By Claire O'Neill

Imagine photographing every member of your community. How long would it take? Days? Weeks? Years? It wouldn't be easy. Which is why Peter Feldstein is one of the few people -- if not the sole person -- to have done it. In 1984, he set up a small studio in his town of Oxford, Iowa (population 676), and, with a fat red marker, made a sign that said "Free Pictures." He taped it to a storefront on Augusta Avenue, Oxford's main street, and waited.

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Twenty years later, Feldstein did it again. While many of Oxford's residents had moved or passed away, a great number were still there. And this time they did more than just pose for a photograph; they shared their life stories with writer Stephen G. Bloom. The photographs and stories have been compiled in a book called The Oxford Project, recent winner of ALA's Alex Award and recipient of the Gold Medal in the Independent Publisher's Outstanding Books of the Year for Most Original Concept.

"Oxford's still the kind of place," reads the introduction, "where drivers don't put on their turn signals because everyone knows where everyone else is going. Almost everyone's phone number starts with the same prefix (828). Dinner and supper are two different meals. Everybody knows what a mudroom is -- and has one. The word elevator more commonly refers to a device that raises and lowers grain, not people."

There's John Horn, the rugged buckskinner turned Protestant minister. And Brianne Leckness, who was abandoned by her mother as a baby and spent her life between families. "Nothing for me has been normal," she says, "so why should now be normal?" As a baby, Ben Stoker was held by his father for his portrait. Twenty years later, both of his parents have passed away.

"A lot of people don't like small towns because they're so tight-knit. But that's what makes this place so great. You know who's sleeping with whom, but when your mother dies, you also know there'll be 28 people at your door with casseroles."

Peter Feldstein

 

What's most amazing is how, 20 years later, many of the Oxford residents pose in exactly the same way. It's proof that although they've changed physically, their habits are much the same. In both photos, Linda Cox stands with her feet together, her left hand holding her right wrist, head tilted slightly to the left. Carol Ann Hebl's body is twice turned slightly to the right, as she holds two fingers with her right hand -- which now has a wedding ring on it. Vince Grabin is still wearing a cowboy hat, and so are his brothers.

The passage of time takes its toll. Life transforms us. In addition to inexorable signs of aging, our appearances change because of large and small tragedies. ... Electric smiles have ripened into middle-aged frowns. Full heads of hair are now thin and gray. But in these time-lapse photographs, there are also Oxford men and women who have blossomed, just coming into their own. Some sparkle with possibility and exuberance.

At the end of nearly 300 pages, the residents of Oxford will feel like your own neighbors. They all have idiosyncrasies and stories both funny and sad, told with complete candidness. At first it seems surprising that they would share their stories and secrets so openly with strangers. But most were happy to talk because Feldstein and Bloom were the first to listen. The result is a personal and touching portrait not only of a specific Midwestern town, but also of the general American spirit: tired, perhaps, but still smiling.

Listen to an interview with the book's creators, on WLIU's In The Morning With Bonnie Grace:

Additionally, the American Place Theater will transform The Oxford Project into a theatrical event. The show will be at 7 p.m. Sunday at St. Clement's Church, 423 W. 46th St., New York. To see more photos and stories from The Oxford Project, check out the Web site.

Photos (c) copyright Peter Feldstein from The Oxford Project (Welcome Books)

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While some believe that bigger is better, scientists at the University of Wisconsin think bitty is beautiful. They have assembled a collection of colorful microscopic photos -- of cells, molecules and nanoscale structures -- to be displayed as art in an exhibition in Wisconsin.

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Terry Devitt, director of research communications at the University of Wisconsin, says it "seeks to expose the often underappreciated creative and visual nature of the scientific enterprise. Microscopy and other forms of scientific imaging have undergone a revolution in recent decades, and structures that were once hidden have come into full view with the aid of modern technology."

