Curio Cabinet / Photo Curio

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

Photos like this ravishing shot of Jupiter's south pole can provide perspective on our small earthly doings. Jovian 'Twilight Zone' was taken in February 2018 by NASA's Juno spacecraft, during Juno's eleventh close flyby of the largest planet in our solar system. It was snapped 74,896 miles above the clouds that gather around the planet's polar region. The gas giant is twice as big as all the other planets combined and has at least 53 moons. That's not all: there is a storm on Jupiter called the Great Red Spot that is twice the size of the earth, and it has been roiling there for over a century. Savoring the wonder of these celestial bodies, which exist unfathomable distances away and neither know nor care about our tiny planet, gives us a brief respite from our daily cares—it may also prompt as many questions as it does awe. As Neil deGrasse Tyson reminds us: "The Universe is under no obligation to make sense to you." In a way, that's comforting, too.  

Below: NASA's Time-Lapse Sequence of Jupiter's South Pole, February 23, 2018.
 

 
Image credit & copyright: NASA
 

Talk about a power couple! In a photo collection that recently went viral, Finnish photographer Lassi Rautiainen captured something extraordinary: a friendly relationship between a female gray wolf and a male brown bear. Not only is this friendship heartwarming, it is also unprecedented: according to Rautiainen, a relationship like this, between a wolf and bear, has never been documented before—at least not in Europe. Don't tell that to this duo though, because Rautiainen photographed the pair playing together, sharing food, and sleeping side by side. Both male and female wolves usually stay close to their packs, while male brown bears live solitary lives, outside of mating season. "No one can know exactly why or how the young wolf and bear became friends," Lassi said in an interview, "I think that perhaps they were both alone and they were young and a bit unsure of how to survive alone… it is nice to share rare events in the wild that you would never expect to see." It's a story for the ages—or at least a story of some wild, starcrossed youngsters.
 

Below: More from Rautiainen's collection of nature photographs.
 

Image credit & copyright: David Cardelús
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

For many people, Valentine's Day will be celebrated with flowers, cards, and candies; for those in Ghana, February 14th will be a day to celebrate their main export on Chocolate Day. In the above picture, the bisected cacao fruit shows off the raw cocoa beans which, when fermented and dried, are the source of chocolate for candies, drinks, and other cocoa-related products. Cacao plants were originally brought to Ghana in the 19th century by Dutch missionaries, though it was agriculturalist Tetteh Quarshie in 1879 who was responsible for the widespread cultivation of the plant. Several different regions in Ghana now grow and harvest the plant, with the government establishing a Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) in 1947 as the agency overseeing the industry's development. Chocolate Day was established in 2005 to honor the crop's legacy in the country, with local chocolatiers taking part in competitions and educational events taking place across the nation, including tourist trips to Quarshie's original cacao farm in Eastern Ghana. The U.S. may not have as rich of history with cacao crops, but that isn't stopping us from celebrating Chocolate Day in our own way!  

Image credit & copyright: Business Recorder
 

It's all about the little moments. At least, that's the case for American photographer Nan Goldin, whose most famous work cataloged the everyday lives of LGBTQ people in New York City's East Village, from the 1970s onward. Like many of Goldin's photos, Trixie on the cot, pictured above, captures a small moment which speaks volumes about the subject's larger experiences. It shows a feminine-presenting person in a colorful dress and hair ribbon, taking a cigarette break in what appears to be a dingy, dimly-lit room. The contrast between the subject's delicate appearance and the roughness of their surroundings says a lot about the extremes of living as an LGBTQ person in 1970s New York. The 1970s and 1980s were difficult times for LGBTQ Americans. The AIDS Crisis and an unsupportive government had heightened bigotry against the LGBTQ community. Nan Goldin's photos were a reminder that LGBTQ people were human beings with everyday lives, just like everyone else. In an interview, Nan Goldin once said, "I think the wrong things are kept private." After seeing the power of the private moments Goldin captured, it's hard to not feel emboldened to share such things when they need to be heard or seen.
 

Below: More of Goldin's photos from the 1970s and 1980s.
 

Image credit & copyright: Nan Goldin
 

For International Literacy Day this week, we're celebrating some true heroes who rode trusty steeds on their epic quests for literacy! As part of President Roosevelt's New Deal programs to combat the poverty-inducing effects of the Great Depression, the Pack Horse Library Project began bringing reading materials to eastern Kentuckians in 1934. The librarians rode twice a month on routes up to 120 miles long to circulate books and magazines to reach the Appalachian population, a group estimated to have a 31 percent illiteracy rate at the time. Initially, the program's modest supplies were acquired from local donations. As word spread across the country, dozens more donations came in with one former-Kentuckian in California donating 500 books in honor of his late mother. By the time the program ended in 1943 (replaced three years later with motorized bookmobiles), Pack Horse Librarians were immensely popular in the 57 communities they served. If only we could receive our library check-outs on horseback!
 

