A touch of Stael

This minimal abstract (a close-up of a ship's hull) reminds me a bit of the paintings of Stael. It is a personal favourite and it also received a lot of views and faves on Flickr.

Camera: Canon IXUS 170, 20 Megapixels, handheld
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 23.3 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Post-processing: Picasa 3.0

Fashionable legs by Bill Cunningham

Please click the thumbnail above to open the image in a separate window. Three days ago, American photographer Bill Cunningham (1929-2016) passed away. He was famous for his fashion photography (New York Times) and candid streetshots. An example of the former (with a bit of influence of the latter) is given in the beautiful shot I selected for this post. More about Cunningham on the linked Wikipedia site.

Ye olde hobo

Another example of digital art made possible with the on-line program at the DeepArt site (blogged here). I submitted a photograph of one of Kampen's iconic buildings (the windmill D' Olde Zwarver, Ye olde hobo), and a painting by Jacob van Ruisdael (link here). The link leads to the original photograph.

The scent of green papaya

My wife asked me to check out this 1993 Vietnamese movie for her in the library - and I fell in love with the poster. Exotisicm at its most beautiful.

Diagonal abstraction

One of my more popular shots of recent weeks. For a few days, a large ship was moored near our home that normally does not come to Kampen, and I took the opportunity to snap a few abstract shots of its hull.

Camera: Canon IXUS 170, 20 Megapixels, handheld
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 41.8 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Post-processing: Picasa 3.0

We remain

To Brexit or not to Brexit - that is the question of the day. For various reasons (not least financial) I would prefer the Bremain fraction to win today. And this Christina Aguilera single cover is a nice piece of eye candy for the blog anyway. More about Christina Aguilera on the linked Wikipedia page.

Summertime

For the start of summer: Peter Gabriel's version of Gershwin's classic Summertime. This is taken from the album The glory of Gershwin, featuring harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler and various vocalists.

Art Rock score: 8/10 (great song, I'd put it on my MP3 player).

Rusty abstraction

When I post one of my own photographs, it is either because I love the shot myself, or because it received a lot of positive responses. This one falls just short on both accounts, but I include it anyway. It is very representative of my abstract photography, in this case what I call found abstracts: a zoom in on a rusty container door.

Camera: Canon IXUS 170, 20 Megapixels, handheld
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/3.6
Focal Length: 4.5 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Post-processing: Picasa 3.0

Links [71]

Once more an overview of interesting links on topics related to the blog, that I encountered recently, but that will probably not make the blog as separate entries. The picture above is by myself.

Adults Film Kids Smashing Art in Museum.
Museum Visitors Mistake Glasses on the Floor for Art Exhibit.
Shortlisted Entries from the 2016 Environmental Photographer of the Year.
Famous Stolen Paintings That Were Never Found.
Photo Journey Through Poland.
Top 10 Architectural Projects.

The eye of the tiger

Another example of digital art made possible with the on-line program at the DeepArt site (blogged here). I submitted a photograph of a tiger I took years ago in the Shanghai zoo, and a painting by Feininger (link here). The result is a nice piece of cubism. The link leads to the original photograph.

Artist/Traveler

Continuing from yesterday's post: Californian artist Globelamp really deserves more attention. From her songs available on YouTube, I selected the beautiful Artist/Traveler. Great video as well. Art Rock score: 8/10 (great song, I'd put it on my MP3 player).

The orange glow

Yesterday I was browsing a music blog about recent releases, and this cover jumped out at me. Globelamp is Elizabeth le Fey from California. The cover is daringly original, as well as suggestive of the type of music (described on her FaceBook page as psychedelic folk - you can sample it here).

Spotlight

This poster for the 2015 Tom McCarthy movie Spotlight is as minimal as they come - and I love it!

Yellow fever

Another image from my CoolArt series: my wife's paintings reflected in the crumbled surface of an aluminium cooling bag. This is one of my favourites, even though it did not get much response on Flickr (although oddly enough it was viewed far more than average).

Camera: Canon IXUS 170, 20 Megapixels, handheld
Exposure: 0.033 sec (1/30)
Aperture: f/3.6
Focal Length: 4.5 mm
ISO Speed: 250
Post-processing: Picasa 3.0

Don't you want me

No special reason, just came across the song once more last weekend. If I wanted to compile a soundtrack to the eighties, this one would be in, both for musical and emotional reasons. The huge hit single from their third and best album Dare defines what post-punk was all about: an extravagant use of synthesizers, and an infectious fascination with fashion in themes and appearances, set against beautiful yet danceable melodies. Decades later, this songs still sounds as fresh as on the day of its release. The theme of the lyrics is not that original (unanswered love), but its execution, with female band member Joanne Catheral taking a large part of the vocals in line with the story line, is great. Art Rock score: 9/10 (awesome song, one of the 1000 best of all time).

Peony pavillion

One of my wife's personal favourites. She created this Chinese scenery several years ago, inspired by the centuries old play written by Tang Xianzu in the Ming Dynasty. It takes a prominent place in our gallery.

Margate Beach

Taken from a post with many century old photographs produced with Autochrome, one of the earliest colour photography processes. Autochromes required longer exposure times than traditional black-and-white photos, resulting in images with a hazy, blurred atmosphere, resembling paintings in an early impressionist style.

City Park

Another example of digital art made possible with the on-line program at the DeepArt site (blogged here). I submitted another of my photographs of our beautiful city of Kampen (one of the city park), and a painting by Constable (link here). The result is very Constable indeed. The link leads to the original photograph.

Ripped in May

A selected overview of culture stars relevant to my own tastes who passed away this month. It's been a rather quiet month compared to the start of the year - maybe the Grim Reaper was on a spring break? Rest in peace. Image by myself.

1	Madeleine Lebeau (92), French actress. She appeared in a few dozen movies, including Fellini's 8½. Her best remembered role is Yvonne in Casablanca, where she famously sang Le Marseillaise in front of the German soldiers.
5	Isao Tomita (84), Japanese musician. He was one of the pioneers of synthesizer music, and recorded several albums of classical music transcribed for synthesizer (including Pictures at an exhibition).
16	Romaldo Giurgola (95), Italian-Australian architect. Best known for the Canberra Parliament House.
19	Alan Young (96), English/Canadian/American actor. Best known for the human lead role in the 60s black and white TV show about a talking horse Mr. Ed.
24	Burt Kwouk (85), British actor. Best remembered for his role as Cato in the Pink Panther films with Peter Sellers.

Museum abstraction

Last week, we visited the nearby museum in Zwolle for a fabulous exhibition of German expressionists. On the stairs between two floors, I caught this photo opportunity. One of my favourite shots of the year, and rather popular at Flickr as well, with people praising the composition in particular.

Camera: Canon IXUS 170, 20 Megapixels, handheld
Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/3.6
Focal Length: 4.5 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Post-processing: Picasa 3.0