Archive for the ‘Magazines’ Category

Exciting new developments in computational photography may render aperture irrelevant

January 4, 2012
Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Misinformation: Camera Tech

Exciting new developments in computational photography may render aperture irrelevant

By David Willis
In early July, researchers at Cornell University were able to develop a lens-free camera that’s literally pinhead-sized.At 100th of a millimeter thick and one-half a millimeter on each side, the microscopic camera uses no lenses or moving parts, and is said to cost pennies to manufacture. Affectionately dubbed the Planar Fourier Capture Array, the “camera” is a flat piece of silicon that looks like a tiny compact disc, and each pixel is able to capture a vital piece of imaging information that can be combined computationally into a single image.

Myth: Losing Focus Is A Bad Thing

The term “camera” is vague in that all it implies is a device that’s able to capture images and, in general, store them. As digital technology advances and computers become more and more intrinsic to the photographic process, even this broad definition is going to be put to the test. A new technology from Lytro, for instance, allows you to adjust the vital focus of an image after it already has been taken. The camera’s core concept is based around the “light field,” which is comprised of all of the rays of light in a scene. Rather than funneling two-dimensional light rays through a lens and sandwiching them to a camera’s sensor, the Lytro camera takes these light rays and then projects them to a sensor that includes an incredibly efficient microlens array. Lytro is introducing a new file format (.lfp), and the camera includes an interior “light field engine” that works in concert with desktop software to produce “Living Pictures” that maintain multiple focusing points throughout the image.

Once browsers have adopted the format, these images also will carry the necessary information for adjusting focus as they’re shared online. With their first field camera, Lytro is promising an instant shutter without lag, both 2D and 3D capabilities in a single image and taken with a single lens (sort of), a continuously focusable image (discounting motion blur), and better low-light sensitivity because the camera takes all of the light in a scene from all angles. Not surprisingly, their first release is planned to be a point-and-shoot device for consumers, without video, and available by the end of the year. From Lytro’s site: “Relying on software rather than components can improve performance, from increased speed of picture taking to the potential for capturing better pictures in low light. It also creates new opportunities to innovate on camera lenses, controls and design.”

Particularly for action, event and reportage photographers, the implications for photography are enormous, even perhaps allowing for multiple focal points in an image without the need for extensive postprocessing stacking of multiple exposures. The technology, however, isn’t new. In fact, researchers have been aware of light-field theory for three-quarters of a century, and light-field rendering of 2D images from 4D information even was suggested by Marc Levoy and Pat Hanrahan in 1996. A German company called Raytrix actually has had plenoptic light-field cameras available for purchase for nearly a year, offering similar possibilities at a somewhat larger price. Adobe also has been experimenting with a plenoptic camera that takes a three-dimensional image utilizing a grouping of specially configured lenses that combine multiple captures into one behemoth, 100-megapixel image.

There are a lot of thoughts online about how this technology could, or could not, change the field of photography as we know it. Plenoptics removes many of the physical limitations of a lens, including lens aberrations, missed focus and the binding relationship between depth of field and aperture. Removing focus (and, to an extent, aperture) from the image equation has broad implications, however, culminating in the concept that you could theoretically place a camera anywhere, fire it remotely, make changes on a computer and remove the photographer from the image-taking process entirely. Of course, you can do that already. Whether through focus stacking of multiple exposures or software options that give you extensive control over bokeh, these options are already available to photographers and clients. Regardless, removing focus doesn’t necessarily remove the photographer. A camera, no matter how advanced, is just a tool. A photographer is someone who knows how to wield that tool effectively.

reprint from Digitalphotopro

 Jene

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Edward Steichen, the Conde Nash years 1923-1937

April 20, 2011
Seine river

Paris, Seine river

when mary and i first visited Paris we were very lucky except for the grey sky’s most everyday, after all  it was at the end of October a bit chilly and who cared it was Paris and we were together. the streets seeped with history and the museums budged with art and cafes everywhere with fresh baked croissants.

we rented an apartment through Craigs List and sight unseen were located on the right bank two blocks from the Louvre, somewhere around the Rue du Roule talk about luck and location whoo. by the way Paris has a great jazz radio station with even a feed from WBGO here in Newark NJ. the apartment was small but clean with a kitchenette and a double bed.

