Photography Archives — Colossal https://www.thisiscolossal.com/category/photography/ The best of art, craft, and visual culture since 2010. Mon, 13 Jan 2025 15:29:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/icon-crow-150x150.png Photography Archives — Colossal https://www.thisiscolossal.com/category/photography/ 32 32 Help Choose the Winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/01/wildlife-photos-peoples-choice/ Sat, 11 Jan 2025 02:26:13 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=448229 Help Choose the Winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice AwardTwenty-five stunning images capturing myriad creatures around the globe are eligible for votes.

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The Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest received nearly 60,000 entries from 117 countries for its 2024 competition, an immense pool from which judges choose just 100 finalists. To bring the public into the selection process, the Natural History Museum, which develops and produces the annual event, has launched the People’s Choice Award.

Twenty-five stunning images are eligible for votes and capture a wide range of biological happenings around the globe. In Botswana, David Northall came upon an overly tenacious honey badger determined to snack on a porcupine despite the spiny creature’s pointed attack. And in Bhigwan, India, Arvind Ramamurthy stumbled upon five wolves—a species with dwindling numbers given human encroachment—playing in a lush meadow.

The contest is open through January 29, so check out all 25 photos and cast your vote on the museum’s website.

A bloodied yet determined honey badger covered in spines returns to finish off a Cape porcupine, which earlier had tried to defend itself.
David Northall, “Spiked”
a mouse-like animal with a long nose sniffs the forest floor
Piotr Naskrecki, “Snuffling Sengi”
A chimpanzee pauses and looks down as its family moves across the forest floor of Loango National Park, Gabon
Nora Milligan, “Curious Connection”
a badger looks up at a mural of a badger holding two guns. a sign above it reads "keep access clear at all times"
Ian Wood, “No Access”

A double lenticular cloud is illuminated at nightfall by the lava emitted from the Villarrica volcano, Chile.
Francisco Negroni, “Earth and Sky”
five members of an Indian wolf pack pause briefly as they play in lush green fields in Bhigwan, India.
Arvind Ramamurthy, “Wolf Pack”
A bright blue and purple European roller defends its territory from a bemused-looking little owl in Kiskunság National Park, Hungary
Bence Máté, “Annoying Neighbour”
A decorator crab perches on top of a sea squirt to comb the water for drifting plankton against a deep blue background
Noam Kortler, “Drifting Dinner”
A giant ground gecko stands fast against a pale chanting goshawk in Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, South Africa.
Willie Burger van Schalkwyk, “The Brave Gecko”

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Traveling Middle America, Richard Sharum Reaches for the Heart of the Heartland https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/01/richard-sharum-spina-americana/ Tue, 07 Jan 2025 15:27:48 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=447907 Traveling Middle America, Richard Sharum Reaches for the Heart of the HeartlandIn Richard Sharum's new book, a portrait of a fractured nation emerges in bold black and white.

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What characteristics define a contemporary American? Amid an increasingly polarized political and cultural landscape, photographer Richard Sharum traveled across America’s “spine” to suss out the common threads and seemingly insurmountable disparities of a fractured nation.

For three years, Sharum traversed a lengthy stretch between the Canadian and Mexican borders. From North Dakota to Kansas to Texas, he documented the lives of more than 4,000 people in 14,000-plus images, creating a snapshot of a region that’s historically been overlooked. “I knew that in order for me to find out what America is, I needed to travel its central corridor and see it for myself,” he said.

a black and white photo of a farmer in a cowboy hat and flannel shirt holding a head of cabbage in a field
Harvester, Pearsall, Texas, March 24, 2021

In his new book, Spina Americana, a portrait of a nation emerges in bold black and white. On frozen water in Hemand, North Dakota, a fisherman shows off his recently speared Nothern Pike. In O’Neill, Nebraska, an older woman cradles a bowling ball in front of wood paneling, and two teenagers steel away from baseball practice in Tolar, Texas, to pose for Sharum.

Delineated by location and an area often described as “flyover country,” the photos focus largely on the working class. Manual labor is prominent throughout the series, which features migrant workers picking oregano, a firefighter, and a cotton candy vendor. Whereas the working class in this region is often omitted from or patronized within pop culture and political conversations, Sharum portrays each person with reverence and a desire to emphasize a shared humanity. The lack of color similarly draws attention to the material conditions and expressions of the subjects. He adds:

This term, flyover country, was one I’d heard my entire life but had never really thought about when it came to the condescension it implied. I felt that this part of our country had been ignored politically, socially, and culturally for decades, with its obscurity creating a subtle but consequential vacuum that had implicitly added fuel to our national divisions.

