I don’t think many of us here ever get fed up hauling around our camera, but I suppose that changes when you have to take an 8kg Linhof full-frame camera with you. But what do you do about it? Well, New York photographer Kipp Wettstein decided to build his own.

Using aerospace-grade aluminium and carbon fiber he created a light-weight and very mobile camera. He designed it in such a way that the lens and camera shape work together to create optimal sharpness and colour contrast.
It’s no surprise that this doesn’t come cheap: Kipp can be commissioned to build you one, but that will set you back between $5000 and $9000.

click! photography changes everything is presented by the Smithsonian Photography Initiative as an ongoing project to explore how photographic images shape our lives.

Some interesting articles here and this Fall the Smithsonian invites submissions from the public. Amazing how photography has impacted so many areas of society and life.

As everyone probably knows already, earlier this year Polaroid announced that they would discontinue production of all instant film. It’s a sad thought really. I know digital is much more accessible nowadays, and cheaper in many ways, but it is sad to see this dying out. I have no skills with a Polaroid, but I know a number of people who are exceptional and produce beautiful photos.

So, if you are a lover of instant film, head over to www.savepolaroid.com and join in. As the site says,

“This site is not about saving Polaroid, the company, rather the remarkable invention of Edwin Land, the instant film that made Polaroid a household name. “

Many folks will argue that film in general is on borrowed time already, but I’d hate to think that. Maybe I’m just being naive.

The New York Times has created a presentation of great photographs from 2007. 2007: The Year in Pictures is worth a look.

There is a new public art project underway, the Big Art Mob. It aims to create the first public submitted document of all the public art in the UK (from small projects by artists working in the  public realm through graffiti art to commissioned contemporary art and historical monuments).

The Big Art Mob is an online mobile blogging community project that supports a TV show that launches in April 2008. It is called the Big Art Project and is creating new public works of art in various areas in the United Kingdom. The site tries hard to ask the question “What is public art?”.

It looks really interesting and could be a really nice way to find all sorts of great public art pieces. I personally think the Banksy tag needs a little “sprucing up” and I’m sure we all have a few images we can submit to that.  I do think it’s a very interesting concept of the public “archiving” public art - much of which doesn’t stay around for very long - in the form of a community website.

So, there is a new photographer resource/community site to check out. The Edge is a spot for photographers worldwide to share resources and ideas. There are already some good posts and no doubt this could be a great site for photographer to share their experiences and ideas with others. I’m all for a more open photography community.