Pictory homepage

Pictory is the perfect passion project. The site’s creator Laura Brunow Miner picks a theme, has people submit a photo with an accompanying story on that theme, and then strings them together to create the most striking stories. (Photo equivalent of This American Life, anyone?)

Each picture is strong on its own. The story helps too. But scrolling through a series of large-form, carefully selected photos on a subject such as “Are You There, Dad?” or “Coming Home,” is positively heart wrenching. Some themes are more playful than others (see: “Sorry, Mom!“). And then it hits you that this incredible experience is brought to you by one woman who took her interests one step further. The complete picture is pretty impressive.

Photo by Erin Reidy

]]> http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2010/07/4250/let-pictory-repeat-itself/feed/ 0 http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2010/05/2888/man-ray-continues-to-inspire/ http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/2010/05/2888/man-ray-continues-to-inspire/#comments Mon, 03 May 2010 12:08:10 +0000 Sage http://www.scoutnetworkblog.com/?p=2888

I have always been a giant fan of Man Ray, but I am REALLY into the severity of these portraits of Nancy Cunard. Look at her armloads of bakelite and beads, with that strange, removed look on her face! The giant mod scarf in the background also…I want this big, for my wall.

This woman has incredible style. Look, she’s wearing a turban-inspired hat! You KNOW I love that!

Severe, and staunch. Nancy looks distinctly feline in this shot! Amazingness. Her harsh, piercing stare and high-contrast make-up complete the look. Man Ray has always done an impeccable job capturing the essence of a person in portraiture work.

For the third time, San Francisco will be launching another Pop-Up Magazine live event, which exists for one night only, in one place: San Francisco.

It has all the elements of a magazine — from the punchy front-of-the-book stuff to interviews and reviews and lengthier features towards the back. It compiles live readings, radio, documentary film and photography — all put together for a live audience.

The first two events were extremely popular, packed with bold names and contributors to place like The New Yorker and This American Life. They sold out 400 seats in the first 90 minutes that tickets were on sale.  So this time they’re moving it to a the 900-seat Herbst Theater, which is way less personal but hopefully a way for more people to see it.

I’ve never been to a PopUp Magazine event but will definitely not miss this one. I love the idea of lifting the structure and content of a magazine and making it a one-time only event — one that is social and brings people together. And to combine it with documentary filmmaking is brilliant.

It seems that in BCN every photographer shoots either on the beach (boring and dirty) or in the turn of the century flats you find in the Eixample district. These are actually a pretty scenery but I think I’m suffering from model war fatigue after seeing 15.000 pictures of Swedish contortionists lying on modernist mosaics with natural lighting. This summer, two things are going to be featured in the magazines: woodland shoots and urban stuff, not as in breakdancing or graffiti but as in traffic, city life and that kind of thing.

Why photographers here are so unimaginative? There is so much that can be done with design, patterns and montage to make a fashion photograph look different and cool. I’m also into natural lighting, it is not the 60’s anymore. I would say blind those models with light and think of new fun places that make good backdrops. How about planetariums?

For the last six months I have been going back and forth to nofound.tumblr.com, it is run from Paris by Emeric Glayse. I use the website to steal interesting images (my Christmas card was from there), as well as seeing unpublished work by photographers I already like such as Paul Schiek, Lina Scheynius and Maciek Pozoga. The above photo is by Logan White, probably familiar to anyone who has ever taken mescaline.

Another photographer I’ve just discovered, based in Barcelona, is Wai Lin Tse. Her photos of little everyday things are colourful and engaging.

Nils is a hyper busy 18 year old, living and working in Berlin. He paints and photographs, starts art-projects, designs T-shirts and in between he is modeling, makes music as a DJ or is shooting a videoclip together with his friends across Germany. As if he wouldn’t be busy enough with this all he is finishing his A-Levels and did we mention that he is just 18 years of age? Especially well-known are his animal print t-shirts. As of 2010 his first collection will be sold in the most trendy stores throughout Berlin.

http://www.nilsdunkel.de/

I’ve been reading two photography blogs lately. The first is titled “A Photo Student,” and it is, simply enough, the blog of a commercial photographer who decided to go back to school to study for an MFA in photography about three months ago. The blog’s writer showcases a wide variety of artists he admires, while also going fairly in depth into the process of learning how to take “good pictures.” I especially like his “about” section, which provides a great introduction to his blog.

My second new discovery is One Of Yours, a tumblr blog where local photography Neda Abghari showcases some the work that’s inspired her lately. So far there’s only about a day’s worth of images on the site, but it looks like this will be a fun blog to follow.

Designers included Mothlove, Jayme Hansen, Britt Howard, Holly Stalder, Claire La Faye, Adam Arnold, Luxury Jones, Dayna Pinkham, and many, many more. Local bands such as Dirty Mittens played downstairs in the hotel lobby. They are fantastic! This is a photo of me and my roommate outside the Ace Hotel in Southwest Portland. While admittedly not the most glamorous photo of me, the show was stunning!

There was an exciting, attention-grabbing exhibit from Jayme Hansen! Music was playing, flashing lights, cool display, brand-new clothing line…

This photograph is of Holly Stalder’s super pretty clothes modeled by Krystal South! Soft, warm, cozy.                                                                                                                                           Britt Howard’s faerie ladies in her whimsical-workroom themed space, wearing flowy, dreamy clothes! This event was bustling, the hotel was filled. It was a wonderful ending to Portland fashion week.

There’s a blog run by a friend – hangthedjrecords.wordpress.com. It’s a great, simple idea where he reviews the records he buys in markets and second hand stalls around the world. It’s so nice to have someone focus on things from the past rather than just hyping whatever has already been reviewed and hyped by a million thousand other blogs and magazines. Although it would be awesome to have some download links on there too.

I’m also into Nofound.tumblr.com, although the Swedish guy who runs it, Emeric Glayse (I’d kill to have that name) doesn’t update it that often. I like the way it has a high art feel about it, but is accessible and not too patronising. It’s clean, simple and is a good place to discover photographers like Paul Schiek from San Fransisco, There’s also a ton of unpublished work by photographers I’m really into such as Maciek Pozoga and Valerie Philips. It’s like an alternative photography resource, feeding your habit without being too stressful or demanding on your attention – a good way to snack on great photography.

Another site which is great for a daily hit of beautiful images is I Heart Photograph. More of an art photography site, it provides a very simple but informative source for less well-known photographers, all sorted and presented in an easy to navigate format. It’s ideal for finding inspiration, while keeping up with the very latest in art photography, all done on a small enough scale that it retains a very special and exclusive feel.