We're BACK and Ben Folds Was Here!!!: RAWtalk 183
We ARE BACK. I know many of you were upset that we took a week off but the truth of the matter is we needed to. The reason we took a week off is because we filmed two Real World Reviews in one week.
This is a big week for many reasons. One because we have an interview with the musician Ben Folds who so happens to be a fantastic photographer and two because WE’RE BACK!!!!
Allen’s Canon Ball is June 18th from 10 am to 4 pm, please come out and join us, there will be FREE sensor Cleanings, Food Truck, DSLR Giveaways and more.
NEW AdoramaPIX Code is PXBKJHD23 which will get you 23% off all Photo Books until the end of June.
00:00:00 – Straight Outta Focus
00:00:49 – Show Start
00:01:02 – We’re Back!
00:01:39 – Ben Folds Interview Coming Up!
00:03:43 – Why We Skipped Last Week’s Show
00:03:58 – Jared’s New Golf Pants
00:04:38 – We Filmed 2 New Real World Reviews
00:05:04 – Jared’s Golf Swing
00:08:53 – Todd Spoke at Career Day
00:09:17 – Introducing Todd’s Old Rap Alias: Intelligent
00:10:30 – Happy Birthday Todd/Intel!
00:11:16 – Todd’s B-Day Cake
00:12:15 – Review RAWtalk on iTunes!
00:12:35 – Where to Ask Flying Solo Questions
00:13:23 – Allen’s Canon-Ball
00:14:15 – 23% Off AdoramaPix Photo Books Code
00:15:00 – Photo News
00:16:13 – Do You Want To Hear Todd’s Rap Album?
00:50:33 – Ben Folds Interview
01:15:26 – Jared’s Ben Folds Photos
01:19:37 – Gear of the Week: Canon 1DX Mark II
01:21:15 – Wheel of Fro
01:21:24 – Todd’s Going to Disney
01:22:18 – Joe’s Gift From Last Week
01:28:48 – This Week’s Memes
01:37:41 – #Snapsnatch
01:38:28 – This Week’s Hashtag
Here’s all of Stephen’s Photo News stories in detail:
Instagram Updates Iconic Logo, Adds Simplistic B&W Interface
Instagram has done a complete overhaul of their app, everything from changing their iconic logo to the app interface itself. The UI now has a simplistic black & white look to it, putting “more focus on your photos and videos without changing how you navigate the app.” Also, the logo itself got a redesign along with all of Instagram’s ancillary apps including Boomerang, Hyperlapse and Layout. The apps now all now have a yellow, purple, blue and white color palette. Instagram notes that the color choice is a gradient from the rainbow stripe colors on the original Instagram logo, which was initially inspired by the Polaroid OneStep instant camera. Want the old logo back? Someone did make a hack for iOS devices which lets you still use the old Instagram logo on your iPhone but will open up the new version of Instagram, which you can find here. Instagram also confirmed that they’re working on “business profiles” similar to Facebook’s pages. Screenshots from beta testing have popped up online with the most notable change being a contact button added next to the follow button. When pressed, users have the option of getting directions to the business or emailing them. A spokesperson for IG says the new profiles will be arriving in the next few months. (via TC)
Justin Bieber Done With Taking Photos With Fans, Feels Like “Zoo Animal”
Justin Bieber, wrote a rant saying he’s done with taking photos with fans—doesn’t that come with the job though? He posted the rant on his official Instagram, stating that he feels like a “zoo animal.” “It has gotten to a point that people wont even say hi to me or recognize me as a human, i feel like a zoo animal.” He goes on to say that just because you bought an album, doesn’t mean you are owed a photo. He says, “Years ago it was impossible to even take a picture at anytime, not everyone was accessible to a camera, now everyone has a camera phone and now it’s just a different thing.” He adds that he’d rather just have a conversation: “I’d rather stand there and talk to you for five minutes and not take any photos, and us to be able to have that moment, rather than just chaos.” What would you do in his shoes? (via PP)
Google Creates Gigapixel “Art Camera” For Photographing Museum Art
The Google Cultural Institute has created a robotic gigapixel “art camera” that will digitize the most iconic paintings and artwork around the world. To focus, the camera uses sonar and a laser for spot on precision and depth. It takes roughly 30 minutes to capture a full standard size painting, stitching it together automatically into a gigapixel image via Google’s servers. Compared to the old method of scanning each painting—which took Google five years to do just 200 paintings—they’ve already digitized over 1000 paintings this year alone with the new art camera. Google states that the final image is so detailed, it’s like being in front of the real thing: “zooming into these images is the closest thing to walking up to the real thing with a magnifying glass.” They say they have created an entire “fleet” including 20 of these cameras and are sending them out one-by-one to every museum around the world for free. Check out the current collection photographed by the art camera featuring works by Pissarro, Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Monet and more here.
