Photography in all its forms, including — but certainly not limited to — portraiture, landscapes, objects, macros, and still life. Most of the photography Foreword looks at are appropriate for books or walls.
This past weekend’s road trip included five stops, including Monticello and Barnesville, which I covered in the last post. However, there were three more stops in the middle.
Jackson Dam, which forms the headwaters of the Ocmulgee River — and which has a fishing area with this neat scene:
Walk and Deck, Jackson Dam
Jackson Lake, formed by the Yellow, Alcovy, and South Rivers:
Jackson Lake (Wideangle)
And Jackson proper, which has a traditional (for Georgia, at least) town square with a courthouse:
Butts County Courthouse #5, Jackson
Also, this — with perhaps too cute a title:
Downtown Door During Reconstruction, Jackson
All of these have been added to a new gallery. Check it out.
A three-fer as we wind through this February: Peter Stewart, a really talented architecture photographer from Australia; VAG Rounded, Apple’s keyboard font and how it relates to Volkswagen; and a new site called The Apple Store Glossary leads to an interesting review of furniture in Apple Stores.
Peter Stewart
November’s Beautifully Briefed covered the 2021 Architecture Photography Awards shortlist, and one of the photographers is Peter Stewart, a self-taught Australian who wanders around Asia. Gotta say: he’s better than great.
“Hanshins Web” Osaka, Japan. 2019, by Peter Stewart
His eye for pattern and color is spot-on:
“Four Columns” Tokyo, Japan. 2019, by Peter Stewart
Archinect’s In Focus feature has a great 2019 interview that not only discusses the how and where, but also the why — including his thoughts on use of Photoshop and, perhaps most insightfully, how to thrive as a photographer in this crowded age:
The hardest part of being a photographer today is finding a way to stand out among the crowd. In just the past few years Instagram has changed everything and given rise to a sizable number of highly talented new photographers. We are inherently influenced by the work we see from others, and as such has given rise to a lot of popular trends and styles of photography which has brought about a bit of a copycat culture. The point is, I think it’s important to find your own themes and ideas in order to progress, and not to simply emulate.
Daring Fireball is a daily stop for Apple geeks like me, but rarely does it cross into graphic design territory — except when it links to a Jalopnik article discussing how a Volkswagen font wound up on Apple’s keyboards.
Good stuff. (Bonus ’80s Dasher brochure siting, too.) Enjoy.
Apple Store’s Boardroom Furniture
Some Apple Stores have additional, not-usually-open-to-the-public spaces called boardrooms. And, as you might imagine, they’re filled with interesting stuff.
A new (to me, at least) site called The Apple Store Glossary has information and photographs of all aspects of Apple Stores, from the new Pickup area to the behind-the-scenes Boardrooms.
The latter started out as something called Briefing Rooms, intended for business customers and special events. However, they’ve evolved: more casual, more comfortable. And more interesting:
Apple Boardroom (Passeig de Gràcia store, Barcelona, Spain)
9to5Mac has a great roundup of these rooms we don’t see, from the accessories (bonus Eames Bird sightings) to the books, and perhaps most interestingly, the furniture.
Let’s face it: photography contests are often more about promoting the contest or the publisher than the photographer. “Read the fine print before entering” is more than good advice, as little details like reassigned copyright can wind up being big details indeed. With the disclaimer out of the way, here are some results absolutely worth highlighting.
First up, two of my favorites from the 8th Annual International Landscape Photographer of the Year competition:
“Comet NeoWise Setting,” Tanmay Sapkal, Mt. Tamalpais, Marin, CA, USA
Spectacular, from the location to the fog to, of course, the comet. More than right place, right time, it’s just right. Well done.
“Fire,” Marcin Zajac, Yosemite National Park, USA
This one combines beauty with something frightening, a not-so-subtle reminder that the future we face is about more than just wielding a camera.
See the rest of the Landscape Photographer winners here. (Via DPReview.)
Next, let’s look at something less well-known: the UK’s International Garden Photographer of the Year, starting with this:
“The Stardust,” Magdalena Wasiczek, Trzebinia, Poland
Wow. Everything about that shot is just perfect. Congrats to Magdalena Wasiczek.
“Bamford Beauty,” Lee Howdle, Derbyshire, England, UK
Recognize the bridge? (Never mind.) Quintessentially English and beautifully done.
