This Photographer Takes Pictures Of Random People On The Streets And Their Reactions Are Simply Captivating (48 Pics)

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Photography

While street photography is a well-known genre, surprising people with their own photos is not a common practice. Naturally, we became curious about how Volodymyr came up with this idea. The photographer revealed that the idea is not new; however, it is always necessary to bring something of our own into any endeavor. “Photography itself is capable of evoking positive emotions as people appreciate the opportunity to have a tangible reflection of their important moments and experiences.

Of course, I practice the method of surprising people with photographs, where they are unaware and don’t expect such a gift. It triggers emotions of surprise, joy, and admiration in them. The answer to this question lies in the psychological realm, as the element of surprise makes it more unique and contributes to creating strong emotional impressions. In those moments, our emotional state can be more vivid and memorable. Moreover, a surprise gift signifies that someone has noticed us, cared for us, and invested time and effort to create something special. It creates a sense of importance and value in our eyes. In a world where we are constantly surrounded by digital images and photographs, this approach stands out and acquires special significance.

So, there is a natural desire to share my creativity with others, to give them genuine moments of joy and surprise by capturing their natural emotions while receiving the photographs. There is a desire to bring a smile to someone’s face. If this kind of photograph can make them slightly happier, believe me, the goal is achieved. It is precisely emotions and interaction with people that serve as a source of inspiration and motivation for me as a photographer, fueling my further creative growth.”

Jan Kaláb’s Graffiti Has Always Been Art + Now It’s Even More

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Design

“My paintings teeter on the edge of sculpture and my sculptures are mostly painted,” said Czechoslovakian contemporary artist Jan Kaláb. His view on the evolution of his own art, from what began as lettered graffiti, is interesting and a real story of following what’s possible. As an artist, it’s easy to start off with one style, one medium, and then remain pigeon-holed for the rest of your career. Others, like Jan, see the potential that lies beyond, looking ahead and naturally evolving into an artist who works across mediums and techniques. We had the opportunity to talk with him about his creative trajectory and how it came to be.

Black Hole, 2014, Buenos Aires Photo: Jan Kalab Studio

Jan’s creative roots are based in graffiti, street art, and murals – he’s widely recognized as being a founding pioneer of the Prague scene. Since the early days of his practice, paintings, sculptures, and 3D graffiti have been added to his portfolio, and his work has been shown in galleries around the world. It’s through the continuous exploration of new techniques and structures that Jan takes what you think you know and recognize into another dimension – the unknown. What doesn’t change is the artist’s commitment to the joy of playful discovery and infinite possibilities that lie ahead.

spacial sculpture in yellow, orange, purple, and red in a large open interior space

Zone of Mystery, 2021, Orleans Photo: Jan Kalab Studio

“I did my first graffiti piece in the fall of 1993, when I was 15-years-old. I used to draw and I studied at an art high school, but I didn’t call myself an artist just yet. Graffiti was a mystery at that time, there were just a couple of pieces around Prague; no information, no magazines, no internet,” he shared.

“You have to understand that all this culture started to penetrate in my country after the Berlin wall fell in 1989, so our scene in Eastern Europe was 10-15 years behind. But once it began in the late 90s the streets exploded and you saw painted subway cars everywhere. We were traveling lots between cities to paint and to meet new friends, it was amazing. This is what lit up the real passion for creation in me.”

multicolor pastel figure constructed of circles in an outdoor space

Cosmos, 2015 Photo: Jan Kalab

Shape and color are the main factors in Jan’s work, which he pushes, blends, exaggerates, or minimizes to express himself. Nature and the micro and macro cosmos inspire him, but he has no desire to capture or replicate an existing image or story. Instead, Jan looks for universal beauty through a new perspective or a fresh way to tell an existing story. “The sensations you get when you remember any special moment or melody; this feeling of déjà vu is what I strive to achieve and wish to resonate with my audience,” he said.

store exterior with pipe-like pastel graffiti

Infinity Light, 2016, Rag & Bone, New York City Photo: Jan Kalab Studio

“I paint with acrylic on custom-sized, organic shaped frames made in my studio. I create sculptures from different materials, such as wood, resin, or bronze. I like to do light suspended installations. It is also important for me to work in a virtual space, so I can translate my physical art into digital forms, such as augmented realities or animated NFTs. My sources of inspiration for my work are inexhaustible.” He added, “Also, seeing others succeed gives me inspiration for how to present my work in order to succeed as well.”

person standing in the middle of an empty downtown street holding a large circle that's primarily blue in front of their body

Blue Cloud, 2018, 1234 pm, Powel Street, San Francisco Photo: Jan Kalab Studio

When I asked Jan when he began picturing his graffiti as art, he said that’s how he’s always viewed it, because it was created with heart. “I spent around 20 years of research and creating to find out graffiti does have its limitations, and art has more universal appeal. I transformed my [graffiti] letters into abstract elements, and from that point my approach shifted as well. Until that time I believed art in galleries was dead and the only vivid form was on the streets, which is nonsense, of course. In my 30s I have learned how to use brushes, how to stretch canvases; I changed my opinion that artwork doesn’t need to be ephemeral and it is actually really challenging to create something that has an ambition to stay forever. I transformed myself into an abstract artist, but still with love for graffiti.”

