FRESH ART HARVEST
Flying over farmed fields has always delighted me. The geometries of neat rows, the patchwork quilts of varied plantings, the pockets of ponds reflecting the sky, are all beautiful to me. Whether the earth is flat, like Kansas, or terraced plantings step up the sides of mountains, I enjoy the perspective I have when I am high above the nitty gritty, high enough to see the patterns roll out across the land.
Photo: Jason Hawkes. Theme: People.
UK-based aerial photographer, Jason Hawkes, elevates, what normally is a purely practical profession, usually dedicated to land and architectural surveys, and searches. Hawkes’ images are masterpieces. His photo of farm workers, scattered like tiny beads, harvesting along rows of a giant unfurled bolt of golden corduroy, is epic.
Check out more of Hawkes’ hawk-eyed images on his site. They are all riveting. He has produced over 50 aerial photographic books for publishers such as the BBC, Random House, and Harper Collins. And Hawkes has a very extensive stock archive site.
Photo: Rush Jagoe.
The black and white image of this harvest scene, by photographer Rush Jagoe is full of farm grit. You feel the dust suspended in the fading sunlight. You feel the tired parched stalks of straw as the even-more exhausted migrant workers give their last bit of energy to the day’s haul.
Jagoe hails from New Orleans, where, in addition to taking gorgeous photos, he and his wife operate Cafe Hope, a farm-to-table restaurant the helps at-risk youth. He offered tips on how to take great photos during harvest time on Shutterlove.
Photo: Rush Jagoe.
While many tips might sound cliche, like “be open to chance,” Jagoe offers a bit of passion when he talks about his subjects. In his case, they are men and women who work achingly hard, through sweltering heat, for countless hours to harvest crops. “No matter what you’re eating, someone is working very hard to bring that to you,” Jagoe says. “If you approach people with a respect for that in mind, then they’ll be excited to photographed.”
Photo: Harald J. Braun. Fruit Art Collection.
How many times have you look at vegetables in your life? A tomato? A beet? A pepper? You might toss them in your grocery cart or spear them with your fork in casual indifference or you might take notice of one that is particularly vibrant or beautifully shaped. But, you’ve probably never seen them the way Harald J. Braun has.
Photo: Harald J. Braun. Fruit Art Collection.
Braun’s FruitArt Organic Figure images can shock you. Shot in natural light, against stark black backgrounds, with super-high resolution, these images look like paintings that are trying to look like photographs. Some intact, some sliced open, -- the frank, almost acidic colors, playing with ribbed and grooved textures that can only be seen as iconic if conditions are right, these are edible portraits of extraordinary organic character.
Get ready to be shocked again. These fruits and vegetables look like alien lifeforms pulsating to some cosmic rhythm. Andy Ellison, of Boston University Medical School, played with a research-only MRI scanner, harvesting images of produce during calibration and quality control scans, to create these psychedelic animated gifs. Check out his blog, Inside Insides, to see more scans and hi-res images.
Photo: Andreas Symietz. Harvest Dome 2.0.
Harvest Dome 2.0 is a public arts project -- an ethereal orb, 24 feet in diameter, made of 450 discarded umbrellas and 128 2-liter plastic soda bottles, upon which it floats, harvested from the river and surrounding areas. It was created by husband and wife duo Amanda Schachter and Alexander Levi of SLO Architecture.
Photo: Courtesy of Architizer. Harvest Dome 2.0.
Floating, like a giant soap bubble, down the Harlem River in New York last month, over Labor Day Weekend, Harvest Dome 2.0 is a triumph, not only of artistic vision and engineering, but also over adversity.
Photo: Andreas Symietz. Harvest Dome 2.0.
The original Harvest Dome, created in 2011, was carried by strong currents into the inhospitable shores of Rikers Island, home of New York City’s famed maximum security prison. Corrections officers were suspicious (LOL!) and so they immediately destroyed it.
Photo: Courtesy of NYC Parks. Harvest Dome 2.0.
Undaunted, and thanks to fans who donated to the Harvest Dome's Kickstarter campaign, Harvest Dome 2.0 was created, this time with LED lighting which creates a new level of magic after dark.
Photo: Courtesy of Strangeline. Harvest Dome 2.0.
Read about beautiful harvests all this week, as it relates to Arts/Design,Nature/Science, Food/Drink, Place/Time, Mind/Body, and Soul/Impact, including Harvesting Hope,Reaping Hope, New Crop of Harvest Books and Apps, After Harvest, It’s Still Alive, and Beautiful New Harvest Treats.
Get busy and enter the BN Competitions, Our theme this week is Beautiful Harvest. Send in your images and ideas. Deadline is 10.06.13.
