No Bad Tides Photography: 2014

Monday, November 3, 2014

Journeyman Jones (via the Surfer's Journal)

Mikala Jones’ bent for capturing POV barrel footage may seem a function of the larger, more recent tendency among surfers to self-document. But a closer look at his pedigree establishes an interest in photography and film from his earliest years. His father, John Jones, a surf photographer from Santa Cruz who raised his family on Oahu, passed his trade on to Mikala. “My dad definitely taught me a lot about composition when I was young,” says Jones. “That got me thinking about how to capture a quality image.” By his early teens Jones was surfing regularly with water-photography maven—and close family friend—Warren Bolster, further honing his understanding of how to shoot from the water. And later, his travel partners—and early POV film adopters—Travis Potter and Timmy Turner continued to blur Jones’ sense of the divide between surfer and cinematographer.

Mikala Jones has long held a reputation for clocking more hours in the water than even his most surf-stoked peers. Now working double-duty as a surfer-filmer he’s also logging more footage than some highly dedicated surf cinematographers. Photo: Jones

Since relocating to Bali in 2001, Jones has had plenty of time to conduct his own filmic experimentations. It’s increased a sense of the possibilities not only with regard to his camera work, but also as a surf-obsessed traveler who goes to great lengths to cover his tracks. According to Jones, “Shooting my own footage has allowed me to go on trips by myself—without a photographer, or anyone else around.”

Greater control over the creative process enables Jones to carefully meter the exposure of his favorite wave-rich haunts around Indonesia. “Surf photographers hate it when I’m trying to film from the barrel,” says Jones. “ If you’re holding a camera in your mouth, it completely ruins their shots.” Where most pro-surf types would see this disinclination as a loss of exposure, Jones sees greater value in minimizing the visibility of surf spots he returns to year after year.

The self-documented field report that Jones sent to TSJ demonstrates both his knack for POV camera work and his ability to narrow the exposure of places to which he travels. Recent clips from the South Pacific and Indonesia arrived to us piecemeal but carefully trimmed. When strung together and slowed down just right the tube-riding footage is almost mesmerizing enough as to distract—if only for a moment—from thinking, “Where is that?”

A field report from Mikala Jones—recent tube-hunting in the South Pacific and Indonesia:

For more on the Mikala Jones travel program, check out his profile featured in issue 23.2.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Reverse Graffiti

From what I learned on Wikipedia.org Reverse graffiti, also known as clean tagging, dust tagging, grime writing, green graffiti or clean advertising, is a method of creating temporary or semi permanent images on walls or other surfaces by removing dirt from a surface. It is often done by removing dirt/dust with the fingertip(s) from windows or other dirty surfaces, such as writing 'wash me' on a dirty vehicle. Others, such as artist Moose, use a cloth or a high power washer to remove dirt on a larger scale.

It is a fat marker to fill with soapy water that will let you draw in urban dust.

GoPro HERO3+ vs. HERO3 Comparison and Review

Published on Oct 5, 2013

We reviewed the GoPro Hero3+ Black Edition and compared it to the GoPro HERO3. The results were quite impressive.

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Want to 3D-print your own GoPro Comparison Tool? Download the CAD file we've made public and free: http://cl.ly/0N1M3L0e0N3u

0:58 General Performance
1:23 Wifi and Sharpness
4:33 SuperView Mode & Wind Noise
5:16 Audio Quality
6:41 Battery Life
7:39 Low Light Performance
8:42 Review

If you're wondering what gear we used in the video, here's a list:
Rhino Steady: http://bit.ly/Xgz6li
Rhino Slider: http://bit.ly/17bEcBN
Rhino Rig: http://bit.ly/1htFqhe
Rhino Swivel Mount: http://bit.ly/1f6a0AU
Pro-Pole 20: http://bit.ly/GGbQdK

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Sunday, August 10, 2014

Explore Pyongyang North Korea Like Never Before in Mind-Bending ‘Flow-Motion’ Hyperlapse (Via Petapixel.com)

Published on August 9, 2014 by DL Cade

The ‘Enter Pyongyang‘ flow-motion hyperlapse by JT Singh and Rob Whitworth debuted to the public two hours ago as of this writing, and already it has over 3,500 upvotes on Redditand almost half a million views… ON VIMEO!

