PC World: Turn Google Photos into Windows backgrounds with this awesome app. “Neither Windows nor Mac offer much in the way of dynamic wallpaper options, and they certainly don’t integrate with Google’s photo service. Thankfully, a program called John’s Background Switcher changes all that.”
CNET: Photos from NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover let you get lost on another world. “The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover sent back its first image, a tiny thumbnail of its landing spot in Jezero Crater, just moments after its dramatic soft touch-down on Feb. 18. The sedan-size rover has now been cautiously wheeling its way around for several weeks and has already sent back 16,448 total images as of April 1 — and that’s not an April Fools’ gag.”
Southern Star: Snap happy! West Cork in the frame. “THE pandemic has sparked an enormous appetite in people for nostalgia and days gone by. And satisfying that appetite is a hugely popular photo archive which gives a snapshot of life in West Cork from the 1950s to the 1970s. Called the Clonakilty Photo Archive, it comprises the thousands of pictures taken by chemist Tony Bluett. A Limerick man, he arrived in Clonakilty in 1958 and worked from his shop on Pearse Street until he retired in 2005.”
University of Texas at Dallas: Photographer Pictures UTD as New Home for Collection. “In 1969 Carolyn Brown departed Chicago on the first flight of her life to Egypt to study Islamic art and architecture at The American University in Cairo. Her experience over the next three years began a career in photography that would take her across the Middle East, Mexico and the southwestern U.S. Her archives include thousands of print and digital images from 14 countries, including 24 Mexican states, as well as locations across Texas and the city of Dallas.”
Nunatsiaq News: Rare collection of historical Arctic photographs digitized. “Nearly 200 historical photos of the Canadian Arctic are now available online for the first time. Taken by the late photographer George Hunter between 1946 and the 1990s, the photos include scenes and people from at least 16 communities across Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Manitoba.”
Flickr Blog: George Oates Returns to Revitalize the Flickr Commons. “I used to work here, at the very beginning when we first switched Flickr on back in the naughties. I created and launched the Commons in 2008, and left at the end of that same year. What a strange, unexpected delight to be asked to return with the express goal of researching what the Commons has become and understanding how cultural institutions around the world have evolved through being a part of it. We want to design a stronger future for the program, with enduring longevity at its heart.”
Vietnam+: Photo exhibition marks 60 years of Vietnam – Morocco diplomatic ties. “In celebration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Vietnam and the Kingdom of Morocco (March 27, 1961 – March 27, 2021), the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) and the Embassy of the Kingdom of Morocco in Vietnam have coordinated to organise an online exhibition featuring 20 photos of high-level diplomatic activities between the two countries, selected from VNA’s photo archive.”
Audubon: Here’s How to Spot a Faked Wildlife Photo—and When to Be Skeptical. “The phony-image debunker behind a popular Twitter account shares tips for telling when the perfect shot is too good to be true.”
Mothership: Young female Japanese biker is really 50-year-old man with luscious hair using FaceApp. “The man reportedly said that nobody wants to see an ‘uncle’, and so, he turned himself into a ‘beautiful woman’ so that his photos would be popular.”
The Frick Collection: 175,000 New Photoarchive Records Available Digitally. “Now available to researchers are all of the ‘Classified’ or fully cataloged materials. These photographs are mounted on 9 x 12 inch gray cardboard and are assigned a unique call number based on subject matter. These mounts contain detailed provenance and attribution histories for each work of art they document. In addition to high resolution images for each work of art, all accompanying documentation has been digitized, giving researchers full access that was previously only available onsite at the library.”
Popular Photography: Best flash drive: Store your files swiftly and securely. “Whether you’re looking to store a ton of files, transfer them as quickly as possible, protect your data with military-grade encryption, or transfer files from your iPhone to a laptop, there’s a wide variety of options at your disposal. You can even find waterproof drives that will survive an ill-advised dip in the ocean. So how do you pick the best flash drive when there are hundreds (if not thousands) of choices that all sound the same?”
Post Alley: Her Name is Elisia. “A nearly forgotten collection of old photographs of migrant farm workers in Washington State has resurfaced, enabling a lost history to be recovered. This is the story of the unearthing of this archive and the moving lessons the large archive teaches about ‘the awakening of a people.’”
BBC: Wildfires: Cambridgeshire archive saves couple’s wedding album . “An American couple whose 1960s wedding album was destroyed by wildfire have rediscovered their photos in archives held by an English council. Chris and Lindy Date, who married in Cambridgeshire in 1963, lost their home when fires swept through California in August 2020…. The council had been given the archive by a photographic company in the 1980s.”
University of Arkansas: Libraries Digitize Largest Collection of University Photos to Date. “The University of Arkansas Picture Collection (MC 2467) contains around 5,500 photos and negatives depicting the U of A campus and scenes from around the state. Now, over 1,300 of these items have been digitized and made available to the public online at no cost. Images will continue to be added to the digital collection over the course of this multi-year project.”
LA Weekly: The Truth In Photography Project Is Asking Big Questions. “An interactive project committed to presenting multiple points of view and encouraging a wider discourse, the Truth In Photography project features diverse and eclectic contributions of curators, photographers, critics, and historians, as well as vernacular photography, photojournalism, and fine art…. Truth in Photography will be updated quarterly, beginning with the new Winter 2021 which comes in three themed sections.”
