Photography

Section

Art Photography

Classical Figures Plunge into Contemporary Life in Alexey Kondakov’s Era-Blurring Paintings

Alexey Kondakov stretches the notion that art is timeless. In his uncanny Art History in Contemporary Life series (previously), Kondakov plucks figures from neoclassical and romantic paintings and places them into modern settings, blurring era, style, and medium.

Kondakov primarily works with backgrounds he’s photographed throughout his native Kyiv and other European cities including Berlin, Milan, and Naples. Often laden with graffiti and modern conveniences like electric stovetops and vehicles, the harsh, urban settings counter the soft, angelic characteristics of the Old Masters. In one work, the spirited trio in Ferdinand Leeke’s “Fleeing Nymphs” dashes across a misty street, while another depicts Alexandre Cabanel’s “Desdemona” sitting unamused with two empty cocktails on the table in front of her.

Given Russia’s ongoing war within his home country, the artist has been working more slowly the last few years, although he released a book collecting his pieces titled An Imaginary Adventure in 2021. “After the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, it took about half of the year to bring myself back to work, and it took about a year to return to a normal working flow. Now I am full of hopes and ideas,” he says.

Prints and a few copies of An Imaginary Adventure are available in Kondakov’s shop. Find more of his art historical juxtapositions on Instagram.

 

Nature Photography

Spanning Four Decades, Edward Burtynsky’s Photos Document the Devastating Impacts of Industry

“I have spent over 40 years bearing witness to the ways in which modern civilization has dramatically transformed our planet,” says the renowned photographer Edward Burtynsky (previously). From the salt ponds of Spain to the eerie tunnels of Russia’s potash mines, Burtynsky has traveled the globe for the last four decades documenting the indelible impacts of industry.

Opening this month at Saatchi Gallery in London is Extraction/Abstraction, the largest survey of his work to date. Comprising 94 images and 13 large-scale murals, the exhibition showcases the disastrous effects of human consumption from distant, often aerial perspectives that at first glance, appear as alluring, colorful compositions. A closer study reveals the horrific nature of many of the photos as they capture a brilliant orange river of nickel waste or concentric trenches etched into the Turkish landscape to mitigate erosion.

Despite the scale of the subject matter, Burtynsky chronicles the profound magnitude of consumption that can be difficult to comprehend through facts and figures alone. By pairing photos of environmental destruction with those of immense natural beauty, he also emphasizes the threat of loss and reminds us how much we collectively rely on the planet for survival.

Extraction/Abstraction is on view from February 14 to May 6. Burtynsky will also open an exhibition of new works on February 28 at Flowers Gallery in London. Until then, find more of his photos on Instagram.

 

Nature Photography

The 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year Reveals the Most Magnificent Animal Behavior

From the cliffs of the Zin Desert to the shallow waters of South Africa’s Kosi Bay, the 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest traverses the globe documenting the most striking moments of life on Earth. Laurent Ballesta, whose luminous underwater images we’ve featured previously, won the competition for the second time. Titled “The golden horseshoe,” the photo peers in on a tri-spine horseshoe crab crawling over the mud with a trio of small golden trevallies trailing behind with the hope that the crab will rustle up some food as it moves.

In its 59th year, the contest garnered nearly 50,000 entries from 95 countries. The winning photos— which include an electrifying shot of fireflies from Sriram Murali and Fernando Constantino Martínez Belmar’s devastating documentation of deforestation in Mexico—are on view through June 30 at the Natural History Museum in London.

 

Photography

Framed by Frozen Lakes, Richard Johnson’s ‘Ice Huts’ Capture Wintertime Communities in Canada

Starting in late December and January when the temperatures stay consistently below freezing, bodies of water in the northern United States and Canada begin to freeze. As the ice reaches thicknesses over four inches, it becomes safe to walk on, and at more than five inches, it is usually safe for snowmobiles. Then, in droves, residents take to the lakes. Ontario’s 279-square-mile Lake Simcoe, for example, draws more people for its ice fishing than any other lake in North America, attracting upwards of 4,000 huts each year.