Telescopic images of the cosmos are hugely popular. But the Wisconsin scientists suggest that the tiny structures composing the cosmos deserve a closer look, too -- literally. Here's a selection of images from their collection, "Tiny: Art From Microscopes at UW-Madison."

By Claire O'Neill

If Tom Brokaw is right, the "Greatest Generation" of Americans is now rather aged. That doesn't exactly bode well for today's youth. We've reached the end of the alphabet with "Generation Z," and some are calling the current demographic of 18-to-24-year-olds "the first-wave Millennials." It's this age group that provides the scope and focus of a new book, American Youth.

They are still in early adulthood, and already they have been smeared by their elders as a super-race of spoiled cry-babies and fashionable zombies, plugged into the virtual unreality of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, BlackBerry, Blu-Ray, Bluetooth, PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360, the iPod, iPhone, iBook, etc.

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Clearly, though, this generation is much more complex and should not be reduced to tech-savvy, conspicuous consumers. Which is why the photographers of Redux Pictures have teamed up to take a closer look. Be it Iraq war widows, Navajo gang members, debutantes or college partiers, the young people in this book together form a panoramic portrait of what it means to be young in America. With a wide range of images from 25 photographers, American Youth raises the question: How are today's youth both different from and exactly the same as generations past?

Every other year, photographers and industry experts gather in Portland for a week of portfolio reviews, organized by Photolucida. The Picture Show asked three reviewers to discuss a particularly promising photographer. The first of these three is Melanie McWhorter, division manager of photo-eye books, a leading resource for photography publications. Rather than featuring one of the photographers she reviewed at Photolucida, McWhorter has chosen one she wishes she had reviewed: Nicole Jean Hill.

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Originally from Ohio, Nicole Jean Hill is now a faculty member in the art department at Humboldt State University in Arcata, Calif.. Her series, "Home Turf," was one of two for review at Photolucida.

Picture Show: Why have you chosen to feature Nicole Jean Hill?
Melanie McWhorter: As a reviewer this year at Photolucida, I had the opportunity to sit one-on-one with 48 photographers at the official reviews and make appointments outside of this time to meet with numerous others. Of these photographers from the official reviews, my favorite body of work was Alejandro Cartagena's project on the overdevelopment in Monterey, Mexico. That said, portfolio reviews are often a whirlwind of visual information and stimulation designed for networking between all present.

When checking in, every reviewer receives a catalog with the contact information of each photographer illustrated with a signature image of his or her work. Upon exploring this catalog, I realized that I had the opportunity to see some wonderful work, but had regrets, of sorts, about portfolios I missed. I started to explore all the Web sites and soon found the work of Nicole Jean Hill.

PS: What is it about her work -- or this particular series -- that seems to be singularly promising or notable?
MM: I like the variety in her portfolios. ... In the "Home Turf" Series, Hill explores the concept of pet ownership in the domestic environment. Each animal "habitat" is surrounded with objects of everyday life -- manga poster, calendar, house plant, car deodorizer -- painting a portrait of the [absent] owner. There is a complexity in the composure which plays off the viewer's notion of a random snapshot.

From the series "Artifacts and Incidents," Nicole Jean Hill

In her artist's statement, Hill says she has an "anthropological approach to art making. Hill photographs familiar spaces and activities within the American cultural landscape." The concept of documenting the remains of man's interaction with the landscape is not a new idea; however, Hill's photos of this subject are a lovely exploration where muted colors and overcast light continue the ideas explored in the "Home Turf" series. Like the animal, the landscape is alone with only the evidence of man.

PS: How would you assess the climate of the photography publishing industry right now? Is it suffering along with the publishing industry at large?
MM: Art books are more of a commodity, and art in general seems to be rebounding well in the secondary and auction market, although on a more conservative level. Books are still like comfort food, it is hard to give them up even in a bad economy. Going to the library is not the same as owning a well-designed, well-printed art book.

Artists, now more than ever, are taking on a multitude of roles -- writers, curators, editors and publishers. This world of independent publishing often allows access to books that mainstream publishers would not take a risk on without personal investment from the photographer. So photographers are doing it themselves, often just to get the work out in the hands of the public. ...The industry is becoming more democratic.

