Since photography’s early days, photographers have explored human relationships to the natural world at countless angles, from Ansel Adams’ glorifications of the national parks to The New Topographics’ flat, and often typological views of industrial and suburban development. While at times, it might appear that this terrain has been done to death, Christopher Rodríguez’ series Between Artifice and the Sublime offers a sad, yet refreshing meditation on our constantly evolving place in the American landscape.
Houston, Texas-based Phillip Kremer won't reveal much about his process, influence or motivations, but his faceless portraits are some of the scariest creations you'll find online. With subjects ranging from scientists, astronauts and random children celebrating their birthdays to political figures and celebrities like Snoop Dogg and "The Situation", his morphed portraits have drawn a vast and diverse fan base, largely outside the art world and photo communities, and have amassed followers ranging from Katy Perry to Christian youth groups.
Jamie Campbell’s cat photographs are not intended to be an over-arching dive into the emotional capacities of his feline friends, nor are they easily dismissible as short-lived memes. Like many of the photographers included in Humble Arts Foundation's 2014 exhibition “New Cats in Art Photography,” they are intermediary muses that serve as thoughtful pauses between his commercial work and long-term personal projects.
It's no news that the brutal northeast winter has left New England buried beyond belief, not just in piles upon piles of snow, but in multiple terabytes of likely forgettable snow pics. So we reached out to some of our favorite New England photographers to share their snowy gems with varying levels of abstraction. Paraphrasing the words of Rhode Island-based Brian Ulrich, we've found a way to make visual use of this unfortunate winter mess.
Kittens included, Instagram continues to be a consistent source of challenging photography; whether it's for purely promotional use, as an in-between sketchpad, or for some artists, a medium of its own. And we swear, this isn't some kind of advertorial or "branded content integration." We simply, truly continue to be inspired. For the past 5 weeks we've hosted residencies not only from photographers but also collectors like Seattle-based Robert E. Jackson, who used his takeover to showcase selections from his strange and often unsettling archive of vernacular photographs. Go forth, follow and be inspired, but if you MUST #hatersgonnahatehatehatehatehate about it please give Taylor Swift a call and tell her Ansel sent ya. (PS. Happy Birthday Ansel Adams!)
Most importantly, please follow these folks if you like their work. You can click on each image to get to their handle.