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Bootsy submitted a project to Critical Mass where she has found a way to go back in time and participate in her family photographs by photographing herself in similar era clothing and pose, making room for herself in photographs from decades past. The series, Visitor, is a fantasy we would all wish to experience, to pay a visit to those we loved, or wanted to know.

I am the keeper of all my family’s photos, old and new. I grew up in a close-knit family, which was lost to divorce and I knew that the family I yearned for would never happen again until I had my own. As a photographer, I notice that the feeling of loss and disconnect reoccurs in my work and I’ve found that often my images reveal something about family and/or loneliness. And as I grow older, now married with a child, I cherish these family photographs more and more. I’ve often wondered what it might be like to experience the frozen moments in my family photographs and be connected once again to those I love. My project, “Visitor”, has allowed me to step back in time when my perception of the world was innocent and filled with possibility.

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Take a highly magnified gander at Kenko Tokina’s 400mm f/8 mirror lens, which now comes with both E- and T-mounts to complement the manufacturer’s existing SLR-compatible range. So long as you don’t mind the light-sapping aperture and manual focus, you’ll be able pick one up in Japan tomorrow for a price that should soon become apparent. Just bear in mind that other new MFT options from Tamron and Astrodesign are likely on their way too.

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This harness derives its style from that indelibly cool detective in our collective memories with that boss leather shoulder harness holding his peacemaker. HoldFast modified the “bossness” to hold the modern shooters tools. Drawing from those classic themes, HoldFast designed a highly fashionable, highly durable, as well as highly comfortable harness for two or three cameras. It’s adaptable in that the MoneyMaker can be converted into a video rig which makes shooting in the field with a shoulder mount video camera and DSLR in tow an easy and fast experience. The Speed Clutch is an ingenious product that allows the camera to easily slide up and down the harness, and will also be used in conjunction with the upcoming bag line. The design of this harness keeps the cameras from hanging too low making them easily manageable, keeping them close to the body thus more comfortable. This setup truly shines on long shoots such as weddings. The cameras are kept inline with the body and the weight centered over the upper back and shoulders taking strain off the lower back. The MoneyMaker looks classy when dressed up in a suit and tie or just as classy with jeans and a t-shirt. Pair this with 2 Camera Leashes to gain the ability to carry a third camera from the front D rings. If you plan on doing a lot of active movement before you stop to shoot you can secure the cameras from swing around by using the Camera Leash attached to your belt/belt loop and then anchored to the camera.

Made out of top grain leather with anchored D-rings, this is the only multi-camera harness that actually gets better with age. The brown harness is oil tanned, making it very soft and malleable. The natural harness actually darkens with use and exposure to the sun.

If you are taller than 6’2″ or wear Extra large sized clothes then order the Large for optimum fit.

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If you were one of the people who jumped into digital photography early on then you may be stuck with a few old cameras lying around. Your 5MP point-and-shoot may have been impressive back in the day, but now it’s just sitting around collecting dust, so why not have some fun with it?

Photographer Laura Merz

has a clever way to get some use out of that old camera. Gut the camera, remove the lens, add a small light and voila – you’ve got yourself a digital camera nightlight. Laura warns that you’ll want to be careful when disassembling so you don’t crack the exterior case and also because you’ll find more than a few sharp pieces inside.

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Have you ever wanted to know just how many other people visit your favorite hotspot? Ever wondered about the popularity of the places around you? Thanks to a Google Maps application called Sightsmap, you can.

Sightsmap shows a heat map of the world with the most popular photography locations shining most brightly. It may not come as a surprise that Europe is covered with photos, with Northern Italy in particular being a center of photography.

Big cities and tourist spots within the US are hot, including New York, Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles and National parks like Yellowstone.

The heat map only takes into account photos posted on Panoramio, which is a much smaller service than something like Flickr or Facebook. It could, however, be more popular in Europe, accounting for the strikingly higher density of photos there.

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Christoph Bangert, 1978, Germany, is a photojournalist based in Switzerland who studied photography at the Fachhochschule in Dortmund and at the International Center of Photography in New York. He has traveled extensively to countries as Japan, Chad, Lebanon, Nigeria and Palestine for his photography. In Pakistan he covered the story of the cold winter after the earthquake hit in 2005. In 2007 he released two monographs. Travel Notes contains images from a 22,000 mile car trip he made from Argentina to New York in 2002. IRAQ: The Space Between shows the work he did in 2005 and 2006 in Iraq on assignment for the New York Times. In the same year he was also chosen for the Joop Swart Masterclass. His images have appeared in numerous publications as Stern, Time, Newsweek and GEO. Currently Christoph is working on a book that will show the images of a 14 month trip in 2007 and 2008 through 36 African countries with a Land Rover. He was exhausted from all the things he in the years before and needed a break to become “a human being again.” The following images come from journeys to Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

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