Stunner Santa Poses for a Male Fashion Photo Shoot

by Michael Zhan

For its holiday campaign this year, the Yorkdale shopping mall in Toronto, Canada, created Fashion Santa. Instead of wearing his traditional red hat, coat, trousers, and boots, Santa posed for a photo shoot wearing festive outfits representing the latest trends in male fashion.

Like the Hipster Santa found in Portland, Oregon, Fashion Santa can be visited by kids this holiday season inside the shopping center.

And it’s all for a good cause, too: for every selfie with Santa posted to social media with the hashtag #YorkdaleFashionSanta, Yorkdale will donate $1 (and up to $10,000 total) to the Sick Kicks Foundation.

Yorkdale has also published a detailed breakdown of each of Santa’s looks found in these portraits.

(via Yorkdale via Quartz)

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Image credits: Photographs by Yorkdale 

Murphys Law…for photography.

 Here are some versions of Murphy’s laws which often relate to us, photographers. Feel free to add yours in the comment section below.

1. You are not Ansel Adams.

2. Neither are you Herb Ritts.

3. If a photo shoot goes too smoothly, then your computer’s hard drive is likely to crash.

4. Photo assistants are essential, they give photographers someone to yell at.

5. Weather never cooperates.

6. If it works in your home, it will fail on location.

7. The newest and least experienced photographer will usually win the Pulitzer.

8. The nature shots invariably happen on two occasions:

    -when animals are ready

    -when you’re not

9. Flash will fail as soon as you need it.

10. A camera is a magnet for dust, mud and moisture.

11. Photo experience is something you never get until just after you need it.

12. The lens that falls is always the most expensive.

13. When you drop a lens cap, the inside part always lands face down in the mud.

14. Bugs always want to land on the mirror during a lens swap.

15. Your batteries will always go dead or you will need to put in a new film canister at the least opportune moment.

16. Your batteries will always go dead during a long exposure.

17. Cameras are designed with a built-in sensor that senses the anticipation to develop the film. When the level of anticipation is the highest, this sensor causes the back to flip open exposing the film. (Takura Razemba)

18. Lenses are attracted to rocks.

      Corollary:

      The more expensive the lens, the greater the attraction.

19. The greater a photographer’s excitement, the greater the chance of fogging film, scratching prints, and deleting files.

20. The success of an assignment is inversely proportional to the product of its importance and the number of people watching.

21. Strobes only explode when lots of people are watching.

      Corollary:

      Strobes only work when there is nobody else to see. ( by Jason Antman)

22. You never really need a tripod when you’re actually carrying one. (by Marshmallow)

COLBERT MOCKS AMAZON’S OUTRAGEOUS STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY PATENT

COLBERT MOCKS AMAZON’S OUTRAGEOUS STUDIO PHOTOGRAPHY PATENT

The United States Patent Office (USPTO) gave the thumbs-up to some doozies of inventions over the past 224 years. Sure, I can get behind the creations that made our everyday lives easier, like the wheel or the light bulb, but trying to patent a stick as an “animal toy” or stamp rights on “the method of swinging on a swing?” Get real.

Amazon recently earned the award for ridiculous patents when it gained legal ownership for “Studio Arrangement,” or, photography against a white background. Before you panic, wondering if Amazon is going to try to sue you for infringing on their patent on your next product photography shoot, check out Stephen Colbert’s mockery of the patent and his take on the entire patent system:

What does this mean for photographers? Are we no longer allowed to take photos of people and objects using a white background? Fortunately, it doesn’t look like it will hamper the studio photography business.

Amazon’s patent is so detailed, it would require a photographer to use an identical setup in order to even consider a lawsuit.

“A background comprising a white cyclorama; a front light source positioned in a longitudinal axis intersecting the background…an image capture position located between the background and the front light source in the longitudinal axis…an elevated platform positioned between the image capture position and the background in the longitudinal axis, the front light source being directed toward a subject on the elevated platform…”  -fromPatent No.: 8,676,045 B1, “Studio Arrangement”

From this description, it sounds like a basic studio setup with lights illuminating the background and the subject, with a camera placed in front of the subject, right?

The patent goes on to detail the precise camera and light settings, making it easy to alter these enough to avoid any type of patent infringement.

“…the image capture position comprising at least one image capture device equipped with an eighty-five millimeter lens, the [sic] at least one image capture device further configured with an ISO setting of about three hundred twenty and an f-stop value of about 5.6…the plurality of rear light sources and the front light source further comprise a plurality of tungsten light sources configured to emit light having a color temperature of approximately 3200K…”

The question remains, “why would Amazon bother to file such a ridiculous and specific patent on something so commonly used?” While Amazon representatives have not yet released a comment to this effect, Colbert summed it up best:

“Now I know, I know, that sounds like bull***. But, it’s actually male bovine fecal matter extruded on a longitudinal axis.”

Merry Christmas from Glyn Ridgers Photography

Merry Christmas everyone and thank you for following my blog.

Hope you found the content of interest and I look forward to providing more photography related articles and news to keep you entertained in the new year.

Best wishes

Glyn

Good use of some old cameras….

