John Gushue . . . Dot Dot Dot

Photomontages

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A young photographer captures agony in Egypt

Mosa’ab Elshamy is only 23, but he has captured some of the most captivating images of the horrors of the last few weeks in Cairo. Click the video below to see his interview from last night's NBC Nightly News; click here for a profile on Time. 

 UPDATE: Some of his photgraphs are included in this captivating and utterly disturbing gallery on The Atlantic. 

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

 

 

There are minions on my plate

My wife and I got such a kick out of Despicable Me and its minions that we went to see the sequel on our own, our now-teenage son developing a serious case of eyeroll and "you've got to be kidding" disease. (His loss. We laughed.) 

I got a kick out of this collection of food photos that not only have creative uses for veggies, but are hilarious too. 

Look, ma! I'm flying!

One of the joys of having a child is hoisting the little one as they stretch their arms and pretend to fly. Photographer Rachel Hulin extends the illusion in a series of charming pictures that involve a bit of parent-erasing in the photo-editing stage. Click through to see more. 

A reflected selfie

I went on a photo walking tour on the Sunday morning when we were in New York recently, and one of the challenges was a self-portrait. 

I did mine as a reflection in a window along Fifth Avenue as we headed to Central Park. 

 

Twilight zone

This is a shot I sent to Instagram last Monday night, while I was walking as the night was falling. I was attracted to how the dark blue in the sky was gradually turning black. 

I took the photo along Military Road, near Government House, as I was heading to Bannerman Park to meet up with Nick's Scout group as they finished an "urban hike" around the neighbourhood. It was a great evening for it. 

Hanging there

"The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do."
- Andy Warhol

[I took this photo of the chrome Andy Warhol statue in Union Square in New York City in 2011.] 

Harbour view

I snapped this picture yesterday after Nick and I got our hair cut and had a snack, before heading home. Everything was too blue not to notice (it was also very, very cold), so I headed to a corner of the harbourfront, just kitty-corner to the Fortis Building. 

A corner, of course, that is currently bound by a temporary fence which remains open much of the year. That will change if/when a new permanent fence is built, at least as disclosed. 

Spiderweb

I walked right into not one but two spiderwebs this morning while I was clearing up some deadwood around the property and tossing it on the pile of tropical storm Leslie remnants. The spiderweb above, though, was one I spotted a few days ago, growing on the pole by the fire hydrant near our house. It was too remarkable not to stop and admire. 

The image above was run through an Instagram filter to bring out the detail of the webbing. 

Adventurous

"My favourite thing is to go where I've never been."
- Diane Arbus  

 

iPhoneography: Picture the possibilities in your phone

[Surfs Up, as published in the St. John's Telegram on Feb. 2, 2012.]

 

Last fall, I was talking to a friend of mine who has a talent for photography that I’ve long admired, if not envied. I asked if he had gone out for any expeditions lately with his camera.

“Not quite,” he said. He revealed that he had been leaving his camera at home most of the time, and had instead been playing with the camera in his phone.

I don’t think he’s alone. The little Nikon point-and-click that has often been my companion on walks around St. John’s now mostly sits neglected by the dish that holds loose change.

Instead, I’ve been content – far more than content, really – with what I can get out of my iPhone. I’ve often been able to do with my phone what I use my camera for (namely, a quick snap on the fly), so why carry something extra?

As well, there’s been an explosion in photo-focused apps that together are changing the very nature of digital photography. So much so that the phrase “iPhoneography” has been popping up all over, and not just as a hashtag. For some, it’s their key hobby, if not obsession.

This column is largely about the iPhone. Apologies to the Android community – I just don’t know enough about how those cameras work, although I do notice a growing number of Android apps are coming on the market. I’ve also been using BlackBerry phones for years, by the way, and while the BB camera technology has improved, I think one of the key reasons that Research in Motion lost market share is because the BlackBerry produces pictures that simply, to put it mildly, pale in comparison to the competition.

The iPhone quietly celebrated its fifth anniversary in January (Steve Jobs unveiled the concept in 2007), but the camera in the iPhone 4, which came out in the summer of 2010, is what really transformed mobile photography. The quality was a huge leap forward, and combined with an endless array of mobile sharing (users send their pictures to endless social networks, in real time), iPhoneography took off.

Yes, the quality on a phone is inferior to an SLR – but often that’s not the point. The mobile priorities are speed, social and creativity.

This week, we look at some apps that help improve and transform your pictures, and may change how you see the world (and yourself). First, a note about just how dramatically the marketplace is changing. When I checked earlier this week, there were more than 5,600 separate apps listed in the iTunes store’s photo and video category. In the last week alone, more apps were released than anyone would ever need. Remarkable.

Here are some things on my own phone. Get in touch – johngushue @ gmail.com will do the trick – with your own favourites.

Instagram: I like this free app so much I wrote a whole column about it a while back. I’m still enthralled. It’s fun, it’s social, it’s brilliant. Pick a filter that changes/distorts the picture, and see how a mundane shot can instantly pop. Build a network of other users; I have contacts down the street and around the world, together bringing me dazzling perspectives.

Camera+: Don’t forget that plus sign when you go looking for this excellent app. For just $2, you get a photo assistant that does many of the things that a powerful photo editor (think Photoshop) can accomplish. Is the lighting too bright or too weak? Select one of the options in the edit function, and see how adjusting the levels can save a pic. Brilliant.

