RSS
 

Posts Tagged ‘Detail’

Microsoft provides additional detail on Lumia 950 and 950XL cameras

17 Oct

Earlier this month Microsoft launched the long-awaited successors to the Nokia Lumia 930 and 1520: the Lumia 950 and 950XL. Now a post on the Microsoft Devices Blog provides some more detail about the camera hardware and software in the new models, along with some impressive-looking sample images. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on Microsoft provides additional detail on Lumia 950 and 950XL cameras

Posted in Uncategorized

 

900MP portraits show human face in extreme detail

20 Mar

megaportrait.jpg

‘Facial cartography’ is an apt description of Swiss photographer Daniel Boschung’s portraits. Folds, crevices and pores that are often invisible under normal viewing conditions are shown in extreme detail in his 900MP images. Each of his photographs is comprised of about 600 images captured by an ABB robot with a Canon 5D Mark II and a 180mm macro lens. Learn more

News: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
Comments Off on 900MP portraits show human face in extreme detail

Posted in Uncategorized

 

5 Ways to Create Detail Photos

06 Jan

Want more creative photography tips and insight? Download Dan’s entire photography ebook bundle and get four titles for only $ 29. Dan’s 3-eBook bundle: Going Fast With Light, How to Become a PRO, Making the Image is on sale now for only $ 29 at SnapnDeals!

Like any form of art, compelling photography is not simply about reproducing your subject, it’s about representing your subject with visual hints and clues that suggest the larger scene. Accuracy isn’t what’s going to excite your viewer and draw them into your image, it’s feel, style and message.

details-photography-01.jpgWhen composing your photos, you don’t just want to show your audience what they can already see when they look at things in real life. Instead, you want to give them an abbreviated version of the scene that will make them try to visualize what lies beyond the borders of your frame. Your goal is to make a creative depiction of the world that invokes the imagination and emotions of your viewer. If you can activate not just their eyes, but also their brains, you’ll go further towards holding their attention with your shot.

One way to shoot abbreviated scenes is to accentuate details that your viewers might not notice as they speed through life. These kinds of shots often make for powerful photographs because it’s an easy way to fire up your viewer’s imagination. Let’s explore a few different examples of how you might approach shooting these kinds of detail photos.

5 Ways to shoot detail photos

1. The single detail

Sometimes can show a single aspect of the scene without giving away any other information about the rest of the scene, other than what is clearly apparent in your image. Just about every type of subject lends itself to this type of photograph: architecture, travel, environmental features, landscapes and even action.

When shooting the single detail, make sure you focus on creating a simple yet powerful image. Since your subject matter will be limited, the strength of your image will depend on a good composition and the strong use of light, colour and form. (see photos above and below as example)

Details photography 02

2. Details that give a sense of place

Including more elements in your shot often hints about how the subject relates with its surroundings. This can really add depth to your shot, because it starts to imply reference and narrative, instead of just being about a single thing. You’ll want to include enough information in the image that suggests a greater story about the scene to your viewers, without giving away too much information or weighing down your photograph.

Details photography 03 Details photography 04

3. Larger details

Detail shots don’t always have to be photographs of smaller objects and they don’t always have to be taken up close. There is enough detail of different sizes in the world that you can focus on nearly anything, as long as you can accentuate that particular subject matter in a visually appealing way.

This is where long lenses really shine. I love shooting long, suggestive shots, of distant subjects with my telephoto zoom lens. The narrow angle of view lets me focus on just two or three elements, and the shallow depth of field creates a soft background that doesn’t distract from the main subjects.

Details photography 05

Details photography 06

4. Lines and textures

Sometimes your shot will be more about simple graphic form and texture, instead of a physical object. When done right, you can still tell a powerful visual story with limited subject matter. Experiment with lines, shapes, colours, patterns and other abstract subject matter that appeals to you. Shadows can be powerful compositional elements because they suggest how your subject relates with other tangible objects around them.

Details photography 07

Details photography 08

5. Human details

People often make for the most powerful subjects, because as humans, we all relate with and respond to each other on some level. There is an unending variety of details that you can capture when shooting humans and their actions. Try focusing on elements such as interaction, motion, emotion and their association with others and with the world in general.

Details photography 09

Details photography 10

Less is more

Remember, you don’t always have to show the whole thing. Sometimes even a single abbreviated detail can be a powerful image. Experiment with cropping and zooming in on your subjects, to show the minimum amount of visual information needed to make a good photograph. You might be surprised at how little you need to show in order to create a compelling image.

As I like to say, any time you can invoke your viewer’s imagination, you’ve gone a long way towards creating a successful image. Strive for simplicity with your photography and see how far you can take this concept to its fullest potential.

What is your message?

Accuracy isn’t what’s going to excite your viewer and draw them into your image, it’s feel, style and message.


Want more creative photography tips and insight? Download my entire photography ebook bundle and get four titles for only $ 29 right now at SnapnDeals.

The post 5 Ways to Create Detail Photos by Dan Bailey appeared first on Digital Photography School.


Digital Photography School

 
Comments Off on 5 Ways to Create Detail Photos

Posted in Photography

 

On Bathroom Detail All Week

31 May

We're remodeling two bathrooms, and as part of a barter deal with the contractor I am doing a series of before and after photos. I'll post more about that later, but I just wanted to drop something in quickly about the lighting on the detail shots I was doing today.

It's a quick-and-dirty, two-light setup and the effect is almost like a charcoal drawing—sort of 2-D and 3-D at the same time. And try as I might, it's pretty hard to mess this up.

Read more »
Strobist

 
Comments Off on On Bathroom Detail All Week

Posted in Photography

 

Banksy in Boston: Detail of the NO LOITRIN piece on Essex St in Central Square, Cambridge

22 Jan

A few nice visual art images I found:

Banksy in Boston: Detail of the NO LOITRIN piece on Essex St in Central Square, Cambridge
visual art
Image by Chris Devers
Interestingly, both of the Boston area Banksy pieces are on Essex St:

F?O?L?L?O?W? ?Y?O?U?R? ?D?R?E?A?M?S? CANCELLED (aka chimney sweep) in Chinatown, Boston
NO LOITRIN in Central Square, Cambridge.

