Worth Reading: Lens, New York Times Photo Blog

The New York Times rocks. The epitome of good journalism is, of course, no less stellar in their photojournalism department. If you enjoy high quality images and love to read a story through the picture, there is nothing more outstanding that the New York Times Photo Blog, Lens. Check it out. DOOO ITTT. :D

Screen shot of today's photo of the day. What an awesome image. Seriously. 

(Check it: You can see the shells from the gunshots.  Daaaayum, what perfect timing!)

 Image shown: Luke Sharrett/The New York Times

ooo, Inspiration

One of my biggest inspirations as a photographer is this lovely lady pictured right here. Jessica Claire is a wedding and portrait photographer extraordinaire as well as one of the greatest artists of the camera working right now. Not only is she amazing with the camera at weddings, she rocks it on the street too (check out her art website here); as if that weren't enough, Jessica has one of the quirkiest, most intriguing, and most I-want-to-be-friends-with-you online personalities ever. I confess to checking her blog at least once a day for any possible updates. Shhhh...

This gorgeous images of Jessica shooting her first destination wedding (on location in Cabo!) was captured by her friend and second shooter Becker, whose images, clearly, are also top notch. 

I aim for this kind of dedication to an image. Ahhh-mazing.

In other news, I've been accepted as a staff photographer for The Daily Californian, the daily paper published on UC Berkeley's campus. I am oh so thrilled! You should check out their website, of course, but I also recommend a visit to the staff's photography blog. Hopefully you'll see one of my images up there sometime soon!

Photographers: Your New Favorite Accessory

Hey kids!

Meet the newest cool hip thing to have if you're a photographer, Funky Camera. I want to order ten but will somehow restrain myself. I'm thinking leopard print. Maybe some cute flowers. How to ever decide!?

Here are my four favorites. It was impossible to pick. Really. They're not my photos (they belong to Funky Camera) but I wanted to share oh so badly. Ah-mazing. Really. (:

I love the bright colors and funky flowers in this design. Is it too girly though? 

Or do I show some Cal spirit? Cal spirit and delicate flowers. I love the color scheme but maybe it doesn't pop enough like the last one...

Classy. Good for both fun and more professional events. Not sure it's my absolute favorite though... but still very nice.

Last but not least, this one is perhaps my favorite. Not sure how the faux fur would hold up to my special brand of abuse though. What happens when the faux fur gets dirty or wet? Hmm... such a dilemma.

Anyways, this is my new favorite accessory. Or will be when I finally get around to ordering. Just you wait. (:

P.S. I'm thinking the bright and beautiful flowers in the first strap. Thoughts? Suggestions? 

Poladroid. ohmigosh.

Dear friends, let me just say:

You have no idea how much your life is about to change. In absolutely unbelievable, completely wondrous ways. How so, you say?

Drumroll, please:

I'm proud to present this amazing, FREE software. Both MAC and (pc) compatible. Beautiful.

POLADROID.

I'm so excited I can barely say it: it transforms any photo, yes, any .jpg photo you have, into a very convincible Polaroid photo. And it does it in the most legit way possible. Once you've downloaded it you need only drag and drop your image onto the camera icon and it spits out an undeveloped Polaroid (with a very realistic "click" and print sound). True to form, you must wait a few minutes for the photo to develop (although shaking it really does speed up the process), but it's well worth the wait.

The only downside to the program that I can see is that there's no way for you as the photographer/editor to pick which part of your original 4X6 image shows up in the Polaroid image. I got a few where the subject was completely lopped off and the image was rendered ridiculous. I have decided to be happy regardless of this problem. (:

Check out a few (okay, a lot) of my transformed images below. I got a little trigger happy, but absolutely cannot wait to print some of these out for real. Polaroid effects make everything look extra cool. Check it and be excited.

The California Mission:

And another:

Lock. (here or here or even here).

Kenny:

The old, cacti boat:

Rebecca:

Yosemite:

Photoshoot for BARE magazine:

Berkeley at night:

Portraits of old friends:

And other old friends:

Candid photo on Spoul Plaza (Berkeley)

mhmmmm (:

Portraits of Jenni (:

Beach (this was from the red tide ocean adventure)...

Pride Parade 2009 (San Francisco)

And another from that day...

Roadtrip:

Berkeley Bowl

Another roadtrip photo:

I've been wanting to get a Polaroid camera for aaages now. The cameras are cheap but the film is soo expensive it's just ridiculous. Sigh. It's a bummer that this program can't print out the photos for free too, but as it is, I'm pretty happy. Poladroid is amazing and until I get my hands on a real Polaroid camera (and truckloads of film) this will most definitely keep me quite happy.

Thank you, Poladroid! (go download. now. trust me on this one. :D )

45th Anniversary of Free Speech at Cal

For more information on this event please see:
45th Anniversary of Free Speech at Cal blog conversation
Daily Californian coverage
Information from the ASUC Website
You Tube coverage
Calendar listing