pink balloons

i like this nik mirus image.

 

<3 new york city

nothing rekindles a love like distance — having moved back to manhattan from brooklyn about a month ago, i’m constantly appreciating pieces of the city i never before paid much attention to.

james maher shares his passion for the big apple through photography.  check ‘em out

 

joshua scott

stunning imagery/amazing photographer

 

make me look good

platon's portraits of power

stunning imagery and sweet little stories by new yorker staff photographer, platon can be seen and heard here.  sort by name, country, age, gender, tenure <or play match game> – then click faces for a better look + listen to the commentary.  incredible work.

ahmadinejad giggles like a little boy

chávez in 8 seconds

<why wouldn’t obama sit?>

 

such a handsome feller

 

murphy

i love this guy!!  christine edwards – get your site running pleez

 

meet: max wanger

hang in there

max wanger is a skilled and thoughtful photographer.  his use of light, color and composition are each delightful in their own right.  by integrating a wonderful sense of humor to this foundation, fairy tale images develop.

up, up and away!

mw’s staged scenes of wonder are particularly elegant.  the snapshots appear effortless + playful – simultaneously utilizing subdued + sophisticated tones of color.  below are highlights of his in-love work [read: a much broader body of subject matter can be found here]

joanna + alex

grace + dominic

shoko + julian

mw was gracious enough to answer our begging questions:

the robotic: which camera do you prefer to use and why?

right now i’m loving the 5D mark II. it’s great for low light and i love being able to shoot video with it. so much fun.

the curious: favorite time of day?

late afternoon. sundays. in the summer. there’s something about the warmth, the light, the air…

the nosey: do you push couples to be creative or do they push you?

a little bit of both. i like to give couples the freedom to do as they please. they can bring whatever they want to the table. but i also know that my job is to make sure they have fun and are happy with the final product. whether they know it or not, they always push me to be better than the last time, to step up my game and be as original and creative as possible. i’m always being pushed to be the best that i can be.

the reflective: how has your work transformed since you began?

in the beginning, i guess i followed certain rules and i let that get in the way of my growth. now, i don’t like to follow the rules. i trust my instincts and my eye and don’t worry about anything else. my work is also much more reflective of my personal style and aesthetic now.

the artistic: what inspires you?

new york, tokyo, paris. little kids with style. rodney smith and tim walker. my family. margaux. good music. monocle magazine. naoto fukusawa. anthony bourdain. the aloha spirit. the sartorialist.

the silly: what is your guilty pleasure?

the bachelor. margaux (my fiance) got me into it. i was completely against it at first, but by the third show, i was hooked.

the professional: what is your favorite part of the job?

it doesn’t always happen, but it’s the feeling you get when you know you’ve taken that one great shot. it’s usually not planned, it just happens and when it does, you just know. that’s an amazing feeling.

for more on max, he blogs + works in los angeles.

 

anonymous artist on the second largest continent.

i’ve blogged before about the beauty+importance of intersecting art and function.  one such union is masterfully constructed by JR‘s socially conscious work in 28 millimetres: women.

“after more than a year of planning, 2000 square meters of rooftops have been covered with photos of the eyes and faces of the women of Kibera. The material used is water resistant so that the photo itself will protect the fragile houses in the heavy rain season . . .

over-view

marching eyes

everyone at work

train + hill

train top

. . .This new work, by far JR’s most ambitious to date, can be seen from space and will be seen in Google Earth.” writes wooster collective

market

across the continent

among many achieved goals, this project for women  “wants to underline their pivotal role and to highlight their dignity by shooting them in their daily lives and posting them on the walls of their country.”  these portraits are currently on display in Sierra-Leone, Liberia and Kenya.  the project is developing next in India and Asia.  it’s touching to see the basic beauty of women magnified to this degree.

[big thanks to ms for the tip]

 

snow, meet sand.

as promised + in time for coney tuesday, these images were captured friday 19 dec 08.

unlike promised, evil protective dog photograph did not make the cut.

peace bee

wheel of wonder

no swimming or bathing

the rendezvous

boundaries crossed

residual beauty