August 2008 Archives

Since the Athens games in 2004, news sites have come around to having more (and better) photo galleries that aren't strictly tied to articles. The summer games in Beijing seem like the best covered Olympic games in recent memory. Or at the very least, the games with the widest selection of photos available to the public.

The games are finished, now, but there are just tons and tons of photos to be had and here are some of my favourites:

• Olympic Pictures of the Day from the New York Times
• Photo Galleries: Beijing Olympics 2008, LA Times 
• Newsweek's Visions of China. Vincent Laforet's entry about shooting events with multiple cameras is excellent. Access and timing are everything. 
• Women's Fencing at Boston.com's The Big Picture.
  

"Our new cup. 15% less plastic than before. 45% fewer carbon emissions to make it."

The reductions are good news, but I'm just psyched they used "less" and "fewer" correctly. (A good primer on such things if you're interested.)

I love the trees planted around my office complex. They're all some 20' tall, with lovely broad leaves that catch the sunshine beautifully, providing buckets of shade along the way.



Normally: I'm the sort to see such a group of trees, wonder what they are specifically, and go find out. But you know how it is with the everyday: you forget because you see it every day. And so I did. Until today. Finally curious enough to do something about it, I engaged my Google-fu.

Unfortunately: the tree encyclopedia that I found wasn't much of a help in this search. Then it occurred to me that I remember lounging beneath similar trees between classes @ UCLA on the north campus. So I search "UCLA north campus trees" not expecting to find anything, because really: how likely is it that a university would detail their landscaping choices... oh, oh UCLA does. Well, of course we do. (:

As it happens, the trees from my college years and the trees in my everyday life that I enjoy so much are the same: the South African Coral tree. I'd forgotten that the trees at work bloom  every now and again with those bright red flowers. Still: I recognized them at once.

Mystery solved!

Post tree-hunt, I came across 2 other items I want to share with you:

• Not everyone's a fan of Ken Rockwell, but I like him well enough. He's always been straight with me and I appreciate that he uses the gear he talks about. In a recent update, he resurfaced his thoughts on how to use ultra-wide lenses and I think it's a pretty good Getting Started Guide if you're trying out the crazy wide end of the spectrum.
  
  In short? Get close!
• Tycho (aka Scott Hansen) has long been a favourite. Dub, atmospheric (not always the same thing), but never ever boring, I can let a Tycho record or EP play for hours on end. "Sun-drenched" is one of the best descriptions I've seen of his work. His latest EP features the single "The Daydream" (iTunes) and a short film called "Meridian" was just released featuring the track.
  
  Not everyone gets down with the time-lapse photography set to electronic music, but this is pretty good. It's a nice selection of good photos with good transitions and some ridiculous particle effects.
  
  Yum.

It took me a little by surprise to be smitten with photos from Entertainment Weekly not once, but twice in the last couple of weeks.

First up, a photo shoot of the cast from the forthcoming Twilight. And no, I don't mean the cover (Kristin Stewart is gorgeous, but I don't know why they had to do that to Rob Pattinson, I mean, really). Heh. No, I'm talking about the photos in the article, shot by Jeff Riedel.



I like that the photos have little to do with the look of the movie, they're Riedel's own. And you've got to respect a guy who shoots on location with a 4x5 camera. Dang.

Second up, a series of actor portraits from the by-all-accounts insanity that was the '08 San Diego Comic-Con. The portraits, shot by photographer James Dimmock, feature actors at Comic-Con in support of their various projects. A few of my favourites in the bunch:







What I like is the way the subjects dictate the mood of each shot and they're not all serious and drama with just rotating faces. Surely, a metric ton more were shot and just not uploaded, but still, it's a special skill bringing out your subject's personality (one I'm working on, myself) and Dimmock's clearly got it.