Unabashed Aerial Nudes by John Crawford

John Crawford is a New Zealand based photographer who did a lot of commercial work back in the 80's. He spent much of his time in helicopters and light airplanes, and became fascinated with looking at the world from a bird's eye perspective. In 1984, between shoots, he had an idea for a personal project called Aerial Nudes, the results of which you see here.

The project lasted for three years, from 1984 to 1987, when Crawford dedicated his spare time to meticulously planning and executing each shot, dreaming up ever more surreal scenarios. "Part of the thrill was coming up with the ideas, which in some cases were seemingly impossible, and making it work," he says. "I'd hire a small fixed-wing aircraft for an hour and hunt for abstract details in the landscape where I could strategically place a nude. I would shoot reference images of each location, which I would print. On these, with a black ink pen I would sketch little stick figures and add the various props I would need." [via IndependentUK]

National Geographic: The Last Roll of Kodachrome

They give us those nice bright colors 

They give us the greens of summers 

Makes you think all the world's a sunny day,

 Oh yeah I got a Nikon camera 

I love to take a photograph

So mama don't take my Kodachrome away 

Paul Simon, 1973

 Photographer and National Geographic contributor Steve McCurry doesn't want his Kodachrome taken away.

He's taken over 800,000 photos taken with the film — including his most famous one. When McCurry's arresting shot of an Afghan girl in Pakistan was featured on the cover of National Geographic in 1985, the subject's gazing green eyes captured the world's attention. It could not have been created without Kodachrome.

 After spending almost 30 years shooting with Kodachrome, McCurry equates losing the medium to losing a dear friend. He has been given the chance to take one more roll — just 36 frames — for the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. He'll continue traveling around the world, looking for shots that will be best captured in the exceptional colors of Kodachrome. [via NPR]

Afghan Girl, 1985 ~ Steve McCurry

Stunning Photographs of Northern Lights Over Erupting Icelandic Volcano

23 year old Photographer James Appleton from Cambridge risked his life trekking solo to the site of the volcano to capture these incredible shots. Well worth it I'd say. Despite the warnings from local guides, Appleton spent seven hours battling biting wind and freezing temperatures to get as close to the eruption as possible. He managed to get within a 100 feet of the active volcano

"watching the volcano spew out lava and growling with the peaceful Northern Lights flickering was just incredible." ~ Appleton
[via DailyMailUK]

Purple and blue lights in the sky contrast with bright yellow and red lava flowing from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano, erupting from beneath its ice cap.

The Northern Lights, a natural phenomenon called aurora borealis, is created by the sun's super hot atmosphere, which blasts particles into the protective magnetic field surrounding the Earth.
The magnetic field forces the particles toward the north and south poles.
About 60 to 200 miles overhead, the particles bump into the Earth's atmosphere and become electrically 'excited' - throwing off light of various colours.
Although the phenomenon occurs around the clock, the lights are only visible at night.
The best time of year to see them is during winter, when darkness in the upper latitudes stretches up to 24 hours.

Photographer DAVID LACHAPELLE’S Modern Take on Baroque Still Life Paintings

In this new series DAVID LACHAPELLE (Born 1964) explores the vanity of life and beauty. With titles such as “Springtime”, “Late Summer”, “Early Fall” and “Deathless Winter” the works refer to the four seasons and allude to the life cycle: from birth to death.

The title of the series is a quotation of the poem “Hamatreya” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, in which flowers are the earth’s laughter at the arrogance of human beings who believe they can rule the earth, although they themselves are transient and must return to it. The title of the exhibition can also be read in the sense of the Baroque vanitas portrayals. The meaning of the Baroque floral still life was always related to the human hubris and transience of earthly existence, with the classical still life often containing many of the following: flowers, fruits, vegetables, animals, insects, mask, candles, watches or skulls. These symbols denote the fugacity and limitations of human life and the meaningless nature of vanity. Just like wilting flowers, albeit their beauty, we will all fade away. Whilst LaChapelle shows an explicit compositional affinity to Baroque floral still life, he transfers the genre from painting to photography. The artist employs art historical visual traditions, but he also translates them into visual metaphor of and for our time. On second glance the viewer will discover objects of contemporary society in the blooming and fading flower arrangements: burning cigarettes, newspapers from yesterday, old mobile phones, plastic, Barbies, a Manga mask, medical devices, a burning American flag, a model of an airplane, balloons, tins, collages, throw away dinnerware or a tattered dollar bill. These are the metaphors of vanity in our era of an affluent though seemingly troubled society. The often bizarre and excessive symbolical imagery does not fail to remind us however, as in the traditional vanitas, to follow our virtues and to celebrate life before it‘s over.

