Mikko Lagerstedt.

“Capturing emotion of places through photographs.” That’s the tagline on Mikko Lagerstedt’s website, and it is delivered with power and beauty.

Stillness of Night.

STILLNESS OF NIGHT

 

The Whole Universe Surrenders

THE WHOLE UNIVERSE SURRENDERS

 

PATHWAY

PATHWAY

Spending an entire evening under the stars in near pitch darkness, photographer Mikko Lagerstedt captures spectacular landscapes of frozen tundra and misty mornings of Iceland and his native Finland. With a camera mounted on a tripod he takes a multitude of exposures as the light gradually changes. Certain elements are then stitched together digitally and enhanced with Photoshop and Lightroom—a process he candidly shares in tutorials and presets he sells on his website and blog. The resulting images are a result of hours of photography, editing, and a keen sense of color and composition to create heavily modified images that are almost hyper-realistic.

Mikko Lagerstedt’s galleries are to be lost in, gazing with wonder, awe, and near heartache from the sheer beauty of this planet of ours. To say the emotion of the landscapes is well captured is a complete understatement.

Via Colossal Art.

The Dreaded Day.

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It’s that time of year, a time of colonial, drunk explosions, whee! I’m not a fan of Independence Day, but I could deal with it much better if I didn’t have to cope with window-shaking explosions going off for months. I have a difficult time coping with it for a day or two. I have PTSD and hyper-vigilance. A lot of people have those problems. I have pets. A lot of people have pets. Pets who are absolutely terrified by all the explosions. If you’re one of those explosion loving people, it would be truly great if you could consider other people before getting settled into your revelry. Would it be that terrible to pack up your gunpowder toys and take them a bit away from residences, so all the boom is at least muted? That would make for many less terrified pets, and much less ragged people hanging on by their fingernails. It would also be considerate of those who might want to get some sleep before 2 a.m., because some people still have to work. Or maybe they are just serious tired and want to sleep. If you are, or decide to be a considerate exploder, be sure to choose a place that won’t set half your state on fire, because that’s not fun for anyone.

On the lighter side of Colonial Day, Vincent Schilling has a fun column up at ICTMN: Native Humor: 7 Ways Natives Can Celebrate the Fourth of July.

Set off the fireworks display early in the day.

KA-BOOM! Oh, it's only 2pm? (iStock)

KA-BOOM! Oh, it’s only 2pm? (iStock)

Use the bullhorn after. Then tell everyone, “This isn’t what you expected was it?” Well for Native people, you aren’t what we expected either! Happy Independence Day!

Casting Trump As A Marvel Villain.

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Donald Trump is the latest villain in the pages of Marvel Comics. The presumptive nominee for the Republic Party in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election appears this week in Spider-Gwen Annual #1, as a new take on the classic villain MODOK – a villain, it should be noted, known for his gigantic cranium and tiny hands.

In this alternate Earth, where Gwen Stacy has become Spider-Woman after receiving the spider-bite that got Peter Parker in the regular Marvel Universe, Donald Trump becomes M.O.D.A.A.K., the Mental Organism Designed As America’s King. In the original conception of the character, he was Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing, for those keeping tabs.

In the story, Trump-MODAAK yells at some vaguely brown-skinned people to get “back on your feet, foreign filth!” to which they reply that they’re from Waco, Texas. The Captain America of that world smashes him in the face with her shield, while the aged Steve Rogers of that world narrates, “It’s a weird new world out there, Cap… Full of enemies that look and think and act too much like the demons in my mirror. The monsters men like me have never been able to defeat alone. This nations’ anger and greed and fear are still very real.”

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Full story and some pages at Comicbook.com. Women superheroes? An all too realistic villain? Sign me up.

Cool Stuff Friday

An enchanted forest! Oh, what a wondrous thing it would be to walk this forest. I love things that can make me feel like a small child, completely lost in wonder, and I had that moment a time or two just watching the video.

Stock up on breadcrumbs and magic beans: inspired by folklore and fairy tales, Foresta Lumina is an illuminated, spellbinding night trail created by new media and entertainment studio Moment Factory. Transforming Parc de la Gorge in Coaticook Canyon, Canada, into a multi-sensory installation, the dark forest becomes the canvas for an immersive public exhibition. Step into this mesmerizing environment in our new documentary, above, and join us on our private tour of the magical woodland—we just hope you’re well enough versed in The Brothers Grimm to find your way out.

