The Week Ahead 06
Hi everyone,
It's Monday again and I can't believe we're a week into June already. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or bad thing we're almost halfway through 2020, but this year has been a wild ride to say the least.
Here are a few things I've got for the week ahead.
Privacy Concerns
I've looked at many powerful images shared online from protests around the country recently. I was somewhat surprised to find some photographers were blurring the faces of protesters in their photographs. I thought this seemed slightly odd, but this weekend, I came across an article by Zack Whittaker on Tech Crunch talking about some newly developed tools and apps to blur faces and scrub meta data within photos to help protect the identity of protesters. The key piece of information I was initially missing was that last week, the justice department gave the DEA expanded authority to conduct surveillance and collect information on protesters. Unreal... I hope this terrible tragedy moves us forward into a better future. While there have been a lot of bad news, riots, looting, and even more killing, I have seen many people unite together during this time, and that gives me (and hopefully a lot more people) hope.
https://techcrunch.com/2020/06/06/protesters-blur-faces-anonymize-photos/
Apple's New Patent
Imagine taking a group selfie with all your friends, but you're stuck inside by yourself. Well, Apple just filed a patent for that very thing. Actually, the patent is dated from 2018, but was just announced a few days ago. Basically, you would take a photo on your phone of yourself and invite your friends to join the image. The software then makes a composite of the images and combines them into one. Since there are multiple photos, each person would likely be able to adjust or change it to their liking.
Here's a solid write up on it if you're interested in learning more about it:
Livestream Concert
I've been watching a few different musicians stream live shows since concerts have been cancelled since March. This past week one of my favorite artists, Sturgill Simpson, streamed a live music performance from Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN. I was supposed to see him live in April and unfortunately the show had to be cancelled due to the 'rona. During the live stream, he had some exciting news to share that they would be releasing two new bluegrass albums (hopefully this fall). After the show, Simpson confirmed they have raised around $420,000 for charity. The charities include the Special Forces Foundation, The Equity Alliance, and Musicares. You can catch the full show on YouTube at this link: https://youtu.be/kO73im4J2sU
More Canon News
Canon is expected to officially reveal their new full-frame mirrorless cameras, the EOS R5 and R6, sometime at the beginning of July. While I doubt I'll be picking one up right away, I'm excited to see new developments and see where exactly these are going to be priced. I've heard around $3,500-$3,999 for the R5. The R6 is expected to be the more affordable full-frame entry level camera, much like the 6D is to the 5D series. I would expect a price point somewhere around $2,000.
I just had to share this...
I hope you all stay safe and have a great week. Be back soon.
-Nick