Spring Breaking

Eugène Cuvelier, Fontainbleau Forest, 1860's





James Welling, LA-C 33, 1977

I'm off for a break. It's almost spring and I do what the kids do so I'm loading up the car and heading out of town for a bit. Back in 10 days.

Brooklyn Bridge Car Fire

I've looked at, or driven across the Brooklyn Bridge every single day for the last eleven years. Sunday was the first time I've ever seen it on fire.

"Scrutinize Your Work Vigilantly"

A few interiors made while peeping and creeping around an empty P.S at night.

Indian Sunner

A great clip of a Solar Eclipse made at the banks of the Ganges from the BBC.

Grge Estmn and Flickr

It would surprise no one that the George Eastman House has a terrific collection of photographs. The subjects, genres and photographers in the collection are varied and representative of many of the periods from the short history of the medium. What surprises me is that the George Eastman House chose to put much of it on flickr. Will some one please sell Flickr a vowel? You can see the collection on Flickr HERE. If some one can convince me that Flickr is anything but a bottomless, photo soul sucking, over populated, dumping ground, I am all ears.



Anonymous, Portrait of young man in red shirt, smoking a clay pipe, 1850





Anonymous, Portrait of unidentified man wearing unusual hat, 1855





Eli W. Buel, Top Hat, 1870





William M. Vander Weyde, Solid Air Experiments, 1901-1904





Charles C. Zoller, Orchid, 1907-1932




William M. Vander Weyde, Hippos in the new York Zoo, 1900





William M. Vander Weyde, Jiu-Jitsu for Women, 1900




Charles C. Zoller, Foolish House, Ontario Beach Park, 1910




Alvin Langdon Coburn, Gertrude Stein, 1913





Nickolas Muray, Woman in cell, playing solitaire, 1950

Rocket Row

The Smithsonian has a quirky and fun blog that showcases samples from it's large collection of photographs. The site, The Bigger Picture, is updated daily and presents an eclectic hodgepodge of pictures dedicated, not surprisingly, to science and natural history. The site has the feel of the great Mike Mandel and Larry Sultan book Evidence.

A few From the Weekend

3 interiors from a near empty Brooklyn P.S

Mr. DeMille, I'm Ready For My Close-Up

Nothing sums up the hyperbole, beauty and tragedy that is Hollywood better than the moment below of Gloria Swanson as Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard as she swims and swoons her way towards her final, fuzzy close-up.






Gloria Swanson, Edward Steichen, 1924






Gloria Swanson





Robert Frank, Movie Premier, Hollywood, 1955-56





Elliot Erwitt, Hollywood, California, 1956







John Waters, Return To Sender, 2003

The Beauty of a Burger Nation

Fast Food may be destroying America's health but it sure does make for a pretty picture. Click on the images to enlarge them in order to get the true taste of their special sauce.




The Burger Force: Controlled Territory, McDonalds Versus Allied Competitors




The Burger Force: Controlled Territory, The 8 largest U.S Burger Chains.

created by Stephen Von Worley at WEATHER SEALED

Pictures From the Radio

I recently discovered that NPR, in addition to that little thing they do on the radio, also has a great online photography site called THE PICTURE SHOW. While they do show work by some of the usual suspects it's also a great pace to discover work by lesser known or unknown photographers.



Self-portrait, radiograph, circa 1930s. Dr. Dain L. Tasker





Two Snails, radiograph, 1930s, Dr. Dain L. Taske





Canterbury Bells, radiograph, 1930's, Dr. Dain L. Taske



Harry Callahan, untitled, 1977



Steve McCurry/ National Geographic

Players

Well before the snow melts or the first crocus winds it's way up through the mud there is baseball's Spring Training! Even if you don't care for baseball there's no better harbinger of spring than the beginning of Spring Training. Below are a few great magazine covers from the 30's, 40's and 50's. Artists unknown.

What Would Jesus Shoot?

WWJS

"The elders at Ecclesia Church were expecting something tame from Jackson Potts II for their annual Stations of the Cross art display. Instead, the 10-year-old produced a photo of his kid brother being beaten by a police officer. Jackson says it's a modern-day interpretation of Roman soldiers beating Jesus." His local church declined to display the picture in the church's art gallery. “I just want them to display it,” Jackson said as he sipped a strawberry shake recently. Most everyone agrees Jackson is a gifted artist. He's also shot weddings and will photograph an upcoming culinary conference. Damn! Maybe Art and Commerce should reach out to him. He's busier than a lot of photographers here in New York these days. You can read the full story HERE.

A Few From the Weekend