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10 Mar 09:02

by Buttpoems

25 Feb 17:00

Hungarian Banknote Concept Designed by Barbara Bernát

by Christopher Jobson

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For her MA degree project at the University of West Hungary, Budapest-based graphic designer Barbara Bernát devised this lovely concept for the Hungarian euro. The project involved five denominations of increasing scale, each made with a set of copperplate etchings; animals of increasing size on the front and related plants on the back. The kicker is a security feature that reveals the skeleton of each animal under UV light, not unlike the new Canadian passport. Regardless of whether this would translate well into actual currency, this is phenomenal way to get hired. Design students take note. (via Kottke)

22 Sep 19:04

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12 Sep 19:58

My friend’s dog won 3rd place at a Petco Star Wars...



My friend’s dog won 3rd place at a Petco Star Wars contest. -ejara80

12 Sep 19:53

De-Engineering Stereotypes

Tech Support | San Francisco, CA, USA

(I am an engineer working the tech support line. I should also add that I’m the only female engineer in a department of all male engineers. I answer a support call:)

Me: “Thank you for calling the engineering support line. How can I help you?”

Customer: “I need to talk to an engineer.”

Me: “Sure, what’s your question?”

Customer: “Well, I’d like to tell it to an engineer.”

Me: “No problem, what can I help you with?”

Customer: “No, you don’t understand. I want to speak directly to the engineer.”

Me: “Sir, I’m an engineer.”

Customer: “You are?!”

Me: “Yes.”

Customer: “But… you’re a girl!”

Me:  *in a Valley Girl voice* “‘Ohmygosh, I know! Isn’t that amazing?”

13 Aug 15:42

‘Humans of New York’ Sends Back Powerful Portraits and Heartbreaking Stories from the Middle East

by DL Cade

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It’s getting to the point where you’d be hard pressed to find anybody who doesn’t already know about Humans of New York, Brandon Stanton’s project turned photobook turned international phenomenon. But that became even harder this week when Stanton took the project on the road with the UN and delivered some of his most powerful portraits from the streets of, not New York City, but Iraq.

Stanton has been operating from the war-torn country as of August 7th as part of a 2-month UN World Tour, and since then, the project’s following on Facebook has jumped by nearly a quarter of a million people.

This is no accident either. The impact of the intimate, life-affirming style that has earned Stanton millions of admirers is somehow multiplied 100-fold when the people he is talking to are often fighting for their lives and struggling with issues that most of his followers couldn’t even imagine.

I normally go into my conversations with a set of proven questions to ask, that I find will elicit a wide variety of anecdotes from people’s lives: happiest moment, saddest moment, things like that. But with people fleeing war, it is absolutely impossible to discuss anything beyond the present moment. Their circumstances are so overpowering, there is absolutely zero room in their minds for any other thoughts. The conversation immediately stalls, because any topic of conversation beyond their present despair seems grossly inappropriate. You realize that without physical security, no other layers of the human experience can exist. “All day they do is cry for home,” she told me. (Dohuk, Iraq)

I normally go into my conversations with a set of proven questions to ask, that I find will elicit a wide variety of anecdotes from people’s lives: happiest moment, saddest moment, things like that. But with people fleeing war, it is absolutely impossible to discuss anything beyond the present moment. Their circumstances are so overpowering, there is absolutely zero room in their minds for any other thoughts. The conversation immediately stalls, because any topic of conversation beyond their present despair seems grossly inappropriate. You realize that without physical security, no other layers of the human experience can exist. “All day they do is cry for home,” she told me. (Dohuk, Iraq)

Humans of New York is, after all, a project about humanity. The reason New York City works so well is because Stanton is never short of interesting people whose experiences vary as widely as their birthplaces. Taking the project on the road is just a way for Stanton to “listen to as many people as possible,” and share what they’re saying with us.

“We hope this trip may in some way help to inspire a global perspective,” writes Stanton, “while bringing awareness to the challenges that we all need to tackle together.”

The images he’s sent back so far range from heartwarming to heartbreaking, with a heavy natural slant towards the latter. Here is a selection of photos, complete with captions, that he’s uploaded from the Middle East:

“She speaks more languages than anyone in the family. Because she plays with all the children in the street.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“She speaks more languages than anyone in the family. Because she plays with all the children in the street.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“My happiest moments are whenever I see my mother happy.”“What’s the happiest you’ve ever seen her?”“When I was a child, some German doctors told us that I could have a surgery in Italy, and my legs would work again. She was so happy she started crying. But I never had the money to go.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“My happiest moments are whenever I see my mother happy.”“What’s the happiest you’ve ever seen her?”“When I was a child, some German doctors told us that I could have a surgery in Italy, and my legs would work again. She was so happy she started crying. But I never had the money to go.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“I photoshopped my head onto a healthy body, to see what I would look like.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“I photoshopped my head onto a healthy body, to see what I would look like.” (Erbil, Iraq)