but not everyday was gloomy there were some lovely days and being with my honey made up for any rainy days

Seine river with Eiffel tower

Museum passes in hand we headed out into the great city of lights to see what we could discover. no we didn’t do the Louvre first as we wanted to be outside enjoying Paris. we walked around a lot since we were in the middle of everything. mary was taking a photography class back in NJ so she had homework assignments, not a bad place to do your homework.

but this isn’t about Paris yet connected in every way in my mind. we discovered the photographic exhibit called Edward Steichen In High Fashion, The Conde Nash Years at the Jeu de Paume Museum, organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis and The Musee de L’Elysee,Lausanne.  We never had a clue it would be there nor did we know too much about Steichen’s work.

the photography  exhibit blew me away and how much of it that was on display wow. the portrait of Gloria Swanson 1924 has to be seen in person it’s just amazing. all of the prints were wonderfully done as one would expect from an artist such as Steichen even though he’s long gone. along with all the prints there was a movie interview with him in his studio which i fell in love with because it showed all his lighting equipment and he sat next to a huge camera sort of a Steichen at work type of thing. the floor was covered with big black wires powering the plato convex spotlights, floods etc of that period.

At the end of the exhibit comes the book store and trinket shop. i picked up the accompanying book and wanted to buy it right away but alas i am just a dumb american who can’t read French, besides it’s a pretty big book to lug around europe. Steichen worked in B&W photography which is pretty amazing in it’s own right. What he did with his limited space and flats is pretty amazing.

so i am in a book buying binge now and i ordered one from amazon having just finished it this week. i must say it to is a wonderful book especially for people who never had an opportunity to see the traveling exhibit which has long gone into retirement. i wish i had been able to read the book and then see the exhibit again. i think would have gotten more out of the exhibit at the time but one can’t, at least i haven’t found a way to time travel yet.

i recommend this book to anyone who has a love of B&W photography or fashion history, it’s a real treasure.

some say artist working in commercial endeavors looses touch with the art. we all got to eat and would like other people to enjoy our work, i always feel that i am sending my children to a foster home when someone buys a picture. Steichen had this to say  in a letter to

Mrs Chase;

“in connection with our idea about dignified and distinguished presentation of ‘Beauty’ pictures if they can be done in Duotone they will be greatly enhanced. there are some works of art in the Louvre that if presented in a peep show would be condemned s pornographic. in the Louvre they are art – make Vogue a Louvre.”

don’t we all just want to be loved for what we do? i’ve fallen in love here with a master of B&W photography and this book shows why he’s considered such.

this is the next place i want to stay in Paris or maybe Amsterdam

house boats

jene

www.jeneyoutt.com

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submitting nude images to art contest

January 18, 2011

ugh a dastardly chore but it gives me a chance to sit here in front of my computer screen perusing hard drives and long ignored files. in a way i get to see my images in a new light as it were. today i processed color images to B&W and found some pretty cool images of a young female artist i had the privilege to work with a few years ago.

Caught

well to you observant types yes you’re right…this is a male image i threw in because i thought this was pretty cool and had worked on it also to submit to SHOTS magazine which is a B&W mag.

but i’ll try and show the images in color then B&W so we may see the difference. first let me say the young artist didn’t seem too happy with my images. she had said she was looking for images to post for fine art modeling. heck i thought that’s right up my alley so it should be pretty easy. at least i liked some of them.

young artist portrait

a bit dramatic i guess but we went all over trying different looks in the same dress and some not.

B&W

it’s hard for me to be objective about my work, love it when the clients are ecstatic but to get nothing from them is hard. i do meet a lot of people that way, maybe it’s a generational thing.

another version

then B&W

B&W

but just so you don’t get the idea we lost our vision for what she said she wanted images for we did some of these

nude female

and then this

B&W

yes the lighting is a bit dramatic as i was using my lowel lighting tungsten package.

reclining nude

but this image works much better in B&W than it does in color unlike the others above, but then what do i know, i just pushed the button

B&W

do i think any of these images are prize winning? i’ve no idea but it keeps me from causing too much trouble out here in the world, although i did submit a complaint against con edison to the public service commission and another to my landlord for the conditions in my public hallways today. it’s raining too hard to be wandering around the streets of New York.

