Yousuf Karsh

i just discovered a wonderful site dedicated to yousuf karsh. the sheer volume of historical figures that have stood before this little bald man would be enough to secure his own immortality, but his portraits were so much more than just vanity fair. i often think of karsh as the ansel adams of portraiture; old-school conservative in approach but with incredible detail and technique. you could feel the silver in the highlights of his prints coming off the page. my very first coffee-table monograph purchase was 'karsh canadians' (circa 1979) and it had a profound effect on my way of seeing. thank goodness to overstock book sales, otherwise i would have never appreciated the guy nearly as much. mm
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peter lorre

MATTHIEU GAFSOU

matthieu gafsou photos capture the stark bright whiteness that is much of tunisia, one that borders on the surreal at times. indeed the star wars chronicles, as well as a bunch of other flicks ('life of brian' comes to mind), have chosen tunisia as a location for precisely those reasons. i once stayed in matmata, home of the underground hostels that dot the bleak south-eastern landscape. that one cave (hotel sidi driss) is particularly famous amongst backpackers for its role as the setting of the 'bar scenes' in the first star wars epic (1977). not much of a crib otherwise, but it was a blast to down a cold celtia beer inside of a plasticised 70s star trek setting - in fact it's amazing how well those sets have held up considering they're over 30 years old. mm
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Voice Seeking Answers for Parents About a School Collapse Is Silenced - NYTimes

nothing new in this NYtimes article (unfortunately), but gut-wrenching to read nonetheless.. as a westerner living in china, one still hopes, despite the record of the CCP - most especially in recent months, that the olympics can bring real change rather than just a bigger, shinier facade. however, it progressively appears to have been a questionable move by the IOC (seemingly with the support of the majority in the international community) to grant a dishonourable autocracy such an honourable privilege, as the parallels to 1938 become too eerily close for anyone to ignore. are we being fooled? mm (great photo by diego azubel)
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HUANG QI on wikipedia

mega-pixel mega-love

you've got to admire what's going on with digital cameras these days, though it's mostly a goo-goo ga-ga situation for me - who can afford this stuff? not to mention, where does one find the space these gizmos consume? two clicks from that new hasselblad's 50 megapixel sensor would fill up an entire cd! but dude, the resolution!! mm
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