From the series "Artifacts and Incidents," Nicole Jean Hill

PS: Do you have a favorite photographer -- or favorite photographers?
MM: I have lots of favorite photographers and really no favorite photographers. I am more into photographers from regions -- Dutch and Swedish photographers, for instance; and from books -- Carla van de Puttelaar, Ron Jude, Marten Lange. Also, I am working on an online group show for Fraction about food, and I have been enjoying Erika Larsen, Brian Ulrich, Susana Raab, Adrian Chesser and Paho Mann from that.

PS: Do you have, or did you ever have, any pets?
MM: Now I have a beta fish and a 114-pound dog. The most exotic animal I have had is an iguana.

For a summer-themed project, I was searching the wires for barbecue photos and came across this little gem.

George W. Bush watches? teases? goads? a flautist prior to a barbecue in Trinwillershagen, Germany. Stop, George! You're making her laugh! Ralph Orlowski/Getty Images

 

By Claire O'Neill

In South Africa, education often relies heavily on copying from the blackboard and repeating after the teacher. "There's very little critical thinking," says Ellen Rosenberg, co-founder of the nonprofit organization Children of South Africa (CHOSA). One aim of her organization is to teach children to think creatively about their surroundings through art -- specifically through photography.

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It's one of many photography outreach programs, and one of many programs implemented by CHOSA. The children, mostly ages 11 to 17, are given simple 35 mm cameras and are taught the basic concepts of light and composition. Most importantly, they are given assignments that allow them to think about their place in the community. For example, one assignment was to capture emotion without showing faces, which resulted in images of shadows, hands and animals.

A collection called "Amafoto Ethu" ("Our Photos"), which features images taken by children of Baphumelele Children's Home and Emasithandane Children's Project, will be on display June 3 in Washington, D.C., in a fundraising effort to perpetuate similar projects. To learn more about the project, the nonprofit and the event, go to CHOSA's Web site.

by Claire O'Neill

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In the summer of 1967, nearly 100,000 young Americans gathered in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in San Francisco for free love, free food and free drugs. It was the largest pilgrimage of youth to date -- but there was no concert lineup, no public speaker, no violent protest. They were gathered for the sake of gathering. It was called the "Summer of Love."

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Robert Altman, not to be confused with the film director, was both a participant in and a documentarian of the 1960s counterculture -- a photographer of free-love fests and Black Panther protests. Altman, who studied photography under Ansel Adams, was chief staff photographer of Rolling Stone magazine from 1969-71, and amassed a portfolio that visually defines the era. His photos include rock stars such as The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, and Crosby, Stills & Nash, as well as scenes of 1960s youth culture.

Beginning today, photographs from his book The Sixties will be displayed in the Art Under Glass retrospective in New York City. The massive prints can be seen in the Macy's Herald Square windows on Broadway and 34th Street through June 8.

To learn more about Altman and his 1960s photography, listen to this interview.
Watch the PBS American Experience documentary to learn more about the Summer of Love.

Claire O'Neill

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The New York Photo Festival came to a close Sunday, with the announcement of winners in various categories. View some of them below, including an image from Thomas Lekfeldt's series on a child's battle with cancer, and Justin James King's quirky fine art series, "And Still We Gather With Infinite Momentum." To see more images and a full list of winners, check out NYPF's Web site.

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Claire O'Neill

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This topic warrants three photos, actually: baby animals!

Newborn baby elephant Kai-Mook takes her first steps at the elephant residence at the Antwerp Zoo, Belgium. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

 

Newborn jaguar cubs at the Tierpark Zoo in Berlin. (Gero Breloer/AP)

 

Wolf cubs at the wildlife park in the eastern German town of Gross Schoenebeck. (Michael Urban/Getty Images)

 

At the rodeo, you'll find broken bones, blood and sometimes even death. Which makes one wonder: Who in their right mind would voluntarily do it? To rodeo cowboys, though, that risk is part of the appeal. And for many, it's always just been part of life. Photographer Lance Rosenfield wanted to find out what makes these rodeo cowboys tick. His photo story "Thirst For Grit" follows a few cowboys around small-town Texas rodeos.