jene

Posted in art, Artist, female nudes, figure studies, Magazines, nude, nude photography, photography contests, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Red Bull illume photo contest

December 3, 2009

Red Bull photo contest

Heres to all you sport photographers or aspiring sport photographers. hey you never know what they will pick it could be your image. so why not look through you work and see if you have something they might like.

here’s their link: red bull rules

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Driving into the sun with kerouac

November 30, 2009

it’s a slow process recovering from rotator cuff surgery but hey i had nothing else planned for these past weeks so why not experience something new? but today as the rain beats against my window and i struggle with my creativity why not remember, memory is so frail and ephemeral, or at least try to some of the more comic events in my life.

this won’t be about pictures although as minor white says ‘i am always mentally photographing every thing as practice.’ just the pictures in my memory or what is left of it, everything degrades with time, becomes warped with the heat of thought. as if a passing thought somehow warps another in its passing by.

this is about a long long time ago, the summer of  1964 in northport on long island new york. i guess it relates to robert franks ‘the americans’ as franks say ‘you can photograph anything.’ but this is a photographic memory without a camera.

that summer i had the job as stage manager/ lighting designer/ driver and a few other jobs i’ve probably forgotten. the theater was the red barn, the show the fantasticks, the town northport ny and the car a 1956 blue and white ford station wagon.

that’s where and why i met jack kerouac . there wasn’t much for me to do after the show  which is unusual for a summer stock playhouse. the show ran for 6 weeks or so with my only duties being running the show and picking up people either in the new york city or the train station. i don’t do ‘having time on my hands well’, at least in those days.

my first form of entertainment was drinking or at least hanging around bar rooms. that was how i got a lot of jobs in those days from my bar room friends but this one was actually gotten through a trade magazine.  after work with nothing else to do usually found me wandering around the town looking for something. that’s where i met kerouac we were both looking for something.

there is a much more informative account of the life and times of jack kerouac in nortport naming people, places and times. maybe not the same people i knew nor who jack knew but more respectable ones with addresses. the thing i liked about nortport was the harbor which was part of the huntington, centerport and nortport harbors. this is primarily a fishing working class village.

how i got involved with these people i am not sure, maybe a self-image problem of mine but at a bar with drinks flowing everyone is equal. there was this guy quite charming even drunk as a skunk who wore these checkered 5 and dime shirts. jack was quite a handsome man before the booze bloated him up as he looked now.

in his early writing career he summered in fire watchtowers alone in the wilderness. anyone able to do that isn’t  a slouch at all, but now he was just an educated overgrown kid. i was amazed at some of the stuff that would come out of his mouth nonstop. he considered himself a jazz musician and wrote that way. my literary knowledge wasn’t developed enough to keep up with him. i was still doing the classics hemingway, durrell  maybe camus and baudelaire. so i knew there was something jack  was talking about.

there never was a problem of finding something to do when the bars were open, the problem came after the bars  closed. what to do before unconsciousness overcame us? the clammer’s usually had to get up early in the morning to haul their catches into the wholesaler at a reasonable time of day. they had a airstream trailer secured to a floating raft in the harbor outfitted with double bunk beds and a small kitchen.

jack and i would sometimes hitch a ride with them to the trailer or out to a tent they had across the harbor. it was pretty neat screaming across the harbor full speed ahead towards the tent with a couple of drunks. some fun with harbor and land lights whizzing by into the darkness winding up beaching the boat at 25 mph or whatever, being thrown onto the sand laughing.

or jack would convince me to go into the city with him to see some friends, maybe score some weed. maybe it was just the drive he liked reminding him of all those miles spent with cassidy driving across the country, or maybe the companionship. it wasn’t a long drive maybe an  hour or so, of course we were probably drunk at least by the legal definition of it. i remember one night jacks friends didn’t answer the buzzer and i had to help boost jack up to the firescape while he climbed up to their windows.

jack didn’t like drugs per say other than booze maybe he just tolerated weed something to calm hm down. we were all looking to escape somewhere and i guess he have more to than i. but we had booze in common and i had the keys to the ford and memories long past. since then i’ve read a lot of his books and understand him more that i am older. i only wish i knew him better then.

