More good news for photographers in the UK. A week after UK’s terror tsar called for the abolition of Section 44 of the Terrorism Act, UK’s Crime Minister David Hanson has new statements assuring photographers that anti-terrorism legislation should not be used to hinder photography. He is quoted as saying,

I recently met with Austin Mitchell MP, members of the Parliamentary All Party Photography Group and representatives of the photographic press and the Royal Photographic Society to discuss the issue of counter terrorism powers and offences in relation to photography.

I welcomed the opportunity to reassure all those concerned with this issue that we have no intention of Section 44 or Section 58A being used to stop ordinary people taking photos or to curtail legitimate journalistic activity.

Guidance has been provided to all police forces advising that these powers and offences should not be used to stop innocent member of the public, tourists or responsible journalists from taking photographs.

These powers and offences are intended to help protect the public and those on the front line of our counter terrorism operations from terrorist attack. For the 58A offence to be committed, the information is of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.

I have committed to writing to Austin Mitchell MP to reinforce this message and to follow-up on the representations made.

Indeed, news of photographers being stopped unreasonably has died down in recent weeks, so it seems as though things are becoming more photographer-friendly in the UK. If you’re in the UK, have you noticed any improvement?

(via Digital Photography Now)

Image credit: Shooting the Man by neate photos

On June 8, 1924, mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine set out on an expedition to become the first to ever set foot on the summit of Mount Everest, the highest point on earth . They were never heard from again, and a 1999 expedition discovered Mallory’s body. Now, a new search for Irvine’s body may reveal whether the two men in fact reached the summit, 29 years earlier than the two men currently credited with the feat: Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

The key to unlocking this mystery may be the Vest Pocket Kodak camera Irvine borrowed from a team member and was carrying on the expedition. Luckily for researchers, the thin air and low temperatures of Mount Everest may have helped in preserving the film in the Kodak. If the camera is found, and the film reveals evidence that the two men in fact reached the summit, history may have to be rewritten.

During Hillary and Tenzing’s successful 1953 climb, they spent 15 minutes at the top, searching for evidence of the Mallory expedition but finding none, taking photographs, and leaving evidence (chocolate by Tenzing and a cross by Hillary). As an interesting side note, though Tenzing admitted years later that Hillary had been the first to set foot on the summit, the only photographs at the summit are of Tenzing. When asked why this was, Hillary stated,

Tenzing did not know how to operate the camera and the top of Everest was no place to start teaching him how to use it.

This is a great example of how important photography has been in the recording (and occasionally revising) of history.

(via Steve’s Digicams)

Image credits: Everest by chenevier and kodak_vp_souflet_rouge_08 by Mario Groleau Photographie

The humanitarian organization, Doctors Without Borders (MSF), recently started a supplemental site, Images Without Borders, in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti:

Images Without Borders features and sells donated images by international photographers and artists to benefit Doctors Without Borders:

Each print is offered from Images without Borders at a limit of ten before being pulled from the collection and returned to the artist. This long-term project aids Doctors without Borders in their efforts on the ground in Haiti and the world.

Prints can be purchased for $50-$100, and iPhone prints are $32.

Doctors Without Borders, which was founded by doctors and journalists, has a track record of recognizing the value of photography in spreading and supporting their international cause to provide free medical attention to countries in need.

Last year, Doctors Without Borders published a collaborative graphic novel, The Photographer, featuring the work of the late photographer Didier Lefèvre.

The book combines art with photography gives a unique narrative about the work of the organization since 1986.

Here’s a recent panel talk about The Photographer:

Last week, we posted news that Oren Lavie’s music video for “Her Morning Elegance,” filmed using stop-motion by photographer Eyal Landesman, was nominated for a Grammy Award. Though the video did not win the award, Landesman has already garnered several photo accolades as a commercial and documentary-style photographer. Landesman is based in Israel, but his work has also been shown internationally, including exhibitions in Boston and Budapest. His print stills for “Her Morning Elegance” are on display at Space F2/Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, California, and are available for purchase at the HME Gallery site.

PetaPixel: Can you tell us about yourself, what you do, and your background?

Eyal Landesman: I was born in Haifa, Israel in the year 1970. My professional career started in 1993 as a photojournalist for various magazines in Israel and a number of international press agencies. Today I specialize in dance and theater photography.

PP: Your website portfolio reflects a strong awareness of the human body, motion, and dance. Was it natural to shift your style of capturing that motion and converting it into a stop-motion music video?

EL: I was drawn always to the exploration of the borders between imagination, illusion and documentary work through photography. Throughout my career I investigated these borders by a variety of technological and cultural platforms, starting at the theatre, both in front and behind the curtains. Later, by expanding my interest in a search of the borders of conventional photography both in time and space in images created with the use of diverse technologies and presentation forms, e.g. zooming and projection of the captured image, using public or darkened spaces or using Stop motion technology.

PP: What was the shooting process like?

EL: The clip was made a year ago in my studio located in Tel-Aviv, Israel. The video was made using simple technology. We used Tungsten light and a gobo mask for the windows. It took us around 48 hours to shoot the video; we worked on it almost non-stop… I used the Canon 5D camera, only a month later did the Canon Mark 2 arrived to Israel (I did it without using live view).

