Unlike most other moai from Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Hoa Hakananai’a was carved from basalt (vs. the softer volcanic stone which was generally used).
Cotton Candy Museum
This is the Botanic Museum at the Lund University Botanic Gardens in Lund, Sweden:
Or at least, the above is a view of the museum through a 665 nm infrared filter (with a red / blue color channel swap and other tweaking).
Using less processing on the same photograph results in a view that’s (to my eye at least) a bit more sinister in appearance:
In regular visible light, it looks more like this:
One of the nice things about photographing in infrared is that it works well in bright mid-day sunlight (which tends to be less flattering for other uses). The flip side of this coin is that when you’re visiting places like Scandinavia, you may not get bright mid-day sunlight all that often.
Dogs Welcome
My sentiments exactly — spotted while walking in York, England, UK.
Purple Mountains Majesty
We recently went camping in the White River National Forest, here in Colorado. The camping areas are adjacent to the Flat Tops Wilderness, so we enjoy being able to dip into the wilderness on some quick hikes. Here’s a 2-frame panoramic view across Anderson Lake (near Trapper’s Lake), looking south from the Wall Lake Trail in 590nm infrared, with a few color tweaks — click to enlarge it:
Weird Barbie
Art by Hosanna McGowen and Alyssa Kirstein; seen at the 2024 Denver Chalk Art Festival.
This work won the Best Use of Color award at the Festival. Continue reading
South America travelogue, part 1 — the Nazca lines
I’ve wanted to see the Nazca lines for quite a while, essentially since I first heard about them as a kid. Earlier this year, I finally had the opportunity to check off this long-standing item on my personal “bucket list.” Continue reading
Racoon pop
Art by Natalie Gillespie; seen at the 2024 Denver Chalk Art Festival.
This work won the Peoples’ Choice award.
The photo above has been rectified, to show what it would have looked like from above. The non-rectified version (also capturing the artist holding her award) looks like this: Continue reading
The bear
Chalk art by Jake Nissalke, Ashe Bentley, and Cindy Nissalke; seen at the 2024 Denver Chalk Art Festival.
This art won the 1st Place Best of Show award.
The photo above has been rectified, to show what it would have looked like from above. The non-rectified version looks like this: Continue reading
Miss Craigie, later Mrs. Reid
Chalk art by Olivia McLeod (@blackbirdart) based on a painting by Allan Ramsay. Seen at the 2024 Denver Chalk Art Festival.
This won the “Best Reproduction of a Master’s Work” award at the festival. And it’s even a reproduction of a “local” painting — at least, it’s on display at the Denver Art Museum, just a few blocks from the site of the chalk art festival.
The photo above has been rectified, to show what it would have looked like from above. The non-rectified version looks like this: Continue reading
“Spirit Guides” at the Denver Botanic Gardens
I recently had the opportunity to see the “Spirit Guides” exhibition at the Denver Botanic Gardens. Scattered amongst the plants were a series of 8 sculptures — imaginary hybrid animals inspired by the Zapotec calendar — made by Jacobo and María Ángeles of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Armadillo-Insect by Jacobo and María Ángeles
This colorful fellow is poised to greet you, right as you enter the gardens. As you can see, he’s a tall one.
These hybrid creatures combine two kinds of spirit animals from Zapotec legend — one represents a protective animal, the other is a spirit animal with personality traits similar to yours. Continue reading