I’m really loving the beautiful tranquility of Hungarian photographer Akos Major’s photos. I really admire photographers who can achieve such a crisp, light tone in their images. When I look at Akos’ photographs, I can feel the solitude and cold air in these photos and in some, I can almost taste the air. They remind me of the quiet winter nights growing up in Wisconsin. Still to this day one of my favorite things to do is lay out in the woods while it’s snowing and listen to the snow flakes pelt the fabric on my jacket and surrounding trees.
To view more of Akos Major’s work, check out the photographer’s website:
If you think you’re having a rough start to the week, flip through the portfolio of photojournalist Lynsey Addario. The images Addario captures may not inspire you directly per se but, at least you’re not one of the victims in some of her photos. What she is doing is completely mind blowing to me. As a photographer, I live to capture moments as intense and raw as these but at what cost? It looks that Addario really puts her life on the line to capture images and stories that she can share with the rest of the world. Here’s a snippet of who Lynsey Addario is taken from her website’s bio:
Lynsey Addario is an American photojournalist based in New Delhi, India, where she photographs for The New York Times, National Geographic, and Time Magazine.
Lynsey began photographing professionally in 1996-with no professional photographic training or studies-and started photographing conflict and humanitarian issues. In 2000, she traveled to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to document life and oppression under the Taliban. She has since covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, and Congo, and shoots features across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.
Addario’s work is NSFW. I selected images that would compliment this blog’s style. But be warned, there is a lot of gruesome photos. I honestly can’t put her work into words. It’s an experience that made my heart drop, eyes widen with jaw on the floor.
Jonathan (B3PO) turned me onto Eric Valli’s work a few weeks ago and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. One thing I want to do more of in life is experience situations like Valli has. You get a strong feeling that he deeply immerses himself into whatever culture he’s living in at the time. His award winning work on the Honey Hunters for National Geographic is insane. Climbing cliffs on who knows what kind of rope system with who knows how many bees flying around? Nuts. But the shots he brings home are flat out jaw dropping. They inspire me to want to buy a plane ticket to Tajikistan and find some sort of photo essay to do out there.
Check out the rest of Eric Valli’s work on his website. Hopefully it’ll inspire you to go out and travel somewhere awesome.
I don’t care much for vacations. I find them dull, boring and usually unfulfilling. I’ll vacation when I’m dead. I much prefer adventures. Jordan Manley makes me incredibly jealous and inspired all at once with this adventure. The story telling. The visuals. The hardships endured to create something beautiful are bound together perfectly. Every shot is breath taking. It makes me want to pack up my bags today and head north.
It’s videos like these that keep my spirits alive. They keep my dreams burning. What Jordan Manley has done here with a talented group of athletes is unlike anything that I’ve seen or felt from a sports video. It’s not the standard issue helicopter pan shots of Valdez or Chamonix. This is hours upon hours of hiking in extreme conditions. Putting their lives at risk to create a beautiful story in a place most of us have never heard of. Talk about passion.
Hopefully this video will inspire a few of you to take an adventure somewhere crazy this summer.
Rarely does an artist’s work speak to me on such a profound level that I must own, at least try to, as many originals as I can. In this case, Danny Heller brings that sensation to me. I can’t explain how Danny’s work speaks to me. Danny’s work floods me with nostalgic memories of very specific moments in my life that have happened. They weren’t epic moments of anything crazy. Just life. There’s a calm, simple, serenity to his work that reassures me that the choices I’ve made living in Southern California couldn’t have been better. The above examples are mostly studies of Palm Springs, CA but it’s his LA Visions series that first won me over.
Danny Heller is an oil painter (yes, painter) who was born and raised in Southern California and it clearly shows in his work. Check out his impressive portfolio or drop by a gallery and have your mind blown at the near hyper realism of his paintings in person. If you’ve lived in the San Fernando Valley, you’ll probably have experienced a day like one of Danny’s paintings. http://dannyhellerart.com