Does that mean anything? It looks like he favors Essex named streets & roads when he can. In 2008, he did another notable Essex work in London, for example, and posters on the Banksy Forums picked up & discussed on the Essex link as well.

Is there an Essex Street in any of the other nearby towns? It looks like there are several: Brookline, Charlestown, Chelsea, Gloucester, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn, Medford, Melrose, Quincy, Revere, Salem, Saugus, Somerville, Swampscott, and Waltham. Most of these seem improbable to me, other than maybe Brookline, or maybe Somerville or Charlestown. But they start getting pretty suburban after that.

But, again, why "Essex"? In a comment on this photo, Birbeck helps clarify:

I can only surmise that he’s having a ‘dig’ at Essex UK, especially with the misspelling of ‘Loitering’. Here, the general view of the urban districts in Essex: working class but with right wing views; that they’re not the most intellectual bunch; rather obsessed with fashion (well, their idea of it); their place of worship is the shopping mall; enjoy rowdy nights out; girls are thought of as being dumb, fake blonde hair/tans and promiscuous; and guys are good at the ‘chit chat’, and swagger around showing off their dosh (money).

It was also the region that once had Europe’s largest Ford motor factory. In its heyday, 1 in 3 British cars were made in Dagenham, Essex. Pay was good for such unskilled labour, generations worked mind-numbing routines on assembly lines for 80 years. In 2002 the recession ended the dream.

• • • • •

Banksy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Banksy
Birth name
Unknown

Born
1974 or 1975 (1974 or 1975), Bristol, UK[1]

Nationality
British

Field
Graffiti
Street Art
Bristol underground scene
Sculpture

Movement
Anti-Totalitarianism
Anti-capitalism
Pacifism
Anti-War
Anarchism
Atheism
Anti-Fascism

Works
Naked Man Image
One Nation Under CCTV
Anarchist Rat
Ozone’s Angel
Pulp Fiction

Banksy is a pseudonymous[2][3][4] British graffiti artist. He is believed to be a native of Yate, South Gloucestershire, near Bristol[2] and to have been born in 1974,[5] but his identity is unknown.[6] According to Tristan Manco[who?], Banksy "was born in 1974 and raised in Bristol, England. The son of a photocopier technician, he trained as a butcher but became involved in graffiti during the great Bristol aerosol boom of the late 1980s."[7] His artworks are often satirical pieces of art on topics such as politics, culture, and ethics. His street art, which combines graffiti writing with a distinctive stencilling technique, is similar to Blek le Rat, who began to work with stencils in 1981 in Paris and members of the anarcho-punk band Crass who maintained a graffiti stencil campaign on the London Tube System in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His art has appeared in cities around the world.[8] Banksy’s work was born out of the Bristol underground scene which involved collaborations between artists and musicians.

Banksy does not sell photos of street graffiti.[9] Art auctioneers have been known to attempt to sell his street art on location and leave the problem of its removal in the hands of the winning bidder.[10]

Banksy’s first film, Exit Through The Gift Shop, billed as "the world’s first street art disaster movie", made its debut at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.[11] The film was released in the UK on March 5.[12]

Contents

1 Career
•• 1.1 2000
•• 1.2 2002
•• 1.3 2003
•• 1.4 2004
•• 1.5 2005
•• 1.6 2006
•• 1.7 2007
•• 1.8 2008
•• 1.9 2009
•• 1.10 2010
2 Notable art pieces
3 Technique
4 Identity
5 Controversy
6 Bibliography
7 References
8 External links

Career

Banksy started as a freehand graffiti artist 1992–1994[14] as one of Bristol’s DryBreadZ Crew (DBZ), with Kato and Tes.[15] He was inspired by local artists and his work was part of the larger Bristol underground scene. From the start he used stencils as elements of his freehand pieces, too.[14] By 2000 he had turned to the art of stencilling after realising how much less time it took to complete a piece. He claims he changed to stencilling whilst he was hiding from the police under a train carriage, when he noticed the stencilled serial number[16] and by employing this technique, he soon became more widely noticed for his art around Bristol and London.[16]

Stencil on the waterline of The Thekla, an entertainment boat in central Bristol – (wider view). The image of Death is based on a 19th century etching illustrating the pestilence of The Great Stink.[17]

Banksy’s stencils feature striking and humorous images occasionally combined with slogans. The message is usually anti-war, anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. Subjects often include rats, monkeys, policemen, soldiers, children, and the elderly.

In late 2001, on a trip to Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, he met up with the Gen-X pastellist, visual activist, and recluse James DeWeaver in Byron Bay[clarification needed], where he stencilled a parachuting rat with a clothes peg on its nose above a toilet at the Arts Factory Lodge. This stencil can no longer be located. He also makes stickers (the Neighbourhood Watch subvert) and sculpture (the murdered phone-box), and was responsible for the cover art of Blur’s 2003 album Think Tank.