But one look at the hyperlapse and you’ll understand why. Done in the same style as Whitworth’s jaw-dropping Barcelona time-lapse this is these are the kind of status quo-shattering creations that genres like time-lapse ache for.

A closed off city that is finally beginning to open to the modern-day, it was this ‘blooming’ that Whitworth and Singh sought to capture:

North Korea was the last country seemingly immune to change—but no longer. Recent years have witnessed mobile phone penetration, a surge in tourists, and even a marathon. Numerous special economic zones have been launched in cooperation with China, Russia, and South Korea, with railways planned linking all countries in the region. “Enter Pyongyang” captures not just the city, but this dynamism and sense of potential.

And if dynamism was what they were going for, well, they certainly picked the right genre and the right man for the job. We called Rob Whitworth’s Barcelona time-lapse jaw-dropping when we posted it, and it wasn’t because we were going for click bait. Jaws actually dropped to see his ‘flow-motion’ concept in action.

In the video’s description, Singh and Whitworth reveal that they had somewhat unfettered access to the country. Outside of construction sites and military personnel, they were able to shoot wherever they liked.

That allowed them, in the end, to achieve their goal: to blow past the stereotypes surrounding Pyongyang and its people.

“This video is the single most significant multi-media contribution to transcending clichés about North Korea as a society defined by reclusiveness and destitution,” writes Dr. Parag Khanna in his forward to the video. “To travel there is to witness a proud civilization, though one caught in a Cold War time-warp.”

But enough talk. To see the awesome creation for yourself, click play at the top. And if you’d like to learn more or read Singh and Whitworth‘s answers to some of the most common questions they get about the project, head over to the Vimeo description by clicking here.

Image credits: Photographs by Rob Whitworth and used with permission

Friday, August 1, 2014

Beautiful Black and White Photography (via smashingmagazine.com)

Beautiful Black and White Photography

By Vitaly Friedman

If you’ve been following Smashing Magazine for a while, you know that almost all posts from the Monday Inspiration series are pretty colorful and eye-catching. This post is an exception. Compared to colorful designs where catchy colors help the design to stand out, in black-and-white designs the ability to stand out depends only on its ability to communicate rather than on its appealing visual presentation.

Indeed, beautiful black and white photography doesn’t attract with its play of colors. Here close attention to composition, lighting, perspective and the context it is shot in are important. Hence, before considering the photos presented below please prepare some patience and time. This post presents some truly excellent examples of beautiful black-and-white photography.

Notice: this post isn’t supposed to showcase the best black-and-white-photos of world’s best photographers; please see it as a modest attempt to inspire designers for experimenting with black and white instead of using a variety of vibrant colors all the time. Hopefully, everybody will find something interesting and unusual for herself or himself.

Beautiful Black-And-White-Photography

Toni Frissell
In her legendary photos Toni Frissell impresses with a strong trend toward surrealism or realism. The photo presented below, although in black and white, is both extremely sharp and clear. To achieve such level of clarity in black and white is extremely hard.

Alin Ciortea
Alin Ciortea presents examples of modern street photography. In black and white, of course.

Birds
Unfortunately, the photographer is unknown. The photo seems to be taken at exact the right moment from exactly the right angle with a perfect lighting. Black and white can be powerful as well.

Sally Mann
This photo, titled Candy Cigarette, not just displays something, it tells a story. It is both emotional and beautiful. This is what the originality of black-and-white-photography is all about.

Larry Towell
This shot was taken in El Salvador. Child with star mask during “Day Of The Dead”. Other child in background rolls tire for repair in garage where he works at an adult’s job. The photo is full of tiredness and stubbornness. Simple motif conveying strong emotions.

Aneta Kowalczyk
Aneta Kowalczyk specializes in portrait photography. Some of her photos are provoking, some are strange and some are extremely beautiful. The example below displays the beautiful side of black and white photography.

Nick Brandt
Nick Brandt is a renown animal photographer which has become famous with his book of photographs, “On This Earth”, which was published in October 2005.

