Long exposure photographs of fireflies by Tsuneaki Hiramatsu

My friend Chris sent me this link last week, a photo blog from Japan that has an amazing collection of long exposure images of fireflys. I’m not entirely sure what the photographers name is, (Editor’s Note: It’s Tsuneaki Hiramatsu) though I did see mention to a Mr. Coro, any help with figuring out his proper name would be appreciated.

It looks like he’s been shooting these fireflys for about 8 years now, getting better and better as he goes. He shoots a lot of his images in Okayama where they have firefly season. If you like these images you should visit his blog and see the images blown up, they look much better that way.

Bobby

‘Music Boxes’ by Luis Díaz Díaz

Luis Díaz Díaz is a Spanish photographer based in Madrid and the North-Western coast of the country. He does a lot of commissioned projects, but it was his personal project ‘Music Boxes’ which really caught my attention. The series of photographs looks at the open air stages used by orchestras and concerts during the yearly local festivals in Galicia in Northern Spain.

These ‘music boxes’ stand now as forgotten monuments to times past. Where once this structures were places of festivities and celebration, they have now been replaced by modern mobile stages. Luis Díaz Díaz rigidly documents them with a minimalist style that reminds me of the photographs of industrial buildings taken by the influential German photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher. These empty, abandoned spaces, now seem to haunt rural Galica; leaving only a hollow space where the viewer is left to imagine what celebrations may have once taken place in this part of the country.

Philip

Shipley & Halmos get a visit from The Selby

I’ve long been a fan of the clothing produced by the duo of Sam Shipley and Jeff Halmos, better known in the fashion world as Shipley & Halmos. I have a black cardigan that I’ve owned for a couple of years now that is hands down the best cardigan I’ve ever owned. There’s something about the cuff of the sleeves that fit perfect, some bit of elastic that makes it so that the ends never get stretched out. It’s a perfect detail that makes it a perfect cardigan.

Browsing around The Selby I noticed he paid the guys a visit and shot their space, so I thought I’d share it here. Having a space that inspires you is always important, and well, if I had a space like they did I would turn out amazing things every few minutes. It’s cool that everything in their space is mostly completely white, but is accentuated with punches of color. There’s a really great, lived in feeling to the space which makes the space feel so natural and wonderful. Hopefully something about their space will inspire something in your own.

Bobby

‘Foreclosed Homes’ by Todd Hido

These photos come from a larger series of images taken by the San Francisco based artist Todd Hido. Shot in LA during the mid-90s, each photo shows the vacant space of a foreclosed home, which seem haunted by untold stories. They are filled with the tragic silences of broken lives and by the challenges of troubled economic situations. What draws me to these images is Hido’s ability to capture poetic and powerful imagery with restriant and delicacy. He shows, but never tells. It’s a great series of photographs and the complete set can be viewed online at Hido’s website.

Philip

The epic, frigid photos of Sonia Braas

German born photographer Sonia Braas takes photos that defy what we assume to be real. For all my research I can’t tell you if her photos are staged or real, or even where they were shot. This level of mystique makes her photos even more special to me, especially when you see her work as a whole. I of course have plucked out the iciest of the bunch for this week’s theme. The way she chose to light these photos is crazy, the top two look like they could be dioramas and the bottom one could be flour… or maybe it’s all real?

Bobby