ArtCultech

High Speed Photo Series of liquids and Stuff Flying Through the...

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:32:56 -0400

High Speed Photo Series of liquids and Stuff Flying Through the Air

You don’t have to be high-brow to put together a creative photo series; you don’t even need to travel the deserts of Tunisia. Sometimes, all you need is a container full of something, the willingness to toss it in the air, and the skill to capture the result. That’s what Belgium-based photographer Manon Wethly has done, shooting various airborne containers filled with stuff and uploading the resulting pictures toher Instagram account.

Though the subject is, by definition, quite simple, it’s impressive how unique each photo manages to be. All manner of beverages and powders of different colors and consistencies are seen flying out of any given container. Coffee in to-go cups, wine in wine glasses, milk in juice glasses, and flower in bowls all become airborne when they get around Wethly.

Though she experiments with larger cameras and different backgrounds, the majority of the photos are taken with her iPhone against a clear blue or partly cloudy sky. The diversity of the images comes from the direction the container is thrown, the way it’s spinning, and the color of the stuff flying out of it:

Speaking to Junk Culture, Wethly explains:

It is absolutely fascinating to see what kind of shape an object or liquid gets when it is ‘flying.’ Clicking at exact the right second most often brings the most spectacular and surprising results.

To see more airborne beverages, powders, and other objects, head over to Wethly’s blog or follow her on Instagram.

(via Colossal)

Illustrated Series of TV & Movies Characters on their days...

Fri, 10 May 2013 16:31:43 -0400

Illustrated Series of TV & Movies Characters on their days off by Kiersten Essenpreis

Chicago-based artist Kiersten Essenpreis has created a terrific series of pop culture illustrations showing famous TV show and movie characters on their days off. They are currently on display at Gallery1988 (East) in Los Angeles until Saturday, May 25, 2013. Gallery1988 also has prints of the illustrations available to purchase online.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

How I Created a series of matching ‘Sexy’...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:52:41 -0400

How I Created a series of matching ‘Sexy’ engagement photos that went Viral

I bought a used Mamiya RZ67 Pro II a month ago, a huge medium format studio SLR with a negative area a full five times larger than the sensor on a Nikon D800 or 5DMKIII “full frame” camera.

A decade ago, the kit I bought would have sold for 5 figures, but thanks to film’s loss in popularity, I was able to get it for less than a tenth of what it cost new.

It’s a bulky thing, its six pound weight demands to be put on a tripod, it doesn’t autofocus or zoom, and dealing with film is generally a real pain in the butt. But damn it’s impressive for an empty box with a hole on one end.

For a first project I had the idea, partially inspired by Jim C. Hines, of taking a couple and posing them both in the same feminine poses and then displaying them side by side.

I approached Adam McLaughlin, who officiated my wedding, and his fiancée Casey Grim (collectively known as ACoupleOfN3rds), who I suspected would be game.

I’d photographed both of them before, and was stoked when they they not only agreed to do it, but were enthused. Casey mentioned they’d previously talked about doing some over the top boudoir parody, so the concept resonated with them.

This was my first time using the RZ67 and my first time using film since I last took photography classes in 2004. The shoot was generally a disaster: due to pure human error I shot everything 2 stops overexposed, I was having a hard time getting the lighting right without the digital crutch of instant feedback, I lost two whole shots because the focus was off, and figuring out the lighting took so long I didn’t have time to try any of the other film that I’d meant to experiment with.

Adam and Casey were patient and up for anything, but I felt like I’d let them down on my end.

I had pretty much written the whole thing off and was deep in the process of thinking I’d made a stupid choice buying the camera in the first place when a few days later I got an e-mail with the scans from Photoworks. Despite the meager resolution of their scans, you could still see extremely good resolution in the eyes (where I’d actually gotten them in focus), plus the look of B&W film was honestly even more captivating than I’d hoped.

And though I was initially disappointed to see the few shots that hadn’t turned out and I never did get the lighting how I wanted it, they managed to save most of the shots from overexposure in the processing, and I realized I had enough decent pictures to try execute the initial concept. So I asked my wife Lauren to Photoshop the selects together and then uploaded the finished photos to Facebook.

I did not expect any response.

Casey uploaded the pictures to an Imgur album and posted it to Reddit. Within a few hours that post got to #1 on /r/funny, which 3.5 million of reddit’s users subscribe to.

Since then the photos have been featured on a couple blogs, The Daily Mail, The Huffington Post, and even on nationally syndicated TV. I’ve had friends message me to say they saw the photos (even one friend I haven’t talked to since high school).

I still have a lot to learn to reach basic competency with this camera, but all things considered my first three rolls have done okay.

About the author: Red Scott is a photographer and stand-up comic based in San Francisco, California. Visit his website here. This article originally appeared here.

