Photography

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Design History Photography

Sacred Spaces: The Grand Interiors of Modern Churches Across Europe and Japan by Thibaud Poirier

Thibaud Poirier (previously) travels the world photographing the architectural spaces that surround us as we live, sleep, study, and pray. In his most recent series, the French photographer captured the interiors of 29 modern churches across Germany, The Netherlands, France, Denmark, and Japan to see how each city has designed structures of worship within the last century. In Sacred Spaces, Poirier uses the same focal point in each image. The stylistic choice makes it easier to compare the similarities of basic structures such as seating and pulpit placement, while contrasting the differences in interior design choices such as lighting and color palettes. You can see more modern churches from the series on his website, Instagram, and Behance.

Photography Science

Salt Crystals Dance and Grow Across the Screen in a Time-Lapse by Wenting Zhu

Dalian, China-based videographer Wenting Zhu spent seven months creating The Arctic, a time-lapse video that explores the vastly different crystallization processes of salts. Crystals formed from salts including potassium nitrate and sodium sulfate explode like fireworks or appear to freeze like ice when seen through an accelerated lens. The film was created for Beauty of Science (previously), an ongoing series that presents aesthetically intriguing videos about science with a focus on chemical reactions. You can see more of Zhu’s macro photography on Behance and more footage from Beauty of Science on Vimeo. (via The Morning News)

Art Photography

Photograph of Multicolored “Cloud” Galaxy by Amateur Photographers Combines 1,060 Hours of Exposure

A group of French amateur astrophotographers called Ciel Austral (“Southern Sky”) have shared a 240-megapixel image of the Large Magellan Cloud (LMC). Constructed using 4,000 images, the seamless collage required over 1,060 hours of exposures. Together, the images form a massive digital poster with colorful explosions and pockets of cosmic dust that resemble watercolors dripped and blown across an inky black surface.

The individual photos that make up the 14,400-pixel-wide image were captured between July 2017 and February 2019 using a 160mm refracting telescope at an observatory in Chile that is owned by the photographers. The colors in the image are not what you would see if you traveled 163,000 light years to get LMC. Ciel Austral used special filters that (based on which elements are present) highlight parts of the visual spectrum. The resulting swirling hues are best appreciated in close-ups like the ones below. To see the full size image in all of its glory, head over to the Ciel Austral website.

Photography

Restless Cities Cycle Through Day and Night in Time Slice Videos by Dan Marker-Moore

Global metropolises known for their 24/7 energy glimmer around the clock in captivating time slice videos by Dan Marker-Moore. The skylines of Los Angeles, Kowloon, London, and Shanghai move through dawn, daytime, and dusk in precise slivers that capture specific moments of natural and man-made light. In an interview with Adorama, the photographer explains that he usually uses between 20 and 40 unique images to strike a balance between providing noticeable visual shifts and containing the busyness. The resulting images convey the endless motion of city life while also forming unusual geometric shapes that center around specific architectural details like LA’s Griffith Observatory or London’s Big Ben clocktower.

Marker-Moore, who is based in Los Angeles, works as a photographer, cinematographer, producer, and director. In addition to his vast trove of personal and editorial projects, he also has a decade of experience in animation and motion graphics for commercials. Marker-Moore is passionate about the technical aspects of still and moving images, and shares extensive notes on his blog and Lightroom tutorials on YouTube. You can see more from Marker-Moore on Instagram, and also check out his worldwide pay phone documention.

Photography

Quotidian Objects Enrich Striking Black and White Self-Portraits in a New Monograph by Zanele Muholi

South African photographer and activist Zanele Muholi creates striking self-portraits for their series Somnyama Ngonyama, which means “Hail the Dark Lioness” in Zulu. The black and white images elevate everyday objects like clothespins, sunglasses, and wire sponges into elaborate hair pieces and costumes that speak to radical identity and resistance. The extensive series of portraits has recently been compiled into a monograph by Aperture, which contains a conversation with London-based curator Renée Mussai, in addition to more than twenty contributions from writers, curators, and poets.

Ninety powerful representations of the visual activist occupy the pages of Zanele Muholi: Somnyama Ngonyama, Hail the Dark Lioness, which acts as both an autobiographical work and a compendium of resistance. In response to the book’s release Muholi states, “I am producing this photographic document to encourage individuals in my community to be brave enough to occupy spaces—brave enough to create without fear of being vilified. . . . To teach people about our history, to rethink what history is all about, to reclaim it for ourselves—to encourage people to use artistic tools such as cameras as weapons to fight back.”

Muholi has documented black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex people throughout South Africa for the past decade. They are the cofounder of the Forum for the Empowerment of Women and founder of Inkanyiso, a forum for queer and visual media. Muholi currently lives and makes work in Johannesburg, South Africa, and is an honorary professor at the University of the Arts Bremen, Germany. You can see more of their portraits on Yancy Richardson Gallery’s website.

Photography

Stunning Portraits of Madagascar’s Reptiles and Amphibians by Ben Simon Rehn

In December, 2018, Iceland-based photographer Ben Simon Rehn trekked to Madagascar to test a new camera for Olympus. While on assignment, the photographer captured some spectacular images of the lush African island’s wildlife. Striking close-ups of chameleons show the reptiles’ pebbled skin texture and unique coloration, and a portrait of a Sky-Blue Reed Frog shows the amphibian’s shimmering bronze-toned eyes and sleek yellow and blue skin.

Prior to Rehn’s career as a photographer, he was a high performance athlete, which shows in his ambitious location shoots in remote, rugged locations. In addition to his editorial work, Rehn seeks to raise awareness about environmental issues and the impact of mankind on the earth. Follow along with the photographer’s travels on Instagram and Behance and take an in-motion look at the landscapes he explores on Vimeo.

Photography

Bizarre Details Enliven Seemingly Simple Moments in Photographs by Ben Zank

Ben Zank (previously) captures emotions of confusion, restriction, and ennui and in his ongoing series of banal-meets-bizarre photographs. Each image features a single subject in a seemingly mundane location: on a city sidewalk, near a semi truck trailer, or in a forest. Yet the individual at hand is engaged with or affected by their surroundings in highly unusual ways: one figure bends backward under the weight of long birch branches stuffed under his shirt; another is sandwiched in a layer cake of collapsed cardboard boxes. Zank shares with Colossal that he’s entering a season of productivity in his personal work as the weather warms, and is looking forward to a solo show in Shanghai, which will open in fall 2020. Stay up to date with Zank’s surreal scenes on Instagram.