Showing posts with label Instagram. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Instagram. Show all posts

February 16 - Slo-Mo Meets Trick-Shot Archery!

Posted on February 16, 2021

It was a Tuesday in 2016. February 16, 2016, to be exact. An Instagrammer named James Jean posted a slo-mo video of him shooting a clay pigeon with an arrow.



He got a LOT more views than his usual posts did.

That success may have prompted him to post an archery trick-shot. Again, he got more views, and a few months after that he posted more archery, and BOOM - way more views!

Soon James Jean renamed his Instagram feed "jamesjeantrickshots," and he got better and better at filming his archery exploits. Whether he's shooting a can of soda, a teeny tiny aspirin (!), or through a wedding ring, the slo-mo shots are fun to watch! 
















(Third or Fourth Tuesday of February)




Mardi Gras
(Shrove Tuesday)





Carnival
(Shrove Tuesday)





Kanaval in Haiti
(Shrove Tuesday)



(Shrove Tuesday)





Plan ahead:


Check out my Pinterest boards for:
And here are my Pinterest boards for:





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January 1 - The Start of Something Crane

Posted on January 1, 2020

Cristian Marianciuc is a Romanian artist. His favorite medium is paper - you know, folding paper, cutting paper, manipulating paper.

 Marianciuc was living and studying in Australia when he  decided to learn more about Japanese culture and to give a lecture about the Japanese paper-folding art of origami. He told the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who folded paper cranes while battling cancer. Ancient folklore says that, if you fold 1,000 cranes, your wish will come true, but Sasaki had only folded about 600 cranes when she lost her battle with cancer. 
Marianciuc told the lecture attendees that he related to this story partly because his own sister had died of cancer, and partly because he himself feels a kind of inner peace while folding paper cranes.

 After he returned to Romania, Marianciuc struggled with depression. Trying to find meaning in life and to establish healthy psychological habits in his daily routine, Marianciuc made a New Year's Resolution to make a paper crane every day for 1,000 days. 

 On this date in 2015, Marianciuc folded his first resolution crane. He shared it to the world with his Instagram feed (his Instagram name is icarus.mid.air). The next day, he folded and shared another one. The next day, another one. And on and on. Some of the cranes are relatively simple - many are astonishingly complex and lovely. Not only does Marianciuc decorate some cranes with beautiful cut paper wings, he decorates some of his paper cranes with flowers and leaves!

 By the way, Marianciuc is still going strong on the decorative crane project. I have a feeling he is not folding and posting every day, these days, but he makes new designs frequently. He must've passed 1,000 cranes a few years ago and is probably getting close to 2,000 now!


Check out this story about how his crane origami project has helped Marianciuc with his depression - and has helped other people as well!
Here is a link to Marianciuc's first simple crane and somewhat out-of-focus photo.

 Compare that to some of these beautiful creations:








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July 29 - A Photographer Meets His Muse

Posted on July 29, 2019


True artists, including photographers, will make art wherever they are, no matter what their life looks like. 

But sometimes an artist goes along at one level, making quite nice art - and then something changes, and the change inspires what I would argue is greater art. 

The "something changes" that inspires an artist can be a world event, like humans reaching the Moon or a disastrous typhoon. Or it can be a personal event - finding an amazing job, moving, meeting a soulmate. 

In Dave Koh's case, it was becoming a father. On this date in 2013, he posted the first photo of his newborn daughter to his professional photography account - which can be found with the name milkpa316.

Koh's daughter seemed to act as a sort of muse. His pre-fatherhood photos were generally portraits - beautiful and evocative portraits - but after he became a dad, Koh also began to produce conceptual pieces. Some of his photos speak to concern about the environment, concern for the future. (Of course, parents and grandparents have even more at stake in the future than they did before they had kids!)

By the way, Koh is from Malaysia and now lives in Singapore. He is a full-time dad (or used to be, at least). He and his wife have had another child, this time a son.

Check out Dave Koh's work. I think that his pics will make you think - and more thinking makes the world a better place!








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