May 17, 2011

Snakes on a… erm, Photograph.

As lovers of image, this is quite simply breathtaking. We were told about a website belonging to Parisian artist, Guido Mocafico, who produces some literally stunning images. When we visited the site it was one of the rare ones which makes us stop, gather around a screen and click each image. Every one of them.

The ones which we felt compelled to show you first are the Serpent series, which are, as we mentioned at the start of this post, breathtaking. Scientists argue that our brains are hardwired to be scared of snakes (amongst other things) but when they are presented in this manner, you can’t help be see them as stunning examples of how nature can make colours and beauty that man could never make up.

The image shown above is of Dendroaspis jamesoni jamesoni, or Jameson’s Green Mamba – or so I am informed, a snake which comes originally from Burundi, living mainly in trees.

After we discussed it a little, we realised it was the context in which the snakes are all photographed which makes this series of shots so special. Think about it, you usually see snakes in their natural habitat (or a mock up of it’s natural habitat at least) but these are all photographed against a black background, which is obviously containing them and forcing the shapes they are making, usually long, curved and lithe, square and angular. This forces them to become a real abstraction of themselves and results in some amazing images.

This is a website which we would really recommend a visit to for this series alone, but the rest of the photos are as good, so have a look and see what you think. (Clicking the image above will take you to the site of the artist.)

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Nov 11, 2009

“Pimp my beetle” – no, not a vw

Hello there, been a busy week so here’s a quick post that we stumbled on a few days ago while looking for something else… those usually are the best finds don’t you think?

Everybody is unendingly amazed by the things that nature throws up, in this case the tiny details that go into some of the larger beetles on our planet. A group of scientists with good lenses got their photograph on and made a study of these amazing creatures. The colours which are a result are simply stunning, something which you just don’t expect. In my case, growing up in the UK, most beetles we saw were small black things scurrying about in the woods, so it’s even more crazy to me.

As you know usually we end up these posts by praising a designer or someone for what we have just taken to the bloggerdome, so I guess it’s a case of saying good work small beetle fellas for making smaller beetle fellas that look this amazing. Yeah. Erm, click the image to go to see the slideshow on the New York Times website.