Below: another view of several Pack Horse Librarians.
 

Image credit & copyright: Goodman-Paxton Photographic Collection / Kentucky Digital Library
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

This little one was born into a courtly pedigree. In early December, a female okapi at the London Zoo gave birth to a stripey-legged calf named after Prince Harry's fiancée, Meghan Markle. Her birth took about 30 minutes, and it took but another half hour for her to begin walking. Meghan might resemble a zebra because of her stripes, but okapis are actually the last living relatives of the giraffe family. Sometimes called forest giraffes, or zebra giraffes, okapis are native to the Democratic Republic of Congo and use their thick brown hides to camouflage themselves in dense rainforests. As an endangered species, Okapis face a number of challenges to their survival, including poaching and gold mining in their natural habitat. Thankfully, the Zoological Society of London teamed up with other conservation partners in 2016 as part of a 10-year strategy to implement protections which would aid the survival of the species. As for Meghan, biologists at the zoo are hoping her auspicious name will lead to a partnership with the young male okapi named—what else—Harry!

 

Image credit & copyright: WENN.com
 

Space enthusiasts would probably lose their gravity over this. Photographer Ben Tuxworth's recent collection arranges marbles to resemble planets. Using only the spherical toys, LED lightning, a minimal amount of photo-editing software, and a macro lens, Tuxworth creates remarkably accurate portrayals of celestial bodies. In the image above, the "sun" not only glows from within, but also shoots beams of light through space. Thanks to the indentations on the marble's surface, it even appears to have sunspots. Tuxworth once explained that the idea for turning marbles into planets and suns came to him by accident. "When I set out to photograph marbles, I had no idea of the creative opportunities that lay ahead," Tuxworth said. "As soon as I placed the transparent, textured marble (that represents the star) onto the orange LED Lighting Arm of our lighting system, I was amazed at how close it looked to a real star up close." Maybe one day telescopes will become advanced enough to show us faraway planets in great detail. Until then, at least we've got our marbles.
 

Below: see Ben Tuxworth's step-by-step video explaining how these photos were made.
 

Image credit & copyright: Ben Tuxworth
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

In refugee camps on Bangladesh's border, Rohingya villagers like this woman and her baby perch uneasily, often with little more than a plastic sheet for shelter. These camps are crowded and muddy, with little clean water, scant sanitation, or and limited access to medical care. Over 500,000 Rohingya, a Muslim minority group that has long suffered persecution in neighboring Myanmar, poured into Bangladesh in 2017. Tensions rose in 2016 when nine border police were killed, and blame was put on the Rohingya. The 2017 crisis began after Rohingya militants attacked Myanmar security forces. Retaliation by Myanmar's military was swift and indiscriminate, targeting not just insurgents but civilians young and old. Emergency efforts were organized by UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, and the United Nations' own World Food Program, effective long-term solutions would take a lot more work. But weary as she may be, the woman above wears an expression of dogged resilience. For now, refugees continue to weather the storm—one day at a time.
 

Below: Rohingya refugees seek shelter from the rain in a camp in Bangladesh.
 

Image credit & copyright: Reuters, VOA News via Malta Today
 

Can the past and the future be shown together, in a single photo? This haunting image of shikumen houses in Shanghai, China, is part of New Zealand photographer Cody Ellingham's recent project. As the above photo shows, these historic homes were built close together, into their own communities, and have a distinct architectural style influenced by French and British design. Built in the 19th century, most feature large, square entryways with column-like details, as well as tall, rectangular windows—elements not shared by most traditional or modern Chinese architecture. The dim purple light permeating through the Shikumen Lane community contrasts starkly with the modern white light in the windows of the skyscrapers behind them, further pushing these two worlds apart. Despite the cultural significance of these homes, however, many are being torn down to make way for more modern developments. Ellingham began his photo collection in an effort to preserve the memory of these buildings before they disappear completely.
 

Below: More from Ellingham's Shanghai Streets collection.
 

Image credit & copyright: Cody Ellingham
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

Many of us are sad to see summer end and the school year start, but imagine not having school open at all—for five years. That was the case for many African-American children in Virginia, including these students shown protesting the closing of their school in Farmville. After the 1954 passage of Brown vs. Board of Education, many southern politicians did everything they could to thwart integration. In one egregious example, Virginia's Prince Edward County closed its public schools for five years, beginning in 1959. Most white students attended new private schools, but 1,700 black and low-income students stayed home. As one former student recalls, "We played a lot, we read a lot of magazines, the Sears Catalog. We didn't have school books to read. My mother was not very educated but she was very intelligent. She taught us the best she could." In 1964, another Supreme Court decision forced schools to reopen. So if you hear a lot of back-to school-whining at your house, tell your kids what happened in Prince Edward County not that long ago. They'll likely still complain about school—but they'll receive an important history lesson, too.