amorphous yellow and blue shape hangs on a wall surrounded by seating and a coffee table

CALOR, 2022, Movimento Gallery, Rio De Janeiro Photo: Movimento Gallery

Jan noted that each technique he uses is challenging it its own way, and those experiences can then influence what he creates in other formats. “Painting is most relaxing in terms of the process; I’m in my studio, listening to music, and playing with colors. Creating a sculpture is amazing because it is something that stands on its own, and it is much more challenging in the production process. The digital format, like animated NFT, light projections, or objects allow for different effects, but it is not that physical. You have nothing as soon as you lose electricity.” Which is something I doubt many of us think about from that perspective.

black and blue wall adorned with globulous, colorful, large art pieces

KakaoTalk Photo: Jung Joo-hwan

I couldn’t resist asking Jan about his favorite piece created so far, and he was able to narrow it down to three. “Gold wholecar” we did with Romeo in NYC in 2000, and proved to ourselves that we can do anything. The “Red Point” installation in MASP Museum in Sao Paulo in 2011 was the first time the whole crew of carpenters built this big thing based on planes we did with an architect. And a series of paintings I created in my Brooklyn studio and photographed in the streets of Manhattan in 2014, because I found my authentic style.”

Porsche 911 painted in a gradient of color from blue to pink to yellow outside of a white and brown building

Rainbow 911, 2022 Photo: Maximilian Balasz

suspended blue spacial sculpture and oval-shaped blue art hanging on a white wall behind it

Blue Horizon, 2023, Bluerider Gallery, Taipei Photo: Bluerider Gallery

light-skinned man with dark hair wearing a white t-shirt surrounded by a haze of blue

Jan Kalab

To learn more about Jan Kaláb and his body of work, visit jankalab.com.

Kelly Beall is senior editor at Design Milk. The Pittsburgh-based graphic designer and writer has had a deep love of art and design for as long as she can remember, and enjoys sharing her finds with others. When undistracted by great art and design, she can be found making a mess in the kitchen, consuming as much information as possible, or on the couch with her three pets. Find her @designcrush on social.

From heavy metal to Native language robots, áyA Con showcases Indigenous creatives

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Native

As the opening guitar riffs rang out at the Levitt Pavilion just outside Denver on Friday night, eager heavy metal fans lined the barrier, cheering on the Arizona band Merciless Indian Savages as they kicked off a new Indigenous comic and arts festival.

Teenagers react to the heavy metal bands performing in the RezMetal concert at Levitt Pavilion, one of the events in partnership with the áyA Con festival in Denver. Many of the artists voiced that they want to reach younger audiences and encourage them to get into heavy metal.

The bands performing at the Rez Metal concert were among the many artists participating in áyA Con, an event designed to celebrate indigeneity and showcase Indigenous creators, similar to the Indigenous Pop Culture Expo, or IndigiPop X.

The word “áyA” is from the Lakota language, meaning “to change, to become.” The goal is to expand the notion of what art from Indigenous communities looks like, according to Kristina Maldonado Bad Hand, the director and co-founder of the three-day event.

“We have powwow dancing and we have a lot of our culture presenting, but we have toys up there,” Maldonado-Bad Hand said, motioning to the McNichols Civic Center, which hosted the event. “We’ve got comic books, there’s anime stuff, there’s horror stuff. It’s really broadened.”

Performances ranged from stand-up comedy to poetry to heavy metal.

“People think it’s nonsense, but we’re spitting some knowledge that people are unaware of,” said Corey Ashley, the vocalist for Merciless Indian Savages. “Metal’s the perfect canvas to do that…Natives love metal and we’re no exception to that.”

Corey Ashley, the lead singer and guitarist for Merciless Indian Savages, plays at the Levitt Pavilion in Denver on June 9. This is the first Indigenous heavy metal concert to be hosted in Denver.

Along with lyrics about addiction and death, their songs often reference cultural genocide and traumas inflicted upon Indigenous people. One of the songs is titled “Kill Man, Save The Indian,” which references the “White man came across the sea” lyric from Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills,” a song about killing Natives.

“So originally everybody knows, obviously, ‘Kill the Indian, save the man,’” Ashley said, referring to the quote by Captain Richard H. Pratt, a soldier in the U.S. Army who wanted Natives to assimilate. “But we’re like, you know, f— that. We want to empower our people and we want to denounce this way of saying it.”

Other bands that played Friday night explored similar themes. The all-female group Suspended, from Albuquerque, N.M., played an instrumental track titled “Murdered and Missing,” after the thousands of unsolved cases of missing and murdered Indigenous people.

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Amanda Castillo, Channing Concho and Autumn Concho of the metal band Suspended pose for a photo backstage at the Levitt Pavilion in Denver. Amanda and Channing started the band back in 2003 when they were in high school together, and now they play ADHD riffage and melodic, thrashy death, according to Castillo.