Raised in Corpus Christi, Sharum is now based in Corning, New York. Spina Americana is published by GOST Books and available on Bookshop. Find more of his work on his website. (via PetaPixel)

an open book spread with a black and white photo of cowboys holding their hats over their hearts
a black and white photo of a fisherman holding a speared fish on an icy body of water
Ice Fisherman with Fresh Northern Pike, Hemand, North Dakota, March 2, 2022 
a black and white photo of a person walking along a fence
Storm Chaser, Burlington, Oklahoma, May 15, 2022 
a black and white photo of a firefighter in a burning field
Firetech with Grassfire, Huntsville, Kansas, May 18, 2022 
a black and white photo of a teenage girl wearing an apron holding a giant stick of cotton candy
Cotton Candy Vendor, Lake Andes, South Dakota, June 3, 2023 
a black and white photo of migrant workers harvesting a field
Migrant Laborers Picking Oregano, Edinburg, Texas, November 4, 2022 
a black and white photo of an older woman posing with a black bowling ball in front of wood paneling
Bowler, O’Neill, Nebraska, December 16, 2021
an open book spread with two black and white portraits of men
a black and white photo of two handcuffed hadns sticking through a door in a wall
Isolation Cell, JRCC, Jamestown, North Dakota, March 4, 2022 
a black and white photo of a mother and daughter in long traditional dresses standing on a wood porch
Mennonite Sisters, Partridge, Kansas, June 20, 2021
a black and white photo of two young male baseball players
Two Highschool Baseball Players at Practice, Tolar, Texas, March 3, 2021 

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Mous Lamrabat’s Striking Portraits Put Unity, Love, and Compassion in Sharp Focus https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/mous-lamrabat-mousganistan/ Fri, 27 Dec 2024 12:00:00 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=447487 Mous Lamrabat’s Striking Portraits Put Unity, Love, and Compassion in Sharp FocusFive years in the making, Lamrabat's book 'Mousganistan' dives into "an in-between territory in which opposites collide and create beauty and abundance."

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Born in Morocco and raised in Belgium, Mous Lamrabat has long been fascinated by diasporic experience and the surprising parallels, contradictions, and intersections between cultures. Through fashion photography and vibrant personal work, the photographer celebrates love, freedom, and unity.

Five years in the making, Lamrabat’s new book Mousganistan is a dive into “an in-between territory in which opposites collide and create beauty and abundance, new connections, and dialogues in a visually thought-provoking and at times confronting way,” says a statement.

“Pinky promises” (2021)

Published by Lannoo, Mousganistan leads us on a journey through portraiture and Lamrabat’s creative process, highlighting the spaces where cultures, symbols, capitalism, spirituality, and survival meet. He often focuses on diasporic communities, tracing connections between global geography, cultures, and identity.

Lamrabat often focuses up-close on an individual or a pair sporting unique garments or abstract coverings, accessorizing with brand logos or pop culture symbols. His images nearly glow with bold contrasts, vivid color, and remarkable backdrops. Beauty, interconnectedness, and youthful energy challenge our notions of “traditional” culture and open our minds to imagine a future fueled by compassion and understanding.

Explore more on Lamrabat’s website, and grab your copy of Mousganistan on Bookshop.

“Can’t wrap my head around it” (2021)
“Louis the clown” (2021)
“Money Trees” (2020)
“Kingdom of lions” (2021)

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George Steinmetz Journeys Around the World to Illuminate Where Food Comes From https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/george-steinmetz-feed-the-planet/ Wed, 18 Dec 2024 12:43:37 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=447032 George Steinmetz Journeys Around the World to Illuminate Where Food Comes FromHave you ever wondered how your bacon, almond milk, or fish ends up on your table?

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Have you ever thought about how your bacon, almond milk, or fish ends up on your table? In our globalized economy, fresh fruit can be shipped from one hemisphere to another to stock grocery store shelves regardless of the season, and many of us enjoy nearly endless choices of cereals, vegetables, meats, and snacks. But a striking number of young children don’t realize that processed foods like chicken nuggets and cheese don’t come from plants. How does a hot dog come to be? Where does our food come from?

Photographer George Steinmetz offers a remarkable look at landscapes, initiatives, and customs that shape how the world eats. His new book, Feed the Planet, chronicles a decade spent documenting food production in more than three dozen countries on six continents, including 24 U.S. states.

