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Alex Cooke
Cleveland, OH

Articles written by Alex Cooke

Aurorae From Space: NASA Just Won the Time-lapse Game

I've been feeling pretty cool lately. I've been making some time-lapses and doing a lot of aerial work. It's hard not to feel cool when you're taking shots from 300 feet in the air. Then, NASA came along and made a time-lapse 250 miles up in space. I no longer feel cool.

'Wild Scotland' Is a Gorgeous Aerial Video Tour of the Country

I recently purchased a drone, and I've caught the aerial bug. The new perspective afforded by it has been wildly addicting. However, I'm still very much an amateur in my newfound abilities. Films like Wild Scotland, in their beauty and seamless sense of evolving wonder, give me something to aspire toward.

Learn Storytelling From the Masters of Film

We can learn so much about the art of storytelling through careful study of some of the pinnacles of the film. Blocking, subtext, shot framing: all of these and more are crucial to the conveyance of plot. Check out this video that breaks down some of film's most iconic and masterful scenes and provides great tips to incorporate into your own work.

Lensbaby Announces the Twist 60 Lens, Evokes Vintage Photography

Fans of Lensbaby's unique optics will be pleased to know that today, the company has announced a new lens, the Twist 60. Drawing on the resurgence in popularity of swirly bokeh effects, the lens is sure to be another interesting option for those who have recently jumped aboard the vintage optics movement.

'Drone Aviary' Is a Thought-Provoking Look at the Consequences of Cameras in the Sky

"Our machines are disturbingly lively and we ourselves frighteningly inert." The unsettling quote from Donna Haraway, Chair of the History of Consciousness program at the University of California Santa Cruz, scrolls across the screen as a network of drones patrols a city, scanning pedestrians, cars, buildings, and even people in their homes, monitoring them, tracking them, and assessing them fines and charges for breaking the law.

Fstoppers Reviews the Western Digital My Cloud Mirror 2-Bay NAS Server

I'm normally a huge numbers geek. I want to know every specification of every device because I believe in the power of statistics. But when it comes to hard drives, well, I just want them to work. I want ample space for my data, I want to know it's backed up without a second thought, and I want to be able to access it quickly and easily, no matter what device I'm on. Enter the Western Digital My Cloud Mirror.

Zenfolio Wants to 'Help' You Create Photo Albums, Take Hefty Commission

I'm generally not a fan of the opt-out model. It's an easy way to push unwanted features, changes, or price increases onto an end user, often without them noticing until it's too late. It's like someone slipping a steak into my all-vegetarian cart at the grocery store when I'm not looking. Unfortunately, Zenfolio just slipped a big T-bone into its users' carts.

New Intervalometer Allows for Auto-Ramping and Live Previews of Time-lapses

Capturing a good time-lapse requires patience and precision. Normalizing exposure in changing lighting conditions is an intricate task. Similarly, knowing how your final product is shaping up during the process is difficult. One company is seeking to solve both those problems with one device.

Fstoppers Photographer of the Month (March 2016): Eric Paré

The Fstoppers community is brimming with creative vision and talent. Every day, we comb through your work, looking for images to feature as the Photo of the Day or simply to admire your creativity and technical prowess. In 2016, we'll be featuring a new photographer every month, whose portfolio represents both stellar photographic achievement and a high level of involvement within the Fstoppers community.

Go Inside the World of a Conservation Photographer

"We all have the ability to be creators of hope," notes Conservation Photographer Thomas Peschak. Take ten minutes to explore the world of a man whose work embodies that every day.

Adobe Introduces Technology Previews and Advanced Search Capabilities for Lightroom on the Web

I've started to embrace the mobile and web sides of Lightroom a bit more. The ability to access my catalog on the go, easily create and sync collections to show to clients, and cull and make basic edits while standing in line at the market has been a great boon in convenience for me. Adobe seems to be embracing it too, pushing ahead with the introduction of a useful and rather neat feature today.

Instagram Announces Curated Feeds

I suppose it was inevitable. One of Instagram's most beloved features is its entirely chronological feed — no algorithm, no priority — all posts are equal. That's coming to an end, though, as the company has just announced the impending introduction of curated feeds.

'Skylight' Is a Whirlwind Video Tour of the World Above Us

Konrad Adenauer said: "We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." So ends this beautiful look at the sky we share around the world and how that sky changes depending on the location from which you view it.

Jet Ski Destroys Drone in Dramatic Fashion

We're no strangers to drones here at Fstoppers. They provide opportunities for shots that were unheard of just a few years ago, which we take advantage of quite often in our work. Along with that, though, they create an entirely new way of working, and with that often comes some rather spectacular fails.

Lamenting the Loss of the When and What in Photography

The sheer volume of photographs being produced has reached unforeseen levels. We take photographs almost without thinking now; any vaguely noteworthy event garners a veritable mass of cameras and cameraphones. But quantity does not necessarily beget quality, nor does it necessarily enable the photographic eye to sharpen itself. In fact, the digital age has (to a degree) destroyed appreciation for process, thereby relegating craft to an anachronism, a relic of a time when the process of making pictures forced a certain deliberateness in their creation.