Photography

Section

Dance Photography

Time-lapse Images of Nude Dancers Created with 10,000 Individual Photographs

NY-based photographer Shinichi Maruyama created these lovely photographs using nearly 10,000 individual photographs of a nude dancer in motion. The abstract images remind me of Japanese ink wash painting, as if the figures were created by the stroke of a thick brush, which is not unsurprising considering Maruyama’s previous work with water sculptures. Of the photos Shin says:

I tried to capture the beauty of both the human body’s figure and its motion. The figure in the image, which is formed into something similar to a sculpture, is created by combining 10,000 individual photographs of a dancer. By putting together uninterrupted individual moments, the resulting image as a whole will appear to be something different from what actually exists. With regard to these two viewpoints, a connection can be made to a human being’s perception of presence in life.

See much more on his website. All images courtesy the artist. (via kottke, petapixel)

Photography

The Stunning Glaciers and Icebergs of Greenland Photographed by Jan Erik Waider

Nuremberg-based graphic designer and photographer Jan Erik Waider has traveled on numerous expeditions north to Greenland, Iceland, Scotland, and the Faroe Islands off Denmark where he shot these beautifully surreal landscapes of icebergs, glaciers and cliffs. I first stumbled onto his Icebergs in Fog series shot earlier this year in Ilulissat and Disko Bay in Greeland and then found his website where you can see all of these photographs in much higher resolution, really, go look, just incredible work. Despite the foreboding, harsh climate depicted in these photographs Waider seems to transform the landscapes into something strangely peaceful and idyllic. If you’re interested he has prints available on request and you can also follow him on Facebook. (via behance)

Photography

Software Architect Turned Photographer Alexander Safonov Captures Breathtaking Underwater Scenes off the Coast of South Africa

Alexander Safonov is a software architect from Voronezh, Russia who currently lives and works in Discovery Bay, Hong Kong. Not content to sit in front of a computer full-time he obtained a diving license in 2002 and started to experiment with underwater photography about two years later. He has since made numerous excursions to photograph underwater wildlife off Cocos Island, Fiji, the Galapagos and Raja Ampat. However his favorite destination is the annual sardine run off the coast of South Africa where most of the photos you see were captured over the last few years. You can see much more of his work on Flickr and 500px.

Photography

New High Speed Liquid Splash Photographs by Markus Reugels

I never tire of seeing German photographer Markus Reugels’ (previously here and here) continued experiments with water splashes. It’s immediately apparent when looking at some of these recent photos from the last few months that his lighting, color, and timing techniques have continued to evolve, as each image is more impossibly complex than the last. See much more of his recent work here.

Photography Science

Frost Flowers Blooming in the Arctic Ocean are Found to be Teeming with Life

These beautiful and other-worldly photographs of ice were taken last year by University of Washington graduate student Jeff Bowman and his professor Jody Deming while they worked on a study combining oceanography, microbiology, and planetary sciences in the central Arctic Ocean as part of the Integrated Graduate Education and Research Training (IGERT) program. Their single focus was the study of frost flowers, a strange phenomenon where frost grows from imperfections in the surface ice amid extreme sub-zero temperatures nearing -22C or -7.6F, forming spiky structures that have been found to house microorganisms. In fact, the bacteria found in the frost flowers is much more dense than in the frozen water below it, meaning each flower is essentially a temporary ecosystem, not unlike a coral reef. Via IGERT:

Around their research icebreaker in the central Arctic Ocean new ice grows on long open cracks that network amongst the thick floes of pack ice. Abruptly the surface of this new ice changes texture. The cold, moist air above the open cracks becomes saturated and frost begins to form wherever an imperfection can be found on the ice surface. From these nucleation points the flower-like frost structures grow vertically, quickly rising to centimeters in height. The hollow tendrils of these “frost flowers” begin to wick moisture from the ice surface, incorporating salt, marine bacteria, and other substances as they grow. The fog dissipates and the Arctic sun lights the surface of the frost flowers, initiating a cascade of chemical reactions. These reactions can produce formaldehyde, deplete ozone, and actually alter the chemical composition of the lower atmosphere. […] Bowman and Deming have discovered that bacteria are consistently more abundant in frost flowers than in sea ice. Since microscopic pockets in sea ice are known to support an active community of psychrophiles (cold-loving microorganisms), even in the coldest months of the year, these results are encouraging.

Bowman and Deming are currently building an ultra-clean chamber where they can grow artificial frost flowers and hope that their research leads to a better understanding of how life might be able to survive in extreme conditions elsewhere in the universe. Amazing! Photos by Matthias Wietz. (via the daily what)

Photography

The Surreal, Infrared Photography of David Keochkerian

These infrared photographs taken by France-based photographer David Keochkerian look like bizarre, saturated landscapes created from a Dr. Seuss illustration. Seasons seem reversed, with white trees appearing in spring, and bushes are transformed into something that looks like fragile blades of bubble gum. You can see much more on 500px, and Keochkerian tells me some images are available as limited edition prints if you contact him directly.