Winners have been announced for the annual Close Up Photography of the Year Awards. Some incredible stuff.
Will Menzies / Loving Embrace
Winners in all categories can be seen on the CUPOTY site.
The best close up photo I've ever taken is probably this one:
The opening scene from the first episode of season two of Severance is quite a technical feat. Here's how it was done:
Emergence Magazine presents Shifting Landscapes, a documentary series, directed by Emmy- and Peabody-nominated filmmakers Adam Loften and Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee, exploring the power of art and story to orient us amid the darkness of our time.
Following a musician, a poet, a writer, and a filmmaker who are each embracing the alchemical power of story to connect and transform us, this series opens ways of being that hold both catastrophe and love as our landscapes change and disappear.
I've only watched the first of the 4-film series, but it was well done and I'll hopefully get to the rest this week.
The full series is here: Shifting Landscapes.
Miniatua offers highly detailed collectibles and handcrafted miniature scale models of vintage IBM and computer gear.
There's also a to-scale recreation of the bedroom of the main character in the 1983 film, War Games, pictured above.
More on the Miniatua site.
Six String Nation is coming up on its 20th anniversary in 2026, and Founder Jowi Taylor is ramping up to it with some events. Next in line is a free, full-length, public Six String Nation multimedia presentation – complete with a live music component from Lori Cullen. It'll be happening at The Henderson Brewery, just north of A Tiny Bell's Toronto headquarters.
Tickets are free and available through EventBrite.
If you're unfamiliar with Six String Nation, check out their official site, where you can learn about Voyageur, the guitar comprised of 64 different pieces of material — wood, bone, metal, stone and others — from across Canada.
A Handyfoto — or mobile photo — captures mundane objects or situations as a photo or video. It is the unexpected synergy between two unharmonious elements. The Marco Land Handyfoto Foundation defines Handyfoto also as a way-of-seeing, a sacred practice: unplanned, observant, and attuned to life’s subtle humor and charm.
This will make more sense if you hop over to the Foundation's website and play with the filters.
On a recent dog park walk, I found myself discussing the work of Ken Loach and Mike Leigh. I saw Leigh's new film, Hard Truths, on Thursday and it was as spectacular as anything he's ever done.
While walking and talking, I struggled to recall the name Nick Hedges, whose b&w work from '68 to '72 reminds me of Loach (in composition) and Leigh (in tone). Took me a few hours or googling to bring his name to mind.
More on Hedges' site. Also available in book form.
Gwen Coyne's iPhone Photography is probably better than yours. It's certainly better than mine.
More on Coyne's site.
