Ansel Adams - my favorite photographer

I do do do love black and white photography - good black and white photographs that is.

What is it that makes black and white so appealing?
Is it the simplification of colour?
The contrast of light and dark?
The shades of grey in between?

I'm sure there are art students out there who could answer these questions, but I'll just show you a few of Ansel Adams' photos so that you can see for yourself.

moonrise, hernandez, new mexico

The Maritime Museum in Sydney has an exhibition of Ansel Adams' photographs - "Photography from the Mountains to the Sea". A selection of his work featuring water.

the tetons and the snake river

He made a lot of his photographs in spectacular parts of the US and portrayed Yosemite National Park, Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons.
His images helped to argue a case for the preservation of Sequoia and Kings Canyon National parks.

winter storm in yosemite valley

There at are also spectacular photos of places in the Southwest USA, in the pueblos of New Mexico and Arizona.

church, taos pueblo

walpi, arizona

These are my favorite two photos from the exhibition today.
This one was spectacular in large format.

sun and fog, point arena, california

And this one is almost Japenesey - so beautiful.

submerged trees, slide lake, teton area

If you are in Sydney and you love photography I highly recommend that you pay a visit to the Maritime Museum at Darling Harbour.

Five Friday Faves

I've been having fun finding some new faves - and revisiting some old faves as well.
Sometimes it's not just the object that I love but maybe the shop name, the way items are photographed, or some colour combination that catches my eye.

This shop has got the best name ever!
The Making of Mrs Bertimus.

little sparrow brooch by Mrs Bertimus

I love the look of up-cycled clothing, the slightly chaotic, higgeldy-piggeldy result, the freedom to be a little bit crazy!

top by Broken Ghost Clothing

The next pick is purely practical - and what stylish practicality in these bags by Bagybag - I do need a bag for my laptop!

laptop bag by Bagybag

I just noticed this fabulous teapot in someone elses faves! Thanks!
I love, love teapots and I love, love handmade pottery - I'm in love!

bloom of lilac teapot by ocpottery.

And talking of love - or maybe obsession.
I can't stop looking at Susannah Tucker's lovely images and these sweet sentiments - who wouldn't love to just float away....

Vanishing Paris - the art of Eugene Atget

Have you heard of the French photographer Eugene Atget?
I must admit that I had never heard of him until I went to an exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales last week.
I love old photographs and Paris is eminently photogenic - so it was a must see for me!
And was I blown away!

Atget photographed the streets of Paris between 1898 and 1927 when Paris was being radically remodelled and modernised.
Many of his subjects no longer exist having been demolished to make way for the wide boulevards and parks, metro and stations of the new modern Paris.

Atget is most famous for his street scenes which depict a way of life to shortly disappear - the small shops and businesses, the street vendors, the courtyards and alleyways.

 

Because of the type of camera he used which needed long exposure times some of his photos show delightful blurry effects from people who are moving with an almost ghostlike appearance.

 

Or he would work in scenes without people to limit the moving - these make Paris seem like a ghost town.

 

 

Here we can see the photographer underneath the cloth that covers his camera reflected in the grand mirror.

 

Many of the photographs remind me of places that exist in countries I have travelled to recently - strangely reminescent of parts of India, Cambodia and Vietnam.
Even the pictures of the street traders have their counterparts.

It seems that Atget was actually a very influential photographer and is still inspiring people today - there are flickr groups dedicated to Atget hommage - here and here.

Photographs sourced from atgetphotography.com.

Craft swap - I'm a lucky girl

I haven't participated in a craft swap for a while...but I'm so glad I joined in this one.

My swap partner was the lovely Samara from Maddabling.

It was a bit tricky because we both make jewellery, but she is so much more talented than that!
We conversed back and forth - I looked at her facebook photos and realised what a fabulous photographer she is and that we have very similar taste in photographic subjects.

So I requested some photos and something from her gorgeous mixed media creations.

When the package arrived it was like christmas!
Look how gorgeously they are packaged! I didnt want to spoil it and open them....but then I did want to see what was inside!

And here!
This is what I found!

Now aren't I just the luckiest girl in the world?

Have you ever taken part in a craft swap?
Was it hard to decide what to make?
Were you as thrilled as me?

PS, Samara has a wonderful blog as well - Maddabling - check it out!