"Write now is good."

Time blends: A history and Photoshop gallery

Photo: "Berlin 1945/2010. Wrecked tank "Tiger" in Tiergarten park" by Sergey Larenkov

This photo set by Sergey Larenkov stunningly shows how even though time passes, ghosts or echoes of past events remain. Larenkov's images, including the one featured above, provide eerie glimpses of the violence and cost of World War II in Europe (his pictures focus on Berlin, Moscow and Vienna) merged with contemporary life that has clearly moved forward.

Using these with students could prompt a lot of understanding and discussion about historical events and the nature of history itself. Perhaps the photographer/artist should consider creating an educational book with historical commentary about the events and locations he shows.

A technically masterful use of the powerful tools and artistry in Photoshop, too. Compelling.

Found via Google Reader's shared postings stream — glad I happened upon it!

Multi-season bathing suits for women, via 1905

 
How fares your summer?

...And if you're in Earth's southern hemisphere, how is your winter?

...And if you're on another planet, well............... please answer in the comments how you're reading this blog!

This remarkable summery photo, "Wish You Were Here: 1905," found at Shorpy. Click on the image to see more detail — it's not your typical early 20th-century shot.

Introducing "Matinée Muse", a creativity boost

Matinée Muse, now in its third week, is a blog that presents two weekly creativity prompts based on movie themes. You can participate in this online community by following three steps:

1. Use the Matinée Muse prompts to inspire your creativity. (You don't have to write about the movie, though you may.)
2. Write a poem or a short story, or create some artwork or take a photograph—related to one of the prompts.
3. After you have created your work, post it to your site, and add that post's link to the comments of the Matinée Muse post.

Other MM members will visit your post and comment on your work. If you haven't participated in an online-prompt community before, introduce yourself by commenting on other's posts; many (if not all) of the bloggers you visit will click through to see your work in return.

Participating in online-prompt communities can have many benefits:

-- If you create every week consistently, you get regular practice in your art form and, thus, get better at it.

-- You build a body of work over time. (A year of doing the weekly prompts = 52 new works! What a vibrant, current portfolio that would be.)

-- Seeing other takes on the same prompt expands and challenges your interpretation of the prompt. I consider this healthy artistic and intellectual brain exercise.

-- If you're suffering from a writing or art-making block, switching creative gears for a moment and approaching a prompt with lightness and fun can keep you creating. Keeping creative energy flowing builds your momentum and staves off long creative dry spells which can deplete artistic energy.

-- Regularly commenting on other bloggers' works creates an online creative community and network.

One extra bonus for movie lovers: MM features movie poster images and links to more information about all films mentioned. One of this week's prompts is based on the classic whose poster is shown above.

Can you help this photo find its home?

Over at JournaMarketing, David Brazeal has posted about a mysterious photo he found:

This photo ended up near my home this weekend, after tornadoes hit southwest Missouri and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas. I have no idea where it came from, but it traveled at least 70 miles, I think. It's just one piece of the debris that was scattered across the area...

Area residents have been gathering these lost photos, scanning them, and posting them on Web sites. If people who have lost personal possessions during the storms do search for their photos online, imagine how happy they would be to find these precious, irreplaceable items.

The News-Leader of Springfield, Missouri has an online photo gallery with more than 100 photos found in tornado debris. If you live in or are from the area, take a quick look to see if you recognize any of these people.

This is the first instance I've seen of social networks (I found out about this via a message David sent through Twitter), blogs and Web sites being used to reconnect storm victims with their photos. These simple online tools, already in place, can provide an inexpensive, viral way for many people to assist those affected by natural disasters.

If this photo and its owners are reunited, I'll post an update.

3,000 photos=3 million words+imagination spark

Photo: Rural school children, San Augustine County, Texas, 1943 April | Photographer: John Vachon, 1914-1975 | Library of Congress Photo Collections

A picture is said to be worth a thousand words. If you have 3,000 photos ... well, I've done the math for you in the post's title (look slightly above these words).

The U.S. Library of Congress has opened a public Flickr account and has posted just over 3,000 photos so far. Why? They are hoping that the world Web community will help tag many of them. More will surely follow; the LoC photographic collection is beyond extensive.