this was in soho before there was such a thing. there were no people on the street, no nothings except maybe a few rats running across the street darting under a few parked trucks. there i was asleep in the front seat of a 1956 blue and white ford station wagon. sometimes i was invited in to share in the booty.

but it was the drive home that i remember so well. we drove against rush-hour traffic then but i am sure now it’s everywhere. the long island expressway goes straight east from new york, most of the times right into the raising blazing red sun. it’s a wonder in those days we didn’t kill ourselves not for us not trying but maybe we were watched over for some reason or worst yet to kill some innocent being with our stupidity.

i liked jack but felt sorry for him as his mother controled his life but someone had to as he didn’t seem to be able to. there were a lot of good people in my life that summer. i’ve been lucky in life. that fall jack moved to florida or paris or somewhere he later wrote the esquire magazine article which i bought and read. them he died in 1969, i was sad for he touched me with his humanity.

these thoughts filled my head seeing robert franks work. the freedom of driving across america, europe, panama or anywhere. being an american, cars have played an important part in my life, having them or not having them has always been important. i’ve driven this country alone or with my family staking out a new life.

i could spend hours seeing the sun set across the smooth cool pacific ocean as i am not a morning person. there are times in my life when i wish i had a camera and other times when i do i do nothing. it’s enough just to be there. photography is about the past not the present.

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lost another point of light in photography, John Daido Loori Roshi

October 28, 2009

this month October we, the world at large, lost another great photographer and teacher. John Daido Loori 1931-2009.

it was my priviledge to have a few conversations with John Daido Loori Roshi zen priest , teacher, photographer and human being.

I’ve only met him a few times in a casual setting, once at a Change Your Mind day sponsored by Tricycle magazine where he was speaking about his Mountains and Rivers order to the assembled buddhist group sitting on the grassy field in central park. i found him to be a very generous man.

i had asked him a question about reincarnation which other buddhist traditions teach and had been brought up earlier that day. as i recall he said that as far as our atoms being released back into the primordial soup to begin again as some other entity that was about all one could expect.i think he respected all creation and i know he fought hard to preserve his sanctuary and woodland around zen mountain for all beings. his art reflected his spiritual life.

john was an artist/photographer who had studied with Minor White i had always wanted to do a workshop at Zen Mountain Monastery with john. but you know how life is, there was always something getting in the way of taking the time for myself either be it work or money but it never came to be. that is one of my regrets in life.

i have all two of his photography books which if you ever get the chance to do buy. they are still in print at the Monastery Store and the one on creativity.

Making Love With Light is a wonderful study of John’s photography, Zen poems and essays.

Hearing With the Eye are photos from Point , California, makes one remember wandering all sorts of beaches

The Zen of Creativity is about John’s insight on creativity and life. not so much about color photography but more on the creative process as a whole.

i’ve linked these to the monastery store because i believe in supporting the teachings that have helped me. i am sure they can be had from amazon books but i’ve never looked for them there.

I’ve never sat at the monastery nor with john. i do belong to other Buddhist groups namely the Insight Meditation Society and New York Insight but Zen teachers have had a large influence on me beginning with Alan Watts and a non buddhist teacher J.Krishnamurti whom i did see give talks in new york way back when. all of their teachings are still available on-line and in printed form.

i have a very good friend who is a member of the Mountains and Rivers sangha whom i talked to as soon as i learned of john’s illness which even though it’s a big part of the teachings imperemance of this world and time his passing did make me sad. it gives me some comfort to know there are good people in the world even though i don’t know them nor see them regularly it’s just nice to realize they are there.

it’s a big part of metta practice and teachings, to know there are other people in this world wishing me happiness and a good life, even though i don’t know them, they are there. i can be connected to then and this world, even though it’s just a ball of mud and water waiting for its time to evaporate and us along with it. we might as well have some fun and laughs along the way and know that we are loved for who we are.

i just wanted to acknowledge my special feelings about john and other people i’ve come across on my path. yes i felt the loss of this lost point of light, but life goes on until it doesn’t.

