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05/12
05:01
Illustrations by Liz Clements
Nice Illustrations by Liz Clements, an Illustrator from London.
© Jonas Kamber, LooksLikeGoodDesign
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20
05/12
00:18
20
05/12
00:16
20
05/12
00:14
Totem Pole Photo Gallery, Shinjuku Gakken-flex 35mm TLR plastic…
Totem Pole Photo Gallery, Shinjuku
Gakken-flex 35mm TLR plastic camera
Available outside of Japan HERE.
20
05/12
00:12
West Shinjuku Leica M6TTL Japan edition with Voigtlander 21mm f4…
Leica M6TTL Japan edition with Voigtlander 21mm f4 Color-Skopar lens
Photographer: Finding the View
We just happened to run into each other outside the Yodobashi Camera film shop last night.
19
05/12
15:43
Week In Review ~ 19 May
This week’s Week In Review features some kick ass collaborations, inspiring customization, and a backpack that lets you swan dive backwards off cliffs (no not really, but it’s useful if a ninja goes for your back…)
Getting creative with the GORUCK GR1
There’s no denying the GORUCK GR1 is a great bag – functional and durable in one clean-looking package (check out our road test). However, the folks at Gear Patrol have done a bit of tweaking to the GR1. You may be thinking, why fix it if it’s not broken, right? Well you’re not fixing so much as working with what is already provided. The GR1 offers the ability to be customized to your needs, and the Gear Patrol write up may give you just the inspiration you were seeking to make a great versatile bag into a lean, mean purpose-focused machine.
EVOC’s got your back
Got a habit of falling off high places or careening off two wheels? You may want to reconsider your activities then…however, though your head may need checked out for a slight case of insanity, your back can enjoy the protection offered by EVOC’s Enduro backpack with integrated back protector. The back protector can absorb up to 80% of the force applied to it (they even got some people to generously give of their time and attempt to maul said backpack). In addition it’s flexibile and lightweight so it won’t hinder your quest for the next big adventure.
Flexibility for free spirits
Motorcycles represent freedom. Just get on and go. Whether the wanderlust bug has bitten or you’re commuting to work, you need an equally flexible bag that can hold all the supplies you need for your urban adventure or rural retreat. The Hammarhead Industries Day Pack is a roll top that offers just the kind of freedom and flexibility you need if a motorcycle (or bicyle) is your mode of transport. Made from waterproof waxed cotton and leather, the bag features interior sleeves that will hold a 15″ laptop, iPad, and a Kindle. This write up provides further insight.
Space invasion
You may wonder if the aliens really are among us with the collaboration between sculptor Tom Sachs and Nike. The collaboration has produced the NIKECraft collection, inspired by astronauts and space travel. You may not be able to afford a trip into space, but at least you can have the ideal bags for such a trip ready and waiting for that lucky lottery ticket.
Kicking back with canvas
Another collaboration – this time from visvim and SOPHNET. – has produced a canvas backpack as part of their Italian Canvas Collection. The backpack features ballistic nylon on the outside for lightness and durability, as well as leather accents.
19
05/12
06:55
Photography by Matthieu Belin
Nice Photography by Matthieu Belin, a Photographer from Shanghai, China.
© Jonas Kamber, LooksLikeGoodDesign
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18
05/12
18:31
Way Down Under
Back in Sydney after almost a week in Tasmania, which is as wonderfully out of the way relative to everyplace else as its name might suggest. Lovely land, wonderful people. I was assigned by Tourism Australia to do a somewhat open ended assignment described as the Faces of Tasmania. I fully disclosed to them beforehand that I was a relatively awful rock and tree shooter, and preferred to stick with subject matter that talks back. (There have been location days of course, and people subjects, that have made me dearly wish I was better at the rocks and trees.)
But, I am, resolutely, a people photog, despite (or because of) its unrelenting unpredictability.
By pure chance, and by asking some questions of Sam, our intrepid ATV guide and mentor, we ended up photographing a terrific Tasmanian character nicknamed Muddy. He’s worked the water his whole life, and we asked him to come down to the dock for sunrise, which was a tad earlier than generally required of him. His fee for this was a case of VB beer. Done.
He’s got a wonderful, knowing gaze, the kind that says, in unspoken fashion, something along the lines of, “Get this over with, silly ass photographer and let me get to my work, and my beer.” Which is okay. I’ll gladly ride through any sort of ridicule to photograph a face like Muddy’s. Very brief, but fun, shoot.
Out there on the dock with the Numnuts Ezy box. Really fond of it as a character driven light. The white interior is pretty rich and forgiving, unlike its cousin with the silver interior, which is naturally a touch harder and more splashy. And, even though I only met him for a few minutes, I’ll venture to say that Muddy doesn’t do splashy. Also, for reasons of air travel and price per kilo of baggage, we left behind the c-stands, and used a Manfrotto stacker stand fitted with a extension arm.
Also, it being a portrait, I was able to orchestrate wardrobe, believe it or not. I saw an old pair of yellow slicker pants in the wheelhouse of the boat Muddy was working, and asked him to wear them. The touch of yellow up front resonated well with the blue of the background sky. I didn’t go into color wheel theory with Muddy. I was just happy he was easygoing about putting them on.
We had a another early morning photo session with Rob Pennicott, the Tasmanian of the Year in 2012. An entrepreneur, environmentalist, and sailor extraordinaire, he recently completed the first circumnavigation of Australia in an outboard powered vessel. The feat was accomplished in conjunction with the Bill Gates Foundation in an effort to raise money to eradicate polio.