Soybean harvest, Fazenda Piratini, Bahia, Brazil

More than 40 percent of our planet’s surface has been molded and tended to produce crops and livestock. From idiosyncratic 16th-century farm plots in rural Poland to Texas cattle feed lots to a large-scale shrimp processing operation in India, food production is rarely observed on this scale. “He takes us places that most of us never see, although our very lives depend on them,” says a statement for the book.

Studies have shown that large-scale agriculture and factory farming send greenhouse gases into the atmosphere in an amount constituting nearly one-third of all human-caused emissions. The ongoing climate crisis can be traced in large part to fertilizers that release nitrous oxide; deforestation caused by farm expansion that adds more carbon dioxide into the air; and emissions from manure management, burning, fuel use, and more.

From a striking aerial vantage point, Steinmetz captures the beauty, ingenuity, and stark reality of factories, aquaculture, family farms, food pantries, and sprawling agricultural operations. He elucidates how staples like wheat, rice, vegetables, fruits, meat, and fish reach both domestic and international tables, tapping into “one of humanity’s deepest needs, greatest pleasures, and most pressing challenges.”

Purchase a signed copy on the photographer’s website, or grab one on Bookshop.

an aerial view of numerous fishing boats on the coast of Mauritania
Mauritania was a country of pastoral nomads when it gained independence from France in 1960, but it has since become a nation of fishermen as well, with hundreds of pirogues lining the beach of the capital of Nouakchott. The official annual national landings are around 900,000 tons, but researchers who include illegal or unreported hauls put the catch at more than twice that. With many fish stocks moving north and farther offshore as sea temperatures rise, the competition for fish turned violent in 2023 in neighboring Senegal, where fishermen from the town of Kayar burned drift nets illegally set by fishermen from Mboro in the Kayar Marine Protected Area. In response, the Mboro fishermen attacked Kayar boats with gasoline bombs, killing one boy and wounding twenty others. Government intervention prevented an outright civil war between fishing groups, but tensions are endemic to communities that have grown dependent on declining natural resources. Some 600,000 Senegalese are now employed in fisheries. Fish are a primary source of protein for both Mauritania and Senegal.
Working one shrimp at a time, women workers at Avanti Frozen Foods in Yerravaram, Andhra Pradesh, India, can de-shell and de-vein up to 44 tons of farmed shrimp per day from the company’s 1,600 acres of shrimp ponds. Avanti is one of the largest shrimp exporters in India, which dominates the global shrimp export market. About 75 percent of its frozen shrimp is exported to the U.S., with Costco being one of its major customers. Shrimp is the most valuable traded marine product in the world, with an estimated market value of nearly $47 billion in 2022.
Modern cowboys conduct wellness checks on horseback at the Wrangler Feedyard in Tulia, Texas, home to around fifty thousand head. Wrangler is one of ten feedlots in Texas and Kansas owned by Amarillo-based Cactus Feeders that collectively can provide feed and care for a half million cattle. At the Wrangler facility, cattle arrive at around 750 pounds, then spend five to six months eating some 20 pounds of dry feed and fodder each day until they reach slaughter weight. Cactus sends more than a million head to slaughter each year, typically to the Tyson beef processing plants in Amarillo, Texas, and Holcomb, Kansas. According to the Texas Farm Bureau, there are more cattle on feedlots within 150 miles of Amarillo than any other area in the world.
Just as almond milk has displaced cartons of dairy milk in the grocery store, an old Aermotor windmill that once pumped water for cattle now looms over rows of almond trees and beehives that replaced them near Oakdale, California. The rising popularity of nut milks and almonds for snacking both in the U.S. and overseas has led California growers to triple their acreage in almonds since 1995. Almond orchards now cover 2,500 square miles in the state, growing 80 percent of the global supply and worth more than $5 billion in annual sales. Like cattle, almond trees need copious amounts of water—about 1.1 gallons per nut—as well as hardworking honeybees to pollinate the crop, both of which are in increasingly short supply.
A few of the 2,000 workers at the CP Group’s chicken processing plant in Jiangsu, China, prepare broilers for the domestic market, including fast food chains like McDonald’s, KFC, and Burger King. On a typical day they process 200,000 birds and double that number prior to Chinese holidays.
Men and women of all races, classes, and religions enjoy a free hot meal at the Sri Harmandir Sahib, better known as the Golden Temple, in Amritsar in Punjab State, India. The gurdwara is the holiest site of the Sikhs, as well as the world’s largest langar, or community kitchen, which provides a free, hot vegetarian meal to 100,000 people, 24/7, all year. The meals consist of roti, or Indian flatbread, rice, a curried vegetable dish, and dal, or lentil soup, which is cooked in giant wood-fired cauldrons in four-ton batches paid for by donations and cooked and ladled out mostly by volunteers. Such langars are a part of every Sikh temple and serve an estimated seven million free meals around the world as an act of charity to all visitors each day.

