Thanks for your patience over the last few weeks while I visited Texas and California. I stayed with friends (including five Boston Terriers, two mutts, and one Boxer, yay awesome dogs!!) and did some of the stuff you’re supposed to do in Texas, like shoot handguns and eat meat. Then I rented a car, took pictures like crazy on California’s pants-shittingly amazing Pacific Coast Highway, and went back to San Francisco, where I got to shoot and visit with some of my photo heroes. I liked it so much that I’m already in the process of moving there, so please bear with me just a little longer… there’s lots more tutorial videos in the works, so stay tuned!
Category: Site News
I’m traveling until 18 December
I’m away until the 18th of December (2007), so I probably won’t be posting until then. See you soon!
The blog is back, sorry for the downtime!
The server crashed and the blog was down for about 24 hours. Sorry about that! Thankfully, nothing was lost (let’s hear it for automated backups!).
Sorry for the lack up updates
I’m sorry for not having posted anything recently. There’s an illness in my family and I haven’t had any free time, sorry for the slack.
Film data index: film and notch codes, data sheets, available formats, and more
I’ve put together an index of film codes/edge markings, data sheets links, available formats, large format notch codes, and more, for every photographic film in production that I could find info for.
Please email me with any corrections or additions! (Include a link to your Web site, if you have one, so I can credit you in the contributors section.)
The index is here on Photon Detector (in the Tools & Reference section).
An update listing instant films will follow soon. Enjoy!
Happy birthday, Photon Detector!
Photon Detector just had its first birthday! I’ve got some new features in the works that I’m pretty excited about, details will follow soon!
AFK: will resume blogging in a few days
I picked up a few repetitive strain injuries (tendonitis and tenosynovitis) in my wrists from computers about 13 years ago. Sometimes it’s OK, sometimes it’s bad. Right now it’s bad, and it’s hard to do things like open doors, drive, hold a book or phone, etc., so I need to give my hands a break from the keyboard for a few days.
See y’all soon!
New "feature": unsolicited photo critiques
I’m starting a new "feature" here on Photon Detector: unsolicited photo critiques. Generally, they’ll be of photos that I think work really well. Hopefully I’ll be able to articulate, at least to some degree, what’s successful about them to me, though I may put up the occasional "damn, check this shit out!" just because it’s awesome.
Disclaimers and notes
- Most photos will be from Flickr, whose Terms of Use allow images there to be posted on other sites as long as they link back to the photo’s page on Flickr. Point five under "General Conditions" says:
The Flickr service makes it possible to post images hosted on Flickr to outside websites. This use is accepted (and even encouraged!). However, pages on other websites which display images hosted on flickr.com must provide a link back to Flickr from each photo to its photo page on Flickr.
When posting images not coming from Flickr, I will get the photographer’s permission in advance. I’ll try for Flickr images, too, but if I don’t, just know that I’m not being evil; those are the terms we agree to when we upload work there. I "we" because I have my own stuff there, too, which is of course subject to the same conditions.
- This is all completely subjective—just one person’s opinion at a particular point in time. I may be wrong. I may change my mind at any time. I may still be wrong. You get the idea.
- It’s about the result, not the process. The process is for the photographer, not the viewer. I don’t see "cheating" with Photoshop as a negative or "keeping it real" by coating your own plates as a positive. Likewise, no points added for Leica and none taken away for a webcam. I’m not a purist and I don’t care how you got there. What works for the image works for the image, and what doesn’t, doesn’t.
The only caveat is that if a technique breaks the spell with its heavy-handedness, it usually detracts from my experience of the photo.
- If I do say something negative, I’m genuinely trying to be constructive. I’m also not saying that I could do better.
- If you think I’m not sticking to this, please bust me on it!
- Remember that I have no idea what the photographer was aiming for when making the image, I only know what I see.
- When I look at engaging photos, I have a tendency to go into a kind of borderline fugue state, step into the image as best as I can, and see where it takes me. Some of my comments will undoubtedly make more sense if you try to do the same, or at least know that going in.
- If you leave a comment—and I hope that you do!—play nice. Let’s not turn this into Michael Johnston’s Great Photographers on the Internet. Be constructive and helpful. If you must attack something, attack ideas, not people. Remeber that liking something and recognizing is as effective are completely different things. I will leave comments that are respectful alone, even if they’re not flattering, and will delete any that I deem assholic.
Check out the first critique: Jessica, Tomsu Cleaners by Dan Loflin
Photon Detector will be offline for a few hours today for a server upgrade
Photon Detector will be down for a few hours starting at about 11:30am GMT -5/US EST today, 16 May, 2006 for a server upgrade, and will be back up later in the day.
Doo knot bee uhl-armd.
Photon Detector will be offline for a few hours tomorrow for a server upgrade
Photon Detector will be down for a few hours starting at about 11:30am GMT -5/US EST on Tuesday, 16 May, 2006 for a server upgrade, and will be back up later in the day.