Shorpy, the 100-year-old photoblog, is pulling photos
Shorpy, the 100-year-old photoblog, is pulling photos from just after the turn of the century and posting them. This one’s going right in the daily reads pile.
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kottke.org posts about photography
Collection of photos of basketball players with
Collection of photos of basketball players with normal people. (thx, brian)
Expectations of Adolescence is a series of
Expectations of Adolescence is a series of photographs of two cousins as they grow up, seen periodically only at large family gatherings. “We see them as they grow up, become more and more themselves, chafing perhaps at the obligations implied by required attendance in surroundings of upper-crust comfort that remain unchanged and constant.”
The Face2Face Project takes similar photographs
The Face2Face Project takes similar photographs of Palestinians and Israelis and displays them together in pairs. “After a week [in Israel and Palestine], we had a conclusion with the same words: these people look the same; they speak almost the same language, like twin brothers raised in different families. It’s obvious, but they don’t see that. We must put them face to face. They will realize.” (via 3qd)
The National Portrait Gallery has a nice
The National Portrait Gallery has a nice online gallery of photographs of “twentieth-century America’s famous and influential women”. p.s. it’s International Women’s Day today.
Photos of people sleeping. Each series of
Photos of people sleeping. Each series of photos depcits a full night’s sleep. (via cyn-c)
Close-up photography of bugs that have splattered
Close-up photography of bugs that have splattered on cars and windshields. Way less gross than you’d think.
Photographer Alec Soth has a response to
Photographer Alec Soth has a response to the Richard Avedon essay regarding his portrait of Henry Kissinger. “While Avedon is correct that the subject is sometimes ‘implicated in what’s happening,’ more often than not the photographer holds all of the cards.” (thx, jen)
In 1940, an ultra orthodox Jewish group known
In 1940, an ultra orthodox Jewish group known as the Lubavitchers bought a building at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. The building became so well-known and revered within the community that other “770s” have been built around the world and subsequently captured by photographers Andrea Robbins and Max Becher. (via paks)
Richard Avedon on photographing Henry Kissinger: “A
Richard Avedon on photographing Henry Kissinger: “A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he’s being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he’s wearing or how he looks. He’s implicated in what’s happening, and he has a certain real power over the result.” Here’s the photo that Avedon is referring to. (via personism)
For next time around, how to photograph
For next time around, how to photograph a lunar eclipse. Here’s a list of upcoming eclipses. (via inmyallstars)
Nice composite photo of the lunar eclipse
Nice composite photo of the lunar eclipse last night. We missed it because it was a bit cloudy and tall buildingy in NYC last night. (thx, ajit)
Update: Here’s another, another, and one more.
Over 1,000 photos and carte de visites of
Over 1,000 photos and carte de visites of the Civil War. (What’s a carte de visite?)
The seminal photography collective Magnum has a new blog.
The seminal photography collective Magnum has a new blog.
Photos of baskets and truffles at the
Photos of baskets and truffles at the Lalbenque truffle market in France.
Video montage of classic movie photos taken by Magnum photographers.
Video montage of classic movie photos taken by Magnum photographers.
Nick Tosches wonders where the desktop photo
Nick Tosches wonders where the desktop photo on his new computer was taken and it takes him a year (and several messages to the likes of Bill Gates, the editor of Vermont Life, and S.I. Newhouse) to find out.
Some interesting photos taken in the Moscow subway. (thx, malatron)
Some interesting photos taken in the Moscow subway. (thx, malatron)
Rule of thumb to avoid photographing people
Rule of thumb to avoid photographing people with their eyes closed: divide the number of people by three (or by two if the light is bad). That means that if you’re taking a photo of 12 people, you need to take at least 4 photos to have a good chance of getting a photo with everyone’s eyes open. (via photojojo)
Update: Jeff writes: “Way back when we only used film I learned you could tell before looking at the photo whether someone blinked by asking them what color was the flash. If it was white or bluish white, then their eyes were open. If it was orange, then their eyes were closed and they had ‘seen’ the flash through their eyelids.”
