Present Tense »

• Saturday column: Pictures and lies

  May 19, 2008 @ 9:36 am | by Shane Hegarty

  THE NEW YORKER magazine has just run a fascinating profile of Pascal Dangin, the fashion and publishing worlds’ most sought-after retoucher of photographs.

  In the March issue of Vogue alone, he “tweaked” 144 images: 107 ads, 36 fashion pictures and the cover. From his desk, he splices skyscapes, changes the colour of the sky, makes the grass more grassy and gives actresses digital boob jobs, knee lifts and neck transplants.

  “Maybe we could redo the ass,” a photographer suggests. “Yes, the ass is quite heavy,” Dangin replies. (more…)

• Picture of the day

  February 6, 2008 @ 12:58 pm | by Shane Hegarty

  In Metro, with the caption: “Dublin at night with the lights off.” (Illustrating piece about environmentalists’ call for one hour of energy-saving darkness.)

  

• Stairwell to heaven

  October 16, 2007 @ 10:21 am | by Shane Hegarty

  

  I really like this photograph of Ali and Michael J Fox, both Parkinson’s sufferers, as photographed by Mark Selinger for his In My Stairwell project – a book published in 2005 and a travelling exhibition now making its way to Manchester. The Times has an interview with him today, and you can see more of the pictures of celebrities in his stairwell at his website.

• Shattered

  September 13, 2007 @ 3:27 pm | by Shane Hegarty

  Interesting work from German artist Martin Klimas, who uses high speed photography to capture moments of surreal drama and emotion in shattering figurines.

  

  The Daily Telegraph’s arts blog includes a quote on the process:

  I drop the figurine from the same height in complete darkness while the lens of the camera is open. When the figurine hits the ground, the sound triggers the lights to go off for a fraction of a second. I do this procedure many times, or until I find the one frame that is just right. I keep just one such picture for every figurine. Every attempt yields a unique outcome, so I need to look for the one that best expresses a transformation of the figurine into a new form.

  (more…)

• Spaced

  July 31, 2007 @ 11:02 am | by Shane Hegarty

  Colette McNamara has posted a clever set of photoshopped images, the best of which feature her teddy’s adventures in space.