Photograph by Erin Nicole
Welcome to October!
Here’s hoping this month finds you with joy, family, friends, fiends, ghouls, and ghosts!
Today is also the start of the Shattered Les’s annual horrorthon! Sit back, enjoy the reviews, the art, and the music videos, and have a great month of ghoulish fun!
Photograph by Erin Nicole
Have a safe and wonderful Halloween month!
14 pictures of America, taken by me over the past 8 years:
Happy Independence Day!
Seventy-three years ago today, when the first wave of American troops stormed Omaha Beach during the Allied invasion of Normandy, photo journalist Robert Capa was with them. Capa took 106 pictures on D-Day but, because of an accident at a London photo lab, all but eleven of them were destroyed.
The eleven that survived, nicknamed the Magnificent Eleven, are a portrait of bravery and a tribute to the men who, on that morning, risked (and, in many cases, sacrificed) their lives to help defeat Hitler’s war machine. By the end of D-Day, 4,014 Allied troops were confirmed to have been killed in action.
Robert Capa survived D-Day. Though he initially swore that he would never cover another war, Capa accepted an assignment in 1954 to travel to Southeast Asia and cover the First Indochina War. It was there that Capa was killed when he stepped on a land mine. He was 40 years old.
Tomorrow, Erin will be back and running this feature so I’m going to share one final image.
I’m not sure who took the picture above. A lot of sites incorrectly credit Otto Bettmann. I nearly made the mistake of crediting old Otto myself. However, Otto was not a photographer. Otto was an archivist and the picture above was a part of his collection. But regardless of who took the picture, it’s an iconic image.
Two more things to say:
First off, I have to say thank you to Erin for trusting me with Artwork of the Day. When I first told her that I’d be willing to fill in for her while she spent this week cataloging our mom’s doll collection, I’m sure that there was a part of her that worried I’d use it as an excuse to spend the whole week posting Degrassi screenshots. I’ve seen firsthand the amount of time and thought that Erin puts into finding and selecting each day’s image. But she took a chance on me and I had a lot of fun doing it!
Secondly, from me and everyone else here at the Shattered Lens: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ARLEIGH!
I was on vacation all last week and I devoted most of that time to my greatest passion, photography! While I was studying the history of photography, I came across the oldest surviving photograph of a real-world scene. This was taken by Nicéphore Niépce, the French inventor who is usually credited as being the father of photography. View from the Window at Le Gras was taken in either 1826 or 1827, from the window of his country estate.
Here it is:
That might not look like much but here’s the enhanced version:
If the image looks strange, that’s because it was done with at least an 8 hour exposure, meaning that the sun moved across the sky while the picture was being taken. (Some historians think that the picture was actually taken over the course of several days.) This is what most photographic historians think the view actually looked like:
Finally, take a look at the picture below.
It’s called Boulevard du Temple and it was taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838. Do you see the two men in the lower corner of the picture? It’s believed that one man is polishing the boots of another.
It’s believed that, even if it was by accident, this is the earliest known photograph to include people!
From these humble beginnings, came everything.
Just in case you need some help getting into the 4th of July mood.
911 American Flag by Alaz Mal
All The Colors of the Day by Erin Nicole
By Andrea Ward
By David Sanger
by Frank Conlon
By Randy Olson
By Stephen Sheffield
Flag by Erin Nicole
Things Are Looking Up by Jackson Carson
With the 4th of July approaching, consider life in rural America with these 10 photographs!
Hawaii — Erin Nicole
Hawaii — Erin Nicole
Idaho — Doug Fredericks
Montana — Todd Klassy
Oklahoma — Erin Nicole
Pennsylvania — Matt McClean
South Carolina — Artist Unknown
Texas — Erin Nicole
Texas — Kate Bazin
Texas — Michael Lloyd
Imagine a place where you can see all of your favorite comic book heroes and heroines, argue over whether organic web shooters are better than classic ones, and witness creativity on so many different levels. The New York Comic Con was a 4 day spectacle of pop culture madness mixed with tons of cosplay. I only picked up a ticket for Saturday, but I really have to one day shoot for a 3 or 4 day pass next year.
I think I may have made 4 passes through the interior and exterior areas of the hall, and for every pass there was something new to catch your eye. There was a Transformers booth with some of the classic toys that was a treat. Kotobukiya was on hand with someone their great pieces. The Psylocke one in particular was really sweet. Also on hand were various fantasy sword manufacturers, somewhat surprising in New York given how much security we have here. Clothing, toys, books, drawings. You name it and chances are that you’d run into someone creating a print – like Destiny Blue’s beautiful art.
I was basically there for to use my camera, which didn’t really work out the way I planned. Between the bustle of the crowds (which was immense) and also trying to snap pics with my phone…they kind of came out a bit blurry. I made the mistake of adjusting the shutter speed to get the exposure right, meaning that in some cases the speed was so low that the slightest nudge or shift would blur the image. The next Con will be better, apologies all around.
I met cosplayer VampyBit.me (Linda Le) at her booth, picking up a Nightwing print which she autographed for me. She is so tiny and cute! Somehow in the course of being there, I missed out on seeing Ivy Doomkitty. She happened to be located just off of the Marvel booth. Speaking off the Marvel Booth, Chris Clairemont was on hand, signing pictures and comics. Additionally, Coulson’s car from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was also there, though of course no one was able to touch it.
So, without further ado, I give you my picture set for the NYCC 2013. These are some of the better ones. The full set is visible on my shared Flikr Page. Enjoy.
Through the Shattered Lens 