Fantastic Forced Perspective Photographs by Michael Paul Smith

"It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen."~ John Wooden 

Michael Paul Smith has an eye for detail that's for sure. These wonderful images are made using highly detailed models, a $250 point-and-shoot camera and a great eye for perspective.

For over 25 years Michael has been building delightfully detailed scenes of mid-20th century America using 1/24 models.

'I’m creating a mood, something familiar in the viewer’s mind,' Smith told the New York Times.
The reason a cheap and cheery point-and-shoot works well for forced perspective photography is because of the very small sensors cheaper compact cameras tend to have. The small sensor facilitates a much greater depth of field, much greater than that of a full frame sensor. The smaller the sensor the easier to get everything in sharp focus.  So dust off your old point and shoot and give it a try!

 To see the photographs and purchase prints, visit Michael's site at SmugMug.



























Michael Paul Smith on set.

Michael Paul Smith's childhood home in 1/24th scale

Fascinating Images of Northern Tanzanian Petrified Animals by Photographer Nick Brandt

Medusa's favourite lake would no doubt be the one located in Northern Tanzania. A rare phenomenon caused by the chemical makeup of the lake petrifies creatures creating macabre but fascinating statues.

Nick Brandt's new book, Across the Ravaged Land, features the images of petrified creatures that were found in areas around  Lake Natron which due to its constant pH of 9 to 10.5 (an extremely basic alkalinity ) preserves these creatures for eternity. [via Gizmodo]

"I unexpectedly found the creatures - all manner of birds and bats - washed up along the shoreline of Lake Natron in Northern Tanzania. No-one knows for certain exactly how they die, but it appears that the extreme reflective nature of the lake’s surface confuses them, and like birds crashing into plate glass windows, they crash into the lake. The water has an extremely high soda and salt content, so high that it would strip the ink off my Kodak film boxes within a few seconds. The soda and salt causes the creatures to calcify, perfectly preserved, as they dry. I took these creatures as I found them on the shoreline, and then placed them in ‘living’ positions, bringing them back to ‘life’, as it were. Reanimated, alive again in death."  ~ Nick Brandt

© Nick Brandt

 Calcified Fish Eagle© Nick Brandt

 © Nick Brandt

 © Nick Brandt

Calcified swallow © Nick Brandt

 Calcified Bat© Nick Brandt

© Nick Brandt

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]

Fascinating Then and Now Images with NYC Crime Scene Photographs

In this fascinating series of New York City Then and Now, historian and photographer Marc Hermann superimposes vintage crime scene photographs with images from the exact locations as they exist today.

 "My inspiration is drawn not from fictional characters, but rather from the real people who documented life in New York through the mid-20th century." ~ Marc Hermann

Hermann utilized images found on the Daily News Pix photo archive of the New York Daily News. He then culled historic crime scenes of fires, plane crashes, gas explosions, suicides, and murders, and  blended them expertly with the modern scenes of today.

It would be interesting to hear what the current residents of some of these NYC crime scene photograph locations would have to say.

"New York is constantly changing and transforming, and tragedies that affected individuals’ lives are forgotten. We may stand on what was once the site of a horrific murder and not even know it, simply because life goes on."

 ~ Marc Hermann

Brooklyn, N.Y.

The tree that stands in front of 923 44th St. in Brooklyn is the only living witness to gangster Frankie Yale's untimely demise on July 1, 1928. Yale's car slammed into the steps of the Brooklyn home that day as he was shot to death from a car driving by.
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Pacific St. and Classon Ave. in Brooklyn, N.Y.

The corner of Classon Ave. and Pacific St. got some serious action on July 28, 1957 when a stolen car crashed into a light pole. Strangely enough, the car was allegedly stolen by a boy released from the Brooklyn House of Detention. The boy was initially detained on car theft charges. The corner still looks the same, though new green street signs hang above the scene of the accident

137 Wooster St. Manhattan, N.Y.

Back in the 1950s, there were no North Face storefronts to be found on Wooster St. There was, however, a massive and fatal fire at the Elkins Paper & Twine Co. on Feb. 16, 1958. Six were killed by the blaze and the building was leveled, but new commercial space now stands where the Elkins Paper & Twine Co. once did.

427 1/2 Hicks St. Brooklyn, N.Y.

Gangster Salvatore Santoro met his end in the vestibule of 427 1/2 Hicks St. on Jan. 31, 1957. Here's how the building looks then and now.

M-7 tank in New York City

War in the city? Nope, just an M-7 tank destroyer being transported to be put on display on July 22, 1943. The tank rolled from City Hall to the Public Library on 42nd St

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Porter Ave. Brooklyn, N.Y.
Only a few scars left on the side of this building serve as a reminder of what happened here on April 4, 1959. Three-year-old Martha Cartagena was riding her tricycle when she was struck and killed on Porter Ave. in Brooklyn.

497 Dean St. Brooklyn, N.Y.
March 19, 1942 is a day well captured in the Daily News' archive. Edna Egbert, who lived at 497 Dean St. in Brooklyn, climbed onto her ledge that day. The News captured the distraught woman fighting with the police as she wobbled on the edge. The building is currently painted red, but remains nearly identical to the way it looked 70 years ago.

992 Southern Blvd. Bronx, N.Y.

A classic case of jealousy. In this stairwell of 992 Southern Blvd. on Sept. 25, 1961, James Linares lay bleeding in the arms of his girlfriend Josephine Dexidor after being shot by her husband. The same banister still scales the length of the hallway.

Striking Portraits of Shaolin Monks by Photographer Tomasz Gudzowaty

Tomasz Gudzowaty was born in 1971 and studied law at the University of Warsaw. He began his photographic career with nature photography, later turning to social documentary. For the past few years he has focused on sports photography and is particularly interested in non-commercial sports - those that are exotic, atypical or outside the media mainstream. His photos have been published in Max magazine, L'Equipe, The Guardian, Newsweek, Time and Photo. Gudzowaty is a multiple winner of the profession's premier contests, including eight previous World Press Photo awards, as well as Pictures of the Year and NPPA Best of Photojournalism awards. He has exhibited worldwide and published several photo books. He is associated with Yours Gallery in Warsaw, where he lives, with Focus Photo und Presseagentur in Hamburg and the Stephen Bulger Gallery in Toronto.

 

The origin of Shaolin Kung Fu is generally credited to an Indian monk named Tat Moh, who is also sometimes known as Boddhidharma. He began life as a prince in Southern India, but became a devoted Buddhist, renouncing his royal heritage to take up the simple lifestyle of a monk. He traveled widely, spreading the teachings of Buddhism. Eventually he rose to become the 28th patriarch of India. In those days, it was common for Indian monks to travel to China where their Buddhist teachings were eagerly received. In the year 520 A.D. Tat Moh made just such a journey, right through India and China, finally settling at the monastery called Shao Lin - which means 'little forest'. He was disappointed, however, to find the monks very weak and unable to withstand the austere ways of Buddhism - a life which often consisted of long fasts and frugal living. Tat Moh therefore retired into a cave and meditated in isolation in order to find a solution to the problem. When he emerged after nine years of hard study, he had devised a set of exercises for the monks. These were similar to some Indian exercises such as yoga and were intended to regulate and strengthen the monks' chi flow. Their intention was to strengthen the monks and increase their health and vitality; and this they did, so successfully that Tat Moh's Chi Kung exercises are still practiced to this day. They form the basis of the Shaolin Arts. [via USA Shoalin Temple]