NightCap: I’ve been using this $1 app a lot lately for strolls in the evening, and have been loving how night-time images – usually the bane of phone photography – have been coming alive.

Pixlr-o-Matic: Like Instagram, Pixlr-o-Matic is a free app that uses filters to distort your pic – although distort is not a fair word. There are several steps here. Pick an effect first, then select an overlay, and then choose a border. The combinations are mind-boggling. Some of them are butt-ugly, but playing around with a shot can produce very cool results. Have fun with it.

SketchMe: Instantly transform a photo into what looks like a drawing. Very cool, although some photos definitely work better than others. Not bad for a buck!

MobileMonet: In a similar vein, change a pic into a painterly style. Use your finger to add as much or as little colour as you wish. Cost: $1.

Diptic: I love this one. Named after a diptych, or a two-piece work of art, Diptic allows you to put two, three or more photographs together, quickly and easily, into something that you’ll want to print or at least share. Not bad for a dollar. Think of it as a great way to make the most of family or vacation shots. I’ve been astonished at how quickly I can make something that would take quite a bit longer in Photoshop.

Photosynth: I use this app to make 360-degree panoramas. It’s a breeze to figure out, and the results can be remarkable. One I took of the New York skyline was a great memento. Best part? It’s free.

Pocketbooth: This $1 app turns your phone into a photobooth – and an old-school one at that. Four quick snaps are made, producing what looks like a thin, black-and-white strip like the kind you’d get at the mall. A fun novelty item.

That’s it for now. There are others I’ve been using, some of which will find their ways into upcoming columns.

John Gushue is a digital editor with CBC News in St. John’s. Twitter: @johngushue.

Manual photography: a cheet sheet

Real, old-fashioned photography? I shutter at the thought. 

Here's an infographic that takes it old-school. As seen here. 

Stanley Kubrick photographs

Years before he began directing films (and he was rather young when that career started), Stanley Kubrick had been taking photographs around New York City, developing an eye for the visually striking and learning how to compose a frame. 

You can see more samples of his 1940s photographs here. 

 

As the hemlines rose: a U.S. Airlines case study

I noticed this image on my Tumblr feed: a photo of U.S. Airlines flight attendants - and make no mistake, they were definitely called stewardesses then - displaying uniforms from the 1940s into the 1970s. It'd be interesting to see the intervening 30-odd years, too. 

 

Streetlight

I take a lot of snaps as I'm strolling around; more than half the time, I delete as I go, and sometimes I hope for a happy mistake or a bit of random fun. 

This is a streetlight on a parking lot down the road. I took the shot as Nick and I were walking home from an evening event. I liked how it turned out. 

Feather-light

A snap from a visit to Middle Cove Beach recently. 

A panoramic experiment

I made my first panorama today, using the app Photosynth. (An earlier attempt, um, didn't work out. Lesson learned: take your time.) Kind of cool! 

Click on the image to enlarge it, and then again for the best resolution. 

I was in Chapter's on Kenmount Road, by the way. 

 

 

Street scene

I snapped this last night as we drove along the harbour, one of a series of rapid exposures. I liked how this one turned out by chance, catching a bit of the evening sun and the vibrancy of crowds downtown on a summer's night. 

Spectacular sunset over Conception Bay

Tonight, it's rainy and overcast ... and a reminder of how wonderful Monday evening's sunset was from Topsail Beach. We had gone out to watch Twelfth Night in the Shakespeare By The Sea festival. The play was fine, but they sure had a distracting backdrop! 

You and Po's army?

Yes, I'm the kind of guy who changes a bunch of candy containers, just to make them look lik this:

Fogust: Grey times in St. John's

We've been calling it Fogust, Fogtober, Augember ... all to express the idea that the weather so far this month, like much of the summer, has been unseasonably cold. 

Here's a brief slideshow of the grey weather we've been having. I try to make a screengrab every day of the CBC Newfoundland and Labrador webcam, which is attached to the fourth floor of The Rooms. This gallery also includes a couple of shots of the skies in the city, which have more often than not been overcast or filled with fog. 

Sigh. 

Hugging rock

Martha noticed this curiosity on Topsail Beach last night. Aww, cute rock formation! 

 

Glowing leaves

The other night I noticed that the light of the sun as it started setting was striking the leaves in just the right way. In the movies, it's called the golden hour: an all-too-brief period when the light really seems kind of golden. I stopped to get a snap of the leaves over my head.

Destruction in Slave Lake

Have a look at this compelling video compiled by my Empire Avenue friend Allie Wojtaszek, who has been responding to May's devastating fire in Slave Lake through the Red Cross. 

Unforgettable images. 

Rocket Bakery

Rocket Bakery opened a couple of months ago on Water Street in St. John's, in the space left vacant when Janet Kelly wrapped up her retailing career and Auntie Crae's sold. The new spot involves two people who have been deeply involved in the downtown business scene, Kim Winsor of Johnny Ruth and Dave Hopley of Living Planet. Rocket Bakery's main calling card is its array of baked goods, which are, well, out of this atmosphere. They also sell prepared foods, coffees and imported goods; we had a chat several weeks ago with Kim about the items they're planning to bring in. I have to say I'm intrigued. 

Here are some snaps I took during a recent visit. [If the slideshow does not play properly in your browser, you can see the images in this set on my Flickr stream.]