The 20 Most Incredible Photos Of Living Creatures From 2013.

National Geographic's 2013 Year in Review is a beautiful interactive site on which one could spend hours and hours exploring many of the most incredible scientific findings, technological advancements, space exploration, geopolitical stories, travel images, adventure scenarios, ancient worlds, human cultures, environmental happenings, animal photography and more from 2013.

Amazing Close Up Photos Of Snowflakes Will Give You Goosebumps.

We all know that no two are alike. Nevertheless, seeing a snowflake super duper uber close-up is still breathtaking and these macro photographs by Russian photographer Alexey Kljatov will prove that.




These images of snowflakes and snow crystals were photographed in Moscow by Kljatov, who simply taped a $50 lens (an optics Helios 44M-5) to his Canon Powershot A650, a point and shoot camera, as shown below.



His 'processed' shots of the snowflakes are multiple shots averaged to boost signal/noise ratio and reveal subtle details. You can compare his source shots to his processed shots in the image below.



Alexy photographs the snowflakes and water crystals in two different ways. The first is to capture the snowflakes on the open balcony of his house, mostly on glass surface, lit by an LED flashlight from opposite a side of glass, as shown below:



The second way is to shoot them in natural light, using dark woolen fabrics as the background, as shown in the photos below:




The results are astounding. Just take a look at these 25, photographed on a grey wool background and taken in natural light.


























images courtesy of Alexey Kljatov (aka ChaoticMind75 on flickr)


Alexey describes the process in his own words here

More and higher resolution photos of these macro snowflakes can be found at his Flickr account.




Medium size snowflakes, around 4 mm. 8 serial shots averaged to boost signal-to-noise ratio. Background: dark woolen fabric, natural light (gray clouded sky), external optics Helios 44M-5, january 2013, Moscow

The Emerging Photographic Talent of 21 Year Old Kyle J. Thompson.

Last year I introduced you to the astonishing photographic talent of then 18 year old Alex Stoddard. Well, he's got some competition in 21 year old Kyle Thompson.



Kyle Thompson, who has no formal education in photography, was born in Chicago on January 11th, 1992. He began taking photographs at the age of nineteen after finding interest in nearby abandoned houses. His work is mostly composed of surreal and bizarre self portraits (like Stoddard's), often taking place in empty forests and abandoned homes.

Here's a look at some of his work:











The photo below was a collaboration with his friend Maxwell Runko:


Keep an eye on this kid, he's bound to go far.

Kyle Thompson Photography

The Impressive Body Art of Michael Rosner and Eye Level Studios.

While I had seen a few of these stunning images under the category of photography (by Tim Engle), the true artist here is body painter Michael Rosner.





Having begun his craft with an airbrush, Michael eventually perfected a technique using found objects as a masking element to impose architectural and geometric shapes upon the organic contours of the human body.




Painted upon live models, each can take between 16 and 20 hours of laborious handiwork. No computer enhancement is used and all props such as skulls, leaves, horns, masks and headpieces are real.





The result is a combination of humanity and machinery - a steampunk like underworld of mythological gods and goddesses, of devils and robots.















above photo by Allan Barnes Photography

"Transforming an organic object using paint fills me with a sense of accomplishment and integrity and is the creative vehicle that carries me toward the translation of my inner vision to a reality that can be shared." -- Michael Rosner of Eye Level Studios.

About Body painter Michael Rosner:

above: Artist Michael Rosner at work

Michael Rosner is an American artist born in Chicago, Illinois. After attending Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, Georgia in 1996 he relocated to Sacramento, California and worked as a painter, sculptor and carpenter before beginning the series of body paintings in 2006.



Eye Level Studio, founded by Rosner in 2001, is what he calls a 'collective of talented artists' which has grown to include an elite group of the industries top professional photographers, stylists, make up artists and models who have become the creative force that has helped to realize Rosner's unique vision of body painting. In addition to live models, Rosner is known for painting on 'unconventional' surfaces including elaborate paintings on real leaves with hand selected species collected each fall throughout California.

Real People. Real Paint. Unreal Art. Available for paid shoots and live painting shows all over the world. Model Submission and Booking info email: Info@eyelevelstudio.com

Prints of some of the photographs shown in this post are available in his online store here.

photos in this post by David Geuringer, Allan Barnes and Tim Engle and courtesy of Eye Level Studios.