The Timeless Tradition of Knitting

Think about how easy it is to pop into Target when you need (or simply want) a new scarf. Think about how we simply toss two socks away when one gets a hole. Years ago these items weren't so easy to come by, and acquiring a new hat, a scarf or a pair of socks, meant making them. 

This was a time when idle hands were seen as sinful, and women spent every spare minute sewing and mending and stitching and knitting. Barbara Levine has compiled a lovely tribute to the virtue of knitting throughout the early 19th century through the '50s and '60s. People Knitting: A Century of Photographs recognizes a time when every minute was precious.


Whether it was their duty during wartime, or simply a matter of supplying their own goods, knitting was (/is) a virtuous skill. And people managed to continue knitting, regardless of what their day entailed—they knitted as a form of socializing, they knitted at the hair salon, they knitted in prison, they even knitted while they walked...

See more captivating photos and read more about Barbara Levine's book on atlasobscura.com.

Back on the Bayou

Had a lovely Memorial Day holiday with dear friends, which got me reminiscing about our trip to New Orleans last year.

Here's a look back to our 2015 bayou adventure. One should always travel with a professional photographer! All these images are courtesy of the talented Alicia Magnuson Photography.

Check out more of Alicia's travel photography on her blog. She has an amazing knack for capturing details and moments.

Moments Captured. History Animated.

Today's "ohmygod" find on the internet — this photo-based animation project fromAlexey Zakharov calledThe Old New World.

The Russian photographer and animator found photos of US cities from the 1900s and added sound and movement. For someone, such as myself, who romanticizes historical buildings and time periods, this is absolutely remarkable.

The animation was created using historical images from shorpy.com (who I highly recommend following on instagram).

The photographs themselves are beautiful. The cities look serene and prosperous, and unhindered by modern amenities like powerlines and traffic lights. The added movements are subtle, but they add a certain magic to the images. 

Having just been to DC and seeing the present-day area surrounding the capital building, I found that starkness of this scene stunning. 

There is something so much more realistic about these small animations, than any time period drama I've ever seen. Perhaps the beauty is just in knowing these places were real, and that these moments did happen. 

Dressing for our Friends

LA fashion photographer, Viktorija Pashuta has transformed the qualities and usability functions of each social platform into human characters, in What if Guys were Social Icons.
 

Pashuta has personified the icons that we see everyday when we log into our social media accounts. As a regular source of communication, he believes these these networks come alive as we use them. Portrayed through fashion, each social network in his photo series has its own character and style. Facebook is depicted as casual, Twitter as classic, Pinterest as creative, Linkedin as business, Instagram as vintage, Flickr as artsy, Tumblr as hip and Google+ as innovative.

This series was Part II, following What if Girls were Internet Browsers, where the same concept was applied to women and browser icons. "We see Internet browsers icons every day and looking at my desktop screen I came up with the inspirations to glamorize boring icons and bring them to life in a form of beautiful fashionable girls," Pashuta wrote. 

Internet Explorer is flashy, Firefox sexy, Opera elegant, Chrome utilitarian and Safari - trendy/hip. 

I find these depictions inspired, amusing, and overall pretty accurate.They all just look so shiny, like the bouncy little icons on my applications dock.

Ever wonder what a tear looks like up close?

In The Topography of Tears, photographic artist Rose-Lynn Fisher has captured, dried and studied one of her tears under a microscope. The results are beautiful and interesting on their own. 

BUT, she didn't stop there:

"Eventually, I started wondering—would a tear of grief look any different than a tear of joy? And how would they compare to, say, an onion tear?"

Tears of Laughter

Tears of Grief

Onion Tears

The results show the emotional terrain of tears, and the chemical and hormonal make-up that changes as the body undergoes various stresses. 

I know that no two snowflakes are the same, but I find in interesting that this applies to tears as well, and even more interesting, that the situation and conditions that cause the tears affect this make-up — which I'm sure is true in the case of snowflakes too!

