Man accused of extorting money in punk rock scene — chicagotribune.com:
A founding member of a group that allegedly uses violence to control the punk rock scene in clubs and at concerts in major U.S. cities was charged with extorting a Chicago-area recording artist, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Elgin Nathan James, identified by authorities as a founder of a street gang called FSU, was arrested Monday at his Los Angeles home after a federal criminal complaint was unsealed in Chicago.
Leica S2 Makes Debut at Fotocare:
One of the most anticipated cameras of the year, the Leica S2, made a brief debut at a Manhattan photo retailer Monday, albeit in a still pre-production yet close-to-final form. The 37.5-megapixel DSLR/Medium Format S2 was on display at fotocare as part of a special event to promote the re-opening of the store which moved to its new location at 41 W. 22nd Street in May.
Click Note: Make sure you’re watching the Half a Tank blog. Michael Williamson/The Washington Post is building an amazing body of work with every post.
Half a Tank: Along Recession Road
– Searching For Life In Dead Buildings:
“Outreach–anybody here?” Shamus Rohn shouted. “Hello? Anybody here?”
No answer. The only sound was the glass crunching under our feet as we walked through a dark hallway and up the stairs, guided by Rohn’s flashlight. The light bounced across endless piles of refuse, stopping occasionally on objects that hinted at the gutted building’s past: A rusted wheelchair, adjustable metal bed frames, boxes upon boxes of latex gloves. Lunch menus were spread across two rooms.
AMERICANSUBURB X: THEORY: “Point and Shoot: How the Abu Ghraib Images Redefine Photography (2005)”:
The Abu Ghraib photographs were taken with commonplace “point and shoot” digital cameras owned by at least two of the alleged participants in the abuse. Being digital, the cameras recorded the scenes as arrays of pixels that were instantly compressed into a near-universal format called “JPEG.” The advantage of such compression is that it makes it easier to store pictures on a hard drive or memory card and to send them via e-mail and the Internet to friends and relations. The sharing of e-mail photographs has become the common coin of today’s image economy, and it has contributed to a proliferation of all sorts of photographs, from shots of cars for sale on eBay to explicit pornography. The Abu Ghraib photographs are, as Michael Kimmelman, the chief art critic of the New York Times, has remarked, “the visual equivalent of cell-phone chatter.”
Transform by Zack Arias is must-see video from Adorama Learning Center:
Every photographer should take ten minutes to watch this powerful video about the creative process
via apad
Who Will Succeed Kim Jong Il? – washingtonpost.com:
Recollections of teachers and former students at a state school in Switzerland may offer a glimpse of the young man some say is destined to lead North Korea.
Arca Swiss Rm3d Review – Luminous Landscape:
This is going to be an unusual review of an unusual camera from an unusual company.
nicola lo calzo – inside niger | burn magazine:
The cultural project ‘Inside Niger’ is a photographic reportage that started after a meeting with the humanitarian association African Pan Project, which is active is Niger since 15 years.
The reportage, committed by Paris city council and Conseil General de Val de Marne, is taking place for one month in the region of Tillaberi and Dosso in the Niger. Its main focus is the population that lives and works on the borders of the Niger River, where most of commercial activities take place such as universities, public work, markets, fishing, slaughter house, vegetable gardens, and tannery.
Origin II from Keith Loutit on Vimeo.
Origin II « Keith Loutit PhotoBlog:
This was shot by me from 2 vantage points in Sydney’s ANZ Stadium. New for me is the extended reach using tilted lenses, as well as a faster shutter rate to capture action without having to shoot video. I’m shooting timelapse so have taken some liberties in recombining the footage to tell my version of the story.
NPR: NPR’s Photographer Reports From Afghanistan:
NPR staff photographer David Gilkey says that the number one rule for a photographer is: never abandon your equipment. But he decided to do just that — leaving most of his things behind except a camera, a lens and a bulletproof vest. What was supposed to be a brief patrol with the Marines in southern Afghanistan turned into a 7-day trek through the surprisingly lush Helmand River Province.
Trekking in temperatures well over 110 degrees, the Marines abandoned almost all of their belongings except their weapons, and dodged almost constant fire with only the clothes on their backs.
via apad
Zack Arias – Atlanta based editorial music photographer » Living Things for Nylon Magazine :::
These images are from my shoot with Living Things. This was an assignment for Nylon Magazine. I’ve completed four assignments for Nylon and as they hit the shelves I’ll blog about them. The assignment was to shoot the band, individuals, and cover their show here in Atlanta. I haven’t worked with a better group of artists than these four guys.
First ever image of IED roadside explosion in Afghanistan | guardian.co.uk:
This dramatic photograph of a US marine fleeing for his life in Afghanistan is believed to be the first time a roadside bomb explosion ‑ the kind that poses the greatest threat to UK troops ‑ has been caught on camera.
whats the jackanory ? – we english . . . . a week in the life:
If you haven’t been following Simon Roberts (he of Motherland fame) blog for his latest book project ‘We English‘, shame on you. Simon has spent over a year traveling around England in a motorhome, documenting its landscape on a large format 5×4 camera. Informed by the photography of his predecessors and by the romantic tradition of English landscape painting, he depicts the English at leisure within pastoral landscapes. His photographs explore the notion that nationhood – that what it means to be English – is to be found on the surface of contemporary life, encapsulated by banal everyday rituals and activities.
The 25 best of urban decay :: Photocritic photography blog:
I’ve got a guilty pleasure which I’d like to share with you guys – I love urban decay photography; I can spend hours on end browsing Flickr galleries tagged with Urban Decay… Brilliant stuff. I was talking about this particular style/subgenre of photography with my good friend Dave Feltenberger a few months ago, and he was enthused about collecting some of his favourite photographers and sites.
AMERICANSUBURB X: THEORY: “Lewis Baltz – Notes on Recent Industrial Developments in Southern California (1974)”:
Typical locations: Previously unimproved land. Proximity to freeways and airports is of primary importance. Secondary consideration is given to the availability of rail and marine transport.
DANGEROUS MINDS 003: metzger/nitzberg from Richard Metzger on Vimeo.
Richard Metzger interviews Julien Nitzberg about his documentary film, “The Wild Whites of West Virginia” via Boing Boing:
Julien Nitzberg, director of the documentary film, The Wild Whites of West Virginia, is the guest on the third episode of our friend Richard Metzger’s terrific interview show, Dangerous Minds.
Shot over the course of eighteen months, the film follows the often comical, sometimes tragic antics of the hell-raising hillbilly White family of Boone County, WV. Surely the state’s most notorious clan since the days of the Hatfields and the McCoys, the Whites engage in a mind-blowing array of anti-social and criminal activities with barely concealed glee. Produced by “Jackass” maestros Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine through their Dickhouse production company and MTV Films, “The Wild Whites of West Virginia” takes no prisoners and it doesn’t tell you what to think about the Whites.
