Dream Collector

In the late 1960s photographer Arthur Tress turned his lens to the nightmares of children. From being buried alive to chased by monsters, Tress created surreal photographs of children re-inacting some of their worst dreams. The series is slightly disturbing and quite captivating. It's hard to look away from the images that blur reality and make us remember our own worst nightmares.

City of Shadows

Photographer Alexey Titarenko specializes in spooky, black and white photography in cities around the world. (Check out his Black and White magic St. Petersburg series for some stunners!) His most appropriate series for the season though is City of Shdaows. A haunting collection of long exposures that turn passing pedestrians into hordes of ghosts. While they remind me of the demons in Supernatural, it is also seems almost like a visual representation of what it is like to suffer from social anxiety in cities...In Titarenko's own words, "the mass of people flowing around the subway station formed a sort of human tide, giving me a sensation of unrealness, of phantasmagoria, These people were like shadows, one would meet in the Underworld. I decided to express that feeling in my work, to convey my personal expressions. I had to find a visual metaphor that would enable the viewer to share my feelings as acutely as possible. That is what prompted me to try a long exposure process."

Light Fossils

The one area of photography I have no experience in and would really like to experiment with is long exposures. From capturing the blur of lightning bugs in summer to the starry sky on a clear night, I definitely want to experiment in the future. Even so I'm lightyears away from the talent of Darren Pearson who sketches dinosaurs with light. Far beyond the simple outlines of a word or phrase painted with a flashlight, Pearson's work brings evocative dinosaur skeletons into beautiful landscapes.

The Future Was Yesterday

I'm a sucker for retro-visions of the future; they're just such a sweet combination of ridiculous and optimistic and stylish. It's actually quite unfortunate that so few of them come to fruition. These manipulated photographs by artist Jacob Munkhammar are actually modern works imitating retro-futurism (similar to Air Drive by Renaud Marion). I love how with the variety of modern cars and styles available he decided to focus his series on old Citroën models from the 1970s. They're both nostalgic (even in the chosen surroundings of old, classic architecture and autumnal tones reinforce this nostalgic feeling) and forward-looking to the day we will eventually get those oft-promised hovercrafts...

Tom the Dog

Thomas's family has a blind cat named Timmy who has appeared on my Instagram a number of times. Interestingly enough my parents have a deaf dog named Tom who has become a model for me recently (he's so patient!). I feel as if these two animals should team up for a comic--like some sort of "pet detective" series although I'm not sure how a blind cat and deaf dog would communicate... Anyway, back to Tom! He's a Cavalier King Charles spaniel and if not for his strange health issues, he might have been a show dog. He's only four years old so when he went deaf last year it was a complete surprise. He doesn't seem affected by his deafness at all; the only real change has been when you try to get him to come inside from the yard you have to go outside and wave your arms around until he notices you. Tom loves attention and is a very patient model, so I've been posing him with some funny accessories and practicing Typography by adding fun quotes to the pictures. Pics via my Instagram.

Khumbula

Khumbula is a group of styles and designers from Johannesburg that recently launched a street style site with Lourens Loux Gebhardt of The Vintage Guru. The website that seeks to inspire and explain the merits of vintage fashion. In their own words they are a group "of young visionaries who advocate for a well cut Africa, the sartorial Africa." The site features incredibly stylish individuals in a mix of 50s and 60s clothing--and while retro it's not too restrictive that you won't find young women in trousers and suspenders. "We are an ensemble of young creatives from the city of Johannesburg, we pride ourselves with the beauty of our continent and we aim to showcase the art and science of craftmanship of our continent. We do this to create a different perception of this mysterious continent, for our art is the Africa doesn't normally see on TV." It's street fashion with a perspective and I'm excited to see who and what they'll be featuring next.

Cupcakes In Orbit

Food photography tends to be fairly standard: show the food. Sometimes you document the process or spread a few of the ingredients around for visual interest, but it's still very cut and dry. Which makes sense; similar to outfit photography for a blog the photography has a purpose which is not to tell a story, but to show the food or clothes. Photographer Dina Belenko turns this concept on it's head in her latest series which transforms donuts into planets and lets cupcakes blast off into space. It's a simple concept so beautifully executed in makes you re-think the entire genre. I especially like the idea of showing a baked creation in the center and then ringing it with the ingredients that went inside like a solar system around a sun...possibly a waste of good flour and sprinkles but a lovely image.

FaFa

I'm a big fan of Lissy Elle's dreamy work and her recent series for FaFa is a new level of loveliness. The dream-like quality of her photographs is perfectly suited for a children's clothing line as each image feels like a child's daydream or imagination at work. I really admire her use of real elements--filling a room with daisies and posing a swan that sell the real-meet-fantasy world better than any photoshop could. And yeah, if I had a kid I'd definitely be checking out their shop to see if I could afford some of those pieces.

Mirai Chan

I'm not usually a sucker for photographs of children, or really children in general! Sure I've known a some nice kids, but I'm just not that girl who sees a baby or cute kid and starts going "awww." However, some children just have an amazing presence that seems to grip you with near star-like quality; the adorable Mirai-chan is one of those children.
The chubby cheeked Japanese four year old was photographed for one year by Kawashima Kotori who published the series in a book. The four year old was given the pseudonym Mirai-chan ("Mirai" meaning future in Japanese) and has since gone on to win the hearts of people all over the world. The series functions as documentation on one hand as we witness her in candid moments with food on her face or laughter bursting from her lips and even tears welling in her eyes. The photographer, Kotori, however views his series as conceptual; in renaming the girl he uses her to represent all that is lovable in human nature. Although Japanese and recorded on the island of Sado her winning spirit is universal--showing the best of human kind and what we have in common.