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Video evidence surfaces against two suspects arrested in fatal shooting of California photographer

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Edward French was a 71 year old photographer who was robbed and killed at Twin Peaks Looking out in California about three weeks ago. A police spokesperson at the time said that he was approached by a young man and woman before he was shot and his camera was stolen. KTVU reports that two people have now been arrested by San Francisco police.

The pair, 19 year old Patterson resident, Lamone Mims, and 20 year old Fantasy Decuir of San Francisco have been charged with the murder. The pair were caught as a result of leads from an armed robbery on July 28th of a 53 year old man and 33 year old woman. The prosecution also says they have the murder on video.

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Pentax K-5 IIs gets covered with pink fire retardant, hosed off, and carries on shooting

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I always find it interesting to read about the things cameras survive that the manufacturers could never have foreseen. X. Fire and ice, car crashes, months under the ocean, rocket engines, and even babies.

Photographer Brian Maneely recently discovered just how tough and sealed his Pentax K-5 IIs was. While photographing a wildfire, it was doused with pink fire retardant and then hosed off with water.

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Photographer shoots Great Balls of Fire which turn out to be a Chinese spaceship reentry

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Photographer Ian Norman was out on shooting some night skies photo in Alabama Hills near Lone Pine, California. The photos are gorgeous (as you can see below), which is pretty usual up till now. But some time into the shoot Ian notices a huge fireball over the Sierra Nevada mountains.

While Ian’s “big guns” gear was not setup to shoot it, he grabbed an A75 and started recording.

It turns out that those fireballs were the expected reentry of the upper stage of China’s recent CZ-7 rocket launch, namely the rocket upper stage.

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California wildfire ‘selfie’ arsonist gets 20 years and a $60 million fine

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Selfies are just a part of our culture today, whether stills or video, but they have been known to land people in hot water a time or two.  Sometimes the consequences are simply a little embarrassment, sometimes very severe (and rightly so).

In what seems more suited to ridicule on America’s Dumbest Criminals, California resident Wayne Allen Huntsman captured a video selfie with the beginnings of what would become known as the King Fire, a wildfire that scorched over almost 100,000 acres of land in El Dorado County, California in 2014.

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Incredible time-lapse shows the ethereal world of California wildfires

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Up close and personal, wildfires are tragic and terrifying. But if you can step away from the chaos and capture things from a wider perspective, they can become a thing of beauty.

No one knows this better than filmmaker Jeff Frost, who has spent the past three years capturing dozens of wildfires across the Golden State and has turned them into a time-lapse.[Read More…]

Local Landmark Shipwreck in California Burnt Out for Instagram Photo

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Perched on a sand bank in Tomales Bay, CA, the ship nicknamed the “S.S. Point Reyes” has sat for a great number of years, left to rot and decay naturally.  The exact number of years it’s been there is something of a local secret, adding to the mystery of the wreck, which has been a significant local tourist attraction.

Sitting in the bay, and not the Pacific Ocean is the reason why the wreck has remained around for so long, and has been of great interest to photographers visiting the area, which has a long history of shipwrecks.

On Sunday night, it became of particular interest to one unnamed Instagram user who thought it’d be a great idea to start spinning red hot wire wool behind the boat for a photo.  As one might expect, this caused a fire which went on to consume about half of the wreck, and was still being battled by local fire fighters into Monday morning.

This is why we can’t have nice things.

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Court Says Threatening to Arrest for Recording Police Violates First Amendment

A District Court in California recently said that the act of threatening to arrest a person solely for recording police officers is a clear violation of the First Amendment.

The summary judgment was given in Barich v. City of Cotati, where a civilian who often records city officials claimed the chief of police violated his First Amendment rights by threatening to arrest him if he recorded the chief.

The court also said the police chief is not entitled to qualified immunity, which would shield him from liability for the violation of an individual’s federal constitutional rights, as it’s clear that the public has the right to record government officials in public places.

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California Governor puts an end to paparazzi drones

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Just three days after California Governor rejected several drone-related bills, the Los Angeles Times reports that Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation intended to protect the rich and famous from the prying eyes of the paparazzi.

Bill AB 856 expands privacy protections by changing the definition of a “physical invasion of privacy” to include a drone invading the airspace above private property in order to record video, sound or capture photographs.

Violators of the new law will face fines ranging from $5,000 to $50,000.

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Mother embarrasses her son on TV after rattlesnake-selfie fail

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Just a few weeks ago a man in San Diego was bitten while trying to take a selfie with a rattlesnake, and a couple of weeks ago another Californian suffered a similar injury.

While the first guy’s story drew attention worldwide due to the ridiculously high medical bill he received, Alex Gomez’ accident is making headlines following the harsh criticism of his actions – by his own mother, on TV no less.

Having “no mercy for him”, the disappointed mother decided to share her son’s story, along with the selfie and hospital photos, in order to teach him a lesson.

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How A 365 Day Project Helped Launch A Young Photographer’s Professional Career

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Three hundred sixty five day photography projects are tough. There’s got to be a high level of dedication and desire to improve. Time has to be made everyday to conceive an idea, take the actual photograph, edit, and post it in your journal. Birthdays, holidays, sick days–it doesn’t matter, there’s still a photograph to be made, no matter what. But, all of those things that make 365 projects seem so daunting, are a large part of what makes them so beneficial to one’s progress. And, when you’re as dedicated and talented as AlexStoddard, they can legitimately bring your photography game to the next level.[Read More…]

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