Click image for closer look.
Apart from the many unsolved questions of 9/11 and mysteries surrounding this even - this is one amazing image.
Click image for closer look.
Apart from the many unsolved questions of 9/11 and mysteries surrounding this even - this is one amazing image.
Nude act photography as well as painting and drawing are the grammar school of visual art. Here the visual artists studies and explore the human form - strangely enough mostly only the female form. You can find a gazillion of nude acts from great old master like Man Ray, Weston and Stieglitz. Still any young modern photographer has to go though the same positions, the same shots and compositions.
On the other side we viewers never seem to get enough of the human shape? People like watching people - no matter if they have seen that person only once of a thousand times. We are addicted to ourselves - our proportions and gestures.
So Man Ray once delivers another celebration of mankind.
Various artists - couldn’t find any credits, sorry!
The male shape is as ‘normal’ and beautiful as the female form. What annoys me is that often male act photography is only meant for the gay community (like many female acts border to normal porn). I am the last person lambasting porn anyway - but sometimes a great image of the human form is simply enough for me and amazing enough.
Can’t we celebrate our own shapes without going all juicy?
Another classic moment snapped by Maestro Brassai. Prostitution, Sex and naked Ladies have always inspired and attracted many artists. I think the idea of the Muses reflects that as well. Sex is creation, creativity is creation. Both can be highly uplifting acts with long lasting consequences. So every artist is also a parent - of ideas, concepts and eternal beauty …
Ragnar has a sharp eye for amazing moments! Visit his fascinating gallery for a shot trip to some harsher places and of our globe like the Faeroe Island or Siberia. Wow!
Today it’s easy to find some erotic or pornographic photography on the net. Almost all photographers have some ‘hot shots’ in their collections. Bob Carlos Clarke also has a wide range of topics, but his erotic shots are often spiced up with dark humor and even criticism. Go watch his breath taking slide show here - and judge for yourself. Too bad this great master is already dead.
Click image for more amazement.
Ah, I am bewitched by this woman. She has fire in her eyes. She ain’t the usual dumb blonde - she was very feisty.
Photographer: George Hurrell
One of the great classic Maestro’s of Photography. He shot many poses and captured many moments other photographers still try to snap today. Many of these acolytes could learn from the great Master: most of all he didn’t see objects and people like we would classify and describe them. He didn’t see a woman, a toilet, a pepper or a shell. He only saw shapes, light and composition.
That is why he was able to capture beauty in every object he photographed. He didn’t rate or classify what he say - he just looked at it’s ‘being’ and framed the beauty that was obvious to him.
Maestro Dalain died just recently from Cancer - aged 80. Too bad there is not much about him to be found on the intranets. What a shame!
If there is one photographer that has shaped the 80’s visual landscape it’s Herb Ritts (together with Robert Mapplethorpe and . His strong black and white portraits and composition lead to a new cool and extremely pleasing aesthetic style.
When I flip thru some of his books or online galleries it’s amazing how many pictures you will recognize, either from magazine covers, pop albums or videos: Herb Ritts at Stanly Wise or a small biography.
Too bad he already died in 2002. Another sad loss.
Images: by the groundbreaking Herb Ritts
We are all individuals, but we still belong to uniformed groups.
This is an exciting and insightful study of our western lifestyles and the desire of humans to be individuals while STILL belonging to a group. Bring some time to click yourself through this amazing tapestry of modern moments, groups, looks and styles.
Brilliant!
More? www.exactitudes.com
Click image for a bigger bang.
Atomic explosions are amazing - I can watch them over and over again. The Universe at work …
Click image for more surrealism.
Dali and Halsman are both Maestros in their fields of expertise. So their collaboration could only result in a work of supergenius. 
I like that image, because it was hard work - they didn’t have Photoshap back in the 1940’s …
More? Philippe Halsman
Click image for more Gable.
I love these old school portraits. They are simply amazing.
Artist: unknown - can anyone help?
I knew it! There was always something wrong with the term nunnery.
Click image for larger lips.
One of the modern classics. Kissing was hardly shown in art before the modern age - it was considered - oh the shock! - indecent.
With the modern times came new morals and loads of yummy kisses!
Click image for more Nadja.
A moment of eternal erection.
Helmut Newton knew to create the perfect erotic moment.
Click image for a larger river.
is there anyone out there who doesn’t adore these photos? Maestro Adams is the King of Nature photographers. His keen eye for nature’s beauty and tranquility is unsurpassed - and his hard work hauling all that equipment to god forsaken places is greatly appreciated. All hail King Ansel!
Moira has sent me this great gallery of old guys portraits. It is rare that the male form entices photographers to snap my species. But making pix of old guys is even rarer.
Thanks Moira.
Click image for more romance.
They don’t make couples like that anymore.
Photographer: unknown - can anyone help
Usually I dislike simply linking to big image dumps in some forums, but this one is special. Great shots from rural Russia. (I guess? Anyone out there can help me there?)
Like van Gogh the photographer took some time at the grace and beauty of normal life, age and the landscape. It takes some love and an open mind to see that we are all beautiful, even in the most forgotten places on earth …
Madonna always knew how to reinvent herself. Her looks for the videos ‘Frozen’ and ‘Nothing Really Matters‘ were very stunning. This is a promo shot for Harper’s Bazaar 1999.
Music is an essential part of our human culture. Too bad we are loosing that aspect in our daily lives. Instead of sharing and listening to it together everybody escapes into his / her own iPod-Sphere. And how many people can play an instrument these days or know the lyrics of several songs (not just the refrain)?
Norma’s beauty and esprit is so very different from today’s movie stars. I wonder if many of the silent and early stars would ever make it in our modern cult of celebrity? If Paris Hilton can call herself a ‘brand’ then Norma Shearer certainly was a Goddess.
More? Wikipedia
Artist: George Hurrell - thanks Brad
