Kumin Media

06/25/2024

I hate when companies steal from artists. I’ve had the photographer equivalent a number of times, starting when Oxford University Press stole two of my photos for an edition of Putnam’s Geology in 1982. Patti Britton stole the approval Polaroids for a Kendall-Jackson shoot, and had another photographer execute my layouts, not as well. I never got paid. It was a losing prospect for me to sue Kendall-Jackson. Don’t buy their wine. Please boycott this company’s Shein’s products. Don’t support thieves.
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“Three fashion designers have filed a complaint accusing Shein of copying and selling "exact copies" of their work.
The complaint argues that Shein's continuous copyright infringement and racketeering classify it as a criminal organization, making it potentially liable under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).“ …

Three fashion designers filed a complaint accusing Shein of "egregious" copyright infringement and racketeering. The lawsuit also emphasizes Shein's decentralized structure, creating challenges for those seeking legal action against the company.

12/14/2023

Clay Dusel at Rocky Mountain Heat Pump installed a Mitsubishi Mini-Split Heat Pump system in our house in October. We Love It! It gives us independent control over each room. My little office that wasn't ducted to the central gas furnace was always cold in the winter, and hot in the summer. Now I can set the temperature, I have A/C in the summer, and program it if I want. We heat individual rooms during the day on the App: Kumo Cloud.

We're severing our gas ties to Xcel Energy. The form is in the works. They've been charging us $15/month to remain connected to the grid, with zero usage. Our last remaining gas appliance is a propane grill, and the car.

We had to replace our dying gas furnace. It was the time to change out systems. The Mitsubishi system with six mini-split heads, was pricey. It was the major expense in our budget for 2023. We'll receive rebates and tax deductions (Thank you Joe Biden) that take out about 1/4th of the sting. How much money we save each month remains to be seen. We dipped into our IRA's to pull it off. Not everyone can do that. To make Heat Pumps more affordable for mass adoption, governments need to add more incentives and help drop the price. The rebate process was too complicated. It needs to be simplified.

Our house is a lot more comfortable.

I always liked this photo by Paul Outerbridge:
https://www.moma.org/collection/works/58368?artist_id=4452&page=1&sov_referrer=artist

This is the mini split head in my office, shot on my iPhone.

Mitsubishi 6K BTU Mini Split Head © 2023 Jesse Kumin, All Rights Reserved.

06/17/2023

The world of photography has changed. We're looking at the next frontier.
-----------.. "Will it be used for evil?

Tech can bring out the best and the worst in people. And already, some are using more complicated AI image tools to make pictures to deceive and exploit: Political campaigns have run ads featuring AI-generated scenes that never occurred. The FBI recently issued a warning about deepfake “sextortion” schemes.
Is Photoshop’s AI putting the tools of fakery into many more hands? Yes and no." ...

Actually, yes. It will.

A new “generative fill” AI capability can both create joyful Photoshop edits — and frightening deepfakes.

01/20/2022

Flipping through 2021 book "The Boxes of Hock Wah Yeo" and checking out my collection of said boxes. These are some of my absolute favorite items in my PC ga...

12/06/2021

Yeo's new book of packaging design is available for preorder. The cover and most of the inside shots appear to be mine. I haven't seen it yet. The reproductions and credit look good, a bit of a relief. https://www.colpapress.com/products/the-boxes-of-hock-wah-yeo

8.25 x 11.5 inches 108pp Digital press on silk coated 60C Semi-exposed wire-o binding w/ exposed fore edge Essay by Chris Hamamoto Packaging photography by Jesse Kumin Edition of 100 PRE SALE - SHIPS DEC 6TH The only monograph of the work of Bay Area designer Hock Wah Yeo. This book focuses mainly o...

08/06/2021

Jax Strawberry Lemonade © 2021 Jesse Kumin, All Rights Reserved.

05/15/2021

Welcome to my world. Where photographers are treated with respect and paid for their work. Ha! 9 of the 17 shots in the article are mine. This Prince of Persia shot was from 29 years ago, May 1992. It was done in-camera in 3 exposures on E-6 4" x 5" film on a Sinar F+, old school.

I wonder when Yeo was going to get around to telling me this was published? This shot won Valarie and Yeo an award in Communication Arts Design Annual and some California design shows.
https://gizmodo.com/when-pc-game-packaging-was-a-work-of-art-1846416679

During the '90s, a visit to the shelves of the computer shop meant finding shareware games in ziplock bags beside boxes adorned in the state-of-the-art of graphic design of the time. One of the unsung heroes of the PC box is the designer Hock Wah Yeo.