Joel Housman

Front-end Web Developer, iOS Developer, Man About Internet

Posts from the “Photography” Category

Space Shuttle Discovery, Washington DC Flyover – The Photos

Posted on April 17th, 2012

The Space Shuttle Discovery took its final flight this morning from Florida to Washington, DC on the back of one of NASA’s 747 carrier planes used to carry the space shuttle’s around the country. I went down to the National Mall this morning and stood in front of the Washington Monument to photograph its many fly-overs it took before making its final landing at Dulles International Airport where it will be put on display in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum, at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

Below are what I think are some of my best shots I got with my 28-300mm lens (which on my crop sensor camera, turns into a 480mm zoom).


Approaching over the Lincoln Memorial.


Nice side shot with the NASA T-38 in frame.


Another good side shot.


Flying almost directly overhead.


Washington Monument flags in the foreground.


Coming out from behind the Washington Monument.


With the White House in the foreground.


Another pass with the White House in view.


Another good side shot from close underneath during its last pass.

And while I did not take this picture, I could not resist posting this awesome shot that was posted on the NASA HQ Flickr account:


Also, here is a video from my friend Ted Severson shot from the steps of the U.S. Capital building this morning:

Finally, here is a slideshow of the entire 284 photos I took and posted on Flickr:

Facebook and Instagram: When Your Favorite App Sells Out

Posted on April 10th, 2012

Paul Ford, at New York Magazine: Facebook, a company with a potential market cap worth five or six moon landings, is spending one of its many billions of dollars to buy Instagram, a tiny company dedicated to helping Thai beauty queens share photos of their fingernails. Many people have critical opinions on this subject, ranging from “this will ruin Instagram” to “$1 billion is too much.” And for many Instagram users it’s discomfiting to see a giant company they distrust purchase a tiny company they adore — like if Coldplay acquired Dirty Projectors, or a Gang of Four reunion was sponsored by Foxconn. Paul’s take on this is excellent.

Rare Photographs Of The Titanic

Posted on April 10th, 2012

Jason Kottke, at Kottke.org has posted a wonderful piece on old photographs from the Titantic, before it sank. I love seeing old photos such as these, especially of historic places or events, before the event itself took place. So much of the time we think about the event itself, but not what the place, object, person or setting was like prior to this famous historic event happening. Jason writes: I was under the impression that not many photographs of the Titanic existed…especially those taken on the ship. But amateur photographer Francis Browne was aboard the Titanic from Southampton to Cobh, Ireland and captured many images of the ship’s interior, exterior, and voyage. The photos were widely known in the aftermath of the sinking but…

Bertie Arrives

Posted on March 5th, 2012

We picked up Bertie this weekend. As you’ve probably already seen on Instagram or Twitter, here are photos of his first weekend home:

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Yosemite HD

Posted on January 22nd, 2012

From the Vimeo page of this video:

This whole project has been an amazing experience. The two of us became friends through Vimeo and explored a shared interest in timelapsing Yosemite National Park over an extended period of time. We’d like to expand this idea to other locations and would appreciate any suggestions for a future project.

Nikon Announces the D4

Posted on January 6th, 2012

Boy, that was fast. You can already preorder the just-announced Nikon D4, which will ship in February, from Amazon. The Verge has a hands-on preview already posted. Vlad Savov writes: You know you’re in for a treat when Nikon decides to upgrade the very top of its camera range, the single-digit DSLR flagship. Taking over from the D3s is the D4, a $6,000 camera that gleefully upgrades just about every spec from its predecessor while also weighing less and lasting longer on a smaller battery. Notable features: 10/11 frames per second continuous shooting in FX-format for up to 150 frames Nikon FX- format (35.9 x 24.0mm) CMOS Sensor with 16.2 effective megapixels Full 1080p HD broadcast quality video View simultaneous Live View output on…

A Classic

Posted on December 30th, 2011

Steve Jobs in New York City during the 80s flipping IBM the bird.

A photo captured nearly 30 years ago and brought to light this week shows a shaggy-haired Steve Jobs, clad in blue jeans and a leather jacket, expressing his affection for then rival IBM while walking the streets of New York City in the lead up to the launch of the first Mac.

via Apple Insider.

Flickr Adds New “Geofences” Feature

Posted on August 30th, 2011

As you may know, Flickr is my photo-sharing site of choice due to its institutional community among geeks going back for more than 5 years. However, many of us geeks are often disappointed in Flickr’s inability to evolve ever since Yahoo took over, with the site stagnating in design and features for years. Due to this, I’m always hopeful when I do see them add new features because I become optimistic that perhaps Yahoo is putting more focus on development at Flickr. Today’s announcement from Flickr introduces a new feature they’re calling “Geofences”. From their annoucnement: Geofences are special locations that deserve their own geo privacy settings. For example, you might want to create a geofence around the your “home” or “school” that only…

Stand Your Ground

Posted on July 20th, 2011

Stand Your Ground:

Six photographers are assigned different areas of the City to photograph. Some use tripods, some go hand held, one sets up a 5 x 4.

All are instructed to keep to public land and photograph the area as they would on a normal day. The event aims to test the policing of public and private space by private security firms and their reaction to photographers.

All six photographers were stopped on at least one occasion. Three encounters led to police action.

This is how it happened.