Room with a view - Camera obscura by Abelardo Morell

Titled ‘camera obscura’, Cuban-born artist Abelardo Morell has taken a series of long exposure photographs that capture vivid scenes of well known sites from around the world. from times square in New York to the Pantheon in Rome, Morell blackens the windows of site specific rooms by setting up a small pinhole within the different located fenestrations. inverted projected images from the exterior environment floods the inner fabric of the space, wrapping everything with high detail. as a result, accurate compositions emerge from the over-exposed photographs.

 ’I made my first picture using camera obscura techniques in my darkened living room in 1991,’ says Morell ‘over time, this project has taken me from my living room to all sorts of interiors around the world. one of the satisfactions i get from making this imagery comes from my seeing the weird and yet natural marriage of the inside and outside.’

(Source: designboom.com)

reuterspictures:

REUTERS/Richard Rowe

Huge tornado hits Oklahoma

A huge tornado flattened an area near Oklahoma City on Monday, leaving a wake of tangled wreckage.

Portraits of Iraqis Covering Their Faces with a Photo of Saddam Hussein

“Saddam is Here” is a portrait project by Iraqi Kurdish photographer Jamal Penjweny. It features Iraqis in everyday locations, covering their faces with a portrait of the country’s former dictator. The photographs are meant to show the lasting impact the Hussein regime had on Iraqi society.

The memory of the dictator is difficult to wipe from the minds of the people, Penjweny says. Hussein’s face was once ubiquitous in their daily lives, appearing on walls, in classrooms, on money, and even in people’s homes. After the fall of the government, taking a picture with Saddam’s face became a taboo.

After living in Europe for a number of years, Penjweny returned to Iraq after Saddam’s fall and noticed how much the former leader’s presence could be felt in the lives of citizens. “His shadow is still following Iraqi society everywhere,” Penjweny says.

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Awe-Inspiring Photo of a Grand Canyon Lightning Strike

This incredible photo of a lightning strike at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon was shot by photo and videographer Travis Roe in July of 2012. A spectacular capture by a photog who has been shooting lightning since he was a teenager, the most surprising thing about this photo is that it went viral only after it somehow didn’t even place in the National Parks Service 2012 photo contest.

Strange though it may seem, the photo wasn’t deemed worthy by the contest’s judges, “I’m a pretty pessimistic person but I honestly thought that the photo had a chance at 2nd place at best” said Roe when we caught up with him. “However, when the winners were posted this April and I wasn’t one of them, I didn’t think much of it since it seems that the photos they pick from that contest tend to be more oriented to showing people in the parks.”

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In my own eyes

With social sites like Instagram, we are getting more of a peek into the everyday events of lives all around the world, but Russian photographer Timur Zhansultanov provided a different approach. For the past 2 years he has been snapping shots from his perspective including his arms and feet in the pictures so it really feels like you are him. He has ceased the project because it became a little annoying over time, but he captured a fantastic collection while it lasted.

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The deadline for PDN’s Face Photo Contest 2013 is approaching. Folks can enter their work in a variety of categories: animal portraits, commercial/editorial/assignment, personal work, babies/children and self portraits. The grand-prize winner receives on-campus photography workshops from Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Aspen, CO. Not too shabby!

(Source: pdnphotooftheday.com)

Early-20th-Century Color Photos of Famous People

Compelling Photos of People Running from Unseen Dangers

In case you’ve been wondering what former MTV news correspondent Tabitha Soren has been up to, she’s been taking beautiful, if not somewhat surreal, photos of people running from unseen dangers. We spotted the evocative, cinematic portraits on Faith is Torment. “I want to address the sensitivity of the human condition, causing us to think about our unease in the world,” Soren stated in an interview with the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. “My static landscapes needed people on the verge of something. The most intense way I could think of visualizing that was to ask them to run. I started out shooting friends but eventually was able to also put myself in the uneasy position of shooting strangers.” The narrative photos have a striking air of panic and isolation, and feel especially poignant in the wake of the recent Boston tragedy.

‘Celebrity Photoshop Bobbleheads’ is a series of photo manipulations that features celebrities with giant heads, by Imgur user Samuelorsaumell

Going Digital: The Fourth Triennial Exhibition at the International Center of Photography

For their fourth triennial, titled “A Different Kind of Order” the International Center of Photography focused on the sweeping influence of digital photography on established and emerging artists.

The exhibition, featuring 28 video artists and photographers from 14 countries, will be on view through Sept. 8 and touches not only on the ever-changing landscape of the world but also the evolving ways in which artists express themselves.

Speaking to the media on May 16, ICP executive director Mark Robbins said about the show, “It throws us into the wonderful tense ambiguity that I think all good art does, where we question the assumptions about ourselves and our world.”