Through Open Eyes

A great piece of work that marries photography/art, engineering, and social impact.

Once Bigshot is put together, it functions like any other digital camera — even better than many, in that it features multiple lenses situated on a wheel. The wheel rotates to produce not only a standard perspective but also panoramic views via a wide-angle lens, and 3D images via a stereo lens. The website teaches photographic techniques, from traditional rules of composition (dividing the image field into thirds) to stitching together multiple pictures into David Hockneyesque collages. Energy produced by turning the hand crank powers the camera when its battery runs out of charge, and Bigshot’s single-LED flash can be used to each semiconductor technology.

Nayar has field-tested prototypes in New York, Bangalore and Vung Tau City, Vietnam, leading day-long workshops in which children build cameras in the morning, learn about photography techniques in the afternoon and present their images in the evening. (He is currently testing Bigshot in Japan and is planning forays into the Middle East and Africa.) Soon, he hopes, more of these exchanges will occur virtually, by way of his website. “Bringing down walls, visually transporting yourself to see how your eight-year-old peer in Israel, the West Bank or Africa lives,” he said. “That has great value.”

It's simply beautiful in all respects, by making an impact on young lives through hands-on education and exploration.

“Guangzhou Supports You!” is a new crowdsourced, hyper-local online photography activity in Guangzhou, China. The original premise of the activity was to recruit Guangzhou residents who support Chen Yang, a popular outspoken Guangzhou CCTV news anchor who was not afraid to say what was on his mind even if on live Chinese television – he swiftly lost his job. However, the activity has since evolved into a collective community-wide expression of love and affection toward the city. “Guangzhou Supports You!” is getting attention and praise from just about everyone in China, but especially from Chinese netizens who are very actively supporting it on their blogs, in discussion forums, and on local social networking sites.

“Guangzhou Supports You!” works like this: the organizers supply a “Guangzhou Supports You!” graphic via download from the official website. This graphic is the centerpiece of the entire activity. Participants simply need to choose their favorite place in Guangzhou – any corner, alley, place, space, etc. will do – take a photo with the graphic appearing somewhere in the resulting photograph, and then upload the photograph to the “Guangzhou Supports You!” website where it’s aggregated with other participants’ submissions and shared with everyone.

“ Nothing happens when you sit at home. I always make it a point to carry a camera with me at all times…I just shoot at what interests me at that moment. – Elliott Erwitt

Fun!!
from Henry Hadlow

Such a great way of re-use.. not to mention the lovely graphics from camera lense :)

Interesting thoughts and getting close for portrait shots. It's about the entire process and experience, not just the end photographic result :)