There is an iconography of Robert Frank’s work, that is undeniable.
His book, The Americans, was shot in the 1950’s by way of a Guggenheim grant, and showed us a side of America that existed, but was not the mainstream imagery. The book changed the look of photography, forever.
Continue Reading »

We live in a 72 dpi world.
It’s all on the screen in our hands, or on the desk.
How do you enhance your living environment, once you raise your eyes?

William Wegman with a hanging Doodles Man

Your walls not only reflect your tastes, but should evoke a response from you on an almost daily basis.
The height you hang your images from: eye level? higher?
Where are you sitting when you are looking at them?
Someone taught me long ago a way to hang the art in your home.
When you walk in the door, what do you see? It’s a statement of you. Pleasant, provocative, nebulous, whatever, it’s the first greeting for you, and your guests.

The where does the eye go?

Scan your home and see what catches you first. Hallway? A peek into another room? Does an image in another room grab you to enter that room and see what else may be there?

Then of course, what happens when you are settled in a main living area. What does your eye get to scan and enjoy? Hopefully your choice of images, either let you continually see new things, or delivers a gentle emotion to put you in a certain frame of mind.

Too deep? It is way more subtle than I’m bringing out here. Of course, I’ve found that the special images must remain out of any direct light so fading is not an issue. Some of those gems stay in the hallway, only to be glimpsed going in or out of a room. You have to make a point to stop and enjoy, but it almost ensures you never tire of it.

There is one image that now hangs in my bathroom, directly opposite my shower. the door is awesome open so there is never any steam or fog.
This image greets me every day, as I step out of the shower.

By Jacob Aue Sobol, this image was purchased in the last Magnum yearly square image sale. not expensive, but signed original. $100.
Still has layers I am trying to decipher. And enjoy it every day.
Price isn’t the point.
Enjoying the beauty and complexity of photography, is.

There are a few black easels in my place, from Aaron Bros, that have clean lines, and allow me to change out images at will, without the wholesale revise of the wall arrangements.

I encourage you to curate your walls. And then change them every year.
Screens are cool, books are nice, but a print on the wall is pure enjoyment.

This is not an ad for any gallery, but an encouragement to get your images off of a screen, and into the light where it belongs.

Sure, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was shot in Film.

So was Hateful 8. And people are buying turntables again. And vinyl has been on the rise for awhile.
What is going on?
A return to analog is creeping back into our digital lives.
But why?
Has there been enough pixels and cloud stored images? Is there a desire to experience the warmth and imperfections of the analog mediums? Everyday I read about photographers retiring to, or supplementing their shooting with film cameras.

On the flip side of 360º video and VR markets, comes the old yellow stalwart Kodak, with a return to the past glory of a Super 8 Film Camera:

“You Press the Button, and We Do the Rest” was the selling point of Kodak Brownie in 1889.

And the came the home movies, with the same promise of ease.

The new Super 8 model has an LCD screen, and will take an SD to record your audio.
You pay for a cartridge, send it to Kodak and get back the processed film and a digital scan of the footage.
What you donut get, for everyone used to video cameras, is the audio tied to the visual.
That’s right, you have to sync the audio in post.
I you are a hobbyist, that is part o the charm.
If you are a student, that is part of your learning process.
If you are a general user, you will have to sync your audio files, which may be more than a lot of folks want to do.

The whole idea here has a throwback feel, and a kitsch factor that will appeal to many. The wait time to see your results?
Hmmmm… we’ll see if buyers are truly ready for that.

Does shooting analog make you a better image maker, slow you down to be more thoughtful, or have a look that no algorithm can reproduce?

(photo album of CES 2016 here)

I like to think of CES as a film festival.
The majors come out with a lot of glitz & glamour, plus loud fanfare and pretty packaging dressing it all up. The press releases will tout only the best parts, just like what surrounds any large scale movie release.

If the movie or product doesn’t make it, the company/studio, stays in business, and move on to more R&D, and market research.

