JFK to LAS

From a great set of 'in flight' images by sgoralnick
Full set here.

500 Posters

Try to keep up...

500 Posters from Aesthetic Apparatus

Sinister Means

How the 'ecosystem' myth has been used for sinister means
Adam Curtis, The Observer, Sunday 29 May 2011

When, in the 1920s, a botanist and a field marshal dreamed up rival theories of nature and society, no one could have guessed their ideas would influence the worldview of 70s hippies and 21st-century protest movements. But their faith in self-regulating systems has a sinister history

Read the full article here »



I've used this image before on this blog - Burning Biosphere - but quite liked it as an illustration for the article...

The First Avenger

As George Dvorsky points out on his sentient developments blog... a very transhumanist-themed trailer.

"a weak man knows the value of strength, knows the value of power"

The Square

Stanley Tigerman and G.L. Crabtree (The Square). A+U 55 July 1975: 39



Via rendering the 20th century (aka rndrd)

Flottille

Etienne Cliquet, Flottille (2011)
Sample from video installation
ordigami.net/​flotilla

Flotilla is a series of videos of micro-origamis (2 cm or 3 cm long) which are opening slowly onto the surface of the water by capillarity.



Ordigami, Etienne Cliquet

Earth View and Part of Lunar Module

Creator – Apollo 11
Medium – Ektacolor print
Source – National Air and Space Museum, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

Via the (awesome) Smithsonian Photography Initiative

Congruence

Numbers are equal. Geometrical objects are congruent.

Two shapes are congruent if one can be moved or rotated so that it fits exactly where the other one is. If one of the object has to change its size, the two objects are not congruent. They are called similar. Also, every two objects which are congruent are similar at the same time. Geometrical objects can be equal, too, but only if they are in the same place, so an object can only be equal to itself.

Via the Simple English Wikipedia


Norman Ives design from three congruent shapes (rotated) interwoven, that are also similar but clearly not equal.

Paper Mountains

Paper Mountains, a project by Brendan Austin

Monument

From Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers book "Spomenik: The End of History"

Willem Jan Neutelings, quoted from this book: "The Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers undertook a laborious trek through the Balkans in order to photograph a series of these mysterious objects. He captures the Spomeniks in the misty mountain landscape at sundown. Looking at the photographs one must admit to a certain embarrassment. We see the powerful beauty of the monumental sculptures and we catch ourselves forgetting the victims in whose name they were built. This is in no way a reproach to the photographer, but rather attests to the strength of the images. After all, Kempenaers did not set out as a documentary photographer, but first and foremost as an artist seeking to create a new image. An image so powerful that it engulfs the viewer. He allows the viewer to enjoy the melancholy beauty of the Spomeniks, but in so doing, forces us to take a position on a social issue."

Via Crack Two

Earthrise

Creator – Apollo 14
Medium – Black and white photographic print
Source – National Air and Space Museum, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

Via the (awesome) Smithsonian Photography Initiative

Cascolab

Awesome abstract diagram drawings by Rento van Drunen used as a sketch phase for an animation for the exposition Cascolab2010: transmission - the experimental waitingroom. The animation is a compilation of different ways to connect graphs, wich could be used seperatly in presentations or websites to support data:

Moving Univers

Rune Bering Sørensen's clever response (as an intern at Mega) to an assignment to illustrate movement using only Univers 65 Bold and a maximum of two colours - solved by quite literally making Univers move.

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace

New Adam Curtis series starts Monday on BBC Two - A series of films about how humans have been colonised by the machines we have built. Although we don't realise it, the way we see everything in the world today is through the eyes of the computers...



I've set the V+ Box to record after reading about this on the interweb (the irony!):

EPISODE 1 - LOVE AND POWER

The story of two perfect worlds. One is the small group of disciples around the novelist Ayn Rand in the 1950s who saw themselves as a prototype for a future society where everyone could follow their own selfish desires. The other is the global utopia that digital entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley set out to create in the 1990s.