Modern-Day Video Games Reimagined as Retro Atari...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 13:52:56 -0400

Modern-Day Video Games Reimagined as Retro Atari Cartridges

Artist StarRoivas has used her digital manipulation skills to reimagine modern-day video game titles as retro Atari cartridges. You can view the full collection on deviantART.

via On The Level Gaming, Gamefreaks

Tiny Figurines Making Love Outdoors For an imaginative ongoing...

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 08:49:09 -0400

Tiny Figurines Making Love Outdoors

For an imaginative ongoing photo series, Berlin-based musician, micro-sculptor and photographer Mr Peluchemakes 1:87 plastic scale figurines and puts them in a variety of sexually explicit scenarios. The first in the series is titled “My Summer of Love: Make Love Not War” and it features tiny naked figures frolicking outdoors and enjoying it as Mother Nature intended. The entire series can be viewed and selected prints are available to purchase at his site.

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Portrait of Kids Around the World Posing with their favorite...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 08:59:52 -0400

Portrait of Kids Around the World Posing with their favorite toys

This portrait is of a little boy named Lucas who lives in Sydney, Australia. Like many children around the world, Lucas enjoys playing with toys, particularly his set of miniature trains and wooden railroad tracks.

Like many photographers around the world, Gabriele Galimberti enjoys traveling. During an 18 month span of travels, Galimberti visited and photographed children in a long list of countries around the world with each child posing with his or her favorite toys. Lucas was one of the kids Galimberti visited for his project, which is titled “Toy Stories.”

For each of the images, Galimberti played with the children and their toys for a short time, helped them arrange the toys neatly on the ground, and then had the kids post for a portrait. Through the many portrait sessions, Galimberti discovered that children around the world have similarities and differences. While all enjoy playing and having fun, the economic status of the children apparently has a big influence on the children’s personalities.

The wealthiest children were more possessive of their belongings, refusing to let Galimberti touch the toys at first. Building rapport with those kids took longer. The poorer children were much more receptive to Galimberti and were more generous with their fewer belongings. In the poorest countries, children often had very few toys, and therefore spent most of their time outdoors with friends.

Galimberti’s portraits are very revealing of the children’s worlds — their personalities, economic statuses, families, interests, personalities, and countries:

You can find the entire set of Toy Stories photographs over on Galimberti’s website.

Toy Stories by Gabriele Galimberti (via American Photo)

That is what heaven looks like Want to own a giant collection of...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 09:49:45 -0500

That is what heaven looks like

Want to own a giant collection of vintage cameras, but don’t want to spend a lifetime acquiring them one by one? If you have deep pockets and money to burn, here’s your shot: collector Brain Cue of Alameda, California (kka20101 on eBay) is selling his massive camera collection that he has spent over 50 years building up.

The collection contains over 1,000 pieces of cameras, lenses, and various accessories. kka20101 notes that he doesn’t know the exact number of pieces in the collection — it may even be more than 2,000 separate pieces.

All the major camera brands (e.g. Canon, Nikon, Rollei, Yashica, Ricoh, Polaroids, Kodak, Fuji, Pentax, Petri, Pax, Mamiya) are represented in the lot, as well as all kinds of camera bodies (e.g. SLR, RF, TLR, medium format, point and shoot).

Most of the are in both working order and great cosmetic condition — this isn’t a mountain of broken cameras.

Here are some more jaw-dropping photos showing how expansive the collection is:

Shipping the collection would likely cost an astronomical amount of money, so Cue recommends that you visit him locally to pick up the lot (you’d probably want to bring a U-Haul, a boatload of cardboard boxes, and tons of protective padding).

So… regarding price: the starting bid is $34,999, but you can buy the collection outright if you’re willing to drop $49,999 on it. If there’s indeed 2,000 pieces, this would average out to about $25 for each item. There’s currently one day left in the auction, so get a move on it if you’re interested!

Huge lot of old cameras collection for Sale. 1,000+ Pieces of SLR, RF, Medium [eBay]

Air Drive, Old cars transformed into flying cars In the photo...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:18:17 -0500

Air Drive, Old cars transformed into flying cars

In the photo series “Air Drive,” old cars are reborn as retro-futuristic flying cars thanks to digital trickery by French photographer Renaud Marion.

via Wired

Google Street Scene You can always rely on the internet to be a...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:29:34 -0500

Google Street Scene

You can always rely on the internet to be a complicit and worthy aide in your daily mission to procrastinate; whether it’s Lance Armstrong singing Creep orsartorial hounds, there’s enough fresh madness to make every day as thoroughly unproductive as the last. Those on the lookout for further distraction will surely admire the efforts of serial-map-blogger Tre Baker; the founder of Close to the Borderline – a blog that compiles images of locations divided by, well, borders – has introduced a plenitude of pop culture to his map obsession, with Google Street Scene.

