Photography

Section

History Photography

Composite Photographs Blend Scenes from the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake and Present Day

In this series of carefully photoshopped images, photographer Shawn Clover created composite photographs that blend historical scenes from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and his own present-day captures of the same locations. A number of other artists have created similar images, most notably Sergey Larenkov’s Ghosts of WWII, but Clover really seems to have put in extreme amounts of effort in trying to determine how each photograph precisely overlaps the other, resulting in some fascinating interactions between past and present. Clover’s work is broken into two parts, Part 1 was created in 2010 and Part 2 was completed just last month. (via Laughing Squid)

Photography

Unusual Long Exposure Firework Photographs by David Johnson

While attending the International Fireworks Show in Ottawa, Canada earlier this month photographer David Johnson had his camera in hand to document the night. When Spain’s entry into the competition begin he decided to try something a little different resulting in the photos you see here which are unlike any long exposure firework shots I’ve ever seen. Via email David tells me how he accomplished the effect:

The technique I used was a simple refocus during the long exposure. Each shot was about a second long, sometimes two. I’d start out of focus, and when I heard the explosion I would quickly refocus, so the little stems on these deep sea creature lookalikes would grow into a fine point. The shapes are quite bizarre, some of them I was pleasantly surprised with.

What’s interesting is that unlike usual firework photos that seem to make long trails across the sky, Johnson’s photos look like flowers with little triangular plumes coming to a point. Pretty amazing.

Photography

Underwater Experiments Continued: Wonderful New Photos of Jellyfish by Alexander Semenov

Since first covering the photography of Russian biologist Alexander Semenov (previously) back in January his self-directed “Underwater Experiments” series has continued unabated as he releases other-worldy shots of the Earth’s most elusive creatures almost daily. Again and again Semenov captures some of the most jaw-dropping photographs of underwater life I’ve ever seen, most frequently an animal called lion’s mane jellyfish (Cyanea capillata) which is the largest known species of jellyfish in the world. What you see here only scratches the surface of his work over the last couple of months, definitely urge you to get lost in his underwater gallery.

Photography

Photographer Caleb Charland Wires Apple Trees, Fruit Baskets and Stacked Coins to Create Alternative Batteries

Portland, Maine-based photographer Caleb Charland frequently merges art and science with his photographic experiments involving electricity, fire, and magnetism. One of his ongoing projects involves a series of alternative power sources created using fruit, coins, and even vinegar to power the lights in his long exposure photographs. The apple photograph above involved a nearly 11-hour setup as he carefully hammered 300 zinc-coated galvanized nails into apples (zinc reacts with acid in the apples creating electricity, science!) and used copper wiring to transfer the current to a standard living room lamp. Even then, the light was so dim it required a 4-hour exposure during which Charland fended off ravenous deer through the night with an impromptu shaker made from a tin can and wire nuts. You can read much more about the ordeal over on Discover, and here’s a video of the entire project coming together.

Caleb recent launched a new website where you can access a few years of his photography, I strongly urge you to at least look at his Demonstrations gallery. He’ll also have a few prints in an upcoming group show at Brancolini Grimaldi in London this September.

 

Photography

Light Painting Mosaics Made from Hundreds of Individual Exposures by Brian Matthew Hart

Here’s some phenomenal new work from photographer Brian Matthew Hart (previously) who is a master of drawing with light. Hart created a number of mosaics using individual exposures, the largest hand above, part of an unfinished diptych, is made from 324 photographs! I definitely urge you to check out his website for plenty more. (via l’acte gratuit

Photography Science

An Interactive 360° Panorama of Curiosity’s Landing Site on Mars

Last week I stayed up well into the night waiting for news of Curiosity’s successful landing on Mars. Although the first few dusty, low-res images were a bit underwhelming they were no less incredible: after traveling for over 8 months and 352 million miles we successfully landed a 2,000 pound car on another planet. Thankfully the wait for incredible imagery is finally over. The folks over at EDS Systems have stitched together a high-resolution interactive panorama of Curiosity’s landing site from where she’ll soon embark on at least two years of research and investigation of the red planet.