PP: What did you find most challenging while making the music video?

EL: All my life as a still photographer I try to catch one moment (mostly in 1/1000 sec). in stop motion the challenge is to think about 2096 photos together one after the other, in 3.2 min.

PP: I’d imagine there would be so many elements to think about: music, motion, image composition, and so forth. How did you manage to blend all those elements together so seamlessly?

EL: We work together, directors, animation, and of course  Oren Lavie the musician, and together we created it.

PP: Congratulations again on your Grammy nomination. Were you expecting such a mainstream response to the video?

EL: I was not expecting such an amount of viewers. I was more surprised by the 10 million hits on YouTube, than the Grammy nomination.

Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple iPad today, igniting tech news with excitement, skepticism, and prolific ragging on its name.

Apple’s iPad marketing team insists that the iPad is a groundbreaking piece of technology, fusing laptop, smartphone, and e-reader capabilities.

It certainly appears to be innovative technology fit for the future. Brent Spiner, famous for his role as Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation, tweeted that the iPad looks like something from the Enterprise. Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch mused about all the possibilities the iPad opens for book publishers, interactive media, and most importantly, developers who can harness the power of the iPad app. Though old media (namely print) might continue to fall away, but if publications can tap into “hybridized content” – text, photos, video, interactive stories – they might even convince readers that their content is worth paying for.

However, before that conversation can even begin, is the iPad itself worth its weight in bills? TechCrunch also reports that the iPad appears to not run Flash and will only be offered through the 3G network of AT&T. Gizmodo has a running list of gripes against the iPad’s failings, including the fact that it does not have a built-in camera.

For photographers, the iPad might be a promising tool, but currently offers very little. Though Apple claims the iPad is “the best way to view and share your photos,” it appears to be a glorified interactive digital picture frame, or at best, a redesigned touch version of Apple’s Quick Look. All starting at $499.

The Apple website hails the iPad as being “the best way to experience the web, email, photos and video. Hands down,” but reveals that the only way to get photos onto the iPad is by syncing with a computer, downloading from email, or purchase the Apple Camera Connection Kit separately. Extra cost just to take advantage of the advertised feature? Sounds like a deal breaker.

Asian American blogger Joz Wang, of jozjozjoz.com wrote a post titled “Racist Camera! No, I did not blink… I’m just Asian!” last year when she discovered a user-unfriendly feature on her Nikon Coolpix S630.

Whenever she took photos of herself or her family members, the camera would prompt, “Did somebody blink?”

Time.com did a balanced follow-up on the issue, noting that several technologies have problems with face detection on people with non-Caucasian features, much in the same way early speech recognition software had difficulty recognizing different accents.

Time explains how face detection works:

The principle behind face detection is relatively simple, even if the math involved can be complex. Most people have two eyes, eyebrows, a nose and lips — and an algorithm can be trained to look for those common features, or more specifically, their shadows. (For instance, when you take a normal image and heighten the contrast, eye sockets can look like two dark circles.) But even if face detection seems pretty straightforward, the execution isn’t always smooth.

And why Wang’s eyes may have been more difficult to detect:

The blink problem Wang complained about has less to do with lighting than the plain fact that her Nikon was incapable of distinguishing her narrow eye from a half-closed one. An eye might only be a few pixels wide, and a camera that’s downsampling the images can’t see the necessary level of detail.

HP’s face tracking technology on the HP Pavillion webcam had its share of problems as well:

However, Time was unable to get an entirely straight answer out of the companies as to how and why their products were released before realizing the problem. Nevertheless, thanks to the power of customer complaint and the viral nature of online griping,  Nikon and HP say they are working to improve their product:

Perhaps in this market of rapidly developing technologies, consumers who fork over a few hundred dollars for the latest gadget are the test market. [...] With the flurry of consumer complaints out there, most of the companies seem to be responding. HP has offered instructions on how to adjust its webcam’s sensitivity to backlighting. Nikon says it’s working to improve the accuracy of the blink-warning function on its Coolpix cameras. (Sony wouldn’t comment on the performance of its Cyber-shot cameras and said only that it’s “not possible to track the face accurately all the time.”)

Still, this begs to question what the flaw might be in how products are tested, by whom and with whom.

Image credit: Photograph by Joz Wang

Here’s a novel idea: using an audiovisual slideshow as a medium for poetry. Journalists at the Knight Digital Media Center created a project for the Oakland School for the Arts, featuring a student’s poem, The Eternal Sea. Check it out here.

The project is strikingly simple: ambient music, neatly stylized text, and an abstract Creative Commons photo in the background, all compiled and presented using the simple program, Soundslides.

It is so clean that I am surprised I don’t see it more often. YouTube and Vimeo is so friendly to short-form art, but naturally, most people post video clips or simple audio of recited poetry.

Youtube does have some interesting examples of animated poetry, which combines recited poetry with some amusing and slightly eerie edited visuals, such as Forgetfulness by Billy Collins:

And there are also videos that use some text, visuals and narration, such as Don’t Be Flip by Todd Boss:

However, the animated poems on YouTube lack the static allure and literary simplicity of The Eternal Sea.

In any case, blending written word, photography, and music with multimedia technology looks like a brilliant new approach to poetry — and a neat project to try out.