Photo by Adam Bronkhorst

Anyway, Sol does his thing, and the M7 definitely is ‘This Sh#t’.

Free download of DEAR FRIENDS, VOL. 3 (2011).

Have a look for yourself … And oh yeah, check out www.pieterhugo.com

Artist: Spoek Mathambo
Directed & shot by: Pieter Hugo & Michael Cleary

Photo by Sean Smith

Surrounding the Polaroid is what appears to me as a bunch of Mamiya Z-series cameras, but what’s more important: Is that a (Dirty) Diana I see there in the upper left corner?! Your expertise is required.

Picture by Alfredo Hantsch

The song begins with a recording of the rapid whirring of a motor drive on a camera. It was recorded at Air Studios with a Nikon camera which manager Paul Berrow had borrowed for the day from his father.

Oh, and if you ask me, I’m guessing that the film loaded in the beginning of the video is a roll of Tri-x 135-36 ASA 400/27 DIN.

Produced by Graflex in Rochester, New York, the Speed Graphic is commonly called the most famous press camera. Although the first Speed Graphic cameras were produced in 1912, production of later versions continued until 1973; with the most significant improvements occurring in 1947 with the introduction of the Pacemaker Speed Graphic (and Pacemaker Crown Graphic, which is one pound lighter but lacks the focal plane shutter). It was standard equipment for many American press photographers until the mid-1960s.

Picture by Steve Harwood

I guess it’s only right that you use a large format camera when you want to capture big butts …

Picture by Steve Harwood

Picture by Spyros Bouboukas

If you can identify the third camera, please let us know. We just gots ta know.

Picture by David Guimarães

The FM2n (1983) was available in either black or chrome finish. The camera is fully mechanical; its meter (and only its meter) requires two PX76 batteries or one CR 1/3N lithium battery. There is a 1–1/4000 sec shutter speed range, plus B; and an ISO range of 12–6400. Focusing screens are interchangeable (Type III screens for the FM3A can be used). The MD-12 motordrive was optional.

I wonder what kind of slide film he used … Probably Ektachrome, since Velvia wasn’t available until 1990.

Picture by Vincenzo Reina

The other day I saw a book on Blue Note album covers and it made me wonder who took these iconic photographs. So I did what you do in these situations; I looked to Google, then Vimeo and YouTube, and so, here’s the guy:

German born Francis Wolff (1907/08–1971).

After a career as a commercial photographer in Germany, Wolff emigrated to the United States in 1939. In New York his childhood friend Alfred Lion, had co-founded Blue Note Records in the same year, and Wolff joined Lion in running the company.

Francis Wolff took photographs during the recordings sessions, usually shot during session rehearsals, throughout the period of Lion’s involvement in Blue Note Records. They were used on publicity material and LP album sleeves, and have continued to be used in CD reissue booklets.

In 1956, Blue Note employed Reid Miles, an artist who worked for Esquire magazine. The cover art produced by Miles, often featuring Wolff’s photographs of musicians in the studio, was as influential in the world of graphic design as the music within would be in the world of jazz.

Under Miles, Blue Note was known for their striking and unusual album cover designs. Miles’ graphical design was distinguished by its tinted black and white photographs, creative use of sans-serif typefaces, and restricted color palette (often black and white with a single color), and frequent use of solid rectangular bands of color or white, influenced by the Bauhaus school of design.

On April 28, 1960 Lee Morgan recorded this tribute to Alfred Lion (who produced the album) and Francis Wolff.

As an example of how Blue Note has been an influence on modern music as well as graphic design, here’s a video for hip hop artist Madlib‘s remix project, Shades of Blue, released by Blue Note.

Now, go turn on some jazz, cat daddy!

A favorite of mine, though, is Raymond Scott and his “Lightworks” (thanks to J Dilla and his interpretation from 2006).