A. Kachmar

For me there’s something quite special with creative photography. To be able to catch a feeling or a special moment in time is a skill that’s really hard to master. Sure, you can take a photography class and learn all the technical stuff but to some extent it’s more important to have a passion and an eagerness to explore and learn.

In this digital age pretty much all professional photos are retouched in some way. From simple sharpening and color adjustments to more advanced photo manipulation which completely alters the original image. Some may say that retouching is cheating, creating something that’s never been.
But for me it’s more like digital make-up, enhancing specific features. If used with class and taste that is.

Perspective


Black & white


Noam
Submitted by Yoann Kuszpa.


River S by Hengki Koentjoro


The Fountain by Bastex Photography





Chicago, IL United States


Whale Whisperers by Anuar Patjane


Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 “Eleanor” by Martin Cyprian


Etihad Sergio


Tower at shopping centre by Duncan Smith


Burning Man Festival


Caro by Jonas Hafner





Pathways by Amy Currell


Day to Night, Pont de la Tournelle Paris by Stephen Wilkes


Red Bull X2010 - Hangar-7 Salzburg by Jason Battersby


Nepal night star by Alexander Forik


Tokyo Streets at Night by Masashi Wakui


Cold Serenity by A.Oana


Gonna build a heaven by Felicia Simion


Symphony of Lines by Roland Shainidze


DoomsDay Tarun Kottary


Man Covered in Powder by Steve McCurry


Marilyn

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In the 1930s, a brutal killer stalked the streets of Cleveland, gutting and beheading his victims. Decades later, the butcher’s identity remains a mystery.

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(via chelsperry)

880 East Main Street, photo by Jason Wilder

14 Capron Street, photo by Jason Wilder

40 Greenleaf Street, photo by Jason Wilder

488 Joseph Avenue, photo by Jason Wilder

43 Public Market, photo by @markdeffphoto

820 South Clinton Avenue, photo by @markdeffphoto

In its fifth year, WALL/THERAPY continues to transform Rochester, New York through art and neighborhood intervention, using elaborate public murals to inspire and bond communities. Not only are the images provided for the community a way to inspire the areas that they are placed into, but the walls on which the artists create their work are also resurfaced and rehabilitated, bringing a literal therapy to the murals’ structures.

This year the 14 murals were focused on the themes of surrealism and the fantastic, with work ranging from a gigantic superhero casually sitting on the side of a building, to a gigantic whale swimming within a whale-shaped bubble. Each also varied in size and location, with murals wrapping around corners of brick walls and scaling vertically to the top of buildings.

To see more murals from this year’s WALLTHERAPY and learn about other programs associated with the project follow the link here.

All images provided by Jane Long Photography

Australian artist Jane Long transforms cracked and faded black and white photographs into colorful works of fantasy, giving the subjects a new, and entirely surreal context. The images she uses for her series, Dancing with Costica, were captured over a half century ago by Costică Acsinte a Romanian war photographer who documented WWI.

The glass-plate photographs by Costica capture the straight faces and intense eyes of the subjects taken long before smiling was common in images. “I wanted to change the context of the images,” says Long. “Photographic practices at the time meant people rarely smiled in photos but that doesn’t mean they didn’t laugh and love. I wanted to introduce that to the images.”

By altering the images Long imagines the subjects as characters, letting the audience decide whether they are bad or good. These colorful transformations have been a source of controversy as some viewers have felt it improper to alter images of those she doesn’t know. In response to these accusations the artist stands by her work and explains, “I wanted people to see these figures as real people, more than just an old photograph. Adding colour completely changes our perception of images.”

Long’s series Dancing with Costica will be exhibited from August 22nd to September 20th as part of the Ballarat International Photo Biennale. You can see more work by Long on her Facebook page here. (via My Modern Met)

You may remember seeing LYCS Architecture's clever CATable when if first was released in 2013. The solid wood cavernous table was intend to provide a beautiful work space that both you and your cat could enjoy. Now, LYCS has released CATable 2.0. Likening it to LEGO, the cubic wooden module consists of four stackable components that can be rearranged into an unconventional table, stools, or even a bookshelf - all while providing your cat with an ever-changing vertical playscape. 

See how the cats respond in a video, after the break. 

Sunday was Book Lover's Day and while we unfortunately missed it (in our defense, we were celebrating our tenth anniversary), other blogs didn't get distracted and had ample coverage of the event. One of the most fun articles celebrating the date was posted over on Flavorwire, where they shared some of the coolest business cards inspired by books.

Whether you're a librarian, writer, English teacher or just a fan of good literature, there are a whole lot of business cards to love in their list.

Nick Reeve, a graphic designer, got married in May. He met, Jen, his wife, 3 years ago. They've spent a lot of time sending text messages back and forth. In reflection of their long courtship, Reeve decided to weave their online conversations into his wedding jacket. He typeset all of their messages into 9 point font with special selected moments in larger text. These were printed on silk forming the lining, which was then sewn into the suit. You can see more photos of it at the Creative Review.

-via Swiss Miss

While designing for medically healthy clients can occasionally drive an architect insane, an entirely different set of challenges is involved in creating a safe and healing environment for mentally ill patients. Architect Jason Danizger found himself asking questions like: what makes a bed recognizable to someone in a clinically altered state of mind? Danziger's resulting design for the Soteria at St. Hedwig Hospital in Berlin won him the 2015 BDA Berlin Prize.

More at the intersection of architecture and mental health:

• AfterShock #3: Brains and the City
• Mental Health Survey at University of Toronto’s Faculty of Architecture Reveals Worrisome Results
• Putting entire cities on the psychiatrist's couch
• UCLA's Patricia Greenfield Tracks Urban Psychology With Words

Have you ever looked out into your backyard at night and wondered how many spiders are lurking out there? If you have a flashlight, you can spot them by the creepy green glow of their eyes.

