Month: March 2015

Sustainable Food in the City: 10 Smart Urban Farm Designs

[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

The world’s largest indoor farm has already proven just how amazingly successful food production can be outside of standard agricultural setups, and these 10 urban farm designs and concepts take the possibilities even further by taking advantage of disused spaces, reaching high into the sky and employing modular, portable, prefabricated configurations.

Jenga-Like Urban Farming Ecosystem by OVA Studio

The Hive-Inn City Farm is a prefabricated, modular farming structure that could brig fresh, locally grown food to busy urban districts. The structure reclaims shipping containers and stacks them in a Jenga-like configuration, with each container dedicated to a specific function from growing a certain type of food to recycling waste. The design echoes that of OVA Studio’s original Hive Inn concept, which uses the containers as individual hotel rooms.

SPARK Senior Living Center and Vertical Farm Concept

This concept by SPARK Architects solves two problems in one by combining housing for Singapore’s rapidly aging population with urban food production. The ‘home farm’ creates a lush, vibrant garden environment that’s pleasant to live in while also catering specifically to the needs of seniors and using a vertical system to grow edibles, offering part-time employment for residents in the gardens

Mini Harvesting Station for Forgotten City Spaces

On a smaller scale, various spaces around the city that aren’t being put to good use could serve as temporary locations for miniature farms. The Harvesting Station by Conceptual Devices can grow up to 200 plants within 43 square feet, and is topped with a water harvesting tower that irrigates the plants automatically.

Vertical SkyFarm for Korea

Downtown Seoul, South Korea could become a powerhouse food production center if concepts like Aprilli’s vertical farm are actually built, potentially sustaining a significant number of the city’s large population. The tree-shaped structure frees up space on the ground while raising ‘leaf’ platforms far above street level for access to sunlight, and serves as an iconic symbol of sustainability.

Geodesic Rooftop Greenhosue for Urban Farmers

Another small-scale rooftop ming solution is the Globe (Hedron) by Conceptual Devices, a geodesic dome for flat urban rooftops that’s framed with bamboo and functions as an aquaponic system to produce both fish and vegetables. Each greenhouse can feed four families of four year-round.

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Sustainable Food In The City 10 Smart Urban Farm Designs

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[ By Steph in Architecture & Cities & Urbanism. ]

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WebUrbanist

March 19, 2015
Can we get much wider? Canon EF 11-24mm F4 L USM samples gallery posted

Canon’s new EF 11-24mm F4 L wideangle zoom lens is Canon’s widest ever rectilinear zoom by some margin, and may even challenge Nikon’s venerable 14-24mm F2.8 as the tool of choice for landscape, property and architectural photographers. When a reviewable sample arrived in our office last week we wasted no time taking it out shooting. See gallery

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

March 19, 2015
Ein Beifallsorkan auf Martin Parr in Fotobänden 1

Es gibt keinen Fotografen, der mich mehr geprägt hat als Martin Parr. Auch, wenn ich seinen Stil nicht übernommen, justiert oder imitiert habe, ist Parr die Person, deren Wirken den größten Einfluss auf meine heutige Auffassung von Fotografie hatte.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity

March 19, 2015
Rock steady: Olympus OM-D E-M5 II reviewed

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 II follows-up on the groundbreaking original E-M5 and brings extra control points (a lot of them) a 40MP high-res mode, better video, improved image stabilization and a host of other refinements, large and small. We’ve been shooting a lot with the E-M5 II over the past few weeks, and that work has culminated in a full review, with our usual combination of studio and real-world tests. Click through to see what we think

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

March 19, 2015
18. März 2015

Das Bild des Tages von: Peter.F.G.

Im Ausblick: Tipps für die kommende Sonnenfinsternis, eine Geschichte über einen Journalisten und ein Buchprojekt.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity

March 19, 2015
Defrozo online photography marketing platform launches on Kickstarter

A new platform called Defrozo has launched on Kickstarter. Currently in beta, it offers photographers online services needed to market and run a photography business, including an online store through which customers can purchase prints and a website to showcase one’s own work. When it fully launches in October, Defrozo will offer free and paid subscription options. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

March 19, 2015
5 Reasons to Use Flash to Improve Your Travel Photography

When it comes to travel photography, I am all in for carrying less. However, a good flash is always within reach in my everyday camera bag. I strongly believe that a flash helps to achieve much better results in a number of situations, and here are five reasons and examples:

1) Fill the shadows

The alleyway that protects these fishing villagers from the heat in Vietnam makes it almost impossible to have a good balance between the bright sunlight on the river, and the walls of the alley. The use of flash, in a controlled way, over the foreground helps to open up the shadows and show some detail on the otherwise totally dark foreground.

2) Under-expose your background

When making portraits, it is always good to have decent separation between your main subject and the background. Granted, one of the most popular ways is to use a shallow depth of field and blur the background while keeping the principal element of your photo sharp. Another way is to intentionally under-expose your photo one or two stops, and light your subject with flash to compensate.

