This Sunday the Chicago Photobloggers will be having our (late) July meetup. Meet up at MoJoe's in the Roscoe Village, and we'll take it from there.

Sunday, July 31st
1:00PM CST
Mojoe's Cafe
2256 W. Roscoe Street, Chicago IL

If you are able to come, please leave a comment on this entry so that we know who to expect.

And please come check out our redesign.

The incident described by Thomas Hawk has snowballed. There is now a photo contest and a protest organised.

And you can also upload your pictures on Flickr.

She Broke My Heart So I Broke Her Face

Ok, so the title of this Swedish photoblog is not the most appealing and I can't understand the context, but the images Sannah posts are beautiful and quite unique.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

Photoblogs.org profile

Found via beta.photoblogs.org bookmarks

pdnonline's David Walker writes about how bystander journalism, found particularly in picture sharing services such as Flickr and in photoblogs, has made it easier for news organizations to find remarkable photographs taken by amateur photographers of breaking news events, such as the recent London bombings.

So I've been hassled and harassed many time in the past for shooting
photographs in privately owned public spaces (Starbucks, PF Chaings,
Toys 'R Us, the new burger spot on Sacramento St. at Drumm, Tosca,
Grand Central Terminal in New York, etc.) but yesterday was the first
time I've actually been harassed on a public street over photography.

Yesterday
I was shooting some photos of One Bush St. (the building where Bush and
Market Streets intersect in San Francisco) when their security guard came out of his
little glass jewelbox lobby hut to ask me to stop taking photos of the
building. He said it was illegal. I moved to the sidwalk and continued
taking photos and he again asked me to stop. When I told him I was on a
public street sidewalk he said that actually they owned the sidewalk
and that I was going to have to stop taking photographs.

At this
point I told the little guy to call the police and have me arrested
which he said he did. He then proceeded to follow me around the
building, from Bush St. to Battery St. to Market St. to Sansome St. and
try to physically put his hand in front of the lens of my camera as I
shot the building. Fortunately I was taller than he was so I was able
to hold the camera out of his range. It was kind of comedic actually.

Although
I've been harassed many, many times for taking photos (the camera goes
with me virtually everywhere) this was the first time I was accosted by
a security guard on a public sidewalk.

I was looking forward to
the interchange between myself the security guard and a cop (who I
doubt he could really get to show up even though he kept insisting they
were coming to arrest me) but I had to get going and was done shooting
the building. So after about 10 minutes I was on my way.

I'd
encourage anyone with a camera to stop by One Bush if you're in the
neighborhood and fire off a few more shots to annoy this guy.

I know I'll be back.

Be sure to send your Fairs, Festivals and Fireworks  photos to
snaps magazine this month- deadline is July 31.  Also check out the this
issue and past! I got a lot of great photos.  Thanks to everyone who
submitted photos and spread the word about snaps. www.snapsmagazine.com
or email to snapsmagazine@gmail.com

Heads up on next months -August theme, It's

Loved Ones- your family, your pets, your friends

Check out www.waytoblue.org ( profile ). Big images, oh yeah. I've been visiting Stephen's site for a while now, and I think others have too, but figured it deserved a spotlight anyway. Move your face close to your monitor, let the edges fall away, and bask in the beauty.

Some of my faves:

Cheers
Nick

Apologies to anyone who's seen this before (and especially to those who've been shooting with one of these for the past 30 years), but this is new to me: The Dirkon Paper Pinhole Camera, developed in Czechoslovakia in the 1970s. The page includes plans and instructions for making your own. I haven't tried this yet, because I'm not sure I've got the patience, but I'd be interested to see the results if some of you lot pull it off. So get cutting and glueing!

If you're in Philadelphia this Saturday, July 30, join our growing group for a meetup and street shoot at Philadelphia's Italian Market.

We'll meet at Anthony's Italian Coffee House (9th & Christian Sts) at 8am for some wake-up brew and stimulating conversation, then take to the streets and vendor stands to capture the wares and stares of Philly's best open-air market. For lunch, we'll hit Pat's or Geno's for a genuine Philly steak.

Fifteen photobloggers have already confirmed, with several more still to reply. If you can make it, e-mail me offlist at alec [at] aleclong dot com.

Hope to see you there.

A good article that proves that you don't need a DSLR to take accomplished photographs; article on magnum photographer Alex Majoli and his use of P&S digicams: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-6468-7844

"It would seem reasonable to guess that all that award-winning work in remote and frequently dangerous places must have been shot with big, fast, bulletproof pro SLR cameras. But in fact, Majoli shot every frame with Olympus C-5050 digital point-and-shoots -- the same camera your snap happy Uncle Maury takes to Disney World."

Your camera doesn't matter - it's how you use it that counts.