‘Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds: And strangers, fond as they, their furrows plough. Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs; Who steer the plough, but cannot steer their feet, Clear of the grave.’
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), Hamatreya, 1846 [via DavidLaChapelle.com]

Earth Laughs In Flowers will be on view at Fred Torres Collaborations in New York from February 23 through March 24, 2012.

Big thanks to my good friend Stephanie McGinn for letting me know about this series! Check out her photography at stephaniemcginn.com

Photographer Profile ~ Alex Prager

Alex Prager (American, born 1979), a self-taught photographer, takes her cues from pulp fiction, the cinematic conventions of movie directors such as Douglas Sirk and Alfred Hitchcock ( and the work of acclaimed photographer William Eggleston.) Resembling movie stills, her unnerving photographs—crisp, boldly colored, shot from unexpected angles, and dramatically lit—feature women disguised in wigs, dramatic makeup, and retro attire. Focusing on the actress’s face to capture one intense emotion, Prager engages in the construction of images that are intentionally loaded, reflecting her fascination with and understanding of cinematic melodrama. [via MoMA]

Alex's work was recently exhibited at MOMA as part of the 'New Photography 2010' exhibition.

*Click on images for larger view

Behind the Shot: "Since my mum had recently come back to live in LA, I used her in lots of the pictures, as well as her friends. I did a lot more setting up than usual – it was as if I was making a movie. I often watch old films for inspiration; if I like a scene, I'll pause it and take pictures of it. I don't remember the name of the movie that inspired this – it was a scene with Marilyn Monroe getting out of a taxi in the rain. I thought it looked beautiful, with her bright blond hair and yellow dress. I didn't want to recreate the image. I just wanted the idea of the rain and the taxi.

I shot this on the streets of LA. As I was using lights and a rain machine, I needed a permit. I'm really not used to doing things that way. I wanted a liquor store with a bit of colour and a quaint, old-fashioned feel. I drove around LA for three or four days looking. LA is so huge I can usually find what I want eventually.

The woman, Irene, was a friend of my mum's. She'd been a model in her 20s and was used to being taken care of. But we didn't have much of a budget: there was no trailer for her, the car was a fake and leaked. We couldn't control the rain machine, so she kept getting soaked; she was miserable and didn't want to get out of the taxi. I wanted her to look behind her like she was looking at something mysterious but the water was pounding down so hard she would only look down, to stay clear of all the leaks. I was trying to direct her with a walkie-talkie and she couldn't hear me. It was nuts.

And then she looked up for one second and that's the shot I got. Her face was perfectly lit. There's a lot of emotion in there – that's because she was unhappy for real." ~  Prager

http://www.alexprager.com/

http://www.alexprager.com/

http://www.alexprager.com/

http://www.alexprager.com/

http://www.alexprager.com/

http://www.alexprager.com/

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Alex Prager was born in Los Angeles in 1979. She was raised by her grand- mother in a small apartment in the suburb of Los Feliz. Her nomadic upbringing saw her splitting her time between Florida, California, and Switzerland without truly settling down long enough for a formal education.

http://www.alexprager.com/

http://www.alexprager.com/


Behind the scenes of Alex's photoshoot for BOTTEGA VENETA

Bottega Veneta SS'11 AOC with Alex Prager from BootLegs on Vimeo.

http://www.alexprager.com/

http://www.alexprager.com/




Accustomed to running a one-woman show on her shoots, where she usually plays photographer, stylist, set-designer and everything in between, Prager was ensnared by the collaborative nature of creating a film. “It’s like taking every art medium and melding it into one,” she says. “It’s incredible!”
http://www.alexprager.com/

Here are some fantastic shorts by Prager that were influenced by film classics.

Eraserhead


The Invisible Man



http://www.alexprager.com/



See more of these shorts here