Top 100 Photos of 2012*

 

There will always be collections of great photography floating around the web.  Are these really the Top 100 Photos of 2012?  Not necessarily.  But I found them on Stumbler and the collection (which includes all 100) is a wonder to behold.

If you visit the original source web site where I found these samples — you will see the titles and the proper credit that is due to the photographers who created them.

The site has this one caveat: *Please note the photographs themselves were not necessarily taken in 2012, they just happened to be featured as a POTD this year. The pictures are also listed in reverse chronological order. There is no ranking amongst the photos.”

Our world is amazing.  Enjoy! – Robert

 

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE COLLECTION

John Pugh’s Optical Illusion Murals

 

John Pugh is a trompe l’oeil artist focusing primarily on mural painting. It seems almost universal that people take delight in being visually tricked. Once captivated by the illusion, the viewer is lured to cross an artistic threshold and thus seduced into exploring the concept of the piece. He has found that by creating architectural illusion that integrates with the existing environment both optically and aesthetically, the art transcends the “separateness” that public art sometimes produces.

CLICK HERE to visit his web site.

Thanks to Cathy B. for bringing this link to us.

The ‘Opera on the Lake’ Stages of Bregenz

Since 1946, the Bregenz Festival ‘Opera on the Lake’ in Austria has been home to some of the most incredible outdoor stages ever built. Set on the gorgeous Lake Constance, the 6,800 capacity ‘Seebuhne’ Stage has been the setting for some of the world’s most famous operas.

During the 2007 performance of Tosca, the producer and director for the James Bond film Quantum of Solace were so impressed, they filmed a 10-day scene in Bregenz where Bond meets his adversary for the first time during a performance of Tosca.

CLICK HERE to see the collection of the amazing outdoor stages throughout the history of the Bregenz Festival, along with a detailed timeline of key milestones and events and information on the challenges of building an outdoor stage on the water.

I’m blown away by the scale and beauty this festival presents. – Robert

HyperLapse 2012

Hyper Lapse photography is the art of taking single, individual images every few seconds, for a long period of time (15 minutes or more) and editing them together to make one continuous video.

The camera must move a set amount for each shot.  This is Geoff Tompkinson’s creation from 2012.

-Robert

CLICK HERE to view the video.

Rafael Rozendaal

CLICK HERE to view the art work “Inner Doubts” by Rafael Rozendaal.

Be patient while it starts up.

Leave it up to soothe your environment.  It can expand to fill your screen.

-Robert

Vote: Smithsonian Photo Contest

 These are four of the images in this year’s Smithsonian Photo Contest.

CLICK HERE to visit the web site and see the other entries then cast your vote.

A Million Times

Staring at the hands of an analog clock for too long can lead to the feeling that the hands are moving in odd ways. In the case of this large installation, however, that feeling is completely true. Known as A Million Times, the installation features 288 analog clocks and 576 motors – one for each minute and hour hand.

The piece was created by Stockholm design studio Humans Since 1982. The studio has worked with clocks in the past, giving them new functions that not only celebrate their physical form but demonstrate the many ways in which moving hands can work together to create entirely new aesthetic designs.

In the case of A Million Times, the hands of each clock are controlled by custom iPad software. The hands can be moved to create letters or numbers, but as seen in the video above, the most visually impressive part of the display is when all of the hands rotate at once to create the illusion of waves or an undulating surface.

The project strips the clocks of their pragmatic existence and turns them into mesmerizing works of art. Each clock is perhaps a bit boring on its own, but the overall display of 288 individual clocks ends up being far more memorable than you might have imagined.

CLICK ON EACH IMAGE to see the two videos.

Steve Curry’s ‘Last Roll of Kodachrome’

Award-winning photographer Steve McCurry has published the photos taken with the last roll of Kodakchrome to come off the production line on his WordPress blog. McCurry has shot more than 800,000 photos including his iconic ‘Afghan Girl’ portrait, with the film. In an article posted by NPR in 2009 McCurry equated ‘losing the medium to losing a dear friend.’

CLICK HERE to view Steve’s images.

CLICK HERE to view the video and read more.

Thanks to Doug B. for bringing this to our attention.

“I Didn’t Write The Rules. Why Should I Follow Them?” W. Eugene Smith

By the mid-1950s, W. Eugene Smith had established himself as the premier photo essayist at Life magazine by creating “Country Doctor,” “Spanish Village,” and “Nurse Midwife.”  In 1955 he left Life, joined the Magnum photo agency and began his exhaustive documentation of Pittsburgh.

The American Society of Media Photographers recently discovered the transcript of an interview of Mr. Smith, conducted by the great portraitist Philippe Halsmann and the society’s first president. The interview apparently took place in New York during an Amercian Society of Media Photographers meeting in 1956, although the organization is unsure of the date. The transcript has been lightly edited.

CLICK HERE to view some of Smith’s images and to read the interview .

From the New York Times.

Kaleidoscope

 

Amazing that someone could not only create this, but make it interact with your mouse / cursor. Be sure to run your mouse over the screen slowly.  Try slow circles.

CLICK HERE to interact with Kaleidoscope.

Thanks to Carolyn T. for passing along this link.