31.1.19

Nick Knight

Nick Knight ‘Still' exhibition at The Mass, Tokyo, 2018
Nick Knight is one of Britain's most innovative and influential photographers and image makers. He has pushed the boundaries of commercial and editorial photography and collaborated with leading names in contemporary art, design, music and fashion. As Director of SHOWstudio he has recently produced on-line collaborations with fashion creatives.

Knight's first book of photographs, Skinhead, was published in 1982, when he was a 24-year-old photography student at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design. He was then commissioned by i-D editor Terry Jones to create a series of 100 portraits for the magazine's fifth anniversary issue. As a result of those black-and-white portraits, his work caught the attention of art director Marc Ascoli, who commissioned Knight to shoot the 1986 catalogue of avant-gard Japanese designer Yohji Yamamoto in collaboration with renowned graphic designer Peter Saville. Since this first foray into fashion photography, he has shot both editorial and advertising projects for clients including Alexander McQueen, Audi, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, Jil Sander, Lancôme, Levi Strauss, Martine Sitbon, Mercedes-Benz, Royal Ballet, Royal Opera House, Swarovski and Yves Saint Laurent.

In November 2000, Knight launched SHOWstudio.com, an online fashion broadcasting company committed to pioneering, live fashion media. SHOWstudio.com has broken new ground with its experimental interactive projects, films and live performances. Its collaborations with influential cultural figures, from Björk, Boy George, Kate Moss and John Galliano to Leigh Bowery, Heston Blumenthal and Antony & the Johnsons, are broadcast live. Knight has won awards for his editorial work for Vogue, Dazed & Confused, i-D, The Face, W Magazine, Another Magazine, Arena Homme + and Visionaire, as well as for fashion and advertising projects such as the 2004 edition of the Pirelli Calendar.

He has shot album covers for Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Björk, Boy George, David Bowie, Kylie Minogue, The Style Council, Paul Weller, Gwen Stefani, Seal, ABC and Massive Attack, and has produced Nicknight (1994), a twelve year retrospective, and Flora (1997), a series of flower pictures, both published by Schirmer Mosel. Knight's work has been exhibited at such international art institutions as the Victoria & Albert Museum, Saatchi Gallery, the Photographers' Gallery and Hayward Gallery.

In 1993, he also produced a permanent installation, Plant Power, for the Natural History Museum in London.

www.nickknight.com

UPP High-Speed Photography Produces Amazing Photos


High-speed photography is a fascinating way to capture the images that we don’t often get to see. So many amazing things happen in the blink of an eye - moving too quickly for us to see more than a blur and the aftermath.

Using clever equipment and quick shutters, these talented photographers freeze time and illuminate one single critical moment. If they time it just right, high-speed photographers can catch a moment of impact, explosion, or surprising movement - and it makes for incredible art.

UNITED high-speed photographs combine the sophistication of fine art and the fun of watching stuff explode. The brave hand model with bright red fingernails in many of his pictures holds items which are then shot with a gun.

The resulting images are not only beautiful, but fascinating - not to mention a little dangerous.



29.1.19

The Last Days of East Germany – 40 Fascinating Photographs That Capture Everyday Life in Berlin in the late 1980s

Honecker in May 1976
Between 1961 and 1989, the Berlin Wall divided East and West Germany and prevented the mass defection that took place after World War II.

It also acted as a symbolic partition between democracy and Communism during the Cold War period. The wall was erected in the middle of the night, but it was torn down just as quickly 28 years later, leading to Germany’s reunification.

In January 1988, Erich Honecker paid a state visit to France. By all indications, the long stretch of international isolation appeared to have been successfully overcome.

The GDR finally seemed to be taking its long-sought place among the international community of nations. In the minds of the GDR's old-guard communists, the long-awaited international political recognition was seen as a favorable omen that seemed to coincide symbolically with the fortieth anniversary of the East German state.

In spite of Honecker's declaration as late as January 1989 that "The Wall will still stand in fifty and also in a hundred years," the effects of glasnost and perestroika had begun to be evident in the Soviet Union and throughout Eastern Europe.

Although the GDR leadership tried to deny the reality of these developments, for most East Germans the reforms of Soviet leader Gorbachev were symbols of a new era that would inevitably also reach the GDR. The GDR leadership's frantic attempts to block the news coming out of the Soviet Union by preventing the distribution of Russian newsmagazines only strengthened growing protest within the population.

In Berlin, on October 7, the GDR leadership celebrated the fortieth anniversary of the foundation of the East German state. In his address, Honecker sharply condemned the FRG for interfering in the GDR's internal affairs and for encouraging protesters.

Still convinced of his mission to secure the survival of the GDR as a state, he proclaimed: "Socialism will be halted in its course neither by ox, nor ass." The prophetic retort by Gorbachev, honored guest at the celebrations, as quoted to the international press, more accurately reflected imminent realities: "He who comes too late will suffer the consequences of history."























































































































28.1.19

These coders used 13,000 old photos to make a Google Street View map of San Francisco in the 1800s


Visit the site here, or look below for some of the best photos we saw from the 1800s, marked with their locations in the city. (All photos via San Francisco History Center/San Francisco Public Library.)


POINT LOBOS AVENUE AND 43RD, DICK’S SALOON, 1890


CENTRAL PARK, 8TH AND MISSION, CIRCA 1887


GROUP OF PEOPLE OVERLOOKING THE CLIFF HOUSE FROM SUTRO HEIGHTS, 1890


BUSH STREET, WEST OF KEARNY, 1877


PALM AVENUE IN JEFFERSON SQUARE, 1881


VIEW FROM CITY HALL, LOOKING SOUTH DOWN 8TH AT CENTRAL PARK, 1896


WOODWARD’S GARDENS, 1864


CALIFORNIA STREET, LOOKING EAST FROM MONTGOMERY, 1865


EXTERIOR OF THE WHAT CHEER HOUSE ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF SACRAMENTO, BELOW MONTGOMERY, 1865


BUILDING ON NORTHEAST CORNER OF FRONT AND CALIFORNIA, 1890


BALDWIN HOTEL BAR, 1880


STEUART STREET, 1864


J. C. FLOOD MANSION, CALIFORNIA STREET, 1886


ST. LUKE’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH, SOUTHEAST CORNER OF SACRAMENTO STREET AND VAN NESS, 1895


SACRAMENTO AND VAN NESS, 1887


WOODWARD’S GARDENS, 1874


MISS LAKE’S SCHOOL FOR YOUNG LADIES, CORNER SUTTER AND OCTAVIA, 1890


HOWARD STREET, LOOKING EAST FROM 6TH, 1866


1919 CALIFORNIA STREET, 1887


SOUTHERN PACIFIC PASSENGER DEPOT, 1879


CABLECAR AT SOUTH PARK, 1865


FIRE ENGINE NO. 13 AT 1458 VALENCIA, 1884


SHOTWELL STREET NEAR 20TH, SNOWFALL, 1887


THE WILLOWS, 18TH & VALENCIA, 1864


MUSICIANS PERFORMING OUTSIDE THE “HAUNTED SWING” AT THE MIDWINTER FAIR IN GOLDEN GATE PARK, 1894