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These guys don't think of themselves as doing anything special. This is just who they are. They'd rather die in the arena than die any other way. For them, this is truly what they feel born to do.

The rodeo was born in the late 1800s, when cowboy ranchers traveled miles to demonstrate wrangling and riding skills. There were few rules, and each gathering was as informal as it was spontaneous. But those frontier days are over, as are the days immortalized by John Wayne films. So, the real question is: What is a modern-day cowboy?

Rosenfield explained that most of these men would use the term "cowboy" sparingly. Most of them are rodeo athletes with regular day jobs. But because Texas is so vast, they don't have the luxury of recreational team sports to unwind after work. Instead, they travel miles and miles on weekends to compete, to entertain and to socialize. Modern-day rodeos are organized and regulated. Still, the men still see themselves as upholding an important part of Western -- American, that is, not European -- tradition.

"I don't want to fall into the trap of over-romanticizing," says Rosenfield. "I'm trying to stay true to what I see." His story both inspires a fascination with rodeo and humanizes the rodeo athletes. They're just like the rest of us -- although maybe a little less scared to die.

Images courtesy Lance Rosenfield.

By Claire O'Neill

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Although Joanne Leonard knew nothing of sports, she was one of two official photographers for the U.S. team in the 1972 Winter Olympics. But it's not professional photographs that typify her portfolio or summarize her career. It's images of friends and family.

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Her book, Being in Pictures: An Intimate Photo Memoir, is the product of nearly five decades behind the lens -- a lens that has seen private moments as well as public scenes of protest, conflict and community events. Leonard's effort has been to bridge this gap between private and public imagery, developing a genre she called "intimate documentary." Her book interweaves photography, collage work and personal narrative to tell both her own story and the story of art in general.

Portrait of Joanne Leonard, 1972, by Joan Murray

As a young woman in the 1960s, Leonard faced a male-dominated vocation that lacked this type of introspective storytelling. By turning the camera on her own life, she managed to digest the tide of world events, and give them personal weight. She could contrast her own idealized family images with photos from the Vietnam War, for example, to raise questions about fiction and reality.

A very recently retired professor at the University of Michigan, Leonard writes, "[M]y camera has always sought the beauty and light in a moment." And thumbing through 250 pages of photos and photo collages, one notes precisely that. Her father, a refugee from Nazi Germany, sleeps with a smile; a very pregnant sister-in-law hangs laundry to dry; a bride throws her bouquet from a balcony. It's a quiet, dreamy commentary on what it has meant to be a twin, a single mother and a female artist over the past 50 years.

Leonard's collages can be found in art history textbooks, and her photographs are now in various museums. And she's still wielding a camera. To learn more, listen to Dick Gordon's interview with Leonard on American Public Media's "The Story."

By Claire O'Neill

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If Dan Winters hadn't discovered photography, he might have been an entomologist. Growing up in rural California, his Steinbeckian youth was defined by bugs, 4-H and science fair success, among many things. It was in 4-H, actually, that he was first introduced to photography. Now, years later, he concludes that portrait photography is not a far cry from his earlier scientific studies. "Shooting portraits of people is like taxonomy," he says. "I'm documenting [the] physical self." Many of these portraits can be found in his first monograph, Periodical Photographs, published by Aperture.

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This predilection for science has lent itself to carefully composed and systematically lit stills. But -- despite his expertise in camera mechanics and human face topography -- Winters still has a tough time describing his style. He denies really even having a style. At least in this book, though, there's a certain aesthetic underpinning that makes each photo a recognizable Winters shot. There's the color palette: earthy greens and steely grays splashed with vivid reds and bright whites. In most of the portraits, there's a certain unsettling, off-centered gaze, suspended stature and understated wardrobe.

