LATEST ADDITIONS

When it comes to subjects that combine color and light in creative and interesting ways, few things are as eye-catching or as fun to encounter as an artfully designed neon sign. If I’m out driving on a summer’s night and see a particularly interesting bit of neon, it’s hard not to pull the car over just to admire the sign maker’s skill and take a few pictures to add to my collection.

Admittedly, toy cameras were never designed to produce the professional quality crystal clear, razor sharp images we so often strive to create. They are simply toys but because of their unique nature they do have a lot more to offer than one might suspect. They are amazingly good at producing wonderfully blurry, strangely distorted images marked with the odd streak of light but—for some photographers—these aren’t unwanted or undesirable traits at all. These quirks add an entirely new dimension of creativity to their work.

The Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College has announced its new exhibit titled: Andy Warhol’s Photo-Aesthetic and Beyond—on view from September 11 to November 1, 2014. The museum’s large collection of Warhol art (including the famous Campbell’s Soup and Electric Chair photo-silkscreen prints), recent gifts from the Andy Warhol Foundation and loans from other collections will be at the heart of this event.

Sony just expanded its lens-style camera line with the new 30x zooming DSC-QX30 and the E-mount interchangeable lens ILCE-QX1 models. The odd-looking devices combine compact lenses and image sensors into one hybrid unit and are designed to be clipped over your smart phone for better image quality when snapping mobile photos.