The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX10 looks at first glance a bit like a high-end superzoom with its 24-200mm equivalent F2.8 lens. That’s a fairly modest range by modern standards, but then the camera’s 1″ sensor is very large compared to conventional superzooms. Sony has put a lot of effort into the camera’s video capabilities and tools, making it more than just a stills shooter, but are the sum of these parts enough to make the whole worth $ 1300? Find out in our review
[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]
It is a fantastic endeavor and nearly finished – a movie made up of 56,800 stop-motion paintings, all presented in the style and told by the characters of the tale’s protagonist: Vincent van Gogh.
The first full-length feature of its kind, Loving Vincent uses van Gogh’s own techniques to explore the life and death of the artist, “through his paintings and by the characters that inhabit them.”
As its creators explain, “the intrigue unfolds through interviews with the characters closest to Vincent and through dramatic reconstructions of the events leading up to his death.”
This production by Breakthru Films features 120 of the artist’s paintings and draws its plot from 800 letters, using them to flesh out a deeper picture of this often-misunderstood painter whose work goes well beyond his most famous Starry Night and Mona Lisa.
In van Gogh’s own words: “Well, the truth is, we cannot speak other than by our paintings” – these industrious filmmakers are taking him at his word, and animating his images and subjects to tell his story.
Breakthru was founded by Oscar award-winning animator Hugh Welchman. Unfortunately, the project did not raise sufficient funds on Kickstarter, but given how far they have come one can only hope the work does not end in tragedy.
Some cinematic experiences are defined by their built environments, be it the minimalist architectural plan outlines of Dogville or the lavish Mid-Century …
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Tilt-shift photography techniques are often used to give a unique look to landscape photos, but these altered images started out with Van Gogh paintings.
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Today’s society feels increasingly insecure, as if everything could fall down at any moment; Amy Casey taps into this with precarious, topsy-turvy worlds:
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[ By WebUrbanist in Art & Photography & Video. ]
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Sony has released its new a6000 mirrorless camera, which is the replacement to the NEX-6. This midrange mirrorless features a 24MP CMOS sensor, Sony’s latest Bionz X processor, and a refined Hybrid AF system that covers 92% of the frame with phase-detect points. The new AF system allows for continuous shooting at 11 fps with subject tracking, and also promises the ‘world’s fastest autofocus’, according to Sony. Video enthusiasts will be pleased to see that the a6000 offers a zebra pattern and clean HDMI output, though it lacks headphone or mic ports. Read more.
[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]
3D printers are now making it possible to quickly and economically ‘print’ everything from haute couture to full-scale architecture, medical prostheses to cars. Now, the technology has advanced enough to blend two different materials in a single print to make them stronger and more functional. ‘Blossom,’ a project by designer Richard Clarkson, not only produced 3D-printed flowers made from two materials with properties ranging from flexible to rigid, he also made them inflatable.
Believed to be the world’s first inflatable 3D print, Blossom is a series of flexible artificial flowers that can be inflated with air so they ‘bloom’ like real flowers. Completed in 2013 but just now released to the public, the project incorporates a rubbery black material called Tango Black for the petals and a clear, solid substance called Fullcure 720 for the center and stem.
While this project may not be as immediately practical as many other 3D printing demonstrations, it gives us an intriguing look at what might be possible in the future, pushing past limitations that have held innovation back in this field.
“As in nature, materials can be distributed seamlessly within objects for structural and functional advantage,” says Clarkson. “The variation offers an opportunity to generate complex forms and dynamic structures that are impossible to make by any other means.”
Imagine programming a large-scale, 3D-printing robot to simply print your entire home, from top to bottom, within a matter of hours.
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A giant purple bubble will rise from a pile of plastic to bring music, workshops and performance to Japan’s northeastern coast, which was devastated by …
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Designers are creating everything from working guitars and records to puzzles and puppets with desktop 3D printers, bringing their digital concepts to life.
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[ By Steph in Gadgets & Geekery & Technology. ]
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]
Many college dorms – especially at public schools – are little more than prison-like rows of cheap, boring housing with no architectural interest to speak of. That’s definitely not the case at Tietgen Student Hall in the Ørestad district of Copenhagen, a circular seven-story building measuring 288,000 square feet with 360 rooms.
The circular shape enables all rooms to face outwards with a view of the courtyard, emphasizing equality and community. It also lets in lots of natural light. Each of the rooms has either a French window or a balcony.
