Ouff, stunning set by Mauro Marzo featured on Behance today. I must say this is by far his best work. Hopefully he produces more like it in the future.

Amazing piece of architecture by William O’Brien Jr. Must be a pain to heat the place, though. But yes, I would most definitely buy a house like this. Planning on robbing a bank soon…

via Wanken

Loving these shots from the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico (how about that wicked logo?!) found via the Google source:life Search option. That grain and color makes these athletes seem heroic already for some reason (no idea who they are). Reminds me I have to sort through my shots of the Olympic town in Barcelona. Will do shortly.

Great set of images by Ramsus Norlander. More (even greater) pictures to be found on his portfolio site but he has cleverly decided to block all saving of images. Good for the copyright, but not so good for the sharing.

Via But Does It Float

Yesterday newly released images from the 9/11 attacks sprung up on major news sites and completely wow’ed me. Despite the tragedy these images qualify as stunning art pieces. No movie director can invent surreal cloud formations like these. Splendid splendid nature.

The images were taken from a police helicopter — the only photographers allowed in the air space near the towers on Sept. 11, 2001. They were obtained by ABC News after it filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year with the National Institute of Standards and Technology, which investigated the collapse.
[source: MSNBC.com]

I was watching the news this morning and saw the images of Burj Dubai (Burj Khalifa) being officially opened with fireworks and everything. It mostly struck me because my future brother in law is working for the company involved with the construction of this massive design (828m !!!). Googling the building told me there is a competitor in the race for ‘the tallest building’ which most likely would set a world record to be held for quite a while. The Nakheel Tower (Al Burj) has currently been put on hold because of financial troubles but when built it would reach a height of >1000m, the exact height depending on the source.

These buildings always remind me of the numerous illustrations of the biblical ‘Tower of Babel‘ legend where people try to ‘reach the clouds’ but are stopped by the god(s) because their tower symbolizes humanity’s vanity. Doesn’t seem to be much of a problem here, although the financial crisis stopping Nakheel Tower of being built might be a godly poker hand?

PS: The official website is worth a visit, too. Although I’ve tried to visit this morning and their server seemed to be down.

At work we have the pleasure of being surrounded with contemporary artworks which are placed in the hallways. Most of it is contemporary in the sense of ‘I could do that’ but a few are truly amazing. Axel Hütte‘s large format photo prints called ‘Explorer Glacier Alaska’ are worth a look every time I pass by them. I couldn’t find any digital versions but they fit in perfectly with the rest of his work of which a few examples above.

I love the way he uses the fog as a natural backdrop in almost every piece. Nature’s negative space really brings out the essence of what he wants to show through the lens by filtering the unnecessary surroundings. It reminds a little of Kim Höltermand‘s work although in this case the orientation is kept more horizontally instead of Kim’s focus on the sky.