On the flip side, are the folks/small manufacturers that mainly populate the Eureka Park venue, a little more out of the way in the Sands Hotel.
Like an indépendant filmmaker, these small manufacturers or designers that get a booth here, put it all on the line. Could be a fun, leisure item, or a life improvement product. The Indie filmmakers have a story to tell, whether it’s a doc, or comedy, that they needed to self or crowd fund.

The press isn’t massive and pervasive, the booths/theaters aren’t the big and glitzy mainstream affairs. The scrappy, start-ups have a dream, an idea, work their tails off, use life savings, and bring a product to market in the hope that it will take off.
They can’t afford to bring in the big stars to promote, but the idea/concept may be revolutionary. Or maybe just hit upon a common need or chord that has an audience.

If the innovation product/independent film doesn’t find it’s audience, all could be lost: the money borrowed, the man hours invested, and the lifeblood of attention will have a major effect on the creator.

With almost 90% of the start-ups not making it, the risk is huge, and everything on the line.
Like an independent film, exposure is what you need at a trade show or film festival, so you attract users/investors/distributors.
And the hope that once you go to market, there is success and yo find that audience..

The major brands can sustain a loss, the smaller inventors could face ruin. Pretty risky business.

On the more positive side, that risk can turn into huge rewards for the small innovator.

I’ll never forget being at a press preview for masses of new products, and 2 action cams were making their first public debut: The Contour Camera and the GoPro.
The Contour was sleek, cylindrical, sexy, beautiful packaged and innovation.
The GoPro was a simple little box. A guy was walking around with one on his chest, and one on a helmet. It was not the most elegant display.
jan 11. 2010

But it was an obviously a better designed product and the shape helped.
As we all know now.

And then there was the FitBit. These folks were in a press preview room, with the promise of the scale coming (took a few years) and their data tracker was more of a smooth small stone that was easy to use, easy to lose, and killed the Jawbone Up bracelet. And the success of this company is renown.

You never know what you may see.

Other categories to watch: As people have realized that shooting video on a small camera like a phone, results in crappy, shaky, video. So the rush is on for stabilization.
This small company, Vimble, had a simple booth, one person, and a demo unit pulled out of a shoulder bag. But the guy knew his product, it worked as promised, and I look forward to seeing it come to market.

The was a company called Icaros, mentioned in an earlier post, playing on the VR craze, built a rig to hold a person, and let them experience the sensation of flying like Superman through the use of VR goggles and software.

And then there are the items you want to use right now. Simple perhaps, but incredible useful.
Like Blink, an IOT (internet of things) battery operated security camera, that you can control and view video from your smartphone.

I want to use this in my hotel room right now!

Or ThinOptics reading glasses. Yep, I need readers and these have an awesome. tiny, lightweight, design. Yes, this is not their 1st time at CES, but perhaps looking for more exposure or distribution.
And yes, they slip into a protective case on my iPhone. Genius!

Next year, I would recommend spending a good day in this start-up area to see what could be coming down the road. Get a close up look at some hard work and perseverance.

I have to applaud these companies, as I am aware of what it took to get to where they were: the trade show floor of CES!

Now they just have to see if the marketplace wants what they are selling.
Always a gamble.

Coming up this month is the Sundance Film Festival as well. I’m sure that a lot of the technology we have been seeing the past couple of years has enabled many small film makers to tell their stories and get it on the screen in Park City.

(photo album of CES 2016 here)

One of the major trends at CES this year, was the advent of high quality audio and a throwback to old listening habits, as in vinyl. Yes, records, with all of the pops and surface noise you knew before. Unless you kept them pristine and had a solid needle and cartridge combo.

The word on the floor was that turntables were the most popular gift of the holiday 2015 season. Really? Did any of you get one? Or did you go to the garage and see if you still had your old one?
Anyway, the new units do have some features that your old ones didn’t have: The easy ability to connect to your computer either via USB or Bluetooth.
I listened to Adele 25 at the Audio Technica booth and the old snaps,crackles, and pops, were there, although not sure if I needed that.

