The London Olympics and David Burnett...

We last spoke about David Burnett in May of 2008 and its good to see that he still remains true to the use of anologue cameras and especially when you consider that the London Olympics coverage broke all records with respect to the number of digital cameras used and all the new technology needed to control them remotely and get all those images back to the internet world in mere seconds.

PetaPixel have a nice article on their webpage that you'll enjoy if you a retro sort of guy like me, and if your not, you may realise that digital is the only alternative out there.

Wet Plate Photography...

Also known as the Collodion Process, this technique invented in the mid 1800's was rendered all but obsolete by the dry plate technology that arrived in the early 1880's. However, the process is experiencing somewhat of revival recently with many artists now using this old technique; like Sally Mann and Joni Sternbach just to name a few.

Rather than attempt to explain the process here, I came across this very nice video from [FRAMED], which shows very nicely whats involved and the very distinctive results that can be achieved.

I find it totally fascinating and I am currently tracking down a suitable workshop to attend... Anyone else interested ?

Kickstarter...

Kickstarter is the world's largest funding platform for creative projects. Project creators present their idea to the world and potential supporters decide whether or not to pledge money, when, and only when the funding goal is met is the pledged money passed on to the creator to complete his/her project.

As complete ownership and control of the project always remains in the hands of the creators, they normally offer something in return for the support given dependent upon the amount pledged.

There are many categories such as music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and of course photography.

Which brings me to the project of Tim Mantoani above, even though he has already surpassed his target, you may want to consider to be part of the group of people that are supporting the production of his book that he will explain to you above.

Personally, I consider the 20x24 Polaroid Camera to be one of the great photographic achievements of the last century and his idea of using it to photograph famous photographers with their favourite photo's really got me interested.

Take a look and see what you think.

Mark Tucker and his latest project...

We've seen Mark's work in the past and I recently dropped by his web pages, just to take a look at what he's been getting up to.

He images still continues to amaze and inspire me and its great to see he still maintains his passion for homemade camera's. In this case, not made by himself but by John Minnicks, whom I'm trying to find out more about, but if like me, you don't have a Facebook account your going to be out of luck.

You can see the camera in action above and its a custom design using as its base, the Graflex RB Camera from the early 1950's. You may also notice that the lens attached is the famous Kodak Aero Ektar often used by David Burnett.

I have to admit that I really want one of these camera's as the thought of having a 4x5 reflex camera (meaning that you don't lose the viewfinder image of your subject when you load the film into the back) is really appealing, and it looks like a quite compact package as well.

Anyway Mark has set up a new blog to show the results of his new project to photograph special people in the Nashville area.

If you don't remember Mark from our past blog entry his web page is here and his 'normal' blog here.

Clyde Butcher.. inspirational landscape photographer...

Clyde Butcher is a photographer that I admire not only for the beautiful images he takes, but also for his no nonsense approach to photography.

He never gets weighed down with technical issues, he keeps everything simple.

As you can see from the image above he uses large format camera's (that one looks like a 12x20 and thats in inches !). Only recently using digital technology to scan his negatives to produce inkjet prints along with his hand printed photo's.

If he can't find the equipment he needs, he builds it, he has no problems wading around the everglades completely oblivious to the snakes, mosquitoes and crocodiles. He's straight talking, unpretentious..... a real pioneer...

Have a look at this article over on 'double exposure' which gives a brief insight into the man.

Then if you want to find out more you can visit his own site here.