, and also what is just plain respectful to other people.

“Return to Camelot” (Image is copyright, used by permission!)
(Burning Man 2009) 

 “Eye of the Storm” (Image is copyright, used by permission!)
” Spiral Jetty Earthwork” by Robert Smithson (Great Salt Lake, Utah)

So what I’m wondering now is, …are we photo geeks getting out of control?  Triggering our wireless flashes all up in people’s & animals’ faces?  Carelessly plunking our tripods down in every last tidepool on the beach?  And now, sending our cameras up into the air on a noisy, privacy-shrinking robo-copter-camera?  (Not to mention, if a ~10 pound camera rig falls on your head from more than just a few feet, it could kill you!)

Whatever your own personal answer to this question may be, I think it is important to note one thing-  Think twice, and be respectful.  I’m a huge camera geek, a strobist, and even quite the aviation buff.  I hope that in a few years we can all play with amazing new gadgets that allow us to create photographs like never before.  But I also hope that we can keep ourselves from ever getting too disrespectful of the environment, or other people’s privacy.

Last but not least I’ll take us back to the subject of “camera tossing”, but in a totally different way this time, one that is quite harmless by comparison…   It isn’t very “aerial”, but it still involves “tossing” your camera for a split second. …In a dark room, with just a couple flashlights / glow-sticks, or whatever you like.  What.  The.  Heck. …you say?  Here’s a hint-  It involves very slow shutter speeds, and VERY abstract results.  Check out the official CameraToss blog, or the group on Flickr, for more!  If enough people request it, maybe we’ll do a tutorial on camera-tossing sometime…

Please feel free to share YOUR OWN aerial photos of any kind, OR your opinion on the subject in general.  I’m curious to know whether people feel the same way I do about all this awesome new technology that we’re just starting to scratch the surface of… :-)

Take care,
=Matt=

Who knew food photography could be so geeky and scientific?  Post-Production Pye showed me this video on Vimeo, (thanks to James Lee who is a master chef and photography enthusiast!) and I think it’s an amazing concept that was beautifully accomplished.

Of course the folks at http://modernistcuisine.com/ haven’t even really used the “latest” technology in executing their concept, from a technical standpoint all it took was a regular high-speed flash setup, something that has been around for decades.  The most famous high-speed photo (Harold Edgerton) was captured in 1964!  And look, it’s food again!

But seriously, does that mean that *ALL* food photography is now considered “old”?  Not in my opinion.  If anything, this only proves that creative people will always find a new way to approach photography.

Now, let’s add the absolute NEWEST in photographic technology to the equation:  Namely, the amazing improvements we have seen recently in digital sensor image quality, especially dynamic range and low-light performance at high ISO’s.  The work of Tom Lowe from TimeScapes.org has continually blown us away here at SLR Lounge; I personally have the HD video on pre-order and I’m super excited!  Raw footage like this just goes to show that there are many, MANY new horizons out there for us to enjoy…

I’m sure that many readers still have one or two thoughts going through their minds:

1.)  It *still* has all been done before, all we’re doing is re-shooting stuff in higher resolution.  (Boring?)
Often, this is true.  Movies like Avatar could be considered “totally new”, …or some people are just calling it “a computer re-generated re-make of ‘Dances With Wolves’…”  LOL!  But I would argue that even though we’re all using the same “building blocks”, fresh creativity still abounds today.  That’s what it’s all about- building blocks, and finding new things to do with them.  Just like how each human being is made out of the same stuff-  skin and bones – and yet we manage to come up with 6+ billion different (sets of) fingerprints!

2.)  Sure, an elite few people are “inventing” new things, but the rest of US are still just copying THEM. (So why bother?)
In my opinion that is such a cop-out!  Yeah, I might be “copying” Tom Lowe when I go out to Joshua Tree at 2 AM and drive around photographing time lapses on a Canon 5 D mk2 and 24 1.4 L… But you know what?  I still find it very, very creatively satisfying to follow in the footsteps of other pioneers.  We’re still at the cutting edge of what is possible, and just because another artist is one step ahead of you today, doesn’t mean you or someone else won’t be able to pass them by in a year or three!

All I can say is, that if  everyone gave up on trying something new and creative the moment they saw someone else using the same technique, well, then we would never get to enjoy masterpieces such as this:

Take care,
=Matt=

Dates: February 16-23, 2012
Location: MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV
Value: $399 (free for SLR Lounge Writers)

(Jim Garner, WPPI 2011 presentation)

Here is what would be expected in a written article:
• Attend eight or more lectures, and write articles for at least six of  those lectures.  (There are master classes, platform classes, and trade show classes.)
• Instead of 8 Lectures, you may also interview 8 tradeshow booths with the same word and image requirements as below.
• A minimum of 500 words for each lecture, with two photos of the classroom / platform.
• Written  within 2 weeks of WPPI.