Oh, Science. 

Originally seen on the Smithsonian

Invisible Reflections

An 18-year-old photographer in Cambridge, UK got a bit of attention last fall for her work with mirrors. Laura Williams' haunting image of a girl and a mirror, called Invisible, got over 114K comments on Tumblr. Part of a larger portrait set, Mirrors, I just can't stop looking at these images. They seem so simple and yet are conceptually quite deep.

Flora with Multiple Personalities

Remember gazing at clouds and seeing shapes and animals in their place? Here's some amazing flowers that are worth a second glance.

White Egret Orchid (Habenaria Radiata)

Darth Vader (Aristolochia Salvadorensis)

Parrot Flower (Impatiens Psittacina)

Monkey Face Orchid (Dracula Simia)

There's plenty more schizo-flowers to see over at Meta Picture.

Read on, I'm hungry.

When I first saw this, I thought it was kind of silly. But the more I looked at it, the more I appreciated it and began to realize what a lovely concept this is. 

I love reading, and I love books, and I love the characters within those books. A lot can be learned about a character from the meals they eat.  Designer Dinah Fried has published a book of photography called Fictitious Dishes: An Album of Literature's Most Memorable Meals which recreates meals from 50 novels.   

The project began while Fried was a student, but she quickly became captivated and she now has a collection of images that spans over two centuries of fiction.

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (1951):
Swiss cheese sandwich and malted milk.

The images in-and-of-themselves are captivating, but they also throw me right into the setting of the novel. The settings are mesmerizing. Many of these are just as I pictured them. 

On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957): Apple pie and ice cream.

Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (1851): Clam chowder.

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1911):
Roasted eggs and potatoes with salt.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson (1971):
Grapefruit and tequila.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865): tea.

This was originally seen on AdWeek, but you can see more on brainpickings.org.

Musical Architecture

These posters for the Berlin Philharmonic by Mierswa Kluska, offering a startling view that I never even considered.... the world INSIDE of acoustic instruments. 

The dramatic lighting here creates an architecture you'd never expect. These photos make you appreciate the delicate construction of instruments, and marvel at the wonder of the beautiful sounds they create. 

See more of these beautiful landscapes here.

Playing on Edible Landscapes

Commercial food photographers Pierre Javelle and Akiko Ida have been creating this playful series since 2002. The series is called Minimiam,—based on the combination of the words "miniature" and "miam" (yummy in French). 

The project documents tiny toy people living on delicious backdrops in entertaining stories. I love the originality, sense of humor, and technique used here. 

Twinkle Twinkle Little Awesome

Ok, who else has discovered this "Auto Awesome" thing that my smartphone has started doing?! 

Auto Awesome creates fun new versions of photos and videos—combining them into short animated gifs.

Check out how it's added snow and twinkle to some of my images below. Silly, yet charming and fun—and it happened with no effort from me!

Icy View from Home Yesterday

Skating at Rockefeller

Wollman Rink in Central Park

Twinkling Christmas Decor in the Free People Store

Coloring History

Sanna Dullaway, a self-taught colorizer, has been colorizing famous photographs from history. As the photos make their way around the internet, they are receiving both praise and criticism. 

I appreciate the work, but understand how this may be seen as changing and tampering with history. 


The color adds such life and expression to the imagery, the realism is startling. But in some cases, it also changes the meaning and tone of the photograph. And for some iconic photographs, this may change how we see historic events. 


I can't imagine the skill and patience it takes to do this—to notice the subtle differences in skin tone and the wrinkles and shadows of fabric. 

I think these images are a delightful project and a thrill to look through, but that for historical record purposes, the originals must stay as is! It would be an inaccurate representation of the past if we were to go through archived imagery and photoshop out elements, such as cigarettes, and i think this falls into a similar category.  


But it's still impressive, and I am glad we get to see the photos like this! See more of Dullaway's work here and on this imgur site.