Thursday, April 11, 2013

Craft & Vision: Photography eBooks


Craft & Vision use as their tag line: More Great Ways to Make Stronger Photographs, and the talented photographers who comprise the Craft & Vision team of writers surely live up to that motto. More than 50 beautifully produced eBooks are available as PDF downloads from the C&V website.

Incredibly, most of the eBooks cost as little as US$5.00 each, and all are packed with stunning images, and great content by writer/photographers who know intimately the topics they are writing about.

Right now, C&V are offering free downloads of Craft & Vision II (see link below), so I thought I should give you a ‘heads up’ about the freebie, and mention a couple of other great photography eBooks you might want to check out. However, as mentioned, there are many other books worth examining in detail, so head over to the Craft & Vision website and take a look through the complete collection.

Craft & Vision II: Another Free eBook
This gorgeous 45-page PDF eBook has nine articles that will help photographers of all levels make stronger photographs. Martin Bailey, Piet Van den Eynde, Nicole S. Young, Dave Delnea, Sean McCormack, and David duChemin have written articles exclusively for this eBook.

Articles cover such topics as making sharper images and learning to shoot in manual mode; developing smarter; balancing flash with ambient light; learning to see light; developing style and consistency; isolating your subjects; experimenting with B&W; and coping strategies for challenging light.

Speaking about this free eBook offer, Craft & Vision say: “Consider it a random act of kindness to the photography community we so passionately serve. Aside from the great articles contained in the eBook, you will also discover an exclusive promotional offer, we call it the C&V Starter Kit, where you can save USD $16 and get another four amazing products to help take your photography skills to the next level.”


The best things in life may be free, but generally we have to pay for the things we want. The Craft & Vision team have produced a whole range of great eBooks aimed directly at all photographers – whether amateur or professional. Here are a couple of my personal favourites…

Beyond Thirds: A Photographer's Introduction to Creative Composition
This inspiring eBook from Andrew S. Gibson, is about taking composition past the so-called rules. It’s a thoughtful, practical book about the way we build our photographs within the constraint of the frame.

Andrew moves past the traditional discussion of thirds by showing how a more holistic approach can turn a conventional rule into a powerful tool. The eBook explores important subjects like the creative use of balance and focal points, insights into how to shape a subject, and using aspect ratio to establish an ideal foundation for making photographs, and so much more!

The diagrams and creative exercises will provide you with the ideas and insights you need to compose more engaging photographs.


BELOW THE HORIZON: Understanding Light at the Edges of Day, was written by Dave Delnea, a photographer whose commercial work includes some of the finest resort properties in the world.

Delnea’s ability to see and capture the mood present in light at the edges of day have garnered him some exceptional clients and produced some amazing images.

His secret is no secret at all; simply to understand and capture the light that is uniquely present when the sun is below the horizon and other photographers have put their cameras away. Highly recommended.


Click here to visit the Craft And Vision website...

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Touring New York Harbor


Image courtesy of Working Harbor Committee
~ It is good to see New York City’s Working Harbor Committee (WHC) emerging from winter hibernation.

I am on the organization’s mailing list, and their latest ‘On The Hip’ e-newsletter lists a number of forthcoming activities, including the very popular Hidden [New York] Harbor Tours.

I have joined three previous Hidden Harbor Tours (two in 2010, and another in 2012), and I consider them to be some of the best ‘hidden gems’ of any visit to New York. You can read my account about one of those tours here…

Image courtesy of Working Harbor Committee
Among events scheduled from now until the end of summer, are a series of narrated tours under the theme: Beyond Sandy: Keeping the Conversation Alive, as well as more Hidden Harbor Tours. 

Beyond Sandy, is described as a series of special Hidden Harbor Tours exploring the many issues and plans arising from Super Storm Sandy, that focus on the array of global warming and sea-level rise protection alternatives being discussed by government, private institutions and citizens. Special guest speakers will discuss and pose questions such as: Are Netherlands-style sea barriers the answer? How did various neighborhoods fare and why? Fight the ocean or retreat? And How did the working harbor fare and help?

