Beyond the Rhetoric

If you’re reading this in Canada, then there’s a good chance that you may have braved the epic Boxing Day crowds this morning (or you’re reading this on your mobile device while still waiting in line at the store). Even if you’re not in Canada, you may be encountering some post-Christmas sales and you may be suffering from some post-holiday blues. Don’t fret. The weekly speedlink is here to lift your spirits with some great posts from around the Internet.

We start off with a visit with Lisa Bettany. She took a rather stunning photo of Victoria Street lights in Edinburgh, Scotland. The extra long exposure (8 seconds) allowed her to capture those fun light trails, backdropped by historic brick buildings on a rather old looking street. It reminds me of Vancouver’s Gastown, except “Old town” in Edinburgh is likely a heck of a lot older.

Next, we have John Biehler experimenting with a different kind of photography. He’s offering his first impressions of the Lytro Light Field Camera. What’s unique about this camera is that you are able to adjust the focus after the shot has been taken. The actual photos are relatively low resolution, but this unique feature certainly sets the Lytro apart from every other camera out there. You can even embed these “perspective shift” shots on the web, as John has done.

Can you capture someone’s personality in a single photo? Dacey Orr from Paste Magazine seems to think so, compiling 21 of the best artist portrait photography from 2012. The idea behind these shots was to document the life of a musician “behind the scenes” and these photographs provide a unique perspective into the minds, lives and personalities of the people who get our toes tapping and fingers snapping.

There are a lot of food bloggers in Vancouver, myself included, but one of the best food photographers has to be Ed Lau. He recently revisited Phnom Penh Restaurant in Chinatown, which was featured in an edition of Dot Com Pho last year. If you go, you have to order the signature chicken wings and the butter beef. They really are the best in town.

And finally, Free Money Finance reveals that a startling number of soon-to-be retirees haven’t saved enough money. As a result, their way of handling this lack of funds is likely to continue working through their later years. It’s important that you plan ahead and starting with knowing how much you need to save is probably a good idea. What’s your magic number?

Tags: photography, retirement, speedlink

Filed under Stuff.