New York-based photographer Navid Baraty has a series of incredibly beautiful rain photographs made in San Francisco and Japan. We first came across the photograph above, titled “Rain Dance”, in Pictory’s “San Francisco” showcase. It was taken in San Francisco’s Union Square with a Nikon D700. There’s just something about the composition and lighting that blew us away.
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Mila’s Daydreams is a creative photography project by Adele Enersen that’s similar to Jan von Holleben’s Dreams of Flying project that we featured a while back. Every day, when her baby daughter Mila takes a nap, Enersen imagines what her daughter might be dreaming about and stages a cute scene to capture it in a photograph.
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This year’s nominees have just been announced for the 14th annual Webby Awards, and one of the nearly 70 categories is “Best Use of Photography“.
These are websites that showcase photography rather than websites about photography. The Webby Awards don’t have an award for that (yet).
Here are the five nominees this year:
It’s interesting to note that all of the nominees are flash-based websites that use dark gray or black backgrounds.
Same Hill, Different Day is a series of project by Chicago-based photographer Paul Octavious in which he documents the life of a single hill in Chicago:
Octavious tells us,
When I first started photographed the hill there was no intent to photograph it for as long as I have been doing it. My weekly walks would always lend it self to being on the path the hill was located on.
There was something so intriguing about how the locals would interact with it. I soon realized thats the hill was stage and the locals the actors in this on going play, that’s when I fell in love.
To see more photographs from this project, check out his website.
Image credits: Photographs by Paul Octavious and used with permission
Ronen Goldman is a photographer based in Tel Aviv, Israel who specializes in surreal “dream” photography:
Goldman tells us,
I have no formal photography education, I’m actually a trained Scriptwriter that got tired of writing scripts and discovered a passion for making images that tell stories. I find the medium to be a lot quicker and easier for me to communicate, with it being a universal language, people can understand whether they are old or young.
The great thing about photography in my opinion is the learning curve — its never ending. There are always new techniques and views to develop and master and as a photographer you are forever a student, which in my opinion is a great place to be.
I have always been attracted to the Surreal movement, be it Magritte, Dali, Yves Tanguy Andre Breton or Man Ray, I love the idea of creating art that comes from the unconscious realms of the mind, feelings that cannot really be explained or articulated. The feeling you get from a dream you had that fills you up with happiness or sorrow, even when you cant really explain what you have experienced to anyone, no matter how much detail you give of the dream you had.
I hope those elusive feelings are somehow conveyed through the imagery i create.
To see more of Goldman’s work check out his website.
Image credits: Photographs by Ronen Goldman and used with permission
Here’s a set of photographs by Daniela Edburg, who creates surreal scenes and landscapes around the theme of knitting:
She tells us,
I started knitting for a photograph where a girl is standing on a small knit garden, her own little safe spot in the midst of a desolate landscape, I was knitting for weeks, and the activity started taking on a strong significance. The work I am doing now has become all about knitting. Knitting as a compulsive action, as a form of occupational therapy and as a way of creating a safe place or a cushioned version of almost anything.
To see more of Daniela’s work, check out her website.
Image credits: Photographs by Daniela Edburg and used with permission.
Luis Caldevilla creates beautiful time-lapse videos and publishes them to his website, timelapses.tv. He recently received his 1 millionth video view, and created this montage video to celebrate the occasion. It can give you quite a few ideas for things to make time-lapses of.
Vans and the places where they were is an ongoing project started in 1996 by Joe Stevens, a filmmaker and photographer based in New York City.
Joe tells us,
This project examines the juxtaposition between the van’s aesthetic and that of the surrounding architectural and natural elements, and asks us to consider whether that has occurred consciously, subconsciously or as a result of pure chance. Sometimes I am drawn to situations which suggest that perhaps the driver chose this arrangement on purpose or it seems as if the van may have somehow chosen the arrangement itself. I am also drawn to instances where the arrangement creates conflict.
I suppose the answer will come with each individual’s reading of the images. Clearly there is pride which comes with owning something which is unusual and one of the last of its kind. In cases where the vehicle has been customized by the owner it presents a glimpse into that individual’s personality and evidence of the human compulsion to turn something which was stamped out on an assembly line into something which is more strongly indicative who we are. Whether or not we might describe it as such, each of us makes hundreds of art-direction choices every day. This project asks whether something as seemingly mundane as choosing a parking spot is actually one of them.
You can view more photographs from this project here.
Image credits: Photographs by Joe Stevens and used with permission.
We came across some work by Maciej Leszczynski the other day, and wanted to share it with all of you. We’ll let the photographs speak for themselves.
Leszczynski tells us,
Born 1986, I’m Polish, actually live in Sopot at Baltic coast. I’m biologist and self-taught photographer. I specialize in black & white photography, but sometimes I love capture in color as well. I’m trying to create simple, peace, balanced images where pure form, harmony and composition are essential. To achieve these I’m frequently using long exposure technique.
Visit his website to see more of his work.
Our jaws dropped when we came across Matthew Albanese’s work. He uses everyday materials to create astonishingly detailed small-scale miniatures of stunning landscapes, and then photographs them using forced perspective techniques.
Here’s his statement and a taste of his work:
My work involves the construction of small-scale meticulously detailed models using various materials and objects to create emotive landscapes. Every aspect from the construction to the lighting of the final model is painstakingly pre-planned using methods which force the viewers perspective when photographed from a specific angle. Using a mixture of photographic techniques such as scale, depth of field, white balance and lighting I am able to drastically alter the appearance of my materials.
Tornado made of steel wool, cotton, ground parsley and moss
Paprika Mars. Made out of 12 pounds paprika, cinnamon, nutmeg, chili powder and charcoal
Volcano, “Breaking Point”, made out of tile grout, cotton, phosphorous ink. This model volcano was illuminated from within by 6-60 watt light bulbs.
Aurora Borealis. This one was made by photographing a beam of colored light against a black curtain to achieve the edge effect. The trees were composited from life ( so far the only real life element in any of these images) The stars are simply strobe light through holes in cork board.
Fields, After the Storm. This model is simply made out of faux fur(fields), cotton (clouds) and sifted tile grout(mountains). The perspective is forced as in all of my images, and the lighting effect was created by simply shifting the white balance.
To see more of Matthew’s work, you can visit his website.
