All images © Reuben Wu, shared with permission
Peeking out from rocky gorges, flowing through a thin crack in the terrain, and elegantly sweeping upward among layers of stone, Reuben Wu’s drone paths conjure the uncanny. The Chicago-based photographer (previously) has been working with light painting for about a decade, transforming nighttime scenes into strange, otherworldly vistas. His latest project, The Inner Landscape, continues this tradition as it positions small, orb-like geometries among craggy formations.
Commissioned by Apple and captured on an iPhone, the series departs from Wu’s earlier projects like Lux Noctis in that the photos frame smaller spaces. He writes on Instagram:
Many of the landforms I illuminated were very far away and massive. In a way, I was pushing the drone to fly as far as it could to create this seemingly impossible epic night scene…The Inner Landscape feels much more intimate, where I am closer, or in the midst of the subject matter. The scene feels almost like part of my own mind.
The juxtaposition of darkness and artificial lighting “intensifies this mood of unreality,” he says, and similarly contrasts the quiet intimacy of the spaces with the unfamiliarity of the compositions.
Find an extensive archive of Wu’s works on his site.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Circular Drone Paths Nestle into Craggy Grooves and Valleys in Reuben Wu’s Unearthly Photos appeared first on Colossal.
We The CuriousA new project featuring artwork created by photography students has gone on display in a city centre.
“What you can’t see, you don’t know” opened in Millennium Square in Bristol on Saturday.
The project, which was coordinated by science centre We The Curious, was created by GCSE photography students from Bristol Brunel Academy (BBA) and local photographer Ilayda Akarca.
It will be on display until 6 January, 2024.
The Year 11 students chose to base the project, consisting of 28 photographs, on the theme of “identity”.
Using the historic location of Kings Weston House, they were tasked with thinking about how they could be represented there. They brought photos of them as children to include in the project.
The project was funded by Bristol City Centre Business Improvement District (BID), Life With Art and Marks & Spencer.
Vicky Lee, Head of Bristol City Centre BID, said: “It’s really important to us to fund projects like this, where young people in Bristol are not only gaining qualifications for their future, but are also exploring their creative potential.
“It’s a privilege for us to be able to help share young people’s creativity with city-centre audiences.”
Julian Welsh, Special Projects Producer at We The Curious said: “Many people who live in Bristol don’t regularly come into the centre.
“With the generous help of our funders, this project has carved out a space for the students from BBA to show their amazing work for all the city-centre visitors to see, and perhaps give them more of a feeling that this is their space too.”
Follow BBC West on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: bristol@bbc.co.uk
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A kangaroo playing air guitar. A penguin asking for directions. An otter showing off its ballet moves.
The annual Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards highlight hilarious photos of animals striking comical poses and pulling funny facial expressions in the wild. The competition does more than just provide laughs — it also raises money for wildlife-conservation organizations.
A panel of judges will select the winning images, and members of the public can also vote for their favorite to win the Affinity Photo People’s Choice Award on the contest’s official website. All of the winners will be announced on November 23.
Take a look at the 41 finalists in this year’s competition. Photographers’ captions have been condensed and edited for clarity.
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PORT TOWNSEND — “We Are One,” a curated exhibit of Native art, opens today at the Jefferson Museum of Art & History.
The museum at 540 Water St., offers free admission all day beginning at
11 a.m. At 5 p.m., the S’Klallam Singers will kick off the “We Are One” opening. At 7 p.m., refreshments and demonstrations are planned.
Curated by Brian Perry, “We Are One” features the work of four Indigenous artists.
Featured artists are Perry of the Port Gamble S’Klallam — carving and prints; Dan Friday of the Lummi — glass sculpture;
Raya Friday, also of the Lummi — glass and cedar sculpture; and Kelly Sullivan of the Port Gamble S’Klallam — weaving.
There is a framed notice in the hallway of 10 Downing Street. It carries the message: “Please remember. You may be photographed. Please cover any documents you may be holding.”
It is not a warning always heeded – as many prime ministers have come to rue. The latest victim was Rishi Sunak, whose government was left scrabbling after a secret document suggesting phase 2 of HS2 was in danger of being scrapped was photographed under the arm of a government official.
The man who took it, Steve Back – aka Political Pictures – has form. For more than a decade he has broken numerous stories, thanks to patience, journalistic nous, and a decent camera lens.
