I just wanted to share a quick snippet from photographer Herbie Yamaguchi about his young days living in london. It pairs two of my favorite things: Street photography and music.

“In 1981 i happened to see joe strummer – he was the singer for the punk rock band the clash – on the tube. I saw him sitting on the other side of the seat, but i thought he was too private – he might get to angry – but i was trying to be brave, i went up to him and asked him “may i take a picture of you.” he smiled and said yes. and i clicked several shots.

Just before he got off the train he said to me. “you should take photos of whatever you want. Thats punk.”

imagine having joe strummer give you advice like that. Goddamn. Just thinking about it really gets me wanting to go out and shoot.

You can check out the whole interview as Mijonju happened upon him at a photo exhibition below

As all of our sports fans and shooters already know, the deal to bring AHL hockey back to Newfoundland has been cemented. But back on June 1st while I was making my way to downtown St. John’s, I came across this media scrum — completely by accident — while the two Danny’s (Williams & Breen) were making their first announcement of a tentative deal with True North Sports & Entertainment to bring the hockey team here.

I found it super funny though, I’d just taken a light reading and set my camera before I got to the bottom of the stairs behind Mile One Centre. Then I just sauntered up with my bronica in hand while what looked like someones publicist apologetically stepped aside for me so I could photograph the scene.

Fifteen seconds later it was all over. I caught the tail end of something that most of us only see on the evening news. Even then, it’s only if the news agencies get their crews on the spot for a spontaneous media event such as this one. It was pretty cool and a little too easy. The only credentials I had was a bigass camera, and a “yea I am totally supposed to be here” attitude. Luck was really on my side, sort of…

The lesson here is to always be prepared. I was on my way to supper, an event most people wouldn’t even take their little point-n-shoots to, let alone a big honking medium format film camera. You just never know when you’ll happen on something cool, kicking yourself for not bringing any camera at all.

Some photography projects are long and involved, but this one takes the prize for sheer scale. After logging some 60,000 Miles and shooting over 37,000 individual photos on 6 air-cooled cameras at different wavelengths, Nick Risinger has managed to assemble the most complete survey of the night sky as seen from earth. The full image comes in at a hefty 5000MP and encompasses the entire night sky as seen from the surface of this planet. It truly is something to behold.

The project calls www.skysurvey.org home, definitely check it out.

I’m told, that to be a good actor you have to have a head for lines, a genuine feel for the character you are playing and a drive to succeed that would make the energizer bunny look like a slacker. But for some, acting is also having an intimate knowledge of the cameras that are fixed on them, day in and day out.

Jason Lee’s creative outlets come in many forms, but while hanging out on movie sets around people who know them, he took up a love for cameras and photography. At the time of his Fecalface.com interview Jason mentions mainly shooting large format Polaroid – in fact, his only 8X10 Polaroid print of Dennis hopper recently got stolen at an art gallery it was on loan to. There’s a $25,000 reward out for its return.

Beth Riesgraf - Jason's ex fiance. (photo: jason Lee)

Stolen Dennis Hopper Shot on Polaroid 8X10 (photo: Jason Lee)

Dennis Hopper in the 60′s he carried his camera everywhere, and documented his industry inside and out. Always the reluctant icon he’s been quoted as saying “In many ways, it’s really these photographs that kept me going creatively.” Taschen recently released a huge collection of hoppers work spanning from 1961-67 which i have noticed is available at a couple local book stores.

(photo:Dennis Hopper)

Martin Luther King (photo:Dennis Hopper)

Jeff Bridges brings his vintage 35mm Widelux on set when he is working on movies, he documents the process and surroundings. Jeff was given the camera as a belated engagement gift from his wife and he’s carried it with him ever since – making albums from set for the people with whom he’s worked. Now he’s publishing his favorite photos from set for all to see. Really interesting work and you check it out over at his impossible to navigate website.

Jeff Bridges on the set of True Grit (photo:Jeff Bridges)

(photo:Jeff Bridges)

On the set of The Big Lebowski (photo:Jeff Bridges)

View it full screen in your browser

There’s nothing I enjoy more then a Sunday morning catching up with the Corrie omnibus, a good cuppa and a massive gigapixel panoramic of a royal wedding.

Just kidding, I watch Corrie during the week.

From the Beeb:

This high-definition, 1.15-gigapixel picture, is a composite of 189 images. The full picture measures 81,471 pixels by 14,154 pixels. The field of view covers 200 degrees.

Click the image to jump to BBC’s page to actually view the gigapano.

Tip: That big green building is the media ‘hut’.

We love seeing what the big boys are bringing to the show every time there’s an election or sporting event and the royal wedding is no exception. Click the image to jump to the Reuters post about their coverage.

Note the GO Pro. It’s fast becoming a favored tool of the photojournalist.

That right there is the operations room for the RNC’s new project of CCTV coverage on George Street. Twelve cameras in all at a cost of $260,000 and another $50k per year for three years for upkeep.

I would probably pay them to watch those cameras all day.

Back in January I wrote an op-ed piece for Signalblog in regard to the new camera system and it’s impact, you can check that out here.

You thought 3D video was cool? It ain’t nothing without the audio to go with it. This is a very interesting video about new science going into the development of true 3D audio.

This next video is pretty astounding. Just on the crappy embedded speakers on my iMac the “surround sound” nature of the audio is just wild. The effect gets better when you strap on a pair of headphones.

This will give you an appreciation for shooting team photos. It’s a time lapse video showing the set up, shoot and break down of the lighting for a Montreal Canadiens team photo shoot.

Cheers to Travis Parsons for the tip on twitter.