World’s Most Powerful Camera Receives Funding ApprovalLarge Synoptic Survey Telescope Passes Major MilestoneJanuary 9, 2015Menlo Park, Calif. — Plans for the construction of the world’s largest digital camera at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have reached a major milestone. The 3,200-megapixel centerpiece of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope LSST, which will provide unprecedented details of the universe and help address some of its biggest mysteries, has received key “Critical Decision 2” approval from the DOE.

via World’s Most Powerful Camera Receives Funding Approval | SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

EUGENE, OR—After wasting an afternoon taking pictures of a broken tricycle, moss on trees, and the shadow of a wrought-iron fence, Churchill Alternative High School senior Jessica Ivers falsely informed family and friends Saturday that she was getting into photography. “I love the way real film looks,” said Ivers, who has owned the old single-lens reflex 35 millimeter camera for exactly one week, and named as her favorite photographers “probably Diane Arbus” and the French guy who took the picture of the boy with the wine bottle. “I’m really fascinated by textures, and I think I’ll be able to get some good shots of my grandma’s hands this weekend.” Sources close to Ivers expect the camera to join her clarinet and yoga mat under her bed once she pays $14.85 to develop the roll of clumsy, overexposed images

via 17-Year-Old Thinks She’s Getting Into Photography | The Onion – America’s Finest News Source.

The Philae robot, soon to try to land on Comet 67P, has taken another dramatic image of its quarry.

via BBC News – Rosetta mission: Philae comet lander pictures its target.

The court’s opinion is a victory for the right to take photographs in public — even when a statute barring such photograph is limited to photography of people without their consent and “with intent to arouse or gratify … sexual desire,” but of course equally when the photographs lack such an intention. The court struck down the Texas “improper photography” statute, which read….

via Texas’ highest criminal court strikes down ‘improper photography’ statute – The Washington Post.

The state’s highest criminal court on Wednesday tossed out a state law banning “improper photography” — photos or videos taken in a public place without consent and with the purpose of sexual gratification — as a violation of free-speech rights.

In an 8-1 ruling, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said photos, much like paintings and films, are “inherently expressive” and therefore protected by the First Amendment.

via Texas court tosses out ‘improper photography’ law | www.statesman.com.

iPhone Photography Awards™ (IPPAWARDS) is the first and the longest running iPhone photography competition since 2007

via IPPAWARDS | 8th Annual iPhone Photography Awards™ » 2014 Winners.

Reuters photographer Chris Helgren compiled a series of archive pictures taken during the 1944 invasion and then went back to the same places, to photograph them as they appear today

via D-Day sites, then and now — Chicago Tribune.

During their long and decorated service in the world’s war zones, the AP’s Kathy Gannon and Anja Niedringhaus won many admirers among their colleagues. The two journalists were shot on Friday by an Afghan policeman while they sat in a car on an assignment near Khost, a province along the Pakistani border in eastern Afghanistan.

via Journalists remember their AP colleagues who were shot in Afghanistan – The Washington Post.

2014 Sony World Photography AwardsMore than 125,000 images were submitted by amateur and professional photographers from around the world for the contest. The winner of the Photographer of the Year title will be announced on April 30.

via 2014 Sony World Photography Awards – The Washington Post.

Panasonic Corporation will be halving its compact digital camera output next year. The total number of compact digital cameras released next year will be five, which is half of what the company released this year.

Panasonic expects this fiscal year that it will end up with 2 million less units sold, taking the overall total down to 4 million. This is expected to be the company’s second year in a row of digital camera business losses.

via Panasonic to reign in digital camera production next year – SlashGear.