Selections from the 1962 Sears Christmas catalog.
Tag: photography
Photos of stuffed animals turned inside out. I think these inverted bears have more personality than the ones you see on the shelf. They should sell them like this. [via michael surtees]
The Carter Center is hosting a photography exhibit by Robert Glenn Ketchum. Several dozen of his large-format prints are on display, and Mr. Ketchum himself will be at the Carter Center this Thursday night to talk about his photography of southwest Alaska.
Reuters Pictures of the Year for 2007. Not sure how to link to each, but I like photos number 2, 16, 22, 45, 63, 86, 92, and 98. [via kottke]
In the NYT, a reflection on the newly-discovered photos of Abraham Lincoln at Gettysburg:
What would the photographic record show if it reached back, say 500 years, instead of 180?
One answer is that it would show us this same structure over and over again: a fiercely concentrated knot of people hanging on the words of someone at the center of the crowd. And around them? People standing in looser and looser concentrations, until finally Äî far enough from the epicenter Äî their attention turns away from history and focuses on the abiding interest of almost anything else. And this is somehow the inherent bias of the camera. It always directs us toward the center of attention, never away to the periphery, even though that is where our attention eventually wanders.
[via librarycrunch]
The National Press Photographers Association has posted the Best of Photojournalism 2006.
Spooky photos of an abandoned asylum. What is it about asylums (asyla?) that makes the creepiness just sort of stick around? The photos remind me a bit of Dave McKean‘s work in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Not really for any visual similarity, but the atmosphere. The rest of the site has some other cool collections of modern ruins. [via things]
Here’s a very large Flickr photo group dedicated to HDR photography. Some of the photos are just spooky, better than real life in a Pixar meets National Geographic kind of way.
The Nonist introduces us to Red-Hot and Filthy Library Smut. “Full-frontal objectification of the library itself,” featuring some pretty incredible photos. Books, shelving, tables all laid bare. Wish I were there…
–Here’s the story of a guy that deposits a fake check from a scam company–and comes out $95093.35 better. [via grs]
—Photos from a tornado chaser. Supercells, lightning, twisters, even aurora borealis. It’s all there.
—Scientific American weighs in on expertise and experts. It’s not all genetics:
The preponderance of psychological evidence indicates that experts are made, not born. What is more, the demonstrated ability to turn a child quickly into an expert–in chess, music and a host of other subjects–sets a clear challenge before the schools. Can educators find ways to encourage students to engage in [that] kind of effortful study…?
–And the New Yorker reflects on the arguments about that massive project of non-experts [micro-experts?], Wikipedia.
—One man’s trash is another man’s trumpet. A gallery of weird musical instruments–some are handmade from scratch, some are nicely constructed from materials at hand. The organ-in-the-cave is just amazing.
–Romance, coffee, cigarettes, fashion… a photo-essay about Parisians. [via coudal]
—Nothing like the excitement of toppling dominoes. This group gets bonus points for 1) variety of toppled materials [soap?!] and 2) creative use of apartment space. [via do]
–So a gentleman bought a car, drove it home, parked it. The next day it was gone. The dealer took it back: all most sales are final. [via digg]
–Conundrum: how to sustain a religion in which all members are celibate. It’s a tough problem evidenced by the fact that soon there will be no more Shakers.
–PC Magazine previews Sony’s forthcoming e-book reader, or at least a slightly less-than-full-featured proto. Accepts not only e-books but PDF files and RSS feeds as well. Looks great. This little guy could be wonderful for people like me who are almost always reading something and/or plotting what to read next.
–Well, it looks like I’ve stumbled unknowingly into a series of Russia-related posts. I’ll round out the mix with a collection of a couple thousand posters from our dearly-departed USSR. Propaganda, advertising, all kinds of good stuff. On a side note, this is also the only post I’ve suggested that got Kottke’d, which makes me 1 for 2. For a brief moment, I was a star.
–A fine collection of photos of an old-school Russian submarine base. Looks like it’s straight out of a videogame. [via bb]
–It seems like people like to click on eyes and brightly-colored things. I’m not sure what this means for society in the long run.
—USA Today reports some religious demographics in the United States, highlighting those who don’t belong to any church. Apparently, Washington is where all the heathens go, with some 25% in the “no religion” category. Close on its heels were most of the other western states in the 20% range. I was surprised that 97% of the respondents in good ol’ North Dakota claimed a religion of some form. The Glenmary Research Center also does studies of this type, providing some maps for religious populations, so you can find all the Amish hot spots. [via digg]
—I suppose this is reason enough to go to Hong Kong. What an incredible skyline.
–Emporis went through the trouble to rank skylines drawing on a little formula and a database. Atlanta makes #32. Hong Kong wins easily.
Mark Larson 