Frequently his portraits grace the pages of major American magazines. Stripped of fashion and styling, and minimally retouched, they're known for their timelessness. But the rest of his portfolio reveals an appreciation for -- and deep understanding of -- American culture. In fact, if he hadn't discovered photography, and if entomology hadn't worked out, he might have been a historian. Not only is he concerned with making images that will outlive the rabble of most commercial photos, but he is also highly informed by American history.

The Hymenoptera Box of the Late George Merriken, Rancher, Citrus Grower, and Amateur Entomologist, Fillmore, Calif., July 22, 2000 By Dan Winters

Winters knows his predecessors well, photographers and painters alike, and fully acknowledges their influence. Edward Hopper, Irving Penn, Alfred Stieglitz -- all the midcentury greats. "You're either a Stieglitz guy or a Steichen guy," he asserts, "like you're a Rolling Stones guy or [a fan of] The Who. They're two different kinds of people." Interestingly enough, Steichen was the more commercial photographer. But Winters still associates himself, and his work, with a school of early documentary photography.

At the beginning of photography there was a real naivete about it. They tended to be these participatory exchanges where the subject and the photographer [were] both acknowledging the process. ... And I really like that agreement, that pact between the photographer and the subject: we are here to make a picture right now.

There's a fear that the time-honored art of film photography is endangered. But it's safe to say that with his large format cameras and love of the trade, Winters is not just connecting with tradition -- he's perpetuating it.

Periodical Photographs will be released next week, and the photos will be displayed at the Fahey/Klein Gallery in Los Angeles starting July 30. So if you're in the neighborhood, it will be worth your while to see massive celebrity prints, as well as big, BIG -- and in Winters' words, "bitchin" -- prints of bugs.

Images courtesy Dan Winters, from the book Periodical Photographs, published by Aperture, May 2009.

By Claire O'Neill

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There's something magical about watching an image develop in your hands. It's also instantly gratifying to have a tangible print just moments after it's taken. These are pleasures afforded almost solely by Polaroids -- pleasures on the verge of extinction, unless someone can reinvent the ridiculously complicated, 20-part film packs. (The title of this effort to reinvent Polaroids articulates the likelihood of success.)

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These little square photos inspired Veronique Bourgoin to curate a Polaroid show for this year's New York Photo Festival, currently under way in Brooklyn. "Magic Trick" is presented by L'Atelier Reflexe and Cobertura Photo, two European photography organizations. It features the work of 14 European photographers who use -- or used -- Polaroid as a way to experiment through a unique and instant medium.

The above series was taken by Finnish photographer Nina Korhonen. It corresponds with her book, My American Grandma, 1993-1999, a portrait of her Swedish emigrant grandmother who, at the age of 80, lives a life of simple pleasures. And her quiet story is rendered magical by the cross processed feel of pocket-sized Polaroids.

The New York Photo Festival runs through Sunday. It's a 5-day international summit where photographers and curators discuss the climate of contemporary photography. There are four main shows assembled by the chief curators, as well as several satellite exhibitions, including "Magic Trick."

Photo by Sophie Carlier

 

Photo by Veronique Bourgoin

 

The Picture Show wants to see your magic tricks (i.e., Polaroids). Add them to our Flickr stream and tag them "roids."

By Claire O'Neill

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Just about everyone knows about The Big Picture by now. Boston.com's blog featuring enormous photos won the Webby award for best use of photography last week. Hidden beneath it on the list, however, was a lesser known and far less conventional nominee -- LyndonWade.com.

A journey through the Web site reveals an theatrical world of fantasy, youth and violence -- sobbing children fleeing from birds, pimply-faced teenagers and circus freaks. The site seems to sense when you want to move on and an arrow appears propelling you to the next surreal microcosm. Ultimately you're left wondering what sort of twisted individual came up with such images? We decided to give him a call.

