German-born Klaus Tiedge's astounding set of wildlife photos from South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
4 - Lots of Things I did not know but find interesting
These may or may not be facts, but if they ARE facts, they are interesting.
5 - Star Trail Timelapse
North Carolina-based photographer Daniel Lowe explains:
These scenes are created by stacking a sequence of long-exposure, high-resolution digital photographs in Adobe After Effects and allowing each photograph to linger on the screen for a short duration of time before fading.
1 - Literary Canon as Graphic Novels
Oh what a joy it is (for me anyway) to see some of my most loved stories, poems and novels given the graphic treatment. The Graphic Canon, Vol. 2: From "Kubla Khan" to the Bronte Sisters to The Picture of Dorian Gray brings together such favorites as Huck Finn, Moby Dick and Leaves of Grass. I think that for the ones I haven't read, the visuals rob me of the opportunity of imagining them myself. But for the ones I have read and imagined, it is so much fun to see a radical and fresh image.
Moby Dick, for example (perhaps my favorite of the bunch) is so radically different in the hands of artist Matt Kish, It is almost an invitation to have a conversation about what it is I did imagine on my own.
2 - Princess Bride Cast 25 years later
Well, I guess the opening SNES Baseball game scene DOES indicate it was a long time ago, but 25 years? Sheesh.
3 - Timeslice Composite Photos
This is a cool execution of the timeslice photos from photographer Richard Silver.
4 - Lightpainting Greatness from pre-digital 1970s
Decades ago American artist Eric Staller would find spots in the empty streets of New York City to use his Nikon 35mm SLR camera, sparklers and a set of Christmas lights.
He explains:
"New York City at night was an enchanting place for me. The plazas, bridges, parks and monuments, empty and eerily quiet at night, were dramatic stage sets waiting to be transformed. Transformed by my magic wand: the 4th of July sparkler. Late at night I drove around in a beat-up station wagon, looking for places and ideas to jump out at me. When the moment was right I set up my Nikon on a tripod and planned a choreography with light. Each sparkler lasted about a minute, so that was the amount of time I had to make the drawing. I would lock the camera shutter open, light the sparkler and quickly walk down the street, holding the sparkler at curb level, to complete the composition before the sparkler went out. I felt a strong sense of exhilaration, like running the 100-meter dash with a flaming torch! Getting the film back from the lab was even more exhilarating: it was magic, my presence was invisible! There was just this trail of liquid fire.
Suddenly I was drunk with the possibilities. I proceeded to outline everything for my photos: cars, trucks, streets, monuments. The energy was packed into one-minute performances. I worked through the night and although I was alone and even lonely, my romance for the city was sweet indeed. At dawn I would go to Fulton Street to watch the fishermen come in, or to the Lower East Side for the first hot bagels of the day."
5 - Genetic Patchwork Portraits
This is a project well worth revisiting. Half the face is from one relative, the other half from another. Just creepy and stunning and awesome from French photographer Ulric Collette.
1 - Bodyscapes
Put body forms into landscapes and apply body take pictures. Awesome. Jean Paul Bourdier is the author of Bodyscapes.
2 - Incredible Visualization of Asteroid Discovery
This motion visualization of the discovery of asteroids from 1980 to 2012. Watch it full screen at original resolution if you can.
3 - Stunning Light Projections on La Sagrada Familia
Antoni Gaudí's Barcelona masterpiece, the Sagrada Familia still sits unfinished, but this Saturday saw an amazing light show projected across is organic facade.
4 - Wearable Camera For Documenting Your Day
The Autographer can snap up to 2,000 high-resolution photos of the course of a single day, giving you a visual record of your life experiences. It is like a GoPro but timelapse (and probably less daredevilish).
5 - Animation as a Thought Experiment
One of my favorite things about essays are the opportunities for the writer and for us to suppose things. To think through ideas and concepts in exploration and experiment. Such experimentation can be seen in sketching too. But I have never seen animation be used as a tool for thought experiment. But that is exactly what this is. And it is mesmerizing.
Caution there are flashing lights in the video.
The artisit Phillipe Artus explains:
"The basic idea of the work is inspired by processes of exponential acceleration, which can be observed at different levels. Thus, the evolution of life proceeds at an extremely slow pace for more than 3 billion years, until it suddenly seems to explode in the Cambrian period. The tools of human beings progress relatively little during the Stone Age until there comes a rapid cultural development during the Holocene. Nowadays, a similar acceleration process is generated by the exchange of information through the internet. From this perspective, the exponential spiral on a snail shell may almost appear like a miraculous wink of nature."
Top 5 Things of the Week of Sept. 16, 2012
1 - A YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER'S VISION
4 - BEVERAGES UNDER A MICROSCOPE
2 - JAPANESE UNDERWATER 'CROP CIRCLES'
3 - THE NORTH OF FINLAND
5 - DESCENDING TO LAVA LAKE
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
1 - Movie Scenes Brought to The World
The worlds in film meet the world at large on FILMography. A very clever idea, an inspiring idea.
Scent of a Woman, 1992
Three Days of the Condor, 1975
Fame, 1980
Any Wednesday, 1966
Maid in Manhattan, 2002
Thomas Crown Affair, 1999
Ghost, 1990
Ghostbusters, 1984
The Hangover Part II (2011)
Muppets Take Manhattan, 1984
Ideas
2 - Descending to Lava Lake
Whao. That is some roiling pool of liquid hot magma. And that guy (and the cameraman for that matter) are awfully close to it.
Ideas
3 - The Shuttle from its Chase Plane
It was pretty amazing to be able to see this flying outside my office window in Santa Monica, but from one of its chase planes, is even better. Feeling nostalgic for the Shuttle already. And here are some videos of its landing at LAX too.
Ideas
4 - The Covers of the Hobbit
The Hobbit was first published in the U.K. in 1937, that's 75 years ago. It was been reprinted a number of times and in a number of languages. The range of the cover styles is pretty interesting and a bit surprising.
And of course with the movies coming, there is a movie tie-in cover (see to the right).
5 - A Young Photographer's Vision
Currently based in Chicago, Amelia Fletcher is a young photographer with a clear vision, and her self-portrait project is both dark and bright, sexy and contemplative, and overall it's interesting.
1 - A Boy, His Train and Space
A father and son team build a rig to send his favorite toy train into space and film the whole thing. In father, Ron Fugelseth’s own words:
"My 4 year old and Stanley are inseparable like Calvin and Hobbes. He’s been attached to him since he was two, and they play, sleep and do everything together. I animated Stanley’s face with After Effects and Photoshop to bring him to life how I imagine my son sees him."
