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.

One of the things Im looking to do this year (apart from take over the world obviously) is engage much more with Flickr. My increasing use of Hisptamatic (especially the excellent Goodby, Siverstein & Partners Dali extension pack) and of course, the tech/ad/design geeks new darling Instagram, combined with a brand spanking new Leica D-Lux5 camera has meant that Flickr has gained much more traction for me as a great creative and sharing forum.

It’s also still the bomb for amazing and surprising sets of images. One such collection that has really taken my breath away with it’s breadth and uniqueness is the Library of Congress collection. With over 12,00o photos in total, it’s well worth a deep deep dive into the archives. Personal faves ranged from this staggering collection of jazz imagery from the 1940′s and early 50′s that brilliantly evokes the energy and fervour in jazz at the dawn of BeBop, as well as this set of colour photographs from the 1930′s and 1940′s. The depression and pre war America captured as the stuff of fantasies and nightmares. While the images of Baseball in the 1910′s are both charming and quaint. A long way away from the baseball of today.

But the highlight has to go to the ‘greatest hits’ set (The FSA/OWI Collection). Led off with the iconic  Dorothea Lange image of a Depression era family. Caught between hope, hopelessness and defiance.

A stunning collection, and all downloadable as well, free of Creative Commons.

Get exploring.

(All photos from Mikeyashworth’s Flickr photo stream)
I guess it’s not that surprising to find something this unique on the underground, it’s not like it hasn’t been around for ages, but that’s exactly what the guys at London Underground have discovered at Notting Hill Gate tube station while undertaking some renovation work. A beautiful and brilliantly old school set of posters c.1956/59. Amazing how through all the dirt and grime they still feel fresh and have such a fantastic graphic language. Check out the full set here.

The first flickr set of the year is dedicated to the ubiquitous Keep Calm And Carry On poster that has seemingly gripped the national conciousness, making it’s way from the walls of East London’s most post modern residents to the hallowed walls of  60 Minute Makeover (probably). It also happens to be brilliant vehicle for for anyone and everyone to express themselves. A few favourites after the jump. (more…)

This set is from the seedy world of early 70′s porn films, the sort of thing that would infest Times Square and Brewer Street in Soho around the time, and the venues so memorably bough to (venal) life in Taxi Driver. It seems funny that films that are so one dimensional in their approach (Prisons, college etc.), could have such funny and vivid (and downright out of order) promotional tools. See the whole set here, and some choice cuts (in 3D!!) after the click… (more…)

Almost a sister project to the Enterprise Project I blogged about around the release of the re-imagined Star Trek, here is the Vader Project, taking probably the most well known Science Fiction icon (alongside the aforementioned Enterprise) and letting 100 artists and designers loose on it. (more…)

The brilliant Flickr streams just keep on comin’. Here’s ck/ck’s “Across America” collection, some wonderfully shot and composed images, I love how they take locations you know and give them a new perspective. Beautiful observations. Some more faves after the jump.

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