CANON Commercial - Freeze Tag from Saman Keshavarz on Vimeo.

"aim it. shoot it. freeze it."

Paul Bellis Jones left a one-use camera near the summit of Mount Tryfan. Along with the camera he left a note, which instructed hikers to take a picture and then leave it for the next hiker. Jones did this as an experiment to prove to his friend that people can be trusted. After four days, the camera filled with photos of over 30 hikers was returned to Jones by a National Park warden.

Even if you can't trust everyone, you can at least trust hikers.

Link to article and photos.

On October 5, 2009, Condé Nast announced that Gourmet (along with Cookie, Modern Bride and Elegant Bride) will close it doors due to a decline in ad pages. 

Eight-year employee Kevin Demaria put together an online photo journal called The Last Days of Gourmet:

October 5th, 2009 In shock and disbelief, using garbage pails for long exposures, I took these photos of the last days at Gourmet.  Although at times it was hard for me to shoot the common places in the offices at Gourmet, I knew I needed to document where I loved working for the last 8 years.  It was a unique opportunity to have worked with such amazingly talented people in such a friendly work environment.  Gourmet became my family and I will always look back proud to have been part of such an amazing magazine.

Having been a subscriber, I will thoroughly miss such a well put together magazine.

Related Links:
Condé Nast to Close Gourmet, Cookie and Modern Bride - Link [NYTimes]
Gourmet  official website - Link

Black and WTF is a blog of unusual found black and white photographs.  I wish I knew the back story to many of the photos.  Although, it is fun making up some of my own.

Link [via MeFi]

In photographer Agan Harahap's latest project 'Super Hero,' he has taken memorable wartime snapshots and included modern-day super heroes.  Link to gallery [via MeFi]

Find out how MIT students Justin Lee and Oliver Yeh took this image of Earth for less than $148.  Link (Thanks, Mt Holly Mayor!)

Love this photo titled "It's not my fault! by powerpig.  Link  (via muxaulo)

Previously on BC:
Storm Troopin' - Link
Star Wars Last Supper - Link
Star Wars (Sweded): A Cardboard Hope - Link

Call me lame, but I find the above photo very fascinating.  It is a long-exposure shot of a Roomba's cleaning path. 

Signaltheorist did something really neat with a new Roomba he got. He shut off all of the lights in his room for 30 minutes and captured a long exposure of the path that the Roomba makes when it goes about cleaning the area. The resulting photo is a mess of circles and lines that somewhat resemble flight paths. I wonder what the paths would look like in a bigger room. I should get our Roomba out and see.

Link (via Gizmodo)

Irish photographer David Creedon has put together an online photographic gallery called Ghosts of the Faithful Departed.  Creedon writes:

It has been estimated that between 1949 and 1989 well over 800,000 people were forced to leave Ireland.  Something in the order of half of this outflow occurred during the 1950s.  The peak was reached in 1955 when 55,000 young people left our shores.  In a census taken in 1956 the population of the country fell to 2.8 million the lowest ever recorded and led one author to question "Are we becoming the Vanishing Irish and would we survive as a race if something wasn't done to stem the outflow"?

Those who stayed had to suffer continued hardships, isolation & social exclusion.  The rural communities were decimated by the impact of emigration.  Many of those who stayed in this decade did so in silence as they watched family members and friend's leave.  Now in a new millennium these people have passed on and their homes stand as a monument to a bygone age.

Creedon's photos are currently on display at Photofusion in London from January 23 through March 6, 2009.

Link (via MeFi)

As Thomas Carter's new photobook CHINA: Portrait of a People makes its debut as the most comprehensive book of photography on modern China ever published by a single author, literati and the press are unable to hold back their acclaim. Following are excerpts from the praise CHINA: Portrait of a People continues to receive from readers and media reviewers: