James Cooper

After searching for those underwater "McGinley" photos... it turns out I was wrong. These crazy photographs were done by Bermuda based photographer, James Cooper. How refreshing. How ridiculously brilliant.

The last photo is absolutely unreal. I can't get over it. Between the billowing clouds masking her face, to the electric play of light on the ocean floor.. I am in awe of James Cooper.

All images from tinyvices.com. Click here to see more of James Cooper's portfolio. 

Darby Gibbs

Darby Gibbs is my sister. The beautiful photograph below is of my other sister in Montreal. Yes, I naturally praise any of my siblings' artistic endeavours, but family aside, her photographs are absolutely brilliant. From sharp details in contrasting black and white film to washed out dream-like scenes, she captures moments that most people pass daily, unnoticed. 

Visit Darby's blog @ darbygibbs.blogspot.com

Ryan McGinley

I saw Ryan McGinley's Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere opening show recently in New York. It was an amazing event. I honestly think that it was a historical art event. Hundreds and hundreds of young art lovers, collectors, artists, socialites, and hipsters alike drank in the street, while the rest tried to push their way into the tiny gallery. The street was packed with people waiting to get a glimpse of the top young photographer's latest endeavours. Cameras were flashing. People were laughing and chatting over beers. Everyone was in awe of his nude portraits of friends, models, and socialites hanging up on the white walls. He had a couple massive photographs from his Moonmilk collection. Knowing me, those were my favourites.... here are some.

The images below represents photographs that are typical of Ryan's style. Of course, I picked my favourites as usual. A lot of his work are of young nudes in mid-fall either into water, off rolling hills, into sand dunes, or in mid-air. I love any of his photographs with fireworks. There are some absolutely amazing images of fireworks going off under the water... I'll have to search for them... too many hours of  staring at Ryan's photographs have me misplacing images...

All of these images are from his website @ www.ryanmcginley.com


PS. Click HERE to check out a random McGinley VMag interview.

Logan White

Logan White's photography is mostly artistic nude shots of her model friends, but these particular photos grabbed me because they stood out from the rest. Who copied who; Ryan McGinley or Logan White? I'd say the latter. Either way, her narratives draw me into each photograph.

Visit logan's blog @ www.psychicsunset.blogspot.com or his website @ www.loganwhitephoto.com

№1½

I am completely oblivious to the midday shadows dancing up the walls in a feeble attempt to wake me. The dark curtains deceivingly block out any of the glorious sunlight in exchange for a midnight glow. I'm glad that this moment was captured.

Sharon Harper

I hate to say they speak for themselves.. but for me, these photographs do. I have an obsession with stars and galaxies full of them. We see stars as each night permits. By the time that specific moment of light reaches us, the star may no longer exist. But, to capture the subtle changes in each sky, as chaotic streaks of light, whether from stars, fireflies, jet streams, or whatever, to me, is genius. I love everything about it.

 www.sharonharper.org

№1 by Sam Milbrath

It was a sunny afternoon when I strolled into the neighbourhood hotspot.. Value Village. I grabbed the best looking beat-up shopping cart out of the bunch, threw my oversized french faux fur coat and tattered bag into the back and steered my way down the main aisle. To my left are old t-shirts and tanks, where the smalls act today as crop-tops and the larges as belted dresses or oversized tanks. To my right are rows and rows of battered old dishes and tea cups. Just beyond them are old Betty & Veronica comic books or creased pages of Harlequin romance novels from the nineties. Hidden in this perfect chaos is a small shelf packed with point-and-shoot cameras discarded with the nineties. I could spend hours looking through the different lenses to see if I can tell what the effect on the image will be.

I bought an old minolta along with a tea cup set and a couple of crop tops to match the spring in my step. Once you start looking for the photograph...thats all you see. Its hard to pay attention to conversations when the most beautiful stormy light is looming above the city and casting a strange glow on the buildings and trees..

I developed my first roll.. I am pretty happy with the results, but I will go back today in search of another 2$ camera..

Here are a few...

Nicolette Polek

Images from flickr.com and feaverishphotography.com

Nadav Kander

I clearly have a heart for muted coloured photography.. there seems to be a trend in that direction of my posts.

Nadav Kander's photography varies considerably between each series. Some of the photos below are from his Yangtze, The Long River series. Many of his photographs are muted, desolate scenes that beautifully display places where humans once lived. Nadav's haunting Chemobyl, Half Life series, versus his mesmerizing God's Country images, or his commercial portraits of Obama's people, portray his versatility in experimenting with subject matter. The combination of beautiful photographs and interesting social commentary portrayed through his work, makes Nadav's images approachable to all. 

@ www.nadavkander.com or visit Nadav Kander's website to view his complete collection.

Aaron Feaver

There is nothing like sunspots in an image... probably a favourite of mine.
Aaron Feaver is an LA photographer. Visit his inspiring website @ www.feaverishphotography.com.

Sophie Van der Perre

Sophie's works are absolutely brilliant. I don't feel like saying anything else.

Images posted from tinyvices.com

Chad Moore

Chad Moore

Images from feaverishphotography.com

Georges Rousse

Traditional notions of photography acknowledge the spontaneous act of capturing a moment in time and space. This approach suggests a lack of artistic premeditation. Contrary to traditional beliefs, many contemporary art photographers construct elaborate sets that ultimately portray a concept presented by a photograph as the work of art. This process deconstructs traditional restrictions of producing art within one artistic medium. Such is the case for French artist and photographer Georges Rousse.

Georges Rousse’s photography explores the concept of representing the interplay between reality’s three-dimensional space and the photograph’s two-dimensional medium. By nature of the photograph, this shift in dimensions is constant. However, Rousse exaggerates the concept through extensive manipulation of his three-dimensional space. In doing so, Rousse questions the relationship between time and space both in reality and in his photographs.

Rousse portrays his theme by altering abandoned or ruined architectural sites. After tedious decisions on composition, angle, lighting, and cropping of a particular point in the chosen space, Rousse carefully constructs a painted and plastered design. The unified pictorial design is only visible from one vantage point. This illusion of a hovering ‘geometric wash of colour’ appears as if added digitally after capturing the photograph. While Rousse’s ultimate product is a photograph, the entire process is his work of art. He constructs an illusionary three-dimensional world that is only geometrically visible on a two-dimensional picture plane.

www.rousseprojectdurham.com

Edward Burtynsky

Edward Burtynsky was one of my favourite photographers for a very long time.

He is a Canadian Industrial Landscape photographer.

I wrote a final essay in University on his Rock of Ages #1 photograph. We were allowed to pick any piece of contemporary art or photography and analyze the creativity out of it. The instant I saw Burtynsky's photography, I was hooked. After pages and pages of critiquing and over-analyzing the meaning and form of every line, shape and contrast, I still missed little details. His photographs are chaotic and exciting. They show the deconstruction of earth for the construction our world. He beautifies the unbeautiful. He makes the unnatural seem only natural. I am attracted to the machinery's movements, but repelled by what they represent. Every line and contour in Burtynsky's landscapes is created by humans. A beautiful silky black stream running along the shores at the shipyards is oil seeping into the seas. The repetitive, perfect geometrical details of his photographs draw me into the aesthetics of the artwork. Only after the overwhelming sensation subsides, do I realize that these beautifully crafted lines are machines, quarry cuts into the earth, mountains of tires or recycled metals, and intricate layers of oil refinery pipes connecting the work in harmonious repetition.

www.edwardburtynsky.com