Skylines

Skylines, a series I started working on two years ago has now been added to my website.

Please check it out here

© copyright all images Michael Werner

Michael Kirchoff

Michael Kirchoff is a Los Angeles based photographer. He photographs with many types of cameras and film, from a toy camera to a digital model. He uses each as a tool to get exactly the results he wants to achieve. Michael's photography has been exhibited and published widely and garnered recognition from the International Photography Awards, the Prix de la Photographie in Paris and since 2006 he is an Active Board Member of the Advertising Photographers of America.

One of Michael's most recent series is An Enduring Grace

All the images below are from this beautiful, captivating and stunning series.

Here is what Michael writes about this project:

An Enduring Grace is an ongoing project based on the fascination I had with the landscape and architecture of Russia, as well as its surrounding countries and former territories that have seen much influence during it's long history. It all started out as a fulfillment of distant childhood curiosities of Russia, then the Soviet Union as a place where very few people seemed to know much about. I remember watching black and white television in my room and seeing news reporters broadcasting from the center of Red Square in Moscow. That image of St. Basil's Cathedral behind the reporter reminded me more of Disneyland rather than the evil empire of which he spoke Really, how could such a terrible place and its people be so bad when they are constructing buildings that look like that? As an adult I took it upon myself to head for Russia to see for myself, and was quickly caught up in its beauty and scope of this amazing land. I was rewarded with a culture that preserves its heritage by maintaining and even rebuilding at times, a landscape that is held so clearly by its people. No fragment of history is ever lost here.

I choose to inject my belief that these images require drama from the elements of light and shadow to give them their power, and my artistic process to give them the gritty texture and depth they so deserve. With this process I also strive to strip away the realism and highlight the dreamlike qualities of the fractured memories of my early days. Memories that are not always so clear and contain a perspective slightly askew of monuments on a grander scale. "An Enduring Grace" was born from a place where the strength and character of its people are also reflected in the landscape, cathedrals, and memories to its fallen soldiers.

Make sure to visit Michael's website. Here you can see more images from An Enduring Grace together with other wonderful projects to enjoy.

Road to Red Square, Moscow, Russia


Church of The Saviour on the Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg, Russia

Naval Cathedral, Kotlin Island, Kronstadt, Russia

Giant Lenin Head, Ulan Ude, Siberia

St. Andrei's Church, Kiev, Ukraine

Wooden Fort, Irkutsk, Siberia

Resurrection Gate, Moscow, Russia

Peter and Paul Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Russia

Maarjamäe War Memorial, Tallinn, Estonia

Kazan Cathedral, St. Petersburg, Russia

© copyright all images Michael Kirchoff

Photography Colleges

Emma Roberts runs a great blog for everyone interested in searching for a college to study photography.

Her excellent resource is called Photography Colleges.

Here you find lots of different information and resources regarding photography.

Emma just added a new list with "50 Terrific Social Sites for Photographers"

Please make sure to visit her excellent blog and check out all the other lists she already put up.

Two Way Lens and Aline Smithson

Two Way Lens proudly presents Aline Smithson.

I am very happy and excited that another wonderful and outstanding photographer is now part of Two Way Lens.

This month it is Aline Smithson, she is not only a great photographer with many different, fantastic projects to be seen on her website, she is also an outstanding teacher, nominated for The Excellence in Photographic Teaching Award in 2008 and 2009 and for the Santa Fe Prize in Photography in 2009 by the Santa Fe Center of Photography. She is also a curator, a juror for Critical Mass in 2009 and a reviewer at Review LA in 2010.

Aline also runs the blog Lensscratch, a must read for everyone interested in photography.

Beside all of this Aline is one of the nicest people I have met so far and a great supporter for the photography community.

Thanks Aline for being part of Two Way Lens!

Bible, from the series Moments of Disconnect

Arrangement 12, from the series Arrangement in Green and Black - Portrait of the photographer's mother

Hollywood from the series Unreal / Reality

Life, from the series Case of Rain

Jacqueline from the series Portraits

Not As Interesting, from the series Shadows and Stains - Notes from a Dark Room

Owned by Stieglitz, from the series Shadows and Stains - Notes from a Dark Room

The Ride, from the series Moments of Disconnect

The Secret Language, from the series Case of Rain

Window, from the series Moments of Disconnect

© all images Aline Smithson

GuatePhoto Festival

The inaugural GuatePhoto Festival will take place from July 6 - July 31, 2010 in Guatemala City. The Festival aims to promote contemporary photography and provide an opportunity for uprising talent to be seen.

There is an open call which lead to the selection of 15 photographers to be seen in the main exhibition.

The Festival will take place at the Museum of Modern Art in Guatemala City.

The concept of GuatePhoto originated as a response to the festivals and discussions on photography being developed in the present time on an international level. Although many activities focused on photography are being held in Guatemala, it is through GuatePhoto that this country has the opportunity to create an international Festival dedicated to Photography.

Please visit the GuatePhoto's website to read more about this great new festival.

A must read for everyone interested in photography is also La Fototeca Guatemala, a blog dedicated to contemporary photography.

Marco La Civita

Marco La Civita has chosen his iPhone as his perfect tool to take photos of things that attract him wherever he goes.

In his own words: At a certain point in time my photo stream reached a critical volume that made clear to me why I would take a picture of something and not of something else. I find interest in strong colors, contrast, shapes, perspectives and spatial relationship among objects. I also like to photograph urban art and graffiti because they vanish and architecture because it is ineludible. I have found the iPhone to be an ideal medium because it is always in my pocket and because the use of certain applications available on it helps to underline what captured my attention when I shot the image.

Marco's blog iPhoneblography is worth a visit. Here you will find his photos taken with his beloved iPhone.

His Flickr photo stream is worth a visit too.

More about Marco and his impressive career in the field of aviation is to find on his website.

© all images Marco La Civita

Black Sheep Pen

Bruce Long, the founder and editor of Black Sheep Pen has a new interview live now. This time it's the very talented German artist Runa Rosina Menges.

Please check this inspiring interview out here

Runa is a mulit talented person, she is a painter, a singer and an animation artist. Visit her blog and find out more.

PDN Photo Of The Day

I am very excited that my photo from the series Lands of Milk and Honey has been chosen for PDN's Photo Of The Day.

This is so wonderful and really makes my day.

Please check it out here.

Jeb Havens

Jeb Havens is a very talented singer and songwriter from San Francisco. He makes music in his apartment with a few pieces of equipment and software. He just started to perform his songs live on stage in the San Francisco area.

I love his music and wanted to share it here. I can't stop listen to his song Lullaby.