Emma VandenEinde / KUNC

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A guitarist and vocalist from the band Heart Museum performs at the Levitt Pavilion in Denver. The lyrics of their songs often reflect on topics like pain, death and violence.

Emma VandenEinde / KUNC

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Sage Bond sings and strums her guitar as she performs at the Levitt Pavilion in Denver. She said she is influenced by bands like Iron Maiden, Judas Priest and Arch Enemy.

Emma VandenEinde / KUNC

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Tyson Evans leans up against the barrier as he waits for the next performer to start at the RezMetal concert at the Levitt Pavilion in Denver. He said Indigenous people have been a part of heavy metal since its origins with artists like Slayer.

Emma VandenEinde / KUNC

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Supporters and heavy metal fans spread out across the Levitt Pavilion lawn watching the RezMetal concert. The five artists that performed at the concert were Sage Bond, Merciless Indian Savages, Alliance, Heart Museum and Suspended.

Emma VandenEinde / KUNC

“I had tried to write lyrics several times, but I think it ended up just being an instrumental because I think the music just really speaks for itself,” said Amanda Castillo, a guitarist and vocalist with Suspended.

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Ruben Dawahoya, Merciless Indian Savages’s bass player, said he wants to show that Indigenous people belong in the heavy metal space, too.

“We’re just turning the tides, basically, on everybody else, saying that we can evolve and we can do the things that everybody else can,” he said.

That message reached audience members like Chelsea Kaiah, who was head-banging in the front row.

“I think Denver and Colorado in general have a very romanticized version of what Indigenous people look like and how we are and what alternative cultures we participate in,” Kaiah said. “Supporting organizations like this is super important because they’re seeing us for us and what we love and what we support, and the amazing people that create the bands that we listen to.”

A woman watches as an artist works on a piece live at the áyA Con festival in Denver. Vendors sold a variety of things at the festival, ranging from beadwork to body care.

After Friday’s concert, the áyA Con event continued into the weekend with several panels and vendors spanning two buildings, with vendors selling things ranging from body care products to theater masks.

Some of the performers new to more traditional Native American art, including dancer Rhyia JoyHeart who is Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone and part of the group United Indigenous Dancers. She performed the Jingle Dress Dance. It’s based on a story where an Indigenous girl fell ill and her relative had a dream about four women that gave instructions on how to make a healing dress.

Two Indigenous women in cultural attire stand outside the McNichols Civic Center building. — Rhyia JoyHeart and Mercedes Archuleta with the United Indigenous Dancers stand outside the McNichols Civic Center building where the áyA Con festival was held. JoyHeart danced the Jingle Dress Dance and Archuleta danced the Fancy Shawl Dance at the festival.

“[The relative] brought it to their people in a drum ceremony, and they expressed how the dance was, how the dress was to be made, and how it was supposed to be danced,” she said. “Once [the four women] were dancing, the young girl went from laying to sitting to standing to then joining the circle with the women.”

JoyHeart said she’s proud to express her Native traditions and identity through dance.

“There’s so much – so much – beauty in our people,” she said. “We might not be rich in money and wealth, but we’re definitely rich in culture and love. So to be able to have these platforms is truly an honor.”

Shaun Beyale stands behind his art booth at the cultural festival — Shaun Beyale, a Diné multimedia artist, stands behind his art booth at the áyA Con festival. He grew up reading Marvel comics and later was able to contribute to Marvel’s Heritage Voices comic book.

The festival also featured creatives like Shaun Beyale, a Diné multimedia artist who contributed to Marvel’s Heritage Voices comic book.

“I grew up on Marvel Comics,” he said. “For them to come and reach out to me, you know, that made that little rez boy in me happy because I never thought that would be something possible.”

He also helped design the Marvel character Spider Weaver, based on a protector in Navajo culture called Na’ashjeii Asdzáá. She wears a turquoise necklace and other pieces of cultural attire along with the famous spider logo. Beyale believes it is possible for Indigenous artists to embrace the contemporary without forgetting their ancestral roots.

A man holds a phone out over a table filled with art. On the phone is the Spider Weaver character. — Shaun Beyale shows off Spider Weaver, a character he helped design for Marvel Strike Force. It’s based on a protector in Navajo culture called Na’ashjeii Asdzáá.

“We do live in modern society, but at the same time, you know, we do hold onto our culture and we do appreciate that,” he said. “I was just a rez kid that didn’t have electricity. And I had to draw at night with kerosene lamps. And now here I am, getting to work on video games, comic books, and get to promote my culture.

“I think by harnessing the power of technology, we can still move forward without forgetting who we are.”

Danielle Boyer, a 22-year-old Ojibwe engineer, also presented at the festival. She made a talking and singing robot, called a SkoBot, that looks like a tiny, colorful minion with cat ears. It helps preserve four endangered Native languages: Ojibwemowin, Diné Bizaad, Taíno and Apache.

