The College Post: Getty Images Offering $500,000 Toward HBCU Archive Digitization. “Getty Images will commit $500,000 to digitize the rich visual history of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). The British-American visual media company will partner with philanthropic organization Stand Together to launch the ‘Getty Images Photo Archive Grants for HBCUs.’”
Vogue: 8 Brilliant Queer Photographers To Follow On Instagram. “As we once again take to the streets (Covid-19 restrictions permitting) for this year’s Pride celebrations to honour our LGBTQIA+ siblings, eight queer photographers share their hopes for the future, from the funding of trans healthcare to the building of new physical safe spaces.” Some of the images in the article would probably be considered NSFW.
University of Texas at Austin: Briscoe Center Acquires Archive of Renowned Photographer Robert Polidori. “Thanks to the generosity of a Chicago-area family, renowned photographer Robert Polidori’s photographic print archive has been donated to the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at The University of Texas at Austin. Consisting of more than 85,000 archive prints, the collection is valued at more than $30 million.”
Beebom: Poparazzi Is a New Instagram-like App That Doesn’t Let You Post Selfies. “Tired of Instagram getting cluttered with Stories, Reels, and what not? Does everyone seem to be projecting a fake life online? Well, A fresh photo-sharing app has surfaced last week and it didn’t take long for it to take the top spot on the App Store. And well, we are not surprised. Dubbed Poparazzi, the app is developed by a California-based startup TTYL, and it is essentially the opposite of Instagram.”
Arizona State University: ASU alum publishes graphic novel on computer generated images, machine learning. “[Jennifer] Weiler, who was influenced by her work at ASU as a student in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering, has been working intensely over the last year to create and publish her first comic book, ‘Creating with Code: A Fun Exploration of Computer-Generated Images and Machine Learning.’ She said she made the comic to educate people about how to effectively utilize coding to construct stylistic computer-generated images and apply methodologies of machine learning in the process.”
Distractify: A New App Allows Users to Cartoonify Their Profile Pictures on Facebook. “For the most part, viral trends are not common on Facebook, at least not anymore. In recent years, trends have largely moved to other social media sites like TikTok, but that doesn’t mean that one of the older social media sites can’t get in on the action occasionally. A new Cartoon Filter Challenge on Facebook allows users to change their profile pictures, and many users want to know how to get in on the trend.”
Denver Co News: This Photographer Is Making A Digital Archive Of Previous Denver. “It was only a year and a half ago that [Juan] Fuentes took his recordings seriously and began working with a professional camera. Inspired by street photography and the burgeoning Denver scene, as well as the journalistic aspect of the genre, Fuentes decided that through photos he could tell the stories of the marginalized communities he grew up with and surrounded himself with. ‘I can not write. II think it’s easier to create a story for myself with a picture,’ he said.”
Launched late last year and new-to-me, from NPR: The 400 Years Project Looks At Native American Identity Through The Native Lens . “‘The Mayflower and its aftermath has become the first and most culturally iconic story told to many young Americans about the country’s founding and initial relationships with Native people,’ says photographer Sarah Stacke. ‘But the stories they’re told of a golden age of friendship, new beginnings, and untouched wilderness, is a myth.’ Correcting those myths and looking at the evolution of Native American identity over the last 400 years is the mission of The 400 Years Project, a pictorial collection of Native American life. It includes original photo essays, text essays and a digital library of Native photographers from the mid-1800s to the present.”
University of Sydney: World-first multiple sclerosis global image database launched. “The new MSBase Imaging Repository (MSBIR) integrates state-of-the-art informatics with an AI analytics engine, fostering a new generation of imaging biomarkers for precision monitoring of MS. It is designed to securely house raw de-identified imaging data for MS patients from multiple sites globally that can be accessed by registered contributing research groups, bringing capacity and scalability to clinical MS imaging research.”
Engadget: Facebook will give creators more info on how people use their images. “Facebook gave creators more control over use of their images in the fall, and now they’ll have a better idea of how those images are being used — legitimately or otherwise. The social network is rolling out an Insights tab in Rights Manager that includes stats for matched images, such as how well images are performing (including likes and comments) and the demographics of viewers.”
The Guardian: Microsoft blocks Bing from showing image results for Tiananmen ‘tank man’. “Microsoft has blamed human error after its search engine, Bing, blocked image and video results for the phrase ‘tank man’ – a reference to the iconic image of a lone protester facing down tanks during the 1989 protests in Tiananmen Square – on the 32nd anniversary of the military crackdown.”
UChicago News: How memorable is your photo? A new tool will give you a score. “Why are some photographs remembered and recognized, while others are quickly forgotten? University of Chicago researchers are leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to search for an answer—and have developed a free tool that can predict how likely you are to remember a photo.”
Sanibel Captiva: Shell museum to present special photography exhibit. “The Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum announced its new exhibition, titled ‘In Focus: Precision Photography of Extraordinary and Uncommon Shells,’ will be on display May 29 through Nov. 28. Science Director and Curator Dr. José H. Leal has been leading a project for the museum to build a publicly accessible photo archive of its shell collection. The exhibition photographs were taken for the Digital Imaging Project, which was funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.” I love that they took the photography process and turned it into an exhibit!
MakeUseOf: 5 Aesthetic Ideas to Make Your Pictures Stand Out on Social Media. “This article lists and discusses some popular and unique aesthetics. It will also walk you through the process of creating them with the help of the PicsArt editing app. However, any comprehensive photo editing app will do.”
From ABC News in Australia, and I swear I did not plan for these two stories to go side by side: National Film and Sound Archive offering up some of its international collection of records, cylinders. “The National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) in Canberra is offering up 77 pallets of international sound material which curators say do not fit within the scope of their collection. The archive’s head of collection, Jacqui Uhlmann, says there are thousands of old records, wax cylinders and a MasterTouch Collection of international pianola rolls up for grabs.”
