Happy Spring

Here is some gorgeous photography by Shana Rae that seems appropriate on this beautiful sping day. As seen on Decor8. You can see more of Shana's work on her flickr page. Click here.

Photographer/Storyteller

I just saw this posted over on Notcot.org. Gorgeous work by photographer August Bradley. On first glance, these photos look more like intricate paintings than actual photography. The detail, emotions, and settings are fantastic and so well thought out. They are stunning works of art.

Bradley purposely blurs this line. He was quoted on mymodernmet.com as saying ‘The photographic style of the collection evolves from theatrical yet personalized portraits to fashion photography, so the style of the image making evolves with the theme from personal limitations to imagination and aspirational fantasy." and , "It's helpful to go out of the literal realm of photography, to leave the boundaries we typically view the world from within."

Juxtaposition

Mikel Uribetxeberria is a talented photographer. His series, Animalia, showcases wild animals in urban environments. There's something so striking about these images. To see more of Mikel's work, click here.

Do you see what I see?

I am smitten by the work of Tebe Interesno, as seen on Graphic-Exchange. I love the fantasy world he has created. It's so magical, and emotional... yet it seems like it could almost be real if you just paid closer attention the the world around you.

Silent Voices

We took a great trip to The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island this weekend. It had been ages since I've visited Lady Liberty, and I don't recall ever being inside Ellis Island. It was a really enlightening experience... so many stories, hopes, dreams. So much fear, frustration, and agony... All rolled into one building. People from all countries converging on unknown soil with the dream of a better life. Powerful sentiments that seem to echo from the walls.

There were many exhibits on the people and their stories, and on immigration in general, etc. But there was also a story told of the island and building itself. When Ellis Island was closed in 1954, after more than 12 million immigrants had passed through the doors, it was basically abandoned as is. Prior to the start of the restoration project, a few photographers were allowed in to capture what remained. The images are striking, and tell stories just as interesting as those who walked through the doors. The exhibit is called "Silent Voices" and is worth seeing. I'm afraid the following images don't do any justice.

Eleni Mylonas
Click here for her website.

Joel Greenburg
Click here for his website.

For Rino

This post is for Rino. He's a huge fan of airplanes and flying. So when I saw these photographs, I just had to post about them Jeffrey Milstein is a photographer who is also enamored by airplanes. All of his photos were taken of aircraft in flight, at the moment they're directly overhead. I have no idea how he captured the detail that is here, but it's pretty impressive. Even for someone like me, who hates flying!

Click here for Jeffrey's site.

Who knew?

National Geographic has some amazing online photo galleries. They've always had such stunning work in their magazine, but silly me never realized that it was also available online.

Here is just one of their fascinating galleries – translucent creatures. It's amazing that these animals even exist... nevermind the fact that they managed to get such stunning shots of them. Many look like creatures out of the imagination of Pixar!

Click here to see them all.

Into the Wild

Well, I'm afraid this will be the last post for a few weeks. We will be moving from the UK back to the US and will be without internet for a while. We are also taking a slight detour through South Africa... for a little safari, beach and wine tasting. In the spirit of this trip, here are some pix from the "Shell Wildlife Photographer of the Year" show, currently on at the National History Museum in London.

Click here to see more of the entries.

Sand Drawing

Ok, some people are just too talented. I'm always in awe of artists who create time intensive, intricate paintings, paper cuttings, sculpture, etc. Partially because I have a limited attention span and I don't think I could do such a thing, and partially because of the vision they need to get there.

Jim Denevan is an amazing artist, who uses quite an interesting medium... sand. But this is not about gigantic sand sculptures. I saw his work mentioned on badassideas, and was intrigued. From his site:

Jim Denevan makes freehand drawings in sand. At low tide on wide beaches Jim searches the shore for a wave tossed stick. After finding a good stick and composing himself in the near and far environment Jim draws-- laboring up to 7 hours and walking as many as 30 miles. The resulting sand drawing is made entirely freehand w/ no measuring aids whatsoever. From the ground these environments are seen as places. Places to explore and be, and to see relation and distance. For a time these tangible specific places exist in the indeterminate environment of ocean shore. From high above the marks are seen as isolated phenomena, much like clouds, rivers or buildings. Soon after Jim's motions and marks are completed water moves over and through, leaving nothing.

His designs are best seen from the air, to truly appreciate the scale. I have no idea how he created such perfect forms without any measuring aids! Amazing. See blow for some pix. And click here for his site. The photos of his work are stunning.

Bloomin' Fabulous

Through our travels of the past week or so, we happened upon a lot of outdoor art exhibits as well as great architecture, museums, and galleries. One exhibit we stumbled upon twice (once in Oslo, Norway and once in Stockholm, Sweden)... therefore, I figure it earned some kudos on this blog.

It was a huge outdoor photography exhibition in a public square, displaying 100 images by photographer Steve Bloom, accompanied by thought-provoking quotes by legendary thinkers. The images were so striking that you couldn't help but be drawn in. The exhibit was entitled "Spirit of the Wild." According to Steve's website, this is worldwide event with work also being showcased in Leeds, Dublin, Moscow and Amsterdam. He has also published a book of this work, which is available for purchase.

Click here to see his entire exhibition slide show. Below is a teaser of his work. All work is the copyright of Steve Bloom.

3191

Here's an intriguing site that I stumbled across through a link on Paper Pony. The site is called "3191: A year of mornings." It was started by 2 photographers/crafters/designers who live 3191 miles apart. They each take a photograph every morning (M-F) and post them without prior discussion. The results are usual everyday objects that seem to become art through the lens. They are always interesting, and sometimes karmic. This will definitely be on my "must check daily" list.

Click here for the story.
And here for the pix.