 

Below: a sign posted in front of one Prince Edward County School.
 

Image credit: top, Hank Walker/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images; bottom, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
 

There's no form of affection quite like the human touch. For German photographer Fiona Struengmann, a hands-on approach seemed like the right way to create her series of altered images entitled Just Like You, But Different. Struengmann came into ownership of the original pieces after meeting an amateur collector at a flea market, who invited Struengmann to her house at the insistence she take home some 7,000 photos. The 50-year-old collection gave Struengmann the impression that she was "...in conversation with the past, held in present time." Struengmann then used chemicals, brushes, and other alterations to change the original appearance of a photo; in the case of the above image, the disembodied hands are uniquely expressive and centralized as the focus of the new image. As more and more of the visual information disappears in Struengmann's works, new abstractions and realities become present, where the unexpected or unbelievable take shape on the prints and in our imaginations. And for that she deserves a round of applause!
 

Below: more of Struengmann's altered images from Just Like You, But Different.
 

Image credit & copyright: Fiona Struengmann
 

Which black lagoon did this creature crawl out of? Wait… it's actually a photo of a long-jawed orb weaver spider. With summer ushering in more bugs, Swedish photographer John Hallmén is out and about showing off the otherworldly details of these tiny creatures. In the case of the spider, above, a bead of venom hangs between its fangs, while its six eyes seem to stare intently at the viewer. Hallmén's photo captures an array of colors, from the sandy brown of the spider's legs, to the fine white hairs, to the red of its fanged mandibles. In an interview, Hallmén once said, "My fascination really began when I realized how bizarre and beautiful insects look when viewed up close. Of course, without a camera, they literally need to be in your face for you to appreciate this, and not everybody appreciates this." Even if you consider Hallmén's spider photo scary, you must admit—it is better than having a real spider shoved in your face!
 

Below: more of Hallmén's bug portraits.
 

Image credit & copyright: John Hallmén
 

Is it a real-life gingerbread house? A church made from Legos? Nope, it's the Casa Vicens, in Barcelona, Spain, built by famous Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí in 1885. The building was recently given new life via a collection of photographs by David Cardelús that perfectly captures the bizarre, beautiful details that are characteristic of Gaudí's work. The above shot highlights the building's stark reds, greens, and whites against a soft blue sky. Even the smallest bits of gold detailing, laced against white backgrounds, are perfectly visible in the bright sunlight. Gaudí built Casa Vicens as a house for a wealthy client, Manuel Vicens I Montaner, in the Neo-Mudéjar style: a school of Moorish Revival architecture. The incredibly colorful building now serves as a museum, and a testament to Gaudí's craft. "Color is one of the things I love most in architectural photography because it helps me to catch the viewer's attention really fast, to make them stop and stare at what I try to show them," said Cardelús. It's hard to imagine that anyone could not stop and stare at this collection of kaleidoscopic wonder. The sheer number of colors in each photograph is enough to make anyone's eyes pop!
 

Below: More from Cardelús's collection of Casa Vicens photographs.
 

Image credit & copyright: David Cardelús
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

People usually value gems for their purity, but not gemologist and photographer Danny Sanchez—he's looking for the exact opposite: inclusions. An inclusion refers to a mineral trapped within another mineral, which usually depreciates a gemstone's value. But when Sanchez worked for the Gemological Institute of America, he realized just how beautiful inclusions appeared under the microscope and now shares his new appreciation with the rest of the world. For instance, the toffee towers pictured above are actually microscopic shards of rutile in Brazilian quartz. And if they appeared like some sort of cosmic castle, that's certainly no coincidence; Sanchez says his photos are meant to trigger fantasy. "I do it to stimulate the imagination," says Sanchez. "People see what they want to see." He uses photomicrography, a technique usually reserved for scientific purposes, to capture the fun and otherworldly images. Sanchez's photos prove that there's beauty in the imperfections—not to mention sci-fi movie inspiration!

 
Below: hyalite opal with color inclusions; hematite in quartz crystal; Mexican opal; Sanchez at work.
 

 
Image credit & copyright: Danny Sanchez; very bottom, Elizabeth Landau
 

We can just hear the ghosts of old speakeasies creeping through this photo. Photographer Timothy Duffy recently displayed his Blue Muse portrait collection at the New Orleans Museum of Art. The above image of Milton "Alabama Slim" Frazier was taken using an antique camera and tintype exposure where images are developed on a thin metal sheet. The results are grainy and grey, giving the image a vintage flair as if Alabama Slim is a contemporary of Robert Johnson. That or any delta blues musician from the '20s, were it not for the anachronistic electric guitar and amp. Duffy is a co-founder of Music Maker Relief Foundation (MMRF), an organization instrumental in supporting struggling and aging musicians like Alabama Slim, who was dislocated from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. With these gorgeous portraits and the aid of MMRF, we're grateful to know that artists like Alabama Slim can continue to make beautiful music for many years to come.
 

