DES MOINES, Iowa (KCCI) – An Iowa man is using his personal camera collection to help teach and empower young girls through the power of photography.

Dan Troxell, from Des Moines, is using his collection for the “Butterfly Effect,” an after-school program which teaches students the art and essentials of photography, like loading film, and shutter speeds.

It’s part of a partnership aligning with the mission of empowering girls.

Troxell said it’s a way to get students away from selfies and social media to explore photography as an art form.

“Get them away from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, you know, instant gratification, into a more thoughtful, artistic way to view the world,” Troxell said.

It’s just one of 30 after-school programs supported by the Chrysalis Foundation.

To learn more and to find out how you can support the effort, you can head to the Chrysalis Foundation’s website.

Copyright 2024 KCRG. All rights reserved.

June 04, 2024

Lead ImageThe Filial Daughter孝女Photography by by Mengyu Zhou

The Acer SpatialLabs Eyes Stereo Camera is a new camera with two lenses positioned apart, just like eyes, to capture a stereoscopic 3D image.

The device is a straightforward ‘box’ design, with two eight-megapixel cameras, a weatherproof design, EIS, and a ‘manual mode’.

It is designed to provide ‘eyes’ to Acer’s existing range of 3D products – monitors and laptops which have 3D displays which don’t need glasses.

Acer’s SpatialLabs tech relies on a lenticular monitor, but the technology has moved on a long way from the ridged screens over static images you might remember from years ago (or the Nintendo 3DS).

Acer’s screens use eye-tracking cameras to ensure the correct image is projected, allowing the user a certain amount of movement.

There are still limitations. There are four apps that make up the SpatialLabs suite, all for Windows, so Mac users won’t be able to take advantage. Each requires switching to full screen; the 4K monitors work on a SBS (side by side) approach, which is – in so far as any 3D system is – well-recognised. What that means is video is sent as two side-by-side images; a side-effect in YouTube for a long while was messed-up control icons.

The result, though, is that (in person) objects can appear to be about 10cm / 3-inches closer to you than the surface of the screen itself.

Ok, so the camera…

The camera lenses have an aperture of f/2 with a 21mm EFL. Together the provide an 80-degree horizontal and 52-degree vertical field of view. The ‘eyes’ are 63mm apart, similar to human eyes, and each possesses a 1/2.8-inch CMOS sensor.

These deliver a photo resolution of 7680 x 2160 SBS, or a 30fps video at the same resolution (or 60fps at 3840 x 2160). This lower resolution is also available for stereo webcam and for a 30fps HDR mode.

The back of the camera sports a 2.41-inch touchscreen, though there is also a ‘built-in selfie mirror’ so the camera can be aimed for meetings and the like.

The camera does a boast 6-axis gyro for image stabilization, and a light 220g weight (perhaps as it only has 37 minutes of recording time untethered).

These specs suggest that when Acer say ‘designed for photographers’ they’re using a modern take on the term, very video and streaming bias, but at least the lenses are appropriate positioned (though it is interesting that the EFL is narrower than the 42mm you might expect – presumably this is to allow the user to ‘frame’ themselves/their subject).

The device’s uses aren’t as niche as you might imagine either; 3D content is increasingly standardized (so much so it’s a barely mentioned feature of plenty of TVs). Anything which can handle a video feed can, in theory, handle SBS video, so 3D video calling on Teams, Zoom, and Google Meet are cited by Acer as practical uses.

This, admittedly, is something customers will need to wait for, until another SpatialLabs widget comes along, promised for Q3 this year, but then the camera itself won’t go on sale in Q3 for US$549. 

Until then, it is a good reminder that innovations in photography aren’t all being led by traditional photography brands. Sure, faster focusing and eye-tracking are exciting but they’re improvements – but this is a markedly different approach but one which might yet take-off given the impetus coming from the many AR and VR products. This is a more complete example, but Apple Spatial Video can already be recorded on some iPhones, so Acer isn’t alone here.

If you’re interested in 3D, have you considered the best 360-degree cameras?

Dune: Part Two has been one of the biggest cinema blockbusters of 2024. Praised for its outstanding action sequences and set design, it turned Budapest, Hungary, into a far-off alien planet. It drew to a close the new version of the movie franchise and featured stunning visual storytelling, thanks to world-renowned and Oscar-winning cinematographer Greig Fraser. 

His visual wizardry isn’t limited to using cinema cameras, though; Fraser is also a prolific stills photographer, and made the most of his time with the star-studded cast to capture an intimate look behind the scenes of Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films. 

From beautiful shooting locations and otherworldly costumes to capturing cinematic characters and candid actors in equal measure, it culminates in a gallery of hundreds of images displayed for us all to enjoy in a new photography book – Dune: Exposures. 

The movies’ visuals are so strong that there have already been three books on Dune’s art and photography. However, these differ as they look at the images captured by unit stills photographer Chiabella James and capture the world of Dune from the outside. 

Fraser’s images are very much a documentation of the process of making the film from within – a perfect companion to the existing books, highlighting the humanity and emotions of the cast and crew’s experiences while bringing to life Villeneuve and Frank Herbert’s Dune. 

Greig Fraser is a confessed geek about light and camera optics, and recently explained how he used infrared cinema cameras to capture one of the movie’s most memorable scenes. This obsession has made him one of Hollywood’s most in-demand cinematographers, but it also translates to capturing technically impressive still photographs. 

But it isn’t just the technical ability that shines in Dune: Exposures, as the book is packed full of striking emotion, giving the reader a sense of what it was like to be on set. This sense of emotion is helped by the poetic text woven throughout the book, written by actor Josh Brolin. 

Brolin and Fraser developed a unique bond during production, forming a connection that led to this remarkable collaboration. Brolin’s poignant writing elevates the book, providing heartfelt commentary and context to the vivid images, pulled from his first-hand experiences on set. 

Yet it delves deeper than that and asks more philosophical questions that arose during his time filming Dune. Brolin writes of youth, ambitions and self-discovery in a vulnerable tone that we don’t often see much any more, yet we are in desperate need of. 

Candid moments on set were captured with grace, enabling the viewer to imagine themselves among the star-studded cast of actors – the likes of Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and, of course, Brolin himself.

This book is already a classic and will continue to be in years to come. It provides never-before-seen insight into many of the rising movie stars of today, in a more sophisticated and thoughtful medium than the social media feed we are accustomed to. 

“These are ours, Greig Fraser’s, and mine. His photographs. My words,” writes Brolin. “They were prompted by a love of people and process, and they are the direct result of Tonya LaPoint [producer on Dune: Part 1 and 2] one day presenting and pushing the idea that Greig and I should come together and create a book. As messy, artistic, and raw as the photos are are as messy, fun, sensorial as I hope the words that accompany them are.” 

Dune: Exposures is published by and available now for $60 / £50 / AU$107. 

This book is for fans of cinema, as it is for fans of photography, as it is for fans of great writing. It has something for everyone and is an ideal coffee table book to be picked up and read again and again, delving in at a point speaks to you at the time.

Check out our story on the new photography book released by Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, Dear God, the Parthenon is Broken.

You might also be interested in our guides to the best coffee table books on photography and the best books on portrait photography.