Animal Kingdom

Sharon Montrose does these amazing portraits of animals, currently for sale at 20×200. As a little Christmas present to myself I picked up her Lamb No. 3, which is the perfect blend of innocence and minimalism. The austere environment she shoots everything from giraffes to pigs in is a nice contrast to all their distinct and lively personalities. It sort of reduces them all to looking taxidermic — stuffed animals that wouldn’t be out of place in a child’s nursery.

© Sharon Montrose

Take Me Somewhere Nice

I came across the work of Kari Hartmann on Twitter, randomly. I was jumping around to different people my followers were following and stopped at Kari’s page, which was charming enough for me to click the link to her Tumblr and then her Flickr galleries. It was there that I became transfixed by her imagery–anything that captures a slice of life interests me immediately and this is what her photos are to me. They are little parts of a life, a full life of adventure and beauty. There are small, quiet moments and massive, loud ones that come alive the instant you lay eyes on them. Something to be thankful for, no?

I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me, but it’s hard to stay mad when there’s so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I’m seeing it all at once, and it’s too much; my heart fills up like a balloon that’s about to burst… And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain, and I can’t feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life… You have no idea what I’m talking about, I’m sure. But don’t worry… You will someday.

–Lester Burnham, American Beauty

© Kari Hartmann

Swan Lake

These international, limited edition posters for Black Swan, starring Natalie Portman, are truly something to behold–very 70′s in design, the art deco take is like something Kubrick or Polanski would’ve commissioned. It’s one my most anticipated films for the winter season and the trailer is one of the best I’ve seen in years. This year has been about independent films getting back to their roots of not only great acting, but also great visuals (see: I Am Love, Winters Bone and Coco & Igor).

Images: Empire

Window Pane

I’ve spent, and continue to spend, a decent part of my life staring out of windows, entranced by what’s outside, even if the outside is as predictably dull as I know it is. I have a thesis class this semester and my desk is situated right by this large window, and every time I’m in there I can hear the professor lecturing but my eyes are involuntarily pulled to what’s outside. It’s nothing groundbreaking: just the campus and some random people walking by, but I still want to go through the window. I almost get this paralyzed feeling and when I saw these photos from Danielle Nelson Mourning, I could see myself reflected back–or at least the essence of what takes me over. The total out-of-body experience of being lost in the outside world. There will be a day, I hope, when I’m not looking for an escape.

© Danielle Nelson Mourning, Homecoming

Somewhere

I’m having a Sofia Coppola moment today reading all the reviews from the Venice Film Festival for her newest venture, Somewhere with Stephen Dorff, which follows her usual routine of getting a look inside the melancholy of wealth and privilege. These photos are a nice juxtaposition to her style–a sort of moody, grainy dream encapsulating the most ordinary of circumstances.

© Katherine Squier

Drifting Away

Summer is nearly over and soon the fall schedule will kick in (in my case it already has!), but it’s these photos that remind me how great a warm day can feel, whether you’re at a water park indulging childhood fantasies or at a beach drowning out the world. Although, on these particularly humid days, my favorite thing to do is find a cool place to chill…how great is that aquarium shot?! Jeremy Kohm really captures what makes locations pop, locations that may seem typical or mundane. In his photos they come alive and remind us why we want to be there, they take us away for just a minute. Besides, a little daydreaming never hurt anyone, right?

Listen: Faithless – Drifting Away

© Jeremy Kohm

Stand Still, Look Pretty

Disturbing? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.

Aisha, just 18 years old, was punished for running away from her marital home by having her nose and ears cut off. She was held down by her brother-in-law as her husband hacked into her beautiful face for the simple crime of wanting freedom–of wanting something more.  Maybe one day it won’t always be so bad, or maybe that’s just pipe dream.

Broken English

Charlotte Rampling in The Night Porter, 1974. An art film that splits people as to whether it’s genius or trash. That debate still rages on, but it’s this image–used for the promotional materials–that still haunts all these years later. If a film can have at least one iconic image that can stand the test of time and continue to find admirers then, in my opinion, it has done its job and succeeds as art.

Casual Encounters

“I love inhibitions because they are so nice to get rid of,” says Bree Daniels, the call girl in Klute, a 1970′s film with one of the defining performances of the 20th Century from Jane Fonda. But it wasn’t just the words, it was the whole look and feel of the time. Klute debuted in 1971, during the height of the Vietnam War, and it was the beginning of a new decade of uncertainty. The carefree 50′s were gone, the 60′s signified that the times they were a-changin’, but it was the 70′s that would usher in a wave of realness. Cinema became much more human, much closer to what reality looked like outside your window. New York was no longer Holly Golightly’s fantasy land of Tiffany’s and quaint afternoons with Fred or Paul, but Bree’s gritty street life of unglamorous, pay-phone hookups followed by extensive psychotherapy to rid herself of the truth. The imagery was stark, but no less engrossing or enviable. All these thoughts came flowing back to me when viewing this editorial in the August 2010 issue of Vogue Nippon by Terry Richardson with Freja Beha Erichsen playing Bree. Terry has been hit hard as of late, but in this context, with this story, he hit every note perfectly.

Photos: Fashion Gone Rogue

Where Do I Begin

I try not to read what an artist is trying to do with their work or what they are trying to convey because, often, I look and see something…different. Not exactly groundbreaking, I’ll grant you, but it frees me up a bit. So, how does this relate to the photos above? Well, they are part of Jesse Burke’s Intertidal 1 series. There’s a lot there and the photos I chose are only a small part of the story he is telling. As I sit here writing this, I’m in a mood where I’m thinking about mortality and these photos represent that for me; they go through seasons with death being covered by snow followed by the first bloom of spring and childbirth. This is how I want to see this work and if it was another day I may feel differently. But that’s how it is, no? The cycle is fast, one day an animal roams free and the next someone puts a bullet in their head–nowadays, the same analogy could be made for people. You just never know, from start to finish, where it will end or where it will begin.

© Jesse Burke