Elements

I was almost put under a spell by this surprisingly calming and meditative work from bif.

Countdown

A very stylized and unique work by Desrumaux Celine set to the music of Apparat. She claims on her blog that this video has been two years in the making. Well worth the wait.

Encyclopedia Britannica's Animated Guide to Drugs (1951)

An excerpt from an anti-drug film produced by Encyclopedia Britannica in 1951which uses some pretty keen black and white animation. I think the only thing I got out of this was that marijuana won't kill you. Score.

Top Fourteen Inventions of the Century

From the same guys that brought you these brilliant works comes The Top Fourteen Inventions of the Century. An interesting and simple piece that was well executed.

Photo of the Day - Family Portrait

Family Portrait, a photo by therealAARONDUNN on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
camera: Holga 120N

film: FujiColor Pro 160C Exp.09/2007






www.therealAARONDUNN.com

Micah Lidberg

Micah Lidberg's work is colorful, raw, and unique.  Not only is his work inspiring in its quality but also in its variety.  I truly appreciate someone who is a jack of all trades.  Lidberg handles everything from sketches, typography, designing books, and using mixed media.  His work looks like it belongs on an album cover somewhere.

AustinRox

AustinRox, a photo by devgupta86 on Flickr.

Amazing body of work by devgupta86 on Flickr. Click the photo to see more.

Photo of the Day - Untitled

_IGP9062, a photo by pierpaolopreziusi on Flickr.

Visual Storytelling

Ever since the dawn of the moving picture people have been excited to tell their stories visually. Lately I have seen a lot of what are called "portraits". These short films consist of a specific subject telling their story with supporting footage. Below are two examples, one is an animation and the other the is video. It is fun to compare and contrast the two styles and why one was a good choice for animation and the other for video. Can you see them being swapped?

This is a touching animation, "John and Joe," from StoryCorps is about a man's two sons who died on September 11.  John a firefighter and Joe a police officer.

This video, "COFFER," comes to us from Lost & Found Films.

Random Stuff

Just a night in taking weird photos...

Stunt Poetry

Rishi Kaneria brings us an amazing slow motion video.  Yes, yes there are a lot of slow motion videos out there today.  Believe me, I know everything looks awesome in slow motion, I have even made some myself.  But what is truly amazing about this piece was it was shot with a Canon 60D at 60fps.  No specialized camera equipment was used.  Now he did use a software called Twixtor to help with the time warp effects; however, this same effect can be accomplished almost as well in Apple Motion or Adobe After Effects using Optical Blur.  Rishi also gives some solid tips on how to achieve this cool look. For one, shoot on a flat background, like the sky. You should also shoot at a high shutter speed, like 1/2000 or 1/4000, and when slowing down the footage look for the apex of the motion, this means the point where the body is suspended and moving the least, this way you will have less motion blur to deal with.

The Moxy Creative House

The Moxy Creative House is everything I want to be.  Just one look through their work and I was envious.  I love their minimalist style and their blunt, to the point work.  Their work is clean, elegant, and fun.

Here is a piece from their Cheers collection.

 These are a few of my favorites from their Dress The Part series.  I love the grainy quality they seep into their images and the way they handle the line work. Just look in the hat of the Fear and Loathing poster or the dresses of The Shining poster.

Lastly are a few pieces from their Ensemble collection.

 

The Mustache Makes the Man

Well, we all know that.  I saw this campaign by TBWA Singapore a long time ago but I still really love the art of them.  The quality is so fine, like an old textbook.  Enjoy.

Mad Men

I have just recently been watching the show Mad Men and my favorite part about the whole series is the style.  That 50's vintage style is really amazing.  I found these beautifully crafted illustrations from the people over at Radio. Check out their website and portfolio of great work here.

going to the store.

You're better off just watching this one...

Photo of the Day - This 'n That

This all to perfect photo was brought to my attention by my friend and fellow blogger, Alaina Buzas.  The photographer of this photo is Hanna Blackmore. Find out more about her here.

MARBLE LAB

 

I really love this little piece by Hugo Goudswaard. He took a small idea, like marbles, and created something visually interesting. Kinda makes me want to start thinking small...

The Goat Tote

The Goat Tote, a photo by ChrisKoelsch on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
www.threadless.com/submission/367400/The_Goat_Tote

Happiness

Smooth little animation from Bran Dougherty-Johnson. I really like this because it's got a different feel than most animations of this genre. The motion is more raw and it gives it an aged feel.

Photo of the Day - Out Of The Focus Range

Out Of The Focus Range, a photo by HaarFager on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
This is my sister, photographed with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye Flash in October, 1977. It was taken at the same time as the photo right before this one in my stream.

As you can see, the Brownie Hawkeye Flash is not good at getting subjects real close to the camera in sharp focus. The leaves and highline wires in the background are fairly sharp, so it wasn't camera motion that blurred her face. I've been getting some tips from people who have flipped, or reversed the position, of their lens and they report distances of around 2 feet from the camera turn out very crisp in focus. I've got one of my Brownie Hawkeyes with a flipped lens and will try it to see what results I can get with it. Hopefully, the subjects I shoot close to the camera will turn out much sharper than this. I'll let you know.