2000

The album cover for Monk & Canatella‘s Do Community Service was conceived and illustrated by Banksy, based on his contribution to the "Walls on fire" event in Bristol 1998.[18][citation needed]

2002

On 19 July 2002, Banksy’s first Los Angeles exhibition debuted at 33 1/3 Gallery, a small Silverlake venue owned by Frank Sosa. The exhibition, entitled Existencilism, was curated by 33 1/3 Gallery, Malathion, Funk Lazy Promotions, and B+.[19]

2003

In 2003 in an exhibition called Turf War, held in a warehouse, Banksy painted on animals. Although the RSPCA declared the conditions suitable, an animal rights activist chained herself to the railings in protest.[20] He later moved on to producing subverted paintings; one example is Monet‘s Water Lily Pond, adapted to include urban detritus such as litter and a shopping trolley floating in its reflective waters; another is Edward Hopper‘s Nighthawks, redrawn to show that the characters are looking at a British football hooligan, dressed only in his Union Flag underpants, who has just thrown an object through the glass window of the cafe. These oil paintings were shown at a twelve-day exhibition in Westbourne Grove, London in 2005.[21]

2004

In August 2004, Banksy produced a quantity of spoof British £10 notes substituting the picture of the Queen’s head with Princess Diana‘s head and changing the text "Bank of England" to "Banksy of England." Someone threw a large wad of these into a crowd at Notting Hill Carnival that year, which some recipients then tried to spend in local shops. These notes were also given with invitations to a Santa’s Ghetto exhibition by Pictures on Walls. The individual notes have since been selling on eBay for about £200 each. A wad of the notes were also thrown over a fence and into the crowd near the NME signing tent at The Reading Festival. A limited run of 50 signed posters containing ten uncut notes were also produced and sold by Pictures on Walls for £100 each to commemorate the death of Princess Diana. One of these sold in October 2007 at Bonhams auction house in London for £24,000.

2005

In August 2005, Banksy, on a trip to the Palestinian territories, created nine images on Israel’s highly controversial West Bank barrier. He reportedly said "The Israeli government is building a wall surrounding the occupied Palestinian territories. It stands three times the height of the Berlin Wall and will eventually run for over 700km—the distance from London to Zurich. "[22]

2006

• Banksy held an exhibition called Barely Legal, billed as a "three day vandalised warehouse extravaganza" in Los Angeles, on the weekend of 16 September. The exhibition featured a live "elephant in a room", painted in a pink and gold floral wallpaper pattern.[23]
• After Christina Aguilera bought an original of Queen Victoria as a lesbian and two prints for £25,000,[24] on 19 October 2006 a set of Kate Moss paintings sold in Sotheby’s London for £50,400, setting an auction record for Banksy’s work. The six silk-screen prints, featuring the model painted in the style of Andy Warhol‘s Marilyn Monroe pictures, sold for five times their estimated value. His stencil of a green Mona Lisa with real paint dripping from her eyes sold for £57,600 at the same auction.[25]
• In December, journalist Max Foster coined the phrase, "the Banksy Effect", to illustrate how interest in other street artists was growing on the back of Banksy’s success.[26]

2007

• On 21 February 2007, Sotheby’s auction house in London auctioned three works, reaching the highest ever price for a Banksy work at auction: over £102,000 for his Bombing Middle England. Two of his other graffiti works, Balloon Girl and Bomb Hugger, sold for £37,200 and £31,200 respectively, which were well above their estimated prices.[27] The following day’s auction saw a further three Banksy works reach soaring prices: Ballerina With Action Man Parts reached £96,000; Glory sold for £72,000; Untitled (2004) sold for £33,600; all significantly above estimated values.[28] To coincide with the second day of auctions, Banksy updated his website with a new image of an auction house scene showing people bidding on a picture that said, "I Can’t Believe You Morons Actually Buy This Shit."[6]
• In February 2007, the owners of a house with a Banksy mural on the side in Bristol decided to sell the house through Red Propeller art gallery after offers fell through because the prospective buyers wanted to remove the mural. It is listed as a mural which comes with a house attached.[29]
• In April 2007, Transport for London painted over Banksy’s iconic image of a scene from Quentin Tarantino‘s Pulp Fiction, with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns. Although the image was very popular, Transport for London claimed that the "graffiti" created "a general atmosphere of neglect and social decay which in turn encourages crime" and their staff are "professional cleaners not professional art critics".[30] Banksy tagged the same site again (pictured at right). This time the actors were portrayed as holding real guns instead of bananas, but they were adorned with banana costumes. Banksy made a tribute art piece over this second Pulp Fiction piece. The tribute was for 19-year-old British graffiti artist Ozone, who was hit by an underground train in Barking, East London, along with fellow artist Wants, on 12 January 2007.[31] The piece was of an angel wearing a bullet-proof vest, holding a skull. He also wrote a note on his website, saying:

The last time I hit this spot I painted a crap picture of two men in banana costumes waving hand guns. A few weeks later a writer called Ozone completely dogged it and then wrote ‘If it’s better next time I’ll leave it’ in the bottom corner. When we lost Ozone we lost a fearless graffiti writer and as it turns out a pretty perceptive art critic. Ozone – rest in peace.[citation needed]

Ozone’s Angel

• On 27 April 2007, a new record high for the sale of Banksy’s work was set with the auction of the work Space Girl & Bird fetching £288,000 (US6,000), around 20 times the estimate at Bonhams of London.[32]
• On 21 May 2007 Banksy gained the award for Art’s Greatest living Briton. Banksy, as expected, did not turn up to collect his award, and continued with his notoriously anonymous status.
• On 4 June 2007, it was reported that Banksy’s The Drinker had been stolen.[33][34]
• In October 2007, most of his works offered for sale at Bonhams auction house in London sold for more than twice their reserve price.[35]

• Banksy has published a "manifesto" on his website.[36] The text of the manifesto is credited as the diary entry of one Lieutenant Colonel Mervin Willett Gonin, DSO, which is exhibited in the Imperial War Museum. It describes how a shipment of lipstick to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp immediately after its liberation at the end of World War II helped the internees regain their humanity. However, as of 18 January 2008, Banksy’s Manifesto has been substituted with Graffiti Heroes #03 that describes Peter Chappell’s graffiti quest of the 1970s that worked to free George Davis of his imprisonment.[37] By 12 August 2009 he was relying on Emo Phillips’ "When I was a kid I used to pray every night for a new bicycle. Then I realised God doesn’t work that way, so I stole one and prayed for forgiveness."
• A small number of Banksy’s works can be seen in the movie Children of Men, including a stenciled image of two policemen kissing and another stencil of a child looking down a shop.
• In the 2007 film Shoot ‘Em Up starring Clive Owen, Banksy’s tag can be seen on a dumpster in the film’s credits.
• Banksy, who deals mostly with Lazarides Gallery in London, claims that the exhibition at Vanina Holasek Gallery in New York (his first major exhibition in that city) is unauthorised. The exhibition featured 62 of his paintings and prints.[38]