Communal facilities on the ground floor include 30 kitchens, each with four fridges and two stoves, as well as music rooms, a bike storage room, a gym, a computer room, a study hall, an assembly hall, and outdoor sports areas. There are also sewing, bike and wood workshops.
Completed in 2006 and designed by Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter, the building looks more like a luxury apartment complex than college housing. “The house itself says what the idea behind it is: community,” say the architects. “You can walk all the way round on all floors. No hallways are a dead end; no doors are locked. The house does not turn its back on anyone.”
More and more designers are developing nomadic alternatives to traditional models of static urban living, including portable hotel rooms.
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These 14 concepts for homeless housing range from ideas that meet immediate needs for survival to those that take a more thoughtful and long-term approach.
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Rainbows on the horizon are impossible to approach, let alone pass through – they flicker and fade like phantoms, except in the case of this iconic …
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[ By Steph in Architecture & Public & Institutional. ]
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CES 2014: Amid a string of pre-CES compact announcements, Fujifilm unveils the FinePix S1, the ‘world’s first’ weather-resistant superzoom. It offers a 16 megapixel CMOS sensor and an F2.8-5.6, 24-1200mm equivalent zoom lens. With an articulating 3.0-inch LCD its specifications line up with the FinePix SL1000 in Fuji’s current lineup, though with a slightly faster lens and the addition of Wi-Fi connectivity. While not a fully ruggedized camera, the S1 offers protection against dust and rain exposure.
[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
Our modern culture has made the physical process of burial little more than an afterthought, leaving us to numbly choose from a small assortment of wooden boxes in a showroom or catalog in the aftermath of a loved one’s death. But some casket designers literally think outside the box with colorful, celebratory or just plain bizarre creations ranging from coffins shaped like beer bottles and cars to those equipped with warning signals in case you’re buried alive.
In Ghana, the Ga tradition of carpentry includes a fun and colorful array of fantasy coffins unlike anything you’ll see anywhere else in the world. Drawing from local culture and the personalities of those for whom the individual coffins are commissioned, the designs flout worldwide customs of somber funerals. The first one, a pink fish, was made for a fisherman from Accra in the 1950s, and from there the trend took off. Some might represent careers, others vices – you could be buried in a bottle of beer, for example.
If you’re enough of a Star Trek fan to learn how to speak Klingon, perhaps you’re enough of a fan to be buried in this Star Trek-themed casket inspired by the ‘Photon Torpedo’ design seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Or, if you’re partial to cremation, there’s always the Star Trek urn.
In the centuries before modern medicine made a pronunciation of death much more reliable, people had justifiable fears of being buried alive (which got even worse after Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Premature Burial.’) Hence the many designs for ‘safety coffins,’ which literally included bells and whistles so if you happened to wake up in the midst of your own burial, you had a chance of getting out alive. Some have handles or strings that can be pulled to activate a signal, while others were mouth-operated. One terrifying spring-loaded ejector coffin will launch you out of the ground (to the heart-stopping terror of anyone who happens to be nearby.) Some cemeteries, like the Williamsport Wildwood, even have escape hatches on the vaults.
Take a stylish ride to your eternal resting place in a ‘Cruisin Casket,’ a car-shaped coffin with functioning wheels that can actually roll down the street. This company will make a custom casket shaped like any model car. It seems like a shame to bury something like this, but if you want to enjoy it for a while before you croak, you can get a cooler insert and use it to keep your drinks on ice.
Thomas Doyle creates intricate miniature sculptures under glass that capture disturbing and transformative moments in human life. Click Here to Read More »»
One Manhattanite’s trash is another person’s kitschy plastic knick-knack. Artist Justin Gignac packages and sells NYC trash for $ 50 a pop. Click Here to Read More »»
Many cereal brands are too closely tied to a specific fad to remain in the big time. Here are some of the most interesting of these fallen cereals: Click Here to Read More »»
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The new Sony A7r has, arguably, the finest 35mm format sensor ever made. Leica’s M lenses are, again arguably, the best 35mm format lenses ever made.
What happens with they mate? Indeed – what could go wrong?
Find out in our latest review.
You can win an all-expenses paid photographic expedition to Antarctica, along with air fare from anywhere in the world. The value of this prize is $ 15,000.
