Years 2009-2012 Breningstall.com

Thom Hogan argues that frames per second are overrated

"Do I need 1 or 2 more fps? Absolutely not! In fact, I'd argue that there's evidence that these gains tend to come at the expense of autofocus performance more often than not. For what? At 1/500 second, which is usually the minimum of where I'm at when I'm shooting any kind of burst, the difference between "getting the shot" at 4 fps versus 12 fps boils down to not a lot of advantage: 1 in 125 of a chance of getting "the shot" versus 1 in 42. Meanwhile, if I actually use my senses to carefully time a single shot, I find my odds go up significantly, to something like 1 in 3 or 1 in 4. Which do you think I prefer?." -Thom Hogan

Dementia Behind Bars: aging prisoners cared for by convicted killers | video

The California Men’s Colony is using convicted killers to care for inmates who can no longer care for themselves.

Aside from targeting civilians, it looks like Syria is now also targeting journalists.

Rising protests in China.

World's Toughest Rodeo: Acrobat Rider

The World's Toughest Rodeo, including saddle broncos, bareback riding, bull riding and barrel racing, came to St. Paul's Xcel Energy Center on Feb. 4.

World's Toughest Rodeo: A Cowboy and His Horse (Photo)

A cowboy comes down during the bronco riding competition portion of the "World's Tougest Rodeo" at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. The rodeo will continue again Feb. 4.

CAAM Chinese Dance Theater Photos | China the Beautiful: from the mountains to the prairies

 CAAM Chinese Dance Theater performed "China the Beautiful: from the mountains to the prairies" at O'Shaughnessy Auditorium of St. Catherine University this weekend. These photos are taken from the January 21 dress rehearsal. Tomorrow is the Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. CAAM is based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.

 

 A Kazakh-themed harvest dance:

 CAAM Chinese Dance Theater performers act out a Mongolian festival:

The Week in Photography: news from around the web

Picnik has announced that it will be closing and advised all members to file their photos elsewhere; it's components will reportedly be moving on into the Google+ labyrinth. Picnik was a number of Google-related closures this month. More details.

Steve Huff is pushing new iPhone photo application, Tadaa!

Thom Hogan reviews the Olympus 12mm f/2: he finds it optically sound, with good distortion results but noticeable aberration; mostly, though, he whines about having to pay for a separate lens hood. Sorry Thom.

Kodak goes under. Or rather, files for bankruptcy. Lots has been in the news about this. I admire the Japanese innovation in the camera industry, but wish that just a little bit more of that innovation were taking place Stateside. The fact is, Kodak dug its own grave. The Economist has a piece on how Fujifilm survived.