Curio Cabinet / Photo Curio

There's nothing more relaxing than lying on a hammock, gently swaying back and forth...unless, of course, that hammock is suspended hundreds of feet in the air! During the 2014 Thanksgiving season, a group of thrill-seeking athletes in Moab Utah known as the Moab Monkeys created an impressive 2000-square-foot hammock-like net over the center of a canyon. The net, fittingly named Mothership Space Net Penthouse, was designed by Andy Lewis. Building the net was a feat in and of itself: it required around 20,000 feet of cord and took over 500 hours to weave. When it was completed, over 65 people helped rig it to the canyon. Not only was it 400 feet off the ground, it was also a far 200 feet from the nearest canyon wall. To reach it, adventurers had to line-walk or drop from the sky using wingsuits! It was worth it, though, since the project wasn't only a celebration of Thanksgiving. It was also meant to celebrate the memory of Moab Monkey Daniel Moore, who had passed away a year before it was rigged. The net remained aloft for an entire week, and saw over 350 visitors. Talk about a lofty celebration!
 

Below: a video of base jumper Matt Black successfully jumping from Mothership Space Net Penthouse , and more photos of the net.

Image credit & copyright: Slackline Media/Brian Mosbaugh
 

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

Decorative flowers, lighters, tiny toys—so many small, colorful bits of plastic we use a few times, then throw away. In photos like SOUP—Ruinous Remembrance, above, British photographer Mandy Barker shows how these items linger in oceans long after we're finished with them. Barker works with scientists and organizations like Greenpeace to collect refuse from beaches around the world; she even traveled with a research team to track the trash that spread through the Pacific after Japan’s 2011 tsunami. Creating collages of the refuse she retrieves, Barker uses Photoshop to make it appear that the items are suspended—much like they would in the ocean. In Ruinous Remembrance, Barker assembled plastic flowers, leaves, and fishing line, and added bones and feathers. In other works, she arranges lighters, plastic balls, and random fragments to create images that are arresting, even lovely—until the viewer considers what they mean. Barker hopes her work will raise public awareness about plastic waste that kills an estimated one million seabirds and 100,000 marine mammals every year. Maybe not so pretty after all?  

Below: More of Barker’s images including: Hong Kong Soup 1826 - Lighter; PENALTY - Europe;
and SOUP - Alphabet.
 

Image credit & copyright: Mandy Barker
 

It's a green, flesh-eating monster with at least twenty eyes! Captured by Swedish photographer Helene Schmitz, this photo of a Drosera stolonifera, also known as the leafy sundew, is part of her recently-completed Carnivores series, which features up-close-and-personal photos of carnivorous plants. Macro photography allows Schmitz to communicate with great detail the complexity of the leafy sundew, which only grows to about six inches in height. It's no wonder her work has appeared in publications like National Geographic. In Drosera stolonifera, the plant's colors, from the bright green of its central stalks to the deep red of the thin stems at its center, stand out beautifully against the simple, black background. Even the translucent liquid secreted from the end of each stem can be seen in full detail, thanks to the image's dark backdrop. Schmitz likely wanted to highlight these round "eyes" of liquid, since they are what allow the plant to be carnivorous. Insects get trapped in the sticky substance when they stop to look for nectar and are slowly digested by the plant. It's like a smaller, slower Little Shop of Horrors.
 

Below: Nepenthes lowii and Venus flytrap from Schmitz's Carnivores series.
 

Image credit & copyright: Helene Schmitz
 

It's no wonder that this photo by Teresa Zgoda & Teresa Kugler, titled Fluorescent turtle embryo, was recently announced as the winner of the 2019 Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition: this turtle looks ready for a blacklight-lit rave! This stunning image appears to show a turtle painted with a skeletal design in fluorescent shades of turquoise, green and magenta. Amazingly, it is actually a photograph of a turtle embryo under a microscope, and the visible magenta bones are the embryo's actual, developing skeleton. The image was captured using the techniques of fluorescence (which records the light which bounces off of objects that are exposed to ultraviolet rays) and stereomicroscopy (digital photography using a stereomicroscope, which is used for viewing objects at fairly low magnification). Together, they allow the viewer to see not only the turtle embryo's scales, toe bones, and spine, but its unique ribs, which splay out just below the upper layer of its shell. The image's black background ensures that every detail of the embryo stands out; and the embryo's pose, with one clawed foot extended, makes it appear as if it is swimming in the depths of the dark ocean. Little does this youngster know that, even though it has yet to be born, it's already a winner!
 

