Photoshop Cream

This is an interesting fake ad floating around the internet...




Click here to see more from this graphic artist. And we wonder why plastic surgery is becoming so common place....it's because everything we see is fake.

Hidden Pool

This Youtube video shows a very cool new pool idea. I admit I watched it on mute, after hearing the first few seconds and getting annoyed. ha!

Or if you would like to skip the video and just check out the business' website, here it is.

I foresee this preventing pool crashers while you're away!

Happy Holidays from a Miniature World

Speaking of models....put together in around 400 hours by two people. Amazing!

Lost your camera?

This website helps owners find their lost cameras! Finders of the cameras post one or two photos found on the camera in hope that friends, family or even the owner might visit the site and claim the camera.

Reminds me of the underwater Canon found a month or so ago...

Christmas Ideas #5

This Christmas Ideas post is geared more towards Architecture Nerds... but it's pretty awesome. Little models you can buy! It's like studio all over again!

My favorite: Glasgow School of Art.





Finch & Fouracre have their own blog. Check their Christmas models out. Cute!

Beautiful Libraries

Perhaps if all libraries were as beautiful as some of these, people would spend more time in them.




One could only hope.


Click on (my favorite) photo to see 24 more college and university libraries that take the cake.

Christmas Ideas #4

These little pouches are cool little presents for nerdy photography lovers. Very cute.


Click on the zipper pouch to go to the BlueQ website to see more!

And no, no one is asking/paying me to post these Christmas ideas. They're just interesting things I've come across while doing my Christmas shopping!

Christmas Ideas #3

This is super cool and pocket sized! At first glance I just thought it was a thumb drive shaped like a camera.



Very fun. Click on the photo above to view an artsy little video about it, and read up on the Mini USB Camera some more!

Christmas Ideas #2

Think Geek is a very addictive retail website. I end up getting a lot of gifts for all the geeks and nerds on my list (and me!). Here are two photography related items that would make perfect gifts for the photography nerd in your life!

Lego Digital Camera:
3 megapixels but still lots of fun.


Night Vision Camera:

A tad bit more expensive than the Lego camera, and way cooler. Takes photos in complete darkness. Check out the link for the specs.





Ah. I can't visit their site without buying something. Darnitall.

Christmas Ideas #1

For those of you who live in the Bucks or Montgomery Counties, and also like to support small businesses, don't forget about the County Theater and the Ambler Theater! All theaters across the nation have to convert to a digital projector. Small, independent movie theaters are having a tough time with the $100,000 per projector price tag.

Donating in an avid movie theater goers name is a great gift idea! Keep independent movie theaters alive!


Ambler and County Theater's blog is here.

Cell phone apps

With the development of Paper Camera, Retro Camera, FX Camera (just to name a few)... photographs don't really need to have an interesting subject. It seems like the effects of the filters are cool enough that taking a photo of a rock is suddenly an awesome photo. It is sad on one hand, but on the other hand, when you think about old photos in your parents photo albums, what is it that makes them interesting? Is it the dated subject matter? The sepia finish? The square format? Or is it just that it is someone you know?

Some of my favorite photos of people are blurry, dark, and not something you would typically call a good photo.

I'm just rambling here... :)

Spice up your walls

I love this. Love it love it. I feel you could have a lot of fun with this.

Fun, like this:

Vanishing Cities

Interesting... not just abandoned houses (my secret fetish!), but entire abandoned cities! Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy these cities are abandoned, but they make for very interesting photographs and an interesting story.




Very cool photos if you click on the photo above.... or if you Google photos of Hashima Japan. Also, this blog has some great photos. Hashima was featured in Life After People on the History channel.

Photos from a walk!

We found a friend on our walk....

Random fun photos

Had some fun taking some random photos the other day... thought I'd share one.

Sad day for CNN photographers

I understand that people with their cell phone cameras are everywhere, and professional photographers have to (usually) be sent out to a job, and therefore could miss critical news... but if they're not paying these iphotographers or whatever CNN calls them, then that's really not fair to anyone but themselves.

http://www.petapixel.com/2011/11/29/cnn-lays-off-photojournalists-citing-the-accessibility-of-quality-cameras/

Also, no offense to the average person, but I would think you could trust a staff photographer to do their job, instead of an average person who may stage something just to get on tv. I would hope this kind of situation would be rare, but you really have to wonder about that now a days...

I would like to hear your own comments on this.

Philadelphia Housing Auction

For those of you who live in the Philadelphia area and looking for a house:



Click on the image above to check out 100 properties for auction. Auction date is December 7th.

Chapman Gallery Ad

Remember to shop at small businesses this holiday!

More cool lighting

Check these lamps out from SDWorks! Everything on the site is designed by students at the School of Design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

The lamps are called Living Pixels. They do remind me of a video game...

Julius Shulman <3

I was a lucky birthday girl this year! Three Julius Shulman books! I am in heaven....

More Photos from Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA

Even Life Makes Mistakes

Life Magazine admits that not all of their covers are the best...

Here is a link to their 20 worst covers. Some are just kind of crappy, and some are slightly horrifying.




It makes you feel better to know that a huge well known company like Life would admit they have faults!

Space Kick

Since we're on a space kick here, check out these photos of the Spaceport in New Mexico. This photo below is almost alien looking. I love it.



See the website here, where you can see MANY construction photos.

Earth

If you haven't seen this yet, you need to check this out. It's a time lapse view of Earth from the International Space Station.

http://vimeo.com/32001208


Absolutely beautiful.