The Luminous Landscape wants you to try any of our more than 60 training or travel videos and our new free video player. Each purchase is an entry, and an annual subscription that includes all previous as well as new videos counts as six entries. The winner of a free lifetime subscription is also chosen from each month’s entries.
Find Out More
[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
Our modern culture has made the physical process of burial little more than an afterthought, leaving us to numbly choose from a small assortment of wooden boxes in a showroom or catalog in the aftermath of a loved one’s death. But some casket designers literally think outside the box with colorful, celebratory or just plain bizarre creations ranging from coffins shaped like beer bottles and cars to those equipped with warning signals in case you’re buried alive.
In Ghana, the Ga tradition of carpentry includes a fun and colorful array of fantasy coffins unlike anything you’ll see anywhere else in the world. Drawing from local culture and the personalities of those for whom the individual coffins are commissioned, the designs flout worldwide customs of somber funerals. The first one, a pink fish, was made for a fisherman from Accra in the 1950s, and from there the trend took off. Some might represent careers, others vices – you could be buried in a bottle of beer, for example.
If you’re enough of a Star Trek fan to learn how to speak Klingon, perhaps you’re enough of a fan to be buried in this Star Trek-themed casket inspired by the ‘Photon Torpedo’ design seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Or, if you’re partial to cremation, there’s always the Star Trek urn.
In the centuries before modern medicine made a pronunciation of death much more reliable, people had justifiable fears of being buried alive (which got even worse after Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Premature Burial.’) Hence the many designs for ‘safety coffins,’ which literally included bells and whistles so if you happened to wake up in the midst of your own burial, you had a chance of getting out alive. Some have handles or strings that can be pulled to activate a signal, while others were mouth-operated. One terrifying spring-loaded ejector coffin will launch you out of the ground (to the heart-stopping terror of anyone who happens to be nearby.) Some cemeteries, like the Williamsport Wildwood, even have escape hatches on the vaults.
Take a stylish ride to your eternal resting place in a ‘Cruisin Casket,’ a car-shaped coffin with functioning wheels that can actually roll down the street. This company will make a custom casket shaped like any model car. It seems like a shame to bury something like this, but if you want to enjoy it for a while before you croak, you can get a cooler insert and use it to keep your drinks on ice.
Thomas Doyle creates intricate miniature sculptures under glass that capture disturbing and transformative moments in human life.
Click Here to Read More »»
Some forms of sculpture take a bit more patience than others. Plant shaping and bonsai pruning are the perfect examples of natural art.
Click Here to Read More »»
From Bangkok’s elephant building and robot tower to an all-wooden skyscraper built by a single man, these 14 towering structures are among the world’s …
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[ By Steph in Art & Sculpture & Craft. ]
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[ By WebUrbanist in Global & Travel & Places. ]
Originally designed to house a lamp post, this unassuming spot in Portland, Oregon, was left empty until a local journalist took it upon himself to declare it a park, naming it Mill Ends after his column in the regional paper.
The earthen concrete-enclosed spot, outside the Oregon Journal office of writer Dick Fagan and situated between lanes and medians, had began to sprout weeds until one night in the 1940s he declared it a park. In a fit of fancy, he claimed it was occupied by leprechaun Patrick O’Toole and began printing stories about the space and its resident.
Though only Fagan seemed to see its miniature occupant, his editorials claimed the area should be subject to the city’s park rules, including curfews. Soon enough, it was a local, then national, then international legend (though some outsiders mistakenly know it as ‘Mill’s End’).
Today, the beloved micro-park even sports a sign explaining its history and origins, also showing its original location in the context of surrounding structures.
Although frequently occupied by a single tree today, the circular anomaly has featured everything from a swimming pool and diving board (for butterflies and, presumably, leprechauns) and a miniature Ferris wheel (also clearly for small occupants of the park). It was even relocated at one point to accommodate building construction in the area. (Images by Duk, brx0, Piutus, Craig Dietrich)
Everyone always says bigger is getter, but when big gets boring, these are the awesome miniature inventions you need to see.
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You can judge which one is the actual winner of this dubious award after taking a look at this incredible collection of the tiniest hotels in the world!
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Eerie ghost towns, villages abandoned after shocking massacres, the palaces of deposed dictators and mansions so well preserved they’re like 1950s time …
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[ By WebUrbanist in Global & Travel & Places. ]
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