A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
5 May 2025
In this recurring column, we highlight a few items we've run across that don't merit a full story of their own but are interesting enough to bring to your attention. This time we look at Calais, Sovereignty, Sanket Khuntale, bamboo, the wrong camera, Blurb, NAS suggestions and Alcatraz
- Ozan Acidere documents Life for the Displaced in Calais where French authorities impose hostile policies on the refugees while simultaneously trying to attract tourists.
- The Associated Press was there as Sovereignty Wins the Derby. "Sovereignty out-dueled 3-1 favorite Journalism down the stretch to win the 151st Kentucky Derby in the slop on Saturday."
- Mother Nature, shot with a Samsung Galaxy S7, is Sanket Khuntale's best phone photo. "The beauty of this angle is the distortion, where the important parts of the image -- her beautiful hair and the yellow flowers -- look even more prominent and vibrant," Khuntale said.
- In Bamboo, Harold Davis reveals what he's learned about the invasive plant (and why his are in containers).
- In The Wrong Camera, Mike Johnston makes an iPhone capture of a scene he's "tried several times to get a completely satisfactory picture." He laments he didn't have his Sigma monochrome instead. We didn't really know what he meant until we downloaded the color image and edited it in Adobe Camera Raw, straightening the verticals, converting it to black-and-white and tweaking the tones to reveal detail in both the highlights and shadows after increasing the contrast. Give that (or something like it) a try to see what he was after.
- In Blurb Review: Still Solid, Dan Havlik writes, "While a few things have changed at Blurb over the years -- its software is now called BookWright -- much remains the same and that's a good thing."
- Diane is Looking for New NAS Suggestions and gets a few options plus a video with more suggestions other than Synology:
- As soon as we published our Friday slide show Inside Alcatraz with images of the derelict prison from 1999, Trump Orders Reopening of Alcatraz Prison for 'Most Ruthless Offenders'. It's not a new idea, of course. At the funeral of San Francisco mayor Ed Lee in 2017, Willie Brown revealed Lee's last joke: that maybe we should refurbish Alcatraz for a convicted Trump:
More to come! Meanwhile, here's a look five years back. And please support our efforts...