Gary Winogrand
Taking a shot just at the right moment.

Larry Louie
Woman Of Tibet. Realism at its best. Awarded with International Photography Awards in 2007.

Gabriele Caretti
Tour Eiffel: extraordinary contrast and perspective. Strong, clean and very precise shot.

Ghost Town Charm
Excellent lighting.

Ansel Adams
One of the most famous contemporary black and white photographers. Classic!

Maurizio Polese
Polese’s works pay close attention to small, tiny details. The tones are perfects and compositions are beautiful which is why the photos are presented in this post. Notice the sharp contrast and the lighting at the first image below and the sharp pathway leading to the light in the second one.

Top 10 Wired.com Reader Black-and-White Photos
Ten extraordinary black and white photographs sent to the Wired.com editorial by its readers.

Michele Clement
Artistic yet beautiful and extremely powerful shot. Michele Clement is the winner of Black & White Spider Awards 2007 in category “Outstanding Achievement”.

Snyder Alison
This photo has been taken in South Crillon Glacier, Washburn.

Abbas
Iranian film director Abbas Kiarostami on the hills surrounding the captital, where his film “Taste of Cherry”, which was co-awarded the Golden Palm in Cannes 1997, was shot.

Patrick Figaj
Ceremony.

Jack Radcliffe
Alison’s life in black and white photos. The significance of these pictures emerges in retrospect. “When my daughter Alison was born, in the tradition of a new parent, I began to photograph her, initially in a separate and private body of work. However, in the process of documenting Alison’s growth, I developed a passionate interest in human relationships and capturing intimate moments in the lives of family and friends.”

Arndt Laude
Alignment. Sometiems all it takes is to be at the right place in the right moment and take a shot under the right angle. That’s what happened here.

Ralph Gibson
Staircase is an example of Gibson’s high-contrast, minimalist black and white compositions have influenced a generation of photographers. By isolating the essential elements of a scene, his pictures show a style that is unique and immediately recognizable. [via]

Elliott Erwitt
Erwitt, an advertising and journalistic photographer known for his black and white candid shots of ironic and absurd situations within everyday settings — the master of the “indecisive moment”.

Roy Mckeown
Snowy Sheep.

Adam Hinton

Van Shnooken Raggen
Two Warehouses.

Rodney Smith
Rodney Smith has his own understanding of professional black-and-white-photography. Unusual, abstract and surrealistic works.

Drole Deciel
Smiley.

Shazeen Samad
Simple yet excellent composition. This photo manages not just to show something, but to capture a moment of life in all its beauty and vividness.

Scott Bush
Berk-plage – France. What a sky! A really strange squadron: octopussy, teddy bear and skates.

Pedro Meyer
Pedro Meyer shows the life of people across the globe. This photo was taken in Rio De Janeiro.

Mitch Dobrowner
Mitch Dobrowner is famous due to his Earth photos.

Robertino Nikolic
lighting plays with geometry. Or geometry plays with lighting? The winner of the Black & White Spider Awards 2007.

Unknown
Capturing the right moment at the right point of time.

Bert (Quasebart)
Perfect timing, perfect lighting. A dreamy shot.

Hughes Leglise-Bataille
That’s a quite unusual perspective for a photograph.

Santosh Korthiwada
“No peeping please!” Very powerful, emotional and somehow sad photo.

Rui Palha
Rui Palha photographs simple people in simple situations. Result: extraordinary photos of simple things surrounding our life.

Watanabe
Straws.

Lauren
Two Tree Hill. The composition looks very surreal, yet powerful and beautiful.

G. Diaz Deleon
Ventana XIV. Geometric minimalism at its best.

Maurizio Polese
Escape. Unusual angle, unusual perspective.

Jana Stolzer
Nameless.

Vega Omer
Struggling to survive.

Ezra Caldwell
Dog snout. Sometimes the moments from our life are the most valuable moments we should enjoy and keep in mind.

Last Click

Crossing Lines

Classics in Lego
An illustrative summary of iconic pictures with their pairs of Balakov’s Lego figure pictures which are reconstucting famous moments in the history of mankind.

Mark Daniel Owen
I heart you. Do you see what we see?