This is a fantastic track by Almeeva entitled “Strobe”, from their 2nd EP named EP2. Swirly helicopter effects laden guitars and driving minimalist beats……perfect music for a mobile spy. Sharp video as well.
more info HERE
Category Archives: photography
Sandy vs. Taxi.
I spotted this last week while walking around Brooklyn. A gentleman who walked by told me they had just removed a tree off this taxi as a consequence of Hurricane Sandy a couple of weeks ago. Brutal.
joining the stable: Leica M5.
As you may have noticed, i’ve become quite enamored with photography these days. Here is my latest purchase, a like-new, mint condition Leica M5. To me, this is THE coolest Leica M camera ever made (along with the M Monochrome….dream on!)….i’d been wanting one for a while—-and now I have a shiny, perfect example of one purchased as NM/new old stock! Still working on the first roll of B&W film.
It’s a strange feeling taking photos and not previewing them digitally on the screen instantly; BUT it makes for a really great partner to the wonderful M8.1 I have been using these days. Digital and film; the best of both worlds! I am very happy with this combination.
I also have a Chiyoda Kogoku Super Rokkor 50mm F1.8 LTM lens on order, which will be then going onto the camera. For now, I have the CV 35mm F1.4 mounted…..temporarily.
Let creativity flow!
Leica M8.1 & M5:
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been a pretty shitty and a pretty busy week! Yet still, I am a spy of the world
Leica M8.1 + 40mm Summicron
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me and my trusty M8 .1 + Summicron 40mm
(below with new 39mm Leitz Orange filter, which i’m sort of in love with at the moment. Bought it for B&W photos, but am starting to use it for orange tint)
BeoSmart phone concept.
Well here’s an idea by designer Hugo Andre Costa Fernandes Vieira which incorporates a Bang & Olufsen stereo system, Leica 12 mp CMOS digital camera, Gold headphone jack (?), and a 3.5 inch OLED display mated to an Android OS to create what is known as the ‘BeoSmart‘ concept mobile phone.
Well it’s not a real phone, yet…and while i’m not generally a big mobile phone enthusiast, i do use my iPhone quite a bit and it is arguably the most important and useful device I use on a daily basis. I have been daydreaming of a really kickass camera mated to iOS for a while (although the iPhone camera is no slouch really)—-however a Leica mobile phone camera? My wallet is ready for action.
I doubt this will ever get made…as Leica doesn’t strike me as a company that interested in stepping down to mobile phones. That being said, i can see them putting their name on a mobile phone camera lens like they do with some of the entry-level Panasonic point-and-shoot cameras.
src: yankoDesign
Leica ABCDE (1970) and Leica S1 (1996) prototypes.
Well here are 2 very strange prototype cameras.
The Leica ABCDE looks like a GREAT SLR design from 1970 (albeit with possibly the worst name ever for a camera…lol). Why didn’t they use it? I haven’t the slightest clue. Not much is known about this concept, however it was seen on a Leica Factory Tour in 2009 by DPReview.com (the link to their tour, unfortunately, does not work—however the pictures are found in search).
The Leica S1 (below) from 1996 has to be one of the least useable camera designs ever! I cannot even imagine focusing while holding a gigantic ring—-or maybe it’s genius!? Who knows….all we know is that it seems to have cool digital buttons on the top. The colour is right as well. It may make for a nice steering wheel though.
self-projection.
This is so wicked. The future of presence.
Experiments into the Kinect for live 3D capture and overlay projection. Coded by Sarat Babu and Stefan Dzisieswki-Smith.
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This past week, i bought a new 40mm Summicron F2 for my Leica M8.1 (M8u) and man do i love it. It is considered one of the finest kept secrets in the Leica world, and they are totally right. The 40mm Summicron is one of the sharpest and most well balanced lenses, and it really makes the 35mm Voigtlander Nokton F1.4 feel more primitive and just not as nice to use. Everyone with an M-mount camera needs this lens. It does have a tendency to flare when pointed directly at sunlight, however most Summicrons and Summiluxes have similar tendencies. All in all, a wonderfully compact and tight lens which is excellent to use. Highly recommended!