Artist Creates Extremely Detailed Mini 1900’s Photo Studio
An artist named Ali Alamedy spent nine months creating a miniature photo studio from the 1900’s. He created the mini model all from scratch, using mostly wood, plastic, copper and paper. The diorama is extremely detailed too, featuring over 100 objects—everything from framed “photos” on the wall, to photo props, to even a tiny large format camera. Alamedy even gave the studio translucent ceilings to showcase how photographers harnessed as much natural light as possible back in the day. He says the hardest part was doing the research—he could only find a few photos of what studios actually looked like back in the day, and they were obviously all in monochrome. Alamedy also says it was difficult figuring out how to “recall the spirit of such a place in a small scale.” Head here to see his detailed photos from inside the set. (via BP)
CK Receives Backlash After Posting “Upskirt” Controversial Ad Photo
Calvin Klein got a lot of backlash after the fashion giant posted a new underwear ad featuring an “upskirt” photo. In the advert, 23-yr-old Danish model Klara Kristin is “flashing” the camera with her CK underwear, with the photographer directly under her, shooting up through her dress. The text on the image reads, “I flash in #mycalvins” and the Instagram caption which is still posted, starts with “take a peek.” ABC News even did a story on the controversy calling it “Fashion Porn?” The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) then started a petition asking CK to “Stop Normalizing and Glamorizing Sexual Harassment.” The petition states that, “by normalizing and glamorizing this sexual harassment, Calvin Klein is sending a message that the experiences of real-life victims don’t matter, and that it is okay for men to treat the woman standing next to them on the metro as available pornography whenever they so choose.” They’re demanding that Calvin Klein remove the offensive photo, suspend the ad campaign, and “issue an apology to victims of sexual harassment or assault everywhere.” However, powerful people in the industry are saying quite the opposite, calling it a positive message to women and referring to the ad as progressive. Check out the entire news piece below and make up your own mind about it. (via PP)
Russian Actor Takes Down a Drone with a SPEAR!
Ouch! A drone was taken down by a spear at a local Renaissance festival in Russia. The drone operator was simply trying to capture aerial shots of the battle reenactment when out of nowhere one of the actors ran toward the drone and threw a spear at it, sending it down to the ground. The best part? It was all caught on camera: (via LS)
360-Degree Interactive Photos Coming Soon To Your FB Feed
Facebook says it’s bringing interactive 360-degree photos to your news feed. The social network says users will be able to upload and view the spherical content in the next few weeks, similar to their 360 videos. To view the images, users have the option of panning across a panorama with their finger, moving their phone with the accelerometer or even putting on a VR headset to immerse yourself in the photo. TechCrunch’s Josh Constine says this could be the catalyst to bringing VR into the mainstream world: “360 Photos made from panoramas could democratize VR content creation by allowing people to make it with no special equipment. In fact, many people will have already created this content, which before was tough to view.” Do you agree? (via TC)
Steve McCurry Photoshop Fail at Italy Show, Botched Print Leads to Other Altered Photos
Photographer Steve McCurry is the center of a new Photoshop scandal, as Petapixel calls it, after one of his prints at a show in Italy was found to have a cloning mistake. Photographer Paolo Viglione first spotted the mistake, and posted about it on his blog, with detailed images of the Photoshop fail. The photo was of a location in Cuba, which featured an attempt at cloning something out which just resulted in someone’s feet and a bottom of a sign getting moved around—poorly. The original photo was then removed from McCurry’s official website, which then had people wondering what other photos had been altered, since McCurry is known widely as a Nat Geo photojournalist. With his reputation at hand, people began to spot other altered photos, with one even going as far as removing two faces from the main focus point of the image. Petapixel reached out to McCurry, who was traveling at the time. He responded saying his recent work, including the main photo in question, was shot for personal use, and he wasn’t on assignment: “Much of my recent work has been shot for my own enjoyment in places I wanted to visit to satisfy my curiosity about the people and the culture. For example, my Cuba work was taken during four personal trips.” He goes on to say, “I try to be as involved as much as I can in reviewing and supervising the printing of my work, but many times the prints are printed and shipped when I am away. That is what happened in this case. It goes without saying that what happened with this image was a mistake for which I have to take responsibility. I have taken steps to change procedures at my studio which will prevent something like this from happening again.” McCurry adds that the issue in the Cuba image was “a change that I would have never authorized,” and that “the lab technician who made the mistake does not work with me anymore.” However, there’s still no word on the other altered photos that people found on his website… (via PP)
Photographer Burns Down Historic Landmark After Spinning Wool
A photographer accidentally set fire and burned down a historic 1928 landmark in Florida. The building—one of Florida’s original gas stations called the Monroe Station—was destroyed early last month. It was added to the US National Register of Historic Places in May of 2000, and the Park Service started working to restore the landmark in 2005. The fire was caused by a photographer spinning steel wool on top of it around midnight. Firefighters soon responded to the scene but couldn’t save the building. The photographer later turned himself in after officials labeled him as the primary suspect. He confessed to trespassing with two other photographers. He says they snuck onto the roof to create light-painted photos with the steel wool. They attempted to put the fire out but it spread too quickly so they fled. No official charges have been filed against the photographers just yet, and the investigation is still ongoing… (via PP)
