Sunday, February 5, 2012 Last Update: 3:23 am EST

I’m incredibly taken with Richard Mosse‘s project Infra, which I’ve just seen for the first time. He has used a special film to create an otherworldy pink effect to offset the very intense political temperature of the Congo. It feels to me like an incredible way to envision and encapsulate this experience, and is beyond groundbreaking. Not to mention simply beautiful.

Does anyone else love this as much as I do?

Whitney Johnson wrote recently about the project in The New Yorker:

“His work from Eastern Congo, a part of the world largely overlooked by mainstream media, is no exception. Mosse used Aerochrome, an obsolete technology, to create an alternative image of the complex social and political dynamics of the country. The film, designed in connection with the United States military during the Cold War, reveals a spectrum of light beyond what the human eye can perceive. He aims “to shock the viewer with this surprising bubblegum palette, and provoke questions about how we tend to see, and don’t see, this conflict.”

Even Chuck Close has difficult clients. Apparently Brad Pitt made him work for it.

Chuck Close: After a kind of unfortunate start in which his handler, in an attempt to protect him, wrote an unbelievably stupid contract and I said, “Obviously, you don’t know how this thing works.”

Brad [Pitt] was very, very embarrassed that the people around him were asking him for all this stuff. And he contacted me and he said, “This isn’t me, I didn’t do this. I know your work, and I would just like to be photographed by you.”

So, we spent the day together and I found him to be a very interesting guy. I think a person of, speaking of integrity, a person of very high integrity, and a person with real passion for his work, but also a passion for the things that he believes in, causes that he and Angelina [Jolie] are involved with. It was a real pleasure to get to know him.

Now they are friends.

I am still googly eyed over this portrait of Tony Kushner by Christian Weber for New York Magazine. It’s all silvery and full of shine and special glasses reflections and is just beautiful.

I was so enamored that I trotted over to Mr. Weber’s site to see what else he’s been up to. Turns out, a lot. Have look-see.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

The Creators Project:
The Creators Project features a screening of Christian’s film “Somatic” in Beijing Saturday
September 18th. Somatic features Corona Radiata scored by Nine Inch Nails. The Creators Pro-
ject is a new network dedicated to the celebration of creativity and culture across media,
and around the world. Check it out!

7.

ouch.

You ever see a picture in a magazine and think, “wow, now that’s a tricky assignment”. Me too. I had that x 100 when I saw Timothy Devine’s image for New York Magazine’s “Come Here Often?” column last week.

The wrangling for this thing alone would leave me in tears.

But Mr. Devine didn’t cry. I asked him how he stayed sane and got the shot. Here’s what he said:

“The people in the photo were all actual clubgoers at Lavo — the idea was to get real patrons interacting in a real scene. I showed up before the club opened on a busy Thursday night and spent the time setting up lights so that when the doors opened, I’d be ready to go. I hard lit the booths from the front with five or six grid spots and then used a couple of custom-built pencil lights to light the back alcove. We sectioned off a corner of the place where I set up my camera and equipment and tweaked the lighting using the waitstaff as stand-ins. With the help of the writer and a few interns from the magazine, we wrangled patrons of the club. I staged them and gave them direction within the scene.

The shoot was challenge after challenge. As soon as the doors opened, the club got packed. The management were really tolerant, but they wanted the shoot to happen quickly because they were having celebrities come in later in the evening who wouldn’t want cameras around. The music was deafening and made communicating really hard. My assistant was standing right next to me and couldn’t hear a word I was saying. So I kept having to run back and forth between my camera and the people in the shot to speak with them. It was pretty insane. Thank goodness for alcohol, it definitely helped to lubricate all the subjects.”

___

Thank goodness for alcohol, indeed. I hope you got a nightcap, Tim. Here’s the image with the copy the mag ran.

The Place: The latest Cristal-pouring, Vegas-channeling subterranean ultralounge from the guys behind Marquee and Avenue.
The Time: Thursday, 11:42 p.m.
The Mission: Chat up every reveler in sight.

1. TANYA CAMBURN
32, hairstylist
“I know one of the managers, so he invited me to host a table. Basically, they pay you to bring 30 or 40 people, and you’re just there to make the party look cute. I don’t usually go places like this—it’s a little mainstream, but it’s beautiful.”

