Room a Hundred Years Wide

odditiesoflife:

Kayaking Across an Active Volcano

Extreme sports photographer Alexandre Socci accompanied professional kayaker Pedro Oliva and his team as they decided to take on the turbulent waters surrounding Kilauea, an active volcano on the southeast slope of Mauna Loa in south-central Hawaii. Unlike a typical water expedition, though, the group kayaked alongside flows of molten lava as it streamed down the gushing volcano.

archiemcphee:

The awesome neon waterfalls are part of an ongoing series entitled Neon Luminance, a collaboration between Sean Lenz and Kristoffer Abildgaard at From the Lenz.

“The duo dropped high-powered Cyalume glow sticks in a variety of colors into various waterfalls in Northern California and then made exposures varying from 30 seconds to 7 minutes to capture the submerged trails of light as the sticks moved through the current. To accomplish some of the more complicated shots they strung several sticks together at once to create different patterns of illumination. For those of you concerned about pollution, the sticks (which are buoyant) were never opened and were collected at the end of each exposure, thus no toxic goo was mixed into the water.”

Click here to view more images from this beautiful project.

[via Colossal]

odditiesoflife:

Abandoned Beauty

Once filled with the daily hustle and bustle of life, these beautifully crafted dwellings now sit deserted. Silent and empty, ravaged by time and neglect, the magnificent architecture of the past fills the imagination with a promise of what could be again. Sven Fennema, a German photographer passionate about abandoned places, has captured these images of grand places that were once loved and treasured. This series is titled “Forgotten Places”.

odditiesoflife:

Yokai - Japanese Monsters

In the Edo period of sophisticated popular culture (1603-1868), much attention was devoted to Japan’s rich variety of traditional monsters and apparitions, known as yokai. The above yokai are from a work titled Hyakkai Zukan in 1737 by Sawaki Suushi, a relatively unknown artist who studied under master painter Hanabusa Itcho (1702-1772). Hyakkai Zukan’s colorful depictions of Japan’s most notorious creatures inspired and were copied by yokai artists for generations.

1. Ushi-oni (“cow devil”) is a malevolent sea monster with the head of a bull and the body of a giant spider or crab. It is most often encountered in the coastal waters where it is feared for its vicious attacks on fishermen.
2. Mikoshi-nyudo is a large, cross-eyed mendicant encountered on mountain passes or on lonely roads at night. He grows taller when you look up at him — and the higher you look, the taller he grows. Look up for too long and you will die, but say “mikoshita” (“I see higher”) and he disappears.
3. Ouni is a mountain hag with a mouth stretching from ear to ear and a thick coat of long, black hair covering her entire body. She can place raw hemp fiber into her mouth and pull out finished yarn.
4. Nure-onna (“wet woman”) is a fast-swimming amphibious creature with the head of a human female and the body of a gigantic snake. She carries a small child, which she uses to attract potential victims. When a well-intentioned person offers to hold the baby, the child attaches itself to the victim’s hands and grows heavy, making it nearly impossible to flee. She uses her long, powerful tongue to suck all the blood from her victim’s body.
5. Uwan is a disembodied voice that inhabits old, abandoned temples and homes. When a person enters a haunted building, the formless spirit belts out an ear-piercing “Uwan!” (hence the name).
   
6. Kami-kiri (“hair-cutter”) are ghostly spirits known for sneaking up on people and cutting all their hair off when they are unknowingly engaged to marry another yokai posing as a human. These hair-cutting attacks are intended to delay or prevent weddings between humans and otherworldly beings, which are typically doomed to failure.

odditiesoflife:

Creepy Vintage Ventriloquist Dummy Portraits

These are Vaudeville era performers with their creepy ventriloquist dummies. The first one actually looks like he might be funny, but I can’t say that for the rest. Some are eerily unsettling and others are just plain scary. Perfect fodder for the Twilight Zone or your nightmares.

That butcher dummy is especially creepy.

odditiesoflife:

“Morbid Curiosity” Taxidermy

After seeing what seemed to be an endless collection of work at the “Idiots” (their name!) website, I began to feel a bit queasy. Most of it is too disturbing for me to post here. I came across this bit of writing describing the artists “intentions” behind their work:

“The striking beauty and the vividness of the animals that figure in the works, conjure powerful emotions of awe and inspiration before giving way to our morbid curiosity surrounding death, which leads us ultimately to think of our own mortality. This contrast between beauty, luxury and greed coupled with the mystery of death, timelessly preserved, transports one into a transient state of mind, in which anything is possible.”

Forgive my lack of “knowledge” about art appreciation, but I found the collection upsetting. Click on the source link to see more…if you can stomach it.

(via odditiesoflife)