Specific Things is a collection of photos
Specific Things is a collection of photos and stories of, er, specific things like raffle winners, teams called The Pirates, and wedding cakes. (via youngna)
Topless women, NYC
Uncovered is Jordan Matter’s large gallery of photos of topless women on the streets of NYC. It’s legal for women to go topless in New York. Nsfw.
QM 2 and the GG
Oddly surreal photo of the Queen Mary 2 going under the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Denis Darzacq’s photos of dancers, caught in mid-flight. (thx, david)
Denis Darzacq’s photos of dancers, caught in mid-flight. (thx, david)
Nina Berman won a prize in the 2007
Nina Berman won a prize in the 2007 World Press Photo contest for this heartbreaking photo of a badly wounded Iraqi war veteran and his childhood sweetheart on their wedding day. Their story is here. “One arm was a stump and his remaining hand had only two fingers. Later, his big toe was grafted on in place of a thumb. One eye was blind and milky, as if melted, and his ears had been burnt away. The top of his skull had been removed and inserted by doctors into the fatty tissue inside his torso to keep it viable and moist for future use.” (thx, ayush)
Update: Here are some more of the couple’s wedding photos and more photos of Iraqi vets from Berman here and here.
Rosemarie Fiore’s awesome time-lapse photos of video
Rosemarie Fiore’s awesome time-lapse photos of video games. Reminds me of Averaging Gradius. See also Jason Salavon’s work.
Margaret Bourke-White
I came across this striking photo by Margaret Bourke-White the other day:
It’s a photo of a bread line during the Louisville Flood in 1937. The 1937 flood was one of the worst floods ever to occur in the Ohio River Valley:
In January of 1937, rains began to fall throughout the Ohio River Valley, eventually triggering what is known today as the “Great Flood of 1937”. Overall, total precipitation for January was four times its normal amount in the areas surrounding the river. […] The Weather Bureau reported that total flood damage for the entire state of Kentucky was 250 million dollars, which was an incredible sum in 1937. Another flood of this magnitude would not be seen in the Ohio River Valley until 60 years later.
A diary from Mama Bondurant provides a glimpse into what the flood was like:
January 22—-This is another terrible day. The water is still rising and we hear distress cries everywhere. I have tired all day to get West Point, but it is still under water. Jim came home for a little while but went back to Camp Knox to assist in placing flood sufferers from West Point. It is so bad outside. Rain has turned to sleet. Electricity is gone. No lights or radio.
Working as a photographer for Life magazine, Bourke-White also took this iconic photo of Gandhi and his spinning wheel.
Philippe Chancel’s photos of North Korea. “No
Philippe Chancel’s photos of North Korea. “No country, no regime, past or present, has ever conceived such an environment of ubiquitous propaganda, not even those who instigated or experienced the marxist-leninists revolutions of the last century. Not even Nazi Germany.” (via conscientious)
Errol Morris on Abu Ghraib
Some information on Errol Morris’ newest project, a film about Abu Ghraib:
Morris introduced us to his latest project about the Abu Ghraib, and the iconic images created from the prisoner torture. It’s his hypothesis that it’s a handful of those photos from that we’ll remember a hundred years from now about the Iraq War. He explained that this project began with the mystery of two photos by Roger Fenton described by Susan Sontag in her book, Regarding the Pain of Others. During the Crimean War, Fenton took photos of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Two are of the same road, one with cannonballs littering the road, one with the cannonballs in the ravine. The Mystery being which photo was taken first, which was staged?
This is an interesting topic for Morris considering he pioneered the use of “expressionistic reenactments” in documentary filmmaking with The Thin Blue Line.
Update: The film is called “S.O.P.: Standard Operating Procedure”.
Quicktime VR panoramas from the Apollo missions
Quicktime VR panoramas from the Apollo missions to the moon (with audio). These are fantastic.
Photography of Tin Tabernacles and Other Buildings
Photography of Tin Tabernacles and Other Buildings by Alasdair Ogilvie. “Largely unnoticed and ignored, corrugated iron buildings can be discovered scattered across Britain and the Empire. […] With not existing infrastructures, these newly created communities had an urgent need for churches, chapels and schools. Corrugated iron buildings fulfilled this demand.” More photos at Ogilvie’s site.
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