Creatives Commons

I've been meaning to write something on the dangers of Creative Commons licensing and the share-alike philosophy for a while now -- or rather, why I think CC has managed to devalue a corner of the photography market -- but this, at least, made me smile. Let's just say that I'll be putting many of my images back under a commercial license by the end of the summer.

New Toy!

New Favorite Blog

If you ever need an ego boost regarding your design skills, wander over to Photoshop Disasters and you'll automatically feel better.

Bench

Poses

After a long and happy life, my beloved 30D died earlier today (abruptly, and in the middle of an assignment for the Daily News, but no matter) and so now I'm being forced to prematurely upgrade my gear. I'm eyeing a used Canon 1D Mark II at the moment, but in the meantime I'm going to engage in a little shameless fundraising to offset the ~$2600 cost. So! A few months ago I sold off the first printing of a small photo book of work from the past three years -- and for any readers who might be interested I'm selling a revised edition. It's a 40-page perfect bound 7"x7" softback printed on 80# coated semi-matte paper, with a melange of shots from photojournalism assignments, fashion shoots, and various travels. If anyone's interested, send me an e-mail at dani[at]dan.iella.net and I'll print off another batch.

Animator v. Animation

One of the best little animations I've seen in a while, courtesy of Alan Becker.

DIY Web Projects:

1. I've long been aware of companies like Blurb and Lulu that will design very simple products -- books, business cards, postcards, etc. -- to spec using your photos and text. Ponoko, however, takes things up a level by allowing designers to submit .eps files and have almost anything created by an industrial laser cutter. I've only really used a laser cutter in the context of creating architectural models, but the design ideas on Ponoko are endless and pretty creative -- from etched acrylic pendants to wooden side tables. I wonder what would happen if I showed up at the architecture school's cutter with CAD files that suspiciously resemble earrings?

2. I've told myself that I'm not allowed to start playing with Fontstruct until exams are over, but the idea of online software to create your own font is absurdly appealing. Must resist!

UK Coin Redesign

England's Royal Mint held an open competition to redesign six of the eight coins in circulation, and 26-year-old graphic designer Matthew Dent came up with the above images (which beautifully rearrange themselves into the British royal arms). Gorgeous!