2008

• In March, a stencilled graffiti work appeared on Thames Water tower in the middle of the Holland Park roundabout, and it was widely attributed to Banksy. It was of a child painting the tag "Take this Society" in bright orange. London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham spokesman, Councillor Greg Smith branded the art as vandalism, and ordered its immediate removal, which was carried out by H&F council workmen within three days.[39]
• Over the weekend 3–5 May in London, Banksy hosted an exhibition called The Cans Festival. It was situated on Leake Street, a road tunnel formerly used by Eurostar underneath London Waterloo station. Graffiti artists with stencils were invited to join in and paint their own artwork, as long as it didn’t cover anyone else’s.[40] Artists included Blek le Rat, Broken Crow, C215, Cartrain, Dolk, Dotmasters, J.Glover, Eine, Eelus, Hero, Pure evil, Jef Aérosol, Mr Brainwash, Tom Civil and Roadsworth.[citation needed]
• In late August 2008, marking the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and the associated levee failure disaster, Banksy produced a series of works in New Orleans, Louisiana, mostly on buildings derelict since the disaster.[41]
• A stencil painting attributed to Banksy appeared at a vacant petrol station in the Ensley neighbourhood of Birmingham, Alabama on 29 August as Hurricane Gustav approached the New Orleans area. The painting depicting a hooded member of the Ku Klux Klan hanging from a noose was quickly covered with black spray paint and later removed altogether.[42]
• His first official exhibition in New York, the "Village Pet Store And Charcoal Grill," opened 5 October 2008. The animatronic pets in the store window include a mother hen watching over her baby Chicken McNuggets as they peck at a barbecue sauce packet, and a rabbit putting makeup on in a mirror.[43]
• The Westminster City Council stated in October 2008 that the work "One Nation Under CCTV", painted in April 2008 will be painted over as it is graffiti. The council says it will remove any graffiti, regardless of the reputation of its creator, and specifically stated that Banksy "has no more right to paint graffiti than a child". Robert Davis, the chairman of the council planning committee told The Times newspaper: "If we condone this then we might as well say that any kid with a spray can is producing art". [44] The work was painted over in April 2009.
• In December 2008, The Little Diver, a Banksy image of a diver in a duffle coat in Melbourne Australia was vandalised. The image was protected by a sheet of clear perspex, however silver paint was poured behind the protective sheet and later tagged with the words "Banksy woz ere". The image was almost completely destroyed.[45].

2009

• May 2009, parts company with agent Steve Lazarides. Announces Pest Control [46] the handling service who act on his behalf will be the only point of sale for new works.
• On 13 June 2009, the Banksy UK Summer show opened at Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, featuring more than 100 works of art, including animatronics and installations; it is his largest exhibition yet, featuring 78 new works.[47][48] Reaction to the show was positive, with over 8,500 visitors to the show on the first weekend.[49] Over the course of the twelve weeks, the exhibition has been visited over 300,000 times.[50]
• In September 2009, a Banksy work parodying the Royal Family was partially destroyed by Hackney Council after they served an enforcement notice for graffiti removal to the former address of the property owner. The mural had been commissioned for the 2003 Blur single "Crazy Beat" and the property owner, who had allowed the piece to be painted, was reported to have been in tears when she saw it was being painted over.[51]
• In December 2009, Banksy marked the end of the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference by painting four murals on global warming. One included "I don’t believe in global warming" which was submerged in water.[52]

2010

• The world premiere of the film Exit Through the Gift Shop occurred at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, on 24 January. He created 10 street pieces around Park City and Salt Lake City to tie in with the screening.[53]
• In February, The Whitehouse public house in Liverpool, England, is sold for £114,000 at auction.[54] The side of the building has an image of a giant rat by Banksy.[55]
• In April 2010, Melbourne City Council in Australia reported that they had inadvertently ordered private contractors to paint over the last remaining Banksy art in the city. The image was of a rat descending in a parachute adorning the wall of an old council building behind the Forum Theatre. In 2008 Vandals had poured paint over a stencil of an old-fashioned diver wearing a trenchcoat. A council spokeswoman has said they would now rush through retrospective permits to protect other “famous or significant artworks” in the city.[56]
• In April 2010 to coincide with the premier of Exit through the Gift Shop in San Francisco, 5 of his pieces appeared in various parts of the city.[57] Banksy reportedly paid a Chinatown building owner for the use of their wall for one of his stencils.[58]
• In May 2010 to coincide with the release of "Exit Through the Gift Shop" in Chicago, one piece appeared in the city.

Notable art pieces

In addition to his artwork, Banksy has claimed responsibility for a number of high profile art pieces, including the following:

• At London Zoo, he climbed into the penguin enclosure and painted "We’re bored of fish" in seven foot high letters.[59]
• At Bristol Zoo, he left the message ‘I want out. This place is too cold. Keeper smells. Boring, boring, boring.’ in the elephant enclosure.[60]
• In March 2005, he placed subverted artworks in the Museum of Modern Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.[61]
• He put up a subverted painting in London’s Tate Britain gallery.
• In May 2005 Banksy’s version of a primitive cave painting depicting a human figure hunting wildlife whilst pushing a shopping trolley was hung in gallery 49 of the British Museum, London. Upon discovery, they added it to their permanent collection.[62]

Near Bethlehem – 2005

• Banksy has sprayed "This is not a photo opportunity" on certain photograph spots.
• In August 2005, Banksy painted nine images on the Israeli West Bank barrier, including an image of a ladder going up and over the wall and an image of children digging a hole through the wall.[22][63][64][65]

See also: Other Banksy works on the Israeli West Bank barrier

• In April 2006, Banksy created a sculpture based on a crumpled red phone box with a pickaxe in its side, apparently bleeding, and placed it in a street in Soho, London. It was later removed by Westminster Council. BT released a press release, which said: "This is a stunning visual comment on BT’s transformation from an old-fashioned telecommunications company into a modern communications services provider."[66]
• In June 2006, Banksy created an image of a naked man hanging out of a bedroom window on a wall visible from Park Street in central Bristol. The image sparked some controversy, with the Bristol City Council leaving it up to the public to decide whether it should stay or go.[67] After an internet discussion in which 97% (all but 6 people) supported the stencil, the city council decided it would be left on the building.[67] The mural was later defaced with paint.[67]
• In August/September 2006, Banksy replaced up to 500 copies of Paris Hilton‘s debut CD, Paris, in 48 different UK record stores with his own cover art and remixes by Danger Mouse. Music tracks were given titles such as "Why am I Famous?", "What Have I Done?" and "What Am I For?". Several copies of the CD were purchased by the public before stores were able to remove them, some going on to be sold for as much as £750 on online auction websites such as eBay. The cover art depicted Paris Hilton digitally altered to appear topless. Other pictures feature her with a dog’s head replacing her own, and one of her stepping out of a luxury car, edited to include a group of homeless people, which included the caption "90% of success is just showing up".[68][69][70]
• In September 2006, Banksy dressed an inflatable doll in the manner of a Guantanamo Bay detainment camp prisoner (orange jumpsuit, black hood, and handcuffs) and then placed the figure within the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad ride at the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California.[71][72]

Technique

Asked about his technique, Banksy said:

“I use whatever it takes. Sometimes that just means drawing a moustache on a girl’s face on some billboard, sometimes that means sweating for days over an intricate drawing. Efficiency is the key.[73]

Stencils are traditionally hand drawn or printed onto sheets of acetate or card, before being cut out by hand. Because of the secretive nature of Banksy’s work and identity, it is uncertain what techniques he uses to generate the images in his stencils, though it is assumed he uses computers for some images due to the photocopy nature of much of his work.

He mentions in his book, Wall and Piece, that as he was starting to do graffiti, he was always too slow and was either caught or could never finish the art in the one sitting. So he devised a series of intricate stencils to minimise time and overlapping of the colour.

Identity

Banksy’s real name has been widely reported to be Robert or Robin Banks.[74][75][76] His year of birth has been given as 1974.[62]

Simon Hattenstone from Guardian Unlimited is one of the very few people to have interviewed him face-to-face. Hattenstone describes him as "a cross of Jimmy Nail and British rapper Mike Skinner" and "a 28 year old male who showed up wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a silver tooth, silver chain, and one silver earring".[77] In the same interview, Banksy revealed that his parents think their son is a painter and decorator.[77]

In May 2007, an extensive article written by Lauren Collins of the New Yorker re-opened the Banksy-identity controversy citing a 2004 photograph of the artist that was taken in Jamaica during the Two-Culture Clash project and later published in the Evening Standard in 2004.[6]

In October 2007, a story on the BBC website featured a photo allegedly taken by a passer-by in Bethnal Green, London, purporting to show Banksy at work with an assistant, scaffolding and a truck. The story confirms that Tower Hamlets Council in London has decided to treat all Banksy works as vandalism and remove them.[78]

In July 2008, it was claimed by The Mail on Sunday that Banksy’s real name is Robin Gunningham.[3][79] His agent has refused to confirm or deny these reports.

In May 2009, the Mail on Sunday once again speculated about Gunningham being Banksy after a "self-portrait" of a rat holding a sign with the word "Gunningham" shot on it was photographed in East London.[80] This "new Banksy rat" story was also picked up by The Times[81] and the Evening Standard.

Banksy, himself, states on his website:

“I am unable to comment on who may or may not be Banksy, but anyone described as being ‘good at drawing’ doesn’t sound like Banksy to me.[82]

Controversy

In 2004, Banksy walked into the Louvre in Paris and hung on a wall a picture he had painted resembling the Mona Lisa but with a yellow smiley face. Though the painting was hurriedly removed by the museum staff, it and its counterpart, temporarily on unknown display at the Tate Britain, were described by Banksy as "shortcuts". He is quoted as saying:

“To actually [have to] go through the process of having a painting selected must be quite boring. It’s a lot more fun to go and put your own one up.[83]

Peter Gibson, a spokesperson for Keep Britain Tidy, asserts that Banksy’s work is simple vandalism,[84] and Diane Shakespeare, an official for the same organization, was quoted as saying: "We are concerned that Banksy’s street art glorifies what is essentially vandalism".[6]

In June 2007 Banksy created a circle of plastic portable toilets, said to resemble Stonehenge at the Glastonbury Festival. As this was in the same field as the "sacred circle" it was felt by many to be inappropriate and his installation was itself vandalized before the festival even opened. However, the intention had always been for people to climb on and interact with it.[citation needed] The installation was nicknamed "Portaloo Sunset" and "Bog Henge" by Festival goers. Michael Eavis admitted he wasn’t fond of it, and the portaloos were removed before the 2008 festival.

In 2010, an artistic feud developed between Banksy and his rival King Robbo after Banksy painted over a 24-year old Robbo piece on the banks of London’s Regent Canal. In retaliation several Banksy pieces in London have been painted over by ‘Team Robbo’.[85][86]

Also in 2010, government workers accidentally painted over a Banksy art piece, a famed "parachuting-rat" stencil, in Australia’s Melbourne CBD. [87]

Bibliography

Banksy has self-published several books that contain photographs of his work in various countries as well as some of his canvas work and exhibitions, accompanied by his own writings:

• Banksy, Banging Your Head Against A Brick Wall (2001) ISBN 978-0-95417040-0
• Banksy, Existencilism (2002) ISBN 978-0-95417041-7
• Banksy, Cut it Out (2004) ISBN 978-0-95449600-5
• Banksy, Wall and Piece (2005) ISBN 978-1-84413786-2
• Banksy, Pictures of Walls (2005) ISBN 978-0-95519460-3

