The Finalists of the 10th Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest

Smithsonian Photo Contest 2

Smithsonian Magazine announced the 50 finalists of their 10th annual photo contest. Categories include the natural world, travel, people, Americana and altered images. Voting is currently underway for the Reader’s Choice Award. Here are a few of my favorites. All of these breathtaking images deserve some recognition. Which photograph catches your eye?

Pantone Pairings by David Schwen

David Schwen 2

Minneapolis-based creative David Schwen has created Pantone Pairings, a photograph series of famous food couples. Are you a designer? Then you know a Pantone color swatch when you see one. Check out all the tried-and-true pairings on Instagram. People are going nutty for it. Schwen currently has over 30,000 followers. Photographs of food on Instagram?…read more…

Top 5 Friday : March 1, 2013

Bill Gekas

1. Australian photographer Bill Gekas recreates famous master paintings with the help of his 5-year old daughter. First, what a way to take advantage of child labor. And second, she’s so cute. Enough said. 2. I am mesmerized by the handiwork of Seb Lester. Every stroke of the calligraphy pen is smooth, fluid and flawless.…read more…

Top 5 Friday : February 22, 2013

Operation Crossroads

1. Finding Vivian Maier is a documentary about a reclusive albeit brilliant street photographer. Maier’s images are poignant to say the least. They capture life in and around New York City that cannot be imitated by digital cameras and camera phones. It is true analog art in its purest, unadulterated, profound form. 2. In 1946…read more…

Top 5 Friday : February 15, 2013

Eiko Jones

1. It’s Venus and the moon in broad daylight taken by Hungarian astrophotographer Ivan Eder back in 2004. Ah, the beauty of the universe. 2. I blogged about James Balog and his Extreme Ice Survey. Now here’s the trailer for the documentary, Chasing Ice. Can you imagine seeing this on the silver screen? It will…read more…

Calvin and Hobbes in Real Life Photographs

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Remember Bill Watterson’s syndicated cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbes? I never fully appreciated the sardonic outlook of its precocious six-year old and his anthropomorphic tiger until I became an adult, which tells you something; anything worth remembering has to appeal to a wide spectrum of ages. Calvin and Hobbes was sweet and funny as a…read more…

Aerial Photographs of Tulips Fields in Holland

Anna Paulowna 2

Belgian photographer bruxelles5 has captured the tulip fields of Holland revealing a beauty that only mother nature can produce. Every spring between March and May, the fields turn into a polychromatic dream, a sea of color that has to be seen in person to fully experience. It’s incredible what vivid imagery can do to the…read more…

Top 5 Friday : January 25, 2013

Alessandro Puccinelli

1. Sister folk trio, The Staves, are out with a new video for their single Winter Tree directed by UK duo Karni and Saul Freed. I love it despite the fact I do not have a soft spot for folk music. That says something, doesn’t it? 2. Oil painter Jeremy Mann captures brooding landscapes with…read more…

Strange Worlds by Photographer Matthew Albanese

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Creation is only limited by imagination. You can quote me on it. I may not be a photographer because I lack the eye for composition (all my ‘good’ pictures involve diagonal lines for some reason), but I know good work when I see because I feel it beyond sight, if that makes any sense. Photographer…read more…

Top 5 Friday : January 18, 2013

Pol Ubeda Hervas

1. Since moving out of the city, I can’t help but imagine I am still there. Take a look at Melisa Dunbar’s short film of NYC in its golden hour of light, shot completely with a gyro-stabilized Arri Alexa camera. 2. Black Simon & Garfunkel never cease to amaze or entertain me. Here they are…read more…