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Quirky Facades of Japan’s Love Hotels Feature in François Prost’s Vibrant Portraits https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/francois-prost-love-hotel/ Mon, 16 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=446919 Quirky Facades of Japan’s Love Hotels Feature in François Prost’s Vibrant PortraitsThe Lyon-based photographer captures unmissable roadside lodging design on a road trip across Japan.

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“Love hotels are a unique and deeply ingrained part of Japanese culture,” says photographer François Prost. “These venues have a very ‘talkative’ quality visually—they’re expressive in their design, reflecting aspects of local culture, values, and even fantasies.”

During a trip to Japan in 2023, when Prost was exhibiting an earlier series of works called Gentlemen’s Club at a gallery in Tokyo, he embarked on a road trip from the capital city to Shikoku Island in the southeast of the country. With the gallery’s urging, he undertook a new project while visiting, documenting the facades of love hotels—also sometimes called “boutique” or “fashion” hotels—that offer rooms at cheap rates for brief stays.

Prost, who is based in Lyon, France, approaches his subjects as features of the landscape that characterize a specific vernacular and highlight quirky or taboo facets of local culture. Gentleman’s Club, for example, documented American strip clubs along a southerly route from Miami to Los Angeles in 2019. He has also sought out Ivorian, French, and Spanish nightclubs in series like After Party and discoteca.

“I choose specific types of venues in each country—those with distinct, often kitschy or roadside architecture—and photograph them across the region with a consistent framing style,” Prost says. “I’m drawn to the aesthetic of these places, and how their facades reveal something about the people who inhabit or frequent them.”

His latest series, Love Hotel, captures the unmissably colorful designs of roadside lodging, ranging from ships and castles to flowers and a pink whale. “The venues aim to evoke a sense of romance, escape, and fantasy, yet they also need to feel safe and inviting—not tacky or sordid,” Prost says. “It’s why some of these places have an almost ‘Disney-like’ aesthetic, playful yet carefully curated.” Estimates of how many love hotels dot Japan range from 10,000 to 40,000.

Prost has launched a new book for the series on Kickstarter that highlights the creativity and occasional hilarity of these infamous destinations. “I hope viewers are struck by the incredible attention to detail and devotion to design that defines these spaces in Japan,” Prost says.

You can support the book on Kickstarter until January 10, and stay updated by following Prost on Instagram. Explore all of his projects, including more books, on his website.

the facade of a love hotel in Japan along the roadside shaped like a giant pink whale

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Our Favorite Stories of 2024 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/our-favorite-stories-2024/ Fri, 13 Dec 2024 15:00:00 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=446767 Our Favorite Stories of 2024Dig into articles that impart deeper context and highlight important stories that may have flown under the radar this year.

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As we look back at the hundreds of remarkable initiatives, artworks, discoveries, and events we’ve chronicled throughout 2024, we’re continually awed by the creative work we’re able to write about everyday. It’s a privilege to be able to share so much creativity with you, and we thought we’d compile a list of our favorites.

Below, you’ll find eight picks—two from each of us—that showcase just a few of the remarkable projects we published over the past twelve months. Many of these articles impart deeper context, delve into personal experiences through interviews, and highlight important stories that may have flown under the radar.

You might also enjoy our readers’ choice top articles of the year and Colossal’s favorite books of 2024. Happy reading!

—Christopher, Grace, Kate, and Jackie

Image © Irina Werning

Jackie’s Pick: In ‘Las Pelilargas,’ Irina Werning Celebrates the Impeccably Long Hair of Latin American Women and Girls

For the last 17 years, Irina Werning has traveled throughout Latin America photographing women and girls for her ongoing series, Las Pelilargas, or The Longhairs. Shot in color and black and white, the portraits document a distinct cultural practice through an incredibly alluring, even surreal lens.

a Black woman in a pink and white polka dot dress and hat standing on the front step of her home with countless found objects sculptures surrounding her
L.V. Hull at her home in Kosciusko, Mississippi, in 2002. Photo by Bruce West. Image courtesy of the L.V. Hull Legacy Center

