Jmsperling

All images by Jakub Skokan, Martin Tůma / BoysPlayNice

Extended over a cliff nearly 3,600 feet above sea level rests the Dolni Morava Sky Walk, a looping structure that allows visitors the opportunity to peek their heads into the clouds. Extending like an old-fashioned roller coaster from the Králický Sněžník mountain in the Czech Republic, the architectural destination features panoramic views of the Morava river and Krkonoše Mountains.

Produced by Fránek Architects, the wood and steel walkway was designed to blend into the existing environment rather than upset the appearance of its natural surroundings. With a subtle slope and wide pathway, the structure also accommodates those in wheelchairs and strollers who want to explore the top.

Unlike glass-bottom feats of architecture like China’s Haohan Qiao bridge and Chicago’s Willis Tower, the Sky Walk features a far more terrifying mesh floor that allows brave visitors to lay at the peak of the structure. In addition to this daredevil net, the walkway also features a 330 foot slide within its core, a streamlined metal chute that’s nearly 18 stories tall. You can read more about the Sky Walk’s concept on Frànek Architects’ site here. (via Dezeen)

If you haven’t had any luck in contemporary photo competitions, it may be time to switch things up and try your hand at the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards! 

We thought it was some sort of hoax at first, but it’s a legit photo competition with some stunning entries! And they all happen to be hilarious, which is a huge plus. 

Photos From the Funniest Photo Competition on Earth

via Tech Insider

Licensed from Caters / Alan McFadyen

For the last 6 years, Scottish wildlife photographer Alan McFadyen spent an estimated 4,200 hours seeking the perfect shot: a symmetrical image of a kingfisher diving into its own refelection in search of prey. Last month, after 720,000 exposures he finally got it. McFadyen certainly snapped hundreds of other successful images along the way, but this particular photo—as it existed in his imagination—eluded him for years.

“Kingfishers dive so fast they are like bullets, so taking a good photo requires a lot of luck – and a lot of patience,” McFadyen told the Daily Mail. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that female kingfishers only rarely dive, so timing is essential.

McFadyen owns Scottish Photography Hides which rents out hides in pristine locations in Southwest Scotland for use by wildlife photographers. You can explore more of his photography on Flickr. (via PetaPixel)

We’ve found our new favorite Instagram!

Sick of all the depressing news he saw around him, South African artist Jaco Haasbroek created these witty and uplifting posters that he puts on random telephone polls.

This Instagram Will Have You Smiling From Ear to Ear

via Mashable

This stand of bent pine trees known as the Crooked Forest is easily one of the strangest places in Central Europe. Located outside of Nowe Czarnowo, West Pomerania, Poland, the nearly 400 trees are widely agreed to have been shaped by human hands sometime in the 1930s, but for what purposes is still up for debate. Each tree is bent near the base at 90 degrees, a form that could possibly be helpful in boat or furniture making. Strangely enough, every tree is bent in exactly the same direction: due North. A quick search online reveals a host of conspiracy theories ranging from witchcraft to energy fields.

Whatever the reason, we’re glad photographer Kilian Schönberger (previously) stopped by to capture these photos. You can see more from the series on Behance.

Update: Thank you all for your many, many suggestions about the trees. We’ve heard everything from floods to furniture to fire. There still doesn’t seem to be a consensus.

Designed by Gen Hagiwara

Madrid-based origami enthusiast Gonzalo García Calvo has a knack for fiddling with paper. He uses a variety of different techniques and papers to fold impressive animals, objects, and sci-fi figures designed by a number of top origami artists. By day Gonzalo works professionally as a musician but easily gets lost in the challenge of bringing paper to life in his spare time. Seen here is a collection of my favorites, but you can scroll through Flickr to see more. All photos courtesy the artist. (via Demilked)

Designed by Nguyen Hung Cuong

Designed by Artur Biernacki

Origami Dancing Crane designed by Robert Lang and folded from one square of Unryu paper 40×40 cm

Designed by Satoshi Kamiya

Designed by Katsuta Kyohei

Anyone who’s ever lived with roommates knows that communal fridges are basically just big boxes of chilled nightmares and disease sprinkled with 500 mostly empty condiment bottles. The idea of a communal fridge for 30,000 people should make even Sigourney Weaver shudder — but the people of the Spanish town of Galdakao are making it work. The goal, NPR reports, is to divert perfectly good food from the dumpster:

In April, the town established Spain’s first communal refrigerator. It sits on a city sidewalk, with a tidy little fence around it, so that no one mistakes it for an abandoned appliance. Anyone can deposit food inside or help themselves.

