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Solargraph by Pekka Salminen

I’ve done some pinhole camera experiments in my younger days, but Justin Quinell is our age’s master in this technique. Have a look at his collection of multiple-month exposures, which he calls Solargraphs.

He also built a miniature camera, letting you expose from within the mouth. And he even sells those little cameras for next-to-nothing.

And do visit Junstins homepage, where you’ll find lots of other goodies, including instructions on how to build a 720-degree camera out of toilet rolls.

A great little story over from Banksy:

In 1974 a 33 year old man named George Davis was convicted of robbing the payroll of the London Electricity Board in Ilford. He was nailed on the evidence of cops who were outside the bank at the time of the robbery and was sent to prison for 20 years.

However, his friend Peter Chappell was convinced Davis was innocent and inspired by discrepancies in the police statements and the fact that none of the bloodstains at the scene matched with the defendant, started calling for Davis’ release. Chappall enrolled some friends and embarked on one of the largest sustained grafitti campaigns Britain has ever seen. Over the following months ‘G DAVIS IS INNOCENT’ appeared on walls, bridges and tunnels from one side of London to the other, some of which are still visible today.

The vandalism culminated in Chappell and four others breaking into Headingley cricket ground in August 1975 the night before a test match between England and Australia. Using plastic cutlery from a service station they dug holes in the pitch, filled them with oil and painted ‘Sorry it had to be done, but George Davis is innocent’ in large white letters on the wall as they left. The match was postponed and Chappell got 18 months for criminal damage.

The campaign brought the case to the attention of the Home Secretary who after a police inquiry released Davis two years into his sentence using the highly exceptional and controversial Royal Prerogative of Mercy.

The fight to free George Davis was one of the most spetacular campaigns ever fought against injustice, an achievement only slightly marred when a year after his release Davis was found guilty of robbing the Bank of Cyprus for which he served six years, and three years after which he was caught red-handed robbing a mail train.

George Davis is now a free man and happily married to the daughter of a North London Chief Inspector of Police.

More on Banksy:

And a stunt he pulled is some famous art galleries:

Art, just like life, has always been evolving. New tools arrive, adding to the possible ways of expression. Looking at a video that compresses 500 years of painting female portraits into 3 minutes, and knowing that cinematography is a mere 100 years old, I am excited about the future.

It’s not often that I come across a successful combinatin of Technology and Art. Sucessful as in adding something new to both. Julius Popp has managed just that. Falling waterdrops show constantly changing images and phrases.

more…

Gems from the Web:

• SPHERICALROBOTS 2004 – Using plain water to display images. Wow. I would love to find out how much that costs.
• This Guy Can Get 59 MPG in a Plain Old Accord. Beat That, Punk – Changing your driving habits can make your car much more fuel efficient. This guy managed to get it down to 4l per 100km.
• How-To: Make a solid-state A/V switcher – Do you have more boxes than your TV can handle? Grab a soldiering iron, and off you go!
• Free Vector Downloads – Nice collection of free graphic, ahem, inspiration
• My Ipod – A frank iPod modification
• Upgrading iPod Hard Drives – If your music library is bigger than your iPod, you can upgrade rather than buying a new one. Cool
• Tricks For Saving a Dead iPod – Before buying a new one, you might as well try
• The Complete Project Precita – A properly geeky home. Many buttons to push, signs, fun.
• MATTER Pierre Sculptor – Amazing sculptures
• “Pocket” Gramophones from the ’20s – Music was already portable way before the iPod. Hey, way before the Walkman. 1920.
• Avid investors prepped for Apple surprises at NAB – …”the ‘talk on the Street’ is that Apple is planning an event for April 15th at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas”