Poladroid - More Flickr Genius

Just found this funky Polaroid converter. It's really easy to use and converts your digital photos into polaroid lookalikes. It's a bit of a craze on Flickr at the mo, check out this group and mine for more. I really like the didgeridoo man one I took, just found him practising in an alleyway in Covent Garden. I thought he was busking so gave him some money and asked if I could take some pictures of him. Turns out he wasn't a busker....bit of a blunder, but he was chilled anyway and let me take some photos.

Reminded of the Power of Black and White

Having a browse through Flickr and thought I would post a few of my recent faves. I could spend hours on that site, the quality of photography from amateur photographers is outstanding. The three I have posted above were taken in Beijing and Shanghai by travelight and sakura love. It would be hard to find better examples of where black and white photography can work than the two above. As England gets colder and darker by the day as we push into winter, I can see myself turning to a spot of the old black and white photography!

The Berliner Dom/Disney/Hokusai

Street artist Jaybo has created a Hokusai influenced projection onto the Berliner Dom, the largest cathedral in Berlin. The image is comprised of cartoon hands that linked together make up the shape of the wave. The result is pretty spectacular!

Slinkachu at Cosh Gallery Soho London

A new exhibition to launch in London this week - "Ground Zero: Little People in the City" by Slinkachu under the tagline "Little handpainted people, left in London to fend for themselves". I would try to explain the results of his work, but the blurb from the gallery does a great job:

"Slinkachu has taken street art to a new scale,
painstakingly hand-painting tiny characters that live
in a world that’s too small for us to always notice
beneath our feet. His street installations are
constructed in all sorts of public spaces, the portrayal
of little lives that mirror our own. Working in miniature
opens up the city landscapes in unexpected ways
and this is explored in Ground Zero where he literally
brings you down to a new level.
Ground Zero is both street art installations and
photography. The two go hand in hand with the
subsequent photograph uncovering his hidden
world. The show depicts the little fears and anxieties
of city life and the general feeling of being alone or
insignificant in a large city. While the scenes reflect
the loneliness and melancholy of urban life there is
always an underlying sense of humour and feeling of
empathy"

Hospital Records Designs

I've often thought that designing album covers would be a great job. These three examples from Hospital Records show a great sense of humour.

Li Wei - Dangerous

No- they're not photoshopped. Li Wei creates these "performance art photos" using props and extremely strong wires. His photos show him in precarious situations where for the viewer, the only possible outcome is disaster. These situations range from the above, to falling from the sky to having already landed, head first into various objects (cars, the ground, lakes).

His work evokes strong reactions from passers by: "The first reaction is astonishment. Some people think they are full of sense of humour. They are curious about how I did this".

It's this sense of humour, albeit slightly dark, that makes these images so striking. It's something that I mentioned in a previous post and I'm glad I've been able to find an example so quickly to illustrate my point.

Find more of Li Wei's photos here

China's Creative Imperative - Kunal Sinha

"I've learnt from my experience in China to never under-estimate the Chinese. Kunal's insight creates a compelling case that they have what it takes to move beyond the world's factory to become a force in creativity. "
— Colin Giles, President, Nokia China



Burying your head in the sand...
....if you think that China is not going to become a creative force in the future. This follows on from my last post, creativity in China is booming at the moment, especially in the fields of music and illustration/design. It's timely that a Strategy Director at Ogilvy Greater China has just published a book on the subject.

China' s in a unique position to absorb the best of all the creative talent and ideas arriving on it's shores, and to build a strong visual/design community and identity of its own. I think the next ten to twenty years will be a hugely exciting time to be involved with this kind of work in China. As the above image illustrates, the Chinese have a unique sense of humour and it will be this, combined with striking visual imagery which will hopefully provide some very inspiring work.