Get ready to spend hours looking at these images. Wonder at them. Daydream about their subjects. Put yourself in their places. What was life like back then? I chose this image above merely as a sample; so many of the photos are quite moving. In true Flickr fashion, other viewers are leaving comments on the photos, sharing their takes on what they're seeing. (Click on the above image to go to the Flickr page and see what others have said — very interesting.)

Browsing last night, I found my imagination completely sparked. I felt transported back in time. I stared, letting my thoughts wander. Many of these images are staying with me; I'll take them in small portions, as they are so visually strong. Their stories speak loudly.

Read more about this Library of Congress—Flickr partnership on the LoC's own site: "My Friend Flickr: A Match Made in Photo Heaven"

Thanks to ExperienceCurve for the heads-up about this (via Twitter).

Characters, jumping off pages, into a new book

I've blogged about Thomas Allen's photographs in the past. His combination of pulp fiction images, sculptural ingenuity, and humor win me over. In September, the Aperture Foundation will be releasing a book of his works.

Another interesting note: "Uncovered: The Photographs of Thomas Allen" will be a board book:

Well suited to the three-dimensional heft of a board book, the images in Uncovered are combined into an almost toylike object that will delight photography lovers, graphic designers, and bibliophiles with a sense of humor.

I am definitely purchasing a copy.

Thanks to NOTCOT (of course)

An inspiration dose

"Sycamore Eve" by Evan Viera inspires on many levels. Visually stunning and unique. Haunting, melodic score. Mysterious characters, working towards something — creating or destroying?

What did you get from this? I'm still thinking about it.

Found at NOTCOT (they are so good!).

Characters jumped right off the pages!

Artist Thomas Allen creates sculptures out of book covers and interior illustrations, then photographs them.

His works make pulp fiction's cartoon quality even more vivid.

Could this type of 3-D piece be mass-produced and packaged to stand out on new books? As hot-off-the presses, pop-up cover novels? It got me thinking.

Found at [BB-Blog].

What's your VisualDNA?

Maryam in Marrakesh featured this link on her site a few days ago. I had to try it so that I could discover my "VisualDNA".

Above is a snapshot of my profile. Apparently I'm an "easy rider/escape artist/new wave puritan/touchy feely" person. Don't worry: all this is explained for you on the site after you choose your answers to their prompts. I added the text about wanting to be a mermaid. (I really do!)

There's a lot of interactivity to the program. You can add explanations to your choices, email your friends with your results, put a widget of your results on your own site, and see who else in their database matches with you. The user interface is nice to look at and easy to use.

As a light-hearted self-discovery tool, I'd recommend spending a few minutes over there. I don't think it will tell you anything about you that you don't know already, but it is fun. I'm always interested to see what "tests" like this come up with.

Comet between fireworks and lightning

The Astronomy Picture of the Day site has a crystal-clear mission: "Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer."

What is happening in this picture? Click on the image to get a better view. Here's what you will see (description and all links from the APOD site):

Comet Between Fireworks and Lightning
Credit & Copyright: Antti Kemppainen
Explanation: Sometimes the sky itself is the best show in town. On January 26, people from Perth, Australia gathered on a local beach to watch a sky light up with delights near and far. Nearby, fireworks exploded as part of Australia Day celebrations. On the far right, lightning from a thunderstorm flashed in the distance. Near the image center, though, seen through clouds, was the most unusual sight of all: Comet McNaught. The photogenic comet was so bright that it even remained visible though the din of Earthly flashes. Comet McNaught continues to move out from the Sun and dim, but should remain visible in southern skies with binoculars through the end of this month. The above image is actually a three photograph panorama digitally processed to reduce red reflections from the exploding firework.

Some of the images are so stunningly beautiful that I cannot believe they are real. Others left me speechless and longing to wander our planet and surrounding stars. Check out February 8th — "Galaxies Away" or February 3rd — "Alborz Mountains in Moonlight."

Look at these whenever you need a little inspiration, a break from visual clutter and media spam, or a reminder of how vast our universe truly is. These images could also be used as writing prompts.

If you have an image that would fit with this site, NASA takes submissions!

From Found on the Web.