NOTE: This is a “reprint” of my blog post to Kodak’s previous “A Thousand Words” blog.
[Side note: FYI, I only received a handful of responses to my post on “Photo Identity” so far, so there’s not a lot of data to report back on yet. Thanks to all who did reply with such interesting responses! If you want to participate, it’s not too late – check out the original blog post on Photo Identity and leave a comment.]
Maker Faire 2007 is coming to the San Mateo Fairgrounds in California this weekend – May 19-20! What is Maker Faire you ask? Excellent question! The Maker Faire website has an excellent answer:
[Maker Faire is] a two-day, family-friendly event that celebrates arts, crafts, engineering, science projects and the Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mindset. It’s for creative, resourceful folks who like to tinker and love to make things. We call them Makers.
I attended the first Maker Faire last year and it was great fun! I highly recommend it. For those avid photographers and photo DIY’ers interested in some photo Maker fun, there are at least a few photo-related activities that I found on the schedule:
- Kite Aerial Photography: Cris Benton will show how to make your own kite-based aerial photography apparatus at home;
- Stereoscopic 3D Cameras and Displays: if you liked Aprille’s post on 3D pictures the easy way, you should definitely check out this Maker Workbench put on by the Stereo Club of Southern California;
- Realtimelapse Mobile Camera Tower: Derek Lomas will teach how to create an inexpensive, quickly assembled mechanism for capturing real-time, time-lapse aerial footage of crowd movements through public spaces;
- Make Your Own High-Speed Strobe Photos: the folks from Quaketronics will show you how to shoot high-speed photos with a digital camera and a strobe light. Learn how to capture a picture of a balloon bursting in action!
Cris Benton is a longtime photography enthusiast and an Architecture Professor at UC Berkeley. His website on Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) contains a wealth of information on the topic and lots of links and resources. Cris flew his first KAP rig in April 1995 – see the smiling picture of Cris with his first rig here. According to Cris, “Kite aerial photography appeals to that part of me, perhaps of all of us, that would slip our earthly bonds and see the world from new heights.” Cris was kind enough to provide a few of his KAP photos for us to include on the Kodak blog:
From left to right, these photos are of:
Click on the corresponding links to see some great comments and responses for and from Cris for each photo. You can also view more wonderful examples of his KAP photos here. I am definitely inspired, but I’m not sure if I have the kite flying skills to do this myself! I guess it might be time for me to go buy a kite….
Jeff Amaral is the president of the Stereo Club of Southern California and he describes the creation and instant sharing of 3D digital images as follows: “For me, the most exciting part of my stereoscope attachment is the ability to instantly share the work. The excitement it creates for 3D is extraordinary, and the blend between really old and really new technology provides a tangible connection to our 3D history.”
Eric Kurland is the club’s digital projection guru. Eric has successfully hacked drugstore digital point and shoot cameras, joined for stereoscopic 3D video at 640×480. The front and rear views of his setup are shown here:
Want to review your 3D captures? No problem. You can rig your stereoscopic 3D digital cameras with an antique stereoscope for instant viewing of 3D stills and video like this:
There will definitely be plenty to do and see at Maker Faire. Hope to see you there!