This crusade against throwing away leftovers is the brainchild of Alvaro Saiz, who used to run a food bank for the poor in Galdakao.

“The idea for a Solidarity Fridge started with the economic crisis — these images of people searching dumpsters for food — the indignity of it. That’s what got me thinking about how much food we waste,” Saiz told NPR over Skype from Mongolia, where he’s moved onto his next project, living in a yurt and building a hospital for handicapped children.

The town allocated about $5,580 for the fridge, which covers the purchase of the nightmare-box itself, electricity, and upkeep as well as a health safety study, NPR reports. And fortunately, the Solidarity Fridge isn’t a complete free-for-all, unlike that moldy food coffin mini-fridge you kept in your college dorm room:

There are rules: no raw meat, fish or eggs. Homemade food must be labeled with a date and thrown out after four days. But Javier Goikoetxea, one of the volunteers who cleans out the fridge, says nothing lasts that long.

“Restaurants drop off their leftover tapas at night — and they’re gone by next morning,” he says. “We even have grannies who cook especially for this fridge. And after weekend barbecues, you’ll find it stocked with ribs and sausage.”

If we had a Solidarity Fridge in my Seattle neighborhood, I, for one, would be willing to overcome the trauma of past fridge cleanings and passive aggressive roommates in order to help with the upkeep. Anything for grannie food and Thai leftovers.

Cleverly named Pig or Wig, Isabel Gibson and Helen Chesney’s latest series explores the bizarre world of guinea pig shows. 

The creative duo visited various shows across the U.K. and captured the furry rodents from above. 

Clever Photos of Guinea Pigs That Totally Look Like Wigs

via Junk Culture

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Double-crested Cormorant working on its catch, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern, Double Crested Cormorant and a fish.

Photographer Salah Baazizi has an amazing knack for photographing birds up close and personal as they pluck fish from the waters around Bolsa Chica in southern California. The split-second shots of terns, herons, and cormorants give the illusion Baazizi is sitting just inches away, practically sticking a camera down their beaks, but in reality he uses a 400mm super telephoto lens and positions himself at great distances. This is only the smallest fraction of the hobbyist photographer’s wildlife photos, you can explore hundreds of additional shots over on Flickr.

Elegant Tern, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Great Blue Heron working on its catch, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant tern losing its fish, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Forster’s Tern doing the contortionist, Irvine (CA)

Great Blue Heron working on its catch, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern, Bolsa Chica (CA)

Elegant Tern displaying its acrobatic aerial skills after a fish escaped from its beak.

Hill with a Hole, 1987/90
. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

To be an architect with vision in the Soviet Union during the 1970s and 80s, was to witness a near complete loss of Moscow’s historical architectural heritage. Restrictions on aesthetics, quality building materials, and access to skilled labor resulted in poorly designed structures void of inspiration that were practically destined to crumble. Architects with any shred of ambition were severely limited by communist bureaucracy and were often outright penalized for their ideas. Desperately seeking a creative outlet, these constrained artists and designers turned instead to paper.

Perhaps the most vivid example of this is the work of renowned Soviet “paper architects” Alexander Brodsky and Ilya Utkin who from 1978 to 1993, retreated into their imaginations to create fantastical etchings as a revolt against communist architecture. Paper architecture (or visionary architecture), is the name given to architecture that exists only on paper that possesses visionary, often impossible ideas interlaced with whimsey, humor, satire, and science fiction.

Building on ideas borrowed from Claude Nicolas Ledoux, the design of Egyptian tombs, and urban master plans envisioned by Le Corbusier, the duo conceived of obsessivly detailed renderings that seeme to fill every inch of the canvas with buildings, bridges, arches, domes, and schematics. Through these artworks, Brodsky & Utkin criticized the aesthetic norms of the day until their partnership ended shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union.