Random House published Wall and Piece in 2005. It contains a combination of images from his three previous books, as well as some new material.[16]

Two books authored by others on his work were published in 2006 & 2007:

• Martin Bull, Banksy Locations and Tours: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and Photographs in London (2006 – with new editions in 2007 and 2008) ISBN 978-0-95547120-9.
• Steve Wright, Banksy’s Bristol: Home Sweet Home (2007) ISBN 978-1906477004

External links

Official website
Banksy street work photos

Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defence
visual art
Image by cliff1066™
"Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defence" By an unidentified artist, 1968. Photolithographic halftone poster. 88.9 x 58.4 cm (35 x 23 in.): When organizers of the Black Panther Party set up this scene for a photographer in 1967—enthroning the young “minister of defence” Huey Newton in a wicker chair and surrounding him with a spear, a gun, an animal pelt, and African shields—they hoped to produce a visual emblem of the movement for the second issue of their newspaper. But the photograph became a more potent and far-reaching symbol of radical protest than anyone could have guessed. It was published in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and elsewhere. When Newton was wounded and arrested during a traffic-stop altercation and subsequently convicted of killing the policeman, supporters rallied to get him out of jail. The “Free Huey” movement, adopted by many on the radical left, got international exposure. Protestors carried this photographic poster during massive rallies and displayed it as a symbol of leftist political sympathies.”

 
Comments Off on Banksy in Boston: Detail of the NO LOITRIN piece on Essex St in Central Square, Cambridge

Posted in Photographs

 

Mixed Media Painting (Detail) by Choichun Leung / Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54932.P1.L1.C23 / SML

20 Dec

A few nice visual art images I found:

Mixed Media Painting (Detail) by Choichun Leung / Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54932.P1.L1.C23 / SML
visual art
Image by See-ming Lee ??? SML
SML Pro Blog: Choichun Leung / 13th Annual DUMBO Art Under the Bridge Festival NYC 2009: Part 10 of 10 / Art + Artists

Choichun Leung
2008
Part of the SCRIPTO series
www.choichun.com/scripto.html

See also Choichun Leung talks about her mixed media paintings (Flickr 720p HD video).

Choichun Leung left Wales when she was seventeen to pursue a degree in metal-smithing at Loughborough college of Art and Design in the UK, afterwhich she studied Buddhist iconography in both Beijing and the Yangkung caves in China’s Shanxi province. In 1988 she moved to London where she studied under the Ray Man Chinese Orchestra as a percussionist and a student of the Gu-qin – a traditional Chinese bass zither. Leung worked in Hong Kong as a background artist for animation film before returning to London in 1992 where she received a grant and Gold Award from the Prince of Wales’ Youth Business Trust for the most innovative new business of the year: a line of symbolic art products using the traditional technique of Chinese paper cutting.

With music and the arts always hand in hand, Leung came to New York in 1994 where she began painting seriously, worked as an assistant to artist Peter Max, and studied music composition. From that point forward, Choichun’s artwork has been inextricably entwined with her interest in music and have continued to influence each other.

As the single mother of a young daughter, Choichun moved to Germany in 2002 to write music, perform and collaborate on an audio/visual project based in Koln. Upon the invitation of a gallery in 2006 she returned to New York. Most recently Choichun has been featured in two solo exhibitions at JLA Baxter House in Manhattan and will take part in a group showing in Hamburg in November 2008. Choichun currently lives in Brooklyn, NYC .

Artist Statement Our lives are as long as we remember. Our memories are imbedded in us like DNA. But what of lives that through trauma or age have lost memory? What of the interplay of conscious thought and the sub-conscious? Which one really drives the show? My paintings are like rorschach tests in reverse, a psychological diary of that moment in time, an investigation of the relationship between past and present, reality and illusion and in effect a blue print to the past self. Through the symbolisms revealed, and the stories or objects we project into the abstract, we expose another layer of ourselves and in turn provide clues to what may not be fully aware. My paintings are simple traces of that activity, void of any meaning, but imbedded with the years of experience that shapes us, yet also holds us hostage.

Choichun never paints from sketches but instead allows the process and medium dictate. Each application is an expressive gesture evoking the emotion and inner psychology of that moment, a conflicted excavation of what may be hidden or imagined. The script like lines emerge as a non-cognitive language or what she has come to identify as ‘glyphs’ – a pictographic personal alphabet; where ‘glyphs’ document the days, weeks and months spent on a piece. The one actual reference that Choichun can identify in her work after the fact springs from her background in music and her fascination with its chaotic notes and interpretive patterns. These can be seen in the work’s fine, rhythmic and frenetic lines as well as in the heavier, poured-on, black & white ‘mono-glyphs’ which overtake the paintings like visual representations of a sound. Choichun paints on both wood panels and canvas, using liquid acrylic, aerosol, oil bars and thread . With sticks, brushes, trowels and vessels: applying the paint and then scratching through the layers to reveal what is underneath, scripting with ‘glyphs’ throughout, painting over, sanding down and repeating this process until an image is revealed or another is hidden.

www.choichun.com

13th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® (Sept 25 to Sept 27, 2009)
www.dumboartfestival.org/press_release.html

The three-day multi-site neighborhood-wide event is a one-of-a-kind art happening: where serendipity meets the haphazard and where the unpredictable, spontaneous and downright weird thrive. The now teenage D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® presents touchable, accessible, and interactive art, on a scale that makes it the nation’s largest urban forum for experimental art.

Art Under the Bridge is an opportunity for young artists to use any medium imaginable to create temporary projects on-the-spot everywhere and anywhere, completely transforming the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, New York, into a vibrant platform for self-expression. In addition to the 80+ projects throughout the historical post-industrial waterfront span, visitors can tour local artists’ studios or check out the indoor video_dumbo, a non-stop program of cutting-edge video art from New York City and around the world.