Below: more artist portraits from Duffy's series, including Pat "Mother Blues" Cohen, Drink Small, and Freeman Vines.
 

Image credit & copyright: Timothy Duffy
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

Is it hot in here, or is it just the second planet from the Sun? In 2012, the Solar Dynamics Observatory captured a rare view of a Venusian eclipse—when Venus passes between the Earth and Sun, and its shadow falls on Earth. Shown above, Venus is the tiny dark spot at the top of the psychedelic Sun. The planet passes between the Sun and Earth in patterned increments of 105, 8, 121 and 8 years, with the next eclipse set to happen in 2117. On another note, it might be harder to recognize the Sun in those RGB (red, green, and blue) colors, but it is actually easier to view temperature gradations in the star's hot gas eruptions when ultraviolet light is separated by color intensities (red being hottest, blue being coldest). The dark blue pool at the top right of the picture is actually a coronal hole—essentially a cool, low-density rupture which allows plasma to escape through solar winds. If this is all sounding apocalyptic, there's really no need to panic: neither the coronal hole nor the Venusian eclipse are going to make the Sun deflate like a balloon anytime soon!

 

Image credit & copyright: Astronomy Picture of the Day
 

Mountains of locomotives, deserts of rails, and hard-working Americans: these are some of the subjects that American photographer Jack Delano captured while working as part of Roy Stryker's Farm Security Administration photography program in the early 1940s. Unlike most professional photographers of the time who believed black and white were the colors of serious photojournalism, Delano captured images in vivid color using Kodak Kodachrome film. Delano's career focused on his goal of "introducing America to Americans," including images of railyards, factories, and small-town gatherings—not only giving modern viewers a rare, detailed glimpse into the past but also helping Americans see the unseen. In his 1997 biography, Photographic Memories, Delano wrote, "To do justice to the subject has always been my main concern. Light, color, texture and so on are, to me, important only as they contribute to the honest portrayal of what is in front of the camera, not as ends in themselves." From orange rust on old train cars to black soot on the faces of railway workers, the colorful specifics of Delano's photos made the often-ignored impossible to forget. Talk about attention to detail.
 

Below: More of Delano's railyard photographs.
 

Image credit & copyright: Jack Delano/Library of Congress
 

How do you turn water droplets into a colorful sculpture? Canadian photographer Don Komarechka uses macro photography in Jewels of Summer, shown above, to capture the small things in life in big ways. Jewels shows off Komarechka's first attempt to include a "live actor," as he calls it, into his macro images. The photographer staged the scene in his own backyard by directing the ant towards blades of wet grass with vibrantly blooming peony plants in the background. By combining multiple exposures, Komarechka creates the illusion that a tiny world exists inside each sphere of liquid, bursting with color. Komarechka's ongoing macro photos are so captivating that they have been featured on National Geographic's website, and he was recognized by the Royal Canadian Mint, which used one of his photos to create a limited-edition silver coin in 2017! Unbelievably, Kamarechka was never formally trained as a photographer—he simply loves interacting with nature. On his website, Komarechka says, "Pushing the limits of light while still producing visually stunning images is my passion. If someone is captivated enough to re-evaluate the world around them, I've done my job." In that case, consider the job done!
 

Below: More of Kamarechka's photos and a video featuring his techniques.
 

Image credit & copyright: Don Komarechka
 

It's Flashback Friday! Enjoy this favorite from the Curio Cabinet archives.
 

Well before the rise of Instagram collages, David Hockney was making quite the scene with his Polaroid mashups. The British pop artist—known for both his paintings and photographs—felt dissatisfied with the general flatness of photography, particularly the way wide-angle shots distorted his images. His original joiner, or photography collage, was created by accident as he toyed around with photo prints between painting sessions. He found putting together multiple snaps of his living room created an inventive new way to see perspective and movement in photography. Hockney took his tiling skills to family game night one Christmas, resulting in The Scrabble Game. In a single composition, he was able to showcase his loved ones' various reactions of agony and ecstasy while competing for the win, and convey the passage of time. The photographer even makes a cameo; Hockney's hand is visible at the center bottom of the image. If a picture is worth a thousand words, we wonder how many points Hockney's joiners would rack up in a game of Scrabble.

 
Below: more of Hockney's joiners.
 

 
Image credit & copyright: David Hockney, courtesy of Christie's