Photowalk

Every year in October, for one entire weekend, Scott Kelby (publisher of Photoshop magazine), hosts a Photowalk which is located all over the world. Photographers get together in their nearby city, wander around for the day and just take photos. Choice photos can then be submitted and a winning photo is chosen. The photos are amazing.

Although this isn't the winner, this is my favorite from this year's top picks.

Regina, SK Canada (Wascana Centre) By Kristin MacPherson

Fractals you can eat

My mom belongs to a CSA, where she gets an abundance of vegetables she tries to push off on me. I was sent home with this thing... that the woman at the CSA claimed to be broccoli.




I don't know what it is, but I had fun taking photos of it. After the little veggie's photo shoot was over I gave it to a co-worker. :)

Half portrait, half profile?

These are very odd photos... you have to check them out because I'm not sure how I could even explain them while doing justice. Plus they're very interesting to view.

NYC Expo Findings #1

Professional Women Photographers
Based out of NYC, this group of around 200 women photographers support, promote and learn from each other. There are different levels of membership, and for those of you who live more than 150 miles from NYC have a discounted membership. Meetings are once a month and you get access to workshops and studio tours, among other things.

Society for Photographic Education
Explained best by their website: "The Society for Photographic Education is a nonprofit membership organization that provides a forum for the discussion of photography and related media as a means of creative expression and cultural insight." It also seems like it is geared towards educators.

Pixiq: Voice Your Vision
This seems to be a cool website to check back on. Everything from reviews, to galleries, to How-To's, to many other things that will keep you occupied for a while. Worth bookmarking.

International Center of Photography
They have events, classes, book signings with photographers....Also a museum and shop, very dangerous! I bought several things while I was up there for the expo. Somehow I have made it to the shop twice, but haven't had time to visit the museum. Perhaps my next visit.

Trip Back In Time #2

Taken at my great grandmother's house. Unedited, as is.

Random Rooster

I was flipping through Architectural Digest when I came upon this ad.



After I stopped my hysterical laughter, I showed my roommate and joked around about how I bet they have a half naked Latino woman in an ad.

I wandered the internet and found this on their website.




I was close.


Anyway, as hilarious as their ads are, they have some fantastic woodwork.





Ps. The ad with the Latino man now resides in a frame along with my wall of family photos.

Sneaky Jungle

My apartment is slowly turning into a jungle. Every time I stop at the farmer's market or grocery store I have to convince myself to not bring home a new plant. I'm not sure why I am obsessed with our leafy little friends, and I'm sure my roommate has been wondering the same thing.

This little beauty works perfectly for others who want to sneak more plants into their homes.



Check out this website to see more of their work.

Burgers and failing internet

Stinkin' internet was out again so I'm behind on my every-other-morning blogs. More photos and posts to come I promise! Also I picked up a TON of stuff at the expo in NYC on Friday, so I think I'm just going to have one big post with some worth while companies I checked out.

This is the only photo I took on my phone in NYC, tasty burgers with friends!

Field Trip!

Heading to the PDN PhotoPlus International Conference and Expo in NYC! Super psyched! Photos to be posted later!

Steve Jobs

It's always interesting to hear about other people's photo shoots, especially shoots with celebrities. Having other photographers admit they had a difficult shoot makes the rest of us feel better. :)

This article tells of one photographer's encounter with Steve Jobs.

I will be on the search for other photo shoot adventures and stories! Please post any you find in the comment section. :)

Pin-up... Boys?

Ha! I love this.



Click to see the entire collection.

Born in the wrong era.

I am completely in love...



...with this mirror.

It's design is slightly over used, but I don't care. I love it, and this guy has a ton of variations.




Seriously, how cool is this???

Having a creepy time at Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA

Thanks to Dan's Camera City, I was able to wander around Eastern State Penitentiary for about 7 hours on Saturday, enjoying the weather and the beautiful sights.

Eastern State Penitentiary is like a dream come true for me: it's an abandoned building that I can wander around in without
1) getting caught by someone who takes "All Trespassers Will Be Shot" seriously
2) getting attacked by a crazed animal
3) fall through the floor or have things fall on me
4) spiders touching me




I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I ducked in from one cell to the next, taking over 900 photos and getting rope burn from my tripod bag, camera bag and camera strap.




I posted a few photos here, but I'm hoping to post a few more on this blog over the next few weeks, and on my Facebook page.




Just a friendly reminder that all photos are property of Valerie Walter Photography and if you steal them I will come after you. :)

Julius Shulman

I just finished watching a documentary on the greatest architectural photographer to date. Julius Shulman's photos filled every architecture text book we had in college, although at the time I did not know who the photographer was, nor did I realize it was mostly the same photographer.

He was an amazing man, and the documentary is something all architects and architectural photographers should watch. A friend of mine who is an artist actually brought it to my attention, and even he enjoyed the film.

This is one of the many famous photos taken by Shulman.

Recreating famous photographs....

...with Lego people. This is amazing on so many levels.

Original Photograph by Philippe Halsman

Dalí Atomicus

Lego recreation by Mike Stimpson

Another famous photograph

Original Photograph by Steve McCurry

Afghan Girl

Lego recreation by Mike Stimpson

Click here to see the full collection.

Globes

I had a heck of a time navigating this website, as I don't speak the language, but it didn't stop me from clicking and viewing some amazing lamps and chandeliers.


This happens to be one of my favorites.