Below: the second and third place winners of the Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition, Depth-color coded projections of three stentors (single-cell freshwater protozoans) by Dr. Igor Siwanowicz and Alligator embryo developing nerves and skeleton by Daniel Smith Paredes & Dr. Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar.
 

Image credit & copyright: Teresa Zgoda & Teresa Kugler, Dr. Igor Siwanowicz, Daniel Smith Paredes & Dr. Bhart-Anjan S. Bhullar, Nikon Small World Photomicrography Competition
 

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

Yikes, we wouldn't want to bear the brunt of that customer! Photographer David Yarrow staged this photo in Montana's secluded Jersey Lilly, one of the few remaining final frontier saloon bars in the country. To create the daring shot, Yarrow had his fixer negotiate the use of the bar from its owner, a cowboy with the delightful name "Boots," before pegging Dallas, Texas, celebrity Roxanna Redfoot for the task of staring down Adam, a 1000-pound trained brown bear. According to Yarrow, Redfoot showed no signs of anxiety, and she and Adam worked determinedly to achieve the perfect shot. Yarrow, who placed great importance on positioning both of his subjects' heads equidistant from the camera, lucked out; though Adam became restless, as bears are known to do, he became fascinated with the rabbit head mounted on the wall behind the bartop, eyeing it like a rambler would his whiskey of choice. The resulting photo, a product of all the cards falling in the right place, is certainly one to frame—but more than anything else, we're just glad Redfoot got through her shift in one piece!
 

Image credit & copyright: David Yarrow
 

Gadzooks, that's quite the pose on this marmot! The photo, titled The Moment, shows a confrontation between a Tibetan fox and marmot, and it recently nabbed Chinese photographer Yongqing Bao the $13,000 grand prize in the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year awards. The image was taken in the Qilian mountains of China, where winter was just thawing out. The fox was initially sighted by this marmot who had been hiding in its burrow, squealing vocal warnings to his fellow squirrely folk about the nearby predator. A game of cat-and-mouse, or fox-and-marmot if you will, ensued with the fox lying in wait, seemingly undisturbed by the marmot's calls. When the marmot ventured out, the fox remained still until it seized its moment, as shown by the expressions in this photo. Alternately scary and worthy of a funny animal meme, Bao's photo is also notable for revealing an ecology that is rarely seen due to the Qilian's remote location. Maybe this marmot can take a lesson from Punxsutawney Phil and hang out in his burrow until next Groundhog Day?

 

Below: more winners and notable photos from the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition: Snow-Plateau Nomads by Shangzhen Fan, Land of the Eagle by Audun Rikardsen, and Tapestry of Life by Zorica Kovacevic.
 

Image credit & copyright: Yongqing Bao, Shangzhen Fan, Audun Rikardsen, and Zorica Kovacevic
 

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

Some places just bring out our poetic side. National Geographic photographer Michael Yamashita has had his lens on Asia for the past decade, leading him to this path at Natagiri Pass in Obnazawa, Japan. Natagiri Pass is most famous for being one of the stops on the 17th-century poet Bashō's 1,200-mile journey from Edo (now Tokyo) to Honshū in the north. In Bashō's time, Natagiri would have been a rough path to get through because of bandits and unfavorable terrain. These days, things are more subdued: the lightly-treaded steps, rich fall colors in the leaves, and hazy light streaming through the trees would've made the perfect subject matter for one of Bashō's naturalist haiku poems. His travel journal and poetry from the five-month trek were collected in The Narrow Road to the Deep North, and modern-day readers can best appreciate the text by taking nine-day tours of Japan following Bashō's path throughout the country. It's about as close as you can get to time traveling on a vacation!

 

Image credit & copyright: Michael Yamashita/National Geographic
 

These men had good reason to look unhappy about where they stood, literally and figuratively. This photo shows unemployed gentlemen in line outside a soup kitchen in 1931, just two years after the stock market crash which started the Great Depression in the U.S.A.—the worst economic collapse in modern history. It all began on October 24, 1929, in what came to be known as "Black Tuesday." When the Dow fell an unusual eight points that morning, panicked sellers sold too many shares too quickly. The market lost a massive amount of value in a very short time. Fistfights even broke out on the trading room floor and police had to be called. When banks tried to help by buying shares of stocks, people took it as a sign that the banks were rattled, which led to too many people attempting to withdraw funds at once. A complete economic collapse ensued, in which a staggering one fourth of Americans became unemployed. Soup kitchens, like the one pictured above, became common in cities, with lines commonly stretching several blocks. The Great Depression lasted a staggering 10 years—enough time for anyone to get sick of unemployment.
 

