The Petty Project

Britt Dietz has been recreating the classic George Petty pin-ups utilizing photographs. You can view the website for the project HERE, as well as check out the Facebook Album and Britt's FB page.

"George Petty was a wonderful Pin-Up artist for Esquire magazine during the late 30s and the 40s. Especially during World War 2, his art was the most famous of the time. Painted on the noses of aircraft during the war by the crews, the 'Petty Girl' became a symbolic reminder for service men of what they were fighting for. I've always been interested in Petty's work, I believe he was the 'classic' pin-up artist and there's not been another like him. The Petty Girl was innocent, teasing, but never full revealing. The classic traits of a true Pin-Up. I came up with an idea last year to 'recreate,' through photos (as close as I could), all of Petty's artwork from the late 1930s to the 1950s. It's a daunting task that will take years to do, but a fun project that I'm very excited for and will including as many different models as I can shoot with till the project is completed."

The Original George Petty Indian Artwork.

Petty Project Image #021

Model: Tiffinie Stowers

Slideshow of the whole process: http://petty.momentscapture.com/finished/slideshows/show.php?ID=021-Indian-Tiffinie

Just a sample of Britt's process.

The Original George Petty Blue Bikini Artwork.

Petty Project Image #107

Model: Kelly Tarbet

Slideshow of the whole process: http://petty.momentscapture.com/finished/slideshows/show.php?ID=107-BlueBikini-Kelly

The Original George Petty Inner-tube Artwork.

Petty Project Image #124

Model: Alisha Winter

Slideshow of the whole process: http://petty.momentscapture.com/finished/slideshows/show.php?ID=124-InnerTube-Alisha

The Original George Petty Witch Artwork.

Petty Project Image #010

Model: Kayla Emerson

Probably the longest and most painstaking Petty image I've recreated thus far, and this was the second attempt at it! The final image came out one of the best yet, matching the overall original artwork almost perfectly. I was really happy how the hair came out, which is made from 5 different shots of her hair flying in the wind generated by two opposing wind machines. One of my favorites yet and a lot of fun to shoot!

Britt created a nice little write-up on his process using this photo shoot, to explain in more detail of how he manages to recreate these stunning images.

http://petty.momentscapture.com/behind.php

Superhero in Everyday Life

Photographer Gregg Segal follows superhero impersonators from the glamor of Hollywood Boulevard to their homes, capturing them still in costume, going about their ordinary household chores. Segal explains his "Super Heroes at Home" project:

I followed the super heroes home to highlight the contrast of the fantastic and mundane. Though in costume, the super heroes are unmasked by the ordinariness of their apartments and their routine chores. While I photographed Batman, a family pulled over to take his picture. He strode up to them with super hero confidence and the children approached him with awe. He was Batman because he was Batman to them. Then late, in his apartment, when he'd taken off his mask and cape and was reheating leftovers in the microwave, he was merely ordinary. I could see what it was that drew him back to Hollywood Boulevard.

Check out his Website for more Great Images http://www.greggsegal.com/

Via

Earth Hour 2011

Last Saturday, March 26, people and businesses around the world participated in Earth Hour 2011, turning off their lights at 8:30 p.m. local time. Earth Hour was organized by the World Wildlife Fund in 2007, as a way to bring attention to energy-consumption, sustainability, and climate change issues. This year, participants in 134 countries darkened homes, skyscrapers, and landmarks around the world.

You can view an interactive photo gallery of 25 images at The Atlantic. Click Here!

click on each image to "turn off the lights"

Ballroom Under a Lake

I am fascinated by this "ballroom" under the lake. It was originally designed as a billiard room by the original owner. I've found several articles and some in depth Flicker photos of this place.

You can see the weeds and algae, after years of neglect, are covering up the windows.

The statue sits on the top of the dome, and when the room is lit up, it creates a great effect on the lake.

You can see the spiraling staircase that leads to the room.

Just beyond the statue and room is an island that has glass skylights in the ground to illuminate the room below the island.

The underground pumping chamber house

Another view from the pumping house

A spar pool, whatever that is...

I would love to go check this place out someday! It's called Witley Park in England.

Check out these links for more pictures and articles on the place.

The Ballroom Under the Lake

The Gentleman of the Lake

Witley Park – Urban Exploration

31 Pics of Witley Park, Surrey

23 pics of Witley Park

And my fave of 66 pics The Witley Wonder

Dark Light Photos

Just stumbled across these great images from Danielle Tunstall.

The Dark Side Of Light

An on going portrait project of very dark yet light photos.

Abandoned Desert Town

Left at the mercy of the Namib desert, the winds had filled the rooms of the deserted buildings with sand. The diamond village that had once been thriving was now more like a surreal dream.

More images can be found at the photographers website.
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Russian Pin-ups

Beautiful photography of Irina Davis: Pin-up "a la Russa".

Because of the devastation of World War II, Russian "girls" in the '40s and '50s were taught to be tough and work hard. I am saddened by the fact that Russia never had the chance to enjoy the happy pin-up times of America's postwar period. In fact, cheerful American pin-up art was considered in Soviet Russia to be politically incorrect, decadent and flat-out immoral, the product of a culture that could never understand the true nature of the human condition.

By photographing exclusively Russian immigrant women in traditional all-American pin-up poses, I am inventing my own genre of Russian pin-up. My concept is to portray pure beauty, femininity and sexuality, not to objectify but to empower. To those who identify the clues in my work, hidden to most non-Russian eyes, I am telling the story of a crisis of Russian national identity, and the frustration and confusion of self-identification with the Old Country, the New World and a diaspora caught between them. My goal is to bridge the gap and seduce the spectator with alluring imagery, trapping him into empathizing with a foreign element.

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Artist's Website

Modern Art?

These images look to be some new impressionistic artist. But au contraire mon frere, these are actual satellite photos of our beautiful Mother Earth.

From The Independent: NASA has a wonderful collection of photographs of planet Earth taken by satellites circling the atmosphere.

The beguiling pictures are not of the familiar watery globe which usually represents our world.

They are instead vast landscapes, deserts, oceans and mountain ranges snapped from so far away that they resemble artistic daubings and not familiar landmarks.

You can view more at the Our Earth As Art NASA page.