Photography

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Photography

Toy Stories: Portraits of Children and their Toys Around the World

Gabriele Galimberti spent more than two years traveling the world, visiting over fifty countries to photograph young children with their toys. The Italian photographer shares in a statement on Toy Stories, “I recorded the spontaneous and natural joy that unites kids despite their diverse backgrounds. Whether the child owns a veritable fleet of miniature cars or a single stuffed monkey, the pride that they have is moving, funny, and thought provoking.”

In addition to documenting the socioeconomic range of families around the world, Galimberti’s colorful portraits capture the unique personalities of each young person before his camera lens. The photographer has published a book, also called Toy Stories, which compiles all of the portraits from this series. His other titles include My Couch is your Couch, about how people live around the world, and In Her Kitchen, which documents grandmothers and their culinary traditions. You can see more of Galimberti’s work and travels on Instagram. (via Booooooom)

Art Photography

The Graceful Movement of Dancing Tulips Showcased by Carl Kleiner

Carl Kleiner creates sleek editorial content for fashion and lifestyle brands, and that sensibility shows in his photo and video series Postures which features artfully arranged tulips. Using minimal metal rods, bent at strategic ends and angles, Kleiner showcases the graceful curves of the flowers’ long necks and gently ruffled petals and leaves. A further sense of movement is instilled through the stop-motion video, which combines still photos of the blossoms’ subtle changes into a dramatic dance. You can see more from the Swedish photographer on Instagram and Vimeo. (via Yellowtrace)

 

Photography

Frozen Bubble Formations and Shards of Snow Captured in Alaska’s Swamps and Ponds by Ryota Kajita

Japanese photographer Ryota Kajita has captured the strange ice patterns of Alaska’s interior swamps and ponds for the last eight years as a part of his Ice Formations series. The ephemeral structures look like fanciful desserts discovered in the wild, with frozen shavings lightly dusting the formations’ edges.

“Photography enables me to pay attention to those moments and subjects, take time to observe them and help me to understand my surroundings more intimately,” Ryota tells Colossal. “Through photographs, nature reveals its subtle beauty to me. In the Ice Formations series, I hope to share these transient and small creations of nature with others.”

Images from the series are included in a group exhibition at the Mt. Rokko Photographeric Garden through July 30, 2018. You can see more of the Alaska-based photographer’s explorations on Facebook and Instagram.

Art Photography

Remote Landscapes and Abandoned Structures Momentarily Transformed by Colorful Plumes of Smoke

Billowing clouds of smoke burst upon rugged mountainous terrains, deserted architecture, and blossoming fields. These vibrant, ethereal sceneries are captured by French photographers Isabelle Chapuis and Alexis Pichot and are part of their Blossom project. The duo’s smokey clouds emerge from beautiful landscapes and desolate buildings alike, transforming both natural and abandoned scenes into enchanted spaces of sorcery and wonder.

Chapuis and Pichot’s collaborative project is a celebration of the beauty of natural forms, of what nature grows into without humankind’s influence. Each cloud is created by adding colored pigments to smoke including pastel pinks, vivid blues, dark greens, and creamy yellows. The duo captures the resulting colorful scene scene with a Nikon D810 camera.

The project is set in various parts of the globe including the US, Morocco, Turkey, and Norway, each of which has unique natural topography. The clouds take different forms depending on the landscape. In one photo a mustard yellow cloud resembles volcanic smoke, yet in another, a cloud looks like an peach-hued spiritual form haunting an old industrial site.

With ‘Blossom’, the artists share with Colossal that they seek to illustrate a visual manifestation of humanity’s creative impulse, and to raise awareness on the interventions of mankind in territory. “If people are absent from these photographs, their imprint is suggested among these wild natural or abandoned landscapes,” states Chapuis.

To view more of Chapuis and Pichot’s work visit their website and Instagram.

Amazing Photography

Unique Weathering Pattern Creates Fascinating Geometric Ripples on a Chain Link Fence

Over the past few years, Twitter user @Ben_On_The_Moon has photographed his chain link fence due to a mysterious weathering pattern that has caused groups of concentric rings to appear on the upper side of the fence’s segments. His macro photographs emphasize the intriguing apparitions, which appear like miniature crop circles on the metal bars. Despite his research, he has not discovered the specific cause of the pattern. You can see more of @Ben_On_The_Moon’s documentation of the curious phenomena on Twitter. (via Kottke)

Photography

Ephemeral Winter Weather on the Faroe Islands Captured by Photographer Felix Inden

Photographer Felix Inden recently explored the Faroe Islands with the goal of capturing the landscape’s ephemeral wintery weather. “Imagery from the islands is frequently seen in social media,” Inden explains. “What I had rarely seen was really winterish imagery, so my plan was to capture the islands in their winter dress. Easier said than done, because of the Faroese weather. It’s not a place where harsh winter conditions are likely to happen for a long time. Most often it is one or two snowy days—then new rain comes and washes it all away.”

Based in Germany, Inden travels frequently for his work, and leads workshops in such photogenic places as Iceland and Norway. You can see more of his far-flung photography from the comfort of your couch, including this captivating trip to the Lofoten Islands, via Instagram, Facebook, and Behance.

Photography

Vivid Rainbow Roads Trace Illuminated Pathways Across Forests and Beaches

Daniel Mercadante has a slate of unique films under his belt, made in partnership with his wife Katina, as The Mercadantes, including Ball and Breathe. More recently, Daniel has been exploring the still image in a colorful series called Rainbow Road. The Mercadantes were based in California for many years, but after a move to rural Connecticut, Daniel looked for a way to add some warmth to the chilly blue hour during the Northeast’s long winters.

Using long exposure photography and a  custom built lighting rig covered in colored gels, the process of creating the images is surprisingly simple: the roads are created by Daniel running around with the lighting rig. No other post-production manipulation occurs, other than basic color and exposure balancing. The photographer explains to Colossal, “after so many years focused on the moving image, I’ve struggled with singularly caught moments in still imagery—so I love how this project still requires images to be captured over 15sec-1 minute, so in some way they require the same passages of time that a shot in one of our short films might.”

In addition to their Connecticut Rainbow Roads (which Daniel divulges may have a distant relation to the Mario Kart pathways of his youth) the Mercadantes have taken this colorful project to Guatemala, where local kids chose the photo shoot locations. Daniel reports that they hope to continue traveling with their low-tech, high-color Roads. You can see more from the Mercadantes on Instagram and Vimeo.