Watch this beautifully filmed music video by Rihanna, Kanye West and Paul McCartney. Shot by Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin. This fantastic photographic duo are well-known in the photography industry. And now they have created this amazing video. It’s like they used a classic hasselblad. That iconic square format. And all in black and white. As if each frame could be a strong portrait image in it self. A perfect blend of photographic mastery, moving images and music.
Perhaps every country has at least a couple of them. Weird, strange or just plain stupid laws. Photographer Olivia Locher looked at the USA and found more than a couple of strange laws. The series’ called I Fought the Law. Above: In Alabama it is illegal to have an ice cream cone in your back pocket at all times. At all times? Perhaps a book can be written on how these laws came about. But before that just scroll down and enjoy the weirdness of the land of the free.
The complete series can be found on Olivia’s website: oliviaocher.com.
Do you know any of your countries weird, strange or just plain stupid laws? Leave them in the comments.
In Utah no one may walk down the street carrying a paper bag containing a violin.
In Wisconsin it is illegal to serve apple pie in public restaurants without cheese.
In Maine it’s unlawful to tickle women under the chin with a feather duster.
In Kansas it’s illegal to serve wine in teacups.
In Tennessee hollow logs may not be sold.
In California nobody is allowed to ride a bicycle in a swimming pool.
In Arizona you not have more than two dildos in a house.
In Rhode Island it is illegal to wear transparent clothing.
In Delaware it’s illegal to wear pants that are “form-fitting” around the waist.
In Texas it is illegal for children to have unusual haircuts.
In Oregon one may not test their physical endurance while driving a car on a highway.
In Hawaii coins are not allowed to be placed in ones ears.
In Ohio it’s illegal to disrobe in front of a mans portrait.
Combining or taking inspiration from different art forms can bring about wonderful pieces of work. Photographer Alexander Khokhlov created portraits of woman with wonderfully painted faces. The faces references to all kinds of different works of art. We recognize the comic style, or for the art lovers pop style, of Roy Lichtenstein; we see a pixellated portrait we all know so well by looking at pictures on our computer screens. Even the iconic Obama Hope poster by Shepard Fairey is painted and photographed wonderfully by this Russian artist.
A wonderful series to celebrate both photography and art in general. Below the series. Visit his website for more of his work.
Alexander’s webiste: www.alexanderkhokhlov.com
Alexander’s webiste: www.alexanderkhokhlov.com
And I’m back! Been away from the keyboard for a while. But I’m back with more photography from artists around the globe.
As a fun experiment I started a tumblr page for a photography project. Just started it. On this page I will try to explore the photographic beauty of a very popular virtual world. Namely the Grand Theft Auto 5 universe. In this fast and fun game one can take pictures of this beautifully crafted world. Let’s try to connect the real world with this virtual world by bringing some of my photographs to your screen. Still kinda virtual but still…
Got to the Tumblr page by clicking the following link: GTA 5 Photography
Have some money to spare? Perhaps you should invest in art. And what better art then photographic art. As the art world is always undergoing change. The influence of photography in the art world has been on the rise ever since the camera was properly used to capture ‘real life’ and since Man Ray played around with this ‘real’ medium. Of course the price of a photograph will rise when its historic relevance to some important person or event seems rare and thus special. But the most expensive photographs lately were created by photographers who used their cameras to create and tell a story. Ignite an emotion in the viewer. And that of course is what art is all about.
Below the top 10 of photographs sold for a couple of more pennies than I have managed to sell mine. So which one would you like to hang on your wall?
#1 Rhein II – Andreas Gursky (1999) $4.3 million
#2 Untitled #96 – Cindy Sherman (1981) $3.9 million
#3 For Her Majesty – Gilbert & George (1973) $3.7 million
#4 Dead Troops Talk – Jeff Wall (1992) $3.7 million
#5 Untitled (Cowboy) – Richard Prince (2001-02) $3.4 million
#6 99 Cent II, Diptychon – Andreas Gursky (2001) $3.3 million
#7 Los – Angeles – Andreas Gursky (1998) $2.9 million
#8 The Pond/Moonlight – Edward Steichen (1904) $2.9 million
#9 Untitled #153 – Cindy Sherman (1985) $2.7 million
#10 Billy the Kid – Unknown (1880) $2.3 million
A couple of months ago PforPHOTO featured the fantastic beard series by Joseph Daniel Robert Oleary. The series’ called Of beards and Men. He just launched a Kickstarter to make a fine art book of all the incredible portraits. He made 130+ photos. So plenty of masculine hairiness to explore.
Check out the video below and head to Kickstarter to help Joseph reach his goal.
And, of course, check out his website: www.ofbeardsandmen.com
Controversy is always something that can help promote your work. Because of all the commotion around the photo series The Neighbors it manages to come across my table. And that’s why I’m sharing it with you. So in a way the saying, bad publicity is good publicity worked for photographer Arne Svenson. In his series he pointed the camera at the apartment building across from his studio. It shows us snippets of the lives lived in these stacked living spaces. A series of anonymous lives lived behind the windows of downtown Manhattan.
The photos have a painting like quality. The framing of the windows mimic that of paintings. And they remind me of the works of Edwards Hopper. Moments captured in a wonderful composition. It leave much to the imagination. The subjects aren’t recognizable. The artist allows us to create our own story. A theatrical way of looking at ordinary life. It also reminded me of the series Windows by Michael Wolf.
Read about the controversy of being secretly photographed and putting the work up for sale here. I can understand the feelings of being photographed in your private homes. It does raise some privacy questions but overall the work doesn’t seem to be about those specific neighbors. It shows a stage we can recognize. If I was Arne’s neighbor I would ask for a print. Not sue him for making such an interesting series.
Arne Svenson’s website: arnesvenson.com
Arne Svenson’s website: arnesvenson.com
In the Playroom is a series by Canadian and award-winning photographer Jonathan Hobin. The photographs show us children playing out events that we all recognize. From the tragedy of 9/11, the torture at Guantanamo bay to the devastating tsunami on boxing day 2004. At fist glance we see a scene of children playing. But quickly we notice that what we see isn’t all that innocent or cheerful.
Jonathan Hobin created this series to comment on what it means to live in a world with the constant presents of media. The shift from the consumption of media to generating it as well. And on top of that Johanathan’s work also depicts the darker side of childhood. That it’s not all that normal that childhood is a happy and innocent time for many of us.
What ever you feel by seeing the images I do believe this artist really knows how to push buttons and therefore make you stand still by reflecting on how we go about media and news in this time and age.
Jonathan Hobin’s website: www.jhobin.com
Jonathan Hobin’s website: www.jhobin.com
A dream perhaps of many. Traveling through time. Hungarian photographer Flóra Borsi used Photoshop to ‘see’ some of the biggest artists, musicians and moments in western history first hand. She created images that shows her in the presence of these famous persons and moments. Capturing Elvis on stage, sneaky taking a shot of Marilyn Monroe in a bathroom or documenting the civil rights movement. Where would you love to be? You can recreate history if you are as photoshop savvy as Borsi is.
I hope her next series will show us the results of this fantastic way of traveling through time. That would really make for an amazing series.
Flóra Borsi’s profile on Behance: www.behance.net/yayuniversal
Flóra Borsi’s profile on Behance: www.behance.net/yayuniversal