I don't know about you but I tend to take a bunch of photos and besides sharing them with family or friends and printing them(on a Kodak printer of course ;) I don't do much else with them. So with that in mind I scoured the web and found some sites that you can have some fun with those photos that are burning up space on your hard drive:

• Magnigraph.com - just take any photo and upload it to this site an it will create a "scalable vector graphic" of it. Translated to English, that means this site will make you look more creative than you actually are. Take a look at one of my masterpieces:

• PhotoFunia.com - if you need a quick way to impress someone with some imaginative photoshopping skills(and don't have any) then go to this site. You just choose a photo you want to plaster with your headshot and then through the magic of teh internets your face is now part of that image!

• Superlame.com - did you ever dream of having a cartoon thought bubble on your pictures? Something that captures the moment beyond the visual and can give the viewer a true sense of what you were thinking? Well put down that copy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, stop eating those Cheetos, move out of your parents basement now because Superlame is here for you.
  
  

Regulars to this blog might recall a post where I explored the History of Bunny Ears. Today I would like to delve into another photographic genre, that of milk sploop photography. I bet most of you haven't heard of this but it quietly surrounds our daily lives.

First of all, a definition: Milk Sploop Photography is the art of capturing the precise moment when an edible projectile strikes a pool of milk. The examples below should provide clarity for you.

Sometimes the act of pouring it is enough to cause a milk sploop. However, mothers universally frown upon this technique.

Please note the variety of sploops from subtle to downright exuberant.

Not all products are suited to wild splashes of milk.

Unlike many photographic traditions the origins of sploop photography can be precisely traced. Eadward Muybridge (1830-1904) invented the use of multiple cameras to stop motion as early as 1872. He used his zoopraxiscope to display the images he captured. This pre-dated the type of motion picture projectors we think of today. But I digress...

Harold "Doc" Edgerton (1903-1990), an MIT professor, pioneered the use of strobe lighting in lieu of multiple cameras to literally "stop" time to capture speeding bullets, golf swings, etc. One of his most famous images is the Milk Drop Coronet, circa 1957.

Thus, milk sploop photography was born.

Today, the Amalgamated Milk Sploop Photography Society (AMSPS) has advanced the skills and techniques of this profession. They have gatherings in many places around the globe throughout the year, usually in cities where there are tall structures from which to drop things. They publish their findings so they can learn from one another. Here is a recent diagram from the society's journal, Drop by Drop, illustrated by AMSPS member, Lait Éclaboussure.

We hope that this window into a little-known niche of the photography world was interesting to you. The next time you walk down the cereal aisle please be sure to notice the ubiquitous and under-appreciated work of these tireless photographers. Please feel free to share your comments below. The work of AMSPS members is not often in the spotlight and a little bit of encouragement goes a long way.

Aprils Fools Day is one week away, so you know what that means. Time to start planning. The benefit of working with good friends means some healthy trickery at the office when this day rolls around. Allow me to illustrate. You may find some ideas here for your own April Fools Day fun.

The Balloon Cubicle:

About eight years ago, we sealed a coworker's door with plastic wrap and filled it with a gazillion balloons. Note my partner in crime, Joel Rosen checking the stabilty of the plastic wrap seal.

It was a sight to behold. And smell. You could smell the latex ten cubicles away.

If you decide on this particular prank keep three things in mind.

1. Make sure the lady in the cubicle next door is not deathly afraid of balloons.
2. Do not dive into a cubicle full of balloons. They merely move out of the way and you will hit the floor... hard.
3. Be sure to have pins on hand to help the victim clear the balloons out of the way before their 10 o'clock meeting.

Here I am surveying the scene rubbing my hands together with evil glee.

The Newspaper Desk:

Then a few years later, we wrapped another coworker's desk completely in newspaper.

I mean completely. And everything on the desk too. Stapler, mouse, pens, keyboard.

It may take a village to raise a child, but it only takes a design group to wrap all your office supplies in the sports section. There is Joel again, carefully wrapping the CPU.

Here is Tina Clark delicately wrapping a pen. Oh and me... looking quite evil again.

The completed desk was quite impressive.

I am so glad I work with such creative people. Oh and such good sports!