Click image for a larger version.
Madame Lamarr is not your usual silverscreen beauty – she had brains and lots of it. How many Hollywood actresses do you know that hold an U.S. patent?
What a fascinating woman!
Photographer: Does anyone know the artist behind the camera?
Simplicity often is the best way to let beauty speak for itself. Robert Mapplethorpe was the Master of reduction – he had a keen eye for just capturing the essence of his subjects.
Here is an excellent article about “Robert Mapplethorpe and the Classical Tradition” in relationship to Mannerism.
Most amusing side note: here we see the God Apollo – who was also the patron of the Arts.
Bert Stern shot in June 1962 the last session with Madame Monroe – the famous last sitting (there is a great book out there with all the shots).
The New York Magazine tried to recreate this great series (click Slideshow to see it) with less desirable Lindsay Lohan – and again Bert Stern as the Master of Light.
Sure Lohan and Marilyn are both addicts in their own way. But Miss Lohan is hardly in the same class as the great MM.
Please: if you can’t come up with great ideas for your own photo shot – don’t fake classic images. Remakes are usually weak and only show your own lack of creativity. Classics are simply classics. Leave them alone.
Alexander Rodchenko started out as a painter and later became a brilliant photographer. He was one of the greatest Russian photographers of his time …
The Leica is equally legendary – it was the first 35mm camera in wide use. Rodchenko is credited being the first artist to make her use popular in Russia.
It is always easy as a westerner to be charmed by Asian art, because it is to our eyes and mind different – and exotic. Images, analogies and compositions that are normal in Asian culture are new and exciting for western art lovers.
Madame Yoshida certainly plays with a lot of Asian elements – but I like her global and intimate approach to her art. Very fascinating.
More? Official Site
This is one amazing collection of images. Bring a lot of time and dive into this incredible gallery.
Mister Leping Zha you are a genius!!!
All I can say: bloody brilliant! Maestro Minkkinnen has many great shots in his portfolio – but this one really made me laugh out load. But he seems in general to have a great sense of humor – and a very unique and enjoyable point of view!
More? Official Homepage
A great photographer always catching the right moments for history. I love his work.
Click image for a bigger stone.
If you click the image and feel small by what you see – you are correct. Compared to nature’s awesome monuments we are small and short lived. That’s why our admiration should be huge and timeless.
Afghanistan – he is 40, she is 11. She was sold by her parents, because they needed the money. Still girls are treated like a commodity in many countries or simply sold as sex slaves. (Photo by Stephanie Sinclair)
Chechnya – the world seems to have forgotten Putin’s terrible war on these people? War is terrible for adults, for kids is sheer hell. (Ohoto by Musa Sadulayev)
America – even living in a rich country can’t save you from serious illness. Still most kids all over the world don’t have universal health care. This little guy is already dead – he died 2006. (Photo by Renée C. Bayer)
Bangladesh – many kids have to work hard to survive. Although child labor has decreased in recent years it’s still there and needs to be abolished. It my sound cynical: but I think it’s better when kids have work and can feed themselves – instead of starving to death. (Photo by Akash)
Philippines – every place can be a playground, even this landfill outside Manilla where the poorest of the poor scavenge for food. Hunger and starvation are still with us – even in developing nations or economic superstars like China or the USA. (Photo by Hartmut Schwarzbach)
Rich Nations – while kids in poor countries struggle to get education, food and healthcare in high-tech nations they are slowly turned into brain washed zombies. This is the typical brain dead TV stare. (Photo by Wolfram Hahn)
All the images are taken from here: unicef.org. Go there and read more in detail about the stories behind each kid.
After watching all that pain porn you should be ready to give some money and not just a sentimental sigh in front of your computer. Do something!
I highly recommend SPONSORING a kid all year long – and not just for that special Christmas feel good moment. How about five Euros or Dollars each month? That’s not much – but already some REAL money in many poor countries. Have a look at the video on this page for some insight or more motivation: www.plan-uk.org
There are many charities for kids out there: www.children.org, www.sos-childrensvillages.org, www.worldvision.org and www.unicef.org.
Thank you!
Although shot just over 50 year ago – this image looks like from another century. Life has changed so rapidly in many countries it’s amazing. But we need people like Bresson to remind us of where we came from …
Everything is just perfect in advertising. Everything isn’t perfect in real life. But it seems to me that more and more people have lost the grip and reality – and think that their life’s should be more like advertising?
I find most fashion and advertising photography pretty boring, predictable and soulless.
But in the case of Maestro Thierry le Gouès it’s different. Sure he does all the stylish shots in the right poses with all these hot models. But he has that extra special bit soul and excitement left.
His work ranges from spiritual fashion porn to almost graphical erotica (like the above pictures Soul series).
Most art postings are about the painting / art itself and the artists. Rarely do we get a glimpse at the process, inspiration, model or muse behind it. Jane was a muse for many British painters of the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
Jane Morris was one of Rossetti’s favorite models after the death of his beloved wife. She was married to his great fellow painter William Morris.
Click me for a bigger kiss!
Wet lips are made for long and dramatic moments of sheer ecstasy.
Photographer: Sara Silver
A great shot with mystical qualities. Train stations had always a certain magic for me – like an ant hill, the pulse of any city and a social parade ground. I could spend hours and hours there – watching people and sucking in the atmosphere. Make sure to also visit the Grand Central Terminal Pool on Flickr.
Click here to visit to visit ladies from Israel on their Tour of Duty. It is an unusual look inside the military world – usually filled with guys and testosterone. Hardly a showcase for military nuts – but more a documentation that woman can do the job as well as any guy. Plus it documents very well the camaraderie between the soldier girls. Intimate, personal and very real.
I love this look behind the scenes.
Madame Modotti had a keen eye for beauty. Her gentle photos of people and flowers always touch my heart …
Wow, what an amazing portrait from 1957 – you can literally feel all the testosterone ooze out of the image. They don’t make guys like that anymore …
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.
Whoever Gubin is he made of Jade – whoever she is – some pretty sensual shots. Although pmates.com is a pretty sleazy site, but sometimes some great and artistic shots can be found. A good way to get my heart started in the morning …
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.