“Seedheads, Re-imagined,” Ingrid Popplewell, UK
This is one of six, called Portfolio shots, by Ingrid Popplewell. Re-imagined, indeed.
“Arrangement for Crete,” Laurie Peek, Rockland County, New York, US
This one’s filed in the abstract category, and something that could be envisioned as a book cover. Nicely done.
New Zealand-based photographer Charles Brooks, who happens to have spent years as a professional cellist, brings us some astonishing inside-the-instrument shots, including this one:
The Colossal post, where I ran across this, is definitely worth a read. But let me just add one thing: He’s using an L-mount (yes!) Laowa probe lens, an insightful choice driven by curiosity. Well done, sir.
As some of you know, for getting around town, I zip about in an electric BMW i3. The range isn’t great — 120 miles, give or take, meaning I’d have to recharge there if I went to Atlanta — but for Macon and pretty much all of Middle Georgia, it’s perfect. Grocery store? No problem. Park, for a walk? No warmup, no emissions. Enough range for an ice cream in Musella or lunch in Milledgeville? Easy.
In fact, it’s not an understatement to say that I rave about my i3. Simply put, I love it.
Electric Toolbox, Wooden Shed
When introduced in 2014, it was hugely ahead of its time. Built on a bespoke platform with a carbon-fiber body and an eye-catching style (that somehow just looks electric), it was a huge change of pace for the “Ultimate Driving Machine” folks. And it’s done well for them, too: a quarter-million since.
Leica has announced their photograph of the year for 2021:
Over the past ten years, Leica Camera AG has honoured twelve renowned photographers for their life’s work, by inducting them into the Leica Hall of Fame. A Leica Picture of the Year has now been designated for the first time, with the aim of sharing this success with all Leica enthusiasts.
Leica’s 2021 Photograph of the Year
One of the things that makes photography so glorious is how many different ways the person behind the camera could approach a subject. So, I ask myself: would I have taken that photograph? Almost certainly not. That said, would I hang it on my wall? Yes. For $2000? Maybe another lens instead!
Lastly, the New Yorker’s Briefly Noted book reviews (from 6 December — I get them second-hand, and subsequently, am a little behind) reveals a collection of poetry — a reinvestigation of chemical weapons dropped on Vietnam — whose cover is sublime:
Housekeeping news: I went back to having an actual website in June, 2019; for a few years, I’d just used a photography hosting service, as photography was the vast majority of what I did. However, when book design again became an important-enough part of my work, I wanted to have a space to talk about it. I bought a WordPress template, added photographs, and posted it.
…But I never really liked it. From the beginning, I felt y’all deserved more: better typography, better photography, better everything. Like so many, however, one’s own stuff is always at the bottom of the to-do list. No longer.
I’d like to introduce the new version:
The new gileshoover.com, January, 2022
There were a few bumps getting here (naturally, I broke everything along the way; to say I don’t code is an understatement!), but with some tweaking notwithstanding, the new gileshoover.com is live. It’s got all-original photography, matched sans and serif font superfamily (Merriweather by Sorkin Type, a Google Font), much faster response time, open-source foundations, and so on.
Note that entries on Foreword are best seen individually, as you’ll see bigger photographs (or illustrations, graphics, etc.). Click on entry titles to get there.
Happy New Year! Stephen Colbert called it, “an unprecedented third year of 2020.” Let’s hope it turns out better than that.
To that end, here are some neat things to catch your eye.
Airliner Photography, to the nth degree
I’ve been a plane junkie since, well, forever; to this day, I watch YouTube videos of things flying around, often the big ‘uns. I follow Airliners.net’s Civil Aviation forum, and can tell you at a glance whether something sitting at the gate is a Embraer 190 or Airbus 220. So this new title by photographer Maxime Guyon has my complete attention.
Very much looking forward to getting my hands on. Beautifully done, sir. (Via a great article at It’s Nice That.)
ArchDaily’s New Branding
Meanwhile, another subject I follow:
Arch Daily has already teamed up with Architonic, a site for products, last year. For 2022, they’ve rebranded and both sites are now linked with DesignBoom, one of the web’s original sites for design and architecture (since 1999!). Dezeen has more.
The Year in Type
Last but certainly not least, I Love Typography has a great roundup of 2021: The Year in Type.