Grace’s Pick: The Home Studio of the Late Artist L.V. Hull Is Added to the National Register of Historic Places

Kosciusko is a small town in the center of Mississippi with just under 7,000 residents. Known as the birthplace of Oprah Winfrey, Kosciusko was also home to the late artist L.V. Hull (1942–2008) who devoted her life to painting and assembling found objects.

artist Ellie Hannon working on a painting on the aft deck of a research vessel at sunset
Ellie Hannon works on one of her paintings on the aft deck during sunset on the Timor Sea around Ashmore Reef. Images © Schmidt Ocean Institute

Kate’s Pick: Art and Science Set Sail in Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Artist-at-Sea Program

“There are many ways to tell a story or to document and share research and discoveries,” says artist Ellie Hannon, one of 54 artists who have embarked on a unique residency organized by the Schmidt Ocean Institute. From slip-cast porcelain and painting to 3D printing and virtual reality, the storytelling possibilities are endless in the Artist-at-Sea program, which invites artists to work alongside scientists on weeks-long expeditions into some of the least-explored areas of our oceans.

the artist in a white balaclava during "Putin's ashes"
Image courtesy of the artist

Christopher’s Pick: Nadya Tolokonnikova On Pussy Riot, Life as Performance Art, and How Anonymity Is Her Strength

“People often don’t think about how important a person who has a photo and video camera is. The action could be gorgeous, but if you don’t have a good photographer to capture it, then it’s just not gonna work.” —Nadya Tolokonnikova

Nadya Tolokonnikova created Pussy Riot in 2011 partly in response to Vladimir Putin’s declaration that he would continue his reign over Russia. In 2012, when she and her collaborators undertook their now-famous performance at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, she was infamously sentenced to two years in prison, vaulting the art collective to international fame. Grace Ebert, Colossal’s editorial director, spoke with Nadya over Zoom one Saturday in February, more than a decade since Pussy Riot’s founding, her imprisonment, and her release.

a red telephone booth in a park
A ‘Wind Phone’ in Evanston, Illinois. Image courtesy of Amy Dawson

Grace’s Pick: For the Grieving, the Global ‘Wind Phone’ Movement Is a Lifeline

Garden designer Itaru Sasaki lost his cousin to cancer just months before a 9.1-magnitude earthquake devastated his town, the small fishing village of Otsuchi. In an attempt to wrangle his grief, he decided to create a space for mourning in his backyard, one that would offer quiet and a symbolic connection to his loved one. He called it Kaze no denwa, or “Phone of the Wind.”

Containing photos and stories from the creators, Amy Dawson’s searchable map tracks more than 300 “Wind Phones” around the globe, each individually installed and maintained.

“The Two Walls” by Alejandro Cegarra, The New York Times/Bloomberg. Image courtesy of World Press Photos

Jackie’s Pick: With Few Glimmers of Hope, the World Press Photo Contest Documents War, Migration, and Devastation

From Israel’s ongoing assault leaving the people of Gaza in horrific destitution to a record-breaking surge of migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border, the last year has seen incredible devastation around the globe. The 2024 World Press Photo contest gathers a profound and illuminating collection of images that approach myriad crises with compassion and clarity.

a Navajo weaving replicating the patterns of a Pentium core processor
“Replica of a Chip” (1994), wool mounted on wood, 120 × 146.1 centimeters. Photo © Museum Associates/LACMA. Image courtesy of American Indian Science and Engineering Society

Kate’s Pick: Marilou Schultz Weaves Computer Processor Patterns in Traditional Navajo Tapestries

What does Intel’s Pentium computer chip have in common with Navajo textiles? More than you might think. For artist Marilou Schultz, the ancestral practice of weaving melds with an unexpected contemporary source of inspiration. Merging analog loom methods with the patterns found on computer processor cores, Schultz entwines the histories of the Navajo people and modern technology.

Image © Todd Antony

Christopher’s Pick: Todd Antony Chronicles the ‘Cholitas Escaladoras’ Summiting the Highest Peak in the Americas

Originally meant as a pejorative term, cholita has been embraced by Aymara and Quechua women, who have adopted the name as a signal of pride. Photographer Todd Antony caught up with a group who call themselves the “Climbing Cholitas,” and a breathtaking series of images was born in Cholitas Escaladoras. 