Posted in art, Artist, buddhist teachers, film cameras, Magazines, Photography, photography teachers, Zen teachers, Zen teachings | 4 Comments »

Portfolio reviews

May 26, 2009

while we were at NYPH’09 we stopped in to read the list of people doing the Portfolio reviews for the festival. when i was looking over the previews of the festival i saw they were providing these and i said to myself, ‘jene youtt you’ve been there and have always come away feeling worst than when you began.’

it’s not that they are so bad for people i’ve had encouraging words spoken about my work as being different, but i’ve also heard from gallery owners ‘i don’t know who to sell this work to.’ my work doesn’t seem to fit into a commercial mode nor too much of a fine art market.i do manage to sell an image here and there though.

i’ve also been to portfolio reviews where nobody came around to see our work. i am not shy and went looking for who was suppose to be looking at our portfolios. i got just a passing glance but i did embarrassed them enough to have them look at the people around me. how dare they treat us so, and for this we pay a hefty fee.

but back to the subject, mary looked at the list and said we should copy them down to add to our press list. good idea, so that’s what she began to do. i put my backpack on the table gave her a pad and off she went. a young photographer put his portfolio box down on the table next to me which attracted my attention.

he looked as if his dog had just died. i empathized with him and started up a conversation asking him how the review went? he said he was disappointed in the response he got. his work covers a lot of different areas which he had included in his portfolio. he had scheduled to talk with a gallery owner and said she had ripped him apart. i’ve been there and done that so i knew how he felt.

i tried to be upbeat about reviews and said it’s hard to know what people are looking for. i did tell him that i though reviewers were looking for single themes. i’ve had the same thing happen to me at Soho Photo they want to see a submission of a single subject done different ways? i’ve been rejected by this selection committee a couple of times all for different reasons but it doesn’t really matter for what. rejection still hurts.

what to me is the cruelest is when they don’t take the time to explain to you what they don’t like about your work. they get embarrassed by the confrontation. i’ve heard some of the silliest rejections about my work. one of the funniest was ‘nobody on the committee felt like dancing after reviewing your portfolio.’ i tried to keep a straight face but the absurdity of the comment got to me. my comment to that was ‘and if i took pictures of barns they’d want to go to the country?’

a young woman came over to us at the table, she knew the other photographer and they gathered their stuff and jackets and off they went. when you are young and biological and with a pretty woman some of these everyday hurts get forgotten for a time. it’s odd how we humans only seem to remember these small nicks in our egos forever.

oh well, here’s to the next portfolio review.

mary came over finished and we went about the rest of our day, holding hands, being glad to be with each other.

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NYPH ’09 continued

May 20, 2009

if i don’t write about these experiences right away they are lost in grey matter. this is about some of the giveaway mags i found at the festival. this isn’t a complete coverage just my own pics and eye so it’s very subjective.so i’ll just list them as they are in a pile on my desk and let you the viewer make a decision if you want more info.

  1. Nueva Luz; photographic journal, very nice matte paper mag published in Bronx NY.
  2. photoworks; glossy stock english publication, 2 issues a year.
  3. Dear Dave; another glossy stock mag, 3 issues a year.
  4. Eyemazing; glossy stock oversize mag 9.5×13.5″, published in Amsterdam,The Netherlands.
  5. 8 Magazine; which i only found a flyer for , published in the UK, photojournalism.
  6. Lensjockey; distributed by Holly Van Voast who wandered around the show every day handing out free copes of her magazine.i’ve been there done that and know from experience how hard that is. Good luck
  7. Visura; while i didn’t physically see this publication i did see the photographs displayed, some very interesting latin american artist on view. they have a special NYPH special issue.

my fav is eyemazing because of their over size and coverage of whom they featured. but hey you make up your own mind they are all good from their own perspective.

some of the galleries not participating in NYPH’09 but in the neighborhood that had outstanding exhibits were Hossein Farmani’s Farmani Gallery which has an excellent show now, Jesse Diamond’s ‘Drive‘ through June 12,09 and down the hall at Watermill Brooklyn Gallery i saw a Berlin based artist Jonnde Voigt series of large format vertical-rectangular diptychs which amazed me with their fine detail.

so this is what i do wandering around photo festivals, so much right brain activity, well not sure which brain or if i even have one at times, but i get pulled in my others view of the world and really inspired by their vision. i am just an old kid at heart.

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