For every product sold, UBB removes 1 pound of trash from our world's oceans & waterways.

We’re looking for contemporary explorers. We’re looking for those of you who climb higher, go farther, look deeper, and drive harder. Those who seek out adventure in the every day and on forays into the unknown. ARE WE LOOKING FOR YOU? We’re looking for explorers who hike, climb, paddle, row, surf, swim, cycle, run, or walk. We’re looking for explorers who share ideas, tell stories, snap photos, make movies, or simply observe. We’re looking for explorers who travel the world or and explore their home city. So long as you get outside and explore. APPLY HERE

We’re looking for contemporary explorers. We’re looking for those of you who climb higher, go farther, look deeper, and drive harder. Those who seek out adventure in the every day and on forays into the unknown.

ARE WE LOOKING FOR YOU?

We’re looking for explorers who hike, climb, paddle, row, surf, swim, cycle, run, or walk. We’re looking for explorers who share ideas, tell stories, snap photos, make movies, or simply observe. We’re looking for explorers who travel the world or and explore their home city. So long as you get outside and explore.

APPLY HERE

npr: wired: Outdoor adventure photography is fun to look at, but it can get old fast. If you’ve seen one really gnarly skiing or climbing photo, you’ve kinda seem them all. That’s why Ray Demski’s new project is a breath of fresh air. He hauled several studio lights with giant reflectors out to an icefall in the Avers valley in Switzerland this winter and used the battery-powered, 1200-Joules strobes to shoot ice climbing like we’ve never seen. “I always try to do something new every time I go into a shoot,” says Demski, an adventure sports and commercial photographer based in Munich, Germany who’s shot for companies including Red Bull, BMW and Adidas. [MORE] Ice ice baby. I had to do it. LOL! — tanya b.

npr:

wired:

Outdoor adventure photography is fun to look at, but it can get old fast. If you’ve seen one really gnarly skiing or climbing photo, you’ve kinda seem them all.

That’s why Ray Demski’s new project is a breath of fresh air. He hauled several studio lights with giant reflectors out to an icefall in the Avers valley in Switzerland this winter and used the battery-powered, 1200-Joules strobes to shoot ice climbing like we’ve never seen.

“I always try to do something new every time I go into a shoot,” says Demski, an adventure sports and commercial photographer based in Munich, Germany who’s shot for companies including Red Bull, BMW and Adidas.

[MORE]

Ice ice baby. I had to do it. LOL! — tanya b.

(Source: Wired)

Composition Tips for Photography Beginners

katharinefriedgen:

image

Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film.

- Wikipedia

Rule of Thirds

image

The rule of thirds is a “rule of thumb” or guideline which applies to the process of composing visual images such aspaintings, photographs and designs.[1] The guideline proposes that an image should be imagined as divided into nine equal parts by two equally-spaced horizontal lines and two equally-spaced vertical lines, and that important compositional elements should be placed along these lines or their intersections.

- Wikipedia

The rule of thirds is not always necessary to your composition, but it’s a great resource to go to when you’re starting out, or you are struggling to frame your shot. Try dividing your view into thirds and visualize hitting those hot spots. It usually gives your shot more tension and flow.

image

Long Lining (2011), Project: The Vibe of Philly by K. Friedgen

Depth of Field

In optics, particularly as it relates to film and photography, depth of field (DOF) is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene that appear acceptably sharp in an image.

- Wikipedia 

Whether you are focusing on the near objects (or shallow DOF) helps draw attention to the foreground and usually throws the background into blur or abstraction. It’s a great way to add drama to an image and intentionally direct focus to the specified sharp image of the photo.

image

Seashell (2011), Color Print, by K. Friedgen

image

Walking in Philly IIX (2011), Series: My Walk to Work, by K. Friedgen

When you want to have the front blurry and out of focus, but the background in sharp detail, you’ll want to have a smaller f-stop (f/8, f/11, etc). This is called the Hyperfocal distance. It can help create a nice frame for your image or enhance a landscape by adding color to the foreground and focus to the back.

