Photography | artistvenu

Exploratory Techniques

March 20, 2022 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Exploratory Techniques

German artist Natalie Truchsess has an extensive background in analogue documentary, landscape and portrait photography. In her current work she uses abstract photographs to explore the depiction of the subliminal, the unspeakable and the ephemeral.

A: In Issue 105 of Aesthetica, we feature a piece from the Metamorphose series. What is the process behind the work?
NT: It is a new approach to documentary photography that visualizes hidden parts of reality. This might sound strange at first, because my abstract photos don’t have much to do with the kind of documentary photography that some people may be familiar with.

I follow the same approach as in conventional documentary photography: I encounter a certain situation and then I photograph it without changing it. The crucial difference is the technique I use to capture the moment. I call it RCM (Remodel by Camera Movement) because I move the camera so fast during the shot that the contours of the photographed motifs dissolve, creating new images.

Read the full article here..

Curating Reality

March 16, 2022 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

When the pioneer of street photography Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908-2004) coined the idea of the “decisive moment” – that split second when the psychological dimensions of an urban scene are relayed perfectly through its visual appearance, and the artist must rush to respond – he was unaware of how digital technology would transform his medium. With post-facto editing and instant high-quality shots achievable on most smartphones, pursuing that one, perfect instant is more accessible than ever before.

Read the full article here…

Ice Crystallizes Into Radial Stars in a Hypnotic Short Film Directed by Thomas Blanchard

March 10, 2022 (updated March 10, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Peering through a macro lens, French video artist Thomas Blanchard has cultivated the ability to transform common scientific occurances into mesmerizing, and often otherworldly, tableaus. His recent project is a collaboration with musician Sébastien Guérive, whose quiet, beat-heavy track “Bellatrix” overlays Blanchard’s experimental film.

Shot in 8K against a black backdrop, the video documents a chemical dropped into hot water and then subsequently cooled.

Read the full article here…

Winners of the 2022 World Photography Awards Highlight the Striking Sights of Life Around the Globe

March 9, 2022 (updated March 9, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Filip Hrebenda. National Awards, Landscape, Winner, 2022, Sony World Photography Awards

The Sony World Photography Awards (previously) garnered a whopping 340,000 entries for its 2022 competition, with subject matter spanning from the magical landscapes of Turkey to an intimate portrait of Burmese siblings. Approximately 170,000 of those original submissions fall under the contest’s National Awards category, which recently announced the top images. The winning collection offers a varied and striking look at the state of contemporary photography and a broader consideration of culture, documenting both the serendipitous and composed sights from 62 countries around the globe.

Read the full article here…

Artist Hides AI Faces Within Densely Patterned Paintings

March 9, 2022 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Berlin-based artist Lee Wagstaff creates abstract paintings with a secret. While at first glance you may be immersed in the myriad of complex patterns that blanket the canvas, take another step back and you’ll discover a human face staring back at you. Each of his paintings features a portrait of an AI-generated face concealed within the repeating forms of the design.

There is no magic to his process, however. It is simply a matter of subtly altering the pattern in places to convey the facial features of an individual. Typically, this requires Wagstaff to invert the colors or broaden the lines, which in turn creates the illusion of shadow and depth. The darker areas of the design help create the contours of eyes, eyebrows, a nose, lips, and the shape of the face, emerging from the print.

Read the full article here…

A Photo Series Captures a Magnificent Rock Formation Set Against the Tateyama Mountains

February 16, 2022 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Image © Yasuto Inagaki

With the imposing Tateyama Mountain Range in the backdrop, a photo series by Yasuto Inagaki centers on a smaller, recurring focal point: a few trees that have sprung from the top of cragged rocks. Inagaki, who lives in Japan’s Toyama Prefecture, visits Mount Inaba in Oyabe City often to capture the unusual formation among different weather, times of day, and seasons. Some shots show the sun just atop the mountains as it reflects in the water below, while others document bright daylight illuminating the snowy backdrop and an airplane flying in the distance.