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Silliness and Style Take Top Honors in the 2024 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/2024-comedy-wildlife-awards-winners/ Fri, 13 Dec 2024 11:00:00 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=446795 Silliness and Style Take Top Honors in the 2024 Comedy Wildlife Photography AwardsWinners of the annual photography competition highlight hijinks and mayhem around the world.

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A red squirrel diving headlong into a tree snags the top award in the 2024 Nikon Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards (previously), snapped by Italian photographer Milko Marchetti. “He has been sitting on this beauty of a shot for a couple of years now and decided that this year was the year to enter it,” the organizers say. “We are chuffed he did because this little red squirrel has only gone and won the whole competition!”

Additional category winners and highly commended images include a beady-eyed “mafia boss” by Takashi Kubo, a discombobulated eagle by Tapani Linnanmäki, and a celebratory mantis by Jose Miguel Gallego Molina. Check out more finalists, including a few that won in their categories, and see the entire gallery on the contest’s website.

the feet and tail of a red squirrel sticking out of a tree
Overall winner and Mammal Category winner: Milko Marchetti, “Stuck Squirrel”
Highly commended: Takashi Kubo, “Mafia Boss”
People’s Choice Award category winner: Tapani Linnanmäki, “Shake, ruffle, rattle, and roll”
Highly commended: Leslie Mcleod, “Hide and Seek”
Highly commended: Andy Rouse, “Alright mate, back off. This is my bird”
Highly commended: Arvind Mohandas, “The Contemplative Chimpanzee”
Highly commended: Sanjay Patil, “The Rock Star”
Highly commended: Artur Stankiewicz, “I’m too sexy for my love”

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Vital Impacts’ ‘Saving the Monarchs’ Campaign with Jaime Rojo Raises Funds for Conservation https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/vital-impacts-jaime-rojos/ Thu, 12 Dec 2024 17:30:00 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=446727 Vital Impacts’ ‘Saving the Monarchs’ Campaign with Jaime Rojo Raises Funds for ConservationHighlighting the incredible diversity and beauty of nature, Vital Impacts launches its annual print sale featuring more than 80 photographers.

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Home to more than 40,000 plant species, 1,300 kinds of birds, and millions of insects, the Amazon is a vital and increasingly threatened part of our global ecosystem. By highlighting the incredible diversity and beauty of nature and wildlife around the planet, Vital Impacts (previously) raises funds for the preservation of the rainforest through its annual print sale.

This year, in addition to the fundraiser featuring work by more than 80 photographers, the program has launched the “Saving the Monarchs” campaign, showcasing the work of award-winning National Geographic photographer Jaime Rojo. “With the Monarch butterfly population declining by 90 percent in recent decades, efforts are underway to protect their habitats and ensure their survival,” says a statement from Vital Impacts.

In the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacan (Mexico), a single latecomer joins the others for the night, stretching its wings as it maneuvers in an attempt to squeeze into the popular roosting place. The butterflies’ extreme closeness offers protection and warmth.

Rojo has spent two decades photographing the magnificent insects, tracing their annual migration across the length and breadth of North America. Wintering in Mexico—or California for those west of the Rocky Mountains—the iconic butterflies return north in the summertime, where they typically lay a single egg on a milkweed plant.

Depending on the temperature, the egg cycle lasts for three to five days, after which a small larva emerges. As it grows, it sheds its skin a number of times, developing recognizable black, white, and yellow stripes. Then, once full grown, the larva spins a silk mat, stabs a stem into the mat to hang from, and encapsulates itself inside a pupa. After around eight to fifteen days, the adult Monarch emerges with bright orange and black wings.

During the summer, Monarchs live between two and five weeks, but if they hatch later in the year, they complete an incredible journey south, where they overwinter in clusters on trees in warmer climates. These adults will then live just long enough to hatch new eggs so future generations can return to the northernmost breeding grounds.

Monarch populations have declined in recent decades due to myriad factors, from the destruction of milkweed—the only plant on which they lay eggs—and overwintering habitats to temperature changes and drought due to the ongoing climate crisis. Initiatives like Monarch Watch, which this fundraiser benefits, emphasize conservation, track colonies’ movements, and promote education.

Butterflies stream through the trees in El Rosario, a sanctuary within the Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve in Michoacán, Mexico. Migrating monarchs winter in the same oyamel fir groves that sheltered earlier generations.

Many prints in this year’s sale start at $100, with options for different sizes and striking limited editions. Sixty percent of profits are earmarked to support Monarch conservation through Monarch Watch and FOCEN.

