The Society Of The Spectacle

Photo via F/28

While looking through the excellent kox.tumblr (SFW), I stumbled upon the image above that really rather confused me. is it real? is it a diorama? Or just tilt-shift on acid? Upon further investigation, it turned out to be part of an excellent collection of similar diorama’s by the Flickr member F/28, or Florian Tremp – ‘Small World Photographer’. This collection of fantastic odd, and uneasy snapshots of small town, dustbowl America, aptly titled “No Country For Small Men”, are made all the more remarkable by the attention to detail and effort that has gone into photograph/diorama. All made by hand, they truly are a sight to behold.

The entire collection, (here on Flickr) is well worth a look.

(Photo: Damon Winter)

There really isn’t alot for me with my lowly blog to add to some of the already mountainous prose written about that day 10 years ago. The New York Times has naturally, been at the forefront of documenting the significance of 9/11. ‘The Reckoning’ is well worth a read. Yet, through all the moments of reflection, this audio and photographic piece documenting the ‘Sky Cowboys’ was something that really stood out.

The ‘Sky Cowboys’ are the Ironworkers furiously building 1 World Trade Center. The photos are both stomach churning and remarkable in their depiction of an extraordinary job, while the stories of these men are deeply personal and touching.

Well worth 3 minutes of your time on this day.

As an owner of a Leica camera (OK, a Lumix, but’s 99% a Leica, so, whatever). I can’t speak highly enough of the quality of even their most ‘basic’ cameras. As ever with luxury products such as Leica, the story is only half about the camera. It’s the craftsmanship behind the scenes. This film, shows the level of detail and craft that goes into the lens. Wow.

(Via Freshness Mag)

Over the last year, I have followed (and wish I had been photographed in) this project from photographer Chris Floyd. This video is the a summary of all the portraits, and some nice audio anecdotes from the participants.

Check it out. (Chris’ work is pretty sweet, so take a gander at that too)

It’s been awhile since I posted a photographer here (seems much easier to use my pins/twitter feed to achieve that), but I so totally enamoured with the colours, the style, the slightly ‘family’ ness of some of the photos that I felt a larger post was due.

Harper Smith is, as you can tell, a photographer. Her work is a slice through a dark, but still alluring world of the American desert and Los Angeles loucheness. The set of photographs above, remind me of the rather strange (and impossibly rare) film ‘American Dreamer’ that Dennis Hopper shot in 1972. Which is pretty damn weird in itself. But I’m a sucker for this sort of style. It’s beautiful observation, and hopelessly alluring.

You can view all her photos here, and if you are enamoured enough with them, there is an Etsy store here too.

Great little slideshow of directors, actors and producers off duty on-set. Check the whole collection out here.

Photo from Yvonne Muller

Here’ s a fantastic idea and collection of imagery that being exhibited at the ACE Hotel in NYC. ‘Daesin’ is the German word for ‘being there’ which in photographic terms, is the exploration of being in a space.
It’s a great project because it taps into something we are losing. The ability to just be. When we are all on the move, so hyperactive and busy all the time, and increasingly filling the spare time we have with more things (like this blog, written with a twitter feed sitting by it’s side, crackling with energy and demanding attention all the time), that we sometimes need to be reminded that just being there can be the most important we have.

Check out the whole collection (there’s alot) here. Details from the ACE Hotel are here.

Via Kyle Hugall