These children are members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, who are one of many minorities deemed expendable by ISIS militants. In the last few days, ISIS has moved into their villages and taken their homes. Tens of thousands of the villagers fled into a nearby range of mountains. Realizing this, ISIS circled the mountains with guns, blocked all the roads, and waited for them to die of thirst in the 120 degree heat. These children belonged to some of the families lucky enough to escape. While their parents were panicking about their relatives trapped in the mountains, these kids found a quiet place to play. I found them banging on some cans. I asked them what they were doing. “We’re building a car,” they said. "Isn’t that cute," I thought. "They’re imagining the cans are cars."When I came back 5 minutes later, they had punctured holes in all four cans. Using two metal wires as axles, they turned the cans into wheels, and attached them to the plastic crate lying nearby. They’d built a car. (Dohuk, Iraq)

These children are members of Iraq’s Yazidi minority, who are one of many minorities deemed expendable by ISIS militants. In the last few days, ISIS has moved into their villages and taken their homes. Tens of thousands of the villagers fled into a nearby range of mountains. Realizing this, ISIS circled the mountains with guns, blocked all the roads, and waited for them to die of thirst in the 120 degree heat. These children belonged to some of the families lucky enough to escape. While their parents were panicking about their relatives trapped in the mountains, these kids found a quiet place to play. I found them banging on some cans. I asked them what they were doing. “We’re building a car,” they said. “Isn’t that cute,” I thought. “They’re imagining the cans are cars.”When I came back 5 minutes later, they had punctured holes in all four cans. Using two metal wires as axles, they turned the cans into wheels, and attached them to the plastic crate lying nearby. They’d built a car. (Dohuk, Iraq)

"There were dozens of them and only four of us. They took all my sheep." (Dohuk, Iraq)

“There were dozens of them and only four of us. They took all my sheep.” (Dohuk, Iraq)

"I would give my soul if I could fix her brain." (Dohuk, Iraq)

“I would give my soul if I could fix her brain.” (Dohuk, Iraq)

"We told her to sit with us so we could share her sadness." (Dohuk, Iraq)

“We told her to sit with us so we could share her sadness.” (Dohuk, Iraq)

“I worry about the day they start to want things that I can’t afford.” (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

“I worry about the day they start to want things that I can’t afford.” (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

Today in microfashion…. (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

Today in microfashion…. (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

"Swimming is the greatest thing in life. If we have time, we swim ten times per day." (Kalak, Iraq)

“Swimming is the greatest thing in life. If we have time, we swim ten times per day.” (Kalak, Iraq)

“I was the strongest young man in my town. They called me Bulldozer.” (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

“I was the strongest young man in my town. They called me Bulldozer.” (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

“My parents were captured when I was sixteen. They both died in prison.”“What do you remember about the day they were taken?”“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do this. Can we stop?” (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

“My parents were captured when I was sixteen. They both died in prison.”“What do you remember about the day they were taken?”“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do this. Can we stop?” (Shaqlawa, Iraq)

“We live in a very conservative culture, but I want my children to be open-minded. I try to bring them to as many places as possible: big malls, art galleries, concerts. We want them to see as many types of people as possible, and as many types of ideas as possible.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“We live in a very conservative culture, but I want my children to be open minded. I try to bring them to as many places as possible: big malls, art galleries, concerts. We want them to see as many types of people as possible, and as many types of ideas as possible.” (Erbil, Iraq)

"We just want to be together and not be afraid." (Erbil, Iraq)

“We just want to be together and not be afraid.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“I had a mobile phone and computer store back in Syria. It was completely looted during the fighting. I came here to find work, but I couldn’t afford to bring my family with me. When I left, I kissed my son and told him that I was leaving and I didn’t know where I was going. He was crying so hard that we had to lock him in the house as I said ‘goodbye’ to my wife. I haven’t even met my second son.”“What are your happiest memories of your son?”“Every time I went to work, he’d run after me. And every time I came home, he’d run to me.” (Erbil, Iraq)

“I had a mobile phone and computer store back in Syria. It was completely looted during the fighting. I came here to find work, but I couldn’t afford to bring my family with me. When I left, I kissed my son and told him that I was leaving and I didn’t know where I was going. He was crying so hard that we had to lock him in the house as I said ‘goodbye’ to my wife. I haven’t even met my second son.”“What are your happiest memories of your son?”“Every time I went to work, he’d run after me. And every time I came home, he’d run to me.” (Erbil, Iraq)

"She always dreams about the bombs." (Erbil, Iraq)

“She always dreams about the bombs.” (Erbil, Iraq)

The project began in Iraq, but already Stanton has moved on to Jordan and he will visit eight more countries before it’s all said and done.

The goal with these images, beyond simply sharing stories he would never have the chance to share from NYC, is to promote the eight Millennium Development Goals UN member states hope to achieve by 2015. But what you see above and what you’ll find if you follow Humans of New York in the coming weeks goes beyond the UN’s goals, however noble.

