Photography

Some great shots in Lukasz Palka's series, Life, Japan.

Many more on the series page.

Winners have been announced for the annual Close Up Photography of the Year Awards. Some incredible stuff.

Winners in all categories can be seen on the CUPOTY site.

The best close up photo I've ever taken is probably this one:

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.

Alex Delamadeleine's project, les heures du jour, offers subdued horizons.

More on Delamadeleine's site.

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.

Kimmo Metsaranta writes about their series, Notes On A Place:

The pictures in the series are reconstructed observations of my surroundings. I change the spatiality and the condition of the buildings, so that their function changes or disappears completely, and they are not tied to a specific time or place.

I don't know exactly what that means, but I love the pictures.

If you like these, you might also like my own series, Orange Grove Tool Sheds & Utility Boxes of Oliva, Spain.

More on Metsaranta's site. These are also available in book form.

Photographer Christophe Jacrot takes great photos of cold / wet environments. These are some from his collection, White Iceland.

Love this shot of an eagle devouring a fish.

Matsubara also has some terrific landscape and moon shots on his site.

Viera Babecova describes herself as a "Flower lover & arbitrary colourist & Vincent van Gogh's fan."

More of her stunning work can be seen on her Behance site.