EcoSalon | Conscious Culture and Fashion » photography

40 Gorgeous Photos of Asia

Jessica Marati — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 20:00:52 +0000

If these photos don’t make you wanna quit your job and travel the world, we don’t know what will.

Asia’s diversity never fails to astound. Nowhere on Earth can you find a greater variety of cultures, languages, races, ethnicities, religions, climates, and geography. It’s mind-numbing.

These photos provide just a taste of what Asia has to offer. They’re also an important reminder of the need to protect what makes the world’s largest continent unique. Though the scenes depicted here may seem worlds away, our choices always have an impact wherever we may roam, reminding us to tread lightly.

(above) Penang, Malaysia

Bangkok, Thailand

Great Wall, China

Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh

Huashan Mountain, China

Udaipur, India

Cassava farm near Luang Prabang, Laos

Tainan County, Taiwan

Kathmandu Valley, Nepal

Seoul, South Korea

Abseron, Azerbaijan

Busan, South Korea

Kampong Thum, Cambodia

Shanghai, China

Himalaya Mountains, Uttarakhand, India

Binh Thuan, Vietnam

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Meizhou, China

Koh Samet, Thailand

Dornogovi Province, Mongolia, from the Trans-Siberian Railway

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Ratchaburi, Thailand

Yangon, Myanmar

Eastern Vasayas, Philippines

Makalu Base Camp, Nepal

Kyoto, Japan

Taj Mahal, Agra, India

Elephant orphanage between Colombo and Kandy, Sri Lanka

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

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Foodspotting Friday: Chocolate Lovers Edition

Anna Brones — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:08:46 +0000

10 photos to quell your chocolate cravings.

When I discovered that breathable chocolate actually exists, I debated on tracking down a French friend so they could send some over. A whiff of chocolate that you can keep in your purse? That’s like having an instant pick me up right next to your cell phone and keys, and so much more chic than dragging around a semi-crushed Lindt bar. But then I realized how ridiculous I would seem carrying around a perfume vial of chocolate spray. No need to go full on crazy woman just yet.

Why are we chocolate obsessed? Get the dark stuff (because there really shouldn’t be any other kind) and you lower your blood pressure, you de-stress, and you become just generally happier, no wonder we crave it. Makes me want to track down a bar of dark chocolate with almonds and sea salt immediately. But if you’re like us and stuck at work for the day with no chocolate bar in sight, you can at least feed your craving with these chocolate photos.

Chocolate Hazelnut Tart

Hot Chocolate

Pain au Chocolat

Hot Chocolate and Cold Ice Cream Fondue

Nama Chocolate (Bitter)

The Best Chocolate Cake in the World

Chocolate Truffles

Dark Chocolate Dipped Bacon

Chocolate Diablo Cookie

In Foodspotting Friday we highlight one of Foodspotting’s – or our own – top picks from our Foodspotting guides. Be sure to check them out and tip us off to your own favorites in our Readers’ Picks guide. Want to start spotting food on your own? Join Foodspotting and take part in the food spotting revolution. It’s visual, it’s positive, it’s global and we are in love with it.

Images: César, Maggie Alhadeff, Sweet Spotter, azuki, William Lockie, Pinku Neko, Isabel, pat, Shelby Schuler, Scootfoodie

Northern Women in Chanel

Johanna Björk — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 20:02:49 +0000

SlideshowReporting from Sweden, Johanna Björk shares the fascinating story behind the creation of a new book on Chanel.

In 2010, photographer-stylist couple Peter Farago and Ingela Klemetz-Farago were given full access to the coveted Chanel archives, which contains couture treasures from the 1920s through today – a dream for anyone in the fashion business, as it had long been for the Klemetz-Faragos. Some of the clothing was deemed so precious it required Chanel-employed handlers to come along for the shoots.

Several well-known models from the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, such as Freja Beha Erichsen, Helena Christensen, Frida Gustavsson, Dorothea Barth-Jorgensen, Iselin Steiro, Edita Vilkeviciute, Sigrid Ågren, Suvi Koponen, Kirsi Phyronen, Carmen Kass, Siri Tollerod and Caroline Winberg, took part in the project and every creation and surrounding — each more fantastical than the other — were chosen specifically for each model.

Close to 300 looks were shot and the result can be seen in the 384-page book Northern Women in Chanel — a new staple for any vintage fashionista’s coffee table. Best of all, a portion of the proceeds goes to Save The Children, a Swedish NGO working to safeguard the rights of children across the world.

