Joby Blog

Seeing Red Photo Contest

Emily — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 00:40:15 +0000

Last week, we hosted a Seeing Red Photo Contest in honor of our new products GorillaPod Hybrid Red and GorillaPod SLR Zoom Red. We had so many great submissions and are so impressed! Here are the winners and some of our favorite entries. It was incredibly tough to narrow it down to even this selection. Thanks to everyone who entered!

And the winners of a GorillaPod Hybrid Red or SLR Zoom Red are …

… Ramune Bernotaite

RED by Ramune Bernotaite

… and FNU Veeresh! Congratulations!

Gimme Red by FNU Veeresh

And here are some more of our favorite entries …

Alaa K

Allison Hwang

Bartek Wawrzynkiewicz

Brian Pflanz

Corey Wright

Christopher Chua

Gage Salyards

Inna Malostovker

Jacob Legge

Joseph

Judy Demond

Marie-Catherine O'Malley

Maryann Pawlyshyn

Masakazu Ejiri

Nour Suleiman

Omar Shami

Patti Thompson

Pavel Musil

Rajiv Pachat

Rhyn Williams

Rick Ohnsman

Robert Coats

Sakari Sipila

View even more great photography from the contest on our Facebook Page! Stay tuned for more fun contests!

Enter our Seeing Red Photo Contest!

Emily — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 17:51:16 +0000

We’re happy to introduce GorillaPod Hybrid Red and GorillaPod SLR Zoom Red! To celebrate, we’re having a photo contest! Enter your photo today! Contest ends 1/23/12.

JOBY at CES 2012 – Video!

Emily — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:01:26 +0000

Depression Era Color Photography

Emily — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 20:53:04 +0000

Just the other day on my walk home from the office, I was listening to an old episode of This American Life. The theme of the episode was “Who do you think you are” and discussed the ever-present conflict between those who have and those who have not. Act One featured snippets of interviews by the great reporter Studs Terkel, who recorded oral histories of ordinary Americans for the majority of his career in radio. In this particular collection, people reflected on their experiences during the Great Depression. For me, the frankness of these interviews was eye-opening.

Children in the tenement district. Brockton, Massachusetts, December 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Because of these stories, I’ve had Depression Era America on the brain and decided to poke around the internet for some photographs. During the 30s and 40s, the Farm Security Administration had a team of photographers who documented the lives of ordinary Americans and the effects of the Depression on their lives. Over 175,000 photographs were taken, and while the majority of them are black and white, some were shot on color transparency film. These color photographs were organized into an exhibit in 2006. They are beautiful and capture a side of the Depression that I’ve never seen before.

Chopping cotton on rented land near White Plains. White Plains, Greene County, Georgia, June 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

If you have some time, listen to the piece by Terkel and browse the photographs. All photos are property of the Library of Congress and on their site you can browse the entire FSA collection, the entire color collection or the top 15 requested prints. You can even request prints for yourself! The photos are public domain, after all. Meanwhile, enjoy this incredible collection of photographs.

Backstage at the "girlie" show at the state fair. Rutland, Vermont, September 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Children asleep on bed during square dance. McIntosh County, Oklahoma, 1939 or 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

The Faro Caudill family eating dinner in their dugout. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Homesteader and his children eating barbeque at the New Mexico Fair. Pie Town, New Mexico, October 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

On main street of Cascade. Cascade, Idaho, July 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Boy building a model airplane as girl watches. Robstown, Texas, January 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Arthur Rothstein. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

African American's tenant's home beside the Mississippi River levee. Near Lake Providence, Louisiana, June 1940. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Assembling B-25 bombers at North American Aviation. Kansas City, Kansas, October 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Woman is working on a "Vengeance" dive bomber Tennessee, February 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Shepherd with his horse and dog on Gravelly Range Madison County, Montana, August 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Russell Lee. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Rural school children. San Augustine County, Texas, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Women workers employed as wipers in the roundhouse having lunch in their rest room, Chicago and Northwest Railway Company. Clinton, Iowa, April 1943. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

View in a departure yard at Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company's Proviso yard at twilight. Chicago, Illinois, December 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Jack Delano. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Welder making boilers for a ship, Combustion Engineering Company. Chattanooga, Tennessee, June 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Alfred T. Palmer. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Grand Grocery Company. Lincoln, Nebraska, 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Shulman's market, on N at Union Street S.W. Washington, D.C., between 1941 and 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Louise Rosskam. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

African American migratory workers by a "juke joint". Belle Glade, Florida, February 1941. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Marion Post Wolcott. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Worker at carbon black plant. Sunray, Texas, 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Worker at carbon black plant John Vachon. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

Just amazing. If you feel so inclined, share the photographs of the Depression that you find most moving in the comments.

CES 2012! We’re going! Are you?

Emily — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:56:30 +0000

Our friends Lowepro and Acme Made will be there too! We hope to see you at our booth!

December Staff Photo Contest

Emily — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:19:47 +0000

We’ve got quite the talented team here at JOBY and a few months ago I decided to test their skills with a monthly photography contest. Each month features a new theme, folks submit their best work, then we vote for our favorites. Here’s a peak into the photographic imaginations of the JOBY team with December’s Photo Contest —Dark and Light.

Do you have a photo that perfectly captures the juxtaposition between dark and light? Share on our Facebook Page or on Twitter (@jobyinc)!

Happy Holidays from JOBY!

Emily — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:00:12 +0000

We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

And we’ll be back here next year with plenty of photo fun!

