Pictures of some excellent packaging and commercial design.

Some cool photos of snow under a microscope.

You’ll remember my post from a while back regarding photographer harassment of yours truly by a law-man in San Antonio.  Well, this happened to a guy today and I find it totally ridiculous on so many levels.  Also, I love their choice of language – “we have the authority to ask them to remove the picture.”  Yes, and the photographer has the authority to tell you to fuck yourself.

One of my favorite fashion models, Angela Lindvall, shot for Purple quite tastefully au naturale by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin.  Over at Egotastic.

I found this sorta interesting.  Expensive, yes, but if they’ll upgrade you forever, hmm…

Psychedelic Santa, Raptured.

Me babbling in an Iowa newspaper (far prouder than my “top tier” babbling, which has gotten me into much more trouble) – and the Clinton camp desperately jumping on Obama for same.

And, some morsels of eye candy:

[Chuck Anderson]

[A Pythagoras Tree]

I am fascinated by abandoned places – wish I could photograph them more frequently.  By “abandoned places” I mean buildings, offices, homes, anything that once was busy and is now dead, especially if it sits (relatively) as it was.  A number of years ago I wandered through an old abandoned medical facility in Maine and saw calendars, pens, notes, coffee cups, etc.. something about that feels neat to me – as if you’re looking directly into the past.

On that note, check out Haiko Hebig’s stuff.

Spoke a little too soon. I was getting ready for bed when I heard a strange noise – sounded sort of like the dryer was on or something. I looked outside and saw a large conflagration a couple blocks away. I could see towers of flame well above the houses between us. I grabbed my camera (wrong lens for the occasion, but I was in a hurry) and jumped on my bike to get a closer look. I found a patch of brush, palm trees, and a garage or small home totally involved. Power lines and a transformer fuzzed and sparked and fell to the ground. The fire was high and hot and it moved quickly. I shot these pictures. I was worried the fire would spread quickly because the palm trees – some probably fifty feet high – were fully engulfed and spraying embers all over the area. A man jumped from the flames. A couple concerned residents were out with their garden hoses, doing what they could. The fire department was on scene within a few minutes and brought it under control very quickly. Thanks, dudes.

Digital Photography Review has early, thoughtful looks at the D3 and D300.  Earthbound Light, too.  The D3, which looks awesome, feels a bit out of my budget.  As I find myself doing more fashion photography, though, I’m going to have to up that budget, I think…  more need for texture, color, detail, and so on.  The D300 would be extremely tempting if it was full-frame.  For now, I’ll be sticking with my D200.. but I think a D3 or D300 is in the near future.