Tauba Auerbach’s RGB Colorspace Atlas

RGB Colorspace Atlas

Oftentimes I have admired the colors in the color picker in Photoshop, and seen colorspace visualizations in monitor reviews. This three-dimensional representation of the color space in book form, however, is perfect. Thoroughly three-dimensional, and sliceable by turning pages, it is a beautiful object, open or closed. More images at the artist’s website (the website is very annoying to use, and you may prefer to click on the image above, which will take you directly to this exhibit). Via [Colossal]

Devin Campbell’s “The Art of Ice”

I resolved at some point in the past to link to a photographer or body of work I really thought worth sharing every Friday, and I have consistently failed to do that. Resurrecting an intermittent series, here is the work of Devin Campbell, who I follow on flickr.

Kempor
“Kempor”

His project, “The Art of Ice,” focuses on the forms that ice takes, mainly patterns in surface ice.

Yang Yin
“Yang Yin”

The body of work could practically be a textbook in composition:

Universe
“Universe”

The one above reminds me very much of the thoughts that Brooks Jensen, the publisher of Lenswork, expressed in a recent podcast, where he was speaking of his new folio, “Worlds Within Worlds.” Speaking of Minor White’s direction to “photograph not only what it is, but what else it is,” he talks about taking photographs which evoke the cosmos in bubbles, and I especially like how this photograph not only evokes what it is (ice), but could just as easily pass for astrophotography or cellular microphotography. With any of those subjects, the strong composition would create an equally striking image.

Click on any of the images or follow the links above to find his flickr stream or website, explore his excellent content, and send some favourites and comments his way. Prints are available here (at very reasonable prices, I might add).

A couple more of his images, because I cannot resist sharing their excellence:

Mothersmilk
“Mothersmilk”

Speeder
“Speeder”

Otu
“Otu”

Link: BBC: Ethiopia’s passion for bureaucracy

This story at the BBC, on Ethiopia’s “passion for bureaucracy,” really hits the mark, and can perhaps give a little glimmer into what it is like to work or try to get anything done here.

Keep in mind that, though the writer doesn’t mention it, Ethiopians in general seem to have very little compunction about forgery, and the U. S. Embassy rates Ethiopian visa applicants extremely high in the fraud category. They always come in with all the right stamps, but who knows who actually stamped the damn thing. Bureaucrats will also take their stamps with them as they leave the office, as controlling information and supplies that are necessary to get the mission done is the Ethiopian equivalent of tenure: i. e. “you can’t fire me, because I am the only person who knows all the mission-critical information.”

But hey, you don’t become a bureaucrat in Ethiopia because you are fond of working!

Friday Link: LensWork Podcast

As I mentioned before, I listen to a lot of podcasts, especially when I am traveling (as I am now). Of all of these podcasts, the one I perhaps look forward to the most is Brooks Jensen’s LensWork podcast. His magazine is the apex of fine art photography periodicals, and he uses experiences from the production of LensWrok, along with observations from his own excellent personal photography to produce short episodes that feel like gems arriving in the mailbox when I see them downloading in my podcatcher. Highly recommended, as is the magazine *sadly, I had to let my subscription lapse because of Ethiopia, but renewing it is one of my first plans upon my return).

Friday Link: The Candid Frame

The Candid Frame is one of my favorite photography podcasts (with associated blog). The host, the awesomely-named Ibarionex R. Perello, interviews highly-skilled photographers about the art, craft, and business of photography. Depending upon the interview, he and his guests break down the creative side of photography, talk about how careers have been made, or just swap tales of journalistic adventure. All are interesting, and provide an isight into how other people get around the hurdles that stand in the way of their photography, whether creative or otherwise. Ibarionex manages to establish a good back-and-forth while letting the show be about the interviewee and their work and processes. The associated blog provides images and links from the interviews, and should be subscribed to concurrently with the podcast (for an iTunes link, follow the link to the blog, above). Highly recommended, and added to the links in the sidebar.

