An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump

I studied this fascinating painting in Art History class today. Visit The National Gallery for more information.


Image: Public Domain via Wikipedia.

An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump

Grass Valley Chapel

We discovered this beautiful chapel on a road trip through Central Oregon in summer of 2008. Many times abandoned buildings give off a vibe of sadness or uneasiness but this one was different. I was so captivated by the history and the stillness this place exuded that we wandered in and around it for about two hours.

The only information I have found online regarding this abandoned chapel was a state archive photo from 1961 when it still had glass in its windows. It's obviously been empty for a very long time but is amazingly well preserved.

A work of art becomes a work of art...

Grass Valley Chapel ~ photo series by Tina Pfeiffer. Grass Valley, Oregon USA, 7.08

©2008-2010 Pfeiffer Photos/Apt 3 Photography, all rights reserved.

Grass Valley Chapel

camera work magazine (1903-1917)

"Dawn" by Alice Boughton, photograph circa 1909


"Spider-webs" by Alan Langdon Coburn, photography circa 1908


"Experiment in Three-Color Photography" by Edward Steichen, photograph circa 1906


"Black Bowl" by George Seeley, photograph circa 1907


"York Minster: 'In Sure and Certain Hope" by Frederick H. Evans, photograph circa 1903

Camera Work was a quarterly photographic journal published by Alfred Stieglitz from 1903 to 1917. It is known for its many high-quality photogravures by some of the most important photographers in the world and its editorial purpose to establish photography as a fine art. It has been called "consummately intellectual", "by far the most beautiful of all photographic magazines", and "a portrait of an age in which the artistic sensibility of the nineteenth century was transformed into the artistic awareness of the present day."

A collection of Camera Work was appraised in Philadelphia on a 2007 episode of Antiques Roadshow with an estimated worth of $60,000 to $90,000. As of 2008, individual issues routinely sell for $2,000 to $5,000 depending upon the number and quality of photogravures in the issue.

Images and info via.

camera work magazine (1903-1917)

animation: light + movement = magic

I've always been a fan of animation. I really enjoyed the section in our recent reading about the early studies of locomotion, primitive moving pictures and film animation techniques, including the creations of the Zoetrope, Praxinoscope, Phenakistoscope, and Stereoscope as precursors to the actual film projector.

As per usual, I went hunting for more information on these inventions via the Internet. These are just a few of the fascinating and beautiful examples I found...enjoy!

via YouTube.

animation: light + movement = magic