A girl places a blue, owl-shaped robot on a table next to a woman on her phone. — Danielle Boyer, a 22-year-old Ojibwe engineer, also presented at the festival. She made a 3D-printed, talking and singing robot — called a SkoBot — that helps to preserve endangered Native languages.

“They are wearable language revitalization robots,” she said. “Basically, they sit on your shoulder, sense motion and help protect endangered Indigenous languages.”

For example, she said, it’d say a phrase like “Boozhoo. Hello,” and ask the child to repeat it back.

She also created the STEAM Connection when she was 18 to help teach Indigenous youth about robotics and provide some building kits for free. It’s served over 800,000 youth so far.

Her idea came out of the discrimination she faced when she tried to join robotics clubs in high school and college. She hopes Indigenous youth will still pursue what they want to pursue, even when these spaces are predominantly white.

“We’ve always been scientists, we’ve always been inventors, we’ve always been creating really awesome things,” she said. “I want to show our students that opportunities are available and that we can create things for our communities basically built by us, for us. And we can be innovators now and forever.”

A girl looks at a red, owl-shaped robot. — Danielle Boyer holds up a Skobot, a robot she designed, during a panel at the áyA Con convention. The robot can say phrases in Ojibwemowin, Diné Bizaad, Taíno and Apache.

That’s the main reason Maldonado-Bad Hand wanted to create the convention – to show that Native art and culture is much more than the stereotypes of feathers and ancestors. She shared how when she invited some of her friends to present their anime work at áyA Con, they questioned if anyone would like it.

“I was like…’Why would you question whether you belonged somewhere because you had something that was likable for the rest of the general public and assumed that it wouldn’t be likable for Native people?’” she said.

She hopes it allows participants to bond through their shared connections and expand perspectives of what Native people engage in and enjoy.

“We really wanted to encourage that connection while also sharing our culture,” she said. “You can celebrate over fandoms and everybody can be nerds together and kind of celebrate that way.”

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, the O’Connor Center for the Rocky Mountain West in Montana, KUNC in Colorado, KUNM in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Jarritos Mexican Soda Expands 2nd Annual JarriTODOS Artist Grant Contest with Two New Categories, Awarding Over $80,000

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Art World News

Six winners to each receive a $10,000 grand prize, selected by notable judges across visual art, music, dance, fashion, makeup and tattoo art categories

EL PASO, Texas, June 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Jarritos, the authentic and flavorful Mexican soda brand, today announced the launch of the 2nd Annual JarriTODOS (Jarritos for Everyone) Artist Grant Contest to champion diverse artists and creatives with the chance to win a $10,000 grant to help six winners pursue their artistic passions. This year, Jarritos broadens its artist categories by inviting makeup and tattoo artists to enter and showcase their talent.

Jarritos encourages all aspiring artists who are residents of the United States, ages 18 and older, to participate in the 2023 JarriTODOS Artist Grant Contest. The contest will set out to discover the best up-and-coming talent across six industries including visual art, dance, fashion, music, makeup, and tattoo art. Six (6) grand prize winners will each be awarded a $10,000 grant and twenty-four semi-finalists will receive $1,000 each, totaling $84,000 in award prizes.

“Jarritos is continuing to show up and champion culture, art, and community with the JarriTODOS Artist Grant Contest for the second year in a row,” said Eric Delamare, director of marketing for Jarritos. “Widening the contest with two additional categories for makeup and tattoo art allows us to reach more artists, honoring the next generation of great talent. Unique voices deserve to be seen and heard and partnering with outstanding judges in each category will help us do that.”

Returning to the judging panel, Courtney Plummer, Contemporary Art Dealer, Karla Martinez de Salas, Editor of Vogue Mexico/Latin America, Javier Farfan, music, entertainment, and cultural Marketing Consultant, and JoJo Gomez, renowned professional Dancer/Choreographer, will be joined alongside Melissa Murdick, Celebrity Makeup Artist, and Savana Wang, professional NYC-based Tattoo Artist. Judging will be based on talent, creativity, self-expression, and presentation.

“Every industry should constantly be looking for new and diverse talent,” said Karla Martinez de Salas, Editor of Vogue Mexico/Latin America. “I’m excited to help give an opportunity to artists to express their art with the world and be recognized for their individuality and authenticity.”

HOW TO ENTER
From June 13, 2023 through July 14, 2023, interested applicants may submit for the JarriTODOS Artist Grant Contest at https://app.wyng.com/JarriTODOS2023.

To enter the contest, talent must submit up to a 1:30-minute TikTok video or Instagram reel link showcasing their art (visual art, fashion, dance, makeup, tattoo art, or music) and must answer the following prompt: how do you express your individuality through your art? In addition to the video link submission, applicants must complete a short online form to confirm eligibility and provide their contact information.

Submissions must be received no later than July 14, 2023, at 11:59:59 p.m. PST to be eligible for judge deliberation July 24, 2023 – August 4, 2023. Grand prize winners and finalists from each category will be announced by August 22, 2023.

