Category: Media

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 19, 20157:16 am

Flickr a Day 19: Indian Street Food

Vibrant best describes the photograph’s of Ulf Bodin, who works magic with contrasting areas of brightness and shadows. My father taught me to favor overcast skies when shooting outdoors. Ulf’s photostream portfolio shows how to effectively use light, and even long shadows, to artistic advantage.

“I’m in love with dark, high contrast, colorful, clean, sharp images”, says the former archaeologist. His profession is all about stitching together the past—from the pieces recreating what was from what remains. His photographic style isn’t far removed. “I post-process my images to recreate the mode and feeling from the photo moment. I never add things to my pictures, but sometimes I merge several captures to one”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 18, 20157:05 am

Flickr a Day 18: Painted

Student Satya Vrat Shukla should seriously consider just how good are his “outtakes”, which is how he describes this remarkable photograph. The colors and bokeh—painter and background—rivet my eyes.

“This is one of my really good friends, Ethi, who is an amazing painter”, Satya says. “She basically oil-painted this within a couple of minutes while I pestered her to ‘paint something good'”. Pester. I found the pic searching Flickr for the word—like yesterday’s selection, which shares something else: Camera choice. Satya shot with Canon EOS 550D and classic 50mm lens (f/1.8). Gotta love them Primes!

Aspiration by Joe WilcoxJan 17, 20159:54 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Fighter

One week ago, I started serializing my ebook, Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth, which will go into the public domain ~~after the last segment posts~~ on July 8, 2015, after my current commitment for Amazon KDP Select ends. The first installment featured Ken Camarillo, as The Dark Knight. There is no shortage of people like Ken who dress up as someone else during the Con.

But the pop-culture event, and others like it, come around just once a year. Some people wear costumes, and assume other personas considerably more often—and that is the case with today’s Comic-Con Hero. She and her wonderful cohorts reach back into the past, recreating in modern times flavors of an era few people remember but should.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 17, 20157:12 am

Flickr a Day 17: ‘Geisha Hunting’

Today’s selection, and the next one, come from search “pester”. Many photographers are reluctant to fully identify themselves, as is the case with Peter “monkeylikemind”, who lives in Shanghai, China, and joined Flickr in February 2013. Other shooters, like Thomas Hawk, use pseudonyms.

Flavor is the word that describes Peter’s street photography, which gives a Westerner’s non-tourist taste of China. Self-titled, “Geisha Hunting”, which he shot with the Canon EOS 550D and EF-S18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens, is delicacy. Same can be said of another, which I almost chose instead.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 16, 20157:08 am

Flickr a Day 16: The Darlingtons

Today’s pic is such startling contrasts that two universes stitch to produce the scene depicted in this other-worldly concert photo shot by Jason Parrish, on July 13, 2014. Look at how the bright, partly cloudy sky meets the canopied stage like mistaken halves forming a misbegotten whole. Then there is the people contrast—the crowd of oldsters moshing before the three young musicians.

Judging by the blue-and-white football—eh, soccer to Americans—jerseys, they are parents to the few kids low down to the stage and fans of the Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. Jason shot the photo at Owls in the Park, Sheffield, United Kingdom. So there you go. In another universe, The Darlingtons still play together. But in this one, the foursome broke up about three weeks after the performance.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 15, 20157:04 am

Flickr a Day 15: ‘Cherry Pop’

Choosing a camera is as much about how it looks as how good the photos can look in the right hands. One reason I bought the Fujifilm X100T is the retro-design. But I made few compromises, given the compact’s benefits. Flickr member Janine, and that’s all the name she gives, confesses choosing fashion over photography.

She shot the selfie, on July 10, 2010, using her then new Sony NEX-3, which she mainly bought for the color. Janine explains: “Meet the new toy, Cherry Pop. In hindsight, I realize I should’ve just bought the NEX-5 cos it can function with a remote. But I really, really want a red one…I’m justifying”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 14, 20156:57 am

Flickr a Day 14: Collonges la Rouge

Choosing a single Gwenael Piaser photo to feature is a painful exercise. So I left it to chance, by picking the one that lead me to his stream. Today’s Flickr-a-Day selection comes from search “red […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 13, 20157:20 pm

Cali Wonders

Our Tortoiseshell cat watches my wife cook breakfast today. Can you say bacon? The kitty sits where little Lou Lou did after our big Maine Coon Kuma disappeared three years ago on Thursday. The neighbor’s […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 13, 20157:15 am

Flickr a Day 13: Lucky Shot

The unluckiest number is good designation for a photographer caught in the rain—making his own luck. My feature photo on the thirteenth day comes from Flickr newcomer Iliyan Yankov, who joined just 12 months ago. He also posts to Facebook.

He describes himself as a “student in Italy studying arts. One of my passion is the photography. I love to travel around the world and capture it. If I have some free time I love to go out on the street with my camera and spend hours there capturing the atmosphere”. Ha! When i previewed Iliyan’s self-titled “Raining London at Night”, my wife remarked: “It has a lot of atmosphere!” He describes his photographic style well.

News Media by Joe WilcoxJan 12, 201510:03 pm

Good God, Gawker, You Had Me at ‘Hi, There’

Nick Denton’s little publishing empire often doesn’t get the credit deserved. Among the new media ops, click-whores like Business Insider, BuzzFeed, and Huffington Post grab the spotlight. But their granddaddy, Gawker Media, knows better 13 years since its founding—literally three lifetimes as measured in online publishing. Forget dog years. Denton’s shop is ancient, and it thrives by reincarnating in place. The Gawker in 2015 bears little resemblance to the circa 2002—Hell, even 2013. That’s a good thing.

What I always liked about the new media property: Application of newspaper-like editorial ethics for getting scopes, sourcing stories, and producing original content to online news gathering. All the while writing is current and cantankerous, and editors experiment with different design, content production, and stylistic strategies. Stated differently: Gawker is the best of print tabloid journalism applied to online publishing. Bottom-feeding aggregators that imitate the tabloid headline style, and dong so grope pageviews, are piss-poor imitations.

People by Joe WilcoxJan 12, 20156:52 am

Flickr a Day 12: Tribos Bar

Tight describes the playing of great rock bands. It also applies to the photos Alvaro Sasaki takes of them—in Brazilian clubs, cafés, and bars, where getting the shot means close quarters, big crowds, and hostile lighting. His best photos pull you into the performance. You can taste the sweat in the room, breathe perfume and liquor, and tremble to the vibration of music and stomping of the crowd.

The image above isn’t my first choice but the second, and I started with an unusually large initial selection—about a dozen, which is the most for any photographer in the Flickr-a-Day series. Alvaro’s musician performance pics are that good. I chose the audience shot because of the entire album set—Mestre Ouriço @ Tribos bar; 26 photos.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 11, 20157:01 am

Flickr a Day 11: Trope

You can discover the most interesting people on Flickr, unexpectedly and with little effort. I found this photo by searching “trope”, and for no particular reason. What I like: Contrasting focus, and how it’s composed, with the game player bokehed (gasp, probably not a word, but frak it) and Nintendo 3DS XL focused. The device’s rich red pops. This would be a perfect product shot for marketing purposes. But it’s not.

The credited photographer, Anita Sarkeesian, is a controversial feminist game critic. Three years ago, her Tropes vs Women in Video Game series Kicktartered (I swear that’s gonna be a word) asking for $6,000 and raising $158,922. Her Feminist Frequency website is down as I write, but its YouTube has vids for the series, which stirred up trouble—like threats against her.