The book is accompanied by an exhibit, currently on view at Stockholm’s Fotografiska museum, where these gorgeous photographs can be admired in superscale. Fotografiska itself is worth a visit for anyone even remotely interested in photography, as it is one of the largest museums in Europe dedicated to this art form. Fotografiska is housed in a former customs building right on the water, designed by famed Architect Ferdinand Boberg in Art Noveau style. When I visited, other exhibits on view included a Robert Mapplethorpe retrospective, Chinese artist Liu Bolin’s amazing The Invisible Man and Eleanor Coppola’s Circle of Memory.

Anyone who claims that fashion photography is not art will have to reconsider after seeing this portfolio. The classic, timeless, barren and, sometimes, melancholic settings often elude a vibe that is more Bergman than Vogue. Farago is inspired by opera, dance and art, and this strongly comes through in the images, which have a certain theatricality to them. Overall, it’s a very modern take on classic fashion, the clothing looks more like it belongs in another universe than another era. My only criticism is that they would have chosen more older models; it would have been a nice way to add more character to the project and differentiate further from the fashion glossies.

All photos © Peter Farago & Ingela Klemetz-Farago

Taking a Panorama View

Andrea Newell — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:23:35 +0000

QuoteIntroducing daily quotes at EcoSalon.

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.” – Ansel Adams

Image: Jason Wehmhoener

The Heart of Art: Open Space

Kim Derby — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 15:44:37 +0000

seriesThe sea as “boundless liquid energy” caught frame by frame.

The ocean will support, calm and cleanse; it can also crush, destroy and drown. Keegan Gibbs attempts to capture this complexity in his grainy, moving photographs of the sea. A surfer and photographer, Gibbs has a deep reverence for the ocean and its “boundless liquid energy.”

His images convey a range of emotions from pensive to energetic, but his intimate relationship with the sea stems from the balance it brings to his life:

“I go to the sea to surf, to bond with friends or to be alone, to let out aggression or to find inner peace. The moving ocean is my solid ground. The moment one stands up on a board, propelled by a wave racing across the sea, one is only aware of the present – nothing else. I have never found any other way to achieve that absolutely pure and meditative mindstate.”

Gibbs’ collection of images for Open Space, and some of his other pieces reflecting oceanic visions, can be seen on his blog here.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Kim Derby’s new art series at EcoSalon, The Heart of Art. We heart art, and there’s nothing nicer than a midday dose to offer a moment of contemplation.

You Know It When You See It

Simon Maxwell Apter — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 23:32:44 +0000

Ruin porn and the objectification of Detroit.

Can someone explain to me what, exactly, “ruin porn” is? Recently, it’s been linked to Detroit, most notably in Chrysler’s now-legendary Super Bowl ad. How is ruin porn, which Detroit-born-and-raised writer Paul Clemens describes in his new book Punching Out as “the arty delectation of Detroit’s destruction,” any different from Chilean Miners Porn? Or 2011 Egyptian Revolution Porn? Or Portland, Oregon, Porn? Anything worth shooting, it would seem, is potential pornography. Yet critics are slinging the ruin porn term around, conflating genuine interest and concern with insatiable horniness. What gives?

I understand that there is something of an exploitative aspect to the visual documentation of Motown’s decline, a rubbernecking yet relieved sentiment solicited and received by Gothic depictions of wreck and ruin – but provocative isn’t porno. Good photography commands pathos; great photography demands it, and right now, Detroit requires our attention. But how the act of paying attention got mixed up with masturbation is a mystery to me. Am I watching Google Porn every time I check Gmail? Are you? Please, dear reader, close your inbox and pull your hand out of your pants.

Detroit, Michigan, circa 2011, is the most emotive, pathetic, and photogenic subject in America right now. The city’s vacant lots, shuttered automotive plants, and abandoned houses are fascinating and horrifying, and we can’t turn away. But does insatiable consumer demand or instinctual human curiosity suddenly transform something into porn?

What’s more, the assumption that any art – verbal or visual – inspired by the Motor City is pornographic is a slap in the face to anyone who’s ever tried to affect positive change in the world via words or images; i.e., writers and artists. No one ever accused Solzhenitsyn of writing gulag porn or Margaret Mitchell of antebellum porn. Things aren’t so rosy in Detroit right now; Americans should see what’s happening to a great city.

Mother Jones derides Chrysler for utilizing “the cynical racism (or at least colonialism) of positioning Chrysler as a tough, gritty, 8 Mile-style brand that’s perfect for what marketers call the ‘urban core’ demographic; and using Detroit poverty porn to hawk [its] product while simultaneously trying to deride the media’s recent Detroit poverty porn.” (For the moment, we’ll set aside the incongruity that it’s okay for MoJo to mock Chrysler for perpetrating “poverty porn” out of one side of its mouth while promoting its own version out of the other.)