About Jarritos
Created in 1950, Jarritos are delicious fruit-flavored sodas from Mexico. Sold in iconic glass bottles throughout the U.S. the brand will celebrate its 75th year in 2025 and offers 12 unique flavors, all made with natural flavors and cane sugar. Jarritos flavors are mandarin, tamarind, pineapple, fruit-punch, lime, grapefruit, strawberry, mango, guava, passion fruit, cola and watermelon. Each unique flavor represents a delicious slice of the brand’s Mexican heritage. Jarritos is now distributed in 42 countries around the world. Find out more at www.Jarritos.com.

SOURCE Jarritos

Auguste Rodin: 10 Breathtaking Sculptures You Should Know

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Sculpture

French sculptor Auguste Rodin’s mastery of human anatomy, unconventional working methods, and creation of emotionally complex pieces marked him as the founder of modern sculpture.

Xiaomi’s Top-End Smartphone Will Make Shutterbugs Drool

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Photography

The expensive end of the smartphone market has gone a little crazy. More affordable hardware means mid-range phones are enough for most people, and phone makers are scrambling to justify the premium tier. The answer is impressive camera systems meant to nix your need to ever buy a professional camera, and the Xiaomi 13 Ultra epitomizes this trend.

There are a grand total of four cameras on the back of this smartphone, honed through a partnership with Leica. It’s no one-trick pony either. You might primarily associate Chinese phones with value, but Xiaomi’s flagship boasts quality in every department and is ready to go toe-to-toe with the best smartphones. Sadly, it’s not sold in the US, and you need to jump through hoops to sort out the software, but when the hardware is this good, it may be worth the effort.

Top Class

High-end smartphones tend to be disappointingly conservative in design (aka boring), so the unusual look of Xiaomi’s flagship is refreshing. You can’t miss the colossal circular camera module, but the surrounding golden chamfer is classy against the olive green of the faux leather back (it also comes in black or white). The textured finish is comfortable and enhances grip, which is just as well, because I almost dropped the phone a couple of times trying to get used to the weight—the upper half of the back bulges out, making the device top-heavy when you hold it.

Corning’s Gorilla Glass Victus protects the screen, and the phone has an IP68 rating, meaning it’s decently scratch resistant and can survive a short dip in water. However, I worry about the camera module, which the phone naturally rests on when you lay it down. I suggest using a case. Thankfully, there’s a slim one included in the box that adds a protective rim around the camera.

The 6.73-inch AMOLED display is among the best I’ve laid eyes on. It boasts a top resolution of 3,200 x 1,440 pixels with a 120-Hz refresh rate. Xiaomi claims a peak brightness of 2,600 nits, but this is a bit deceptive, as the entire screen rarely (if ever) goes that high. It doesn’t really matter, as I never had any trouble with it in direct sunlight. Even at the lowest default settings, this display looks great.

With a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor inside, backed by 12 GB of RAM, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a smooth operator. Taps and swipes are slick and responsive, as is the in-display fingerprint sensor. It had no trouble running games like Real Racing 3 or Call of Duty: Mobile. The 13 Ultra also has the stamina for long gaming sessions, and it kept cool when I played Kingdom Rush Frontiers for several hours. It handles movie and music streaming equally well, and the stereo speakers offer a surprisingly balanced sound.

Adweek Creative 100: 2023

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Art World News

Lost, but now found: Getting lost in the woods in New Zealand while working as a forestry consultant made Loebner reevaluate his career, indirectly leading him to marketing. He went back to school and took positions at Young and Rubicam and Edelman before addressing inclusion and accessibility at digital marketing agency Designsensory. “I saw that trade publications for advertising and marketing weren’t speaking to the disability community in a way that went beyond, ‘Hey, here’s a tentpole ad in the Super Bowl that features someone with a disability,’” he told Raconteur last year.

Committing to change: Wunderman Thompson hired Loebner last year. He lauded the agency’s work with Unilever in creating a Degree deodorant that was easier to apply and handle by people with vision loss and upper torso disabilities. “If what is being concepted, developed and built isn’t inclusive, diverse, equitable, accessible and sustainable, then whatever is launched into the world won’t reach as many people, may be inauthentic, unattainable, and won’t have the staying power to translate into success,” Loebner said at the time.

Starting at home: Earlier this year, Wunderman Thompson said it will use Level Access’ software to develop inclusive websites and mobile apps for its clients. “This new partnership will further us on our mission to build a better future for our people, our planet and our communities,” Loebner said. — Jason Notte

Read more about all of the agency leaders who are paving the way forward.

A Sculpture Of Lord Buddha & Jewellery From The Eighth-Century Found In Puri

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Sculpture

Residents of the Lendu village in Puri discovered a sculpture of Lord Buddha and some stone jewellery from the eighth century.

UConn Photography Professor Shares Story of Yellowstone in Words and Pictures

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Photography

Ask Janet Pritchard about her favorite spot inside Yellowstone National Park and she’ll tell you it’s wherever you can find the fewest people that day.

Not that the UConn photography professor abhors standing beside other visitors to take in the magnificence of the country’s first national park.