The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) has been the exclusive producer of the D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival® since 1997. DAC is a big impact, small non-profit, that in addition to its year-round gallery exhibitions, is committed to preserving Dumbo as a site in New York City where emerging visual artists can experiment in the public domain, while having unprecedented freedom and access to normally off-limit locations.

www.dumboartscenter.org
www.dumboartfestival.org
www.video_dumbo.org

Related SML
+ SML Fine Art (Flickr Group)
+ SML Flickr Collections: Events
+ SML Flickr Sets: Art
+ SML Flickr Sets: Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009
+ SML Flickr Tags: Art
+ SML Pro Blog: Art

Brooklyn Graffiti / Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54913.P1.L1.C23 / SML
visual art
Image by See-ming Lee ??? SML
13th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® (Sept 25 to Sept 27, 2009)
www.dumboartfestival.org/press_release.html

The three-day multi-site neighborhood-wide event is a one-of-a-kind art happening: where serendipity meets the haphazard and where the unpredictable, spontaneous and downright weird thrive. The now teenage D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® presents touchable, accessible, and interactive art, on a scale that makes it the nation’s largest urban forum for experimental art.

Art Under the Bridge is an opportunity for young artists to use any medium imaginable to create temporary projects on-the-spot everywhere and anywhere, completely transforming the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, New York, into a vibrant platform for self-expression. In addition to the 80+ projects throughout the historical post-industrial waterfront span, visitors can tour local artists’ studios or check out the indoor video_dumbo, a non-stop program of cutting-edge video art from New York City and around the world.

The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) has been the exclusive producer of the D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival® since 1997. DAC is a big impact, small non-profit, that in addition to its year-round gallery exhibitions, is committed to preserving Dumbo as a site in New York City where emerging visual artists can experiment in the public domain, while having unprecedented freedom and access to normally off-limit locations.

www.dumboartscenter.org
www.dumboartfestival.org
www.video_dumbo.org

Related SML
+ SML Fine Art (Flickr Group)
+ SML Flickr Collections: Events
+ SML Flickr Sets: Art
+ SML Flickr Sets: Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009
+ SML Flickr Tags: Art
+ SML Pro Blog: Art

 
Comments Off on Mixed Media Painting (Detail) by Choichun Leung / Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54932.P1.L1.C23 / SML

Posted in Photographs

 

Painting by David Schnell (Detail) / Galerie EIGEN+ART / The Armory Show 2010 / 20100305.7D.04009.P1 / SML

20 Nov

A few nice visual art images I found:

Painting by David Schnell (Detail) / Galerie EIGEN+ART / The Armory Show 2010 / 20100305.7D.04009.P1 / SML
visual art
Image by See-ming Lee ??? SML
David Schnell

The landscape painting of David Schnell reflects the manifestations of a nature, which is getting undercut by our direct, urban surrounding. Thereby architectural pieces capture more or less dominantly the image area of the landscapes. David Schnell uses places such as the cultivated landscape around Leipzig, his domicile and place of study as master student of Prof. Arno Rink, as sources of motive for his pictures.

Within his contemplations of landscape the artist does not evoke real moments of memory. He rather shows an abstract nature which lies beyond any recognizable or concrete experiences. This abstraction manifests itself in the pictorial dissolving of architectural structures and wavering, partly competing vanishing points. Alienating, dissolving, decomposing and subsequent connecting are signs of the artists processual way of working. There are also visual contents which are formed just out of pixels and barcodes. The fluttery status is additionally pointed out by the colouring of the pictures, which ranges from monochrome displays up to prism like light refractions.

The pictures by David Schnell awake the impression of constant speed and destabilisation, which finally also questions the own sense of time.

cgi.eigen-art.com/user-cgi-bin/index.php?article_id=211&a…

Galerie EIGEN+ART Leipzig

+++

The Armory Show is the United States’ leading art fair devoted to the most important artworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. In its twelve years, the fair has become an international institution. Every March, artists, galleries, collectors, critics and curators from all over the world make New York their destination during Armory Arts Week.

The Armory Show 2010 also features The Armory Show – Modern, specializing in modern and secondary market material on Pier 92. Pier 94 continues to be a venue to premiere new works by living artists. With one ticket, visitors to The Armory Show on March 4–7, 2010 have access to the latest developments in the art world, and to the masterpieces which heralded them.

Piers 92 and 94 on 55th Street and 12th Avenue, NYC
March 4-7, 2010

thearmoryshow.com

Dresden_2010_07_ 167
visual art
Image by rs-foto
Dresden 2010 | Hochschule für bildende Künste | academy of visual arts

‘Out of Sync’ art installation by Fernando Casasempere at Somerset House, London
visual art
Image by Katherine?
Playing with the new Aviary photo editor (Picnik replacement on Flickr).

From the Somerset House website:

‘London based Chilean artist Fernando Casasempere’s large scale courtyard installation recreates the joy we feel at the site of blossoming daffodils signalling the end of winter and the beginning of spring. 10,000 ceramic daffodils, placed in a naturalistic setting within The Edmond J. Safra Fountain Court, remind us of the wonder and accuracy of nature’s clock, against the backdrop of an ever changing environment.

Since 1991 Casasempere has been working with clay that is a by-product from industrial processes. ‘

 
Comments Off on Painting by David Schnell (Detail) / Galerie EIGEN+ART / The Armory Show 2010 / 20100305.7D.04009.P1 / SML

Posted in Photographs

 

Still Life Drawing (Detail) by James Cospito, Brooklyn Art Project HQ / DUMBO Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54608.P1.L2.SQ / SML

11 Nov

A few nice visual art images I found:

Still Life Drawing (Detail) by James Cospito, Brooklyn Art Project HQ / DUMBO Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54608.P1.L2.SQ / SML
visual art
Image by See-ming Lee ??? SML
Drawing, seen at the Brooklyn Art Project headquarter in Dumbo, during the Art Under the Bridge Festival organized by Dumbo Arts Center in New York city, 2009.