Princeton Architectural Press just released the third edition of Brodsky & Utkin, a large volume containing 30 duotones from the artists, but also includes “an updated preface by the artists’ gallery representative, Ron Feldman, a new introductory essay by architect Aleksandr Mergold, visual documentation of the duo’s installation work, and rare personal photographs.” Several Brodsky & Utkin prints are also currently on view at Tate Modern. (via Hyperallergic)

Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Contemporary Architectural Art Museum, 1988/90
. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Diomede, 1989/90
. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Doll’s House, 1990
. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Dwelling House of Winnie-the-Pooh, 1990. 
Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Glass Tower II, 1984/90. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Ship of Fools or a Wooden Skyscraper for the Jolly Company, 1988/90. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Villa Nautilus, 1990. Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

Courtesy of Ronald Feldman Fine Arts Inc.

All images via Bellerby & Co. Globemakers

Long gone are the days when our first instinct is to migrate to a spinning globe to track the destinations around us or find a specific country. Now we have the power to digitally zoom in and out of the entire earth, utilizing mapping tools like Google Earth. The romanticism tied to these newer forms however, does not match the art of the ancient globe, the earliest dating back to the mid-2nd century B.C. Nowadays globes are either modern and massively produced, or antiquated models unsuited for casual browsing.

Frustrated by this lack of quality options when trying to find a globe as a present, Peter Bellerby started Bellerby & Co. Globemakers in order to produce globes that exist somewhere in-between the two options. “I did this as a direct result of looking, searching for a globe for my father for his 80th birthday, and I couldn’t find anything,” said Bellerby. “Initially my plan was to make one for him and maybe one for me if I had the budget.”

After spending tens of thousands of dollars more than he had originally predicted on the process, he decided to use what he’d learned to set up a company in 2008, eventually moving into their current location in Stoke Newington, London. The company employs a small team of makers that fastidiously work in an open environment with large windows, nestled between test sheets of watercolor paints and hanging strips of paper twirling from clothes pins. To master the process of applying paper to the sphere globes (called “goring”) can take up to a year or more.

“It’s been something that’s been an incredible challenge. The whole design process, the whole way of making anything using a sphere at its base, at its centerpiece is fraught with different problems and issues because you are multiplying every error by pi,” said Bellerby.

Bellerby & Co. Globemakers’ globes have been featured in Hollywood movies and BBC productions as well as used in installations by established artists. The company has also had support from the Royal Geographic Society and was able to host their first ever globe exhibition in 2012. To see more images of the daily life at the Bellerby & Co. studio, visit the company’s Instagram or their blog. (via My Modern Met)

While on a trip to visit the Ijen and Bromo Tengger Semeru volcanoes in East Java last month, Chicago-based photographer Reuben Wu captured the unusual sight of molten sulphur that flows from fumaroles at the base of the Blue Fire Crater at Ijen. The area is usually swarming with tourists, but Wu stayed after sunset until the moon rose to capture these otherworldly images.

The journey into the Ijen Caldera is not for the faint hearted. A two-hour trek up the side of the rocky volcano is followed by another 45-minute hike down to the bank of the crater. The blue fire found at the base is the result of ignited sulphuric gas that burns up to 600 degrees Celsius (1,112 degrees Fahrenheit) and can flare up to 5 meters (16 feet) into the air. It is the largest “blue flame” area on Earth.

Additional photos from Wu’s trek through Indonesia can be seen here. (via Colossal Submissions)

Julie Sperling has been working on a series of artworks called Fiddling While Rome Burns about the effects of climate change. In this specific work, Drinking from the firehose, Sperling focuses on the changes to precipitation trends as a result of global warming, such as the increases in extreme drought and floods. As the artist and environmentalist explains:

“A warmer atmosphere increases evaporation and is able to hold more water. So as warmer temperatures suck the moisture up into the atmosphere, which holds onto larger quantities of it for longer stretches of time, the land dries out more quickly, thereby increasing the risk and potential severity of drought. When the precipitation does eventually fall, it is with less frequency but higher intensity, resulting in, you guessed it, increased risk of flooding. In addition, warmer temperatures also mean that more precipitation falls as rain instead of snow. Less snow means a smaller snowpack, which reduces our summer water resources—normally the snow melts gradually and recharges water sources for important things like, say, agriculture. Well, not so much in the future. So, a warmer world is both wetter and drier, more drought stricken and more flood prone.”