Each tour will have two guest speakers from a number of sources: the maritime industry, government agencies, private industry, think tanks and universities, as well as other noted experts. The tours are two hours in length and visit Red Hook, Sunset Park, The Verrazano Bridge, Staten Island, Bayonne and Hoboken, the lower Manhattan shoreline and many points in between.

The tours leave from Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport District (itself heavily impacted by Sandy – under 6 feet of water) at 6:30 p.m. on the large three-deck motor vessel Zephyr

There will be three different tours:
Tour 1 - High Seas on the Inner Harbor: From Wall Street to Snug Harbor This tour is from the Verrazano Bridge to Hoboken, including Brooklyn, Staten Island, New Jersey, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. See where giant sea gates are proposed.Tuesday - 21 May, 2013Tuesday - 18 June, 2013

Tour 2 - Fire, Floods and Floating Containers: East River - Hell Gate to Governors Island This tour traverses the East River from Queens to Governors Island, including the East Side of Manhattan, Newtown Creek and Brooklyn Navy Yard. See the site of the giant electric sub-station explosion.Tuesday - 28 May, 2013Tuesday - 25 June, 2013

Tour 3 – Protecting Our Ports: From Red Hook to Newark Bay.This tour traverses Kill van Kull to Newark Bay, including container terminals, oil docks, tug yards, and rail yards. Learn how close we came to a goods delivery crisis.Tuesday - 4 June, 2013


North River Tour on June 11
Image courtesy of WHC. Inset: Bill Miller.
Hosted by Bill Miller, this tour will begin by passing around the southern tip of Manhattan and the large ferry terminals to Staten Island and Governors Island.

It will also travel north up along the west side of Manhattan passing the Battery and Castle Clinton, then most of Hudson River Park, including historic ships, ferry terminals, fireboat terminals, historic Pier 57, Chelsea Piers, excursion boats, the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum and finally the passenger ship terminals.

The tour will then cross over to the New Jersey side passing the historic Hoboken waterfront, scene of "On The Waterfront", another active shipyard, Morris Canal entrance and finally, as all tours do, it will visit the Statue of Liberty before returning to Pier 16.

The tour departs from Pier 16 at the South Street Seaport District at 6:30 p.m. on the large three-deck motor vessel Zephyr

TICKETS:
Adults: $39.00 | Children (3-12 yrs): $25.00 | Seniors: $32.00
WHC, South Street Seaport and THIRTEEN Members: $32.00

Here is a short video I put together after my 2012 Hidden Harbor Tour:

I would dearly love to join one of the above Hidden Harbor Tours, but sadly, I won’t be visiting New York City this year. However, if I visit again in 2014 as I hope to do, a fourth tour will be definitely part of my trip.

Additional Hidden Harbor Tours including Port Newark/Port Elizabeth and Brooklyn are being planned for July, August and September. If you think these unique tours might appeal to you, I highly recommend you signup for ‘On The Hip’, the official e-newsletter of the Working Harbor Committee, and bookmark the organization’s blog for ongoing news and information.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

TED on Tuesday: The Dawn Of De-Extinction

Famous last words, perhaps? Click to view full size.

In a previous entry on this blog, I wrote about my visit to the Museum of Natural History in New York City. Part of what I wrote concerned the destruction of the passenger pigeon. Once numbering in the billions, the last surviving member of that species died almost 100 years ago, in 1914. But what if there was a way to bring back the passenger pigeon? Or the woolly mammoth? Or any number of other extinct species?

Incredibly, utilising science, technology and advances in DNA research, scientists are now close to the point where it is possible to bring extinct species back to life. In this TED Talk, Stewart Brand (the Whole Earth Catalog, The WELL, the Global Business Network, the Long Now Foundation, etc), outlines ongoing research and long term plans to de-extinct some of the animals that have disappeared from the planet.

Granted, resurrecting the woolly mammoth using ancient DNA may sound like mad science. But Brand’s Revive and Restore project has an entirely rational goal: to learn what causes extinctions so we can protect currently endangered species, preserve genetic and biological diversity, repair depleted ecosystems, and essentially “undo harm that humans have caused in the past.”

Watch Stuart Brand’s TED Talk now...


Stewart Brand's newest book is Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto. He is also the author of How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built.
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