A pretty cool use for all those old cameras we have lying around…

Upcycle your old and broken cameras into something useful? Here are 10 great examples for your inspiration.

Vintage Upcycled Camera Lamp Chandelier

MITZY, the steampunk robot dog with an old camera eye

Vintage folding Kodak camera recycled into a table lamp

Recycled Kodak Brownie Camera Clock

Vintage camera iPhone dock

Recycled Camera Owl Lamp

Flower pot camera and lenses

Robot dog made from vintage Kodak Brownie camera, old jello molds, shoe horns and old bike light

Vintage Kodak Jiffy Six-20 Series II Camera Lamp

Brownie 5 Deluxe assemblage

Chicken Cam…..the next big thing…?

Ok…This has to be one of the greatest advances in steady cam technology…Check it out!

Are you photography Geek?

I was browsing the web and this made me chuckle..it is from the crazy guys at Digital Rev…this lot put a lot of humour into their videos as well as being able to educate us on how to take great pictures and also give unbiased reviews on the latest products.o check them out at www.digitalrev.com.  This clip was was found on http://www.picturecorrect.com which is another great place to visit for all photographers…Enjoy!

The first sign that you may be a photo geek is if you clicked on this link to see if you’re a photo geek. So what’s the difference between being passionate about photography and claiming the title of geek? Well, leave it up to Kai to create a top 10 list of the geekiest photographer traits:

1. Form Follow Function Fashion – Basically, you think a lot about photography and very little about your clothes.
2. Awkward With the Opposite Sex – You’re terrible at social interactions, especially if it’s with someone you’re attracted too.
3. Speaks in Coded Language – Your conversations consist of a lot of talk about f-stops, MTF charts, digital noise, sensor size, etc. Most people won’t know what you’re talking about.
4. Only Talks About Cameras, All the Time – Your love of photography might spread a little too far when the only thing you can talk to your friends about is your newest lens or the amazing photo that you captured the other day.
5. Bring Inappropriate Gear to Occasions – Maybe you don’t need to bring your TLR when riding a rollercoaster.
6. Spend Far Too Long on Online Forums – Whether you’re bragging about your photo or gear, or just talking with other photographers because your friends are tired of listening to you, you may be abusing your photography forum account (in which your username isphotographyloverf/4life)
7. Spend Far Too Long at 2nd Hand Shops – If you feel a spark of excitement every time you see a flea market hoping that you will find an old rangefinder camera, you may be a photo geek.
8. Try to Outdo Everyone by Getting Exclusive Gear – It doesn’t have to be expensive or new or even functional, but it does have to be unique.
9. Treat Your Gear Like Your Baby – This one is iffy. Some photo geeks may treat their photo gear better than their baby.
10. Need to Take Photos Even Stuck at Desk – When you feel like you’re wasting time at your office because you’re not taking photos, this could be a sign.

Thanks to

http://www.picturecorrect.com

Summer holiday fun with my boy…

Breaking the boredom and having fun with my 7 year old son and his star wars figures…think he is a natural.

Star Wars Troopers by Glyn and Son

 

Star Wars Troopers by Glyn and Son

I think its that way…

Star Wars Troopers by Glyn and Son

He had lots of fun producing these and he looks forward to sharing more soon… Have nice hols everyone…

Glyn

 

 

 

 

Super funny camera video…..enjoy

Thought this clip was hilarious and well deserved to be shared with others…Brilliant

As it's Friday….here are some funnies……

The quickest way to make money at photography is to sell your camera.

Two photographers walking along a street and they pass a beggar sitting with his hat up-ended on the pavement, begging for money. One guy keeps walking. The other stops. Later when they catch up with each other the first guy says to the other. “Hey I saw you stop for that beggar. What did you give him?””Oh” says the first guy, “1/125th at f5.6″

“A group of artists are invited for dinner by a famous chef.
In greeting the photographer, the chef comments:
“I love your photos, they’re wonderful, you must have a very expensive camera”…the photographer doesn’t reply and walks into the dining room.
After dinner the photographer approaches the chef and says:
“Dinner was sensational, very exquisite flavours, a true work of art,
you must have a very sophisticated stove.”

If an old man asks a young girl for a date…
That’s his business.
If the young girl accepts…
That’s her business.
If the old man and the girl decide to marry…
That’s their business.
However, if they want great wedding photographs…
THAT’S MY BUSINESS!!!

You know when you are a photographer when….

You look at a desk full of tax returns and wonder how you could photograph the stack.

You’re somewhat troubled by the fact that you don’t know how to calculate the shutter speed of your eyes when you blink.

The sign “no flash photography” means nothing to you and makes you laugh, because YOU don’t need a flash.

You watch a movie and pay more attention to the aperture then what’s happening in the movie.

While wearing polarizing sunglasses, you rotate your head left and right to assess what impact your circular polarizing filter might have on a potential shot.

You pity, and judge, members of the public when you see them using their big, fancy DSLR in… automatic…

You’d rather buy the shirt that more closely resembles 18% grey.

You describe disgusting old dilapidated barns as “beautiful”.

Hope you like…….and have a great day…