The long life of the Vortex

Though a footnote in the wider project of England's only avant-garde, the vortograph was intended to be the photographic equivalent of Vorticism's flat canvasses and literary bombs.  So it was something of a surprise--a welcome surprise--to see Gizmodo hosting a competition to get folks to make contemporary vortographs.  The results are actually pretty great.

Nothing bitter about it

The arm and torch of the Statue of Liberty in Madison Square Park, New York. These portions of the Statue were exhibited to raise funds for the completion of the statue and its pedestal. The arm and torch remained in the park from 1876 until 1882. Members of the public could pay fifty cents to climb to the balcony of the torch.

From BoingBoing.

Picture of the Day

If only the world were this rational.

From Fuck Yeah, Protest!

Picture it

From Outside Online -- the stories and images behind the hardest-earned shots of thirteen different photographers. Here's a good one, from Matthieu Paley:

I was in Siberia, at frozen Lake Baikal, and there were five of us crammed into a Russian jeep. The others were drinking vodka. I told them I was going up a small cliff to shoot this rider, and as I walked back I saw the jeep start up and drive off: They had forgotten me. I started running, then screaming. It was getting dark, and it was about to be 35 below. I freaked out. I started thinking that I should've had a kid, to leave something behind. After an hour of trudging through snow, I saw a fisherman sitting beside a hole in the ice. I ran to him, waving like a madman, and tried to explain the situation in the little Russian I knew. He held out a vodka bottle to me, then gestured up a hill. At the top of it, there was a road. I sat beside it in this scary Siberian silence until I heard "Matthieuuuu." It was the driver and translator. When we arrived at the hotel, I called my girlfriend—now my wife—and told her I would love to have a kid one of these days. He's two and a half years old now.

The best protest picture ever.


Here's the story, from the NYT. Thanks, Kendra!

photographic punk

Here's an interesting 9-minute video about Glen E. Friedman, an early photographer of punk, skateboarding and hip-hop. If you're into any of those three things, you've no doubt seen his photos. From BoingBoing.

Links from the sick bed

Two links from our man in the trenches, Mitch.

• A new study out of Duke University suggests that monkeys and college students--well, Duke undergrads, at any rate--are equals when it comes to mental math.
  
• An awesome, long term photo project called " Living My Life Faster - 8 years of JK's Daily Photo Project." Watch this one with the sound off.