Less than a week old, Google Street Scene – the latest in a long line of Street View-influenced art and culture projects – has already been kicking up somewhat of an international online storm; no-less than Time picking it out as their Tumblr of the Week. The premise is, as all good ideas are, painfully simple – the execution not so. Baker has managed to create a series of very authentic Street View-style screen grabs, the twist? They’re all scenes from famous movies, brought into the real world through the familiar guise of Google’s Street View. Superbly executed, Baker’s mash-ups deliver humour, intrigue and menace; the sight of Javier Bardem’s cold killer in No Country for Old Mennonchalantly strolling towards you is particularly chilling.

And what’s more – if browsing these fanciful delights alone was not gleefully distracting enough, the pop-quiz element adds a whole new level of “I’ll leave that till tomorrow”, place your bets and click on the Source link below each image – mark yourself honestly and send the results to We Heart Towers (prizes TBC).

Still catching his breath from a bracing few days, we caught up with Tre to find out more about him, his passion for maps, and the Street Scene lightbulb moment…

So you just launched the Tumblr last Wednesday, and already things are blowing up for you – did you expect anything like this level of exposure?

I absolutely did not expect Google Street Scene to receive this much attention. This is the third or fourth site like this I’ve started, and I fully expected it to remain as obscure as the other ones. I’m happy people are getting a kick out of it.

One of your other sites, Close to the Borderline, tracks an obsession that personally fascinates me too – that of locations crossed by international and state borders – how long have you been backpacking via Google Street View, when did the attraction begin and when was the Google Street Scene lightbulb moment?

I’ve been a fan of maps and cartography since I was a kid. The first time I ever got to play with Google Maps was when I worked at a talk radio station. We’d get a call from some place like Calvert City, Ky., and I had nothing better to do while screening calls than to dive in and take a look around the city where some particular caller was from. I’m fascinated with how everything pretty much looks the same on Google Street View, the newer high-def ones excluded. You can “drive” down Pennsylvania Ave in Washington DC, and instead of it looking like what you see in the movies, it looks much like the same old drab street you’d see from the back of a cab.

So international borderlines, film scenes, the house you grew up in… they all come off with the same treatment. On Google Street View, the pictures are all going to be from that weird angle with lines and data and copyright information blending into the background. The same gloves are used. This week, a co-worker showed me one of his discoveries: his grandmother. She’s been gone for awhile now, and yet, there she is on Google Street View, a blurry figure tending to her garden some time in August 2007. It’s strange enough to hear what you sound like played back on a recording or what you look like in a group picture. Imagine how disorienting it is to see yourself, or a loved one, walking down the street, unaware of your picture being taken from the point-of-view of some stranger’s car.

So taking something as familiar as the opening chase scene on Princes Street from Trainspotting and turning it into an incident that’s casually observed – like an apple farm in Washington State – that’s pretty cool, I guess.

Can you tell us a little about yourself – what do you do for a day job, for example?

My day job is as an online editor for Arkansas Business Publishing Group. We’ve got a weekly business newspaper that’s our flagship and several niche publications that appear on InArkansas.com. It should also be said that I create and post my Google Street Scenes from my home, off the clock. *cough*

You clearly know a thing or two about cinema – what’s your favourite film, and scene within it?

I wouldn’t consider myself a cinephile. I’ve got two children, ages 3 and 5, so I average about one movie in the theatre a year. Any others on DVD or cable are usually split up in parts. Right now, I’m just trying to work my way through The Wire series. Please, no spoilers.

My traditional answer though to what’s my favorite movie is GoodFellas. The “May 11, 1980″ montage is one of my favorite sequences. There’s probably something in there that would make for good Google Street Scene material too.

What makes a good Google Street Scene?

Finding a good movie scene to turn into a Street View; there’s a few tricks. First and foremost, it has to look like something the Google cameras would’ve captured. That crosses off a lot of things – night scenes, alleyways, parking lots. You also have to keep in mind that your average cameraman is six feet tall while the Google camera is perched up about 10-12 feet in the air. So even some street shots have to be eliminated only because they’re too much at eye level.

What’s next for Tre Baker?

What’s next? Well, I’m moving to a new desk at work that’s next to a window, so I’m pretty pleased about that. It’ll be nice to watch street scenes in real life for a change.

East L.A street and people photography by George Bojorquez East...

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 09:41:38 -0500

East L.A street and people photography by George Bojorquez

East L.A Street and People Photography by Gregory Bojorquez: Gregory Bojorquez has been photographing the people and places within East L.A for years. Whether capturing women in Hollywood, his hot lady friends, crime, or musicians, he keeps it raw and in-your-face. Via PsyCreator

American West stunning iPhone photos by Kevin...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 15:33:47 -0500

American West stunning iPhone photos by Kevin Russ

Photographer Kevin Russ has been traveling the American West taking stunning photographs with his iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. He has been financing his travels by selling prints and licensing his photos for stock photography. For more on Russ and his photography, see this short documentary by Max Monty. You can follow Russ on Instagram, Tumblr, &Flickr.

via Shooting Gallery & PetaPixel

video by Max Monty

8 -Bit Video Game Tribute to Kill Bill 88 Madness, an 8-bit...