Below: an easy-to-understand video outlining the causes of the Great Depression.
 

Image credit & copyright: NARA
 

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

Take that thing off—right this instant! Some of these retro Halloween getups from the early 20th century are just overkill. Take the bedsheet phantom above and its array of chilling arts and crafts; the costumes were never meant to be that scary! The tradition of wearing costumes for Halloween derives from the ancient pagan holiday of Samhain when Celts would dress in masks and costumes to dupe spirits. Converted into an early form of Halloween around the ninth century, Samhain marked the end of the Celtic calendar and the coming of winter, a time when Celts believed spirits walked the earth, chilling everything around them. To protect themselves from spirits, Celts would dress like specters and jovially walk amongst the dead, who were none the wiser. The practice of trick-or-treating also stems from Samhain; candy was placed outside the home in bowls, so if any malignant spirits decided to come a-knocking, they would become distracted by the sweets and wander off. But who needs candy; these homemade costumes are so nightmarish, they'll surely scare the dead away!
 

Below: more creepy Halloween costumes.
 

Image credit & copyright: Imgur/Historic Photo Archive via Getty Images
 

This Vietnamese worker looks to be sewing a massive, flowing green gown. The truth is much less fortunate. The photo, Sewing Net, earned photographer Tran Tuan Viet a place on last month's shortlist for the 2019 CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year Award. Taken in the Vietnamese province of Phu Yen, the photo actually shows the construction of a small-hole fishing net. Such nets are illegal in many places due to the massive environmental damage they cause. In Sewing Net, the trawl seems almost ethereal, glowing under the dim light in varying shades of green as it dwarfs the worker creating it. The ugly truth is that such nets entangle too many fish and other aquatic creatures to be sustainable. Overfishing and pollution have already led to a decline in fish rates in Phu Yen, making people more desperate to catch whatever they can, by any means possible. For sustainability's sake, nets with larger holes that allow smaller animals to pass through unharmed should be used. But for people who depend on fishing to live, such a switch may not seem possible. Like the large netting itself, this issue is complicated and hard to escape.
 

Below: two more photos from the contest's shortlist, High Tide Enters Home by SL Shanth Kumar and Polluted New Year by Eliud Gil Samaniego.
 

Image credit & copyright: Tran Tuan Viet, SL Shanth Kumar, Eliud Gil Samaniego, CIWEM
 

From behind his desk at the White House, President John F. Kennedy delivers an address to White House reporters and the nation, all the while looking rather tense. Who could blame him? He was delivering grave news collected throughout October 1962: namely, that nuclear missile sites had been built by the Soviet Union on the island of Cuba, within striking distance of the United States. Kennedy's address on October 22 kicked off what would come to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis. This tense 13-day period saw the world inch dangerously close to nuclear war. An American naval blockade was placed around Cuba, in order to prevent Soviets from bringing more military supplies to the island. Kennedy demanded the removal of all Soviet missiles from Cuba, as well as the destruction of the newly-built launch sites. Five days after Kennedy's address, the United States reached a secret agreement with the Soviets. Kennedy agreed to remove U.S. missiles from southern Italy and Turkey, while Soviet Union Premier Nikita Khrushchev would remove Cuba's Soviet missiles. Quietly, the crisis that gripped the nation was averted. Lucky for us, John F. Kennedy was a pro at looking resolved in front of cameras!
 

Below: watch John F. Kennedy deliver his address on Cuba to the nation.
 

