Three of nature's hidden gems

Terje Sorgjerd, aka Mr. TSO, is a Norwegian landscape photographer who, in the last 6 months, has risked life and limb in order to capture some of nature's rarest phenomena to produce three sublime, reflective pieces.

Beginning with The Aurora, he spent a week chasing the northern lights from sunset to sunrise in his native Kirkenes and Pas National Park very close to Russia:


The Aurora from TSO Photography on Vimeo.


Next he moved to Spain's highest mountain, El Teide, and surviving off only ten hours sleep for a week, he managed to capture the a dazzling array of stars, in The Mountain. Look out for the golden clouds from 32 seconds in, when the Milky Way is seen through a surprise sandstorm that hit the area on one day of shooting:


The Mountain from TSO Photography on Vimeo.


His third work was again shot in Norway, this time in the archipelago Lofoten, and depicts what Terje nicknames 'The Arctic Light', during which a blurring of sunset and sunrise culminates in prolonged periods of light. At 1:06 you witness a shot from 9pm to 7am the next morning without darkness falling:

Brilliant Berlin

Berlin always gets rave reviews from people who visit, and it is no wonder why. I eventually got my chance to experience the Berlin buzz a couple of weeks ago, and it definitely lived up to expectations. I stumbled across this little taster of what lies in store on a visit to Berlin today. Matthias Makarinus' timelapse, comprised of over 50,000 photos and shot between May last year and September 2011, really gives a sense of the inexorably shifting nature of this vibrant city and lets you explore all its corners in less than ten minutes: German efficiency at its finest.



Berlin Dynamic from Matthias Makarinus on Vimeo.

Moleskine move to the dark side

Original 1977 poster by the Brothers Hildebrandt

Notebook giant Moleskine have recently released a new, limited-edition version of their iconic, black notebook for autumn 2011 that will bring a grin to science-fiction followers' faces across the globe: George Lucas' Starwars. Fans from the UK can purchase the notebooks with silver or gold embossing here. Each notebook contains a print of the original poster from all the way back in 1977 (above). An origami battle between good and evil was produced to market their latest design, and can be seen below:

These new notebooks follow on from previous success enjoyed by Moleskine with their Pacman edition last year:

Cinemagraphs capture Kubrick's genius

Following on from the recent post on cinemagraphs (a photograph containing a moving element) comes these spooky creations from Gustav Mantel. The inventors of the cinemagraph, Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg, tend to sway towards a photograph orientated end product, but Mantel takes a different approach. He singles out moments from films, and transforms them into a cinemagraph, drawing attention to minute yet significant movements that perhaps go unnoticed in the viewing of a film.

Mantel did a couple of chilling cinemagraphs of director Stanley Kubrick's The Shining and A Clockwork Orange which can be seen below.

Jack Nicholson in The Shining

Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange

Mantel's other work can be checked out on his blog If we don't, remember me.

Is one of the most innovative adverts of all time simply a copy?

I was recently at the Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw and one exhibition stole our attention. Despite being in a rush, we sat for the entire duration of the film, all 29 minutes and 45 seconds of it, transfixed at the intricately designed, self-destructive sequences of tires, flames, chemicals and other paraphernalia. The film is called The Way Things Go, or in German Der Lauf der Linge and was produced way back in 1987 by Peter Fischli and David Weiss from Switzerland.

It struck me that I had seen something similar before. On return to England I realised that it was the iconic and hugely successful Honda advert called Cog, first shown in 2003. In their version the exact same chain reaction is portrayed, albeit constructed of parts of the Honda Accord car. I'm sure any Brits reading will remember the advert well.

Well, after a little research, it turns out there has been huge controversy surrounding plagiarism accusations from Fishli and Weiss, and this is no surprise on a viewing of their piece. No legal action was taken in the end, but I cannot help feeling that the enormous success of the Honda version owes as much to their Swiss predecessors as it does to their own designers.

Nevertheless, Cog is an extraordinary engineering masterpiece, and continues to amaze on each viewing. How many takes did it need to shoot the final version? 606. And that was after months of planning. See the advert in its full glory below:

The original The Way Things Go can be seen below (remember, it is half an hour long!)


Der Lauf Der Dinge (1987) from INSOC on Vimeo.

Magical iPods

The Swiss magician and self-professed 'technoillusionist' Marco Tempest dazzles with his blend of illusion and technology as he explores the theme of deception by synchronising a video across three iPods. He lives by the philosophy of Karl Germain, quoting him in this video: 'Magic is the most honest profession. A magician promises to deceive you, and he does.' Simple science for Marco himself, the effect is stunning.