Rather, she likes to regale others with stories about how, to her ear, the bugle of a bull elk sounds like a double reed instrument in an orchestra and how bison outgassing smells much like marijuana.

She just doesn’t want to be shoulder-to-shoulder with other visitors, preferring the comfort of being behind a camera lens documenting the scenery in near solitude or fixing on others who offer a buffer between her and the wild animals.

“The way I often describe it is, in the park, many of the people are their best selves,” says Pritchard, who over a lifetime has cumulatively logged several years in Yellowstone and the surrounding area and who used that personal expertise in her 2022 book “More than Scenery: Yellowstone, An American Love Story,” which recently was awarded an IPPY silver medal.

That’s also the sentiment written on the back of a turn-of-the-century postcard Pritchard picked up around 20 years ago and provided the impetus for assembling the book. It states, in part, about the park, “in some places it is so beautiful that the men take off their hats & the women are silent!”

Among those beautiful places, Pritchard says, is Lamar Valley in the Northern Range, which is one of the most biodiverse areas of the park – and country, for that matter – with herds of bison and elk frequenting its lush vastness, and bears and wolves on the prowl.

“It’s not quite as spectacular in terms of geothermal features, although the extinct geyser Soda Butte Cone offers quite a sight. Most people don’t bother to walk around the back, but they should. They’ll see a bison wallow in the mud and mud swallow nests tucked up at the top. This kind of stuff is spectacular,” she says.

Park visitors who enter through the northeast entrance go through Cooke City, Montana, with a year-round population of fewer than 100, and into Lamar Valley, which shows evidence of glaciers on top of a volcanic landscape in contrast to the rest of the park.

“Private automobiles weren’t allowed in until 1916. Prior to that, in order to get into the park, you had to take a stagecoach tour,” Pritchard explains, noting that people on those tours often had printed guides specific to one of the five entrances detailing what they would see along the way. “It always makes me think of Stations of the Cross. If you come in at Gardiner, this is what you’re going to see first, this is what you’re going to see next. The souvenir postcards that they made were also numbered to correspond to the guides, so you could buy a set of postcards for the north entrance that would go with your tour.”

By 1916, when private vehicles were allowed, the road system was mostly set – although it has been revamped, rebuilt, and readapted many times in the years since, including after damaging floods last year – Pritchard says, sharing the fun fact that a public relations person in the 1920s nicknamed the main route through the park Grand Loop Road, a name that stuck, specifically in reference to the 19^th century idea of the Grand Tour of Europe.

Natural Wonders and Beauty, But Still with Scars

Most of the features visitors see in the park are from the road, in part because of Yellowstone’s 2.2-million-acre expanse, the unquantifiable dangers of the wild the further one goes alone, and the duration of one’s vacation time.

“If you go up to a ranger in the park and say, ‘I’m here for a day, what should I see?’ They’ll say Old Faithful, the Lower Falls, and the wildlife,” Pritchard says – but in conversation she also notes places like Obsidian Cliff, Roosevelt Arch, Overhanging Cliff, Artist Point, and the Madison River Valley.

“The natural wonders are why it was preserved,” she says, adding that economics also figured into the origin story.

She goes on to say that Philadelphia banker Jay Cooke, a financier of the Northern Pacific Railroad, needed a destination for his rail passengers. In search of that location, he funded Thomas Moran’s participation in Ferdinand V. Hayden’s first government-funded survey of the Yellowstone area in 1871.

They returned with evidence of its beauty, in Moran’s watercolor sketches and “proof” of geothermal wonders in William Henry Jackson’s photographs, which persuaded Congress to preserve it through national park status, the first in the world.

Of course, 49 Native American tribes with ancestral connections to the park would have been the first to acknowledge it as a sacred place.

One of the most famous outcomes of the Hayden expedition was Moran’s painting “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” from 1872 – repeated in 1893 for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago – which depicts Lower Falls and hangs in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.

Pritchard says the Hayden expedition, which Moran joined, was on the north side of the falls, whereas the paintings show the view from the south, meaning Moran had to have imagined the view from that position simply for the sake of the paintings’ composition – another fun fact she offers.

“People can be really generous and enjoy sharing stories and tips and tricks of things to see,” she says of visitors to the park. “Other times, there’s a tremendous amount of what I call ‘species arrogance’ in terms of how they relate to the wildlife. They don’t appreciate, understand, or even care about the fact that when you go to the park, the park service refers to you as a visitor for a reason. It’s not your home, it’s the animals’ home, their environment. Don’t think we’re superior when we’re just another part of the natural world.”

Perhaps there’s no better way to consider this than through the story of the Yellowstone wolves.

By 1926, federal and state governments had exterminated the last of the wolves that lived in and around Yellowstone, only to realize 20 years later in the mid-1940s they’d made an ecological mistake. Re-establishment didn’t start until the mid-1990s, however, with the use of acclimation pens located in remote areas away from ranchers and others who opposed their reintroduction.

