Uncovered 2. Playing with my new iPhone 4.

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Sealed off for nearly a decade, the folks at SilentUK have finally uncovered London’s secret ‘Mail Rail’, first opened in the 1920s after extensive and complicated construction. Closed down due to lack of use and high costs, the elaborate underground system became an urban legend for adventurers. For more photos, history, and the full story of the find, see: http://www.silentuk.com/?p=2792

From Wikipedia:

In 1911 a plan evolved to build an underground railway 6½ miles long from Whitechapel to Paddington serving the main sorting offices along the route; even then, traffic congestion was causing unacceptable delays. The contract to build the tunnels was won by John Mowlem and Company. Construction of the tunnels started in February 1915 from a series of shafts dug along the route. Most of the line was constructed using the Greathead shield system, with limited amounts of hand-mining for connecting tunnels at stations.

The main line has a single tube of 9 ft diameter with two tracks. Just before stations, tunnels diverge into two single-track 7 ft diameter tunnels. These then connect to two parallel station tunnels of 25 ft diameter. The main tube is underground at a depth of around 70 ft.^[5] Stations are at a much shallower depth, with a 1-in-20 gradient into the stations. The gradients assist in slowing the trains when approaching stations, and accelerating them away. There is also less distance to lift mail from the stations to the surface. At Oxford Circus the tunnel runs close to the Bakerloo line tunnel of the London Underground.

During 1917, work was suspended due to the shortage of labour and materials. By June 1924 track laying had started. In February 1927 the first section, between Paddington and the West Central District Office, was made available for training. The line became available for the Christmas parcel post in 1927 and letters were carried from February 1928.

In 1954 plans developed for a new Western District Office at Rathbone Place which required a diversion to the line. The diversion came into operation in 1958.^[6] It was not until 3 August 1965 that the new station and office was opened by the Postmaster General of the United Kingdom, Anthony Wedgwood-Benn. The disused section was used as a store tunnel; some parts of it still have the track in place.

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Transbay Terminal, San Francisco. Taken with an iPhone.

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I love disposable cameras – they reinforce the concept that true art isn’t made by the camera, but the eye behind it.

From their page:

When it comes to photography, we like to root for the little guy.

He’s the picture taker that works hard, is easy going and is always around when you need him.

Yep, we’re talking about one of our old favorites: the disposable camera.

While we love adding filters to our phone pics and making masterpieces with our DSLRs, there’s something magical about disposable cameras we can’t forget…

They’re cheap, fun to play with and can do almost anything!

Here’s our top 20 list of didn’t-know-you-could-do-that ways to use, abuse, modify, and make the most of your disposable camera!

Go buy a disposable camera and see what you can do with it! I plan on doing so and will post pix back here when I do.

And, sign up for Photojojo’s newsletter at photojojo.com. You’ll be glad you did.

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Guess the subject -- Blackberry Curve 8900

Here is another random shot I wouldn’t have caught if I hadn’t had a camera phone with me.

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The UW&S has a 22mm lens – that’s wider than any DSLR zoom or digital point and shoot. Normally, to get that wide, you’d need to get a semi-pro DSLR lens!

If you like things wide, nay, ultra wide, the camera to bring with you is the Vivitar Ultra Wide & Slim. This simple point & shoot plastic camera brings the wide, wide world of a 22mm field of view to you in a small package perfect for your pocket. Its fixed f/11 aperture assures you of incredible depth of field and makes sure everything, front and back, is in focus. Make sure to shoot mostly in the sun though: for greater contrast and even incredible flares!

More at the Lomographic Society.

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Posted via email from poindexter, WHO? (Mobile Edition)

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Vivitar Vivicam 8027

Urban Outfitters has them for $199. Comes in funky brick-red and mustard leatherette.

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What Every Aspiring Photographer Should Know

These are my thoughts, nothing more and nothing less.

I get asked all the time, during workshops, in e-mails, in private messages, what words of wisdom I would give to a new and aspiring photographer. Here’s my answer.

• Style is a voice, not a prop or an action. If you can buy it, borrow it, download it, or steal it, it is not a style. Don’t look outward for your style; look inward.
  
• Know your stuff. Luck is a nice thing, but a terrifying thing to rely on. It’s like money; you only have it when you don’t need it.
  
• Never apologize for your own sense of beauty. Nobody can tell you what you should love. Do what you do brazenly and unapologetically. You cannot build your sense of aesthetics on a concensus.
  
• Say no. Say it often. It may be difficult, but you owe it to yourself and your clients. Turn down jobs that don’t fit you, say no to overbooking yourself. You are no good to anyone when you’re stressed and anxious.
  
• Learn to say “I’m a photographer” out loud with a straight face. If you can;t say it and believe it, you can’t expect anyone else to, either.
  
• You cannot specialize in everything.
  
• You don’t have to go into business just because people tell you you should! And you don’t have to be full time and making an executive income to be successful.  If you decide you want to be in business, set your limits before you begin.
  
• Know your style before you hang out your shingle. If you don’t, your clients will dictate your style to you. That makes you nothing more than a picture taker. Changing your style later will force you to start all over again, and that’s tough.
  
• Accept critique, but don’t apply it blindly. Just because someone said it does not make it so. Critiques are opinions, nothing more. Consider the advice, consider the perspective of the advice giver, consider your style and what you want to convey in your work. Implement only what makes sense to implement. That doesn’t not make you ungrateful, it makes you independent.
  