Sperling’s mosaic representations are fitting. Like the mosaic-building process, global warming is a slow change that doesn’t appear until you look at the bigger picture. 

It turns out that watching paint mix is a heck of a lot more interesting than watching paint dry. French director Thomas Blanchard shot this lovely short of colored paints, oil, milk, and honey as they mix and bead under a macro lens. He says the video is intended as “an analogy of feelings such as anger, love, sadness and joy [as they] they mix and eventually ease.” If you liked this also check out similar liquid experiments by Ruslan Khasanov.

Ever wondered what you’d pack in a survival kit if the world was coming to an end? Photographer Allison Stewart was curious enough to track down some doomsday preppers. 

From a simple backpack with a bottle of tequila to a full fledged pet store, Allison’s photos reveal the inner workings of these unique individuals.

Take a Peek Inside the Survival Kits of Doomsday Preppers

via Wired

Alongside the Malta Street Art Festival, artist Leon Keer decorated a boardwalk with bright, elongated gummy bears that appear skewed when up close, but tower in height when viewed from above. This band of nine realistic candy bears seem to interact with the passersby, their slanted shapes appearing to be the same height as those who stop to take a closer look.

The anamorphic bears don’t seem to be celebrating their position on the Valetta waterfront however, as their composition looks as if they’re mourning a fallen green friend, which Keer confirms is indeed deceased.

Keer began painting while working on large advertisement murals for multinational corporations. His commissions have stretched from Europe to Asia and included work for Coca-Cola. Keer exhibits his own paintings in various Dutch and UK galleries and also presents work through live-action painting performances on the street. (via My Modern Met)

Apparently if you’re a thirsty butterfly, one option available to you is a refreshing sip of turtle tears. No, this isn’t a staged photo masquerading as science, it’s an unusual behavior known as lachryphagy (tear drinking), and is one of several ways butterflies obtain moisture and nutrients. Captured here by Ama la Vida TV, this photo shows two Dryas iulia drinking tears from the eyes of a few turtles. The photo won the 2014 Wikimedia Picture of the Year. (via Laughing Squid, Twisted Sifter)

Concerned about palm oil, but still grabbing your morning breakfast at Starbucks? You might want to skip that scone.

According to environmental protection advocate Forest Heroes, the coffee giant, which recently created stricter sourcing policies for its coffee, tea, and cocoa, has yet to take meaningful action on palm oil, which it uses in its baked goods. Additionally, Starbucks only scored 10 out of 100 points on the Union of Concerned Scientists’ 2015 Palm Oil Scorecard. Why the low marks? Forest Heroes explains further in a press release:

This week, in response to growing consumer pressure, Starbucks updated its Sustainable Palm Oil statement, saying that the company supports a “zero-tolerance approach to deforestation.” However, the company continues to fail to address consumer concerns and supply chain risk because their statement does not cover their global operations, just company owned stores. Additionally, Starbucks’ plans to engage the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and “other industry stakeholders” does not go far enough to ensure that their global supply chain is not linked to violations such as those documented in Sunday’s Wall Street Journal investigation of human rights abuses on plantations in Malaysia. …

“If companies like Dunkin’ Donuts, Krispy Kreme and McDonald’s can use responsible palm oil that doesn’t come at the expense of forests, endangered species or local communities, then why can’t Starbucks do the same?” said Ben Cushing, spokesperson for the Forest Heroes campaign.

Ya hear that, Starbucks? McDonald’s (McDonald’s!) is kicking your ass on this.

Most palm-oil traders have committed to buying responsibly produced oil, but they will only follow through on the hard work of fully implementing that commitment if there’s real demand from their customers — like Starbucks.

When you imagine the border between two countries, you typically think of a huge fence with razor wire, but that’s definitely not the case in Europe. 

Valerio Vincenzo traveled across Europe photographing the seemingly invisible dividing lines between countries.

Photographer Documents a Continent Without Borders

via Feature Shoot

Artist Calvin Seibert (previously) recently completed a new series of his geometrically precise sand castles on the beaches of Hawaii. A professional sculptor, Seibert seems to borrow angular ideas from Bauhaus architecture or the flair of Frank Gehry. How he’s able to control the sand so perfectly is anyone’s guess, it certainly puts my traditional upside down bucket method to shame. You can see more of his work over the last few years here.

