Camera

A 16-year-old who prosecutors said was recorded by a city police surveillance camera as he fled the scene of a fatal shooting last year pleaded guilty yesterday to second-degree murder and use of a handgun in the commission of a crime. Gene Anthony Foreman admitted in Baltimore Circuit Court that he shot Darrell Winston, 21, the afternoon of Aug. 2 after an argument in the 600 block of N. Curley St. in East Baltimore. If Foreman had gone to trial on a first-degree murder charge, prosecutors said they planned to use the camera's images as evidence against him. Assistant State's Attorney Julius Silvestri said a pole camera at Curley and Monument streets showed Foreman with one hand in his pocket running shortly after the shooting.

Cameras can help you with your household chores. At least that is what the home repair books say.Before you put a new light switch in the wall, you could, according to the books, take a snapshot of the old wiring with a Polaroid. If the wires get tangled, and if you do not get electrocuted, the snapshot will tell you what wire goes where. I should point out that this advice falls in the realm of home repair theory. In reality, my camera work is pretty shaky.First of all, the family Polaroid snapped its last shot several years ago. One day, instead of spitting out striking photographs, the camera began spitting out sticky paper covered with goo.I took the camera apart.

With 26 cameras and 75 camera positions around Louisville's Churchill Downs, from the paddock to the jockey's room to the stables and from above it all in a blimp, ABC producer Curt Gowdy Jr. has more than enough equipment to visually tell the story of tomorrow's 124th running of the Kentucky Derby.But that doesn't mean that Gowdy is satisfied. The Emmy Award-winning producer and son of the Hall of Fame announcer is hoping that one of tomorrow's jockeys will wear the one-pound camera that goes on their cap and provides such a terrific perspective for the home viewer.

Laszlo Kovacs was justly celebrated for pioneering the anything-goes handheld camera style that made audiences feel they were catching experience on the fly in movies like Easy Rider. When a style like that breaks out and is "of the moment," it can feel right even in movies where it isn't absolutely necessary. But as years pass, and it becomes just one more available technique, it registers as outrageous affectation unless it's rooted to the story and the characters. Today's two major American film openings show the good, bad and ugly of what happens when a creative camera explosion evolves into one more instrument in a director's tool-kit.

Someone broke into a Millersville home overnight Monday and stole a camera bag containing $1,500 worth of equipment, county police said.Etta Lynch McGuire of the 300 block of Cool Ridge Court called police about 7: 30 a.m. to report that her husband had found their garage door and a door leading to the living room open when he went outside to get the paper at 6 a.m.The interior door was propped open with a shoe from the garage, police said.McGuire told police the garage door probably was left open and the interior door closed but not locked.

Here's looking at you, kids.The Connectix Quickcam, for Macintosh and Windows computers, is a gray-scale video camera that resembles an oversized eyeball with freckles and a tail. The camera, smaller than a baseball, comes with a built-in microphone and pyramid stand.To get an idea of what it will look like atop your computer, check out the design on the back of a dollar bill.In fact, check out the backs of 99 dollar bills, which is what many catalogs charge for this endearing little gadget.

CALL ME an old fogey, but when the first cell phones with built-in digital cameras came out, I asked, "Why would anyone want one of those?" And so, I ignored them, figuring they'd be a flash in the pan. Well, the flash is still pretty hot. Thanks to a new generation of handsets with cameras, color screens, text messaging, Web browsing and other goodies, worldwide cell phone shipments grew by 19 percent in the second quarter of 2003, according to IDC,...

For previous bizarre incidents on the basketball court, Chicago Bulls forward Dennis Rodman has faced fines and suspension. For his latest incident, Rodman may face criminal charges.Prosecutors in Minneapolis were considering assault charges against the Bulls forward yesterday, after Rodman kicked courtside cameraman Eugene Amos in the groin during the second half of Wednesday's win over the Minneapolis Timberwolves.Amos lay on the baseline for seven minutes, before being carried xTC away on a stretcher.

Federal Hill residents agree on this: They're tired of a recent spate of petty crimes, holdups and burglaries. They're a bit more divided about the new police camera looming over William and East Montgomery streets, put there to help catch the miscreants. Federal Hill's first surveillance camera is a welcome crime deterrent to some and an irritating eyesore to others. "It's an affront to the people who live here," said Judi Wallace, who has lived a few doors from the intersection for 21 years.

A class action lawsuit challenging Baltimore's red-light-camera tickets, maintaining in part that the timing of traffic signals' yellow lights had been too short and resulted in fraudulent citations, has been dismissed by a city Circuit Court judge. The three plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit in August 2004 contended that the traffic signals in their cases had yellow lights lasting less than 3 seconds. One of the plaintiffs says 4 seconds is the standard. Violations carry a $75 fine but no points.