As they do in New York, his images from Iraq and the rest of the Middle East magically transcend the politics of borders and biases. When we see his portraits and read the captions, our differences drop away.

If only for a moment, we are just humans, staring into the eyes of another human, listening with rapt attention to the their story.


Image credits: Photographs by Brandon Stanton/Humans of New York and used with permission

01 May 14:53

The Men’s Sweater Style Hierarchy

by Joe

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Agreements? Disagreements? Did any of the above sweaters get jobbed in the rankings? And which style of sweater do you find yourself wearing the most? Leave it all in the comments below.

23 Jan 05:33

Vandalizing Text Books Geek-Style [Pics]

by Geeks are Sexy

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An awesome compilation of “text book art” from the Internet! Enjoy!

[Via TechEblog | @___ayatakaoisii]

08 Nov 15:42

Fine art photography: how to shoot – and print – an elegant portrait at home

by jmeyer

Learn how to create a stylish piece of home art. Our fine art photography tutorial shows you how to shoot, edit and produce a high-quality print of a timeless black and white portrait.

Fine art photography: how to shoot - and print - an elegant portrait at home

We’re going to take you through the entire process of creating a fine art photography portrait in black and white, from the shoot to editing stage to producing a high-quality print. We’ll be editing the image in Photoshop Elements and printing our image on fine art matt paper, using an A3+ photo printer.

For our model shoot we’re going to use a simple home setup and a studio flash light. If you don’t have one of these you can use a flashgun, or even natural light and a reflector – if you’re using a reflector you may need to increase the ISO or open the aperture more than we suggest in our tutorial to get a good exposure.

If you’re using flash or studio lights you’ll need to set your shutter speed to 1/60 sec to sync with the lights, and balance the aperture setting with the strength of your flash.

SEE MORE: Fine art photography: what you need to shoot amazing photo projects at home

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home: step 1

01 Model and styling
We’re going to shoot a vintage style sepia-toned monochrome portrait, so we’ve accessorised our model with vintage clothes, props and styled their hair and make up.

You could go for a similar style, or a Hollywood starlet look (in which case straight mono will look better than sepia), or stick with a straightforward portrait. We’re using a plain white wall for our backdrop.

 

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home: step 2

02 Shoot tethered
We’re using Canon’s EOS Utility to shoot tethered to a computer, but other methods will be similar. Set your camera up on a tripod and connect the camera and computer using the USB cable supplied with your DSLR.

Set your camera to Manual mode, then open EOS Utility and select the Camera Settings/Remote Shooting option – you can now control your camera settings via the shooting panel.

Set the shutter speed to 1/60 sec and the ISO to 100, and balance the flash and aperture to get an even exposure. We’ve also set the Picture Style to Monochrome, so that we have a better idea of how image will look when edited.

 

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home: step 3

03 Lighting setup
We used a single studio flash light for our shoot, which we positioned to the side of our model to create a soft shadow on one side of her face.

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home: step 3

We connected the flash to our camera using the supplied cable, set the flash to a low power and set our aperture to f/11 to ensure all of our model was sharp.

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home: step 3

If you don’t have a studio flash light you can use a flashgun, or just natural light and a reflector. You’ll need to fire off a few test shots to determine the optimum flash and aperture settings – the beauty of shooting tethered to a computer is that you can see the results on a large screen instantly.

SEE MORE: Photography lighting – how to take control of everything from natural light to off-camera flash

 

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home: step 4

04 Paper and ink
For the best results, stick to your printer manufacturer’s proprietary papers and inks. Manufacturers create ICC profile settings for their consumables, and although third-party inks can be cheaper you’re likely to find that your print colours won’t be accurate.

Professional printers aren’t cheap to run, so be prepared to pay to get top quality. A standard A4 home printer will typically use four separate ink cartridges.

 

Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home: step 5

05 Framing
Adding a frame can greatly enhance your printed image, as well as keeping it protected – we found some stylish but inexpensive frames that suited our retro theme in a high street shop.

We mounted our print onto the backing card first, using an aerosol adhesive so our image remains flat in the frame – if you’re doing this make sure you use an adhesive designed for use with photos, such as Photo Mount.

Think about whether you want to include a mount around the image, and also if you want to include glass – while glass protects the print, it also reduces the intensity of the image’s colours, and creates reflections.

PAGE 1: Set up to shoot and print fine art photography at home
PAGE 2: How to edit your fine art photography
PAGE 3: How to print your fine art photography

READ MORE

Fine art landscape photography: pro camera skills for stunning scenic pictures
Fine art nude photography: tips, techniques and free pdf guide
Black and white photography – what you need to know to make perfect mono pictures
14 portrait photography tips you’ll never want to forget
Studio Lighting – 4 seriously simple lighting techniques to try at home