2. BENEDICT PEREZ
45, banker
“Fifty-Eighth Street used to be a pretty hoppin’ place, then a grimier crowd came in, so this is good. Barnaby works across the street and said, ‘Let’s have one drink after work.’ But it’s never just one drink.”

3. BARNABY HALL
29, banker
“This is a very impromptu night, and pretty innocuous to begin with. I have a girlfriend, but she’s not here. No flirting—I’m just enjoying the company. I’ve had a couple martinis.”

4. JESSICA CATALANO
25, PR specialist
“There were a lot of people outside, but my friends are friends with some of the managers, who let us in. I’ve been going to Marquee and Avenue for a while, and I usually cut the line because they remember me.”

5. ALLIE MINTZ
22, fashion-sales rep
“I live on the Upper East Side, and instead of spending $20 on a cab home from downtown, you spend $6 from here. It’s pretty early, so I’ll assume the crowd will get better as the night goes on. Right now, it’s a little old for me.”

6. JENNA DRIGGERS
24, marketing manager
“I’m out with like ten of my girlfriends. We had dinner at a friend’s place at the Plaza and were dancing there, and then we kept on dancing here. It’s good exercise, especially in heels—a way to save money on the gym.”

7. ALONA KRUGLAK
“ageless,” entrepreneur
“I’m at the age where I don’t want to be surrounded by 20-year-olds, and this is an age-appropriate, older-money crowd. I’m currently single, and it’s like a candy store of good-looking, successful men.”

8. ANDRÉA EMRICK
38, real-estate project manager
“This crowd is very eclectic, which I like. If I feel like going after a young guy, there’s a young guy; if I feel like going after an older guy, there’s an older guy. It’s always a goal to find one of each.”

9. LEDA BELUCHE
30, talent manager
“Before this, we went to dinner at Tao, and we walked outside and saw all these fashionable people across the street. And we were like, ‘Those are the elite crowd, and we’re the elite crowd, so let’s go join them.’ ”

See the full piece at NYMag. See more of Timothy Devine’s work.

I think animals in slow-mo are the new black, and I count myself among the fans of this hairy trend. There’s a beautiful piece right now on Nowness shot by Matthew Donaldson of polo player Nacho Figueras. Look, look:

And some behind the scenes…

p.s. a zorse!

A lot of the photographers we know and love were in the New York Times yesterday, documenting 20-somethings with their iphones. The photographers themselves are 20-somethings. So clever, photo editors!

(Except, Jen Davis, you imposter- I see you.)

In any case, this is a nice little album of sun flares and windswept hair and bicycle shadows. Don’t miss it.

(ps who is the PE for this section, does anyone know?)

Last week’s Hiroshima anniversary reminded me of some images from the testing of nuclear weapons in the ’40s and ’50s in the Marshall Islands.

One is beautiful and one is funny, and they are both completely terrifying.

I’ve spent the morning googling around on Hiroshima; it’s not for the faint of heart. Check out some incredible images here, and read about the photographer Yosuke Yamahata, who was perhaps the only person photographing on the ground directly following the devastation.

Mushroom cloud from the largest nuclear test the United States ever conducted, Castle Bravo.

The United States conducted the U.S. Nuclear Testing Program (NTP) in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958. In those twelve years, the U.S. detonated 67 nuclear bombs in and around the land, air, and water of the Marshall Islands. The bombs had a total yield of 108,496 kilotons, over 7,200 times more powerful than the atomic weapons used during World War II.

In 1952, the U.S. conducted the world’s first thermonuclear detonation, the Mike Shot on Enewetak Atoll. The most famous test, the Bravo shot, detonated at Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, was a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb more than 1,000 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

From its $20 billion investment in the NTP, the U.S. gained a much more sophisticated understanding of nuclear weapons and the health effects of exposure to excessive doses of radioactive fallout. Consequently, the U.S. bolstered its military and political position in the early years of the Cold War.

