Tag: photography

  • Creating a bedroom camera obscura and making a paper negative

    I’d been wanting to make my own camera for several months. Something simple like a shoe box pinhole camera. But then quarantine happened and I stumbled across Brendan Barry’s YouTube video about turning a room in your house into a camera obscura – and making a paper negative and positive print. I thought with the…

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  • Podcast: Seven Tubs in winter on 35mm

    My friend Carl, painting plein air oil, on 35mm Seven Tubs in winter on 35mm Recorded January 13 2020. In spring 2018 Eliza and I walked Seven Tubs and I photographed the area on my Google Pixel 2 XL. On that visit I created a vivid, punchy set of photos that showcased the pop of…

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  • 35mm film in a Medium Format camera

    Ansco Rediflex, expired 35mm Fujicolor Superia 400 35mm film in a Medium Format camera From the same roll as my 2020 avatar are these select exposures of 35mm film hacked into a medium format Ansco Rediflex. What you’re looking at isn’t normal. The Ansco Rediflex is a medium format camera which, when invented in the…

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  • Podcast: Talking gear and settings for shooting film – December 2019

    Canon Rebel G, expired Kodak Color Gold 400 Canon Rebel G, expired Kodak Color Gold 400 Talking gear and settings for shooting film – December 2019 Recorded December 24, 2019. In this episode of the podcast I discuss the gear I took on this trip, why I have them, the settings I use, how I…

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  • My 2020 avatar

    Shot on 35mm film retro fitted into an Ansco Rediflex Quarantine has me trying all sorts of experiments. One of which is retro fitting 35mm film into an old Ansco Rediflex medium format camera. It produces some interesting results (I’ll post a few in the coming days). But I’ve wanted my 2020 avatar to be…

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  • Truck @ 40mph – March 2020

    Konica Autoreflex T, expired Kodak Pan X film Truck @ 40mph – March 2020 Like all of my photos, there is a story behind this one. My boss gave me a camera as a gift. And I shot some really old expired film through it. This was one of my favorites from the roll. More…

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  • Podcast: My first day shooting only film – December 2019

    Canon Rebel G, expired Kodak Color Gold 400 Canon Rebel G, expired Kodak Color Gold 400 Canon Rebel G, expired Kodak Color Gold 400 My first day shooting only film – December 2019 Recorded on December 23, 2019. This episode is packed with nostalgia for me – even though it was only 3 months ago.…

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  • Penn Yan, New York – March 2020

    Ansco Speedex • Ilford HP5+ 400 Penn Yan, New York – March 2020 This is a frame from my very first roll of new black and white film. It was taken on Ilford HP5+ 120 film stock. This is very forgiving film from my newbie perspective. Eliza and I enjoyed a sunny weekend in the…

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  • What I saw somewhat recently #60: March 11, 2020

    Here are some links I’ve found interesting lately. By the way, you can find the entire archives for this fits-and-starts series of posts.

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  • Why I’m shooting with film

    Nearly a decade ago Eliza and I began to make our own wine and beer. We started out making quick batches in buckets, carboys, or other small containers. It allowed us to get more familiar with the process of fermenting fruit or barley into one of our favorite drinks. Pressing grapes, 2013 Eventually we graduated…

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  • Experiments in light metering

    Update April 27, 2020 – I’ve now published a podcast episode related to these photos. As a follow-up to my previous post regarding my journey to-date in film photography – here is an example of how I’ve approached learning the light metering of a scene. Here are several exposures, taken fairly close in time to…

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  • Podcast: Discussing film photography – December 2019

    Snow dusted culm piles – 50mm • f/11 • 1/320s Discussing film photography – December 2019 In this episode of Photowalking with Colin I discuss my interest in film photography over the years and that I’m finally taking the plunge into that world. On the day it was recorded I purchased my first point-and-shoot cameras,…

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  • Tom Elenbaas in Iceland shot on Google Pixel 2 XL

    Tom Elenbaas at Gjáin in Iceland, September 2018 In September 2018, when we visited Iceland, we ran into photographer Tom Elenbaas ankle deep in the waters of Gjáin in the south. I took the above photo of him with my Google Pixel 2 XL. I hadn’t revisited his site in a while but I stopped…

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  • Podcast: A snowy photowalk – December 2019

    55mm f/4 1/1250 Fresh Coyote track Beaver evidence A snowy photowalk – December 2019 Another episode that is simply a walk in the snow where I don’t talk about too much but I wanted to publish it anyway. A few tidbits to pull out of this episode are some of the advantages of fresh snow,…

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  • Podcast: Downy woodpecker – November 2019

    Downy woodpecker – November 2019 In this episode of the podcast I cover the fact that photo gear really does matter. That doesn’t mean that you can’t start learning photography with any gear you have on hand. It simply means that in certain situations gear can mean getting the shot or not. I found the…

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  • The Best of 2019 as told by me

    At the end of the year I like to sit down and make a rather random list of the “best” things I’ve seen that year. I do this almost entirely from memory but I also peruse my browser history and look through my Unmark archive in order to uncover some of the things I appreciated…

