The Calvert Journal: Watch the birdie: how a papier-mâché horse in Tbilisi Zoo grew into a popular photo studio. “I was born in Tbilisi in the 1980s, back when the country was still a part of the Soviet Union. Visiting the zoo was a special event for me: it meant that I would get a Plombir ice cream, a cup of sparkling gazirovka (a non-alcoholic sparkling beverage), and a ride on an amusement ride adjacent to the premises. But the highlight of the day would always be getting the chance to sit on the papier-mâché horse that looked like it had galloped from a merry-go-round ride. I remember being helped onto the horse, filled with anticipation and excitement at having my photo taken, but also overcome with shyness in front of the photographer.” The author is working with the descendants of the photographer to crowdsource a collection of these images. This essay is so good. Grab a tissue and read it.
photos
TimeOut: Is this selfie museum in Iowa the peak of social media?
TimeOut: Is this selfie museum in Iowa the peak of social media?. “Selfie sticks, studio-like selfie lights and selfie remote shutters now dominate our holiday gift lists and for good reason: the selfie has become the currency by which we present ourselves to the world, so why not try our best to snap a really great one? A new interactive ‘selfie museum’ in Des Moines, Iowa, seeks to capitalize on that dedication to the self-portrait. Open since June, Selfie Station is home to 27 different ‘Instagram’ rooms adorned in social media-friendly decor, each one equipped with lighting fixtures that will hold your phone while properly taking a picture.”
Cornell Chronicle: Paniccioli’s vast hip-hop photo archive launches online
Cornell Chronicle: Paniccioli’s vast hip-hop photo archive launches online. “Missy Elliott and Li’l Kim dressed up as anime characters, resting between takes on the set of the ‘Sock It 2 Me’ music video. Biz Markie bouncing off his chair in a dressing room of the Apollo Theater. Doug E. Fresh blowing out candles on his birthday cake that’s decorated to look like a vinyl record, as Sean ‘Puff Daddy’ Combs peers over his shoulder. These and nearly 20,000 similar images can now be viewed online as Cornell University Library launches the Ernie Paniccioli Photo Archive, a digital collection chronicling hip-hop music and culture from the 1980s to the early 2000s.”
It’s Nice That: Truthmark is a photography database aiming to stop misuse in fake news
It’s Nice That: Truthmark is a photography database aiming to stop misuse in fake news. “Photographers can upload their images to the database, while retaining copyright, along with written documentation as to the context of the photograph. This is then encrypted together with all the information as one file. Journalists and members of the public who wish to check the authenticity of images can search the database and discover the origin of the photo in more detail than most existing image banks, including the specific context of what’s portrayed.”
How to Use the iPhone Camera App: The Ultimate Guide (How-To Geek)
How-To Geek: How to Use the iPhone Camera App: The Ultimate Guide. “According to Flickr, the iPhone is the most popular camera in the world. Every year, Apple tweaks and improves it, which is one of the most compelling reasons to upgrade to the latest model. To take the best pictures with your iPhone, though, you’ll have to master some basics.”
PCWorld: How to back up your Google Photos library and keep your metadata
PCWorld: How to back up your Google Photos library and keep your metadata. “Google Photos is one of the best ways to sync and store the picture you take on your phone, but getting them out of your library is another story—especially if you want to keep your metadata (date, time, caption, etc.). Since Photos no longer includes an option to sync with Google Drive, keeping a rolling backup of your photos is going to take some work. Here and your options are for creating a backup that keeps your photos and metadata intact.”
Emulsive: One Giant Leap… Remastering High-resolution Images Of NASA’s Race To The Moon
Emulsive: One Giant Leap… Remastering High-resolution Images Of NASA’s Race To The Moon. “Historically, most of the photographs presented in the media have been based on decades-old, low-resolution scans/digitisation. This has been remedied somewhat by efforts to create high-resolution scans of the negatives, although many of the ~35,000 frames from NASA’s Apollo archive at the Johnson Space Center still need work to bring out the detail we all know is stored in those amazing Kodak negatives and slides. This is where Andy Saunders comes in. Over the past few years, Andy has worked tirelessly to remaster both high- and low-resolution scans from NASA’s archive, bringing many 16mm, 35mm and 70mm slides and negatives from the Apollo missions into sharp relief for the first time.” The article called Mr. Saunders’ work “astounding” and that ain’t the half of it.