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Surely this Lyndon fellow would inhabit a dark cavern in Transylvania (or at least an edgy loft in Brooklyn), but no -- he's a Kansas City boy. And his "I'm going to shock you" project is a family affair. He runs a studio with his photographer brother David Lindsey Wade and his mother. The Web site was the result of a collaboration with Hello Monday, a design group based out of Denmark. They asked him, "What do you love?" His answer was "Alfred Hitchcock" and thus a crazy site was born.

In a vast sea of talented young photographers, it's hard to stand out. Trying to be more Web savvy and shocking than his peers seems to be the 27-year-old Wade's technique for getting ahead. Is he an innovator, pushing boundaries, or simply a clever recycler of old cliches? We'll leave that to you to decide. But whatever it is, it's working. Wade's client list includes big hitters like Sony, Virgin, Coke, Pepsi and Saatchi NY. He made the Eisner Museum of Advertising & Design's list of top 15 photographers in America.

Why the obsession with black eyes and awkward children? "I think I just get interested in extremes," he says. You can thank a serene childhood for that. "We grew up on some land in Kansas. My brother and I were weird little kids, and we didn't have a whole lot going on, so it forced us to be really creative, I think."

His creative extremes don't always go over well in Kansas City. He couldn't get anyone to print "Room 107," a series he created around possible happenings in a cheap hotel room. Printers told him that the photos seemed "too real" and they didn't want people thinking they'd print "porn" and suicide. He eventually found someone who was willing to do it. With the prints, they gave him some religious tapes.

"I appreciated it, 'cause it really saved me," he says, laughing.

And what are these strange images for? Mostly just for Wade's Web site, which functions as a form of self-promotion. Rather than wait around for someone to fund his passion projects, Wade goes for them full force.

"We shoot what we'd like to get work-wise," he explains. And once he's done with his self-financed creations, generously paid gigs reliably follow. If all the unemployed people in America took his approach to getting a job -- a strange place this world would be.

By Heather Murphy

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This project came from the experience that we all have whilst looking at the stars during our childhood, when we suddenly realize the infinity of the universe and that we are but a tiny part of it.

Yesterday's blog feature was about the reality of space travel. But Vincent Fournier's "Space Project" series is inspired by science fiction -- by the classic, whimsical stories of Jules Verne, in particular. His photos appear to have been taken in a desolate, futuristic wasteland. In other words: it looks like Mars.

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In one sense, it's a photo documentary on some of the world's leading space research stations. Some photos were taken at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah, where students and researchers actually wear space suits to simulate what it's like to be on Mars. Others were taken near observatories in the Atacama Desert in Chile, in the French Alps and on the summit of Hawaii's Mauna Kea.

But without that context, these photos appear otherworldly, which makes it science fiction, too. The fact that Utah can so closely resemble Mars means that there's still room for exploration in our own backyard. Fournier begs the viewer to be curious, to dream, to confound what's imaginary and what's real. Take a look at some of the images from Utah and Chile -- or maybe Mars -- here. But also be sure to check out the whole series.

"Space Project" will be showing at New York's Clic Gallery in early October. Photos courtesy Vincent Fournier, found on Multimedia Muse.

Also: Did you know Mars has a flag?

By Claire O'Neill

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"Lederhosen," by patrickrhett

Wow. You uploaded some pretty amazing photos to our Flickr group after last week's Mother's Day entry.

Be sure to full-screen this gallery and enable the captions to read the stories. And thanks for embarrassing yourselves along with us!

The Hubble Space Telescope, first launched in 1990, needs a tune-up. So the space shuttle Atlantis launched today on a mission to service Hubble for the last time. To perform this maintenance job, the astronauts are bringing nearly 180 special tools -- 116 of which were designed just for this mission. Learn more about these special tools here.

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Michael Soluri was originally hired by Discover magazine to photograph these one-of-a-kind tools. The result: unexpectedly beautiful still lifes. Because he was documenting rare objects, he wanted to use rare film. With a Hasselblad camera and retired Kodak film, he set up a dazzling portrait studio to give these tools the effect of floating in white space.