Here are some of my favourite photos i’ve taken over the past week, taken with the new 40mm Summicron F2:
photomanipulation….before photoshop.
I’m not a fan of Photoshop for photo modification, as i find it cumbersome and overused by people. That being said…there is something more primitively charming about photomanipulation BEFORE the advent of computer software aids. Does it make it any more acceptable? No, not really! But they are interesting to look at. Somewhere in the future…some kid is going to read (absorb?) an article like this about Photoshop and say “oh how primitive they were back then!”
src: the excellent brainpickings via the book “Faking It”
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all photos taken by Syed IEDEI
(Leica M8.1, CV 35mm f1.4 Nokton)
Mindrelic vs. Manhattan.
I really enjoyed these 2 time lapsed videos done by Mindrelic. The fact that he actually chose interesting music makes it even better. Beautiful! I never get tired of NYC.
Vivian Maier.
I only recently discovered the story and the photographs of Vivian Maier—-and both (the story and the photographs) are fascinating!
“An American of French and Austro-Hungarian extraction, Vivian bounced between Europe and the United States before coming back to New York City in 1951. Having picked up photography just two years earlier, she would comb the streets of the Big Apple refining her artistic craft. By 1956 Vivian left the East Coast for Chicago, where she’d spend most of the rest of her life working as a caregiver. In her leisure Vivian would shoot photos that she zealously hid from the eyes of others. Taking snapshots into the late 1990′s, Maier would leave behind a body of work comprising over 100,000 negatives.”
the story of how these photos and the intriguing person behind them were discovered:
more information here: Vivian Maier
book: Leica “Witness To A Century” (2012)
I ordered this book a while ago on pre-order, and it arrived this week. $22 from Amazon. An amazing and beautiful book for a very low price. Hardcover, by Alessandro Pasi (2012). Highly recommended beautiful short history of Leica with full page spread profiles of every significant camera produced in their illustrious history. This book does not read like a publicity book—-instead it is full of beautiful and iconic photography throughout their history. This is the 3rd edition of this book, revised to include the digital range through the recent M-Monochrom.
Yes I am a Leica fanboy these days and it is driven by my love of creating fotos. And there’s nothing you can do to stop me!
Being inspired to create is so much nicer than obsessing to appreciate.
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my week in photos through my eyes.
all photos by Syed IEDEI using a Leica M8.1
Character: Recycling Typography.
Take old letters from neon signs, swap them for LEDs and place in nice, dark, mysterious locations. That’s what Aleksi Hautamäki has done with this Character series.
I am obsessed with fonts…and in another world, in another time, I would have devoted my life to finding the perfect font. However, in this one I am relegated to simple appreciation.
if you follow the link at the bottom, you can buy one of these light filled giant letters starting at 200 euros.
more info: character.fi
streetfoto of the day.
i’m really loving grinding my creative teeth on my M8. “Hip shooting” is my latest interest….pre-focusing the lens, with delayed shutter reload…..and then creating the distance i need. There’s nothing quite as interesting as walking around seeing the wicked charms of New York City….with a camera in hand. I used to think nothing was better than driving around NYC, but now i’ve found something even more interesting.
I usually shoot in B&W, but the colours in this photo were too beautiful so I had switched to colour for it.
New York City, Leica M8.1 with Voigtlander 35mm f1.4
minimalist fotos.
I always have time and space for minimalism….especially when it is as beautiful as these photos are.
see more here
foto of the day.
Who is the greatest photographer of all time? I’m certain I will hear many people say Henri Cartier-Bresson. I haven’t finalized my answer yet, however I can certainly see why.
1944, Spain
src: reel foto
burnout.
it does sort of feel like this sometimes doesn’t it?
lovely series of photos by Romain Laurent
see a short video on Behance
IEDEI 