Go ahead, play with your food!

For whatever reason (perhaps dinner), last night I started thinking about my love for potatoes. It's amazing what you can find when you type something random like 'potato' into a Google image search. Through a series of clicks, I found Hungarian photographer and food genius Balla Tamás.

You can watch him work in the videos on his YouTube channel, though I would suggest muting his music selections.

I also like to listen to Hungarian in the television clips of Tamás because how often do I get to hear Hungarian? Pretty much never.

I noticed that numerous people have confused the food art of Tamás with the food art of Saxton Freymann. My only explanation for this is blindness. Freymann's food art is geared toward children as you can see in these adorable photos:

Life After Death

So, the other weekend I was browsing the most recent issue of BUST magazine while sipping my cold-brewed vanilla latte at Borders when I stumbled upon this picture:

My first reaction was "Oh, isn't that cute?" as I showed the picture to my friend Rachel; thirty seconds later, "Oh, wait, they're dead." Yeah, not quite as cute, but interesting. The picture is entitled "Receiver" by Polly Morgan, a British artist with a fascination and talent for taxidermy. Don't worry, all animals are natural casualties or unpreventable deaths.

Catching Snowflakes

A weekend free of the cold virus and I can't go anywhere because of snow. Having done sufficient grumbling in protest of the white stuff and the winter season in general, I'm now trying to appreciate its beauty. Enter Wilson "Snowflake" Bentley of Jericho, Vermont, who revealed to the world the delicate charm and individuality of snowflakes through photomicrogaphy more than 100 years ago.

Today, Kenneth Libbrecht of Caltech really likes snowflakes and provides everything you ever wanted to know about them and other ice phenomena, including natural snowflakes, designer snowflakes, frost crystals, snowflake physics, snow activities, and snowflake touring.

Here are some highlights of his snowflake photos.

If you like the cold and snow and can afford some snazzy photo equipment, Libbrecht gives advice about how to pursue snowflake photography. Julie Falk also shares some basic tips.

And for more pretty, check out:

Snow and Ice Pattern Photos, Snowflake Pictures, Gallery, Wallpaper –- National Geographic

"Nature is full of genius, full of the divinity; so that not a snowflake escapes its fashioning hand." ~ Henry David Thoreau

Photographic adventures in OCD

 Things Organized Neatly via Craftzine
I look at some of these photos and think they're not organized neatly ENOUGH. :-D
My favorite:

via theclosetbandit

It reminds me:
1.) Staedtler pens are awesome
2.) I have absolutely no idea where mine are.

So much for being organized...

Godiva -- Chocolate and Naked Ladies

As I sat here stuffing my face with Godiva Gems, I started thinking about the Anglo-Saxon legend of Lady Godiva; a noblewoman who supposedly rode naked through the streets of Coventry, England in protest of her husband's oppressive taxation of his tenants. She's a cool chick, even if the story's not supported by history.

On that note, I found a lovely 2004 animated short called The Legend of Lady Godiva from Belarusfilm that competed in the 2005 Open Russian Festival of Animated Film in Suzdal.

Director & Screenwriter: Irina Kodyukova
Painter: Dmitry Surinovich
Animators: Irina Kodyukova, S.Strotseva, Natalia Hatkevich
Operator: Galina Gireeva
Composer: Elena Frolova
Sound: Andrei Volkov

Back to the chocolate, I found part of a Godiva advertising campaign by Christopher Wilson that tickled my fancy: "Think of us as chocolate bling." He also has a Cowboy photography portfolio. I ♥ cowboys.

Make Art, Not War

In light of yesterday's events in Arizona, I was inspired to look for symbols of peace and non-violence to reinforce my faith in humanity...

Carl Frederik Reuterswärd was prompted to create his sculpture of a knotted gun entitled "Non-Violence" by the murder of his friend John Lennon. The sculpture pictured below is in Malmö, Sweden, but other versions exist elsewhere in the world, including the United Nations building in NYC.

The Gun Sculpture, by Canadian artists Sandra Bromley and Wallis Kendal, has traveled the world in an effort "to provoke thought and discussion on the culture of violence."

The Peace Art Project Cambodia was an art workshop in Phnom Penh that utilized nearly 900 weapons seized from a Khmer Rouge weapons cache. The Transforming Arms into Tools project in Mozambique creates artwork from weapons exchanged for tools such as sewing machines, hoes, bicycles, and construction materials.

Ken + Dana's GUN collection of jewelry transforms gun components into wearable art that benefits the Bronx Chapter of the Brady Campaign.

Al Farrow creates reliquaries using guns and ammunition to address the relationship between war and faith.

Finally, Francois Robert uses the human skeleton "to plant the notion of restraint and charity in an effort to promote peace and tolerance" in his Stop the Violence series of photographs.

Poppins Photos

I love discovering old photographs, especially of my family. Going through my grandparents' belongings this year, I've found numerous fantastic photos I've never seen before. Now if only someone would have labeled them...John Maloof stumbled upon the amateur photography of Vivian Maier, a nanny who spent her free time photographing the people of Chicago. She passed away in 2009 and now Maloof is sharing her work with the world.

Daylight All Night

Blake got a new camera!