The search for a camera strap for my DSLR is over for good. Finally someone came up with something that is both comfortable to wear (especially important while traveling) and functional when it comes to actually taking photos. The strap is called Cinch and it is designed and made by Portland, Oregon-based Luma Labs. The key to what makes Cinch special is the ability to easily make the strap longer so you can quickly bring up your camera to take a picture — then tighten it all right back up and be on your way. The other huge plus is the fact that the design puts the camera in a perfect cradle while you are on the go. This is a very important aspect if you are walking around all day, because no one likes a camera impaling you in the side the whole time. Or maybe you do get down like that, though probably better if we don’t talk about it.

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Nick DeWolf spent nearly his entire life carrying around a camera and documenting the places he went and the things he saw. The scale and scope of this is incredible, especially when you consider it was all done in a time before digital photography. Over the past four years I have been following his life, roll by roll and slide by slide, through Flickr. The photos are being shared with the help of DeWolf’s son-in-law Steve Lundeen, who has been methodically scanning and cataloging DeWolf’s life’s worth of photos — a project nearly as daunting as the original.

The photos have been working their way through the 1960s into the 1970s until recently when pictures from a vacation to Europe in 1959 began playing out through the Flickrstream. The trip begins in May of 1959 on an SAS flight from Idlewild Airport (now called John F. Kennedy International Airport) to Stockholm, Sweden. From there the adventures continue on through France, Switzerland and Italy. The images from this journey are some of my favorite from the tens of thousands that have been published by DeWolf.

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This past weekend in Italy I was sort of surprised to see so many motorcyclists on the winding roads of Piemonte. Upon my return to the States I received an email from the guys in at Bike Exif (which is a pretty awesome site that should be on your daily reads list) with a link to an amazing photo series from a 1953 motorcycle tour of Europe. It all just seemed too perfect considering my recent adventures; though, truth be told my weekend was spent behind the wheel of a Fiat 500, sadly not an old Triumph.

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34th Street. Note the building with the billboards who wouldn't sell to Macy's so they built around it.

There’s something about these old photos of New York that continually draws me back. I actually posted some other images from this collection by Berenice Abbott back in 2009 during the thick of the economic meltdown, which sadly many people are still dealing with. Abbott’s photos — which were commissioned by the WPA and are part of the New York Public Library’s collection — cover a large swath of New York life during the mid-1930s, another very difficult period in our country’s history.

Even though you may have seen these before, these photos are never a let down. To me it is interesting to see how much the city has changed and of course, how it hasn’t. You can see the complete set here and can own the book too, should you desire.

Under the elevated train. Beautiful.

The bread was warm. Note the fog on the glass.

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Schaffhausen, Switzerland | 11:41 am Thursday, January 20th, 2011.

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Neuhausen am Rheinfall, Switzerland | 10:29 am Thursday, January 20th, 2011.

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There are things in this world that one needs and there are things that one wants. The Lecia M9 is most decidedly living in the want category. The below videos show the assembly process of these beautiful German made cameras, showing you exactly what goes into making such a fine machine. Because what could be better than seeing something amazing being made, even if that thing is far too expensive for you to own.

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Back in the days before the modern convenience of refrigeration, this is how people keep their food (read: their beer) ice cold. Men would harvest blocks of ice from frozen lakes and ponds with a horse & plow and giant saw. Workers would then load the slabs of ice into a spring house or an icehouse to sell to people for use in their ice boxes at home.

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Photos from the archive of Electrospark.

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Old Fish House, Kennebunkport, Maine

Club House, Kennebunk River, Kennebunkport, Maine

Canoe, Kennebunk River, Kennebunkport, Maine

Photos from the Detroit Publishing Company archive.

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During the 1930s the U.S. Government commissioned a huge photography project to document the Great Depression and in doing so created some of the most iconic and enduring images of American life. I really fell in love with a set of photos of the White Motor Company from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio and I thought it would be cool to make my own personalized calendar from the images. Lucky for me the files are available in high enough resolution to print a normal size calendar through the Apple printing service. I selected about 14 of my favorite pictures (which seem to be copyright free, at least for this clearly non-commercial use) laid everything out in iPhoto and submitted the job straight through to Apple. About two weeks and $28 later I was in business.

More information about the photographs from the Library of Congress:

The black-and-white photographs of the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information Collection are a landmark in the history of documentary photography. The images show Americans at home, at work, and at play, with an emphasis on rural and small-town life and the adverse effects of the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, and increasing farm mechanization. Some of the most famous images portray people who were displaced from farms and migrated West or to industrial cities in search of work. In its latter years, the project documented America’s mobilization for World War II. The collection includes about 164,000 black-and-white negatives; this release provides access to over 160,000 of these images. The FSA-OWI photographers also produced about 1600 color photographs.

The White Motor Company calendar was a nice way to celebrate some of these amazing and iconic images, not to mention my own hometown’s wartime industrial strength. I’m already thinking of a railroad worker themed 2011. [Additionally, do like me and be sure to thank the LOC for the personal pleasure (and totally non-commercial use) of their photos. Donate online here.]

Here’s a better look at the gent in the above image.

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