Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson was one of the great Magnum photographers and along with Robert Capa, David Seymour and George Rodger founded Magnum Photos in the spring of 1947. He was born in France, the eldest child of a wealthy textile manufacturer. He studied oil painting as child, but was later drawn to photography, studying it with his uncle. As an adult he once explained, "I suddenly understood that a photograph could fix eternity in an instant." A full biography is available on his Wikipedia page.

Here is a link to his website's gallery page.

More Great Photos

I'll be blogging about photography and photographers a bit. Here's a site that features some of the best photographic images in existence - MAGNUM PHOTOS. They represent some of the worlds great artists in the field including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paul Fusco, Steve McCurry, Abbas and Martine Franck. The images that they (it's a  co-operative owned by its photographer-members) represent "chronicle the world and interpret its people, events, issues and personalities."

I think the photos speak for themselves.

Film Is Not Dead

In a previous life I worked as a photographer and cinematographer. I loved film. I loved that you really had to know what you were doing to get a usable result. You had to understand how film worked. You had to understand light, shadow and an H and D curve.

Now digital photography is the norm. Most of the photographers I knew who were adamant about film in the '80s and '90s have now embraced digital. But in New York City (and elsewhere) there are a group of die-hard filmophiles that refuse to give up using film cameras. This short film features several and the services that support them.

Kodachrome may be gone, but just like buggy whips, film is here to stay.

We Should Listen to Warren Buffett

In America, we revere the rich. We listen when they talk and we follow their advice hoping that some of their wealth will rub off on us. Here is Warren Buffett, arguably one of our nations richest men, telling us that things HAVE to change if we are to avoid disaster. In this video Warren Buffett discusses his New York Times Op-Ed piece 'Stop Coddling the Super-Rich' which calls on Congress to increase taxes on the Super-Rich like himself. He says, "Yes, there's been a class war in the United States. And my class, namely the super rich people, have won."

The question I have is, will we listen?

Fun Time!

Science fiction can save us!

Where's Your Get Up and Go?

In the "New Economy" being light on your feet will really count. Being able to be mobile for work, play and life will open up opportunities unavailable to those rooted to place. This wonderful video features a 1949 Pullman Railcar that has been converted into a living/working space. It's 85' long by 9½' wide and the interior has been designed by Marc Riera. Now this could sure save you energy, money and take you to where the work is.

Hunter Lovins - The Madrone Project

The cost of energy drives the price of everything else. The Madrone Project is a non-profit educational team that brings greater depth and scale to sustainability education by delivering advanced modular curricula curated for digital media. Madrone works with academic institutions, companies and citizens who want high quality education on the challenges facing the planet and the new research developments that will impact the future of sustainability. And the future we want to get to is in the hands on those being educated now.

Watch this TEDx video from Hunter Lovins. She explains that the problem facing energy sustainability is not that it costs more; it's that it costs less. New energy technologies are threatening older, costlier, entrenched  technologies and the industries that are supported by them. That's why we're not moving into the future. We're too attached to our past. 

We can change this. We can achieve energy independence. We need to educate ourselves and our young people to do this. She will explain how easily this can be done.

The Madrone Project facebook page

Not All Energy Comes From Technology

Energy is tied directly to wealth and lack of affordable energy is tied directly to poverty. Do you think the poor work less hard than you do? Think again. Cheap energy (and being able to leverage that energy to increase productivity) in America has brought us the wealth we enjoy.

Paul Polak's vision is that if you treat the poor like consumers and entrepreneurs, they will get themselves out of poverty. His non-profit company, International Development Enterprises (IDE), is dedicated to developing practical solutions that attack poverty at its roots. It has developed many tools to make this happen and some of them are human and animal powered. These sources of energy are scaled and appropriate to the developing cultures. Polak's work has already moved 17 million people out of poverty. That might be a drop in the bucket, but it's a good start.

Have a look at his video from TEDxTalks and check out his book, Out of Poverty.

Let There Be Light!

We waste energy. There's no doubt about it. We especially waste it making light. 1.4 billion people around the world don't have access to an electrical grid. In many parts of the world, when the sun goes down, that's the end of the day. Getting light into rural areas of the developing world usually involves burning kerosene, which is costly, dirty and can also be unhealthy.

Steve Katsaros has a solution. His company Nokero (short for "No Kerosene"), set out to get light into as many hands as possible in the developing world. The Nokero N200 is his creation.

It's great for camping, too. I think I'm going to get several.

The End Of Gasoline

I think I'll do a few blog entries on energy now.

Everywhere you look you see the end of oil as an energy source. One of the main indicators is higher prices for things because of higher energy costs. So much talk about peak oil, drill-baby-drill and other such nonsense.

Well the end of oil appears to be just around the corner. Researchers have discovered a great alternative solution to gasoline: 1 gram of thorium can produce the equivalent energy of 7,500 gallons of gasoline.

Here are two articles that discuss the subject. The first is about the research and technology behind this and the second concerns the experimental vehicle designed to use this breakthrough.

Ain't tech grand?

8 Grams of Thorium Could Replace Gasoline in Cars

U.S. Researcher Preparing Prototype Cars Powered by Heavy-Metal Thorium