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At least 50 people are dead and hundreds more injured after an explosion rocked Tianjin, China in the middle of the night.

The blast occurred after midnight at a warehouse for hazardous chemicals. More than 1,000 firefighters responded to the scene, and shock waves were felt more than 6 miles from the explosion site. When the sun rose over the port city, this is what emergency responders faced.

It's like they always say: curiosity soaked the cat

This little cat has clearly never been around bathtubs before, because he has no grasp on how they work (i.e., they are full of water). So this oblivious little feline makes an attempt to jump on the floating life preserver in the tub and finds himself in a very watery situation

Fortunately, the soaking cat exits the situation with as much grace as dignity as he can muster

The only question that remains is: why the heck would someone have a life preserver in their bathtub in the first place?

A vociferous Quaker parrot (monk parakeet) named Chopsticks hammed it up on camera until he laughed himself silly during a demonstration he was doing with his human Jessi Knudsen Castañeda at Animal Wonders, an animal rescue agency outside of Missoula, Montana.

Animal Wonders, a 501c(3) non-profit organization, was founded by Jessi Knudsen Castañeda and Augusto Castañeda in August 2008 to fulfill their dream of sharing the wonders of wildlife with the public. Having already rescued over 30 animals, Jessi and Augusto want to ensure them a permanent home and provide a safe haven for others in need. The animal center is nestled in the forest outside of Missoula, Montana. The animals who are currently residing at Animal Wonders share the breathtaking scenery and natural surroundings. Most of the animal residents were displaced from their homes and adopted by Animal Wonders. Some were donated by zoos, and others were illegally owned and needed to be placed with Animal Wonders.

Donations can be made to this wonderful agency through their website or via Patreon.

via Tastefully Offensive

(via rooting4humanity)

The Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo is one of architecture's more interesting experiments. Under architect Kisho Kurokawa's plan, the NCT complex was actually two towers, to which were affixed minuscule, pre-fab, cube-like apartments (the titular Capsules). The thinking was that residents could eventually upgrade or replace their apartments by popping the old one out and re-installing a new one.

As part of the Metabolism movement, which espoused the fusion of architecture with organic/biological principles, the building was erected in 1972, but never saw the capsule-swaps Kurosawa envisioned; while 20 of the units are still occupied, the building has fallen into a state of disrepair and infrastructure repairs have been deemed too expensive to undertake.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I really dug the design of the NCT's built-in space-saving desks (above) in each unit. But from the photos, you really can't tell how small the space is. You definitely can, however, in the video below, which shows one of the NCT capsules that has been preserved (more or less) in its original state from 1972.

Amazingly, you can spend the night in the NCT as one of the units is up on Airbnb. The first half of the video below is the tour, and the second shows a family of five (!) staying there.

Pac-Man's creator Toru Iwatani shows his original notebook sketches from the iconic arcade game that turned 35 this year. The day after Iawatani first showed these sketches publicly a few years ago, he received a certificate from Guinness World Records honoring Pac-Man's record of 293,822 machines installed around the world, the most of any coin-operated arcade machine.

(via Reddit)

The driver of a yellow jeep was waiting patiently for a silver car to back out of a parking spot so he could park there, but a jerk driving a purple car swooped in and stole his spot. The driver of the yellow jeep corrected the situation beautifully.

Watch the animated gif on imgur.

"Let's be bold -- let's join the rest of the world and go metric," said Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee when he announced his bid for the Oval Office. CNN interviews John Bemelmans Marciano, author of Whatever Happened to the Metric System?, about why the US is the only industrialized nation not to use the metric system in business, or most other fields. (Above, U.S. Office of Education public service announcement from 1978.) From CNN:

"People say the metric system makes sense," Marciano says, "But in nature we don't think about dividing things by 10, do we? We think of halves and feet and thirds."

Acres, for instance, were based on the amount of land a man could plow in a day.

"Throughout history we have measured things by ourselves," Marciano says. "We are really losing something with metric."

And another thing: People think the metric system has something to do with science. It doesn't, Marciano says, except that it is used in science and every scientist will probably put forth a convincing argument for why it's silly not to be metric.

"That's the biggest misconception," Marciano says. "The metric system has everything to do with capitalism. It's all about a selling system."

"Refusing to Give an Inch" (CNN)

Whatever Happened to the Metric System?: How America Kept Its Feet (Amazon)

Ferrofluid is a wonderful metallic goo that magically reacts to the presence of a magnetic field . To date it’s really only been used in mesmerizing desk toys , but Zelf Koelma has found a way to manipulate the material into an animated clock that perfectly represents the flow of time.

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After watching this wonderful time lapse of flowers blooming, I would forgive you if it made you think that flowers have their own personalities and feelings and lovable qualities. I believe it too! Look at that guy above preen and dance a little before opening up. It’s like a character from a Pixar movie only in real life.

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I Think I’m Gonna Get A New Pair Of Iphones

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Dolce & Banana

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Binbows

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Polystation

Sunbucks

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Didn’t Know Microsoft Were In The Sunscreen Industry

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Diversifying In To New Sectors, I See

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Mike

Master Beef

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Nake

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Red Labial

Nailed It

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Specialman

Prapa

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Maolboea

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Last month Los Angeles was promised $1.3 billion in federal funding to transform its river from a cinematic cement chute to an honest-to-goodness urban waterway. That great news has been tainted by today’s puzzling announcement that the city has tapped architect Frank Gehry to lead the redevelopment. It’s a really bad idea.

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