Cork blimey

The full range of tapegear cork sleeves

These covers are durable, functional and most importantly, effortlessly cool. Tapegear is a creation by South African furniture designer Ryan Frank, whose work focuses on using reclaimed items and sustainable materials. The range of hand-made cork sleeves cater for 15" and 13" laptops, iPads, Kindles and Playbooks, and iPods. The simple, sustainable nature of these covers, described by Ryan as a kind of 'cork-leather', give them enduring appeal. Having featured in publications such as Time Out, The Times, and The Observer, even Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II took notice and invited Ryan to Buckingham Palace a couple of years ago.

Check out the Tapegear website to see the products in detail and to purchase yours, ranging from £12.50 for the iPod cover to £25 for the largest laptop version. Ryan's other work, namely quirky furniture, can be found on his personal website.

The greatest trainers never made, until now

Michael J Fox as Marty McFly in BTTFII, 1989

Dubbed as the 'greatest trainers never made', Nike have made dreams come true by producing 1500 replica pairs of the self-illuminating, power-laced Nike MAG trainers sported by Michael J Fox in the 1989 film Back to the Future II. Designed by Tinker Hatfield, the original production designer of the film, the trainers are being auctioned off on their ebay site until Sept 18th in an effort to raise money for Parkinson's research at the Michael J Fox foundation. Tinie Tempah purchased the first pair of the 'sneakers', packed in a plutonium case, for $37,500.

Check out the official website for videos and information behind the project, see the trainers in action, and the original clip with the enigmatic Doc Brown is below. Unfortunately, the new Nike versions will not be self-tying, but they will feature an electroluminescent outsole with a rechargeable battery lasting 3000 hours. If only student loans were made for this.

What do you call a cross between a photo and a film?

A cinemagraph. And I cannot believe that I hadn't seen these before today. The basic idea is to produce a still photograph infused with a moving element. The outcome is a dreamy, thought-provoking image that lies somewhere between the past and the present. Dreamt up by the visual graphics artist Kevin Burg in collaboration with photographer Jamie Beck, they have revolutionised the way we now see pictures. A moment in history preserved, but brought to life with floating hair or a turn of a page. They coined the phrase 'cinemagraph' to highlight the cinematic quality of the image, whilst preserving the tenets of photography.

Here are a couple of my favourites from their website, where you can go to check out more.

For anyone intrigued as to how cinemagraphs are made, there's a good tutorial here.

Lightening carpuccino

I hate coffee. I think I have an intolerance to it. Just a few glugs and my head pounds, my mind clouds over, and my throat dries. But I know I am one amongst few; over 400 billion cups of the legal addictive stimulant are consumed per year.

But now, a new home for coffee has been found. Welcome to the Carpuccino. Yes, it's a car run entirely off coffee beans, and the converted 1988 Volkswagen Scirocco has just broken the land speed record for a car run off waste alone at 58.5 mph. Costing between 4 and 5 times more to run than the average car, it is doubtful the business venture will take off. It's certainly different. Take a look at today's BBC article where you can see the car in action.

Coca Cola vs Space Invaders

Erin McGuire is a graphic designer from Canada, and has been attracting a lot of interest over the last few days with her latest designs. Inspired by a combination of the classic arcade game Space Invaders and the renowned pixellation-mad French street artist 'Space Invader' (see his wikipedia page for an overview), many fans are calling on Coke to consider these quirky editions of the 'black doctor'...

Sometimes the best things in life are simple

Another gem from Vimeo and this time it comes in the form of a 2D animation by Ryan J Woodward. Think a majestic sweeping romance full of dance and emotion set to music and you are almost there. The sheer simplicity of this piece belies the time and effort that must have gone into it, but results in a work of incredible beauty. With nearly 12000 likes on Vimeo and approaching 2 million viewings, the video is enjoyed by all who see it. I hope you do too.


Thought of You from Ryan J Woodward on Vimeo.

Ryan also did a cool doodle for Google commemorating Martha Graham's anniversary here. If you like what you see, check out Ryan's current project: an exhibition on figurative and experimental animation. There's a fascinating documentary on how he put together the 20,000+ drawings for 'Thought of You'.

Travel the world in one minute

My first ever blog post concerns a video that makes me squirm with excitement every time I see it. I love travelling, and if you do too then you'll absolutely love this video.

Shooting over a terrabyte of footage, Rick Mereki and Tim White condense 44 days of travel through 11 countries into a journey of seamless movement focusing on the protagonist Andrew Lees. As one comment on their vimeo page states, their video MOVE is 'so good it hurts'. Take a look and I'm sure you'll agree..



MOVE from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

The other two videos in this series, EAT and LEARN, are also worth a watch. The series on Vimeo can be found on Rick's page here