image

La Passegiata a Positano (2011), by K. Friedgen

image

Vineyard Music (2009), by K. Friedgen

Read More

We’re obsessed with GIFs and love the environment, so naturally we love this post. smithsonianmag: The Man Behind the Best Nature GIFs on Tumblr Tumblr is home to millions of animated GIFs so standing out in the crowd can be quite a challenge. Head Like an Orange is a unique blog featuring high-quality GIFs of nature’s most jaw-dropping moments. It’s creator, Marinus Olde Loohuis from the Netherlands, has been creating GIFs since 2011 and his love of the natural world inspires him to keep creating five second masterpieces. The international business and languages student recently answered a few questions about his site via email. What got you into making animated GIFs? Tumblr did. I’m not even sure if I knew what a GIF was when I started my blog but when I did start, I noticed a lot of people were making these moving pictures, so I decided to try to make some myself. How do you find the video clips you turn into GIFs? I always try to keep up to date about what nature/science documentaries are on TV at the moment. I watch them to find interesting bits that could make nice GIFs. Sometimes I also look on Vimeo for videos. A lot of your GIFs are seamless. You can’t tell when they restart. What is your technique? There are certain things you can do in Photoship to make water or clouds loop, but that doesn’t really work for a lot of the GIFs I post. You have to find a certain point in a video from which the whole motion starts again, which is quite easy to do for a bird bouncing on a twig, but a lot more difficult for a flying bird. Most of your GIFs are of nature and wildlife. What draws you to those subjects? I’ve been interested in the natural world since I was a child and collected fossils and animal skulls. Like many people, I’m fascinated by the diversity and beauty of fauna created by evolution. I try to show some of that variety on my blog. The quality of the GIFs are very high. How do you achieve this? Mainly by using HD videos. Due to the limitation of a GIF (maximum of 256 colors) and Tumblr (upload limit of 1MB) it can be quite difficult to come even close to the quality of the original video, so you have to mess with it a bit in Photoshop. I like the limitations though because it gives me a bit of a challenge. Do you think making GIFs is an art form? The other day I read an anonymous message on a blog I follow saying that his posts shouldn’t be featured on the “Artists on Tumblr” tag because GIFs aren’t art. I totally disagree with that because there are a lot of people who do very creative things with their GIFs and often create them from scratch. Although, I’ve seen people refer to me as a GIF artist. I don’t think what I do is very creative or should be considered as art but I do believe the people involved with making the documentaries I use for my GIFs are true artists. What are your thoughts on using GIFs as a storytelling method? I think in some cases they’re more useful than photographs and video to explain something. I’ve tried to do it in some of my own posts. Somehow, GIFs seem to grab the attention of the person looking at them more easily than photos and they don’t require the person to take any actions like pressing a play button. What are some of your favorite GIF sites that we should be checking out? I’m probably forgetting some but these are certainly worth following: Tech NoirMr. GIFMade by ABVHSam CannonDVDpHoppipiwdrm Interview by Ryan R. Reed

We’re obsessed with GIFs and love the environment, so naturally we love this post.

smithsonianmag:

The Man Behind the Best Nature GIFs on Tumblr

Tumblr is home to millions of animated GIFs so standing out in the crowd can be quite a challenge. Head Like an Orange is a unique blog featuring high-quality GIFs of nature’s most jaw-dropping moments. It’s creator, Marinus Olde Loohuis from the Netherlands, has been creating GIFs since 2011 and his love of the natural world inspires him to keep creating five second masterpieces. The international business and languages student recently answered a few questions about his site via email.

What got you into making animated GIFs?

Tumblr did. I’m not even sure if I knew what a GIF was when I started my blog but when I did start, I noticed a lot of people were making these moving pictures, so I decided to try to make some myself.

Shoebill

How do you find the video clips you turn into GIFs?

I always try to keep up to date about what nature/science documentaries are on TV at the moment. I watch them to find interesting bits that could make nice GIFs. Sometimes I also look on Vimeo for videos.

A lot of your GIFs are seamless. You can’t tell when they restart. What is your technique?

There are certain things you can do in Photoship to make water or clouds loop, but that doesn’t really work for a lot of the GIFs I post. You have to find a certain point in a video from which the whole motion starts again, which is quite easy to do for a bird bouncing on a twig, but a lot more difficult for a flying bird.

Ladybugs

Most of your GIFs are of nature and wildlife. What draws you to those subjects?

I’ve been interested in the natural world since I was a child and collected fossils and animal skulls. Like many people, I’m fascinated by the diversity and beauty of fauna created by evolution. I try to show some of that variety on my blog.

The quality of the GIFs are very high. How do you achieve this?

Mainly by using HD videos. Due to the limitation of a GIF (maximum of 256 colors) and Tumblr (upload limit of 1MB) it can be quite difficult to come even close to the quality of the original video, so you have to mess with it a bit in Photoshop. I like the limitations though because it gives me a bit of a challenge.

Gorilla

Do you think making GIFs is an art form?

The other day I read an anonymous message on a blog I follow saying that his posts shouldn’t be featured on the “Artists on Tumblr” tag because GIFs aren’t art. I totally disagree with that because there are a lot of people who do very creative things with their GIFs and often create them from scratch. Although, I’ve seen people refer to me as a GIF artist. I don’t think what I do is very creative or should be considered as art but I do believe the people involved with making the documentaries I use for my GIFs are true artists.

What are your thoughts on using GIFs as a storytelling method?

I think in some cases they’re more useful than photographs and video to explain something. I’ve tried to do it in some of my own posts. Somehow, GIFs seem to grab the attention of the person looking at them more easily than photos and they don’t require the person to take any actions like pressing a play button.

What are some of your favorite GIF sites that we should be checking out?

I’m probably forgetting some but these are certainly worth following:

Tech Noir
Mr. GIF
Made by ABVH
Sam Cannon
DVDp
Hoppip
iwdrm

Interview by Ryan R. Reed