Around the Web, Briefly

Courtesy Meagan Abell

Who is that? "Woman" as an archetype has a very powerful hold on human beings' imaginations—for all people, perhaps especially men. We did a post about this in 2007. Stephen Edgar, in Ireland, was trying to find out more about an unidentified woman in some old slides.

Now, another Mystery Woman has surfaced. Who is she? Everyone seems to want to know. Meagan Abell found the 120 negatives in...well, what else, a thrift store, and is asking people to use the hashtag #FindTheGirlOnTheNegatives on Twitter to share information.

The mystery woman is more an idea, isn't she?

Although it's curious that, after reading Don Craig's link about The Life of Frederick Jury on Sunday, and following up on Alan Hill's recommendation of Herodotus, I learned that the Greek word "historia" (ἱστορία) literally means "inquiry," or "knowledge acquired by investigation." Maybe trying to find out about the mystery woman is just how history is done.

Ilford sold: "Harman technology, manufacturers of the famous Ilford Photo range of monochrome photographic products, have been purchased by Pemberstone Ventures Ltd. for an undisclosed amount." (From the press release.)

Peter Elton, Managing Director of Harman, said "Film has become an interesting medium for young photographers to work with again.We are seeing this very clearly. Our new owners will assist us to connect more effectively to this younger generation in the future, and we will prioritise this as our main goal over the next five years."

It never does to parse press releases too closely, so take my advice, don't think about that paragraph very hard.

Most expensive Pentax camera case: Ned Bunnell is selling a Pentax K-01 case for $99, only a third of what it cost new, and he discusses it on Facebook. It costs as much as some Pentax cameras because it was designed by Marc Newson, who also designed the K-01, one of the few future collectibles among digital cameras. Newson now works for Apple. See Annie Leibovitz's fine portrait of Newson with Jony Ive here.

Wasted ink: Ars Technica has published some findings. What they've found is that when their 9900 says an ink cartridge is "empty," it's still pretty full...namely, that a 700ml cart stops printing when it still has 100 to 150ml left. That's awkward when you're being charged more than $120 per liter for the stuff.

The change has just begun: Hold on to your hats, folks, it's starting already at National Geographic, previously one of the world's leading voices of environmentalism.

Allow Photos NEIN: "Camera Restricta is a speculative design of a new kind of camera. It locates itself via GPS and searches online for photos that have been geotagged nearby. If the camera decides that too many photos have been taken at your location, it retracts the shutter and blocks the viewfinder. You can't take any more pictures here."

Tell me
Seen anything interesting on the Web lately? Tell us about it.

Mike
(Thanks to Eric Kellerman, Roger Bradbury, Ned Bunnell, John Camp, Doug Thacker, and psu)

Ctein adds, re the printer ink: I have officially spent way too much time thinking about this ink business.

First thought: where have these guys been for the last 10–15 years? Unused ink left in cartridges? That was news around, oh, 2000. Not so much, since.

Second thought: but, wait, Epson fixed that in later printers. It was common in earlier printers like the 2200/2400, because engineering couldn't monitor ink consumption really accurately, and they didn't want the cartridges to run dry—potential for trouble like air bubbles in the system and dry heads overheating when they fired. Later models suck every bit of ink out, like my 3880. I've checked. So I'd have expected a 9900 to do the same; it's an even a later generation. (I am not certain about my 9800: I think I've cracked an empty cartridge and it really was empty, but it was long enough ago I don't entirely trust my memory.)

Third thought: this is backwards thinking. Ink isn't sold in standardized defined units like quarts of milk. Every model of printer uses a different cartridge size. Customers have no expectations whatsoever. So there's no percentage for Epson in selling 700 ml cartridges that withhold 20% of the ink instead of selling 550 ml cartridges that use all their ink. Customers would pay exactly the same price for a 550 ml cartridge, because the price is entirely arbitrary (it's still relatively cheap per milliliter, compared to smaller printers and smaller cartridges). Epson would just be throwing money away on additional ink and larger cartridges unless there were good reasons for this.

So it's gotta be an engineering thing. I just don't know what.

But the whole notion that customers are somehow getting “cheated” out of 20% of their ink? That's just silly.

Mike replies: I think it's at least a truth in labeling issue. If you buy a box of cereal and it settles so it looks like the box is half full, they'll explain that to you by saying there's still 13 oz. of cereal in the box (or whatever) like the label says. Even if Epson still charges you the same amount of money for it, the label should say 550 ml if that's all that's available and usable.

Dishonesty in marketing and labeling is a pretty slippery slope, and a pretty difficult thing to excuse, in my opinion. The whole issue of "forced wastage" is a dirty little secret of many kinds of marketing (even if it's not happening in Epson's case). A lot of pretty smart people spend a lot of time and money figuring out how they can get us to waste what we buy.

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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Comments

[paul in Az]

The BBC article on this photo is cropped to a 35mm [4x6 snapshot] format.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-33729714

To my eye the crop ruins the sense of spaciousness and composition of the original.

Why are people so afraid of square photos? Or alternatively, why are they so rigidly committed to a 3:2 35mm format?

[Manuel]

Starting with the end, but bridging it with the mystery woman's picture, I discovered the body of work of a very promising boy named Alex Currie on Flickr:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/alexcurrie
Some of his pictures have a moody feel to them that I find somewhat similar to the picture of the mystery woman. There is the same dreamy feel, those quiet colours adding to the mood. I can't help noticing, however, that these teen photographers of now are quite narcissistic, seeming to love to be the subject of their own pictures. (Ellar Coltrane, the actor who plays the role of Mason Evans Jr. in 'Boyhood', does the same.) I'm not sure what this means, but I don't really mind it as long as it's done properly.
Not quite sure what to make of the news of Ilford's purchase. Ilford have been under the Harman group for ages and survived the transition to digital. Let's hope Pemberstone Ventures allows them to keep championing analogue photography. Having been photographing almost exclusively with Ilford FP4 for the last year or so, I hope they can keep the promise stated in the press release. Ilford film is quite expensive (though its quality justifies it), so making it accessible for young people would be great. If those youngsters can afford proper film rolls instead of expired film - another unexplainable trend -, that's very good news indeed.

[John Camp]

The photo of the woman looks synthetic to me, almost like a photo of a painting (except that the bottom of her dress is wet.) But given the fact that it's on film, you wonder how they held the clouds and the detail on the rocks.

[Mark Hobson]

ahhh - the color characteristics of 50-60s color negative films makes me pine for the good ol' days

re: interesting on the web - http://www.wired.com/2015/09/camera-wont-let-take-photo-everyone-else/

[Kenneth Tanaka]

"Seen anything interesting on the Web lately?"

Yes, in fact. At OpenCulture.com.

Watch 1915 Video of Monet, Renoir & Rodin Creating Art, and Edgar Degas Taking a Stroll

I’ve seen the Rodin and Renoir films but never the short Degas or Monet. The icons of art are like the faces on Mt. Rushmore until you see them in such motion picture films. Then they descend from the mountain to become mortals who breathed and had pulses and probably had bad breath (and other mortal maladies).

[David L.]

Here's one about Hollywood style portraits:
http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/aline-smithsons-homemade-hollywood-portraits

and one about contact sheets:
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/sep/02/contact-sheets-magnum-photography-magic-chaos

[adamct]

That National Geographic link...just...wow...

I am literally stunned.

[Kenneth Wajda]

Here's a good mystery and the search for answers, from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/magazine/shadows-in-sao-paulo.html

[Lynn]

The picture of the girl in the water reminds me of Christina (1913) by Colonel Mervyn O'Gorman. An enduring theme.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/theatre/2015-07/july22/viewfinder/mervyn-o-gorman-1-large.jpg

[Robert Harshman]

Given the numbers of photos being taken today, every day, in 5-10 years this camera will not be able to take any photos :)

[hugh crawford]

It seems like people have already figured out the location as Mahattan beach in LA,

I don't know why, but it looks like a professional photographer's snaps after a day of shooting - family friend of Peter Gowland perhaps?

[Paul Ewins]

To put the K-01 case into perspective, an example of Marc Newson's signature piece, the Lockheed Lounge, sold at auction in April for 2.4 million pounds (around 4 million dollars) which is the highest ever price for a piece of furniture from a living designer. If you love high end design but have a modest budget that might represent a good choice.

[Steve P.]

To me, knowing the identity of the woman in the photograph diminishes it's impact. At heart it's a mystery story, after all.

[Dan Hillier]

Re National Geographic, it must be liberating to be able to say what you really think than being confined to a politically correct view. For most people concerned about nature, wildlife and habitats, human influenced climate change is low on the list of priorities to be tackled. And unfortunately the scaremongering and fictitious "research" by some has damaged the reputation of all. By destroying credibility, this will make all future campaigns for environmental causes harder to succeed.

Rather than a political cause like climate change, imagine how much better it would have been if all the money, research and effort was targeting a real problem, such as invasive species.

[chris]

I wonder if we will ever find out who that woman is in the photograph or is it just another spoof?

[Rob]

Who is that jerk who wrote the disgusting piece in National Geographic? Is he someone "important?"

[MarkB]

Regarding the Nat Geo post - it has already disappeared (not just moved) between this morning and just now, which is also a very bad sign for NG.

[Dave]

This interested me:
http://www.americansuburbx.com/2015/08/asx-tv-paul-graham-at-pier-24-the-whiteness-of-the-whale.html

[Phil R]

Re: The NatGeo link

It appears to have been removed. I can no longer access it, nor can I find it at Steyn's blog page.

[James Weekes]

Just as another voice on the Epson story. I have the 3800, precursor to the 3880 of Ctein's. I have cracked four or five empty cartridges over the life of the printer and they are almost dry, more like 2% left than 15%. Anecdotal, I know, but I do not feel cheated by Epson in that regard.

[ctein]

Dear PhilR and MarkB,

I can testify it was there previously. It seemed out of character for both the author and the publication. It was an extraordinarily stupid, even childish, piece. I wonder if they were the victim of a hack?

In any case,I smell a story here.

Possibly a very, very small one.

pax / Curious Ctein

[Joseph Brunjes]

That camera is ridiculous! Why would anyone (especially a photographer) invent a camera that restricts photo opportunities just because you weren't the first to shoot from that vantage point? Heaven help us all If this kind of technology enters the mainstream.

[Dennis]

Re the Ilford quote, sounds like corporate exec bs-speak to me.

As of Thursday, 3:15 edt the NG link returns Page not found. Was that the point?

[Peter Croft]

That camera restricta sounds like a hoax to me. What's the point of it? Why would anyone buy it? What does it matter if I take cliche shots? It's not as if I'd be using up the world's resources, as might have been said in film days. No, there's something fishy about that story.