“It’s just old-fashioned journalism,” he says, between puffs on his cigarette in a conversation with the Guardian. “I’ve told them umpteen times to tell people to cover up documents. But no one seems to take any notice.”
Back has no shortage of scalps. The 69-year-old forced the resignation of Britain’s most senior counterterrorism officer after picturing him with top secret documents; exposed that David Cameron’s government was considering selling off Channel 4 ; and revealed that the Theresa May’s government’s model for leaving the EU was: “Have cake and eat it.”
The secret is having a nose for a story, he says. “If you see a piece of paper flapping around in the wind being carried with someone who’s the head civil servant at the Treasury, you know it’s not the time to buy a cup of tea. Especially if you get a document that says ‘Confidential’. That always gets me going.”
The picture that has left the government on the ropes in recent weeks was actually taken after Back had knocked off for the day, but on his way to the tube he spotted officials leaving the back of No 10. Sunak can hardly complain, however, having been caught by Back himself back in 2020, when as chancellor he inadvertently revealed his tax plans.
Back’s love affair with photography started when his parent’s bought him a camera for his 13th birthday. As a child with dyslexia he was treated as “thick” at school, and the camera changed his life. “It was something I was good at and people liked the results,” he says. “I was not used to praise.” In 1970 he started work as an assistant and bag carrier for photographers in London’s Covent Garden, before getting a staff job at the Daily Mail, which among other adventures involved a short stint in a Ugandan jail.
“It was a huge drug,” he says. “You get a phone call in the middle of the night and next thing you’d be at Heathrow covering a war or following Diana to the Virgin Islands … In the first Gulf war, they said I’d be away for a week. I was away for six-and-a-half months.”
After a helicopter accident in Iran in 2001, he was badly injured. He says the Mail were “brilliant”, but after several stints in hospital he could no longer do the job he loved. He went to art college, and slowly started doing freelance jobs. “Then I hit on the idea of politics as no one was really covering it much at the time, and I wanted to be my own boss.”
A favourite moment was when he captured Peter Mandelson, then Gordon Brown’s business secretary, who thought he had outwitted the photographer. “He had these papers deliberately showing me what he was doing [but] as he was getting in his car smiling, going: ‘Ha ha, I got you on this one’, the wind blew through all the stuff that he didn’t want me to see.” The next days headline? “Lord Mandelson gives tantalising glimpse of Tory attack plans”.
Other stories simply come from unguarded moments, such as when a picture of the prime minister’s wife, Akshata Murty, revealed that she had worn a £570 pair of slippers for the school run. “People go mad over that,” he says.
Back now has nearly 30,000 followers on X, where he posts as @PoliticalPics, most of whom, he thinks, come for updates about Larry the Cat. But although his stories have often dominated the news, standing in the press pen outside Downing Street day after day is not a lucrative career, says the photographer. “There is no money in it, there really isn’t,” he says, adding that he was paid a grand total of £50 for uncovering the scrapping of HS2.
Despite that, Downing Street shouldn’t start looking forward to the day when he might hang up his Nikon. “I’ve been in photography for 53 years, and I love it,” he says. “As long as I wake up every morning and still know who I am, I’ll keep going.”
New art gallery
open downtown
Sleeping Dog Art Gallery (SDAG) is now open at 318 North Main Street in Burlington.
The gallery presents contemporary oil paintings, photomontages, mixed media and collages by its director, Peter S. Wise and at this time, some artists from New England, and he looks forward to eventually including artists from the Des Moines County area.
Wise was the Outstanding Artist from the class of 1967 at Burlington High School.
He is self-taught in art and he has returned to Burlington after more than 50 years away. During that time, Wise served in the Army, and also lived in Indiana and Massachusetts.
The Sleeping Dog name emerged from an anti-censorship coalition formed by Wise in Massachusetts in the early 1990s.
SDAG supports human rights and is LGBTQ-friendly, Wise explained.
Hours are irregular at this time but appointments are welcome at (508) 613-6282. All voicemails will be answered as soon as possible.
Specialty market open
Poppie’s Specialty Market at 724 Jefferson Street is now open for business.
Downtown residents can enjoy the convenience of a market and a grocery store all within walking distance.
Poppie’s offers everything from the specialty meats featured on The Busted Cup Brewhouse menu, to dry goods, toiletries, cheeses, desserts and more. More items will be added weekly.
