Goodbye Kodachrome

In photography news, it's apparently time to say goodbye to Kodachrome.

December 30^th is the last day Kodachrome film will ever be processed on planet Earth. Dwayne's Photo Studio is the only place where Kodachrome films are processed and just has enough chemicals for one more week of processing.

Kodak has stopped producing these unique chemicals that gave images the vibrant look seen in pictures of photography's great like Steve McCurry (famous for the Afghan girl) and Eric Gutmann and others). This happened in 2009, but Dwayne's Photo Studio still had chemicals to go for another year. Yet also their stock has come to an end.

I always feel a little sad when awesome things cease to exist.

Since I have so strongly embraced all things digital, I'm not sure how to feel about this one. But feel free to read the original post and comments at Agent 3Z.

Star Wars Crawl Creator

Because you always wanted to... go to StarWars.com | Star Wars Crawl Creator.

You will thank me.

Blender Foundation's "Sintel" - An Achievement for Open Source 3D Animation

Here is a moving and heart-wrenching animated short story that was created with a free and open source program called Blender! The point of the video's publication is to showcase what the program can do.

"Sintel" is an independently produced short film, initiated by the Blender Foundation as a means to further improve and validate the free/open source 3D creation suite Blender. With initial funding provided by 1000s of donations via the internet community, it has again proven to be a viable development model for both open 3D technology as for independent animation film.

This 15 minute film has been realized in the studio of the Amsterdam Blender Institute, by an international team of artists and developers. In addition to that, several crucial technical and creative targets have been realized online, by developers and artists and teams all over the world.

Check out Blender and download the latest version.

Photoshop World 2010 "Big Light Small Flashes"

"Big Light Small Flashes" was an eye-opener for me as Joe McNally made some fantastic pix using only one flash unit. If you (like me) thought you needed a studio full of lighting equipment to make a good portrait, then this session alone was worth the entry fee.

Photoshop World 2010 Opening Show

Sent from my Teletype model 19

Begin forwarded message:

Date: September 1, 2010 6:37:49 PM
Subject: Re: Photoshop World 2010

Each year, Photoshop World launches with a different theme and this year was no exception.  "Rock Concert" was part of the entry passes, posters, decorations and even the keynote.  An authentic rock concert launched the 3-day conference in grand style.  Scott Kelby and the Pixel Benders performed a 2 song set to a backdrop of strobes, smoke, spotlights, and huge amps and speakers.  KISS-like costumes and makeup completed the parody as they belted out "I Wanna Photoshop All Night and Retouch Every Day" while a packed house went wild.

I'll talk about today's sessions in a later post.

...and the photo.