We got a good portrait here mostly due to Rob’s good graces, and the fact that, pesky photog that I am, I asked him to come down to the dock at 7am, instead of the 2pm slot that the tourist board had originally arranged. Two pm light from a cloudless southern sky is the rock and the hard place, simultaneously, and a portrait shot then could have easily been DOE (dead on exposure). Turned out that Di, our irrepressible guide, knew Rob and made the call. He joked on the phone about whether there would be nudity involved. I answered that, if we headed that direction, it would only be partial nudity, which he was comfortable with. He is, as they say down under, a good bloke.
And, it being a tourism type shoot, I couldn’t leave Tasmania without a portrait session with one of its most amiable and recognizable faces.
Greg Irons and Petra Harris run an animal sanctuary called Bonorong Park, where they take in orphaned or injured animal infants, nurse them back to health and then release them into the wild. With the wombat, such as Petra is holding below, this can be a two or three year process, waiting for the dawn of wombat adolescence, and its naturally rambunctious push for independence.
They are also participating in efforts to discover the cause and cure for a cancer of the mouth that has decimated the Tasmanian Devil population. Called devil facial tumor disease, it can be transmitted from critter to critter, unlike most cancers. The Tasmanian wildlife community is rallying around the devil, trying desperately to contain and eradicate the disease.
Back in Sydney now, preparing for our last Sydney workshop, to be held this Monday. After that, off to Melbourne, where we’ll be for Aussie PMA, and doing another workshop, keynote and seminar. It’ll be a super busy week, and then, home and Annie…..more tk…
18
05/12
11:48
Garbology
America is full of junk. Like, a lot of junk. Like we generate more trash per capita than any other nation in the world... an average of 102 tons per person over the course of a lifetime.
When Edward Humes started out to write a book about America's trash legacy he thought the number was closer to 64 tons -- but while researching the book he found that the real number was much, much higher. In fact, the average person throws out close to 7 pounds of garbage each day.
Garbology
takes a close look at how (and why) we throw so much away, what alternatives exist, and what it all means.
takes a close look at how (and why) we throw so much away, what alternatives exist, and what it all means.
Surprisingly, while Humes takes what you would think would be the non-controversial position that "waste is bad," he points out that there's actually plenty of space in the US to bury all the trash we generate... over the next thousand years.
All we need to do is find neighborhoods that want to put up with enormous landfills. Good luck with that.
Another surprising fact? Almost nothing that goes into modern sanitary landfills decomposes. You can read newspapers that were thrown away 50 years ago, and identify food items that were dumped in more than a decade ago.
Landfills essentially preserve items indefinitely by smushing everything together and kind of mummifying the remains of plastic bags, food scraps, and even toxic materials such as battery acid and half-full paint cans.
The good news is that toxic chemicals don't leach out of landfills at nearly the rate that was once expected. The bad news is that they're still in there and it means problems associated with improper disposal of hazardous materials is just a long-term problem now instead of a short term one.
In the first half of Garbology, Humes identifies and describes the problems that lead to our 102 ton per person trash legacy, and in the second half he looks at partial solutions including trash-to-energy facilities that burn trash to create electricity (they're cleaner than they used to be, but wildly unpopular in the US), and ways individuals can reduce their own footprints.
Like other Humes books I've read, Garbology is a very readable volume, thanks to the author's method of combining statistics and facts with anecdotes and profiles of individuals including one of the first "garbologists" who applied archaeological research techniques
to modern-day garbage and a family that lives a nearly zero-waste lifestyle by rejecting virtually every product that comes in a package, among other things.
to modern-day garbage and a family that lives a nearly zero-waste lifestyle by rejecting virtually every product that comes in a package, among other things.
On the one hand, Garbology is the kind of book that can make you feel very guilty about your life choices... on the other hand, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
While I doubt I'll be going zero-waste anytime soon, I've already decided to make a few changes. For years I've taken reusable shopping bags on trips to the grocery store or farmers market. But the bulk foods area at Whole Foods has always been my weak spot -- because I've found myself grabbing thin plastic bags and filling them up with rice, oatmeal, quinoa, and other grains on nearly every trip.
These bags are meant to be used once for the few minutes it takes to get the food home, but they'll survive in landfills for thousands of years.
So this week I ordered a half dozen reusable bulk food/produce bags.
I also learned recently that Whole Foods (and some other grocery stores) will let you fill up your own mason jars at the store. You just need to visit the customer service area first to find out the weight of your empty jars so you can have that weight subtracted when you check out. This feels a little more stressful to me than using the reusable nylon bags, which are so light that you don't really need to bother weighing them at all. But I might work my way up to the mason jar solution in the future.
It was a throwaway example in the book, but Humes also pointed out that potato chip bags will last for thousands of years in landfills. The same is probably true of candy bar wrappers, pretzel bags, and thousands of other items we throw away -- but that one little example inspired me to do something I've been meaning to do ever since I figured out how easy it is to make french fries at home by slicing whole potatoes and baking them in a little oil.
I picked up a cheap mandolin slicer for $14.99 and started making my own potato chips from scratch. All you have to do is take thinly sliced pieces of potato, dip both sides in oil, arrange them on a baking sheet, and cook at about 375 degrees for 20 minutes.
The resulting chips taste better than almost anything I've ever fished out of a bag, there's less waste associated, and most of the potatoes in our house didn't travel very far to get here. We pick them up from the local farmers market when they're in season.
And there's no bag to throw away.
Reducing plastic bags and potato chip bags won't save the world from trash. But if everyone thought a little more about the packaging that comes with the products they bought maybe there wouldn't be so many items (like plastic shopping bags) manufactured to be used just once and then thrown away.