Fri, 11 Jan 2013 09:48:46 -0500

8 -Bit Video Game Tribute to Kill Bill

88 Madness, an 8-bit online web browser game created by Juan David Gómez of flavourmachine, allows you to fight your way through memorable scenes found in the two-part Quentin Tarintino directed film Kill Bill. Juan built the game as a tribute to Kill Bill and used the Processing.js html5 open programming language to bring it all to life.

images via flavourmachine, Juan David Gómez

submitted via Laughing Squid Tips

Angelina Jolie’s Self-portraits with a Hasselblad Angelina...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:13:36 -0500

Angelina Jolie’s Self-portraits with a Hasselblad

Angelina Jolie is an Oscar-winning actress who has become popular by taking on the title role in the “Lara Croft” series of blockbuster movies. Off-screen, Jolie has become prominently involved in international charity projects, especially those involving refugees. She often appears on many “most beautiful women” lists, and she has a personal life that is avidly covered by the tabloid press.

Here are interesting photos of Angelina Jolie with a Hasselblad from her photoshoot taken by Alexei Hay for the Marie Claire magazine in January 2012.

Bonus: Angelina Jolie with a large format bellows camera

Struggle to right oneself; Falling selfportrait “We are a...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 09:05:02 -0500

Struggle to right oneself; Falling selfportrait

“We are a visual culture wherein photography has become an exceedingly powerful form of communication Moreover, the development of digital technologies in the past ten tears has wiped traditional artistic boundaries away.” – Kerry Skarbakka

Clever Ads By Garnier Fructis Long hair looks like a beard in a...

Thu, 10 Jan 2013 08:47:49 -0500

Clever Ads By Garnier Fructis

Long hair looks like a beard in a clever ad campaign for Garnier Fructis by Publicis in Switzerland. It aims to show that their hair products are suitable for both men and women.

images via Gute Werbung

via Boing Boing

Photographer Recreates his dreams as surreal photographs Some...

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:47:13 -0500

Photographer Recreates his dreams as surreal photographs

Some people use dream journals to record and remember their imaginary nighttime escapades. Israel-based photographer Ronen Goldman uses photographs. Whenever he has a strange dream that he’d like to document, he goes out and recreates that dream as a surreal photograph. The project is titled “Surrealistic Pillow“.

For the past six years I have been recreating my dreams through photos. Each photo takes weeks and even months of preparation from dreaming it, writing down the main elements, planning, shooting and post production.
I don’t always fully understand the meaning of these images- much like dreams they sometimes reveal themselves only months after being created.

All elements of all the images were actually shot on location on the same day and combined together.

You can find the entire series over on his website here.

Sandy Beach Home Office Working from home is a dream for many....

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 09:12:03 -0500

Sandy Beach Home Office

Working from home is a dream for many. In fact the only thing better than working from your home is the ability to work from the beach, paradise if you will. Well the ‘Surfing With The Sand Between My Toes’ workspace allows both of those options fused into one.

Artist Justin Kemp offered up a way for you to work directly from your home office, while still enjoying the feeling of being at the beach, with your toes between the sand all day. ” The sand is relaxing, but for me, it’s more a symbol of my permanent vacation. It’s the design of a lifestyle where work becomes so satisfying that vacation and retirement become undesirable. It’s a permanent state of chill,” Justin explained about the home office setup. Essentially a massive wooden sandbox located under your workspace, this would definitely leave a mess throughout your home. [Via]

Funny Vintage Tobacco Ads A collection of funny tobacco ads in...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 09:00:15 -0500

Funny Vintage Tobacco Ads

A collection of funny tobacco ads in the past

The Next Day, David Bowie’s first album in ten years At...

Tue, 08 Jan 2013 08:43:33 -0500

The Next Day, David Bowie’s first album in ten years

At the revamped website for David Bowie, it was announced today that he is releasing “The Next Day,” his first album in ten years (pre-order). The first single from the new album, “Where Are We Now?,” is available now and the song’s videocan be seen at Bowie’s site.

photo by Diego Uchitel

Giant NES controller made of LEGO Not only is this 5-foot long...

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 09:12:05 -0500

Giant NES controller made of LEGO

Not only is this 5-foot long NES controller made entirely of Lego bricks, but the thing actually works. Baron von Brunk first had the idea over the summer and spent the last few months putting this behemoth together. In that time, not only did he construct the exterior Lego shell, but he also finished the inside to include spring loaded modules for the buttons that he soldered to an actual NES circuit board.