You can see some previous WPPI lecture notes here:  http://www.slrlounge.com/?s=wppi+notes

If you were already planning on attending a bunch of classes, and if you’re a dedicated, hard-working person who can follow through with article writing, then please get in touch with me!  matt (at) slrlounge is my email, of course.  We only need 3-5 writers this year, and WPPI needs to know who we will be giving the press passes to ASAP, so please get in touch if you’re interested!

Take care,
=Matt=

(Jasmine Star, WPPI 2010)

Okay so if you don’t know what SOPA and PIPA are, well, you basically have not been on the internet *AT ALL* in the past few weeks.  But CLICK HERE to read some of the “anti-SOPA” propaganda if you need to.

I’ll cut right to the point:  Yes, I’m thrilled that I can just go on Youtube whenever I want to hunt down that random Paul Simon song about Nikon cameras, or watch awesome, tear-jerking clips of U2 concerts.  (For the thousandth time…)   However, THAT DOESN’T MEAN IT’S LEGAL!  Yes, I enjoy the freedom with which I can blog random tidbits and photos, even if I have no idea who originally created it…

Again, just because everything on the internet is free and we’re all accustomed to it, that DOES NOT MAKE IT LEGAL.  In a way, I think that “social media” has given the entire internet world a huge sense of entitlement.  And why not?  We already use Google’s innumerable services for FREE.  Facebook is FREE, Twitter is FREE, and blogging is mostly FREE.  So naturally, everyone just thinks that if it’s all free, what’s wrong with sharing something cool / funny / educational?  Even if it’s “kinda” copyrighted?

Well, I’m here to say that as a creative person, (and admittedly,  reclusive & anti-social) …I would be just fine if 90% of the internet were just “erased” due to copyright violations.  Sure, I’d cry a little bit at first.  I’d have to start from scratch on my blogging and Facebook wall.  But you know what?  I’d also get off the computer, *gasp* and spend a lot more time in real life!  Heaven forbid I actually go out for a walk, maybe to a library or to an art gallery, or a concert, …and enjoy other people’s creativity the old-fashioned way, without “harmlessly” infringing a copyright.

Now, let me clarify:  THIS DOES NOT MEAN I SUPPORT the SOPA or PIPA in Congress.  I’ve tried to read up on them, but all the support / petition sites seem strangely vague about the real facts; it seems like more propaganda, scare tactics, and bandwagon effects than serious discussion of the exact wording of the bills.  Again I am NOT trying to diminish the true urgency of what could happen if those bills passed, I’m just saying that I haven’t been able to gather enough hard facts yet to form an official, vote-casting opinion.  This post here is just a thought I had, and hopefully it will get you thinking too.

I do understand that many, many businesses out there are based ENTIRELY on social media, and in a worst case scenario these businesses / markets could disappear overnight.  Millions of dollars could stop dead in their tracks, people could lose their jobs, etc. etc.  However, once again, in my opinion it just comes down to whether or not what is happening in social media is LEGAL.  If you’ve built a business on a foundation that is even lightly sprinkled with the illegal sharing of music or images, or any other INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY, well, …didn’t you kinda see this coming?  I’m sure you KNEW, in the back of your head.

Anyways, all I want to say is that I’m in favor of respecting the rights of someone who creates something.  Just because the internet is FREE and EASY, doesn’t make it LEGAL.  If you go and “share” a random image from my landscape portfolio, (in order to drive traffic to your website that pays you profits from ads or affiliates) …then you’re breaking the law a tiny little bit.  You might have only profited a mere $0.05 by circulating my creative work, but you’re still breaking the law.

The only question is, how far should we bend the law, where do we draw the line?  Is this “Big Brother” cracking down on our freedom of speech and other unalienable rights?  Or is this just a healthy curbing of social media’s out-of-control sense of entitlement and blatant disrespect for copyright?  So far, I’m not sure at all.

Your thoughts, opinions, and additional information (NO cliche propaganda though, please) are very, very welcome!  I am certain that there is much for me to learn on this subject, and I fully expect to gain a completely different perspective by the time this is all over.

Take care,
=Matt=

(My #1 most copyright-infringed image)
Nikon D70, Nikon 17-35 - Death Valley, 2005

Just when you thought photographers were nerdy enough, someone goes and does something AWESOME like this…  Photographer Cédric Delsaux has created an incredible body of work that is not your usual, run-of-the-mill architecture / urbex photo collection- carefully added to each composition is an element of Star Wars fantasy.  I guess you can call it “sci fi photography”.  Wow that opens up a whole new world of possibility!  Check out more images on the Fstoppers page, or check out the book on Amazon!  I definitely want this for my birthday…  ;-)

Take care,
=Matt=