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  • One-Picture-Promise

    Rick Sammon, in a piece for Peta Pixel on Seeing, describes the One-Picture-Promise: When you are in a situation, imagine you only have one frame remaining on your memory card, and you can take only one picture. If you think like this, I make you this promise: You will have a more creative photograph. What’s…

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  • Adrian (aows) on Photography

    Adrian (aows): An imperfect composition, a rather dark or bright image, and less than ideal conditions could be ingredients for a great image. His Instagram account is one of my favorites. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea at first glance, but if you read his FAQ you’ll see what his goal is for…

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  • Richard Bernabe on Twitter

    Richard Bernabe, in an otherwise good interview on his photography, says this about Twitter: I like Twitter, even if it does represent both the best and worst the Internet has to offer. If you’re there to argue politics with other humans, it most certainly is a dystopian hellscape that will make your life a dark,…

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  • An update on how to listen to my podcast Photowalking with Colin

    The first few episodes of my new photography podcast have been a learning experience for me. How should I record, edit, distribute these episodes? With each episode I’ve been able to improve that process and make some decisions along the way. Me, on location While I’m hoping to continue to improve the audio quality, the…

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  • CaptionBot

    Microsoft: CaptionBot.ai is powered by machine learning technology that identifies and captions your photos. When you upload a photo, it is sent to Microsoft for image analysis to return a caption. We won’t store, publish, or let other people use your images. I uploaded a few images. It works pretty well. I’m unsure of this…

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  • Nick Carver on his photographs

    Nick Carver, in an interview by Cody Schultz in early 2018: Certain artworks I’ve seen throughout my life have had a powerful impact on me. When I look at a painting by Kenton Nelson or a sculpture by Michael Heizer, I feel something deep in my psyche that I can’t put words to. I can’t…

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  • Photos from the Off to the pub episode of Photowalking with Colin

    I’m unsure of the best way to share the photos for each episode of my podcast. But for now, I’ll create a post for each episode that I share photos from. Open to suggestions. Cow line Just one from this episode to share.

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  • Sickler’s Pond to Elk Hill – August 2019

    Sickler’s Pond to Elk Hill – August 2019 I still have a lot to learn about manually creating HDR images using my drone. This was my first attempt. You’ll notice the sky and foreground are both properly exposed. A nice technique to have when needed.

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  • What I saw this week #59: August 23, 2019

    At this point, the WISTW posts are woefully inaccurately titled and inconsistent in their schedule. The following are a few things I’ve seen recently that you may enjoy – but were certainly not just from this week. Now, to think about what to rename this series of occasional links.

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  • Om Malik, on his photo journey

    Om: I find using a 24mm wide angle lens, a 90 mm medium telephoto, or a 280 mm tele lens akin to using saffron in my rice or black salt in my lentils – flavors that are beautiful in their restraint. I like reading his perspective on this. Less is definitely more. And constraints breed…

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  • Bokeh: Private, independent, and user-funded photo sharing

    Timothy Smith, on trying to promote his Kickstarter for Bokeh: I hate doing this type of stuff, but I feel like this idea is so important it’d be foolish of me not to try. Even if this Kickstarter ends up being unsuccessful, I won’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t do everything…

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  • My photo in the Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau Spring Visitors Guide

    I’m always pleased when my photos can be put to good use. It is why I license my photos the way that I do. A few months ago the Lackawanna County Visitors Bureau reached out and asked if they could use one of my photos (with credit) in their Spring Visitors Guide. Complete with credit…

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  • Licensing my images

    (If I sent you to this page, it is likely because you’re in violation of my license. Please read.) For the last few years my photos have been licensed as attribution only by a simple statement on the bottom of my web page in my footer. My images get stolen, without credit, a lot. Since…

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  • Is Instagram about to plummet?

    When Instagram first started to hit popularity – long after their failed attempt at being a check-in service – the app was all about photo filters. Anyone could snap a photo with their phone and quickly add a filter to make it look “better” or at least more interesting. It made everyone feel like a…

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  • Google Pixel Night Sight on a Google Pixel 2 XL compared to iPhone Xs

    My wife has a brand-new iPhone Xs and I have a one-year-old Google Pixel 2 XL. We always compare photos in a variety of situations. When she had the iPhone X my Pixel 2 XL would win handily in a variety of situations. Her new iPhone Xs wins here and there (e.g. in Portrait mode…

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  • Systrom and Krieger resign from Instagram

    Kevin Systrom, former CEO and co-founder of Instagram: We’ve grown from 13 people to over a thousand with offices around the world, all while building products used and loved by a community of over one billion. What a run! Talk about leaving while on top. A Seinfeld-esque move.

