Comments on: Dreams of Flying

Dreams of Flying

Robot Johnny — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:25:44 -0800

Dreams of Flying. Whimsical photographs by Jan Von Holleben.

By: CRM114

CRM114 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:30:03 -0800

That was great.

By: Keith Talent

Keith Talent — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:32:23 -0800

Those were superb with the exception of the last one where the perspective seems to get screwed up.

By: furtive

furtive — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:37:58 -0800

Cute. I think it would have been better executed if the camera was higher and looking downwards more...as it is too often it is much to obvious that they are lying down on the ground, and takes away from the overall effect. The bike race looked like great fun.

By: Squid Voltaire

Squid Voltaire — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:38:33 -0800

Those are awesome, thanks. Simplicity is often extremely cool... and I think it's neat that those photos only work because the "trick" is so obvious, so to speak.

By: pokermonk

pokermonk — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:43:49 -0800

some were very good, some not so much... i was really annoyed that the models were the same through the entire series (not always a bad thing, but here it bugged me).

By: pithy comment

pithy comment — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:50:35 -0800

This one was my favorite.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 15:55:15 -0800

I especially liked the pirates, and the diver. However, I had a strange thought - If I came across these pictures in a calendar, they'd risk coming across as cutesy to the point of kitsch. So I'm currently thinking about what triggers that response in me and why.

By: Vaska

Vaska — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:03:12 -0800

Absolutely lovely and imaginative.

By: -harlequin-

-harlequin- — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:03:45 -0800

i was really annoyed that the models were the same through the entire series People will lend you their hedge clippers without a second thought, but they seem to go all weird when you try to borrow their children. What's worse, they don't even sell children at the local store. Those suckers are hard to obtain.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:16:33 -0800

Good post...thanks!

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:20:59 -0800

Good idea, very poorly executed.

By: Uther Bentrazor

Uther Bentrazor — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 16:53:37 -0800

As I look at the photos, all I can think of is my mother saying "What kind of weirdo is going to make children lie on the floor to take pictures?" ... I guess I should get my head examined.

By: davejay

davejay — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:00:24 -0800

Terrific! Today is a fine day for single-link FPPs. Really, I loved these pictures, and wish I'd thought of it. I disagree with the criticism about the poor execution, FWIW; I like that the photographer didn't attempt to make it look like they were actually flying, but instead took pains (such as not taking the picture from a completely perpendicular angle tot he ground) to make sure you knew exactly how the picture had been shot. That, for me, makes some of the photos that much more delightful when they work better than they should (like the bikes photo, and the karate photo.) Make no mistake, I'm going to photograph my children in this way when they're a little older.

By: rokabiri

rokabiri — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 17:14:19 -0800

I wish I had thought of this. Beautiful.

By: rob511

rob511 — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:11:28 -0800

I'm hardly sentimental, and I found these charming. The obvious setups just add to their appeal, IMHO. I also liked some of his landscapes, e.g.

By: easternblot

easternblot — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 18:47:08 -0800

(such as not taking the picture from a completely perpendicular angle tot he ground) That would actually make it look less like flying, because if you really DID see those kids flying, you would most likely see them from underneath if you were standing on the ground, not directly sideways as if you were flying yourself.

By: snsranch

snsranch — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:22:11 -0800

Perhaps too simple for some sophisticated tastes, but I, using my inner child's eye, found this absolutely fascinating and beautiful. Actually, I'm inspired. Will have to do something myself now!

By: odinsdream

odinsdream — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:38:20 -0800

The idea was obviously lost on the kid in the lower left, or he just fell asleep.

By: BillyElmore

BillyElmore — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 19:52:54 -0800

Those shots seemed to be joy in the making. For some reason, they reminded me of a well done school play. I also found them to be female, before I looked back to see if a woman had taken them. Don't know why.

By: avoision

avoision — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 20:46:31 -0800

This made my day.

By: BoringPostcards

BoringPostcards — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 21:01:26 -0800

So wonderful.

By: wsg

wsg — Wed, 12 Apr 2006 23:38:56 -0800

Well, aren't those fun!

By: MissM

MissM — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 10:25:32 -0800

Nicely done. but seem like an utter rip-off of czech photographer Miro Svolik, http://www.czechslovakphotos.com/html/svolik.html - including almost identical staging of certain photos. The only exception seems to be that children were used. http://www.gallery1930.com/english/svolik.html

By: xclark

xclark — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 18:48:36 -0800

if you go through the guy's other work, you'll find what was probably an earlier experiment along the same lines. and for what it's worth, these photos are the most fun I've had looking at photos in a while.

By: yoga

yoga — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 05:47:57 -0800

Very cool - thanks for the post!

By: pointilist

pointilist — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 07:15:46 -0800

Reminded me of this movie(QT).

By: hooray

hooray — Sun, 16 Apr 2006 10:15:35 -0800

I like it much, thanks!

By: deborah

deborah — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 18:36:57 -0800

Charming!