Read the full article here…

An International Photo Competition Illuminates the Captivating and Remarkable Sights of Earth’s Landscapes

February 9, 2022 (updated February 11, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Compelled by the Core photographed by Daniel Laan, Near Moddergat, the Netherlands

From the brilliant dancing aurora of Iceland to Comet NeoWise hurtling above Mount Tamalpais, the winning shots of the 2021 International Landscape Photographer of the Year contest capture a diverse and captivating array of Earth’s topographies and phenomena. The annual competition is in its eighth year and garnered more than 4,500 entries centered on a variety of subject matter, including a mystical wood at Alcornocales Natural Park in Cadiz, the fairytale-esque flowers of France’s Vallée de la Clarée, and a wildlife fire in Yosemite National Park that appears more like a sunset on the horizon than massive blaze.

Read the full article here…

Majestic Photos Capture the Dwindling Population of Madagascar’s Ancient Baobab Trees

February 7, 2022 (updated February 7, 2022) Published by artistvenu

In the fall of 2018, one of Madagascar’s most sacred baobabs cleaved and crumbled. The ancient giant was estimated to be about 1,400 years old and offered food, fuel, and fiber to the region before its trunk, which spanned 90 feet around, collapsed. Known as Tsitakakoike, which means “the tree where one cannot hear the cry from the other side,” the baobab was also entwined with local lore and thought to house the ancestral spirits of nearby Masikoro people. Its loss was devastating to the community and an ominous sign of how the climate crisis is permanently damaging these centuries-old trees.

Bay Area photographer Beth Moon has been documenting the species since 2006 and traveled to the region when Tsitakakoike fell. There she captured the cracked, deteriorating emblem along with other baobabs in similar states of crisis throughout Madagascar, Senegal, and South Africa. Shot in dramatic black-and-white, the images are rich in texture and frame the baobabs’ wide, crackled trunks and branches that splay outward into massive tufted canopies.

Read the full article here…

Unearthly Plant Photos by Tom Leighton Highlight Nighttime Chemical Processes

January 30, 2022 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Otherworldly in appearance, Tom Leighton’s photographs center on stems and leaves that emit a luminous glow, unveiling their delicate structures and highlighting their chemical processes. His Variegation II series reveals the nightlife of foliage—Leighton focuses on plants from Cornwall, some of which he grows in his garden and others farther afield—and examines what humans might have been able to see if our night vision had evolved.

The ongoing project also explores the possibilities of color manipulation. After photographing the plants, Leighton digitally strips back their characteristic greenish hues, using dreamy fluorescent colors to represent the photosynthesis process.

Read the full article here…

Colorful Aerial Photos of a Spring Known as “the Devil’s Eye” in the Gobi Desert

January 30, 2022 (updated June 24, 2022) Published by artistvenu

Sulfur is a fascinating element. It is Earth’s fifth most common element to be found in the natural world. It typically manifests as a mineral—a sulfide or sulfate. You may have smelled its presence in the “rotten egg” odor of certain natural mineral waters which bubble up from springs. Such springs have long been spa destinations for health and enjoyment, but they can offer incredible, barren beauty as well. Searching for beautiful colors with his infrared camera, photographer Jonas Daley has captured the sulfurous beauty of the Aiken Spring of the Gobi Desert in China’s Qinghai Province.

Between northern China and southern Mongolia lies the Gobi Desert—from sand dunes to mountains to deep springs.

Read the full article here…

Category: Photography

Exploratory Techniques

Exploratory Techniques

Curating Reality

Ice Crystallizes Into Radial Stars in a Hypnotic Short Film Directed by Thomas Blanchard

Winners of the 2022 World Photography Awards Highlight the Striking Sights of Life Around the Globe

Artist Hides AI Faces Within Densely Patterned Paintings

A Photo Series Captures a Magnificent Rock Formation Set Against the Tateyama Mountains

An International Photo Competition Illuminates the Captivating and Remarkable Sights of Earth’s Landscapes

Majestic Photos Capture the Dwindling Population of Madagascar’s Ancient Baobab Trees

Unearthly Plant Photos by Tom Leighton Highlight Nighttime Chemical Processes

Colorful Aerial Photos of a Spring Known as “the Devil’s Eye” in the Gobi Desert

Photography & Digital Art

Recent Posts