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  • How to transfer photos from iPhone to Windows 10

    Occasionally I will have need to transfer photos from Eliza’s iPhone X to my Windows 10 laptop. I’ve found the process of transferring the photos to be excruciatingly slow, unreliable, and frustrating. That is, until I figured out a better way. Most tutorials, including Microsoft’s own, will recommend you plug the phone into your computer,…

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  • Photos for Mac isn’t a long term photo library option

    Bradley Chambers, writing for 9to5Mac, about his photo library backup strategy: If there is one thing I am obsessed with when it comes to technology, it’s my pictures. I keep them extremely organized and culled. He then goes on to say, regarding his use of iCloud Photo Library as a sort of backup: This service…

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  • Om Malik on Google Photos vs Apple Photos

    I’ve finally found some time this morning to read Om Malik’s post on Google Photos vs Apple Photos – a post that has been sitting in my Unmark queue since the day he published it. Om Malik: The improvements in Google Photos and lack of magic in Apple Photos sometimes make me wonder if I…

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  • On the acquisition of Flickr by SmugMug

    Thomas Hawk: As someone who joined Flickr back in 2003 pre-Yahoo and has been on the site pretty much daily since then, I thought I’d share my own thoughts on what this acquisition might mean for Flickr users and the larger Flickr community. No one has perspective on Flickr like Thomas. Go read his entire…

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  • Best of 2017 as told by me

    To create this list I sat down and wrote from the top of my head the things I could remember being awesome in 2017. The list isn’t exhaustive. It is just what made an impression on me as being "the best" in each category. Best Blog: fuzzy notepad Evee consistently writes well-researched, readable, diatribes on…

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  • What comes after Instagram?

    Victoria Wright on Twitter: Photo friends// are you regularly sharing your work somewhere other than on @instagram? I’m so over them deciding what I see and don’t see The thread is interesting. Most photogs point to VSCO. I think Instagram still has a long runway ahead of it. And I still think it is very,…

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  • Recent grams

    I’m trying my hand at Instagram again. This time I’ve created my own filter using Snapseed which I’ve named ColinGram2018. I’m taking some photos I’ve published here and re-editing them with some cropping, blurring, and using ColinGram2018 and then publishing them on the gram. Here are a few example images I’ve posted so far.

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  • Curiosity takes a selfie

    APOD: This selfie was compiled from many smaller images — which is why the mechanical arm holding the camera is not visible. In case you’re not impressed, notice this comment on Reddit by djellison who is Engineering Camera Payload Uplink Lead on Curiosity and Opportunity. This spacecraft – Opportunity – in a REALLY GOOD day –…

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  • Doug Lane’s Micro.blog photo challenge

    Doug Lane: I thought we could start on Saturday (Nov. 11) and go for seven days. He has a theme for each of the 7 days. I’m in.

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  • \”My Fares\” by Joseph Rodriguez

    Joseph Rodriguez: It was not unusual to see shoe-shiners outside of Grand Central. They’re not there anymore. I think it’s a Banana Republic now. Incredible photo portfolio backed with incredible stories. /via Kottke.

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  • \”My Fares\” by Joseph Rodriguez

    Joseph Rodriguez: It was not unusual to see shoe-shiners outside of Grand Central. They’re not there anymore. I think it’s a Banana Republic now. Incredible photo portfolio backed with incredible stories. /via Kottke.

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  • \”My Fares\” by Joseph Rodriguez

    Joseph Rodriguez: It was not unusual to see shoe-shiners outside of Grand Central. They’re not there anymore. I think it’s a Banana Republic now. Incredible photo portfolio backed with incredible stories. /via Kottke.

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  • \”My Fares\” by Joseph Rodriguez

    Joseph Rodriguez: It was not unusual to see shoe-shiners outside of Grand Central. They’re not there anymore. I think it’s a Banana Republic now. Incredible photo portfolio backed with incredible stories. /via Kottke.

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  • \”My Fares\” by Joseph Rodriguez

    Joseph Rodriguez: It was not unusual to see shoe-shiners outside of Grand Central. They’re not there anymore. I think it’s a Banana Republic now. Incredible photo portfolio backed with incredible stories. /via Kottke.

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  • \”My Fares\” by Joseph Rodriguez

    Joseph Rodriguez: It was not unusual to see shoe-shiners outside of Grand Central. They’re not there anymore. I think it’s a Banana Republic now. Incredible photo portfolio backed with incredible stories. /via Kottke.

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  • \”My Fares\” by Joseph Rodriguez

    Joseph Rodriguez: It was not unusual to see shoe-shiners outside of Grand Central. They’re not there anymore. I think it’s a Banana Republic now. Incredible photo portfolio backed with incredible stories. /via Kottke.

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  • Austin Mann’s iPhone 8 Plus camera review

    Austin Mann: While the iPhone 8 Plus looks essentially the same as the phone we’ve had since the 6 Plus, there are some new features in the 8 Plus which really impact creative pros across the board — most notably Portrait Lighting, along with a few other hidden gems. As per usual for Austin, he…

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  • Capturing the ISS’s transit of the Sun during the eclipse

    This is quite a feat. Photographer Trevor Mahlmann figured out where you’d need to be within the path of totality in order to capture the International Space Station transiting the sun during the eclipse. That alone is pretty awesome. But there was a hitch. The land area that you’d need to be on in order…

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