Kevin J. Weir is an artist, making ads (
1,
2,
3,
4,
5), and more interestingly, not ads. In the latter category, he has made 3 stand-alone sites:
the Flux Machine, a tumblr of public domain images turned into animated GIFs, ranging from amusing to surreal (with an extra dash of Lovecraft), which
Cartoon Brew likened to
Terry Gilliam and
Stan VanDerBeek;
Nyan Waits, another spin-off of the
Nyan Cat meme/theme, now with more Tom Waits; and
Loud Portraits, an interactive portrait gallery.
[more inside]
posted by filthy light thief
on Apr 4, 2012 -
9 comments
"The
Soldier Portraits Project...consists of portrait photographs of soldiers of the United States Army, primarily of the 3rd Infantry Division...[t]he photographs are made using the 150 year old collodion wet plate process - the same process that was used to document much of the period (and many of the soldiers) of the Civil War."
[more inside]
posted by cjelli
on Jan 25, 2012 -
9 comments
Marked. Photographer Claire Felicie photographed the marines of the 13th infantry company of the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps, before, during and after their deployment in Uruzgan.
posted by jokeefe
on Dec 18, 2011 -
20 comments
Black And White Portraits of the Homeless "Lee Jeffries' career began as a sports photographer, capturing the beautiful game of football in Manchester. Then a chance meeting with a homeless woman living in the streets of London changed his life forever. He has since dedicated himself to capturing gripping portraits of the disenfranchised.
Shooting exclusively in black and white, Lee Jeffries’ 135+ pictures can be viewed in his Flickr Photostream. The majority are closeup portraits with incredible detail. Each photograph exudes so much raw character and depth, you find yourself studying each shot with great intensity."
posted by parrot_person
on Dec 16, 2011 -
42 comments
Drew Gardner is an English photographer with a wide range of interests (
Eccentrics,
Guinness records) though perhaps his most beguiling collection is of
Descendants, portraits of, well, descendents of the rich and powerful in some of their most iconic poses.
Bonus video of Helen Pankhurst being set up as her great grandmother Emmeline, with audio of the great suffragette herself
posted by IndigoJones
on Sep 15, 2011 -
13 comments
"During the 1860s, several photographers based in Moscow and St. Petersburg produced series of cartes-de-visite showing Russian 'types.' These
remarkable portraits provide a fascinating record of working-class townspeople, artisans, street vendors and peasants, some staged performing an activity, such as drinking tea or gaming, and some photographed in the performance of their occupation."
posted by gman
on Aug 23, 2010 -
22 comments
Retratos Pintados "Since the late 19th century through the 1990s, hand-painted photographic portraits were a common feature in homes in the rural areas of the northeastern Brazilian states. At a time when black-and-white photographs were not considered dramatic enough, the retratos
pintados (“painted portraits”) glamorized and idealized their subjects. Black-and-white family photos were enlarged and painted, conferring status on members of the family and portraying them as icons or saints. Using oil washes and other techniques specific to the region, local artisans embellished clothing with pattern and color, smoothed wrinkles, added jewelry or resurrected deceased relatives, illustrating the fantasies and desires of their customers."
posted by puny human
on Jul 19, 2010 -
7 comments
"she talked to me for a long time. she shared stories of staying in london and paris and that wonderful feeling that accompanies being there. she talked of gardening and music and even stress. we hit it off like old friends." .... Joshua Langlais spends a couple of hours every day looking for a stranger to talk with and photograph. He's done this every day since September 8, 2008. The results of his work can be seen at
I ♥ Strangers.