Find out more about Episode 1

ORE

ORE - Google Earth

地貌真的很美，每一点的纹理，颜色，人工的非人工的都独具特色。随意取一块，衬以古法 ，都象一块块精美的矿石。设计小品，待以后有时间再做发展。全部纹理来自 Google Earth 卫星地图。

Pictures from Google Earth.
Art, design by .L.

-- the gist of the copy (thanks to a translation from Babelfish!) is... these beautiful images of landforms from Google Earth satellite maps, with their textures and colour, are like fine ore.

Utopia(3)

Utopia(3) by Phill Loveridge

Look Tulips

Tulips as abstract art...



From a story in the New York Times - Bloom and Bust - with fabulous abstract photographs by Julian Faulhaber




Some tulip facts:

No. of tulip bulbs produced annually in the Netherlands: 3 Billion
No. of cut tulips exported annually: 2 billion
No. of registered varieties of tulips: 3,000
Rank of tulip among flowers in the worldwide popularity: No. 3




Via The Fox Is Black

Makljen

Spomenik Makljen (blown-up) - from Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers book "Spomenik: The End of History"

Willem Jan Neutelings, quoted from this book: "The Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers undertook a laborious trek through the Balkans in order to photograph a series of these mysterious objects. He captures the Spomeniks in the misty mountain landscape at sundown. Looking at the photographs one must admit to a certain embarrassment. We see the powerful beauty of the monumental sculptures and we catch ourselves forgetting the victims in whose name they were built. This is in no way a reproach to the photographer, but rather attests to the strength of the images. After all, Kempenaers did not set out as a documentary photographer, but first and foremost as an artist seeking to create a new image. An image so powerful that it engulfs the viewer. He allows the viewer to enjoy the melancholy beauty of the Spomeniks, but in so doing, forces us to take a position on a social issue."

Via Crack Two

Photomosaic of Triton

Creator – Unidentified photographer
Medium – Medium unknown
Source – National Air and Space Museum, Center for Earth and Planetary Studies

This photomosaic of Triton, Neptune's largest moon, was assembled from fourteen individual frames to show the great variety of its surface features. At the bottom of the image are remnants of the south polar cap, which contain dark streaks generally aligned toward the northeast. Even though these features are darker than others on Triton, they reflect nearly ten times as much light as the surface of the Earth?s moon. The region that scientists have informally dubbed the 'cantaloupe' terrain, as a result of its small dimples with upraised rims and shallow central depressions, is visible north of the cap, in the western half of the disk. Long fractures that have opened and allowed some icy material to ooze up and form a central ridge crisscross the region and extend into parts of the polar cap region. Toward the south this terrain is covered with a light layer of frost.

Via the (awesome) Smithsonian Photography Initiative

Cord Camera Strap

Blimey, got all excited about this cord camera strap...



So I tracked it down on the interweb... only to discover it's between $107 and $142!
Turns out it's a (special) Kumihimo silk cord made by Artisan & Artist*:

"For thousands of years, a special breed of artists in Japan have made silk cords of exceptional strength, texture and beauty.

These KUMIHIMO artists are known throughout the world for making braided straps for use on the battle armor and swords of the feared Samurai warriors. ARTISAN & ARTIST* has revived this classic art by employing specialists who weave these steely cameras straps by the traditional methods. The length of this strap can be shortened by tying loose knots in it, which also helps keep the camera positioned firmly in front of you without sliding back and forth on one's neck. ARTISAN & ARTIST* has discovered quite an invention in the Silk Cord Strap!

The smooth silk texture of the cord is comfortable on your neck, even in hot weather because the material breathes with your body temperature. The strong braids are nearly unbreakable for those worried that their camera will one day hit the deck due to a frayed camera strap. That simply won't happen with the Silk Cord Strap, one of the most unique camera restraints in the world!"