3) Freeze motion

If you are working with moving subjects, the use of flash will help to freeze some of the motion if you intend to do so. This depends on a number of factors, including what shutter speed you are shooting at and the length of the flash duration. But, if you notice in the example above, the flash is only being used to achieve points one and two of this article, meaning I am also underexposing the image a tad, and opening up the shadows in the main subject to bring more attention to them.

4) Dark interiors

This artisan from the Hmong minorities in North Vietnam was working his craft inside his house where no lights are available. Despite being close to a window, it was way too dark to photograph, even at high ISO. If you encounter a similar condition, the use of flash will not only make a big difference, but could also be the reason you get the shot at all.

5) Keep shooting at night

Some places are meant to be enjoyed at night. All kind of photos are possible during this time. Cityscapes and lights trails are certainly compelling propositions, but when it comes to capturing street life there is no better way than with the aid of flash. That extra pop of light will make your subjects come alive and stand out.

The key to doing this is to practice and learn how to manage and balance ratios. Every moment is different and sometimes your key light will be your flash, and other times you’ll be using it just to fill. My personal preference is to do it manually. I think you have much better control by dialling in the power of your speedlights manually, rather than letting the camera figure it out. It takes practice, but it is not difficult to master.

In terms of equipment, I really like the Yongnuo YN 560-III, the main reason is the integrated radio trigger. The units are inexpensive, but well made, which doesn’t hurt either. But as I always use it off-camera, the fact that I don’t need to attach cables or be worried about optical slaves is something that I appreciate. That radio signal goes everywhere, even behind walls, making it very easy to trigger.

What about you? Do you use any flash in your travel photos or in situations like these? Share your images and comments below.

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The post 5 Reasons to Use Flash to Improve Your Travel Photography by Daniel Korzeniewski appeared first on Digital Photography School.

Digital Photography School

March 19, 2015
Silent Slaughterhouse: Pool Produces Infinite Reflections

[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

To gain entrance to this darkened slaughterhouse chamber filled with seemingly infinite reflections, you’ll have to dial a phone number that produces a ripple on the surface of the water covering the building’s floor. Outside the otherworldly scene you’ll find a stack of business cards with instructions in two languages “to activate this artwork.” Your presence, the artist insinuates, is an interruption.

Even the title of the work, ‘Every Word is Like an Unnecessary Stain on Silence and Nothingness,‘ makes a statement on the potential sacredness of forgotten spaces, no matter what their origins may be. In this case, the charred room in which you’ll find yourself is the former cooling chamber of a slaughterhouse in Madrid.

Artist Eugenio Ampudia needs very little in the way of augmentation to create the atmosphere within this disused space. The water makes it seem to go on and on, and carries echoes so far that every little squeak of a shoe or muffled cough is amplified.

Ampudia explains that the work is a critique of modern communication. “It’s true that modern technology has allowed us to connect with thousands of people almost simultaneously. But what is happening with communication? Why is draft legislation eing put forward tov eto the flow of information among citizens? What is more disturbing: people trying to communicate something or people uniting with the same intent? Who is scared of the words ‘network’ and ‘community’?”

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[ By Steph in Art & Installation & Sound. ]

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WebUrbanist

March 18, 2015
New York – Ein Winterportrait

Ein Beitrag von: Julian Schulze

New York – eine Stadt der Gegensätze, die größer nicht sein könnten. Das obige Zitat habe ich aus gutem Grund ausgewählt, da es meine eigene Sichtweise auf diese Stadt sehr passend beschreibt.
kwerfeldein – Fotografie Magazin | Fotocommunity

March 18, 2015
Deceptive Dimensions: Illusion Street Art Creates 3D Portals

[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

At first glance it looks as if thin layers of these walls have been slowly torn away in concentric shapes, leading deeper and deeper into the spaces on the other side. No longer clearly cinder block, brick or any other solid building material, the walls seem as if they really could consist of nothing more than stack after stack of thin paper in rainbow hues.

Germany-based street artist 1010 creates the effect with nothing more than spray paint, adding a third dimension to flat surfaces with clever use of color, shape and shadows. The works range from actual paper cuts that are framed for gallery walls to murals covering multiple stories of a building, like the installation created for contemporary art festival Knotempunkt in Hamburg.

Making small creations out of stacked paper likely give 1010 a chance to study the shapes and shadows that make his illusions so effective on a larger scale. “In this case painting a shadow does the trick,” the artist tells Hashimoto Contemporary Gallery. “I call them holes, abyss, passage or portals, names that leave enough space for interpretation and projection for the viewer.”

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Trick of the Eye: 13 Delightfully Deceptive Works of Art

Since ancient times, artists have tricked viewers with incredibly realistic 3D paintings. This style, called trompe l’oeil, is still delighting viewers today.
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[ By Steph in Art & Street Art & Graffiti. ]

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WebUrbanist

March 18, 2015