The Bravo shot, detonated on Bikini Atoll on March 1, 1954, was the largest thermonuclear device ever tested by the United States. The Bravo test exposed Marshallese people to near-fatal amounts of radiation, and resulted in widespread radiological contamination of people and the environment.

1946. Admiral and Mrs. Blandy celebrate operation crossroads with an atomic cake. This frequently reproduced photograph captures an uncanny resemblance between Mrs. Blandy’s hat and the mushroom cloud.

From dvafoto:

Andrew McConnell’s The Last Colony intrigues me. About the politics and injustices of colonization in Western Sahara, the essay covers a topic that would traditionally be the purview of a black and white documentary approach, but addresses it with highly-produced portraiture that you’d expect to see in the pages of a business magazine. The dissonance between subject and style is arresting and a breath of fresh air.

We agree. Take a look at a few more of McConnell’s images (click to enlarge).

Dean Dorat made these World Cup spectator pictures in 2006 in various pubs across Paris and London. They’re adding to my World Cup FEVER. Do you have the fever, or did you pick Greece in the office grab bag? Or perhaps North Korea?

Check out these stars in Amsterdam if you need further inspiration. And get your official team underoos ready.

See more from Dean Dorat.

Today, I decided to round-up some of my favorite Facebook “Likes” and suggest that you “Like” them too…

The Biggies: ASMP, The Center for Fine Art Photography, MoCP, ICP, MoMA, P.S.1, LACMA, Whitney Museum, The Guggenheim, Rhizome

The Books: Self-Publish, Be Happy, Hassla, Dashwood Books, Steidl, LayFlat, Printed Matter

The Magazines: Fantom Editions, Ahorn Magazine, ‘SUP Magazine, 01 Magazine, FOAM Magazine, The Journal, Daylight Magazine, Blind Spot, British Journal of Photography

The Galleries(ists): Capricious, ClampArt, Taxter & Spengman, Golden, Foley Gallery, 303 Gallery, Zach Feuer Gallery, KLOMPCHING, Daniel Cooney Fine Art, Michael Mazzeo Gallery

The Resources: Humble Arts, photolucida, Photo Festivals/Foto Festivals, collect.give, Project 5, The Exhibition Lab, Residency Unlimited, Res Artis, Print Space, iCI (Independent Curators International), Aperture Foundation

The Fashion: The Gentlewoman, Fantastic Man, Dossier Journal

The Internet: Too Much Chocolate, American Suburb X, Flak Photo, The Exposure Project, TriangleTriangle

And, lastly, some personal favorites: UbuWeb, TED, “Become a Fan”, AND i don’t think i could live without horses

Drop a line on our Facebook page with some of your favorites!

This scares me so much more than a volcano ever could.

from BoingBoing:

This photo just post more...

Sometimes when I’m at a loss for inspiration I queue up some Radio Lady Gaga on the Pandora.  more...

Today the task at hand is to review portfolios at the ASMP Fine Art Portfolio Review. Unlike  more...

Boy was I low on visual inspiration this morning. I had nothing. Then I found a skeleton dog. more...

via Huffington Post. Discuss.

(It’s the 1042 who already have that amazes me.)

I was lamenting my accidentally-checked Xanax as I flew over the Andes yesterday. Turbulence more...

A woman who fell from a boat is submerged by the swift moving waters of the Des Moines River more...

We love us some Library of Congress at TPP. Do you know they have a dedicated flickr account? more...

Joyce Carol Oates made me cry yesterday. On the 6 train. I try not to be such a simp, but The more...

This photo popped up on my Twitter newsfeed yesterday, and I LOL’d, I ad more...

I checked in with Travel + Leisure photo editor Whitney Lawson the other day, and asked about more...

Mitchell Feinberg can shoot a still life. He does it all the time for folks like New York Ma more...

PDN’s 30 were announced yesterday, and everyone’s all atwitter. Literally. The 30 is still an more...

Question of the Day will appear every Wednesday on The Post.

Our Question of the Day this wee more...

How do you approach a subject when they’ve been photographed thirteen thousand times and coun more...

Question of the Day will appear every Wednesday on The Post.

Sooooo a month or so back, when  more...

Google Reader, RSS feeds, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr… It’s no wonder that these networking too more...