First of all, it’s incredibly naive to fault a failing (or failed) corporation’s attempt to re-brand and re-introduce itself to a new generation of consumers. True, Chrysler’s modus operandi over the last half-century seems to have been “How not to run a business,” and true, the ailing automaker should probably have been put to sleep and made to suffer the consequences of its managerial idiocy. But whether or not you think Chrysler deserved its $15 billion in bailout funds, the fact of the matter is that it did indeed receive them, ostensibly to keep manufacturing cars and to provide some kind of lifeline to the Motor City. And whether or not you think those new cars are classic Chrysler POS’s, the fact of the matter is that they need to be sold to someone. There’s an entire generation of Honda drivers to convert, yet Mother Jones expects Detroit to do so with tail fins, muscle cars, and depictions of Hank Greenberg-era Tigertown.

Secondly, the advertisement seeks to glorify Detroit, not wallow in its decline. There are no cheap Coney Island hot dog joints here, no bombed out buildings. “Imported From Detroit” promotes Motown as the city of Joe Louis; of the Larry Callahan & Selected of God choir; of Eminem. If that’s pornography, then so is this. Chrysler bet $9 million – a Super Bowl record – on their two-minute spot; it was seen by 111 million viewers during the most-watched spectacle in American television history, and as I write, the viral video has gotten more than 9 million hits on YouTube. “Likes” outnumber “dislikes” by more than 20 to 1. “Imported From Detroit” is easily the most discussed television advertisement since last year’s epic “Write the Future” campaign from Nike.

There’s no outcry over “Marilyn Porn” when Vanity Fair puts the long-deceased Ms. Monroe on its cover twice in two years (I’ve had magazines reject pitches because editors have deemed them too similar to articles published six years prior), yet there’s virtually no argument to be made about her contemporary newsworthiness (or lack thereof). Graydon Carter knows enough about magazines and marketing to give his customers what they want; is he a pornographer, too?

Image: JSFauxtaugraphy

Prix Pictet 2011: More than Just Pretty Pictures

Kim Derby — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 17:02:01 +0000

An annual photography competition dedicated to sustainability.

“Many photographers are concerned about our world and are producing work that, while often beautiful, still has a very powerful message for us: This is not art for art’s sake, it is art for our own sake.”
– Joerg Colberg, photographer, critic and Prix Pictet nominator.

The Prix Pictet was launched three years ago by the Swiss private bank, Pictet & Cie. Photographers are challenged to create a series of images that expose major social and environmental issues facing our time. It isn’t about just “art” or “photojournalism,” and it certainly isn’t about a specific people, race or region.

The themes for the first two years of the competition were Water and Earth, respectively, and this year’s theme Growth proved to be just as challenging and inspiring. How does one confront such a grand idea, the need for advancements yet the fear of too much too fast, via pictures? The website describes Growth as follows:

“…growth is a paradox. Just as growth threatens to bring environmental catastrophe, so it improves the health and living standards of untold millions around the world. We now face a global crisis in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security, and sustainability of our civilization…Meeting these huge new demands will be one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century.”

The participating photographers were nominated by a group of experts from around the world that included museum directors and curators, critics and journalists. Then a small jury got to work choosing the “shortlist,” or the work that best communicated the theme. The 2011 shortlist of twelve photographers was announced last November.

A winner will be announced March 17, but there aren’t any losers in this group. Yes, it’s a competition and about $100,000 is at stake, but all of these images are stunning, poignant and prove to successfully communicate an important message.

Here are the twelve photographers and a link to their series of images on Growth:

Christian Als: Kibera – The Shadow City (above)

Edward Burtynsky: Oil (above and top)

Stéphane Couturier: Melting Point (above)

Mitch Epstein: American Power (above)

Chris Jordan: Midway: Message from the Gyre (above)

Yeondoo Jung: Evergreen Tower (above)

Vera Lutter: Body of Work (above)

Nyaba Leon Ouedraogo: The Hell of Copper (above)

Taryn Simon: An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (above)

Thomas Struth: Paradise (above)

Guy Tillim: Petros Village (above)

Michael Wolf: Architecture of Density (above)

From this group the 2011 winner will be chosen, as well as a Commission winner. The latter is picked by the Partners of Pictet & Cie, and invited to travel to a part of the world where the Bank is involved in a sustainability project. This year it’s the Tusk Trust in Africa.

A big bank putting money somewhere other than its own pocket? Round of applause, please.