Sony premiered their latest entry, the PS-HX500, and the crowd went wild!

There is vinyl out there, and these new turntables could reverse the MP3 trend. Or probably just a niche for the 30 year old market.

The other audio trend seemed to be high end headphones and amplifiers. Yes, amplifiers that go between your headphones and the media player. Something you need? Have a read here and get some background on the category.

Sony showed off a system that with a cost of over $2600 including player/headphones/amplifier, will give the listener and unparalleled music experience. Of course you do need to have the content that is perhaps lossless, or FLAC file.

General MP3’s don’t have near the depth you need to take advantage of what the artist intended.
And that is what one of the driving forces is in this space: the artists want to differentiate themselves, and have their fans hear all of what they put into the recordings.
Back in the day, companies like Sheffield Labs produced master recording vinyl that were the audiophiles dream. And they still do. I’ll never forget buying a Harry James disc, not because I was such a massive fan, but the recording quality made his trumpet sound incredible and was miles any other recording format I had heard.

Remember, not every piece of music out there is available in the Hi-Res Audio formatting, or FLAC or Lossless. Many of the most current singers have produced content where you can tell the difference, like Lorde, or Adele, or the latest David Bowie.
A personal favorite is Miles Davis, Kinda Blue Now THIS is HI-Res Audio!

Companies like Shure, Audio-Technica, and Sony were showing off their headphone amplifiers, which could set you back up to $1000.!
these are not really new to their product catalogs, but the renewed interest begged them to show them off for the crowds

New companies like MQA, spoke about their new algorithm that folds music files into manageable sizes that fully unfold when played through their units, starting at only $300. You do have to follow the trail on the music that they have worked with.

It’s not the cheap seats to be sure. The experience of high quality audio though, will bring you an appreciation of the artistry of your favorite musicians as you may never have had before.

There is also a company called Phaz, that puts the amplifier right into the headphones!

Smart idea and the sound is awesome! Plus you can charge your phone while playing tunes using the built in battery. New Bluetooth versions coming in March.

Speaking of Bluetooth, a term that seems like a throwback, was all over the place in the headphone world. What we’re really talking about is no more wires. It does mean that you also have to be charged, to use that feature. Manufacturers have been smart and actually adding the option of a plug in cable, incase you lose power.
By the way, bluetooth technology with headphones has a latency factor which simply means that there is a delay or lag from what is playing to when it hits your ears. Remember that Bluetooth has a limited range: currently about 100 ft on tracking devices like a Tile or Trackr, and is now being touted as up to 328 ft, making it a more viable system

With general music listening, it’s not a big deal, but if you think you can use the same headphones in your video shooting, like I wish I could, you’ll need to add the cable back in for real time monitoring.Most of the Bluetooth versions have that option.

Another very cool product was the BoomStick. This simple, perfect sized, unit, goes between your headset and the player (smartphone, or whatever).

This is an audio processor, that can add more bass for when you need to drop the beat, or my favorite part, it will bring out and define instrumentation in tracks that you think you already know.
I tried this on my iPhone Music app, and the difference was dramatic as I heard chimes that had been lost in the sauce on tracks in previous listening, in the middle of a mobbed trade show press event. this one pre-order now, for about $100. Love it.

Yes, there were bluetooth portable speakers, and some affordable bluetooth headsets. Wires are looking like a bygone era in 2016.
There seemed to be a move towards high end audio however, and it remains to be seen if there is a large enough market to support it.

Getting the high end music is the key. Players like the Pono player, which house an iRiver player, can store and play the music, and offer you an online store for you to purchase the high res content. Sites like HD-Track is also a great place to start.

You’ve seen the Hi-Res Audio sticker on some of the photos above. What it really means it that the company is part of a global collective that wants to make a line in the sand about large essentially lossless music files. So don’t confuse it with something like a Dolby sticker. It’s an indication, not a specific claim.