2nd Look and square photos

Second Look blog. Specializing in square photos. Nice ones too.

I wish somebody would make a digital camera with a square format option which optimized the use of the sensor and lens circle (as opposed to cropping the ends off a rectangular image, which wastes a lot of the sensor and lens).

In the old days Hasselblad published a little book (or several) promoting the aesthetics of the(ir) square format. And it is fun, if for no other reason then because it's rare. It's a more laid-back format in itself, so it's a bigger challenge to get some tension in the composition.

Update:
Last period I painted (acrylics) I used square canvasses. I don't recall the decision process, but it seemed natural.

Come to think of it, a very high percentage of my paintings (as differentiated from drawings), probably most, have been square, on board or canvas. Funny, never really thought of that before, but it goes back even to my first solo exhibition in the early eighties. It feels like if you start from zero as with painting, anything else than square needs a reason.

With drawings I usually used an ordinary 4/3 format, because they needed frames, and reasonably priced frames come in that format.

Dusk and autumn

It was quite dark, actually, barely enough light to hand-hold a decent image even with modern cameras with high sensitivity and "shake reduction", and I knew it would get darker second by second, so I grabbed the nearest camera which had a wide-angle on it (kit zoom, actually). Pentax K-x, 18mm, F:4.0. I have removed the lamp in the foreground and fiddled a little with contrast and such. Original:

Shelfari

My sad and shameful lack of respect for FaceBook is no secret. But it's not that I think social networks are stupid, it's just that I think they should have a center, be about something other than mostly mindless chatter.
One which looks promising is Shelfari, which is a book-reading community. Put up a virtual shelf of whatever you have read, review them if you like, and read others' reviews.

Tommy's blog

Regular readers may remember a fella named Tommy who has found some cool videos for us. Turns out he has a blog too.
For example I found this one there:


(As usual, click on the YouTube logo to see it in bigger size.)

A Love Letter to Camera

A Love Letter to Camera, NYT article. About the pricey, but powerful compact camera Canon S95.

Funny enough I was just reading another "love letter to a camera", with some interesting similarities and differences. This one is about the upcoming Fuji X100 (blogged before), which has an oldie-timey feel.

EmptySpaces said:
Incidentally, now's probably the time to grab the amost-as-awesome S90 at a discount price (doesn't do 720p, but it's basically the same camera otherwise).
If I were buying either camera, I'd recommend purchasing Richard Franiec's grip, which makes it much easier to hold (and still pocketable).

Couldn't agree more, on both counts. I have that excellent grip (blogged here). Nobody would think it was not build into the camera.

I did wonder if there really weren't any other significant upgrades to the S95? Is the S90 sensor really that "big"?

Update: Bruce sez they are mostly the same, and reminds me of Imaging-Resource's excellent comparison feature.

I'd say the success of this camera shows everything does not have to be about price. It is twice the price of many similar-featured cameras, and yet it's quite successful. People like something that's done really well.

Gates and taste

This is a fun little video, a 2-minute interview with Andy Hertzfeld about Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and the issue of taste.
It's interesting that even as Steve apologizes, it seems important for him to point out a truth (for him at least) which really maybe shouldn't be all that durn important.

By the way, Triumph of the Nerds is indeed an excellent TV documentary. Unfortunately and very oddly, the second series, "Nerds 2.0.1" is only available on VHS!

Goldilocks - the iPhone 4 Mobile Series

Goldilocks - the iPhone 4 Mobile Series [Episode 1 - "Meet Locks"]
Filmed on an iPhone, which shows how sometimes small and simple gear is all you need.

Easy Typing app for iPhone

If you have an iPhone, sometimes send texts on it, and don't have teenage slender hands and dexterity, I recommend Easy Typing, which is simply a much bigger keyboard than Apple's default. Not only that, you can email or text what you have typed from the app itself, simplicity itself.

What is a Vook?

What is a Vook?

To be honest, I'm not really sure that I want to "blend a book, video, and connecting to my friends" into one soup... Wouldn't that be like making a bicycle that's also a tent and a power drill?

But it might well work well for some things.
Here is an example. This one is just a promotional item though, designed to make you buy the guy's book.

About the Curtsey

In Terry Pratchett's books we learn that witches don't curtsey to anybody, because they consider themselves below nobody. Some of them go as far as consider themselves above everybody. I think the one to aim for is the former without the latter.

Only one time in my life have a woman curtsey'd for me, and I must admit, I thought it was really nice. The Western World, and not the least Scandinavia, has become very egalitarian during the twentieth century, and generally that's a good thing. But I think that there is a confusion where a gesture of respect has to imply subordination, which I don't think has to be so.

In fact I think there's a certain mindset in which egalitarianism is seen as false, in which everybody and everything is on a hierarchical scale willy-nilly (whether you want or not), and you better know where you are on it, particularly if you're lower than, whoever.

Amazon short/long-form publication

About the new Amazon short/long-form publication service, post on my eReaderJoy blog.

A house owns you

A man builds a fine house; and now he has a master, and a task for life; he is to furnish, watch, show it, and keep it in repair, the rest of his days. 
 -- Ralph Waldo Emerson


Isn't this so damn true?
And so slow we are to learn it, if at all.
And he does not even mention the worst part, perhaps it was not common in those days, but these days the great majority of house "owners"* were so eager to leap into that neat cell that they not only spent the most money of their life on it, they usually take on a debt which will take them like 30 years to pay off, and will earn the loaner a couple hundred percent before it's done.

Actually if we go deeper, I think it is not so much the fact of ownership itself which traps one, it is that one is mentally and emotionally attached to the house.

*Like Stuart Wilde said, try not paying your property taxes, and you'll see who owns your house.