Image credit & copyright: Getty Images
 

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

Who needs their face on a Wheaties box when there are perfectly good pies to have on one's face? Outfielder Adam Jones (pictured right) was known for his goofy antics in the Baltimore Orioles baseball dugout, most prominently the pies-to-the-face he dealt teammates like Joey Rickard here. Jones' jokes may have made for some of the silliest moments in sports photography, but he was hardly the first to begin the tradition. Pieing teammates who have completed walk-off runs to win the game in the bottom of the final inning has been a baseball tradition for decades—though Jones extended the celebrations to no-hitter pitchers and other difficult plays. He originally used shaving cream instead of pie filling, like many other players, but the grooming substance frequently inflamed eyes. His pies soon became the real deal as he partnered with Dangerously Delicious Pies for two provided desserts per game, with crust and cream were seen flying off his fellow players. In 2016, the Orioles banned pies-to-the-face for safety reasons (and likely frustration with the joke), though it only took one game for Jones to disobey the rule. Old habits sure do pie hard!
 

Below: Jones pieing more of his fellow Orioles including Yefry Ramírez and Chris Davis, and running into a taste of his own pastry medicine.
 

Image credit & copyright: Getty Images, Baltimore Sun, Movie TV Tech Geeks
 

Nature is majestic, but it can also be hilarious. For proof, look no further than the zany Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards, which will be announcing its winners November 13th. Entrants include dancing foxes to winking monkeys: animals that are captured at their funniest and most relatable. In Thomas Mangelsen's Chest Bump, pictured above, an emperor penguin and a sea lion appear to share a friendly chest bump. Both their mouths are open, as if they're laughing (or perhaps shouting "Bro!"). Of course, it could be that the two animals are actually threatening one another, since sea lions are penguins' natural predators—but you can be the judge of that! The Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards were established four years ago to promote interest in wildlife and conservation. Everyone who views or submits photos are encouraged to visit the Born Free Foundation's website and donate if they are able. The Born Free Foundation is a wildlife charity focused on goals like ending the illegal pet trade and advocating against trophy hunting. Funny to think that such big goals may be met with the help of animals in silly poses. We'll chest bump to that!
 

Below: more entries from the 2019 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.
 

Image credit & copyright: Thomas Mangelsen, Alastair Marsh, Harry Walker, Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards
 

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

To those who've seen Zarni Myo Win at work, it may seem like the photographer is always texting and walking. But he's actually using his iPhone camera to shoot the rain puddles of Yangon, Myanmar. After a particularly hard rainfall last summer, a fellow artist caught Win's eye. The reflection of the young man, walking home with a plastic-wrapped canvas in arm, could pass for a painting save for the crisp raindrop ripple by his back. But perhaps most striking is Win's framing, which creates the illusion of complementary mirrored worlds. On the puddle side, the muted figure traverses against a backdrop of vibrant buildings; on the grounded side, the man's saturated legs move across dull surroundings. Win was among the recipients of the 2017 iPhone Photography Awards. The contest has been around for as long as the iPhone itself and awards gold and palladium bars to its winners. Who knew playing on your phone—and playing in puddles—could someday be so rewarding!

 
Image credit & copyright: Zarni Myo Win
 

Color us amazed at photographer Medina Dugger's latest work. The Lagos-based artist's series Enshroud celebrates the history and significance of women's veils in Islamic cultures and Nigeria, where about half the population is Muslim. The models in the series are posed with the dynamic flares of their veils, often in bright colors and patterns which are accented by the African weaving prints used as backgrounds. These freeing poses are heavily contrasted with the current narratives of the hijab, in which the very sight of the item of Islamic women's clothing "[risks] stereotyping, social exclusion, judgment and abuse" directed at the wearer. Dugger notes that these oppressive views do not represent a complete history of the veil in Nigeria, stressing that, "...in ancient times, veils indicated a woman's social status." Some now wear them symbolically to combat islamophobia in the West. Because who needs a superhero cape when the heroic spirit lies inside of these women and their proud heritages?

 

Below: more models from Dugger's series Enshroud.
 

Image credit & copyright: Medina Dugger
 

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

The largest school in Copenhagen, Denmark, had a bright idea in 2017: go (sea-)green. Danish architect C.F. Møller covered Copenhagen International School Nordhavn with 65,000 square feet of sequin-like solar panels—over 12,000 in total. And though it might seem like a simple enough design plan, it took researchers 12 years to find out how to distill the panels' uniform sea-green color. To accomplish the desired color and consistency, they added fine particles to the solar panels' glass; these particles intensified the desired wavelengths from the sun's white light while subduing the undesired. The finished product matches the neighboring waters of the Øresund Strait! But these panels aren't just for appearances; it's estimated they will provide the 280,000 square foot school, along with its 1,200 students and 280 employees, with 50 percent of its annual electricity. By utilizing a section of Nordhavn's harbor, the school enjoys direct sunlight from the rising sun, which also supplies energy for the greenhouses lining the school's terraces. All innovation aside, we just hope container ships know not to speed in a school zone!
 