Friday Link: iTunesU

I have been traveling a lot in recent years, and my iPod and laptop have become my most constant and consistent companions. Accordingly, I turn to them a great deal for entertainment, but rather than playing games or listening always to music, I follow a great number of podcasts, from the purely educational to short-fiction pieces. Here in Ethiopia, I have no chances to take courses, so I have really come to appreciate iTunesU, a joint project of Apple and a variety of universities, comprising lecture series and even full courses. This is a great way to kill time on extended journeys and allows one to be aware of some of the scholarly work being presented at institutions far way.

Though there are several impressive universities participating, including MIT, the Open University, and Texas A&M, I have so far only had a chance to listen to the Humanities offerings of Stanford and Yale.  Stanford, from what I have sampled, is doing a much better job of presenting interesting material, selecting from their excellent lecture series (which I have fond memories of attending while an undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz), whereas Yale Humanities seems, for the most part, to be producing pieces with advertising and alumni relations in mind, which I do not find very interesting. I have even been listening to two whole courses, an intro to the humanities course on the Literature of Crisis and an excellent course on the Historical Jesus. When I again have access to a fast internet connection, I will look deeper into Stanford’s catalogue as well as expanding the number of universities sampled, but I both highly approve and recommend iTunesU for the independent learner and scholar alike.

I’m trying to get the Friends of the Library of the Pontifical Institute for Mediaeval Studies to start recording and podcasting its lecture series–get out there and work on your institution!

There are two things you should remember before taking off on a trip: 1) you need iTunes (the podcasts interface manages the content) 2) read the syllabus and bring the readings.

Mattijn

Coming home to Anna’s Hoeve, originally uploaded by Mattijn.

A recent flickr discovery of mine is the wonderful photo-stream of Mattijn, whose wonderful photo-montages really transcend much of the rest of what I have seen in the art form. He includes himself in his montages (look out for his adorable cat), granting them a personal quality and imparting a sense that he is physically exploring his inner fantasy-world. The set of home-grown fantasy castles, representing locations that do not exist (but some, like the one above, look like they could) is my favorite, but he has a lot of good material in all his sets–check out his essential set if you are looking for more.

Inspiring and fantastic.

Joey Lawrence

Joey L link image

JoeyL, as he is apparently known, is a wunderkind photographer whom I have been following a bit since he appeared on Strobist (the post is here). He specializes in band photography, and definitely has an edgy, gritty, and urban look. The photo I have linking to him has really stuck in my mind since I saw it on the Strobist post, and it makes me think of some kind of future archaeologist, penetrating some forgotten relic of industrial civilization. Only after I referred to it as the ‘faux-archaeologist picture’ in the email I sent him (see below) did I stop to think that I was entirely bringing that to the photo–which is definitely in its favour–there is great energy that allows the viewer to bring their own ideas to play. His site is at www.joeyl.com.

The reason that I thought of him this week is that he has posted a new series of work on the people of the Omo Valley region of Ethiopia (misleadingly titled ‘Abyssinia,’ despite being of low-land Ethiopians–I sent a correcting email–I should have mentioned the false etymology, too). (I can’t link it, as his site is one of those annoying all-flash contraptions, but if you go to his site, click on Personal> Abyssinia.) I can’t say that I really like the set, as the way he has set up and processed many of these shots, they look to me like they could have been shot in a studio, in front of a drop-cloth (even though I have been to many of these places), but there are some real gems in there–worth a look.

He says in his blog, where he writes about his experience in Ethiopia (the specific posts are here and here and here) that he was specifically going for a very posed/directed style, which is just as well in the Omo region, as the cash-economy in photography, in addition to its other deleterious effects, makes documentary-style photography basically impossible in the region (which is why Don McCullin In Africa has that posed, 19th-century look to it). Interesting to read–I found it amusing that he ended up talking to the same pushy car agent that we did (thanks to a travel-savvy Italian, we actually got a good car and deal out off him, but only after rejecting a few).