If you are a reader of Fstoppers then I am sure you have heard about this little follow-focus tool developed by Daniel Bauen and Mark McJunkin? and funded via Kickstarter. Basically it is a small rubber gasket that fits around most standard lens sizes attached to a ballhead handle. A very clever take on a product that usually cost several hounded dollars! I have been watching the video presentation over and over again and have been wondering if there are any even cheaper way to solve this issue and have discovered that a very similar product already exists – in my own kitchen!
I then spent a further ten minutes on google and ebay and got my suspision confirmed! – I was not the first person to realise this! bugger!
…and the product?
A standard silicone jar opener like this one from Trudeau does the job extremely smooth and produces great results – and at a price of less than $6.00 – I bet you to find a cheaper solution!
I have also discovered a great video with the device in action:
I have earlier posted a blog about the award-winning photographer Terje Hellesö who won several major photo competitions with submissions which either was not shot by him or which had been manipulated from photos from online photo libraries. It now turns out that there are many other of his kind out there; During the last week I have hears of no less than three other cases which in at least one particular case exceeds the ‘Terje-gate’ in manipulation, cheating and sheer weird-ness.
The first case was brought to my attention via Twitter where American wedding photographer Megan Kunert was accused of using other photographers works as her own. Her ‘fame’ literally rose overnight as her abuse went viral not only via Twitter but also via Facebook, Pinterest, Blogs and LinkedIn. At some point during the process the good old Mr. Hobby from Strobist sent a tweet to his almost 70k followers -and then hell broke lose. It might have been an innocent act by an ignorant hopeful aspiring photographer but instead she has been forced to not only apologise to everyone whose photos she used but also see her ‘blooming’ photography-dream disappear. Today all her social media accounts have been shut down and there are no traces left of her activities..
The second case is not directly related to photographers but to blogging. Duane Lester spent several days working on a blogpost for his very popular webpage just to see in printed in the Oregon Times a few days later. word-for-word and even with Duane’s typos included. Duane decided to confront the editor (or red-neck hillbilly editor) and record it all on tape. The clip has now been seen by more than 200,000 people on youtube and I am sure the good folks over at the Oregon Times regret their ‘little’ mistake. See the clip here.
The last case is a case I have had a very hard time getting my head around. It has suddenly turned very complicated and extremely weird. In a nut shell, Photographer Jay Lee found one of his images being used by a one-woman law firm in Canada. He contacts her and files a DMCA copyright declaration with her host and this is where things go pear shaped; Jay Lee receives not just an email from the lady named Candice Swager but also a a threat of a lawsuit due to loss income, invasion of privacy and a lot of other legal stuff. The discussion are now out in the open and so far nothing has been settled… However, on her Facebook page another poster just revealed that another one of her webpages contains copyrighted photos taken by another photographer.. Guess we have to start all over again! – A lawyer who does not know the Copyright laws? A bit like a bus with a driver who does not know the traffic rules?
If you want to read a bit more in details about the above cases I recommend you take a look at these online blogs: SLRLOUNGE and PetaPixel .
A few weeks ago i received a message on twitter from a German artist ‘Willi Jung’. He invited me to be one of the participating photographers who will be photographing Willi’s ‘bird’ paintings for an art project he is doing. I received my bird painting recently and am proud to say that I have now delivered the first ‘Aussie’ batch of photos for Willi’s ‘Birds Swarm’ Art Project.
If you want to participate or read more about this crazy project please visit Willi here or read his Twitter feed.