Hubble has been responsible for some of the most stunning photographs of the cosmos. Without this mission, these astronauts and these tools, Hubble couldn't continue to do its job. It's a big day, and Soluri has effectively captured the beauty of this task. Learn more about the mission on NASA's site. And check out NPR's story.

Also worth checking out:
Story: Astronauts To Give Hubble One Last Hug
Multimedia: Scientists discuss their favorite Hubble images
More NASA photos

By Claire O'Neill

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As we all know, Mother's Day is this Sunday. And the best way to celebrate our mothers, we decided, is to dig up all those ridiculous things they made us wear as kids. We gathered photos from NPR employees -- including on-air personalities Bob Boilen and Liane Hansen, and an array of good-humored Web staff.

The evidence points to one empirical fact: Moms are almost unanimously convinced that matching outfits, hand-me-downs, big glasses and bad haircuts are a great idea. And we're convinced that, beneath their loving exteriors, moms just love embarrassing us. Here are a few of our, well, not-so-proud moments.

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OK, so we've sufficiently embarrassed ourselves (as if it weren't bad enough the first time). Now we want to see you! Upload your photos and mom stories to our Flickr pool and tag it "lookingood"! And remember to thank your mom for making you look so good. Happy Mother's Day!

Also worth checking out:
Ten Ways Real Moms Are Much Better Than TV Moms
Mom Rap: 5 Rhymes For Your Favorite Girl
NPR Librarians' Fashion Show

By Claire O'Neill

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In March, a few members of NPR's multimedia team took a trip to the White House, where they were recognized by President Obama for several White House News Photographers Association awards they had won. And they went bearing gifts.

The president liked his NPR swag so much, he wrote video producer John Poole a personal, inspirational and very heart-felt thank you.

 

If you doubt its authenticity, look at the back!

 

Our question for you is: Can you guess what he meant by "NPR accessories"?

When it comes to climate change, there are more questions than there are answers. How do you explain the big-picture risks of subtle changes like rising sea levels, fluctuating crop yields and shifts in ocean currents -- and, more important, how do you make people care? One solution: with photographs. But photographer Joshua Wolfe is convinced that for the purpose of illustrating climate change, polar bears and penguins just won't cut it.

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Wolfe and NASA climatologist Dr. Gavin Schmidt recently published a collection of scientific essays and photographs in a book called Climate Change: Picturing the Science. The aim is to shed light on a complex problem and make it both accessible and important to the public. It's a compilation of scientific (but readable) essays, mostly by scientists from Columbia University's Earth Institute. And it's illustrated by not only photographs but also diagrams and satellite images.

It's hard to believe that for a subject as trendy as climate change, there are so few photographers who specialize in it. As Wolfe explained, it's a topic that defies journalism's typical demands of daily deadlines and breaking news. "It's a very hard story to cover," he said, "because it's so huge and so slow, and it's one that doesn't really fit the way we gather news. ... That, and none of us make any money."

But it's an important subject, and Wolfe and Schmidt make a compelling case that we should care. There are a few penguins in the book, and one polar bear, but also much more. Here's a peek at some of the book's imagery, provided by a team of photographers devoted to capturing climate change.

By Claire O'Neill

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Drive-by portraiture illustrates just how far the medium has come. When photography was invented in the early 1800s, cameras were cumbersome and only accessible to a few. But as the years progressed and technology improved, cameras became more widespread -- and photography more commercial. In Focus: The Portrait, currently on exhibit at The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, provides a retrospective of the portrait's evolution, from Civil War snapshots to Depression-era photojournalism to modern-day fine art.

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Oddly enough, the first image in this series, an eerie portrait of Lincoln, resembles the very last image -- a 1960s color portrait of trick-or-treaters. Both show three males with vacant stares, standing in the center of the frame. And yet the images are worlds apart. For one thing, the trick-or-treaters are staring straight at the camera. What's more, one boy is wearing flowered pants, which Lincoln would likely find unthinkable.