The colorful villages of hand-built structures that populate many popular spots during the coldest months caught the eye of Toronto-based architectural photographer Richard Johnson (1957-2021), who captured hundreds of the structures, from the artistic to the ad-hoc, in a series of bold portraits taken between 2007 and 2019. “I have always been fascinated with small structures,” Johnson said. He continued:

My earliest recollection of shelter was as a 6-year-old growing up in Trinidad. It was a guard house for our neighbour. No more than three walls and a lean to roof, it was a simple solution to shade the harsh sun and protect from tropical rains. These shelters, built by individuals with available materials, inspired me to take notice.

The photos highlight a wide array of materials and design choices that comprise the seasonal communities, from plastic tarps wrapped around poles to one-person sheds to comparatively sophisticated board-and-batten buildings. Johnson captured the individual personality of each hut in a square format, framed by a snowy landscape, with their inhabitants typically out of view. Small enough to be towed onto the ice with a vehicle, some versions boast unique decor and enough space to hold several people, a small stove, and basic provisions.

See more on Richard Johnson Gallery’s website, where prints are available for purchase.

 

Nature Photography

In Drew Simms’s Short Film, Yellowstone National Park’s Gentle Giants Hunker Down in Subzero Temperatures

Rugged survivors of the Northern Great Plains, bison were nearly eliminated in the late 19th century due to overhunting. The creatures’ highly profitable, heavy wool hides were fashionable for jackets, and the U.S. government also sanctioned their slaughter as a way to compel Native Americans, who relied on the animals for sustenance, onto reservations. Still listed as a “near threatened” species and considered “ecologically extinct,” bison no longer play a role in prairie biodiversity. But their survival today is due in large part to dedicated, often Indigenous-led regeneration efforts across the plains.

Since prehistoric times, the only place where bison have lived continuously is in what is now Yellowstone National Park. The massive animals, which can weigh up to 2,000 pounds, develop a burly undercoat of coarse fur that protects them from the elements, keeping them warm and comfortable in temperatures as low as -40 degrees Fahrenheit. On a week-long camping trip last winter, photographer Drew Simms captured families of bison, along with other critters who frequent the area, in the stunning short film “-37°F in Yellowstone National Park.”

Featuring some of the thousands-strong herd that wanders freely through the expansive park and nearby areas of Montana, Simms observed steaming geysers, sly coyotes, and ice-coated mineral deposits in otherworldly scenes captured during the season when up to 200 inches of snow coats the landscape.

Follow more of Simms’s adventures on his YouTube channel and Instagram. (via The Kid Should See This)

 

Photography

Brendon Burton Captures Intimate Portraits of North America’s Metamorphosing Rural Landscapes

Last summer, Brendon Burton hit the road from his home in Portland, Oregon, and wandered across the great western expanses of Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Utah. In the fall, he captured misty scenes around the Pacific Northwest and then headed east to New York and West Virginia, where the trees burst with autumnal orange and red hues. Focusing his lens on abandoned structures and isolated landscapes, the photographer (previously) emphasizes the tenuousness of memory, passing time, and places left behind.

Burton’s dreamlike images are characterized by dilapidated farmhouses, empty roads, and sprawling fields, often caught in a moment of temporary transformation, like when a flock of birds interrupts the quietude of a rural road or a stormy sky releases a dramatic rainbow.

Typically devoid of people, Burton’s images are often fixed on architectural details and artifacts left by past occupants. Rather than focusing on decay, he considers what liminality, or being in-between, physically looks like as landscapes and structures metamorphose through time. The cycle of the seasons plays out in the trees surrounding an Appalachian church or the emergence of a smiley face on timber land on an Oregon hillside. Planted by a lumber company about fifteen years ago, the expressive emblem is composed of larch, which turns yellow and drops its needles each year, amid a sea of Douglas fir.

Burton continues to work toward a book of photographs, which he aims to publish later this year. Find more on his website, Behance, and Instagram.