From The dark side of Dubai – The Independent:
Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports
From Is Your Web Designer Full of Crap? – A Picture’s Worth:
Your website design isn’t just for people who visit it. The fundamental construction of the website can help attract visitors even if they don’t know who you are.
From Early Bird Workshop Kicks Off At SSA VI:
“You folks (sports photographers) out of any workshop I go to, should understand this. It’s competition. If I was talking to studio portrait photographers, they wouldn’t know what I was talking about. You gotta beat them,” speaker Dave Black said, referring to capturing better action and trying innovative techniques to create images that other people don’t have.
From Boston Globe Surprised by Size of Demand for Cuts – NYTimes.com:
“Now, nobody thinks that if we make these concessions, there won’t be more cuts in a few months,” he said.
From Los Angeles Film+TV – Boxing, Sex and Madness: Mike Tyson, James Toback and the Ties That Bind – page 1:
For 90 uninterrupted minutes, there is only one talking head in Tyson, and it is one that speaks with startling alacrity and candor about the humiliating taunts he suffered as a chunky, high-voiced mama’s boy; the petty criminality that earned him street respect and, ultimately, time served in a youth correctional facility; the confidence and sense of purpose he gained from boxing; the sharply honed physical and psychological manipulation he deployed in the ring; the qualities he seeks in a woman; his inability to manage money. Above all, Tyson speaks of the consuming desire to truly know thyself.
From Los Angeles Music – Anvil! The Story of Anvil: A Canadian Metal Band’s Great Feature-Length Doc – page 1:
A funny documentary has endlessly quotable lines. An even funnier documentary has endlessly quotable lines delivered in a Canadian accent. Sacha Gervasi’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil, a chronicle of the forgotten Maple Leaf metalers and their last-ditch effort for commercial and creative success, has given the band its second wind twice: first, as a sleeper hit that made the film-festival rounds, including Sundance, last year, and now as a nationwide release. So don’t feel too bad if you don’t know much aboot Anvil just yet.
From Searching for Sonny — First Feature Shot on DSLR | Gadget Lab from Wired.com:
The team used a Canon 5D MkII for the shoot, although oddly paired with Nikon lenses — the director of photography Jeffrey Waldron has a collection of old manual glass and it was cheaper to just grab a converter than load up with new Canon optics. It also meant that the apertures could be controlled. Apparently, when the 5DMkII is is shooting video in Live View mode, the aperture goes auto, meaning no control of depth of field.
From Sol Trek: The Search for Whales at THE WILD WEIRD WORLD OF SPORTS:
My favorite Star Trek movie is IV: The Voyage Home. And I thought about it all the time while searching for sumo in Tokyo.
From Josh Poehlein (Conscientious):
It seems like I’m finally seeing some of those visual remixes that I have been asking for for so long: Josh Poehlein’s Modern History.
From Iran Charges Imprisoned American Journalist With Spying – washingtonpost.com:
Roxana Saberi, an American freelance journalist who has been in Iranian custody since January, has been charged with spying
From Professional Photography of the Caribbean and United States. Instant print purchase and licensing. | Kathryn Wagner Photography:
Kathryn Wagner is a fine art photographer from Charlottesville Virginia specializing in travel editorial and fine art landscape imaging in the United States of America and the Caribbean.
From Luo Yang, Shenyang, China:
Luo Yang is a photographer and graphic designer from Shenyang, China.
From The L’Aquila earthquake – The Big Picture – Boston.com:
Early Monday morning, central Italy was struck by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. The 2009 L’Aquila earthquake caused serious damage to several medieval hill towns in the region, killing over 260 residents, injuring over 1,000 and leaving 28,000 homeless.
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From Duplex Planet:
In 1979 I took a job as activities director at a nursing home in Boston. I had just completed a degree in fine arts as a painter. On the day that I first met the residents of the nursing home, I abandoned painting. That is to say, I discarded the brushes and canvas, not the underlying desire to see something in the world around me and then communicate it to others. In this unexpected setting I found my medium. I wanted others to know these people as I did.
From Press Allowed To Cover Return of Dead Soldiers | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source:
For the first time in nearly 20 years, the media was permitted to witness a casket containing the body of a dead soldier arrive on U.S. soil. What do you think?
From It Ain’t Funny Business, but… | PixelatedImage Blog:
I can juggle flaming torches on a 6ft unicycle; my mother bought me my first unicycle for Christmas. The next year she bought me a straitjacket. Christmas around our place was a little weird for a few years there. I think they’re all pretty relieved to be buying me camera gear again. And while I doubt I’ll ever be called on to juggle or do a 2-hour stage show again, my diversion into show-biz, specifically comedy, taught me much that’s transferable. Here’s a few things professional comedy taught me about being a vocational photographer.
From NPPA: Best of Photojournalism 2009 Web Site Winners:
1st Place, Single-page News
The Virginian-Pilot, Martin Smith-Rodden
