Get Bedazzled with Michael Semaan

We'll close out the week with a grab-bag of mixed news with something or another that's sure to please everyone – you. 

Back, Back to the Past

If you're interested in vintage photos, antique photos, then take a gander at this image of miners relaxing and posing inside a mine shaft.

It's one of a stash of 40-plus photos that are well over a century old, all of South African miners, that...

Richard Heeps, Sun Times’s ‘Dark Times’, and Sly Samsungites

Richard Heeps and "Man's Ruin"

"Man's Ruin" is the rather strange name of Richard Heeps's photo book and ongoing exhibition in London which pay homage to a near-vanished America of the 50s.  

PhotographyBlog reports that Heeps used manual film cameras (including the now-legendary FM2) and "rare, end-of-line films."  Be that as it may, it's the photographs that deserve a look and they're all available on Heeps's website!

You can see...

Francesca Balaguer-Mercado’s Photographs and Other News

The week gets underway with our weekly three-pack on whimsical and offbeat news.

Abstract Art in Soap Bubbles

For the ultimate in Abstract Art by way of Photography, look no further than soap bubbles in your wash.  Actually, creating the Abstract Art may be another matter entirely, for you'll need specialized skills as well as specialized gear.

You need high-speed flashes and reflective panels and a whole lot of experience to capture...

‘White Out’ and Black Infra

Olympus PEN E-P5

Feature-packed, technology-packed, and tradition-packed.  That about sums up Olympus's new PEN E-P5

On the 50th Anniversary of the PEN F, Olympus is launching " a digital update of classic film camera."

Although the story on Shutterbug is actually just a press release from Olympus, it's worth a look because of the blend of features, tech and tradition in this 16 MP interchangeable-lens compact.   For instance, the camera...

Funny and Comical, Bunny and Animal

We get our weekly-three pack of interesting Photography News underway with the fad du jour . . . 

Funny and Comical, Bunny and Animal

If you're under the impression that the 'Funny Animal' fad sweeping Instagram and the Twitterverse is a recent phenomenon, think again.  Your great-grandparents were doing it, baby!

Earlier today ITV published a picture story, Newspaper archives reveal amusing pictures of animals shared since 1900s – and they're showing...

The Mysterious Charms of Beijing’s Hutongs by Christopher Domakis

"'Hutong' is the Chinese word for typical old town districts in Beijing," explains Christopher Domakis in his introduction to his gallery Hutong on Behance. "While Beijing is moving fast, developing new districts and constructing massive infrastructure projects, there are still some Hutongs which provide daily life which you would expect only in villages far away from modern metropoles as Beijing."

Domakis has produced atmospheric images of these Hutongs, photographed after...

A Charming Gallery and a Funny Article

Our last post of the week is a roundup of interesting, unusual, odd Photography News that's off the beaten path.

A Gallery of Ghost Towns

Like, for instance, the photographic calling of Fargo residents Troy Larson and Terry Hinnenkamp.  They document North Dakota's ghost towns; indeed, they have already published a photo book titled Ghosts of North Dakota: North Dakota’s Ghost Towns and Abandoned Places.

John Lamb's story of these two photographers'...

Of Prettiness and Pictures

Make your Pictures Prettier

If Photoshop and Lightroom are a bit too complicated for you but you'd like to have pro-level image correction, here's Athentech Imaging’s Perfectly Clear to the rescue.  Steve Bedell's review in Shutterbug is aptly subtitled "A Quick Fix For Your Photos."  

Perfectly Clear can batch-process hundreds of files in one fell swoop or it can attack the imperfections in a photo one image at a time.

Even...

Lenses – Seven, Hundred, Millions!

The past few days have seen a spate of news reports and articles about lenses.  Let's make lenses today's post's theme; lenses by number and by major camera brand!

Seven Lenses with Pentax

The term 'box set' usually brings to mind CDs – at least of CDs during their heyday, as in 'Bear Family box set'.  One does not associate photographic equipment with that term.  Pentax, however, wants to change that.  

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