Chris Arnade is a photojournalist who documents the destitution and addiction problems in New York’s Hunts Point neighborhood. Chris spends time with these people and learns about their poverty, history, and the story of their addiction.

Roland (above) is one of these people. He lives in a supposedly abandoned house which he enters through a broken basement window. Chris did not share Roland’s specific addiction, but he did include this brief dialogue:

He is happy. “This place is better than the cave. Its not nearly as cold.”
He asks a favor. “I get to see my boy, he turns two on Friday. Can you come with me, take a picture of us.”  He shows me the tiny jacket he bought for his son.

Chris’ simple narration is powerful, and so are his efforts to capture these people’s lives. He speaks as a friend, and approaches each person respectfully. Through this method he gets these destitute to open up to him and confide about how they fell into addiction. The stories vary drastically in scope, emotion, and reason.

I share Roland’s story specifically because it highlights an issue of trust, not only for Chris but for that of his camera. Chris earned Roland’s trust by speaking honestly, and perhaps more importantly through this trust Chris was allowed to record his counterpart’s low points in life as well as his ambitions.

This is a routine for Chris. He spends up to six hours each day on the streets of Hunts Point New York getting to know people who most everyone else wouldn’t give a second thought about. He has interviewed an upwards of one hundred impoverished men and women, and often revisits them to catalogue their journey. Many invite him in to their homes.

So much of photography is about respect. I suggest that it is the backbone of our work; respect shows the amount of care and detail in the images, and also how the author attained them.

After I had already written this story Chris sent me this tip: “Have no fear. Be curious. Never turn down an opportunity to learn from someone else. Always get permission to take a picture. The better you know your subject the better the portrait will be. Always respect your subject.”

You can read about their stories on Chris’ blog – Faces of Addiction (Disclaimer: Some of these images contain drug use, drug paraphernalia, and nudity) - View on Flickr or Facebook.

The post Faces of Addiction Depicted by Photographer Chris Arnade appeared first on Free Photography Tips Tutorials Reviews and Wordpress Themes.

‘Spike’ is an extraordinary robotic creation that can control the motion and focus of the camera with meticulous accuracy. Frames can be repeated and refined until the desired high-speed imagery is created, removing the variance and delay inherent to human motion.

The Marmalade Identity – The World’s Most Advanced High-Speed Studio

Why a robot? The Marmalade describe their motivation:

Our customers want the unseen. They require a unique image for their brand that no one’s created before. That’s where we start.

We’re always striving to push the boundaries further and further, and that is when Spike was born.

High Speed shots have always been static. We wanted to set them in motion, something that was impossible up to now.

We said to ourselves, there must be a solution. We need software that could handle cinematically. Something that would be able to move. It must be able to create more than just a nice image here and then a nice picture there. It needs to look good between those images as well as it has to be precisely programmable.

‘Spike’ can freely move the camera with unparalleled speed and precision, thereby removing the previously existing creative limitation of having to shoot high speed sequences with a locked camera.

By marrying the hardware of a sturdy and reliable industrial robot to software that was built from the ground up for the demands of motion controlled high speed imaging, we developed a unique system for creating real life camera moves with the ease of use normally associated with 3D Animation.

Exactly repeatable camera moves can be created and modified within a matter of seconds. Using the rich previsualisation features of the system, creative options can be quickly explored on the computer screen and the resulting changes then immediately be performed for real. Additional effects can be triggered in sync with the move, allowing complex effect sequences to be performed.

And of course ‘Spike’ also is at home at slower speeds, producing dramatic product shots as well as stealthy perspective changes.

To see more of The Marmalade’s work, check out their portfolio here.

Until Next Time . . .

Stay Inspired ~ Jules

Thanks Von Wong for sharing this gem.

The post Robot Revolutionizes High Speed Photography and Cinema Studio appeared first on Free Photography Tips Tutorials Reviews and Wordpress Themes.

Yes, you understand me correctly, you can actually sit on the chair that is pictured on the canvas. How crazy is that! Just think about it, no more running to find chairs for your friends. Just tell them to grab one off the wall!

In all seriousness I wonder what the weight limit is for these things. Apparently there is also a stool, armchair and sofa version of the canvas design. Even if it is a little silly, I love the pictures of it in use… really plays with your mind. Because it’s obviously a canvas… but she is obviously sitting in them. Before I read the article I thought It was just some Photoshop magic in action. One last thing, what happens if the “elastic” canvas get stretched out…. Do you have a droopy chair?