The remains of only one of those pens still exists at Rose Creek, a physical reminder of the story of the wolves that to this day draws pilgrimages of people to the site to pay their respects.

“I’ve seen people standing up there crying they were so moved,” Pritchard says.

She also recalls the story of the pack that lived on Druid Peak in the Lamar Valley, the “rock stars of the wolf world” until they succumbed to disease, mostly mange from dens and caves still infected with parasitic mites from the 1920s extermination project.

Despite the Druid pack’s sad demise, there are many wolves now in Yellowstone, especially in Hayden Valley, another biologically diverse area that draws throngs of people stopping to pull over – or sometimes brake in the middle of the road – to spy on an animal.

“Take binoculars and stop and ask people what they’re looking at. There are some parts of the park where you can see big-horned mountain sheep. The mountain goats are only in the very northern part, just before you go into Cooke City,” Pritchard says, adding, “I think it’s super fun to get stuck in elk and bison jams.”

Bison graze along the Lamar River in 2008. The nearly 44-mile-long river is the largest tributary of the Yellowstone River, according to the National Park Service. It was named after Secretary of the Interior Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar, who served from 1885 to 1888 under President Grover Cleveland. The American bison, meanwhile, was named the national mammal of the United States under the National Bison Legacy Act, which President Barack Obama signed in May 2016. (Photo by Janet L. Pritchard)

A woman sits in the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C., in 2010, looking at paintings by Thomas Moran. His “The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone” from 1893 is left and 1872 is right. Moran was a member of the first federally funded expedition to Yellowstone, led by Ferdinand V. Hayden, according to the Department of the Interior, and used sketches and black and white photos of the journey to create the paintings. His work to visually capture the beauty of the area that was 500 miles from the nearest train station became strong evidence in 1872 for Congress to name Yellowstone the country’s first national park. “Moran forever carried Yellowstone with him, changing his signature to ‘TYM,’ Thomas ‘Yellowstone’ Moran,” the Interior Department says. (Photo by Janet L. Pritchard)

Anemone Geyser in the Upper Geyser Basin of Yellowstone National Park is two geysers that seem to operate independently, but sometimes appear to be connected, according to the National Park Service. The geysers have an average temperature of 184.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Here they are in 2018. The Upper Geyser Basin contains most of the world’s active geysers, including Old Faithful. Molten rock between 3 and 8 miles underground provides heat for the hydrothermal features. (Photo by Janet L. Pritchard)

A vintage Yellowstone Park tour bus travels through the Lamar Valley in 2009. The Lamar Valley, in the north part of the park known as the Northern Range, is the winter home of elk, bison, deer, and pronghorn, the National Park Service says. North America’s largest wild herds of bison and elk can be found in this area. It’s also a favorite hunting ground of several packs of wolves and has drawn coyotes, bobcats, cougars, and red fox. “This region now contains every large wild mammal, predator or prey, that inhabited it when Europeans first arrived in North America, though not necessarily in the same numbers or distribution,” the park service says. (Photo by Janet L. Pritchard)

Bison: Primordial, Ominous, and Dark

Just like a traffic jam, only with elk or bison, this happens when herds surround vehicles, forcing traffic to a standstill, or a singular animal decides to stand firm on the double yellow line, clogging traffic and causing a backup.

Pritchard says one time she was stuck in a bison jam for at least an hour, “You can’t be in a hurry. You have to go with the flow.”

While stuck in that jam, Pritchard says she was on a narrow road with a steep shoulder on one side and a drop to the Yellowstone River on the other. The bison were coming through the landscape, in a wave-like now-you-see-them-now-you-don’t flow.

“Being in the midst of bison, they’re primordial like sharks. They’re one of those animals that feels ancient,” she says. “In this jam, as I watched them, this feeling came over me. There was something ominous and dark about their presence. I was describing this to a biologist I was hanging out with, and she said the bison’s eyes are not like ours. They do not reflect light, so there is no catchlight and that’s where a sense of life comes from when you look at another animal or a person. That’s not there, so they feel like they don’t have a soul.”

She admits that having wild animals in such proximity can be frightening, mainly because they’re unpredictable and slow moving – until they aren’t. An adult male bison, the largest animal in Yellowstone, can weigh as much as a compact car.

That’s from where the advice to keep someone else between you and the animals comes and the recommendation from another biologist friend to move away if you’re close enough to change an animal’s behavior.

Distance is key.

“You’ll see people standing around with spotting scopes and a lot of them, if they have something in their frame, will let you look if you don’t have your own,” Pritchard says. “People with high-end binoculars will get only 10x magnification, whereas spotting scopes are more like 60. That’s how you get a really good view.”

Still, some of the tiniest creatures in Yellowstone – the thermophiles that thrive in the heat of the geothermal springs and give places like the Morning Glory Pool its vibrant color – need only the naked eye to see their brilliance.

Biggest Threat is People

Millions of vacationers visit Yellowstone annually, oftentimes for the trip of a lifetime, putting lodging at a premium especially during the height of the season from mid-June to mid-September when public schools are generally on break.

