Monday 31 August 2015

CERN Photowalk 2015: Want to Shoot in the World’s Largest Particle Physics Lab?

Exclusive photo ops are sometimes only available to those who win an application lottery. The McNeil River bear sanctuary in Alaska is one example — photographer John Daley recently shared about his experience with that. Here’s another one: CERN.

The largest particle physics laboratory in the world is holding a special CERN Photowalk 2015 next month, and a handful of lucky photographers from around the world will be given a behind-the-scenes tour of the prestigious labs.

CERN and seven other large physics laboratories are joining together for the photo walk and competition. Twenty photographers will be given the opportunity to participate in the event, which starts on September 25, 2015.

For the occasion, CERN will be opening the doors to three of its facilities: the new Linac 4 accelerator, which will shortly start supplying beams to the Large Hadron Collider; CERN’s main workshop, where state-of-the-art technologies can be seen in use; and ISOLDE, which supplies beams to around fifty experiments each year. The photographers will also have the opportunity to take shots of everyday life on the CERN campus.

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Afterward, the best photos will be selected by a local jury and be displayed in an exhibition in 2016. The final winning photos will be selected by another jury and by a public vote. You can find photos from CERN Photowalk 2010 here.

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If you’re interested in this unique opportunity, you can apply through the CERN Photowalk webpage. You’ll need to have a camera that shoots at least 10 megapixels in resolution, and you’ll be responsible for expenses during the trip (e.g. travel and lodging). Photos taken during the competition will also become the property of CERN. Deadline is September 6th.

(via CERN via CanonWatch)


Image credits: Video and still frames by CERN

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Touching Photo Goes Viral, Raises Over $150,000 for Syrian Refugee

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Photography has the power to change lives, and that’s what happened in a big way over the past week for one Syrian refugee. After a photo of the man selling pens went viral online, people around the world have donated over $150,000 to help give the man start a new life.

The story began back on August 25th, when Norway-based web developer Gissur Simonarson tweeted a couple of photos of the Syrian father selling pens while holding his sleeping daughter. The tweet quickly went viral:

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The photo then appeared on Reddit, where it hit the front page and attracted over 1400 comments. Soon TV stations, newspapers, and websites across the world were sharing this photo with their audiences.

“I was overwhelmed with requests to help this man, so I decided to see if I could locate them,” Simonarson writes. He retweeted the photo through Conflict News (@conflicts), which he founded, and within 30 minutes he was put in touch with a Lebanese man who saw the refugee every day around his house. Other people began Tweeting photos of the man as well:

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Within a very short span of time, Simonarson was able to locate the man and girl (named Abdul and Reem) and figure out a way to launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for him. It carries the hashtag #BuyPens.

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Over the past 4 days, over 6,000 people from around the world have donated over $162,000 to help Abdul and Reem.

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“Thank you to everyone who has supported this,” writes Simonarson. “It’s nice to see people come together and make a difference in another person’s life.”


Image credits: Header cropped photograph by Gissur Simonarson

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Touching Photo Goes Viral, Raises Over $150,000 for Syrian Refugee

buypens

Photography has the power to change lives, and that’s what happened in a big way over the past week for one Syrian refugee. After a photo of the man selling pens went viral online, people around the world have donated over $150,000 to help give the man start a new life.

The story began back on August 25th, when Norway-based web developer Gissur Simonarson tweeted a couple of photos of the Syrian father selling pens while holding his sleeping daughter. The tweet quickly went viral:

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

The photo then appeared on Reddit, where it hit the front page and attracted over 1400 comments. Soon TV stations, newspapers, and websites across the world were sharing this photo with their audiences.

“I was overwhelmed with requests to help this man, so I decided to see if I could locate them,” Simonarson writes. He retweeted the photo through Conflict News (@conflicts), which he founded, and within 30 minutes he was put in touch with a Lebanese man who saw the refugee every day around his house. Other people began Tweeting photos of the man as well:

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Within a very short span of time, Simonarson was able to locate the man and girl (named Abdul and Reem) and figure out a way to launch an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign for him. It carries the hashtag #BuyPens.

abdulcrowdfund

Over the past 4 days, over 6,000 people from around the world have donated over $162,000 to help Abdul and Reem.

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

“Thank you to everyone who has supported this,” writes Simonarson. “It’s nice to see people come together and make a difference in another person’s life.”


Image credits: Header cropped photograph by Gissur Simonarson

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Photo Mythbusters: How Much Do UV Filters Actually Protect Your Lenses?

Photographers often use UV filters for lens protection, but how much are they actually able to prevent your lens from getting damaged? Photographer Steve Perry of Backcountry Gallery recently decided to find out… by breaking a large number of filters and lenses.

In the video above, Perry cuts through the haze surrounding UV filters and shows what they actually do and don’t do for your precious glass.

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Perry first purchased a wide variety of filters and $5 bargain bin lenses. He also built a homemade lens smash testing device for dropping various weights directly onto lenses and filters.

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You can find how the individual items fared in the drop test in this article by Perry. The results may be surprising to you.

Perry found that there isn’t really a correlation between the brand and price of a filter and how strong it is. Some filters were surprisingly weak — they couldn’t even survive impacts that failed to punch through ordinary printer paper.

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On the other hand, the front elements of lenses are much, much stronger. Lenses were usually able to emerge completely unscathed from drops that shatter every single filter Perry tested, and usually some other part in a lens breaks before the front element does.

“Based on what I’ve seen in these tests, I really believe that the vast majority of people who have broken UV filters have simply broken their UV filters and really didn’t save their lens at all,” Perry says. “I believe that in most cases, the filter didn’t do anything to save their lens from cracking or breakage — the UV filter simply broke because they’re much more prone to breakage than the lens itself is.”

“If the hit was hard enough to bust the lens, chances are, a UV filter wouldn’t have helped.”

shatteredlens

So does that mean you shouldn’t use a UV filter? Not necessarily: they still help protect your front element from smaller dangers and annoyances — things like scratches, dust, and fingerprints. But if protecting your lens from catastrophic damage is what you’re going for, you’re probably better off keeping a lens hood on the lens at all times.

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This Aperture Engagement Ring Box is Perfect for the Photographer You Love

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Love someone who loves photography, and planning to pop the question soon? Check out this homemade ring box Matt Chalker made for his photographer girlfriend recently. It opens and closes like the aperture on a camera, and it took about 50-60 hours to make.

Here’s a short clip showing how the box works. You simply twist the “lens” to open up the aperture and reveal the ring:

“I’m pretty handy and am the manager at a college makerspace, so I have access to a lot of fabrication tools,” Chalker tells PetaPixel. He brainstormed ideas for a few weeks before deciding on this photography-related ring box concept.

Chalker’s original plans for the box were based on this Instructables tutorial on creating a 12-leaf mechanical iris.

Here are the raw materials Chalker started with (ipe wood, brass, bronze, and NERF darts):

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After milling the ipe wood for the base of the box, Chalker milled the individual iris leaves out of bronze shim stock. For each leaf, bronze pins were soldered onto each side — the “most frustrating part of the whole thing,” says Chalker.

milling

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The finished leaves popped into holes in the box. The cushion in the box consists of sliced up NERF darts covered with velvet and secured with spray glue.

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Once the box was complete, Chalker inserted his grandmother’s ring from the 1940s and proposed to his girlfriend by opening up the aperture.

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And that’s how Chalker got himself a beautiful fiancee who loves both him and photography.


Image credits: Photographs and video by Matt Chalker and used with permission

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