The winners will be announced by Kofi Annan, Honorary President of the Prix Pictet, on opening night (March 17) of an exhibition honoring all twelve photographers at the Passage de Retz gallery in Paris. The exhibition will run from March 17 through April 16.

Kitchen Escapade

Leigha Oaks — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 20:55:06 +0000

I don’t cook. I mean, I do cook – but strictly for survival purposes. Some people regale tales of julienning vegetables and sautéing diced delights as stress relieving and amusing. I don’t buy it. If food wasn’t a biological necessity, you wouldn’t find me in a kitchen. Even my dainty apron with elegant eggplant pinstripes doesn’t draw me to a chopping board or oven.

Imagine my surprise when I caught myself swooning and drooling over a kitchen. If these walls were in my house, I would be nurturing soufflés and simmering beef bourguignon within reach of no less than seventy-three spice varieties.

Notice the frayed edges dangling from the table. If only I could rip textiles apart and drape them perfectly under exposed light bulbs. Though I have to admit, my neurosis would likely keep me from a wall of cupboards sheltered only by translucent glass. I would spend all my time straightening, aligning, and adjusting pristine white dishes instead of actually utilizing all those gleaming surfaces and mixing bowls.

To illustrate the power of styling and photography (brace yourself), this kitchen is stocked with products from, drum roll please, Ikea. That’s right, Ikea.

(This kitchen was spotted on Escapade. Images from Ikea via Livet Hemma.)

Luscious Lushlee

Leigha Oaks — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:13:40 +0000

One hundred and twenty bicycles mounted on the external facade of a New York City building is just one of the lovely things that will take your breath away at Lushlee, a luscious little place of beauty created by Ange May. Ms. May has created a space in the blogosphere that balances ideas, inspiration, and aesthetics and offers endless inspiration. No matter your vice, Lushlee has something to satisfy your cravings for anything handmade, photography, fashion, inspiration, culture, vintage charms, product design, and interiors styled to perfection.

From the eclectic envelope collection of Andrew Bush to the Ribbonesia art project by Baku Maeda, there have been many, many things on Lushlee that make my heart flutter. Just a simple search for “˜mustache’ pops up graphic mustache band-aids (yes, please!), a wooden necklace to swoon over, and an alluring mustache salt and pepper shaker. Lushlee is an amalgamation of adjectives – indie, crisp, gorgeous, creative, hipster, modern – all sprinkled with bits of perfection hidden amongst the archives.

(All images from Lushlee.)

Non-Invasive Surgery

Leigha Oaks — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 19:42:22 +0000

Horizontal stripes widen your waist and your walls. Your figure isn’t the only shape that can be distorted with colorful finishes; there are piles of covert instructions to make your home just as alluring as your hourglass anatomy. Give your space a little ‘nip and tuck’ with these simple non-invasive surgeries.

I’ll start off with a couple of basic and fundamental color definitions – warm versus cool. Warm colors are hues with an undertone of brown, red, orange, or yellow. Cool colors are hues with an undertone of grey, green, blue, or violet. Most colors are neatly categorized as warm or cool, but there are a handful of hues that purposely defy categorization. You may have heard of the ‘greige’ sensation – it’s a gorgeous hue that combines the best attributes of beige and grey (not warm, not cool, but hovering elegantly on middle ground).

Now that you know the basic ingredients, here they are – the rules you have been waiting for.

1. Warm colors advance.
2. Cool colors recede.
3. Light colors give the impression of larger and lighter.
4. Dark colors give the impression of smaller and heavier.

Practical Application and Pragmatic Advice

A wall painted with a warm, light color (soft butter cream yellow) will seem larger and closer to the viewer. Conversely, a wall painted with a dark cool color (deep navy blue) will appear smaller and farther away to the viewer. If you have a long, narrow room, paint the long walls a cool color and the narrow end walls a warm color – the room will appear more balanced and less awkward. These rules are not just for your walls; apply them to furniture, flooring, and ceilings for the same effect. If your dining room is blessed with a high ceiling, but your furniture and lighting are all minimal height, the room may feel overwhelming, incongruous or disproportionate. Paint the ceiling a warm, dark color (rich chocolate brown) to visually lower the height, creating an intimate room and synergy with the furnishings.

Armed with these rules, you can use an inexpensive material (paint) to offer luxurious results. Start by identifying your spatial features and which color category will best compliment the space. Select your paint color (and finish) and get started. Not sure which paint finish will best suite your space? Check out this paint finish guide.

(This vivid photography is from the portfolio of Irina Graewe; her talented lens captures bold color with grace.)

(For more information on the four rules, refer to John F. Pile’s book Interior Design).