I really like them, but can't see myself forking out over 100 bucks for one - although it might make it on to the Christmas list :)

Transparency

Glorious (trying to expand the number of adjectives I use on this site) watercolours by artist Jeffrey Simmons - exploring the transparency and layering capability of water-borne pigment:

Fotos (Ice)

Great series of photos of ice from Dextro.org - better known for their abstract graphic design and algorithmic images:

From Beyond Space

NB: I hadn't realised (till watching this recently) the Battle of the Planets title was in Avant Garde (including it's outstanding ligatures) - couldn't find a decent image of it so I traced one up:



The 'Th' ligature ROCKS!

Spomenik

Tjentište Memorial - from Belgian photographer Jan Kempenaers book "Spomenik: The End of History"

Willem Jan Neutelings, quoted from this book: "The Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers undertook a laborious trek through the Balkans in order to photograph a series of these mysterious objects. He captures the Spomeniks in the misty mountain landscape at sundown. Looking at the photographs one must admit to a certain embarrassment. We see the powerful beauty of the monumental sculptures and we catch ourselves forgetting the victims in whose name they were built. This is in no way a reproach to the photographer, but rather attests to the strength of the images. After all, Kempenaers did not set out as a documentary photographer, but first and foremost as an artist seeking to create a new image. An image so powerful that it engulfs the viewer. He allows the viewer to enjoy the melancholy beauty of the Spomeniks, but in so doing, forces us to take a position on a social issue."

Via Crack Two

Tjentište monument, by sculptor Miodrag Živković, commemorates the Battle of the Sutjeska in Tjentište, Bosnia and Herzegovina:


Tjentiste 3 by marko krojac

Glass Positive of the Moon

Creator – Henry Draper
Medium – Glass positive with resin
Source – National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center

A doctor by trade, Henry Draper was an early pioneer of astronomical photography. This photograph is one of many high-quality images of the Moon that he captured. The first to capture a photograph of the Great Nebula of Orion, Draper went on to photograph the stellar spectrum and create the first wide-angle image of a comet's tail.

Via the (awesome) Smithsonian Photography Initiative

Beauty is Nothing

From an exhibition of Emmet Gowin's work at Marc Selwyn (back in 2010):



From the press release:

Gowin studied under photographer Harry Callahan, who became one of his mentors and greatest influences. Gowin was initially made famous by his intimate portraits of his wife and family in Virginia. Over the last twenty year, he has expanded the scope of his subjects, depicting the devastation and beauty of Mt St Helens, the haunting emptiness of Petra, and most recently, aerial scenes of man’s impact on the environment.

This exhibition consists of aerial views of the earth’s surface. Photographed in the United States, Mexico, Czechoslovakia, Asia and the Middle East, they document the physical impact of pivot irrigation, military weapons testing, natural resource mining and more. Like the work of his contemporaries Richard Misrach and Edward Burtynsky, Gowin's photographs study the landscape and man’s complex relationship to it. His richly hand-toned silver gelatin prints have been characterized as “immorally gorgeous.” Even his most alarming views of the earth’s disturbed surface appear as starkly beautiful black and white compositions of light and form that invite long and lingering contemplation.

Ever since Nadar brought his camera up in a balloon in 1858, aerial photography has broadened our vision and changed our perspective—not only visually but socially, politically, scientifically — on the earth we inhabit. In recent years, David Maisel and Michael Light have also made extraordinary aerial work akin to Gowin’s in its concentration on our impact upon the land — the drawing, sculpting, tracing, and especially scarring marks of our presence and demands. Gowin has taught at Princeton for more than 30 years and been a profound influence in the field (Maisel being one of his indebted students). With the aerial work, he prints small but thinks huge, the images a perfect marriage between intimacy and intensity. Reductive, expansive, wise and questioning, these are not just photographs but tough, reverential little poems, compact philosophies and ethical inquiries, evidentiary documents and experiential reveries.

-- Leah Ollman



David Maisel’s Terminal Mirage on Planetary Folklore