Open through October 11th, the semi-permanent installation is a supernatural symbiosis of varying arts media, set along the route of one stunning pathway. As visitors enter Foresta Lumina, they’re brought on a mile-plus-long journey wherein light art, video mapping, architectural installation, and more fuse within one seamless environment. Split into seven sections, each folk tale and character arc is represented by a unique multimedia effect.

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Forest2

Full Story at The Creators Project.

Pulse Miami Beach: Open Call for Artists.

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PULSE PLAY curators Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Jampol. Photo by Ventiko.

It can be tough for any artist get their work to a fair, but at PULSE Miami Beach, one initiative is trying to change that. PLAY is the contemporary art fair’s dedicated platform for video and new media work, and for the first time, the 2016 edition will open submissions to the public, allowing artists to bypass the traditional necessity of gallery representation—and the hassle, networking, and expense that can entail—and directly submit their work to the cutting-edge platform.

Works included in PULSE PLAY are curated by new minds each year, and this year, PULSE director Helen Toomer selected Jasmine Wahi and Rebecca Jampol. The duo are known for their 2012 founding of Gateway Project Spaces, a Newark, NJ arts hub with 50,000 square feet of studio spaces, 7,000 square feet of exhibition spaces, and a multidisciplinary residency program. The space morphed out of the non-profit Project for Empty Space, which is now included in the Newark complex. As a curatorial team, Wahi and Jampol tell The Creators Project, they aim to “poke and prod” the audience, showcasing socially-engaged work by artists whose narratives might otherwise slip under the radar.

“We aren’t concerned with whether an artist is the ‘biggest name’ in a gallery’s roster, or if he/she/they has a big social media following. Our big motivator is conceptually strong, aesthetically solid, and technically sound video and new media work,” they explain.

The Creators Project has the full story. This is a great opportunity, artists, jump on it if you can.

Playing with a Portuguese Man o’ War.

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An ex-military photographer, Aaron Ansarov retired from the Navy in 2007, transforming his skills to create commercial work for magazines and focus on his own practice. Fascinated with marine life since his days growing up in Central Florida, his series “Zooids,” focuses on detailed images of Portuguese Man o’ War. Ansarov photographs the creatures on a homemade light table while alive, then immediately releases them back into the wild where they were found.

Once shot and the Man o’ War are returned, each image receives minimal manipulation, as Ansarov makes only slight adjustments to the photograph’s exposure, contrast, and vibrancy to highlight the vivid details of each venomous siphonophore. The completed works are otherworldly, appearing like alien illustrations rather than portraits, with deep blues, purples, and pinks unfurling in every direction.

As if that wasn’t impressive enought, Ansarov does some amazing work with humans, too, which you can see after the jump, because naked people. NSFW.

[Read more…]

Midnighter and Apollo Reuniting this Fall.

The cover of Midnighter & Apollo No. 1, which will go on sale in October. Credit CD Comics

The cover of Midnighter & Apollo No. 1, which will go on sale in October. Credit CD Comics

Gay Pride Month ends today, but DC Comics is giving fans something to look forward to this fall. In October the company will publish Midnighter & Apollo, the first part of a six-issue mini-series that reunites the two heroes, who are gay and have an on-again off-again relationship.

“They have a firmer idea of who they are, and they’ve become stronger and more confident together,” said Steve Orlando, who will write the comic, which will have interior art by Fernando Blanco and covers by the artist known as ACO.

The characters, who made their debut in 1998, were gay analogues of Batman (Midnighter) and Superman (Apollo). They dated, eventually married, adopted a child and, thanks to comics, had their history rebooted. Midnighter most recently headlined his own series, which ended in March. The comic, written by Mr. Orlando, was lauded for its portrayal, which balanced the hero’s volatile global adventures — and a friendly flirtation with Dick Grayson, the former Robin — with a domestic life that included using dating apps and being sexually active.

I’ve never been much of a DC fan, but when they do something like this, I’m happy to get onboard. Way to go, DC! Full story here.