The remaining 40 percent of proceeds further the efforts of “the storytellers who are committed to shining a light on these critical issues and driving positive change in our world” via donations to COICA, an international program dedicated to the support of 511 Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon Basin.

See more of Rojo’s work on his website, and purchase prints in this year’s sale, which continues through January 31.

“I had attempted versions of this image in the past, but I had never seen such a beautiful pattern of branches with that abundance of butterflies,” Rojo says.
Streaked with sunlight and crowded together for warmth in winter, Monarch butterflies blanket fir trees in El Rosario Sanctuary, Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve, Michoacan, Mexico. “I requested special permits to work outside the sanctuary’s operating hours and made this photograph shortly before sunset,” Rojo says.
A Monarch butterfly feeds from a Blazing Star (Liatris sp.) on a farm in Foley, Minnesota, that specializes in growing and distributing native plants from the prairies. Liatris are important for the monarchs because they bloom in late summer, providing them with an extra food source right before their fall migration.
A carpet of Monarch butterflies covers the forest floor of El Rosario Butterfly Sanctuary after an unusually intense snowstorm that hit the state of Michoacán in Mexico on March 2016. On March 8 and 9 of 2016, a strong snowstorm hit the mountains of Central Mexico creating havoc in the wintering colonies of Monarch butterflies just when they were starting their migration back to U.S.A. and Canada. The death toll of this single weather event was an estimated 30 to 35 percent of the colony.
Each fall, millions of Monarch butterflies embark on a 3,000-mile journey from Canada and the U.S. to the forests of central Mexico. This annual migration, one of nature’s most extraordinary events, is guided by instinct, as the Monarchs that arrive have never made the journey before. Monarch butterflies complete their migration over several generations. Those that travel to Mexico in the fall live up to eight months, but their offspring will only live a few weeks, moving north each spring. It takes three to four generations to reach their breeding grounds in the U.S. and Canada.

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Vital Impacts’ ‘Saving the Monarchs’ Campaign with Jaime Rojo Raises Funds for Conservation appeared first on Colossal.

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Ethereal, Glowing Curtains Drape Over Lake Michigan in Reuben Wu’s Light Paintings https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/reuben-wu-siren/ Tue, 10 Dec 2024 19:00:00 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=446559 Ethereal, Glowing Curtains Drape Over Lake Michigan in Reuben Wu’s Light PaintingsOtherworldly photos capture a unique confluence of light shows over the water last summer.

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Along the Lake Michigan shoreline, Reuben Wu (previously) created a unique confluence of light shows over the water last summer. Known for creating light paintings in dramatic landscapes using drone-mounted lasers, his ongoing series SIREN marks a new direction of illuminated “aeroglyphs,” which transcend their original geometries to open up into more fluid shapes.

“This series captures ephemeral, curtain-like structures that hover delicately in space, shaped by their environment rather than imposing upon it,” Wu says. The cascading white forms mimic the lake’s rolling waves and, on this particular evening amid a Perseids meteor shower, the surprise appearance of the northern lights. See more on his website.

a photograph taken at night along the shore of Lake Michigan, with a green curtain of the northern lights in the distance and a laser-lit curtain of light draped over the water

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Colossal’s Top Articles of 2024 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/12/top-articles-2024/ Tue, 10 Dec 2024 13:56:08 +0000 https://www.thisiscolossal.com/?p=446333 Colossal’s Top Articles of 2024Dive into our most-read stories on the site this year.

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Throughout 2024, we were awed by archaeological finds, vibrant paintings, striking sculptures, remarkable photography, immersive installations, and so much more. It’s tough to choose only 10 top articles for the year!

Lucky for us, dear Colossal readers, you’ve helped pick the best. Below, dive into our most-read stories on the site during the past twelve months, and find hundreds more in the archive.

“Untitled (after François Gérard)” (2023), oil on canvas, 100 x 80 centimeters. Images © Ewa Juszkiewicz, courtesy of Almine Rech

Ewa Juszkiewicz’s Reimagined Historical Portraits of Women Scrutinize the Nature of Concealment

From elaborate hairstyles to hypertrophied mushrooms, an array of unexpected face coverings feature in Ewa Juszkiewicz’s portraits. Drawing on genteel likenesses of women primarily from the 18th and 19th centuries, the artist superimposes fabric, bouquets of fruit, foliage, and more, over the women’s faces.

