After long-time cast members, Porsha Williams and Cynthia Bailey left The Real Housewives of Atlanta at the end of last season, there was a certain sense of urgency for the show to fill out the cast. Just a few days ago, Variety released the cast list of RHOA for season 14, much to the pleasure of excited viewers who have been waiting for this news in anticipation!

Marlo Got a Peach

Marlo Hampton has been making appearances on RHOA since season four. Finally, she will become an official cast member after the departure of Bailey and Williams. First joining the show in 2012 as the fashionable friend of NeNe, Marlo stood her ground in many showdowns with Porsha, Kenya, and NeNe. It’s no secret that her deep friendships with the cast over the years helped ignite the drama and settle the tension through numerous group events. There’s no doubt she’ll be an interesting addition to the official cast!

RHOA Snagged an Olympic Gold Medalist

Another amazing addition to the season 14 cast is Sanya Richards-Ross! Many will recognize this four-time Olympic gold medalist for her amazing track and field career. However, this will not be her first time on a reality TV show. The gold-medalist starred in the TV series Glam and Gold back in 2013. The show focused on her efforts to create a balance between her amazing athletic pursuits and her family life.

Viewers Will Surely Miss Bailey and Williams

Since Porsha and Cynthia were among the key cast members in RHOA for so long, many fans will have to adjust to them being absent from the show. Luckily, with promising new cast members, there’s no doubt that avid viewers will still be thoroughly entertained. Bailey stated on social media that she will devote efforts to new endeavors. However, Porsha will be starring in a spinoff focused on her family and remaining a co-anchor in the Bravo chat room!

Photographer Sean Anderson demonstrates how he used over a thousand small drinking straws to make a “straw mosaic camera” capable of capturing mosaic-style photos in this six-and-a-half-minute video from Fotodiox.

Anderson says the concept was inspired by a 2017 PetaPixel story in which photographs were captured using a homemade camera constructed of straws and a film back. Sean was left with two lingering questions following his viewing of that project: 1) Is it possible to make the camera smaller? and 2) Is it possible to convert the straw mosaic camera to digital and eliminate the need for a film?

While Anderson claims that this mosaic camera build was one of the simplest he’s ever attempted, it also ended up taking the longest. He needed to accurately measure 1,000 coffee stirring straws and then cut them into three pieces each (for a total of 3,000 straw pieces) to fit them into the container precisely. This entire process took several days.

No Reflections or Glare!

Once all of the straws were snugly packed into the container, Anderson encountered a minor issue with the way the photographs “rendered” when taken with a digital camera. To see the entire image, he needed to move the system far away from the “straw mosaic camera.” To remedy this, he placed some frosted plastic over the straws, focusing each point of light on the “element” and allowing him to move the camera considerably closer. Then he added “bellows” made of cardboard to the apparatus to better control and reduce reflections and glare.

The Mosaic Camera Offers a Different Perspective on Photography

Anderson observed when testing the technique that subjects had to be near to the straws, or else, the image would be a murky mess. This means that the photographs will also require a significant amount of additional illumination, so anybody considering attempting the construction should keep this in mind. According to him, unless the system is significantly larger, it works best for photographing small objects in a still-life manner. Nonetheless, the result is a distinct and enjoyable perspective on photography.