Just.

Minimal Uniqlo Jeans Spring 2010 Campaign

This Uniqlo campaign just epitomizes the design aesthetic I find so authentic and attractive. Perfectly honest photographs and cautiously, disciplined and crafted shape & form. Perfection.

More at Fashion Gone Rogue

Minimalist Photographs of Shackleton’s Rocks With Tag ID’s

I’m loving these minimal images, they’re from Thom Atkinson’s photographs of rock samples from Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition of 1908. They appear in the latest issue of Draft magazine. This reminds me of when I used to collect rocks on my grandparents rock beach in Maine.

Description of the project:

“Draft asked me to photograph a collection of rock samples gathered by Shackleton’s expedition to the Antarctic,” says Atkinson of the project, which appears in issue six of the magazine. “They were printed alongside rare original documentary photographs of the expedition itself. The rock samples and original prints are currently in possession of the Archive of Modern Conflict from which this issue of the magazine was curated.”

Thom Atkinson’s site here.

via CR Blog.

The Photography of Carlo Van De Roer

I made a note to myself a week or so ago to note some of this fine work from photographer Carlo Van De Roer. He works out of New York and can be contacted on his “About” page of his website.

The mood of his images are so mellow and serene, extremely simple palettes of delicate pastels.

These are from his series of empty pools titled appropriately “pools”.

From Carlo’s “Orbs” series:

And lastly and actually what I find most interesting, is his series of images using an experimental camera originally designed in the 70’s to record what a psychic might see, it captures your “aura”.

Some information about the project found here:

These portraits are made with a Polaroid aura camera developed in the 1970s by an American scientist in an attempt to record what a psychic might see. This project explores the idea that a portrait photograph can reveal an otherwise unseen and accurate insight into the subject’s character.

The subject is connected directly to the camera by hand-plates that measure biofeedback, which the camera depicts as an aura of color in the Polaroid and translates into a printed diagram and description explaining the camera’s interpretation of the subject.

I mean, if this is the graphical energy these people are giving off, how amazing would that be? It’s fun in this case to susped disbelief, purely for the sake of enjoyment. Look at the beautiful images:

Meat Grinder Art at the Meatball Shop

I shot these funny meat grinder art pieces in the Meatball Shop in the Lower East Side of NYC. Kind of neat and vintage but kind of scary also. The food was delicious, in case you’re wondering.

Don Bronstein, the First staff photographer at Playboy Magazine

Don Bronstein had 2 incredible jobs. The first was being the first staff photographer for Playboy Magazine. The second, was as an award winning house photographer for the legendary Chess Records. He’s hard to find information about but his work is definitely notable, especially now when we’re so influenced by period styles.

Here’s a bio I found at Chicago Magazine:

Don Bronstein (1926-68): In June 1963, in the midst of a three-week gig at Mister Kelly’s, the legendary Rush Street nightclub, Barbra Streisand traveled to the Lake Michigan shoreline with the photographer Don Bronstein. The first staff photographer for Playboy, where he shot covers and centerfolds before embarking on a freelance career in 1963, Bronstein shot Streisand in a radical pose-with her back to the camera. That photo graced the cover of Streisand’s classic fourth album, People, and both singer and cover won Grammys.

Here’s some of his work that I’ve dug up:

And I know I can’t possibly give Don the credit he deserves without including this, although fairly tame considered against today’s standards.