What do you guys think? Would you buy a chair like this that doubles as art and a place to relax?

photos by Yasuko Furukawa

[via Laughing Squid via Design Boom]

The post Mind if I sit on your Canvas? New Canvas prints of Chairs actually work as functioning Chairs appeared first on Free Photography Tips Tutorials Reviews and Wordpress Themes.

I know many people who have not used Flickr in years, but it still remains one of the largest photo libraries and communities on the web. Since taking over Flickr Yahoo has not done much to improve the service, with exception to the recently released mobile apps. But new Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer has been really turning things around at Yahoo (too little too late?) as of late. Could this be what we have all been waiting for? Is Yahoo finally going to focus some resources on Flickr and try to resurrect the photo giant that once ruled the market?

Only time will tell, but rest assured we will be here to report any Flickr related news on Monday afternoon.

My Thoughts

Flickr has long been my favorite photo community. 500px is great as well, but they are two different beasts in my mind. Flickr is aging in its design and features, and if these rumors about updates are true then maybe we will see Flickr attempt to regain some of the popularity that it has lost wile Yahoo all but put out to pasture.

I am excited and hope that Yahoo is finally taking Flickr seriously and planning to spend more time developing and bringing Flickr into the modern era – lol. Things on the top of my list as far as updates I am hoping for are:

• Updated layout and design – Lets face it. Flickr’s current design and layout is so 2002, lets get that updated and bring Flickr into the web 2.0 era. Im thinking responsive design, clean interface, simple and effective yet pretty to look at. 
• Customization of profiles/portfolios (a’la 500px)
• Improved search and navigation, making it easier to find images from people you are not friends with.

What are your thoughts? Is Flickr a lost cause? Are you excited about a possible Flickr update? Let us know in a comment below.

The post Yahoo trying to Resurrect Flickr? Media Event Scheduled for Monday appeared first on Free Photography Tips Tutorials Reviews and Wordpress Themes.

The First and The Last

The very first photo shoot of the tour also became the last image to be released. But we are definitely glad we waited. The photo was based around Belgium Retouch Artist Chester Van Bommel. I can only image the pressure of retouching a portrait of a professional retoucher. It is a fine art that goes far beyond technical skills of the average Photoshop user.

“I learned through this process that it wasn’t about the new techniques, about which buttons to click. What really mattered was the vision behind it. As a creative, you want people to hire you because you are an artist, not because you are a technician.” ~ Von Wong

Behind the Scenes – Bringing Dreams to Life | The Mind of a Retoucher

Setup and Post-Processing Retouch

The more work done in camera during the photo shoot, the better chance you will be able to realize the image during the post-processing phase.

When shooting a large space, avoid distortion created by wide-angle lenses by stitching together several shots using a prime lens. For this image, Von Wong used a Nikkor 50mm f1.8 on a tripod with his Nikon D700 . This allowed the vastness of the space to be communicated without making it look malformed.

When a space has a lot of natural lighting, from say – missing a roof, additional lighting can be accomplished fairly easily. Here you see a pair of speed lights in a soft box as a backlight and an umbrella as front fill to light the subject. Additional frames were taken without the subject with the speed lights on the floor to light the arches for more definition and depth.

But that is only the beginning. After 60 hours of retouch work and a massive 8Gb+ Photoshop file, the concept was built piece by piece, literally. The results – dreamlike.

To see more from this photo shoot, click here.

For the Gear Heads

Nikon D700
Nikkor 50mm f1.8
SIRUI T-2205X (Lovinpix.com)
Pixel Pawn
Explorer Mini Battery Pack by Innovatronix
SB-900
SB-700

Photography and Retouch: Von Wong and Chester Van Bommel from Artsome
Video: Erwan Cloarec – Visuals

Until Next Time . . .

Stay Inspired ~ Jules

CREDITS: Photographs by Von Wong have been used with permission for SLR Lounge. Do not copy, modify or re-post this article or images without express permission from SLR Lounge and the artist.

The post Behind the Scenes | Retouch Art and Bringing Dreams to Life with Von Wong appeared first on Free Photography Tips Tutorials Reviews and Wordpress Themes.