After the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Yoshito Matsushige is believed to be the only photographer who took any pictures that survived. He set out in an attempt to get to his newspaper office with 24 exposures. Out of those 24 exposures, he was only able to take seven pictures, of those seven, five turned out. Because his darkroom and all other darkrooms he had access to had been destroyed, he processed the film outdoors that night, using an irradiated creek for his water supply.
Continue reading ‘Hiroshoma Photographer’
This is not my normal subject matter, although the site seems to touch on what is considered porn occasionally. This moves into the realm of stomach turning distasteful. It just seemed like one of those things that was going to be ignored, and really shouldn’t be . . .
Jayrah brought an article by Tom Tomorrow to my attention. It seems that american soldiers stationed in Iraq have been trading images of disfigured, mutilated, or dismembered corpses for porn. Another article covering the story is here, and another, with disturbing images, is here. This whole event disgusts me, and I am scared it will be ignored by many media outlets.
I sometimes feel I am talking to myself. There is something amazingly egocentric about writing blog posts. That assumption that someone cares about what it is you have to say, and it is significant enough that you should put it out there for the world.
Continue reading ‘Who Reads This?’
A couple of months ago I wrote about a pending lawsuit against Philip-Lorca diCorcia for his public photographs.
He is again drawing media attention for his most recent body of work, Lucky Thirteen, which is on display at PaceWildenstein Chelsea Gallery. Continue reading ‘Pole Dancing’
Before
After
Glenn Feron has a little web site promoting his retouching services. It should be mandatory viewing for all teenage girls, especially those with any body image issues. Some of the examples are almost hard to believe, such as the before and after shown above. Even though it is not my thing, I have to admit the man has talent with photoshop.
As of today catoptric is no more, which is probably the only way most people who read this blog ever knew when I sporadically posted something. Sally is doing her own thing at The Oh Really.
Continue reading ‘Bye Bye Birdie’
Red, White, Blue and Kodachrome - New York Times
Library of Congress Press Release - “Bound for Glory”
The above articles cover the factual items about the show, but the NYTimes article does touch on one idea that I am fascinated by: from the introduction of color photography it was considered a lesser medium than black and white, less artistic.
Continue reading ‘“Bound for Glory” at the Library of Congrees’
Ever watch CSI or some other crime drama where the computer forensic guy does some magical enhancement on a almost unrecognizable section of an image to pull out hidden details? If you happen to know me, you might be aware that I hate that shit. As far as I know the best thing going for enhancing images right now is done through the use of fractals, and even then you can’t make up information; it just smooths out transitions between the pieces of information you do have.
Continue reading ‘Zoom and Enhance’