Pritchard says the roads get plowed, allowing for vehicular traffic, in mid-April and stay open through mid-October, which means the slow season – and by that she means still busy but not as crowded – is generally before Memorial Day and after Labor Day, the best times to avoid masses of people.

People have been the biggest enemy of the park since the 1880s, she explains. Not only have they thrown trash into places like Morning Glory Pool, muting its exquisite colors in the process, but in the late 1800s people were taking home parts of the park as souvenirs.

“There’s a big military history in this area and that was to protect the park,” she says. “While the military is now gone, there are two types of rangers in the park. One of them is interpretive and charged with interacting with people, helping them with information. The other is law enforcement. These folks are not there first and foremost for the people, despite what we think. They’re actually there to protect the park and the animals from the people.”

Just off the Grand Loop Road, west of the Tower-Roosevelt junction, stands a lone petrified tree surrounded and protected by a 6- to 8-foot-tall iron fence. It’s not just a metaphor for the park itself, but a reminder of the damage people can do.

Pritchard explains that when the park was established in 1872 there was no federal funding attached to the designation, and people started looting within its new boundaries, including the piece-by-piece dismantling of a second petrified tree that once stood adjacent to its twin. The iron fence was erected to protect what remains of the first tree, and the military moved in to ensure that type of looting doesn’t happen again.

Everyone Has a Yellowstone Story

During her work on “More than Scenery,” Pritchard spent time at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts, researching the park through maps, historic pictures, and artifacts, often seeing the same researchers day after day.

“I can’t tell you how many people, while I’ve been working on this project, have shared their Yellowstone stories with me,” she says, including one woman in that library who professed she had no story to offer only to return a few days later with one.

“She proceeded to tell me that she was at a conference in the Jackson, Wyoming, area and she and her husband had a rental car, so they decided to go to the park. As they started driving in, it got smokey, and they couldn’t figure out why until they got back and checked the news,” Pritchard says. “It was the start of the fires of ’88.”

Pritchard was visiting Boulder, Colorado, in the summer of 1988 and also saw the smoke from the Yellowstone fires. Twenty years later, when she was in the park in 2008, Pritchard says she noticed the trees around her were the same kind of pine and roughly the same size, 12 to 14 feet tall, new growth forest.

“I realized what I was seeing was a burn matrix from the fires of ’88,” Pritchard says, noting that one can still wipe the soot off some burned trees.

Firefighters sought to suppress wildfires in the park before 1988, when 800,000 acres of Yellowstone burned, and they realized that strategy allowed for too much fuel to accumulate in the woodlands. Pritchard says fires now are left to burn themselves out unless historic structures or people are threatened.

Nevertheless, in 2016, a series of fires burned in the park, far sooner than the 100 years expected to yield enough fuel.

“What that said to them was fire management would have to be a lot more aggressive than anyone had ever imagined. We’ve seen what’s happened and played out in California. It’s a huge concern. There are a lot of areas, including parts of Montana and Colorado, where they just expect and accept that August skies will be cloudy from fire smoke the whole month – and that’s thanks to climate change,” Pritchard says.

Despite spending years in the Yellowstone area and gaining the kind of familiarity and understanding of it that only an expert can have, Pritchard says she’s “in a funny place, where I’m not really a local and I’m not a regular visitor, either. I’m in between.”

She adds, “It’s not a place I would have fully appreciated when I was younger, because of the people and the commercialization of it in a lot of ways. But the park is special. It really is much more interesting and complex than one first realizes.”

Heart of Brevard announces photography contest

Jun 13, 2023 By Admin in Photography

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Heart of Brevard (HOB) has announced a call for photo submissions for its upcoming Shopping and Dining Guide. Amateur and professional photographers are invited to capture the essence of the Heart of Brevard business district through their lens.

With over 10,000 copies printed each year, the HOB Shopping and Dining Guide serves as a valuable resource for visitors and locals alike providing information about the downtown business community. Guides are distributed in Heart of Brevard businesses, the Brevard/Transylvania Visitor’s Center, Brevard City Hall, the Pisgah Ranger Station/Visitor Center.

The winning photo will be featured on the front page of the upcoming guide, and the photographer will receive a $200 prize and recognition for their work. All submissions will be shared in an on-line gallery.

Heart of Brevard welcomes a diverse range of photos that depict the beauty and vitality of downtown Brevard. Images may include, but are not limited to, captivating images of downtown businesses, bustling events, individual shops, or any scene that encapsulates the spirit of the Heart of Brevard business district.

Submit your photos by June 25. Winner will be announced by June 30.

Photo and Contest Guidelines Requirements:

•Deadline for submissions – June 25 at 5 p.m.

•Photo Size: High-Res, Vertical Image, approximately 5.75″x4.”

•Photos must showcase the Heart of Brevard (HOB) and can include photos of HOB events, photos of downtown businesses, photos of visitors enjoying downtown, etc.

•Photographers may submit up to 3 images for consideration

•Submit applications at www.form.jotform.com/heartofbrevard/shopping–dining-guide-photo-contes.

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