photography

Wonder Wednesday

KannikLeave a comment

I’ve just been introduced to these great works by Hilla and Bernd Becher.  There’s something cool within repetition that isn’t exact actual repetition. It’s like a harmony, where each overlapping individual thing produces a richer whole and thus a distinct experience.  On top of that, they can be truly intriguing,  inviting fascination with the collection and collectiveness and patterns and similarities and differences and organization of them all.

(Also, check out Hiroshi Sugimoto’s Seascapes series.  It is equally interesting and fascinating… especially when coupled with some great architecture and artistic placement such as at the Benesse House by Tadao Ando!)

Wonder Wednesday

KannikLeave a comment

Oh I so love these works by Abelardo Morell!  Turning an entire room into a camera obscura, then photographing the result.  There’s something very mystifying and fascinating about the real world projected into 3D space rather than a flat screen, interacting with the room, a mix of the mundane and the fantastical (and it’s up to us to choose which of either the room or the world is the mundane one and which is the fantastical).  So nifty.

I can’t possibly link them all, so find more at his gallery here!

— All works by Abelardo Morell

Wonder Wednesday

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Pale Blue Dot, 1990, taken 6 billion km from earth by the Voyager 1 spacecraft, the last photograph it took during its mission, enhanced by modern computing techniques in 2020.

The Day the Earth Smiled, 2013, taken from the orbit of Saturn by the Cassini spacecraft.

Link to a wonderful article describing how both photos came to be.

And if you’ve not heard Carl Sagan’s Pale Blue Dot thoughts, do so here:

Architecture Monday

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Oh wow.  Clearly there’s some great photography going on here – waiting for a mist-filled valley morning is perfect! – but there is a lot of beauty to find here in this exhibition building comprised of two pavilions angling towards each other, one transparent and light, the other opaque and heavy.

Together they are an expressive pair, borrowing from the cultural language without becoming a copy of form or straying too far to become a mocking bit of press-on-pastiche (albeit the entry door portico really straddles that line).  Surrounded by both a large reflecting pool and gardens, it manages to remain tranquil and grounded despite its big and bold forms.

Very cool.  A great and appropriate use of expressive abstraction coupled with some refined details (like the sunshade fins on the glass building) and some very nice play of space and feel between the two building wings all make for a winner.  Good stuff.

The Gaoligong Town Exhibition Center by Mingzheng Li