The market’s hours are 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, Monday, and Thursday; and 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Olomon to receive Quilt of Valor
Burlington Kiwanis Club member George Rinker and Arlys Fritz, Southeast Iowa Coordinator for Quilts of Valor, have arranged for Glenn Olomon to receive a Quilt of Valor at 11:30 a.m. Nov. 9 at the Kiwanis Club meeting at the Burlington Golf Club, and anyone can attend. The meal cost for nonmembers is $16.
Olomon was featured here last week with his fun and interesting stories about his first car ventures and a recent ride in a vintage auto that he really enjoyed.
“We (Patriotic Quilters of Southeast Iowa) will present a quilt to Glenn Olomon who served in the Army from 1951-1953 and was in Korea as an assistant gunner. He also was in the reserves for six years,” said Fritz.
“We are all pretty excited about it,” said Rinker, longtime Kiwanis volunteer and recent recipient of the club’s LeRoy Award honoring his hard work and dedication to the community.
“I am particularly excited about him getting (the quilt),” Rinker said. He had been seeking a longtime veteran for this year’s honor.
Three of Olomon’s brothers served in World War II, and another brother also served in Korea.
The Kiwanis Club always honors veterans at its meeting on or around Veterans Day (Nov. 11), with some type of special presentation. The weekly meetings feature a talk from someone in the community, and the Nov. 9 speaker will represent the military.
Burlington Kiwanis Club, which is celebrating 100 years and has more than 100 members serving the community, recently installed new officers and directors for 2023-2024. The members are thanking outgoing president Tony Hazell and welcoming new president Austin Schwartz.
Robert “Bob” Prall of Prall Insurance received recognition for his 30 years of perfect attendance.
Rinker described the meetings, where the oldest-tenured members sit together, as fun, with stories and anecdotes.
“We like to laugh,” said Rinker. “Our primary goal is to make life better for the children in the community, and have fun doing it.”
Adventure packs from DMCC
Adventure packs are a growing trend in nature centers, parks and communities.
Des Moines County Conservation now has five such packs available for rent for $5 per day.
“There is a birding pack, creek pack, bug hunt pack, tracking pack, and a night hike pack. We were able to make these through a grant from Walmart,” said Jacklyn Goodman, DMCC naturalist.
“These packs empower individuals to embark on independent nature explorations, enriching their outdoor adventures,” she said.
Marcus Nack, the DMCC environmental education manager, made a video about the packs. It is available for viewing on the Des Moines County Conservation Facebook page.
To learn more, call DMCC at (319) 753-8260.
Adventures in the kitchen — orange rolls and more
I’ve been taken down a notch in the kitchen. I’m not alone, right?
I saw a photo of little hard balls on a baking sheet, dotted with black and brown spots posted on Reddit, with the question, “What happened here? My rolls look like mushrooms.”
And I present to you a long-ago friend’s boyfriend, who was lacking in life skills and sense, and was jobless and not looking.
He did try to help out one day by making a chocolate cake, and unbelievably he thought you had to cook the eggs before adding them to the batter.
Her mom came over to visit and, unsuspecting, tried a piece of the cake, and her daughter told her he made it and asked her how it was.
She said it was pretty good “except for those hard little nuts.”
I once tried to beat brownie mix until it lost its gloss (like fudge), but that wasn’t really a disastrous move, and I love to bake and most of the time do pretty well.
So anyway, last weekend, I posted a recipe for orange rolls made at the Hotel Burlington years ago, and then of course had to make some.
I can see why people love those rolls. Each bite of orange goodness is heavenly, especially the areas of roll where the orange zest and sugar filling has soaked in.
The recipe made a lot of dough.
The first dough slices I baked in muffin tins, and while the recipe didn’t say, you apparently need to raise the rolls a bit once you have them in the pan before putting them in the oven. I didn’t figure that out, and those rolls were somewhat hard and didn’t turn out as fluffy as they should have.
The rest of the dough I cut into pieces and placed them side-by-side in a pan and raised them a bit, and those turned out much better.
So next time I will bake the slices in muffin tins but let them raise up a bit first in the pan before putting them in the oven.
The filling is just a mixture of the grated orange rind and sugar, made ahead of time. The next time, I believe I will make even more sugar and orange zest mixture than the recipe calls for, then let it sit for longer than called for, maybe a couple of days, before using it to make the rolls.
The recipe though is a good one.
