Fresh take on Cal!

In September photographer Elena Zhukova, her assistant Leon Brauer, and myself spent two days traversing the campus via golf cart in pursuit of capturing the energy, diversity, and spirit of UC Berkeley. The project was spearheaded by UCOP's creative director, Vanessa Corrêa, who is conducting similar photo shoots at each UC campus.


All photos are now available for use in campus publications and websites and can be previewed here.

Please contact Kathryn Bader, Office of Public Affairs, if you'd like a high res version of a particular photo.

UCOP is already using some of these photos, as well as photos from Santa Cruz, on the University of California website.

Tilt-Shift is All the Rage

Get that Tilt-Shift look without the mess of lenses! AlienSkin offers a handy-dandy hack.

A photo is worth a thousand...

tons of garbage.

What are we THINKING?

This amazing series is by artist Chris Jordan, of Seattle.

He calls it "Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait."

As astonishing as his statistics are, what he has done with them is even
more astonishing.

via email forwarded to me by Connie Torii; courtesy of Karl K

My portrait photography sucks…

…by which I mean, “The portraits I shoot suck,” vs. “Portraits of me suck.” Well, the second part is up for debate.

Hot on the heels of the July 4th tips for taking better fireworks photos, here are some portrait-taking tips from digital Photography School: 10 Ways to Take Stunning Portraits.

Now, I wonder if I can use these tips to take better portraits of myself?

My fireworks photos don’t suck

At least, I hope they don’t.

I used the tips from Lifehacker (see previous post) and think my fireworks shots came out pretty good. Judge for yourself: 40 July 4th, 2008 photos.

My fireworks photos suck

Have you ever tried to take pictures of fireworks? I’ve been trying for years. Years! I haven’t had a successful photo yet.

Well, this Fourth of July everything’s going to change. My fireworks photos are going to be awesome! Why? Because of this fine article from Lifehacker: “Get Better Fireworks Photos This Fourth of July.”

This is going to be the best fireworks holiday ever. Ever!

via popurls

Flickrvision

via popurls

Do you use Flickr? I use it a lot when I'm pressed for time to create topic-specific graphics. Via Creative Commons license, many Flickr users grant rights to their photography for non-commercial use.

Using the search tool to find specific images is fine for work, but what about when you want to relax? With Flickr?

Flickrvision.

Just try it.

Got Photos?

Though this post should probably rightfully be Kathryn's scoop, I'm gonna be first off the block.... to, um, scoop... (Mixed metaphors are my specialty.)

If you are looking for cleared UC Berkeley images for non-commercial use, check this new site. UC Berkeley Images: UC Berkeley Photos. What's interesting to me is the photographer's credits! I was surprised at how many of our fine colleagues working in other fields on campus have contributed to this nice catalog of pictures.

Very handy.

Wedding photos

via Daring Fireball

No, not from my wedding. Or, for that matter, anyone that I know. Anyway, it’s not the wedding that’s the matter of interest, it’s the photos. Actually, it’s the camera—a barely-in-the-wild High-ISO Nikon D3.

If you want to see some unretouched snaps from the nigh-latest in pro digital camera gear, head over to “Nikon D3 Test Drive.”

*sniff* Unretouched high-ISO digital photos always make me cry.