Ps. If you need a break from cookies, candy and holiday cheer, check out our Winter Photo Contest or Rick Sammon’s Portrait Photography Tips.

JOBY Winter Photo Contest 2011

Emily — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 22:15:40 +0000

Here are the beautiful photos for our Winter Photo Contest 2011! We had so many great submissions and are so impressed! Thanks to everyone who entered!

And the winners of a JOBY GorillaPod Focus and a Lowepro DLSR Fastpack are …

… Teresa Reid

Teresa Pope Reid

and Craig Holquist of Penn Wood’s Photography

Penn's Woods Photography

And now for the rest of the amazing entries!

Andrius Repsys

Anna Caitlin Lackey

Aurora Lampson

Ben Podolak

Bryan Rau

Diego Luison

Elise Marks

Ernestas Erna

Felix Pks

Fred Benz

Gage Salyards

Gus Jockers

Ivan Handler

Jack Bell

Jeremy Sky Crawford

John Mccoy

Jurgita Maceviciute-Malakauskiene

Martynas Dainius

Mary Ellen Catindig

Matt Baker-White

Mihai Miroiu

Mike Barbee

Olena Taylor

Ramune Ber

Richard Johanns

Ryan Wakat

Sakari Sipila

Silvia Cheung

Simon Gaudet Binet

Travis Fisher

Yashaswi Manjunath N

Aren’t you impressed! We’ll be back with more great photo contests in the new year!

Tips from a Pro: Sports Photography Secrets

Emily — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 19:33:54 +0000

Robert Beck is a staff photographer for Sports Illustrated magazine. For over 20 years, he has been behind the lens shooting sporting events all over the world. From golf to baseball, surfing to skiing, Robert captures athletes in action. He shared his secrets to great sports photography with us yesterday in a webinar hosted by our friends at Lowepro.

Robert’s Gear for Sports Photography
Musts
-DSLR Body – He uses a Nikon D3s
-70 – 200 mm lens with f2.8 aperture
-Lens hood to protect his lens (instead of a filter)
-UDMA CF Cards in the fastest available speed, 4 GB – 8 GB

Nice to have
-200 – 400 mm lens, f4
-24 – 70 mm lens, f2.8
-16 mm fisheye lens
-Flash

Which Camera Settings to Use

1. JPEG and RAW – Shoot camera RAW to capture the most information and have the most flexibility in post-production
2. Autofocus ON - You can change how fast your camera acquires the autofocus info. Set the speed of autofocus to correspond with the sport your shooting. Primarily uses the center dot as the focus pointHas the back button set up so he can focus first and then shoot a general area without the camera re-focusing
3. Vibration reduction software OFF
4. Auto white balance ON. Auto white balance is pretty good on new DSLRs Outdoors set it to “cloudy” to add warmth. Indoors match the light type. in the arena
5. Exposure mode MANUAL. Robert shoots completely manual to have the most flexibility. Underexposed is better than overexposed
6. ISO as low as possible for the lighting conditions. For example, if it is sunny use 100 ISO, cloudy use 400 ISO. The higher the ISO, the more noise (pixilation) will occur

What Makes Sports Shots Good?

Every published photo is one out of 100s or 1000s of photos taken. This is where practice comes in. The more you shoot, the higher percentage of the photos you take will be good ones. Bottom line: if you want to become a better photographer – SHOOT! SHOOT! SHOOT!

Backgrounds are the most important thing to pay attention when you’re shooting sports. Find a background that is the least distracting possible to bring your subject out. You want it to be obvious to the viewer what the subject is.

Light – pay attention to the lighting conditions and work them to your advantage.

-The golden hour when the sun is low in the sky (early morning or late afternoon) is a great time.
-If you’re shooting in the middle of the day, put your subject against a darker background.
-Keep shooting even if its cloudy, rainy, snowy – let the action speak for itself!
-Play the light – Good front light is also good backlight. Try and get both perspectives.

Aperture – Set it to F2.8 or F4 for a shallow depth of field. This makes the background drop out dramatically so the viewer focuses on the subject

Composition – shoot a mixture of tight and loose shots. When in doubt, shoot looser. You can always crop-in during post-production.

Shutter speed – 1/1000^th of a second is the slowest speed if you’re shooting action sports.

***

If you’re interested in viewing Robert Beck’s work, please visit his website. If you’d like to be in the loop for Lowepro’s next webinar, follow them on Facebook.

Fall Photo Contest 2011!

Emily — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:08:40 +0000

Here are the beautiful entries to our Fall Photo Contest 2011. We had so many great submissions that we decided to award additional prizes! Congratulations to our Fall Photo Contest winners!

Fan Favorite: Rebeka Drahos! Wins a GorillaPod Focus!

Rebeka Drahos

JOBY Favorite: Kerry Griechen! Wins a GorillaPod Focus!

Kerry Griechen

Voters: Janca Dániel, John McCoy, Ryan Breeden and Meredith Adelaide each win a GorillaPod Original!

And the rest of the amazing entries …

Alex Boone

Cassio Magalhaes

Christian Farkas

Christina Harness

Danielle Dearborn

Janca Daniel

John MccoyMarie Routledge

Meredith Adelaide

Rebecca Starrett

Rick Ohnsman

Ryan Breeden

Semion Bourakevich

Susie Szeto Price

Terry McGraw

Timo Ryttari

Tony Phimister

Travis Fisher

Yashaswi Manjunath N

Stay tuned for future contests and giveaways! I see a Winter Photo Contest on the horizon!