University of Miami: Take a virtual, photographic journey through Mexico City
University of Miami: Take a virtual, photographic journey through Mexico City. “For as long as he can remember, Sean Black had always wanted to visit Mexico City. And this past Christmas, he finally made his dream come true. ‘Traveling on Christmas Day from Miami, a simple three-hour flight, I immediately set off on my adventure hailing an airport cab and taking a scenic, half-hour drive into one of the many breathtaking neighborhoods of one of North America’s oldest cities,’ said Black, a photography lecturer at the University of Miami College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Art and Art History. His experience touring the vibrant and colorful cosmopolitan city has become the latest online photo exhibition— ‘Mexico City: An Enchanting Trip Through Time’ —at the University’s Wynwood Gallery. “
Thinking outside the Boxing Ring: A Journey through 500 Photos (Getty Iris)
Getty Iris: Thinking outside the Boxing Ring: A Journey through 500 Photos. “It’s a quick moment of action frozen in time. Joey Maxim, World Light Heavyweight Champion, is being knocked to the side, his face contorted from a powerful blow. His opponent, fists raised, can only be seen in profile, making it nearly impossible for me to make out his facial features. This print is one of 534 boxing photographs in the Department of Photographs collection and it was making my job as cataloger difficult. I needed to figure out as much information about this photograph as possible, including when and where it took place, in order to fully catalog it. Joey Maxim’s career spanned nearly twenty years and over 100 fights. Without a name, I wouldn’t be able to place this print.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Lost and Found
Chicago Sun-Times: Lost and Found. “In December 2017, an executive from the Chicago History Museum opened a 30-by-30-foot storage locker in Dixon and found more than 225 containers inside it containing roughly 5 million negative frames from Chicago Sun-Times photographs…. [as of] Friday, 45,000 Sun-Times images are available for the public to view on the museum’s website, and archivists plan to add a few thousand images every month as they scan more negatives. People can purchase copies of these images online under a licensing deal between the Sun-Times and the museum.”
United States Golf Association: Historic Howard Schickler Photo Collection Acquired
United States Golf Association: Historic Howard Schickler Photo Collection Acquired. “The collection contains more than 1,000 high-quality, historically and artistically important golf images from the 19th and early 20th century. Many photographs feature top American and British golfers, both men and women, from the mid-1800s to the 1970s. The collection was amassed over decades by collector Howard Schickler, sourced from the collections of some of the game’s most influential figures, including the personal collections of Old Tom Morris and F.G. Tait, the Auchterlonie and the Foulis families, the estate of Billy Burke and the collections of Ed Dudley and Bernard Darwin.”
British Journal of Photography: Maxim Dondyuk rebuilds a lost archive of life in Chernobyl
British Journal of Photography: Maxim Dondyuk rebuilds a lost archive of life in Chernobyl. “Wandering through one of the thousands of evacuated homes, the photographer discovered piles of postcards, letters, and photographs, hidden beneath 30 years of debris. The Ukranian government considers anything left behind as ‘radioactive trash’, and forbids visitors from removing them from the exclusion zone. But, [Maxim] Dondyuk couldn’t bear to leave the artefacts he found to decay, so over the next two years, he continued to return, disguising himself as a landscape photographer, smuggling the photographs out of the exclusion zone, and rebuilding the lost archives of the families and individuals who once called the region their home.”
Google Blog: A redesigned Google Photos, built for your life’s memories
Google Blog: A redesigned Google Photos, built for your life’s memories. “Google Photos has become more than just an app to manage your photos, it’s become the home for your life’s memories. And that’s why today, we’re launching a redesigned Google Photos, focused on your memories, to help you find and relive your most treasured moments.”
OSINT Tip: How to Analyze Exif Data (Security Boulevard)
Security Boulevard: OSINT Tip: How to Analyze Exif Data. “Intelligence analysts, law enforcement, legal investigators, and investigative journalists all analyze metadata stored with digital images to gather insights about people, events, and locations worldwide. How does it work?”
Aldergrove Star: Royal BC Museum uploads 16,103 photographs depicting Indigenous communities to online database
Aldergrove Star: Royal BC Museum uploads 16,103 photographs depicting Indigenous communities to online database. “The Royal BC Museum has opened up to the public 16,103 historical photographs depicting Indigenous communities from across B.C. that were taken between the late 1800s and the 1970s.”
