Strobist’s 2019 X-Peditions workshops (Havana in January and Hanoi in the fall) have both filled.
Hanoi actually filled before any public announcement. So if you think you might be interested in a future workshop, please make sure to sign up for advance notice on the X-Peditions info page.
If you would like to be placed on a wait list for either trip, you may do so at the individual workshop pages linked above.
Strobist
[ By SA Rogers in Art & Installation & Sound. ]
Commuters traveling from Gare Saint-Lazare to Vernon-Giverny in France get to gaze up at a selection of impressionist art from the Musée d’Orsay applied right onto the walls and ceilings of their train cars. The SNCF (French National Railway Company) collaborated with the adhesive experts at 3M for a summer-long installation that will make rail travel a lot more beautiful and relaxing. Three double-height cars on the RER line have been altered for the project, photographed by Christophe Recoura so the rest of the world can catch a glimpse, too.
An adhesive graphic film printed with impressionist scenes was carefully applied to immerse train travelers in these serene compositions starring the vague painterly brush strokes the movement is known for. Each car has its own theme: gardens and water, local landscapes or Paris industrialization.
This particular line serves visitors heading to Normandy, the birthplace of Impressionism and home of the annual Impressionist Festival. Sight-seers can gaze up at works by painters like Claude Monet as they travel to his former home in Giverny or to the André Malraux Museum (MuMa), which hosts the second-largest collection of Impressionist works in the world after the Musée d’Orsay in Paris.
In fact, a long-serving steam train line direct from Paris to Normandy is credited with encouraging artists to travel to that lush, peaceful corner of France in the first place as Normandy became home to a new school of open-air painting. The trains carried the artists, their families and their aristocratic clientele back and forth between the two cities, delivering them from the modern metropolis to a countryside full of cliffs, meadows and Gothic cathedrals.
[ By SA Rogers in Art & Installation & Sound. ]
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
A pair of crafty carpenters have separately arrived at the same conclusion: glow-in-the-dark resin is a really neat way to fill cracks, gaps, splits and other natural or accidental voids frequently found in wood shelves and surfaces.
Whether you have a small piece that needs infill or mending or a larger project in the works, one of these approaches may well be ideal for your own do-it-yourself project – some details are provided below but full instructions on each strategy can be found via links included as well.
In the first instance, Mat Brown decided to try something other than the standard invisible-style repair to solve the problem of empty space around knots and front-facing unevenness in boards to be used as shelving.
He provides further details on the process over at his blog, but in a nutshell: he used robust tape below and on the sides then heated up the resin, mixed in the powder and poured in the results. After a second similar round he cut, sanded and finished the pieces.
Mike Warren has subsequently brought a similar idea to the table, creating a tutorial for filling in the naturally separation gaps found in a certain species of cyprus, livening up the surface with bright resin.
The full illustrated list of 25 steps for this latter version can be seen on Instructables, but in this case a similar process was used, just heavier-duty tools employed (like a drum sander) to keep the workload down. Hat tip to Chris of Colossal for finding both of these projects as well.
Imagine the possibilities: cities illuminated at night not with carbon dioxide-producing energy sources, but with real glow-in-the-dark trees that light up …
Click Here to Read More »»
These lounge chairs, bars, bathroom counters, plant pots, textiles and wallpaper designs feature integrated lights, glowing in the dark when the lights go out.
Click Here to Read More »»
Opening last night in Nuenen, Holland, this illuminated cycling surface is free to the public, storing sunlight during the day to create stellar patterns to …
Click Here to Read More »»
[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]
Pushing the limits of the traditional printing craft, these stunning little Japanese flip books illustrate the power of slicing, splicing, zooming and panning, all to create a series of vertigo-inducing effects and dizzying optical illusions.
Flipping through the pages of these creations of artist Mou Hitotsu reveals a series of hidden surprises, including embedded objects and stories that unfold in the negative space cut out progressively in sequential sheets of each volume.
Some of these play into abstract and surreal short stories about planetary systems or biological processes while others are simply used to convey holiday-themed wishes.
Via Colossal and spotted by Travelry during a book convention, there are a number of works in this series from JP Books, each one playfully using similar devices to tell different tales as the pages unfold.
Like a flip book, there is no text, and each page of these volumes contains a slightly different scene. But that is where the similarities end and the fun …
Click Here to Read More »»
Peek into the astonishing collection of a miniature book enthusiast who may have the littlest huge library in the entire world.
Click Here to Read More »»
Invisible at a glance, artists have long hidden fore-edge artwork in plain sight, resulting in works that are sometimes first spotted decades or even centuries …
Click Here to Read More »»
[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
[ By WebUrbanist in Design & Products & Packaging. ]
Seed bombs have long been a (non-violent) weapon of choice for guerrilla gardeners, but Flower Shells now aim to make your 12-gauge shotgun a key part of your go-green arsenal. Perhaps these will redefine ‘flower power’ for a new generation of eco-warriors, though a bad misfire might instead give new meaning to ‘pushing up daisies’.