[more inside]
posted by bdragon
on Mar 25, 2010 -
20 comments
"
I photograph people who skirt the edges of things; people whose connection to the broader flow is murky or obscured. Mistaken as more, less or different than they are; they aren’t really seen and don’t really
belong. That’s everyone sometimes; but
some more often. I try to establish a line for a moment. I hope to connect. And I see the most
beautiful and the most
heartbreaking things."
posted by parudox
on May 10, 2009 -
34 comments
Tableaux: In 1994 Ari Versluis and Ellie Uyttenbroek made a series of 12 photographs of have gabbers and put the pictures in a tableau. They've been making tableaus of types of people for 14 years now and it's all on their site. Some random examples:
gabber bitches Rotterdam 1996,
football supporters Rotterdam 1997,
smas Rotterdam 1997,
scream Beijing 1999,
bundaboys Rio de Janeiro 2000,
skins Rotterdam 2002,
girls on their first communion Maastricht 2006,
retired Dutch men,
proper girls Rotterdam 2006,
yupsterboys New York 2006,
yupstergirls New York 2006,
pin-ups London 2008,
city girls London 2008,
hipsters Rotterdam 2008,
flexmanagers Rotterdam/Paris 2008,
the girls of the affluent 7th district of Paris 2008,
geeks in London 2008 [more inside]
posted by jouke
on Nov 1, 2008 -
51 comments
Face Your Pockets. "Our goal is to not only bring all these objects into light but show the owner of them. During the scanning process it is recommended not to open your eyes."
posted by Soup
on Dec 3, 2007 -
20 comments
Photographs of the dancers, actresses, cafe-life figures and prostitutes who were the subjects of Toulouse Lautrec's paintings, including such luminaries as
Sarah Bernhardt, "
La Goulue" (Louise Weber;
remember this?), and
Jane Avril, who was the model for
this last, iconic, Lautrec poster. View pages of the art matched up with photos,
here,
here, and
here, and
go to this page to rummage around in even more collections that include photos of Lautrec, his friends and family, street and location scenes, and lots of other tidbits.
[Spanish language site; NUDITY]
posted by taz
on Jul 5, 2007 -
10 comments
Since I was only a child,
Arnold Newman (gallery; another gallery) (obituary) has been my favorite photographer. He specialized in "environmental portraiture," carefully posing his subjects in surroundings that spoke to their personalities. He usually spent hours or days meticulously planning every aspect of the shot, and not always to make the
subject look good. Many of his photos became
the definitive photograph of the person. I hope one day to make even one photograph that comes close to what he was able to do.
posted by The Deej
on Feb 3, 2007 -
15 comments
There are about 250,000 centenarians alive today, including several hundred
"supercentarians" aged 110+ years. Jerry Friedman, founder of Earth's Elders
Foundation, has spent the past four years on a landmark project to introduce the world to
the oldest people on earth. And in a similar endeavor, photographer Mark Story has been capturing portraits and stories of people from around the globe who are
Living in Three Centuries.
posted by madamjujujive
on Dec 4, 2006 -
16 comments
Burned: a photoset on Flickr "In 2001 I met a burn survivor who allowed me to photograph her. She told me that she wanted to be photographed so that people could stare at her without feeling embarrassed. It was such an extraordinary experience that a few months later I flew to a burn conference and set up a makeshift studio in a hotel room, and asked people to let me know if they would like their portraits made. I was astonished at how many people did. What I learned from this extraordinary experience was that every burn survivor has a tale of courage to tell, and that the burns have their own eerie beauty." Amazing, unsettling, inspiring.
posted by mathowie
on Jun 30, 2006 -
48 comments
Their task may be depressing, but the generosity of their work is inspiring and hopefully thereputic. The photographers who are working with
Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep provide their services on a volunteer basis to help families over come the grief of losing an infant.
If you're a professional photographer interested in being involved, they're seeking
volunteers.
posted by blaneyphoto
on Jun 7, 2006 -
24 comments
Wrestling with Diane Arbus "She set up no lights, just pulled out her Rolleiflex, which was half as big as she was, checked the aperture and the exposure, and tested the flash. Then she asked me to lie on the bed, flat on my back on the shabby counterpane.
I did as I was told. Clutching the camera she climbed on to the bed and straddled me, moving up until she was kneeling with a knee on both sides of my chest. She held the Rolleiflex at waist height with the lens right in my face. She bent her head to look through the viewfinder on top of the camera, and waited".
posted by matteo
on Oct 8, 2005 -
25 comments