In 2008, while locating specimens to create a multi-colored blossom tree for an art project, artist and Syracuse University art professor Sam Van Aken had the opportunity to acquire a 3-acre orchard from the New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. Fascinated by the practice of grafting trees since a young age, Aken began to graft buds from the 250 heritage varieties found on the orchard onto a single stock tree.

To create the Frankenstein-esque tree, Aken worked with stone fruits (fruits with pits) like peaches, plums, apricots, almonds, and nectarines. Over the course of five years he successfully grafted dozens of plants onto the same tree, and with that, the Tree of 40 Fruit project was born. Because of their similarities, all 40 fruits bud, bloom and fruit in near perfect unison.

Aken has since grafted at least 16 different “Trees of 40 Fruit” which are planted across the U.S. in places like Newton, Massachusetts; Pound Ridge, New York; Short Hills, New Jersey; Bentonville, Arkansas; and San Jose, California. Each tree is specific to its environment, using both local and antique varieties.

National Geographic recently met up with Aken to interview the artist about how he makes each tree. You can hear him talk about the project in the video above. (via Digg)

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In the course of raising a child there comes a series of strange moments in when you discover your child is obtaining skills and perfecting their abilities that surpass what you yourself are capable of. It’s a humbling and awesome thing to witness. Such is the case with this friendly battle between St. Louis-based beatboxer Nicole Paris and her dad. He’s definitely a talented beatboxer and taught his daughter well, but it becomes extremely clear she’s taken things to a ridiculously different level. The video is a follow-up to a battle the duo posted online last year. Amazing. I’ve already watched this three times this morning. (via Leonard Beaty, Ambrosia for Heads, thnx Jess!)

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Master of the miniature Jon Almeda creates tiny hand thrown ceramics at 1″ scale that are every bit as detailed and perfect as their much larger counterparts. The Washington-based artist makes vases, bowls, and even tea kettles tiny enough to sit atop a coin or toothbrush. Despite their fragile beginnings, the pieces are sturdy enough to endure standard glazing and firing to emerge as fully finished ceramics. Almeda uses a custom designed motorized curio wheel that affords the precise control needed to execute minute handbuilding techniques need for each object.

To see more, you can follow him on Instagram or maybe even take a class through the International Guild of Miniature Artisans of which he is a member. (via Artfido)

A video posted by Size Does Matter (@almedapottery) on Jun 13, 2015 at 3:33pm PDT

Susanna Hesselberg, “When My Father Died It Was Like a Whole Library Had Burned Down” (2015) / Photo by Claire Voon for Hyperallergic

For her entry into the biannual Sculpture by the Sea in Aarhus, Denmark, Swedish artist Susanna Hesselberg installed this ominous library that plumments into the ground like a mining shaft. While visually arresting, the piece has a somewhat somber intention. Titled “When My Father Died It Was Like a Whole Library Had Burned Down,” the artwork makes reference to lyrics from Laurie Anderson’s song World Without End. The piece joins an additional 55 sculptures on display right now at the 2015 Sculpture by the Sea through July 5, 2015. (via Hyperallergic)

Street artist OakOak (previously) continues to bring smiles and double-takes to his hometown of St. Etienne, France, an old industrial town with drab facades and cracked sidewalks ripe for his unique brand of visual jokes. He shares his love for superheroes, the Simpsons, Bruce Lee, and other pop culture references through mostly non-destructive, temporary interventions that interact with the immediate environment. Some of OakOak’s best works have been gathered into a new book, Urban Diversion (in French), and the artist had an exhibition earlier this year at le cabinet d’amateur earlier this year.

Since we last mentioned Tensile tents around this time last year, the company has unveiled several new models of their fantastic suspended tent systems. There’s a small hammock for three that can be layered into a multi-tiered treehouse, a 2-layer tree tent, and a massive communal tent system designed to hold 6 people high in the air. Tentsile was invented by designers Alex Shirley-Smith and Kirk Kirchev in 2012 and have since taken the camping world by storm, opening their own factory and picking up an ISPO design award. You can see plenty more here.