Filed under: Culture, Photography | Tags: lifestyle, Lumilon Photography, sports photography
I installed WordPress on my own domain lumilon.com/blog. However, I might continue to post here the more running-oriented and less photographic stuff.
Filed under: Culture, Photography | Tags: advertising, athlete, Photography, sport drink
Another photo for my sport advertising photography portfolio… imagine a sports drink standing where the light beam hits the floor.
Filed under: Culture | Tags: Advertising Photographer, Advertising Photography, commercial, Lumilon Photography, portfolio, running, Running Shoes
Ads for running apparel generally seek a cool atmosphere with an easy and energetic expression. For example, the classical ads by Nike often showed a runner in a beautiful landscape. In the Asics ads, a high-key look is used with a lot of white to give an easy feel.
To enhance my commercial advertising photography portfolio, I shot the photo below showing an athletic runner in a beautiful natural landscape. More sports and lifestyle photography on my website.
Filed under: Culture, Photography | Tags: camera, Car Trip, distortion, effect, focal-plane shutter camera, iPhone, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, photographer, running, slit scan
The camera in the iPhone might not be the technically most sophisticated thing… However, it creates a lot of interesting effects like color shifts, distortion and slurring – it’s a bit lomo-like! The distortion is due to the slit scanning of the camera creating the long-feet effect in the photography below. The explanation is that not all areas of the picture are scanned and recorded and the same time – depending on the shutter speed. There is an interesting WIRED article about it.
Let’s have a look at the iPhone camera specifications. It’s got a fixed-focus lens, 2.0 megapixels and supports geotagging using iPhone’s built-in GPS. The iPhone does not support video recording. The iPhone display however is just great featuring a 3.5-inch widescreen display with 480×320-pixel resolution (163 ppi).
The slit scanning of the cam can give you a headache if you don’t accept it as a feature and learn how to use it to create distorted pictures…
So if you move the camera during exposure, or if the subject of the photo is moving, interesting distortions result. This effect isn’t new at all, as seen in the famous photo Car Trip by Jacques-Henri Lartigue. Back in 1913, he used one of those focal-plane shutter cameras.
More runner photographs on Lumilon Photography.
Filed under: Culture, Photography | Tags: Advertising Photography, iPhone, lifestyle, Running Shoes
Are you interested in photos of runners in great landscapes? Then have a look at the German site of Runner’s World. Of course, you should also visit my own photography website which shows running and lifestyle pictures as well as other sports photographs.
The Chinese authorities have broken their promise to improve the country’s human rights situation and betrayed the core values of the Olympics, according to a new Amnesty International report. There still is repression of activists, detention without trial (well, a bit like Guantanamo, no?), and death penalty.
Another problem is censoring of the internet. Foreign journalists working from the Olympics press centre in Beijing are unable to access amnesty.org – the Amnesty International website. A number of other websites are also reported to have been blocked. The Associated Press reports that journalists covering the Beijing Olympics have access only to a censored version of the Internet. International Olympic Committee (IOC) officials admitted to have a deal with China to allow the blocking of sensitive websites from media during the Beijing Games, as reported by Reuters.There are reports about journalists being detained by the police.
Amnesty International said the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) intention to spur reforms by awarding the event to China appeared to have failed, as reported in The Guardian.
Filed under: Culture, People | Tags: Abebe Bikila, Ethiopia, Olympia, Onni Niskanen
After two weeks vacation in Sardinia, it’s quite hard to get it running again… On the beach, I read an interesting book about the life of the marathon runner Abebe Bikila: “Barefoot Runner” by Paul Rambali.
Abebe Bikila was born 1932 in Ethiopia. He was spotted by Onni Niskanen, a Finn hired by the Ethiopian government to train potential athletes. He joined the Ethiopian athletic team only in the last moment to participate in the 1960 Olympic summer games in Rome. In a fascinating race, he won the Olympic marathon in a time of 2:15:16 running barefoot, as no pair of shoes fit him. He was the first black African athlete to win an Olympic gold medal.
Shortly after returning to Addis Abeba in Ethiopia, he was sentenced to death. Bikila, who didn’t understand politics, had been forced to take part in a coup. The coup attempt failed and Bikila was pardoned by the Emperor Haile Selassie.
He repeated his marathon triumph in the 1964 summer Olympic games in Tokyo in a new record time of 2:12:11 – notably only 4 weeks after an operation because of appendicitis.
In 1969, he suffered a car accident which left him quadriplegic. He subsequently participated in archery competitions. He died in 1973.
The book tells the fascinating story of an outstanding athlete. Moreover, it gives interesting insights into the evolution of Ethiopian runners who now dominate running.
I was also fascinated by Onni Niskanen, the coach of Abebe Bikila. He contributed a lot to the success of the Ethiopian runners, and he set the base for their success which goes on until today.
Onni Niskanen (on the right), the coach of Abebe Bikila, in 1976 in Uppsala, Sweden. On the left sits his brother Arne. © Photo courtesy of Pia Haldin.
My training plan also asks for long runs… With my pace, these 20-25 km runs tend to take about two hours. So I clearly need some distraction! What could be more fun than listening to music (or podcasts… more of these later).
Here my suggestions for an iPod «long run» playlist:
- The 2001 album “Reptile” by Eric Clapton. The ultimative long-run album!!
- Get Jazzy – The Chill Lounge, Vol. 1
- Guru’s Jazzmatazz Vol. 1
- “Mind, Body, and Soul” by Joss Stone
- “Exile on Main Street”, The Rolling Stones, 1972 (my year of birth!)
- Final track, of course: “Gonna Fly Now” by Bill Conti (Rocky Soundtrack)
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer born in 1949. He started to run at the age of 33 and participated in the Boston Marathon seven times. In addition, he run the Hokkaido Ultra Marathon.
In his book “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”, he describes his personal experiences with running and the influence the sport has had on his life and on his writing.
It’s an interesting book with reflections on why he runs. The book also gives insights on the influences of running on his creative life. He’s not telling the usual endorphine-high-crap, but describes his thoughts and feelings while running in a nonobtrusive and mostly humble way.
Filed under: Culture, Training | Tags: France, Gordes, Photography, provençe, Senanque
Running in such a beautiful scenery! Enjoying vacations in the south of France.
In the vicinity of Gordes, there is the famous monastery Senanque founded in 1148. In summer, the lavender fields give the abbey its own particular cachet. Unfortunately, I was late by one or two weeks to see the lavender bloom…
For more photos, also visit my photography website!