Below: close-ups of Copenhagen International School Nordhavn.
 

Image credit & copyright: Adam Mørk
 

The annals of horror would be lacking without the Universal Classic Monsters—and one, in particular, owes his creation to Milicent Patrick. The first woman in film to work in special effects and makeup, Patrick is now (rightfully) credited with designing the gilled visage of the Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). She was a gifted artist who was also one of the first women hired as an animator at Disney, with her work being featured in the original Fantasia (1940). When Creature came out, Patrick was sent on a promotional tour entitled "The Beauty Who Created the Beast." The loss of her legacy likely had something to do with the head of Universal's makeup department, George "Bud" Westmore. Ever the egomaniac, Westmore sent memos to the heads of the studio insisting the Creature was entirely his creation (he was lying). Patrick was subsequently fired and never worked in Hollywood again. A recently published biography about Patrick entitled The Lady from the Black Lagoon, written by Mallory O'Meara, has done away with the lies and recovered her much-deserved reputation—that of a cinematic Golden Age legend and an innovator in horror films!

 

Below: a snapshot of Patrick working on the entire Creature suit, and another photo of Dr. Patrick and Mr. Hyde mask-goofing around.
 

Image credit & copyright: Milicent Patrick Family Collection
 

While talking about the monumental legacies of U.S. presidents, we hadn't expected these sculptures to pop up. Recently featured in The Atlantic, the defunct President's Park in Williamsburg, Virginia, is home to some 43 busts of former POTUSes in varying states of decay. Standing at nearly 20-feet tall, the pieces were sculpted by David Adickes, who was inspired by his trip to Mount Rushmore. They debuted at the park's opening in March 2004, though financial troubles led to the closing of the location on September 30, 2010. Earlier this year, Howard Hankins, the current owner of the busts, started a GoFundMe campaign to relocate the items to the Urban Crescent area of Virginia and create a new theme park around them. If he needs any help naming the pun-ny attractions, Curious has got him covered: there's the Continental Congress (Roller)Coaster, the Teddy Roosevelt High Striker, and the Grover Cleve-Land or By Sea Boat Ride, for starters!

 

Below: more views of the toll natural forces have taken on the President's Park sculptures.
 

Image credit & copyright: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images, Patrick Smith / Getty Images
 

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

Gardening on a spring day can be fun, but aboard the International Space Station, it's out of this world! In 2016, Astronaut Scott Kelly and his crew grew the first zinnia flowers in space, but not without a few perilous first attempts. The zinnias were the third crop grown in the Veggie plant growth facility, after an initial seeding that failed, and a second that successfully produced red romaine lettuce. Zinnias were chosen because they would give scientists information about the growth cycle of plants in microgravity, as they are highly sensitive to light and environmental changes. Within weeks, the zinnias began to show signs of mold and curling in the leaves, which indicated over-humidification and flooding in the roots. After excessive fan circulation left the crops dehydrated, Kelly took matters into his own hands, adjusting pre-planned watering cycles to meet the plant's delicate needs. After reinvigorating the growth process, Kelly took this photo and shared it via social media, letting us terrestrial dwellers know that life in space is definitely in full bloom!

 

Image credit & copyright: NASA
 

Having a famous spouse doesn't mean you can't be talented, too! Linda McCartney, late wife of legendary Beatle Paul McCartney, was a professional photographer long before she met her husband. Born on September 24, 1941, the New York native took photos in both color and black and white at a time when color photos were not well respected. Her subjects were extremely varied, but included people she met on her travels, famous musicians, and animals. Fans, pictured above, was taken in London in 1979. Shot from the window of a car, the image captures the excitement and determination of a group of fans aiming to get close enough to snag pictures of their own. The work exudes a sense of whimsy, which many of McCartney's other photographs share. It also evokes a strong sense of place in the details of the background and the subjects' semi-posh fashion. It's no wonder that McCartney was named U.S. Female Photographer of the Year in 1967. The following year, she became the first female photographer to ever have her work featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine. So much for standing in the shadow of a Beatle's fame!
 

Below: More of McCartney's photographs of everyday moments in 1960s and 1970s England.
 

Image credit & copyright: David Cardelús