American Museum of Natural History ARCHIVE PHOTOGRAPHY

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has opened up some of their photographed back catalogue online. Among my favourites are the disturbingly beautiful dioramas.


Links:
AMCH: Picturing the Museum
Pruned: Other Simulated Worlds (source)

ZENG's Anthropomorphics

Beijing designer Zeng has some fun anthropomorphics going on at Etsy.



Links:
Zeng.etsy.com

Featurette: JAAP SCHEEREN

Jaap Scheren has an interesting and varied portfolio. I particularly like the low key IGUANA series and Research Animals which is more subtle than it sounds.




Links:
Jaap Scheeren
Solar Photography

EYE OF SCIENCE

The work of Oliver Meckes and Nicole Ottawa is stunning. Their philosophy for Eye of Science is stated as follows:

"As a two-person team of photographer and biologist, our aim is to combine scientific exactness with aesthetic appearances, and thereby help to bridge the gap between the world of science and the world of art. We are committed to the rigorous standards of scientific investigation, but also to the use of color as a creative and harmonious tool to achieve beauty. By combining science and aesthetics we hope to enthuse our audience. Day after day we explore fascinating forms and structures in a world beyond human vision."

Links:
Eye of Science
Wellcome Image Awards (SiouxWIRE)

MARRIED TO THE SEA

Created by Drew and Natalie Dee, MTTS updates daily at midnight. Drew and Natalie's other comics are Toothpaste for Dinner and Natalie Dee respectively.



Links:
Married to the Sea
Married to the Sea (MySpace)
Toothpaste for Dinner
Natalie Dee

ANDREW BREEN's "Invisible Seas"

I really like Andrew Breen's latest series, Invisible Seas. The statement accompanying the series says:

"In my previous photographic series, Night on Land, I constructed miniature, alien environments. Devoid of any life forms, these images presented the "ideal" aesthetics of early sci-fi cinema. In my new body of work, Invisible Seas, I am fabricating and directing my own nautical creatures in response to what is hidden in the Night on Land pictures.

Using the visual markers of scientific and underwater photography, Invisible Seas challenges perceptual systems through the exploration of the synthetic and biological, real and imaginary. While combining clay and plastic models and cultivated organisms and then photographing them underwater, I address the relationship between how these life forms appear versus what they actually are."

Links:
Andrew Breen
Andrew Breen Blog
Andrew Breen (Columbia College Chicago)

REYKA

Much like the earlier surreal visitation from Tarako, this advert for Iceland's Reyka vodka is similarly off-kilter and amiable.

Credits:
Agency: Dead As We Know It, New York
CD/Art Director: Mikal Reich
Copywriter: Ella Wilson
Art Director: John Painter
Agency Producer: Oscar Thomas
Production Company: HSI Productions
Director: Barney Clay
Director of Photography: Tom Townend
Producer: Jeremy Goold
Editor: Tom Lindsay
VFX: Clear Ltd. — London
Animation: HSI Productions
Animation Producer: Sam Hope
Illustration: Caroline Church

Links:
Reyka
Tarako (SiouxWIRE)
Barney Clay
Caroline Church