Math is Beautiful

20061229 066
Originally uploaded by dennyt.

Over the year of photos being contributed by the public to the Camer Toss Photo Pool there have been many that speak to the underlying mathematics (or physics more specifically) of the technique.

A few photographers, such as dennyt, in performing digital manipulations, such as color inversion, have hit upon a wonderful combination of effects that, in my opinion, really speaks to the math of camera tossing.

The image posted here reminds me of graph paper, or blue-line reproductions of scientific drawings... only with a twist. Folded onto itself... graph paper as imagined in four dimensions perhaps. And in essence, this is partially true.... for time is an important dimension of any camera toss photograph... any long exposure photograph for that matter.

Time is not a new subject to photography, and the earliest photographs were always long exposure due to the limitations of the medium, but photography has always found a way to look at time in new ways. A camera tossed photograph usually captures a very short interval of time, but just because something is small and seemingly ordinary, does not exclude it from being incredibly complex... and... well... simply beautiful.

And Now For Something Completely Different

Installment 1


Originally uploaded by nicolai_g

I've been thinking of starting a recurring blog/thread topic on the evolution of camera tossing... ongoing of course. Camera Toss as we know it is over a year old now and it actually has had some noticable evolutions. We've seen lots of things turn up that register as "new" yet still within the theme of this group over the last year.

So for our first installment, here's one that showed up in the pool. Nicolai's and one other are the first examples I encountered of folks trying Pin-hole camera tossing. Pinholes tend to be long exposure by default... but capturing something during a thrown pinhole can be quite tricky.

In the case of the photo above... the SUN was the only light source bright enough to register during a "multiple toss multiple catch" experiment. Besides a pinhole (flickr group), it also happened to be cross-processed (flickr group) on expired (flickr group) 120 medium format (flickr group) film (a flickr group). (Yes, there is a flickr-group for nearly everything if you couldn't tell).

And an earlier example... a match box pin-hole camera, tossed on Worldwide Pinhole Day by alspix a while back...


Originally uploaded by alspix

Perhaps not spectacular to examine (depending on what you enjoy) but definitely noteworthy camera tossing experiments when you know the story. And we certainly love experiments around here.

Come to think of it, while i've got you all thinking about pinhole photography. Be sure to check out this amazing pinhole project, also relating to the sun's movement:

Solargraphy Project by Tarja Trygg
at the University of Art and Design in Helsinki.

...

If you've tried something you feel is very "different" and is still a camera toss by definition... or all this camera tossing simply provided some element of inspiration... feel free to let me know via flickr-mail or email and share it. Perhaps I'll make it the subject of the next installment.

clickykbd's picks - issue 23

The Camera Toss Community on flickr and this blog are over a year old now, but that hasn't slowed down the enthusiasm and continued experimentation by new members and old alike.

Here's the 23rd installment of the photo-pool highlights, a big selection, many first-time camera tosses included, as well as photographs from those more experienced by now. If you are visiting from Kodak's 1000 Words Blog, welcome! We hope you enjoy the unique style of photography incubated here.









Photo Credits (left to right, top to bottom):
raysto, Gipsy Boy, marce_garal, brucemiller, Katie face,
jon62690, :matey:, bubestube, Reflexe, Whales tails,
lazy mookie, See_What_Dave_Sees, thunderstride1, frank drewett, dondal,
Lemon Frosted, dondal, Diluted, metró, Is_this_Graham?,
Marc Crow, Kingcow, El Ray, gvda,
completelyknown, El Ray, Is_this_Graham?, davespilbrow, QuakkauQ,
andy206uk, this_is_not_a_name,

Camera Tossing = Love!

Happy Day
Originally uploaded by eastofnorth.

The Camera Toss Blog would like to extend it's warmest congratulations to _nod and eastofnorth for their recent marriage! I came to know both of them because they were early adopters in the camera toss community on flickr. In fact, that is exactly how they met!

Who says throwing you camera can't possible accomplish anything worthwhile. Not to sound all cliche, but throwing cameras helped to make the best thing of all things in the world...

Love.

And a camera toss selection to suit the theme...



And an interesting asside, both eastofnorth and _nod have created camera-tossed heart shapes, found via a tag search on flickr. Coincidence? I think perhaps not...



And finally... being single myself. Watching all your friends up and get married can be a tad depressing... someone pass me the booze. ;-)



Photo credits (left to right, top to bottom)...

Eastofnorth's wedding guest Rainer,
...
Valentinian, marce_garal, El Ray, mappamundi,
...
the bride, the groom,
...
davespilbrow

What The Duck...

©2006 Aaron Johnson. Included with Permission.

The author/artist of the photography-centric web comic What The Duck sent me a note via this blog a couple days ago to share this relevant comic. I'm not sure how many of the camera tossing enthusiasts out there have had to visit the repair counter yet, but I am sure this was the experience they had if they did so. Fans of web comics and photography should definitely check out his strip. I read the archive and enjoyed it. Aaron has at least one new fan.

Apologies for the lack of postings lately... have a few things to share and will get around to that shortly, also the photo pool is long overdue for a highlights posting...

For now, here's some photo-pool spotlights:


Originally uploaded by yeadon_eric.


Originally uploaded by davespilbrow.


Originally uploaded by El Ray.

clickykbd's picks - issue 22

Been a little behind on blog postings and a huge volume of camera tossed photographs have been uploaded to the photo pool since the last installment. Here are some (okay... a lot of) highlights...












Photo Credits (left to right, top to bottom):
David Reeves, metavariable, QuakkauQ, C a f r i n e, Renavatio,
mappamundi, thepurplefreak, newbaccata, γuniversum, dondal,
dondal, Whales tails, Rustic Relics Designs, γuniversum, milkfish,
marce_garal, Katie face, phogel, _ferro_, David Malan,
funkymonkey_11, kellybelly, QuakkauQ, davespilbrow,
tknb, earthtoneremix, Whales tails, NUCO, bojanung,
QuakkauQ, this_is_not_a_name,
Crochunter, davespilbrow, bojanung, davespilbrow, this_is_not_a_name,
marce_garal, _ferro_, Born2b, _ferro_,

To share photos for this blog, consider reading the Camera Toss Mini-HOWTO and then share your results.