Old-School Photography: Tutorials from the 70s and 80s

In the days before the Internet, newspapers were a good source for photography tips and tutorials. Although the following articles were written in the decades of film photography they are still helpful in the digital age because they focus on old-school aspects every photographer has to know:

1. Photography Tips/Lakeland Ledger, 22 July 1979
2. Available Light Photography/The Montreal Gazette, 22 Dec 1979
3. Cold Weather Best for Photography/Harlan Daily Enterprise, 27 Jan 1981
4. Pro Gives Advice on Winter Photography/The Milwaukee Sentinel, 8 Jan 1981
5. Wedding Photography Tips/Harlan Daily Enterprise, 18 Feb 1981
6. An Editorial about Ansel Adams/Tri City Herald, 2 Oct 1979
7. Outdoor Photography Is Fun/Ladysmith-Chemainus Cronicle, 17 Oct 1979
8. Photography Tips from Sandved/Lewiston Morning Tribune, 9 May 1982
9. Photography Tips Help Vacationers/The Albany Sunday Herald, 22 Jun 1986
10. Holiday Photo Tips/The Sumter Daily Item, 22 Oct 1986
11. Tips on Sunset Pictures, Lakeland Ledger, 29 Feb 1980
12. Put Some Art into Those Vacation Shots/The Courier, 16 Apr 1987

Open Your Eyes: Lost Individualism

This picture was taken from the top of the Golden Mount in Bangkok, where you have a great view over the whole city.

The front of this condominium is filled with windows, and there is not much space between them. Each window stands for one person living behind it. This image is a symbol for the overpopulation in our cities, for the restrictions and the loss of individualism, which are inevitable in our modern world. We are pressed into patterns and forced to comply with standards of the system. On which side of the windows are you?

Open Your Eyes: New Photo Blog Series

What I like most about photography is that you start taking a closer look at things and you appreciate the world around you more. With this in mind I'd like to initiate a news series about the things in life we take for granted and therefore don't look at anymore. Every week I'm going to post a photo and an article. Here is the first entry:





What associations do you have with the word 'home'?

I took this picture at a home for the elderly in Bangkok. An old woman, apathetic despite the presence of the camera, sitting on a thin plastic mattress in a dark cell, which is not larger than maybe two square meters, looking through the net into the other empty cell, shielded from the light of a bright sunny day, grunts of other people and the smell of warm urine in the air. The floor is relatively clean, but this is an old building, the decayed walls tell. It looks cold although it is thirty-one degrees; there is no air-conditioner. The heavy sliding door is open, but the woman won't come out and take a walk, or just talk. All she does is clap and sing the Thai national anthem with a smile on her face, over and over again. The woman is suffering from Alzheimer's disease and will spend the rest of her life in this cell, because there is no family to take care of her. She was put into the hands of strangers, and what's even more striking: She doesn't even realize because of her disease. Maybe that's the reason why the inmates in this ward receive only minimal attention.

The woman once had a family. She worked. She was someone. She lived. Now the circle of life closes, she needs care like a baby because she can't do anything herself, just like all the other elderly in this department. Her whole life is now restricted to two square meters. Eating, sleeping, washing, defecating, all in this cell. Her home.

Not only is this picture iconic for the way our society changes. The younger generation loses their connection with the senior members of our society. What's almost the norm in Western countries becomes more and more apparent in Asia as well, which therefore sees the stereotype of a caring extended family being weakened.

This image is also look into your future, which makes you think once you leave the state of speechlessness. Anyone could end up like her. There is no guarantee that someone will take care of you later. And what have you done?

Tight-knit. Awesome. Artastic: Share your Art on Shadowness!

On Valentine’s Day 2011, the ninth version of the art community Shadowness.com was launched. To find out more about the person and the website, I interviewed its founder, designer and coder of the site, Meng To.

Mike: Meng, could you briefly introduce yourself?

Meng: I'm a user interface designer/developer. I've been doing this for as long as 10 years and Shadowness has been my main inspiration for all my works and growth. I love art myself -- I do graphic design and photography as a hobby.

Mike: How would you describe Shadowness and how does it set itself apart from other communities?

Meng: Shadowness is very tight-knit, with a focus on selective art and highly customizable unlike many other art communities out there. We deeply integrated Facebook connect and their social plugins. Finally, people on SN, as we affectionally call it, are very friendly, active and extremely responsive to comments. They thrive on constructive feedback.

Mike: You've just launched version 9 of Shadowness. How would you describe its development over the years and what are the unique features of this version?

Meng: Funny story: I did no expect to find the time to work on a new version and I was basically in between jobs, waiting after a chance to work in San Francisco or New York (I live in Montreal), but I knew something had to be done because I've always felt inspired every time I work on Shadowness. The last version was a flop -- it was nicely designed, but lacked totally in the interaction department. Then, many old school members came to me about reviving the community, and we started throwing ideas... The general consensus was that V4 was awesome and everyone loved it. So V9 is basically a revival of V4, but done right this time. If I was to specifically name features: I'd say the EXP system where users would feel rewarded as they get active. We also have a chat, where all hell breaks every night... Many customizing features such as the background wallpaper, header and HTML.

Mike: This version definitely has come a long way. In how far does SN reflect your development as a person?

Meng: As anybody with some development background can tell you, it takes a lot of discipline to start a social driven site like Shadowness by yourself. If not for my passion for art and for this heartwarming community that I love, this would never reach this level of deep integration. It literally takes 12-15 hours of my time every day for the past 2 months, weekends included, to get to this point, and all that design/coding totally from scratch. Not only that, but I participate in every single discussion, greet every single new member and try to comment on virtually all the new pieces. Everyone has been great and very supportive and they're the reason why I'm so involved with this community. They keep me disciplined and driven.

Mike: With all the work you put in, what do you want to get out of your endeavor?

Meng: I'm hoping that this project would allow me to be self-sufficient and go at it full-time, for years and years to come. I hope to bring tremendous exposure and opportunities to the many deserving artists that call this place "home". I hope to inspire the artists and persons on Shadowness on a deep level of learning and culture as they learn and be completely aware of their skills and where to grow.

Mike: So it's like a big, supporting family of artists.

Meng: Yes, many would agree that we're like a big family where people literally treat each other like friends who have known each other for years... because the reality is that they did. Shadowness has existed for 10 years now. Some members even started their own Panda, Monkey and Tiger clans. That's how personal and fun it gets. :)

Mike: Isn’t a large number of people joining a threat to the tight-knittedness of the community?

Meng: We started as a beta initially and many have known Shadowness for years. Basically, they ensure that the culture and tight-knitness is kept intact. Also, with scaling comes responsibility that deserving content is filtered right, so we have a Following system that doesn't require dozens of clicks. Simply click once on your Feed and browse based on your closest friends and favorite artists. Everything becomes unread in that one single click.

Mike: If you could sum up the essence of Shadowness in one word, what would that word be?

Meng: Tight-knit. Awesome. Artastic? ...wait, are we allowed for multiple one-words? Otherwise, so far we have Tight-knit art community or Facebook for artists. Art shared beautifully.

Mike: With that we conclude this interview. Thank you, Meng, for your time and insights.
And you folks, if you want to see how beautiful art can be shared, if you want to become a part of the Shadowness family of supportive artists or if you just want to download the hottest wallpapers on the net, head over to Shadowness now and have a little chat with Meng yourself! He’s always around.