The Century Camera

See what develops over the next 100 years.The Century Camera appears in GOOD Issue 18, which is on newsstands now. While you can try printing your pinhole camera at home on a color inkjet or laser printer—make sure you print it double-sided, as you need both sides to make it work—the thicker ink of a printing press will probably give you better results over the next century or so. We recommend you go pick up a copy of GOOD Issue 18: The Slow Issue.

But, if you want to give it a go, here's a PDF version of the page from the magazine.As you flip to the next page, rip it out. Cut, prick, fold, glue. You’ve just constructed a pinhole camera that will take a single picture with a 100-year-long exposure. Since you’ll need to fix the camera in the same position until 2110, find a place that matters to you enough to document the next century of change (it will still work if you move it, the image will just be more abstract). It doesn’t have to be an endangered rainforest. It could be your own neighborhood.

This camera is a simple instrument. The pinhole lets in a little light each day, focusing it on the black ink at the back of the box. The ink will gradually fade as light streams into the camera, preserving a unique positive print of the illuminated landscape. Nothing fast-paced will be captured—neither people nor machines—but transformations over decades will register as shades of ghostly gray, and whatever remains constant will look as sharp as it would in an instantaneous snapshot.You may not be around to see the results of your work.

But if your children watch over it and protect it from the elements, and if your camera weathers the next hundred years, then your grandchildren will receive a revealing inheritance. What’s more, the following generation of GOOD readers will have the opportunity to view the image you’ve made in a special folio that the editors have committed to printing in 2110.In the meantime, you may come across cameras set up by other readers. They might be encountered anywhere, or rest unobserved for the whole hundred years, thousands of black-box time capsules collectively witnessing our world in transition.

Via Good Blog

Why the Market Can't Give Us Quality News

Because we don't want it. Miller-McCune reports on a new study by some media researchers at USC that looked at the "viewing habits, cultural, political and cognitive dispositions" of people in six different countries.
Their findings:

(1) viewers worldwide turn to particular broadcasters to affirm rather than inform their opinions, meaning the global news media are likely to reinforce existing attitudes and stereotypes of cultural ‘others’; and

(2) the longer viewers have been watching Al-Jazeera English, the less dogmatic they are in their thinking and thus more open to considering alternative and clashing opinions.There are endless studies showing how slanted, infotainment news in the style of Fox doesn't do much to really inform people.

But with The New York Times moving to a "metered model," it merits mentioning the further point that if we just let the market decide which media outlets survive we will likely end up with less informed, more dogmatic voters because people don't choose informing news.

Via Good Blog

Rape Victims Vs. Prison Rape Victims

I recently headed over to the Web site for Just Detention International (formerly Stop Prison Rape) in order to learn more about this sad study reporting high rates of sexual assaults against juvenile detainees in the U.S. (Short version: one-in-eight detained youth report being sexually assaulted within their facility within the past year; 80 percent of these victims were abused by a member of the facility’s staff).
The numbers make JDI’s current ad campaign, which attempts to raise awareness about sexual abuse within our prison system, even more striking.
Consider the rape victim above. Then, consider her after a change of clothes:

JDI’s campaign comes in three flavors. The first is aimed at addressing rape in detention facilities. The second is aimed at promoting the sexual health of detainees:

And the third is simply aimed at preventing jokes about prison rape:

I love this public-awareness campaign. I think the before-and-after effect is really on point in revealing how our society completely dehumanizes detainees by condoning their sexual assaults. However, I’m afraid that I’m a bit jaded about the expectations of the “before” part of the campaign. Unfortunately, I know that there are people out there who would look on as a woman is brutally raped. There are people out there who would refuse to allow their tax dollars to go toward basic HIV prevention. And there are people who would joke about a man being raped. (That last attitude is particularly widespread). If anything, this campaign shows that it’s time to address our attitudes that minimize the sexual assaults of detainees—and those which minimize the experiences of all other victims, too.

via Washington City Paper

James Dean

suicideblonde:
“The unforgettable image of James Dean, hunched in his black overcoat, bearing the weight of a generation on his shoulders.”- Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker
This iconic photograph of James Dean was taken by Dennis Stock, who died this week at age 81.

via That Obscure Object

The FBI Sucks at Photoshop

This week, the FBI released a “digitally-altered” image showing what Osama Bin Laden possibly looks like now that he’s older.While the FBI claims to have used “cutting-edge” technology to create the image, a Spanish politician has noticed that the poster is a modified version of his campaign photo — he now finds his face in America’s most wanted list.
While on the surface it’s an amusing misstep by intelligence agencies, Gaspar Llamazares, the former leader of Spain’s United Left coalition, calls the move “shameless.” His safety is at risk, he told the BBC, and he no longer feels able to travel to America now that his likeness is on a wanted poster: “Bin Laden’s safety is not threatened by this but mine certainly is,” Llamazares said.

Left, Bin Laden in 1998; middle, the FBI image; right, Gaspar Llamazares

The FBI is quoted admitting to the error, saying that the artist found the photo on the web and didn’t know it was of a Spanish politician:
“When producing age-progressed photographs, forensic artists typically select features from a database of stock reference photographs to create the new image…it appears that in this instance the forensic artist was unable to find suitable features among the reference photographs and obtained those features, in part, from a photograph he found on the Internet.
The forensic artist was not aware of the identity of the individual depicted in the photograph. The similarities between the photos were unintentional and inadvertent.”
We don’t think it matters that the man in question was a notable politician: Using photos from an image search to create a most wanted poster is surely putting the subject at risk, is it not?

via Mashable

Stunning images of space taken from a shed

Amateur astronomer Peter Shah who has taken astonishing shots of the universe from his garden shed Photo: WALES NEWS SERVICE

Here's a great story in the Telegraph about an amateur stargazer who tricked out his garden shed in the U.K. and surprised professional astronomers around the world with his top-notch images.