Image courtesy of Greg Jensen

A Rare Cross-Section Illustration Reveals the Infamous Happenings of Kowloon Walled City

At its height in the 1990s, Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong housed about 50,000 people. Its population is unremarkable for small cities, but what set Kowloon apart from others of its size was its density. For a now out-of-print book titled Kowloon City: An Illustrated Guide, artist Hitomi Terasawa drew a meticulous cross-sectioned rendering of the urban phenomenon to preserve its memory.

Image © Isak Finnbogason

Remarkable Drone Footage Captures a New Volcanic Eruption in Iceland

In January, photographer and drone pilot Isak Finnbogason captured stunning footage of an eruption on Iceland’s Reykjanes peninsula in December, documenting the nearly two-mile-long lava vent on the first day it was active. 

“Water Lilies in Bloom” (2023), oil on canvas. Image courtesy of Erin Hanson

Landscapes Radiate Light and Drama in Erin Hanson’s Vibrant Oil Paintings

In vivid pinks, blues, and greens, radiant landscapes emerge in Erin Hanson’s impressionistic oil paintings. The artist is based in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where the rolling hills and surrounding mountain ranges cradle miles of vineyards.

Image © Richard Johnson

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

Every year, Ontario’s 279-square-mile Lake Simcoe 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 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.

This handout picture released by the Italian Culture Ministry on December 12, 2023 shows mosaics uncovered in a luxurious Roman home near the Colosseum. The building, which dates to between the second half of the 2nd century BC and the end of the 1st century BC, is "an authentic treasure", Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said in a statement. Three large ships ride waves in the mosaic towards a coastal city, its walls dotted with small towers and porticoes in a scene suggesting the owner of the more than 2,000-year-old home, or domus, had been victorious in battle. (Photo by Handout / ITALIAN MINISTRY OF CULTURE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / " - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
Image courtesy of the Italian Ministry of Culture / AFP Photo

Archaeologists Discover an Extraordinary 2,100-Year-Old Mosaic Near the Colosseum

Early this year, we shared news that the Italian Ministry of Culture had a remarkable find in the heart of Rome. In the late Republican era, a luxurious townhouse had been laden with designs made from shells, glass, white marble, and Egyptian blue tiles. A large “rustic” mosaic dating to the last decades of the 2nd century B.C.E.—a little over 2,100 years ago—was likely inspired by the decorative styles of Near East monarchies.

‘The Whole Booke of Psalmes.’ London: Company of Stationers, 1643. Image courtesy of The Grolier Club

Spanning Seven Centuries, ‘Judging a Book by its Cover’ Celebrates an Enduring Art

The Grolier Club’s exhibition, Judging a Book by its Cover, highlighted some of the most unique editions within its collection, including a pigskin- and brass-bound Jewish Antiquities and the Jewish War created for a Benedictine monastery in Bavaria around 1473—the oldest in the club’s library. The collection also features several religious texts, like the miniature book of psalms shown above, made by women at the Royal Exchange in London with a variety of silk and gold threads.

Image courtesy of Wally Dion, shared with permission

Vivid, Translucent Quilts by Wally Dion Stitch Together Indigenous Culture and Making Traditions

For many rural and economically strapped communities throughout history, quilting was a necessity. Tattered clothing and blankets were cut up and refashioned into new blankets, their patchwork styles evidence of the fabrics’ earlier uses. For Indigenous people, though, quilts “hold a particularly important cultural value,” says artist Wally Dion, “appearing as gifts, ceremonial objects, and celebratory markers.”

“লয় [Loy]” (2019), Arjunpur Amra Sabai Club, Kolkata. Photo by Vivian Sarky. Image courtesy of Asim Waqif

Immersive Bamboo Installations by Asim Waqif Whirl and Heave in Monumental Motion

In his monumental, swirling structures, Delhi-based artist Asim Waqif merges tenets of architecture and sculpture into sweeping site-specific compositions. Using natural materials like bamboo and pandanus leaves, he often incorporates found objects, scaffolding, sound elements, cloth, and rope.

an abstract ceramic sculpture of a green form with a flame-like texture on its back, with four legs
“Animal in the Wind” (2014), clay, 36.7 x 20.8 x 30 centimeters. Image courtesy of JiSook Jung

From Fire to Wind, JiSook Jung’s Ceramic Sculptures Animate the Elements

JiSook Jung has long been drawn to clay for its inherent malleability. “Clay has the advantage of being able to quickly mold an image in my head into a visual form because it is soft and plastic,” the Seoul-based artist tells Colossal. “In that sense, I think clay is an intuitive and instinctive material.”

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article Colossal’s Top Articles of 2024 appeared first on Colossal.

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