James Cospito (Brooklyn Art Project / Facebook / Flickr / LinkedIn / SML Flickr / Twitter) is an artist, painter, photographer, illustrator, designer in New York City. He is also the co-founder of Brooklyn Art Project.

You can check out James Cospito’s portfolio at brooklynartproject.ning.com/profile/jcospito

See also the 720p high-def video of James Cospito talking about BAP on Flickr.

Brooklyn Art Project (FriendFeed / Twitter) is a free online social network that connects 5500+ artists, collectors, and art enthusiasts from over 44 countries featuring over 44,000 artworks and 800+ short films and videos.

Members can participate in collaborative exhibits in Brooklyn and beyond while enjoying unlimited online gallery space, blogs, forums, chat, and tools to share / promote their artwork across the web.

BrooklynArtProject.com

See also
+ Artits on Art: James Cospito talks about his NYC Subway series (Flickr HD video)
+ Art + Artists: James Cospito talks about Brooklyn Art Project (Flickr HD video)

13th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® (Sept 25 to Sept 27, 2009)
www.dumboartfestival.org/press_release.html

The three-day multi-site neighborhood-wide event is a one-of-a-kind art happening: where serendipity meets the haphazard and where the unpredictable, spontaneous and downright weird thrive. The now teenage D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® presents touchable, accessible, and interactive art, on a scale that makes it the nation’s largest urban forum for experimental art.

Art Under the Bridge is an opportunity for young artists to use any medium imaginable to create temporary projects on-the-spot everywhere and anywhere, completely transforming the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, New York, into a vibrant platform for self-expression. In addition to the 80+ projects throughout the historical post-industrial waterfront span, visitors can tour local artists’ studios or check out the indoor video_dumbo, a non-stop program of cutting-edge video art from New York City and around the world.

The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) has been the exclusive producer of the D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival® since 1997. DAC is a big impact, small non-profit, that in addition to its year-round gallery exhibitions, is committed to preserving Dumbo as a site in New York City where emerging visual artists can experiment in the public domain, while having unprecedented freedom and access to normally off-limit locations.

www.dumboartscenter.org
www.dumboartfestival.org
www.video_dumbo.org

Related SML
+ SML Fine Art (Flickr Group)
+ SML Flickr Collections: Events
+ SML Flickr Sets: Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009
+ SML Flickr Tags: Art
+ SML Pro Blog: Art

Untitled / Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54737.P1 / SML
visual art
Image by See-ming Lee ??? SML
13th annual D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® (Sept 25 to Sept 27, 2009)
www.dumboartfestival.org/press_release.html

The three-day multi-site neighborhood-wide event is a one-of-a-kind art happening: where serendipity meets the haphazard and where the unpredictable, spontaneous and downright weird thrive. The now teenage D.U.M.B.O. Art Under the Bridge Festival® presents touchable, accessible, and interactive art, on a scale that makes it the nation’s largest urban forum for experimental art.

Art Under the Bridge is an opportunity for young artists to use any medium imaginable to create temporary projects on-the-spot everywhere and anywhere, completely transforming the Dumbo section of Brooklyn, New York, into a vibrant platform for self-expression. In addition to the 80+ projects throughout the historical post-industrial waterfront span, visitors can tour local artists’ studios or check out the indoor video_dumbo, a non-stop program of cutting-edge video art from New York City and around the world.

The Dumbo Arts Center (DAC) has been the exclusive producer of the D.U.M.B.O Art Under the Bridge Festival® since 1997. DAC is a big impact, small non-profit, that in addition to its year-round gallery exhibitions, is committed to preserving Dumbo as a site in New York City where emerging visual artists can experiment in the public domain, while having unprecedented freedom and access to normally off-limit locations.

www.dumboartscenter.org
www.dumboartfestival.org
www.video_dumbo.org

Related SML
+ SML Fine Art (Flickr Group)
+ SML Flickr Collections: Events
+ SML Flickr Sets: Dumbo Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009
+ SML Flickr Tags: Art
+ SML Pro Blog: Art

Crawford Art Gallery, a National Cultural Institiution
visual art
Image by infomatique
Crawford Art Gallery, a National Cultural Institiution and regional art museum for Munster, is dedicated to the visual arts, both historic and contemporary.

Located in the heart of Cork city, beside the Opera House, the Gallery is a critical part of Ireland’s cultural and tourism infrastructure, welcoming over 200,000 visitors a year.

Admission to the Gallery and to exhibitions is free.

 
Comments Off on Still Life Drawing (Detail) by James Cospito, Brooklyn Art Project HQ / DUMBO Arts Center: Art Under the Bridge Festival 2009 / 20090926.10D.54608.P1.L2.SQ / SML

Posted in Photographs

 

Best snake SHED video. Baby corn snake. AMAZING detail (full shed)

08 Nov

My pet corn snake Leeroy was due to shed. When he started pressing his face against the corner of the tank, I ran for my video camera. Usually he sheds in the middle of the night… was he actually going to do this in front of us?? Leeroy is the best and never ceases to amaze me. Last week he swallows a baby mouse while hanging and now this!! Here is a super high quality video of him shedding, from start to finish. Video was taken with a DSLR Nikon D90… sorry, I still need work on manual focusing with shallow depth of field 🙂
Video Rating: 4 / 5

In this video, I will show you how to use speedlights indoors in various configurations. Keep in mind that this is a simple bounce with a single flash for beginners in a very dim room. Examples of other more advanced indoors and outdoors lighting can be found on photographylife.com and http
Video Rating: 4 / 5

 
Comments Off on Best snake SHED video. Baby corn snake. AMAZING detail (full shed)

Posted in Nikon Videos

 

Photoshop Tutorial Part 2: Enhancing Detail & more.mov

02 Apr

Photoshop editing tutorial showing techniques for: Adding Contrast, Dodging & Burning and then Enhancing Details by mixing blends modes with blurring…
Video Rating: 5 / 5

 
Comments Off on Photoshop Tutorial Part 2: Enhancing Detail & more.mov

Posted in Retouching in Photoshop