Peter Shah, 38, cut a hole in the roof of his wooden shed and set up his modest eight-inch telescope inside. After months of patiently waiting for the right moment he emerged with a series of striking images of the Milky Way.
His photographs of a vivid variety of star clusters light years from Earth have been compared to the images taken from the £2.5 billion Hubble space telescope.

But it cost Mr Shah just £20,000 to equip his garden shed with a telescope linked to his home computer. He said: "Most men like to potter about in their garden shed - but mine is a bit more high tech than most."
You can read the full story here.

Posted by Shawn Connally Jan 23, 2010 01:40 PM


Peter Shah, 38, cut a hole in the roof of his wooden shed and set up his modest eight-inch telescope inside. After months of patiently waiting for the right moment he emerged with a series of striking images of the Milky Way.

His photographs of a vivid variety of star clusters light years from Earth have been compared to the images taken from the £2.5 billion Hubble space telescope.

But it cost Mr Shah just £20,000 to equip his garden shed with a telescope linked to his home computer. He said: "Most men like to potter about in their garden shed – but mine is a bit more high tech than most.

"I have fitted it with a sliding roof so I can sit in comfort and look at the heavens. I have a very modest set up but it just goes to show that a window to the universe is there for all of us – even with the smallest budgets.

"I had to be patient and take the images over a period of several months because the skies in Britain are often clouded over and you need clear conditions."

Office worker Mr Shah, who lives in a hillside bungalow at Meifod, near Welshpool, Powys, has been an avid astronomer since his mother bought him a £5 telescope when he was seven.

Images in his collection include the Monkey's head nebula, M33 Pinwheel Galaxy, Andromeda Galaxy and the Flaming Star Nebula.

The superb photos, each made up of about 30 frames, are being published in a new book entitled Mirror Image. Mr Shah’s wife Lisa has supported him through his long nights of stargazing – supplying endless cups of coffee.

His images have been brought together for the first time in a book called Mirror Image. Images from the book and other photographs can be viewed at http://www.astropix.co.uk



Via Make Magazine and Telegraph

8 Cool & Creative Cameras, Lenses & Accessories

Photography enthusiasts are known for their piles and piles of gear. Some camera-related gadgets and gizmos are weirder than others. Whether it’s a lens that can see behind itself or a three-eyed camera that you can toss like a football, these are a few of the oddest and most innovative cameras, lenses and photography accessories out there.

If you’ve ever dreamed of being a spy, the super-secret spy lens is perfect for you. The bulky and conspicuous lenses required for portraiture usually make it difficult to catch people being truly candid. This lens lets you shoot people next to you while aiming straight ahead, making it easier to catch subjects unaware and avoid that awkward moment of recognition.

This tiny digital camera from designer Hye-Jeong Yang may be just a concept, but it’s a good one. The idea is that you set it on a level surface and it spins around in a circle like a top, taking a perfect panoramic picture in the process. It’ll even take video, though a panoramic video taken by a spinning camera may be a little nausea-inducing.

The above doodad is the Flipbac, which gives you the flip-out LCD screen experience without the actual flip-out screen. The small mirror attaches to your camera’s LCD screen and shows you a reflection of what you’re aiming your camera at so that you can shoot at different angles without contorting your body.

This Nikkor Fisheye 6mm f/2.8 lens is so wide that it can actually see behind itself. It’s the widest lens available; it boasts an angle of 220 degrees – a full 40 degrees wider than standard fisheye lenses. The lens will create a strange, circular image which can be corrected digitally to produce a non-distorted picture. The lens was originally produced for scientific use but has found its way into mainstream use. Don’t get any ideas about hauling it to the park for take pictures of the kids, though: at almost 11.5 pounds, it’s a little too hefty for everyday use.

Action shots of people doing extreme things are always awesome, but imagine taking that shot from inside the action. The Rush Action Camera can be worn on a bike, a surfboard, a skateboard, or on a helmet to catch your face or your point of view while you’re sporting your little heart out. The shutter release trigger is worn on a ring on the user’s finger so you can trigger the device to take a photo at just the right moment, with nothing more than a small thumb movement.

Triops, a cute but tough digital camera from German designer Franziska Faoro, may well change the way action photos are taken. The camera is designed to be thrown, spun, and dangled from its tether to catch photographs that would be impossible with any other camera. It responds to motion, sound or manual triggers and is robust enough to take the bumps and falls it might encounter being used in such unconventional ways. The three fisheye lenses make capturing panoramas simple, and taking sequential photos is no problem. Just imagine the series you could capture after dropping this little guy from a moderate height, or throwing it back and forth in a circle of people.

The Stabilizer Strap may keep your camera stable while you’re jogging or biking, but it’ll also make you look like a big nerd. The product site says that you just stretch the strap over the lens to secure it to your midsection, then stretch it away from you to remove the camera. Used in conjunction with your camera’s neck strap, we have to admit that it does look like a pretty good way to keep your camera from swinging around and knocking into things. Just don’t think you’ll find a date while you’re taking all of those active photographs.

While it’s not an actual camera lens, the camera lens calender is still one of the coolest photography-related accessories we’ve seen. Instead of using the rings to change the lens’ settings, you use them to determine the month, day and year. The designer’s website doesn’t indicate whether the rings are powered by electricity or people, but either way it seems like a perfect accessory for any photographer.

Via Gajitz