Here are a proof sheet scans (these are not final images) of a couple recent Widelux pictures I took on Milwaukee Avenue.
Proofsheet scan: Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago.
Proofsheet scan: Earwax Café, Chicago.
NASA finds lost video of 1969 moon landing
Conspiracy theorists, start your engines. From the Daily Express (for me, via the JREF forums):
The television images the world has been used to seeing of the historic moment when Neil Armstrong descended down a ladder onto the moon’s surface in 1969 is grainy, blurry and dark.
The following scenes, in which the astronauts move around the lunar lander, are so murky it is difficult to make out exactly what is going on, causing conspiracy theorists to claim the entire Apollo 11 mission was an elaborate fraud.
However, viewers have only ever seen such poor quality footage because the original analogue tapes containing the pictures beamed direct from the lunar surface were lost almost as soon as they were recorded.
Instead, a poor quality copy made from a 16mm camera pointing at a heavily compressed image on a black and white TV screen has been the only record of the event.
The Sunday Express can now reveal that the missing tapes containing the original high quality images have been found.
Apparently the Daily Express may be stealing NASA’s thunder—they’re counting down to a July 16th launch at this handsome NASA site celebrating the 4oth anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.
UPDATE: According to the Bad Science Blog, the above story is bogus.
Tortoise in the Fox River
I recently photographed Tortoise in Plano, Illinois, in the Fox River. We shot press photos for their new record with the catchy title, Beacons of Ancestorship, which Thrill Jockey just released. Doug McCombs not only came up with the winning idea for the shoot, but also drove us all down to Plano and brought waders for everyone.
Tortoise
Tortoise
Photo by Dan Bitney
Bob Odenkirk and Archer Prewitt at Quimby’s: Saturday
Quimby’s, the swell Chicago book and comic book store, is hosting two book signings tomorrow: Bob Odenkirk (co-creator of Mr. Show and many other comedy credits including writer on Get a Life) and Archer Prewitt (Sof’ Boy cartoonist and musician with The Coctails, The Sea and Cake, and solo work). Saturday, June 20th at 4PM (Odenkirk) and 7PM (Prewitt). Below is a shot of Odenkirk directing comedian Dana Gould at Second City for Gould’s standup DVD, Let Me Put My Thoughts In You; the shot of Prewitt is from a Sea and Cake photo session.
Bob Odenkirk with Dana Gould at Second City in Chicago. Photo: Jim Newberry
Archer Prewitt. Photo: Jim Newberry
time-lapse from my front door
Yesterday I took 1,115 photographs from right outside my studio door. Here they are at 60 frames per second. (UPDATE: I’ve changed the Youtube link to point to a newer, 18% more fabulous version of the time-lapse video. The new version is higher resolution, with panning and zooming, and I obliterated the dust parasite that had invaded my camera’s sensor.)
Cheryl Trykv at Davenport’s this month
Cheryl Trykv, keeping it real
Cheryl Trykv—the smart, witty, and very lithe monologuist—will be killing them softly on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings this month at the Chicago piano bar named Davenport’s. This should be good–I caught Trykv at the Big Goddess Pow Wow last February and she was in top form. June 9th, 10th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, and 24th. 8PM. 1383 N. Milwaukee Ave. in Chicago. More info here. We shot the photo above specifically for this run at Davenport’s.