Between the these two portraits is a diverse, although hardly comprehensive, sampling of the photograph's history. Take a look to get an idea of how far today's little point-and-shoot cameras have come.

The exhibition runs through June 14 at the Getty Center.

By Claire O'Neill

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NPR's Project Song, an online video documentary series, just won a Webby award! If you haven't heard of it, you should check it out. Here's how it works: NPR gives musicians a studio and 48 hours in which to write a song -- and records the entire process. Hosted by NPR Music's Bob Boilen and produced by John Poole, Project Song has featured the likes of Stephin Merritt, Georgie James and Nelly McKay. Watch the award-winning video here:

Project Song: Nellie McKay from NPR on Vimeo.

If you've ever taken a road trip -- or if you've ever been in a car, for that matter -- you've probably found yourself glancing curiously at passersby. Sometimes there's the awkward, accidental eye contact. Sometimes there's the unexpected: a woman curling her eyelashes, a man eating a bowl of cereal, or someone changing outfits behind the wheel. It's interesting that, only when alone in a car, do people sing really loud, as if completely alone and unseen.

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It's this ambiguous mobile world, both public and private, that fascinated photographer Andrew Bush. For nearly 10 years he did drive-by shootings -- with a medium-format camera attached to the side of his car. Typically coasting at about 60 mph, he captured people doing various things in various places, sometimes looking straight at the camera. He took copious notes about location, direction and speed and compiled these photographs into an intriguing and quirky series called "Vector Portraits."

Quirky is what Bush does well. One series on his Web site shows rugs found all over the streets of Paris. Another is a collection of runners and in-line skaters whizzing by. He even has a page devoted to other Andrew Bushes found on the Internet. He's clearly fascinated by people -- especially with the mystery of their private lives.

"Vector Portraits" is currently on display at both Yossi Milo Gallery and Julie Saul Gallery in New York. It was also recently published by Yale University Press in a book called Drive.

Images (c) Andrew Bush.

By Claire O'Neill

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This is a neat photo series. Flickr user w00kie had various people upload their "transparent screen" photos to his Web site, and he compiled them all in a Flickr set. Here are just a few:

 

 

 

Today on Fresh Air, host Terry Gross interviews Douglas Emlen, professor of biology at the University of Montana. Emlen has devoted his life to an unlikely creature: the dung beetle. And deep in the wild beetle underworld, he has found natural beauty. These close-up photos of scarabs, taken by Emlen and other scientists, reveal rather pretty little critters. (And sometimes not so little -- rhinoceros beetles can measure up to several inches!) Listen to the interview here.

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By Claire O'Neill

The Picture Show on Facebook | on Twitter

Need more Internet distraction? Here's another great way to while away your precious life: Browse through the infinite library of Flickr photos with these really cool applications.

By color:

Screengrab via Idee Labs

 

By tag:

Screengrab via Tag Galaxy

 

What do Twiggy, Richard Avedon and Justin Timberlake all have in common? They're all involved in an upcoming exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

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The exhibit features fashion models from throughout the past century. But it's less about the clothes, and more about the distinctive women who have inspired designers, photographers and an entire culture. The Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion reframes these lanky beauties as symbols of social evolution.

What models symbolize may be controversial, but they're symbolic nonetheless.
The tall, angular muses of the 1920s embody a deco departure from the cult of domesticity. Timeless post-World War II images by Richard Avedon and Irving Penn show the ascent of a more artistic form of fashion photography. Twiggy, the lanky, androgynous fashion icon of the 1960s, is the paragon of aesthetic rebellion. And 1980s supermodels such as Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington pave the way for fashion megastars like Kate Moss.

The exhibition runs from May 6 to Aug. 9. The chairman is designer Marc Jacobs, along with Kate Moss, Justin Timberlake and Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of American Vogue.

By Claire O'Neill

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