The First Photograph

Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, View from the Window at Le Gras 1826

Digital Restoration

One should never forget that each time you press the shutter you are capturing a small slice of history.  Lots of so called “snap shots” now have historical value.  From documenting how your street looked in 1959 to how your family looked in 2009, any photograph has intrinsic historical and personal value.

 

Recently, The Online Photographer ran a couple of articles on the survivability of photographic prints.  If your old prints have taken a beating from the elements or otherwise, you might want to consider giving them a shot in the arm through digital restoration.  And there is only one reference work that you will need.  Master printer Ctein has literally written the book on the subject,  Digital Restoration from Start to Finish, Second Edition: How to repair old and damaged photographs.  So pick up a copy and start preserving your history.

Fujifilm X100 Samples

 

Dpreview.com (the best camera review website I might add) has released some X100 samples here.  Judge for yourself.  I plan on spending a lot of time looking at them.

Peter Turnley in Tahrir Square

I know that I am late to the party on this one, but The Online Photographer has published a portfolio of photojournalist Peter Turnley’s images from Cairo on the day Hosni Mubarak stepped down.  In deference to Mike, who has a special realtionship with Peter, I won't publish any images here.  I will reveal that some of them were taken with a Nikon D3.  Enjoy the story and the photographs.

CCWP

The article noted below contains a mention of historian Bob Zeller.  Mr. Zeller, as it turns out, is an expert in Civil War photography.  He is also the author of the standard reference work on the subject,The Blue and Gray in Black and White: A History of Civil War Photography.

In addition, Mr. Zeller is also the President of the Center for Civil War Photography (CCWP). The CCWP is a non-profit organization and their website contains a wealth of information about the subject. 

According to the CCWP,

New photographic finds from our nation's greatest conflict are still being made on a regular basis. Nearly every Civil War soldier had his photograph taken by one of the more than 5,000 American photographers active at the time, and a select group of documentary photographers took thousands of images on the battlefields and in the army camps, often in 3D.

 

The CCWP also has its own online bookstore featuring CCWP publications as well as others. A real great find and worth supporting with a membership.

George S. Cook, Photographist

Okay, back on topic.

Union ironclads firing on Fort Moultrie, S.C.

I’ll wager that most of you are familiar with the work of Civil War photographer Mathew Brady.  Although by the time the war came Brady was managing a corps other photographers and doing little of his own work, he was still America’s most famous photographer.

George S. Cook

On the other hand, I doubt that many of you know the work of the South’s best war photographer, George S. Cook. Although born in Connecticut, by the winter of 1861 Cook had settled in Charleston, soon to be the scene of the start of the Civil War.

During the war Cook’s work mainly consisted of studio portraits. Although he didn’t venture into the field very often, when he did the results were dramatic.  In 1863, while recording the siege of Fort Sumter by Union forces he made the pair of images shown above, believed to be the world’s first combat photograph.

Read more about George Cook here and see a gallery of his work here.

Google Strikes Again

The other day I found out about the Google Art Project.  Goggle has teamed up with several celebrated art museums to “enable people to discover and view more than a thousand artworks online in extraordinary detail.  [You can] virtually move around the museum’s galleries, selecting works of art that interest you, navigate though interactive floor plans and learn more about the museum as you explore.”  Featured artworks are available in high resolution.  “A ‘Create an Artwork Collection’ feature allows you to save specific views of any of the 1000+ artworks and build your own personalized collection.”  There are currently 17 museums participating in the project, including Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian, The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum of Modern Art.  Highly recommended and it is free.

It’s Here . . . Well, Almost

The other day, in conjunction with CP+ 2011 being held in Yokohama, Japan, Fujifilm officially announced the release of the X100.   It will be available in March at a suggested retail price of $1,200 in the United States.  About $200 more than I had hoped for, but still pretty reasonable considering the technology involved.  You can read more about the release here and here.

You Got The Silver

Pentax, the company that broke the DSLR color barrier, has announced a special limited edition silver version of the fantastic (see DxOMark) K-5.  It features an exclusive design and different hand-grip.  In addition three prime lenses also be available in silver;  the 21mm F3.2 AL, the 40mm F2.8 and the 70mm F2.4.  Much like Dr. Strangelove, I had to beat my left hand into submission before it got to my credit card to charge the $1,699.95 for the body kit.  Available in April.

 

Venerable German lens maker Schneider-Kreuznach will be joining the Micro Four Thirds system consortium founded by Olympus and Panasonic.  Game on.

Top Dog

Copyright Bob Rosinsky

I love photography and I love dogs.  So naturally, I fell in love the work of photographer Bob Rosinsky.  Bob works in central Florida and specializes in studio portraits of dogs.  I ran across his work on The Online Photographer (link in right column below).  Check out Top Dog Imaging.  Great work Bob.

An M Mount Ricoh

When Ricoh announced it’s mirrorless entry, the GXR, in 2009, a lot of people noted that they could make a senor module fitted with an M mount.  And so they have.  The other day Ricoh announced the upcoming availability of 12.9 megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor module fitted with a Leica M mount.  It will be available in the fall.

I really don’t know what to make of this.  Are we now free to spend thousands of dollars on Leica lenses without having to buy an M9?  Or is this aimed at the Leica shooter who wants an alternative and already has the lenses?  More plausible is that Ricoh thinks this will goose sales of the GXR.  I have the feeling that not a lot of folks have jumped to that system . . . yet.