Chernobyl Children

Because I'm in physics this summer, I had to research and write a paper about nuclear meltdowns. While researching, I obviously stumbled upon Chernobyl. The images I found of the children in the aftermath were beautiful yet horrible at the same time. These kids were deprived of a normal life, most disfigured from birth, and the pictures of them are eerie.

"The 2005 report prepared by the Chernobyl Forum, led by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO), attributed 56 direct deaths (47 accident workers, and nine children with thyroid cancer), and estimated that there may be 4,000 extra cancer cases among the approximately 600,000 most highly exposed and 5,000 among the 6 million living nearby."

As always, here are my favorites:

Photography Censorship

My new favorite website, digg, once again had a great article on photography. It was titled, Military Kicks Out Embedded Blogger For Photographing Marine Killed in A Suicide Bombing in Iraq. It's pretty much self explanatory. Zoriah Miller, a photojournalist in Iraq took a picture of a fallen Marine on June 26. After posting the picture on his blog, he received a letter from the military for his dismissal.

Last week, I blogged about art in the times of war. However I didn't cover censorship. Since he was a photojournalist, and he did take the proper precautions in releasing the photo, I see no problem with it besides the fact that the army wants to keep things under wrap. Read the article and decide for yourself.

Light Graffiti

Once again, when I was surfing the Digg website, I came upon an interesting article about light graffiti. Photographers use the movement of light to create stunning images. This article shows off 10 photographers who each use this technique in their own unique way. To be honest, I'm not quite sure how you would go about doing something like this. If I were to guess, I think you would set a tripod up, have a 30 second or so exposure (because most of these are at night) and wave lasers or whatever light you have in the pattern you want. These pictures have really intrigued me, and I plan on experimenting with light graffiti. Here are my favorites from the bunch, but there are A LOT on the website, so I suggest you take a look at all of them.

Lego Photography

Just a few minutes ago, I stumbled upon an unusual display of photography. On the site digg, people post things that interest them. One particular article was called The LEGO Recreation of Famous Photographs. Someone, although it is not specified who, positioned LEGOs to recreate famous photographs. The link to all the photos is above, but here are some of my favorites:

Art and War

Everyday the news covers the Iraq War currently ensuing. We see striking images of soldiers being heroes or innocent civilians crying. But art in times of war has always been an intriguing topic. In Spanish class we learned about Francisco Goya, a Spanish painter who lived during the Peninsular War (1808-1814). His art changed dramatically. Below is probably his most famous image Los Fusilamentos del 3 de mayo en Madrid (The Shootings of May 3rd).



Goya also made a series of 80 prints in the 1810s. They were not published until 1896, 35 years after his death because of the gruesomeness of the pictures. Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of the War).

When photography was first introduced, it was used to document the Civil War. Since early cameras had several hour exposures, dead people were perfect because they didn't move.

Photoshop as an Art?