The New York Times has an interesting article about the evolution of tea bags for the masses.

Artists – want to work and live in NY city? AsylumNYC may be your ticket. You have to be a non-US citizen, though.

Beginner's guide from a seasoned CSS-designer: Bookmark it!

The digital rangefinder Leica M8 is around the corner, or so says Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer fame

Picture Correct: news, tips and camera reviews for digital photographers

Shrink Pictures: Yet another way to, well, shrink large pictures so that you don't inflict bloated email inboxes on unsuspecting friends and relatives [via Steve Rubel's Micro Persuasion]

Chris Jordan redefines the word “portrait” in his new book, In Katrina's Wake: Portraits of Loss From An Unnatural Disaster

S. Mitra Kalita of Suburban Sahibs fame [and a Washington Post reporter] tips us off to internships at her paper. Deadline is November 1. You have to be in school to apply.

Split Portraits – is this the next big trend in photography? Sean Kernan, I remember, did this about ten years ago and did it really well.

I See No Stranger: Early Sikh Art and Devotion is an art exhibition which presents paintings, drawings, textiles, and devotional objects that explore the values, practices, and artistic heritage of Sikhs, who comprise the world's fifth-largest organized religion.

Founded in the sixteenth century by Guru Nanak, a poet, philosopher, and holy man, the religion holds that God is found through humility, service, and an affirmation of beauty and joy in everyday life. Its messages of openness, equality, social responsibility, and devotion to simple truths are as radical today as it was in rigidly ordered medieval India.

Organized by the Rubin Museum of Art and with the support and participation of The Sikh Foundation and The Sikh Art and Film Foundation, the exhibition comprises loans from museums in India and the United States and private collections in the United States and England.

This exhibition opens at the museum on September 18 and runs through January 29, 2007.

This from an email sent out by SAJA:

SAWCC's [South Asian Women's Creative Collective] very own writing workshop, Brown Eyed Girls [BEG], will be recommencing in mid-September. BEG was created in spring 2002, in response to the needs of the SAWCC's literary membership for a structured space within which to workshop pieces and receive critical feedback. Fiction and creative non-fiction writers of ALL experience levels are welcome (we do not workshop poetry). All we ask is that you provide the time and commitment to contribute as an active workshop member. Each meeting will last approximately two hours, during which two submissions will be critiqued. Our meetings are usually conducted on Sundays in a space in Manhattan [exact time & location TBA].

The only eligibility requirements for the workshop are that the participant be a South Asian woman, and that she subscribe to the SAWCC listserv.

In order to apply, we ask that you email us the following by September 15th:

Please email all submissions to: sawccwriters@gmail.com.

If you have any questions, please contact Beena Ahmad, BEG facilitator, at beena.ahmad@gmail.com.

Gita Mehta author of several bestselling books, including Karma Cola, Raj, A River Sutra, and Snakes and Ladders will be discussing her new book, Eternal Ganesha at the Rubin Museum of Art today.

The event starts at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18. If you are a SAJA member you get 10% off. The museum is located at 150 West 17th Street, New York City. If you are still lost, call 212.620.5000 ext. 344.

Author Gita Mehta & RMA curator Kathryn Selig Brown discuss the most beloved deity in the Hindu pantheon, Ganesha, bringer of wealth, well-being, and luck.

Back in February, I posted here about Shana Dressler's discovery of Ganesha.

Nominate this blog for Best of the Blogs [BOBS]

Elements of Style for Designers

Some del.icio.us Adobe links

TextExpander and RapidWeaver are programs I am contemplating using [both Mac programs]

With all that has transpired over the last month in the photojournalism world one could easily turn cynical about the lost art of capturing reality as it happens versus making shit up in Photoshop. But photographers aren't grumpy curmudgeons are they? Nah. Check this link out thanks to Aphotoaday.org and this one at Userfriendly. I got a kick out of seeing both. Trust me, once in a while, we can laugh at ourselves.

The Workshops as it has been known in Rockport, Maine is up for sale. David Lyman, its founder is calling it quits after 33 years to spend more time writing, producing DVDs [about what I have no clue] and sailing his boat around the world. At 66, he is also a family man now and wants to spend more time with his wife and kids. Best wishes to him.

Now if only I had a couple of million dollars, I would buy the place up and revamp it. As an alumnus of its work-study program [I swept every single step of Union Hall], I wonder if I would get a bit of a discount. All jokes aside, The Workshops was a terrific place. And yes, I would love to own a part of it. Apparently some alumni and well-wishers have set up a corporation to buy its assets. I'll still need a couple of million dollars to invest.

A large part of me wants The Workshops to continue doing what it has done for so long; inform and inspire photographers from all walks of life to become better image makers. But even as a student there, I could feel the vibe was all off. It made even more sense when I had the chance to study at The Santa Fe Workshops. Comparing the two, the cadence was different. In Rockport, it seemed terribly money-oriented. The workshops in Santa Fe were much more relaxed.

I remember once encountering Mr. Lyman himself at the local one-hour photo processing shop in Camden. Actually, I didn't realize he was standing behind me until it was time for me to leave the store. But as I dropped off my film off, I was asked whether I was with the workshops in Rockport. Having enrolled as a student there, I naturally said I was. Apparently the workshops had some sort of an account with the store and the man behind the counter assumed I knew that any charges I incurred would be added to that account. I made it clear to the man that I was going to pay. I returned back to the workshops where I was pulled aside and asked about my recent trip and whether I had charged my expense to the workshops. I was a bit offended that I had not been directly approached by Lyman. True, he had every right to confirm that I wasn't siphoning off resources that rightfully belonged to his little empire. But I just wish I had been asked about my transaction in the store rather than be treated like a petty thief after the fact. I received no apology even though it was confirmed that I had paid for my own processing.

But that's all water under a wide bridge. Isn't it? Despite that one ugly moment, The Workshops will remain close to my heart. It was there that I learned to process black & white film, mix chemicals for wet labs and print on fiber-based paper using the Zone System [made famous by Ansel Adams of course]. It was there that I fell in love with a medium that I have obsessed over for the last 10 years.

News via Pete Kiehart

“Journalists should have less of a concern of what is and isn't “journalism,” and more of a concern for important, focused information that is useful to people's lives and helps them understand the world. A newspaper ought to be that: a fair look at current, important information for a readership.”

Following in the footsteps of the Bivings Report, is Adrian Holovaty's lucid take on how newspapers and their websites must change or wither away.

Scott Kirkpatrick at The Online Photographer posted a rather surreal image of Henri Cartier-Bresson's bronzed handprint. Take a look.

Al-liquindoi, a popular Spanish expression means “to be alert, observe one's surroundings with an eye for detail.” It also is a popular documentary photography workshop led by some of the greatest photographers on this planet. To apply or find out more, click here.