art
Black and White inspiration
Summer is here so you might notice the frequency of posts might slow down a bit, but of course when you say things like that, the opposite usually happens. Who knows, but I’m going to try to spend more time outside shooting and having fun with the family.
And to get some inspiration how about some amazing black and white images of majestic animals in Africa. Nick Brandt from the U.K. has a portfolio of images that have incredible detail and a surreal feeling. This image of a lion just blew me away. I wish I could afford his prints, his work is amazing.
Check out all the images by clicking on the image below
Inspiration for a gray day
It’s a gray day here in Vancouver so here’s Spencer Murphy, a photographer that Scott Kelby mentioned in his blog and whos work fits perfectly with the mood of the day especially the landscapes.
Fantastic Painting with light
Light painting by Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza
Just found this set of images by Jan Wöllert and Jörg Miedza that I think are amazing. I immediately started thinking about the process to create them and it looks very elaborate and fun. Looks like they are using some sort of wand with light sticks at the ends so he then twirls it to create some incredible circular shapes. Check out the whole gallery, really worth it if you like this stuff.
Amazing Light Paintings | Abduzeedo
Better
I’ve been a follower of all things created by Merlin Mann for a few years and his post called “Better” back in September 2008 has become a kind of mantra of mine. I revisit it once in a while because it reminds me that photography (or whatever activity you have decided to pursue in life) should always be focused on doing better.
Here’s how he starts his post…
Politics, celebrity gossip, business headlines, tech punditry, odd news, and user-generated content.
These are the chew toys that have made me sad and tired and cynical.
Later he says…
To be honest, I don’t have a specific agenda for what I want to do all that differently, apart from what I’m already trying to do every day:
- identify and destroy small-return bullshit;
- shut off anything that’s noisier than it is useful;
- make brutally fast decisions about what I don’t need to be doing;
This post is totally worth the 5 minutes its going to take you to read it and it’s impact might last you way more than you might imagine. If like me, you’ve gotten tired of all the noise and the lack of substance in most of the content we consume then go read this and then go make things better.
Click here to read Better.
Tesla S. One more definition of sexy
I know this is not news but I just found these shots of the Tesla S and wanted to share them here. Love the lines on this car and the story of Tesla Motors. Hopefully in a couple of years I’ll be driving one myself since the U.S. Government just gave Tesla a nice chunk of change to keep developing their battery technologies.
lego coolness
While browsing photo sites and other cool places to find inspiration I recently found this series of shots on flikr recreating famous photos with legos. Since yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen square military crackdown, which the chinese government conveniently calls “The June 4th Incident”, I thought a link to the flickr set by Mike Balakov would be appropriate. Of course the Star Wars legos in some of his other sets makes the visit to the site extra cool.
Click on the photo to go check it out
Tanks at Tiananmen
peter funch
Another great link to some awesome urban street photos. Peter Funch blends different takes at the same location to create a theme or story. I found them really fascinating. The digital work is amazing and unnoticeable. There are so many great images in the gallery, people yawning, photographing Times Square or holding umbrellas. very surreal.
I especially like this one with the dogs. Click on the photo to visit a faster loading gallery of his work and then go check out his other images on his site (link above)
the value of getting good advice
Not a new story but I just found out about this and was shocked to see another example of people getting bad advice or just not gettin any advice. I’ve always thought that one of the things that success offers you (of course after satisfaction, happiness, etc.) is that you can afford to get experts to help you in making your decisions.
Now this doesn’t mean that the advice is always good, but you can afford to get second, third and fourth opinions right? Well, it seems that sometimes this just doesn’t happen even to famous and successful photographers like Annie Leibovitz.
From the Telegraph paper in the U.K.
Annie Leibovitz pawns copyright to life’s work to pay debts
I read the article and googled for more since that headline was a bit dramatic and found this from another site. The Business Insider:
Celebrity Photographer Annie Leibovitz $715,000 In Debt
Also while searching, a different news item popped up in Google that made me think if this was just a case of not getting good advice or if something else might be adding to her problems.
Stylist Sues Annie Leibovitz; Says She’s Owed $400K+
Although the specifics are not known and each of us have our own issues to deal with, I took this as a reminder that even though we all wish for a successful career and the things it will bring us, we should try really hard to stay grounded and have sane people around us to keep things sane. That’s my personal take on it, now off I go to work on getting that Disney ad campaign.
phillip toledano’s “america the giftshop”
Just found another great series of images from Phillip Toledano called “America the Giftshop”.
Amazing work that is funny and sad at the same time. Worth a look for a reminder of the Bush era.
Barbara Probst
Interesting short interview and some samples of the photography of Barbara Probst. She shoots multiple cameras at the same time but in different positions to give different meanings to the same exposure.
You can click on the images at the top of the page to check out some examples of her work.
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