• Leave room for yourself to grow and evolve.  It may seem like a good idea to call your business “Precious Chubby Tootsies”, but what happens when you decide you love to photograph seniors? Or boudoir?
  
• Remember that if your work looks like everyone else’s, there’s no reason for a client to book you instead of someone else. Unless you’re cheaper. And nobody wants to be known as “the cheaper photographer”.
  
• Gimmicks and merchandise will come and go, but honest photography is never outdated.
  
• It’s easier to focus on buying that next piece of equipment than it is to accept that you should be able to create great work with what you’ve got. Buying stuff is a convenient and expensive distraction. You need a decent camera, a decent lens, and a light meter. Until you can use those tools consistently and masterfully, don’t spend another dime. Spend money on equipment ONLY when you’ve outgrown your current equipment and you’re being limited by it. There are no magic bullets.
  
• Learn that people photography is about people, not about photography. Great portraits are a side effect of a strong human connection.
  
• Never forget why you started taking pictures in the first place. Excellent technique is a great tool, but a terrible end product. The best thing your technique can do is not call attention to itself. Never let your technique upstage your subject.
  
• Never compare your journey with someone else’s. It’s a marathon with no finish line. Someone else may start out faster than you, may seem to progress more quickly than you, but every runner has his own pace. Your journey is your journey, not a competition. You will never “arrive”. No one ever does.
  
• Embrace frustration. It pushes you to learn and grow, broadens your horizons, and lights a fire under you when your work has gone cold. Nothing is more dangerous to an artist than complacency.

[via PhotoDino ]

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Half-frame cameras like the Olympus PEN were popular in the 1960s as a lighter, smaller alternative to full-frame 35mm. They also allow you to shoot double the images on a roll of 35mm film.

The Soviets got into the game, too, on their side of the iron curtain – releasing the Fed Micron , Chaika and AGAT 18K half-frame cameras (among others)

The Diana Mini resembles its medium format predecessor, with zone focusing, traditional layout and a film advance wheel. There’s a half-frame/full-frame switch to allow you to change the format on the fly. One of the mystery product announcements showed what looked like a Diana F+ flash, a dedicated strobe flash that looks just like the old bulb flash attachment on the original Diana F.

I like it – it looks small enough to tempt you to take it everywhere, pictures show the same dreamy soft focus and vignetting, virtual trademarks of it’s larger sibling, and shooting skinny, tall photos compels you to think differently about composition.

PowerShovel beat the Lomographic Society to the modern half-frame game, however, with their Golden Half camera a few months ago. The Golden Half looks like it’s smaller than the Diana Mini, probably because it’s half-frame only and doesn’t have to look like a Diana.

Plastic film cameras are a LOT of fun and I bet both would make wonderful bring-with-you-everywhere lo-fi cameras or suitable fashion accessories, depending on which way you swing.

[ tongue in cheek via four corners dark ]

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Miroslav Tichy is a reclusive artist who has resided in his hometown of Kyjov, Czech Republic, for most of his life. Born in 1926, he was a painter until the late 1960s, when he started taking photos, mostly of local women sunbathing, using equipment that he built himself. The cameras are made of cardboard, bottle caps, and rubber bands. Tichy mounts his photos in his own handmade frames and enhances them with pencil markings wherever he sees fit.

For a long time, Tichy was something between a charming oddity and a local bogeyman. He was frequently arrested for hanging around the local pool and snapping pictures of unsuspecting women. The fact that this was all occurring under an oppressive Communist regime added a certain air of rebellion to the proceedings, whether or not he intended it. With time, the locals grew accustomed to his presence and would often welcome having their photos taken.

These days, Tichy continues to live in Kyjov but is essentially unreachable. He suffers from dementia and has to be taken care of by his neighbor. He has most likely destroyed the majority of the work he produced over the course of his life in what can romantically be described as fits of artistic madness.

Here we have a small selection of his art, hitting all the major points mentioned above: voyeuristic shots, women in bathing suits, handmade cameras, and crafty cardboard frames.

For more of this work, check out Tichy Ocean, his official foundation, at www.tichyocean.ch. Or see my previous blog post of his work.

[via vice magazine ]

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[light-test.com via kottke.org ]

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Taken at Lucky JuJu, Alameda CA.

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I’m a big fan of the Sunny 16 Rule for determining exposure. Print film is forgiving enough that you don’t always have to get the exposure *exactly* right to get a good shot.

The”Sunny 16″ rule, paraphrased, says, “Set the shutter speed to the reciprocal of the film speed, and set the aperture to f/4 for open shade, f/5.6 for overcast, f/8 for hazy sunlight, f/11 for sunlight and f/16 for snow, water, or bright surfaces in sunlight.

Here’s a great link to a do-it-yourself paper slider exposure meter. Use one of these and you won’t need a meter for 90% of your outdoor shots on print film.

Shooting an old retro camera without a meter and guesstimating exposure is a liberating experience. I recommend it.

[ http://expomat.tripod.com/ ]

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That’s probably a thing of the past – film processors delayed by all of America rushing rolls of film capturing holiday parades, barbecues and attempts to photograph fireworks to their film processor after a long holiday.  Most people are shooting digital and printing online now. As long as I can find film and a place to develop it, I’ll shoot most of my images on film. I shoot differently when I’m shooting film – when I can’t immediately see the result and I pay for each print I think I’m more deliberate, more into the moment than when I shoot digital.

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or

“The Don’t Make Them Like They Used To”.

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