THE BALLERINA PROJECT

One of my favorite NYC sights is seeing dancers warming up in the subway…have you experienced it? You’re waiting for the train and all of a sudden the person standing next to you starts to do a plie. There’s just something about that kind of beauty against a urban backdrop.

Which is why I’m equally fascinated with a photo series that’s been around for sometime now, The Ballerina Project. It’s an ongoing  project by Dane Shitagi that depicts ballerinas amongst organic backdrops.

The project has been going steady for 10+ years in New York and now it’s trying to move on to a new phase – mini documentaries to compliment the photographs. Dane hopes these will give new audiences a more complete and accurate representation of ballet to help sustain it’s future.

*Unfortunately, Dane’s Kickstarter for this new phase ended 6 days ago without being funded. Here’s hoping he can get it rev’d up again.

**STORY was originally written for ARTNERDNY - where you can check out my weekly artnerd obsessions.

PHOTOGrAPhEr PAUL OCTAVIOUS TAKES HIS PROJECT TO INSTAGRAM

Chicago-based, Photographer & Designer, Paul Octavious has been cranking out some incredible projects. One in particular has me checking his Instagram feed on the regular. The Book Collection features stacks of books Paul arranges in a obsessive color wheel fashion to resemble numbers.

Here’s the best part, the project is currently in an interactive phase through his Instagram. You submit your favorite number and tell him why it’s meaningful to you and you might just find that he’s stacked it, posted it and thanked you for adding to his project the following week. Right now he’s only accepting numbers 1-100.

http://instagram.com/pauloctavious

Animated Photography (Set of 4) by Jamila Hodges (On Tumblr) More experimentation in terms of animating still imagery. I plan to develop and experiment with this technique to its full potential, but right now I’m just enjoying exploring the possibilities. My Tumblr: www.intooishun.tumblr.com (Beautiful Photo’s courtesy of Nigel Howe /Flickr
View Separately

Animated Photography (Set of 4) by Jamila Hodges (On Tumblr)

More experimentation in terms of animating still imagery. I plan to develop and experiment with this technique to its full potential, but right now I’m just enjoying exploring the possibilities.

My Tumblr: www.intooishun.tumblr.com

(Beautiful Photo’s courtesy of Nigel Howe /Flickr

SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET

Photographer Klaus Pichler’s latest photo exhibit was inspired by what most might deem an adventure. He and his camera got to meander into the basement of the Museum of Natural History in Vienna and I imagine once you gain unrestricted access to a collection - the sky’s the limit or at least your imagination.

via iGNANT DE

LOVE Public Art Photo Contest The Association of Public Art wants your best pictures of Robert Indiana’s LOVE Sculpture. Selected photos will be part of a PhotoMosaic and automatically entered into the LOVE Public Art photo contest. The Photo Mosaic is going to be featured, this spring, on selected bus shelters around Philly. In addition to being turned into posters that will be available for free at select locations. So get thee to LOVE Park and start shooting and send those submissions to the APA via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram (use hashtag #LOVEPublicArt)! *photo from APA
Pop-upView Separately

LOVE Public Art Photo Contest

The Association of Public Art wants your best pictures of Robert Indiana’s LOVE Sculpture. Selected photos will be part of a PhotoMosaic and automatically entered into the LOVE Public Art photo contest.

The Photo Mosaic is going to be featured, this spring, on selected bus shelters around Philly. In addition to being turned into posters that will be available for free at select locations.

So get thee to LOVE Park and start shooting and send those submissions to the APA via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram (use hashtag #LOVEPublicArt)!

*photo from APA

Oh Sylvia Poet and Novelist Sylvia Plath would have been eighty-one today.  Her confessional style of writing continues to strike a cord with new generations. I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t been stirred up by her works - especially The Bell Jar.  I wanted to share this print I purchased years ago from photographer Caryn Drexl when I was going through my Plath phase. A melancholy and personal look at Plath.  “Oh Sylvia” Size 8 x 12 (available in other sizes) Paper Finish: Matte You can find this print for sale on Caryn’s Etsy page. *all images copyright protected Caryn Drexl
View Separately

Oh Sylvia

Poet and Novelist Sylvia Plath would have been eighty-one today.  Her confessional style of writing continues to strike a cord with new generations. I don’t think I know anyone who hasn’t been stirred up by her works - especially The Bell Jar. 

I wanted to share this print I purchased years ago from photographer Caryn Drexl when I was going through my Plath phase. A melancholy and personal look at Plath. 

“Oh Sylvia”

Size 8 x 12 (available in other sizes)

Paper Finish: Matte

You can find this print for sale on Caryn’s Etsy page.

*all images copyright protected Caryn Drexl

DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS

Photographer Kimberly Witham’s series, Domestic Arrangements has a strange comforting quality, as if you weren’t dealing with such issues as death, and the delicate balance of nature vs. human, but merely stumbling into some charming museum natural history diorama.

Okmarzo of Empty Kingdom got it right when he called Juha Arvid Helminen’s photography set “Invisible Empire”, “filthy & ridiculous…with several different unique characters that feel like promotional stills from a movie; with the mood and tones of war, military and the people’s government in all mother fucking black.