Trexels: Pixelated Star Trek Characters

Trexels by John Martz
Trexels by John Martz
©2011 John Martz

Trexels, is an awesome limited edition print by John Martz and Koyama Press, featuring 235 pixelated Star Trek characters. I want this!

The print measures 8.5 x 11 and is printed using an 8-colour archival printing process on 100% cotton rag museum-quality paper. The print will go on sale here on Tuesday, April 12th, 2011. There’s no price mentioned, but I’m guessing it’s not going to be cheap. And, they’ll probably go pretty fast.

There’s also a contest to win a free print for the 2 people who can name the most number of characters. Details are on the site.

via Laughing Squid

OK, they totally got me. The Invisible Camera is a fake!

A couple weeks ago I posted a video about an amazing new project called, The Invisible Camera. As it turns out, the thing was a little too amazing. It’s a fake, and they totally got me. I went as far as signing up to be a field tester.

I was pretty disappointed, and felt a little foolish, when I read the news. But, I don’t have any ill-will against those guys (Chris Marquart & Allan Attridge). It was a good story, and they told it well. After reading their explanation as to why they did it (below), I would say the project was a success. I did indeed have a sense of wonder when I first watched the original video. Good job guys!

From the site:

It’s not polarized. It doesn’t amplify anything. It’s not bulletproof.

Sorry, it’s not even a camera.

But we did it for a reason.

We all still have vivid memories of those first times. The first time we held a Walkman, the first time we saw the Space Shuttle launch, the first time… In this day and age with daily new miracles on YouTube, it has become really hard to find a new sense of wonder and amazement and those do-you-remember-the-first-time moments seem to become less and less.

So instead of building a camera for a few lucky ones, we decided to create a story for all of you.

We did not do this to mock you. The Invisible Camera is our humble attempt to bring back wonder and amazement.

If you were one of the skeptics who unmasked the Invisible Camera right away, we applaud you for your razor-sharp smarts.

If you realized what we did and participated on your blog or with your tweets, we deeply bow to you and profoundly thank you for helping us tell the story.

If you believed in our story, congratulations on being an openminded individual who still can dream and be amazed. That is a wonderful ability to possess.

And there is no reason to feel bad, as you are in great company.

We received unexpected applications. From teachers. Pro photographers. SFX Specialists. Even scientists. We were a bit surprised. But rest assured, we won’t name names.

As much as we ourselves wish it were, the Invisible Camera is not real.

But we are. And our story is… as much as you want it to be.

We thank you for coming along on the ride.

PressPausePlay: A Film About Hope, Fear and Digital Culture

About PressPausePlay:

The digital revolution of the last decade has unleashed creativity and talent of people in an unprecedented way, unleashing unlimited creative opportunites.

But does democratized culture mean better art, film, music and literature or is true talent instead flooded and drowned in the vast digital ocean of mass culture? Is it cultural democracy or mediocrity?

This is the question addressed by PressPausePlay, a documentary film containing interviews with some of the world’s most influential creators of the digital era.

This looks really cool, I would love to see it. Unfortunately the screening dates and locations are a little limited right now, and there’s been no announcement of the DVD release date. You can, however, save it in your Netflix Queue. It should be automatically added when it becomes available.

Official Site | YouTube Link | Via Quality Peoples

Maciek Jasik Photography

Maciek Jasik Nudes
© Maciek Jasik. All Rights Reserved

I’m loving the photographic work of Maciek Jasik, especially this series of nudes. I’m very curious if Maciek is achieving this look completely through post-processing, or if he is shooting through some sort of colored material.

“…The focus only reaches part of the figure. The rest is a blur in a vibrant, limitless sea of color, a confluence of emotions and feelings. This evokes the traces of memory we have for each other, and the inability we have to ever fully understand each other”

Via WhyNot?

The Stolen Scream


The Stolen Scream: A Story About Noam Galai from FStoppers on Vimeo.

Very interesting story of how some images were repeatedly stolen from Flickr and used in a wide variety of ways over several years. Unfortunately this kind of thing seems all too common in todays world where many people seem to think that everything on the internet is free to take and do whatever they want with it.

About two years after publishing photos of myself screaming on the Flickr, I discovered that my face was ‘for sale’ in several stores around the world, as well as on the Web and spotted it in places like Spain, Iran, Mexico, England and many other places. When I realized that its not a one-time-thing and my face is being used in so many places i decided to start collecting images/videos of all my ‘appearances’.

via Richards Notes | Noam Galai on Flickr

Yul Brynner: A Photographic Journey

Yul Brynner

I’ve always enjoyed Yul Brynner’s movies, but until recently I had no idea that he was also an avid photographer.

After his death, his daughter went through 40 years of his photographs and compiled them into a set of four books. Here’s the descriptions from the website:

LIFE STYLE (Vol. 1)
Bruce Weber so appropriately describes it as, “an expression” of Yul’s world. Indeed Life Style is a surprisingly simplistic portrayal of life as he wished to see it, unpretentious, comfortingly real, and utterly unglamorous at times. Intimate portraits of Elizabeth Taylor playing with her daughter in her swimming pool, Charlie Chaplin walking with Oona after a swim at La Reine Jeanne, and Audrey Hepburn aboard a gondola in Venice.

LIFE ON SET (Vol. 2)
Foreword written by Ingrid Sischy and the second of four books in the collection, Life on Set personifies a genuine sense of life behind the scenes. Through its unplanned expressions and out-of-focus backgrounds, the intent of the imagery becomes clear as it brings its subjects back into the reality of everyday life and emotion.  Yul Brynner knew how to take pictures of the most beautiful women, Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman, Anita Ekberg, and Joan Collins to mention a few.

1956 (Vol. 3)
Martin Scorsese introduces us with his foreword, to the colorful journey through the creation of some of Yul’s most memorable films made in 1956, The Ten Commandments, The King and I, and Anastasia.  The third volume documents the busiest year of his career, which resulted in an Oscar for his role in The King and I.

MAN OF STYLE (Vol. 4)
A nod to Yul himself is delivered with the fourth and last album. Foreword by Stefano Tonchi, Man of Style is a remarkable portrait of Yul and his undeniably vivacious spirit. Whether on set or at home, these images illustrate his love of photography, individuality, family, friends, and, quite simply, the art of living.

The books look pretty cool, but they are a bit on the steep side. Amazon is currently selling the set for $120. You can view a handfull of the images on the website, and here’s a video of his daughter being interviewed about the project.

Amazon Link: Yul Brynner: A Photographic Journey