The image above is my mother, taken in 1968. A few months ago I sent off a box of slides and negatives to be scanned by Scan Cafe.

These were all personal images of family and friends, that I wanted scanned, archived and backed up. I like the idea of having a copy of my images stored in a couple of different places in case something would happen to them.

It was nice especially for all the old Kodachrome slides that really can’t be viewed without an old projector. Now they can be shared online, or digital frame, or you can even make prints.

The price was great – $0.29 for 35 mm slides and negatives, and a little more for black and white and medium format. You can send prints as well. The quality was pretty good.This is my dad, an image was also taken in 1968.

The process was pretty easy. You start by giving an estimate of how many negatives you have. I had over 1000. You make a payment for 50% of the estimated total.

I like that I did not need to count every negative and could send them in rolls or strips. They scan everything, then later you can eliminate what you don’t want.

Scan Cafe then creates a label you can print and ship your negatives to them in California, then from there, they are sent to India.

Your negatives are scanned, and uploaded to an album where you can sort, and decide what you want to keep and what you want to get rid of. You can also share them on Facebook, which I did not realize when I had signed up – there’s really no mention of it anywhere on the site. Which surprised me a bit because the social sharing part is a great feature.

It was really easy to sort through and view the images. Once you select the images your keeping, they burn them to dvd, and ship it back to you along with all your originals.

The turn around was VERY slow – like months. It took about 2 months to scan, then another 3 weeks from the time I selected the images until I received them back. I wasn’t in a big hurry since these were old images that were just sitting around.

Overall I was happy. I really like that I now have backups of my images and having them electronically. I still have some more slides and negatives to be scanned that I’ll be sending off to be scanned.

Scan Cafe

This past weekend I came across an app for the iphone, 8mm Vintage Camera. It lets you shoot old retro looking video with your iphone. There is a vintage looking viewfinder, where you can adjust settings. It has 5 different lenses and five different film types, You can even add jitters to make it more authentic.

The video was shot with iphone 4. I edited the clip in both imovie and Animoto just to test it. You can also upload directly to YouTube.

Definitely fun and worth checking out. The quality is pretty good and it’s easy to use. 8mm Vintage Camera.

Below is the video test I did. I uploaded it to Vimeo, and to Youtube. Vimeo seems to have a little edge in quality.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

From a post I made on the photo marketing site.

It seems odd, but it’s almost like going out there and letting yourself fall in love everyday. Letting yourself be seduced a little bit everyday. – Scott Schulmann, aka the Sartorialist

The Sartorialist is the photo blog of Scott Schulmann. He walks the streets of New York and shoots street fashion wherever he finds it.

This behind the scenes video has great insight into his daily visual life and how he finds his inspiration. He talks about his approach to photography, and how he was influenced by magazines and photographs growing up.

The Sartorialist gets over 70,000 readers a day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I had posted this a while back on Twitter and Facebook. I come across a lot of things on the web, but this video is by far one of my favorites.

Influencers, is a film that features influential creatives (advertising, design, fashion and entertainment) in New York who are shaping today’s youth culture. It explores how trends and creativity become contagious today in fashion, music and entertainment.

From the directors notes:

INFLUENCERS focuses on what is commonly referred to as “Lifestyle Culture or Influential Young Adults Market” in the areas of music, fashion, and entertainment.

What prompted us to put together this crossover project (film + online experience) was to understand the essence of influence, what makes a person influential without taking a statistical or metric approach.
Obviously, trends are never the product of one individual but rather the result of factors that involve various people…

We therefore set out to meet some of these industry insiders and pioneers 
who, despite working in the background, literally define mainstream culture.

In the background, the documentary also explores an entire ecosystem of DIY (Do It Yourself) minded individuals whose passion is transforming Pop Culture.
Their creations have produced powerful independent media that became the main news source for many readers and creatives entrepreneurs around the world.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I came across a cool site on Facebook, Call to Serve about a group volunteers traveling around the country for summer service projects.

The founders raised money to buy and RV to travel across the country to volunteer in communities across the country.

The site documents their journey with photos, pics and stories to raise awareness and encourage people to participate. The organization has grown quite a bit in less then year.

It’s a great story. Not only is their mission impressive, but how they’ve been able to increase awareness and recruit volunteers with very few resources.

Summer 2010 Intro from The Call to Serve on Vimeo.

Tons of cameras and accessories all for under $100. Lots of cool digital frames.

Picture Perfect Gifts for under $100

Canon 7d Great camera for the serious photographer. The video is incredible

Canon EOS 7D 18 MP Digital SLR Camera Kit

Canon EOS 7D 18 MP (Body Only)

Pocket Camera

Canon PowerShot 10MP

Flip Video – I love my flip video! Great hd quality from a pocket camera. A few friends have told me they really like the Kodak Zi8, but I found the Flip to be more user friendly.

Flip MinoHD Camcorder (Brushed Metal) NEWEST MODEL

Kodak Zi8 HD Pocket Video Camera

Fujifilm – Instant Pictures

Fujiilm Instax MINI 7s White Instant Film Camera

Kindle

Kindle Wireless Reading Device

Digital Photography Books for the serious photographer – both come in the kindle edition

The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers

The Digital Photography Book, Volume 3

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers

Upgrade you software

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2

Beats by Dr Dre

Beats Solo by Dr. Dre

Who shot rock and roll

Who Shot Rock and Roll: A Photographic History, 1955-Present

We’ve also added a mobile site formatted for your iphone, android or blackberry. View images, info and even book a session online right from your phone

We’ve also updated our facebook page

Guess who this is?