“A personal project between art, gardening and gun smoke,” these are what they sound like: modified shotgun shells filled with seeds, all designed to make gardening more fun.
Their inventor, after “hour and hours of weeding, seeding and cutting” was working one planting meadow flower when the realization dawned: “this could be made much easier, faster, better using a shotgun. Said and done, soon I had emptied a shotgun shell of led and filled it with flower seeds.”
Encountered skepticism was turned into motivation: “I tested different seeds, different ways of closing the shell after modification, different amount of gunpowder, different angels of firing and different guns.”
A modern take on beating swords into plowshares, the project adapts devices designed to kill into ones that give life instead. “Walking through a field of meadow flowers, cornflowers, daisies and poppies an early summer sunday morning made me realize this was working. This flourishing field was my creation, it was all done with 142 shotgun shells.”
Hermit crabs carry crystal-clear cityscapes on their backs, thanks to a series of 3D-printed shells by Aki Inomata. The artist scans the insides of hermit crab … Click Here to Read More »»
Have you ever wondered why so much public space goes to waste? Seemingly ‘natural’ green areas are carefully cultivated, requiring time, energy and water. Click Here to Read More »»
Here are five different types strange and creative ways of gardening that illustrate how varied this age-old pastime really is. Click Here to Read More »»
[ WebUrbanist | Archives | Galleries | Privacy | TOS ]
     |
A post by wedding photographer Susan Stripling – one of the course presenters in this weeks Creative Live Photo Week – an event that showcases teaching by 50 photographers across 3 tracks including Weddings and Family.
The best wedding photographers know how to create not only beautifully composed images, but also the moments of emotion and connection at the core of every dynamic wedding story. Focusing on capturing these unique, organic moments allows you to tell a story that’s true to the couple you’re working with. Here are some tips for finding and capturing the images that keep a wedding story dynamic and fresh.
It’s important to assess whether a client is the right match for your photography style and the stories you’re good at capturing. When you’re consulting with clients, ask questions about what exactly they want, and consider whether you’re prepared to offer the services they want. Once you’ve decided to work with a couple, cultivate a positive, communicative relationship. You don’t have to be best friends with every couple that you shoot, but a basic level of trust helps clients to be themselves on the wedding day. The more comfortable they feel with you, the more moments you’ll be invited to shoot.
To capture unique moments, preparation is essential. Before you show up to shoot a wedding, think through the choices you’ll make about gear, lenses, equipment, and lighting. It’s inevitable that plans will change on the day of the wedding, and that’s okay. Being prepared doesn’t mean you have to be inflexible.
If an image is too soft or technically imperfect, you can’t share it with clients. A poor image of a great moment is essentially the same thing as no image at all. Remind yourself of the basics both before and during a shoot. Be mindful of focusing and recomposing with the f-stops you choose, and make sure your shutter speed correlates with the lens you’re using.
Nothing spoils a dynamic image more than a random person wandering through the background or an angle that makes everyone in the room look like they have lampshade hats on. Don’t just focus on the subjects of each image – focus on the entire frame.
Choose backgrounds that either enhance an image or that are clean and simple. For example, you might decide to photograph rings against the background of other sparkly jewellery the bride plans to wear. Or you might decide that it’s better to have a clean, simple background instead.
When I’m photographing a wedding, I like to challenge myself to see how many unique moments I can capture in one single frame. This allows me to tell stories that are more complex. I might be able to catch the mother of the bride’s reaction as the bridesmaids help her daughter into her dress, or I might capture the flower girls dancing along to a couple’s first dance.
If you’re telling multiple stories in a single frame, each aspect of the story has to be dynamic and engaged. Make sure everyone in the frame is doing something interesting; no couple wants an image from their wedding day where half the people look bored. Know when to focus on a single, super-impactful image instead.
Watch for shots that both capture a unique moment and help advance the overall wedding story you’re telling. The balance between patient and proactive can be hard to strike, but it’s important.
Create a calm atmosphere and be a chilled presence – don’t constantly have cameras in people’s faces and shutters consistently going off. When a moment starts developing, be assertive about getting the shot you need, but find a way to do so without being intrusive.
Give the couple space to emote, but also be aware that some people might not be outwardly emotional, and that’s okay too. Capture the couple as they are, without trying to force specific moments, reactions, or feelings.
For more wedding photography tips, check out Susan’s upcoming creativeLIVE course during Photo Week which starts on Monday.
Susan Stripling is a world-renowned wedding photographer. She has won some of the photography industry’s most prestigious honors including 1st place in WPPI’s Wedding Photojournalism category and the Grand Award for Photojournalism. Susan has photographed weddings all throughout the US, the Caribbean, South America, Finland, France, and the Bahamas.
Post originally from: Digital Photography Tips.
Check out our more Photography Tips at Photography Tips for Beginners, Portrait Photography Tips and Wedding Photography Tips.
6 Tips for Creating Unique and Emotion Filled Wedding Photos
You must be logged in to post a comment.