National Geographic – Traveler Photo Contest 2012

Bagan Bliss by Peter DeMarco

National Geographic Traveler just finished up their Photo Contest 2012 competition and goodness were there some gorgeous images entered.  While we must wait a couple more weeks for the winners to be announced, I thoroughly enjoyed looking through all of the Editor’s Picks to find my favorites (which pretty much all came from either the ‘travel portraits’ or ‘spontaneous moments’ categories). So much inspiration!  And I love that for many of the photos, you can read the photographer’s comments about the photo, which always helps to provide a nice bit of background.

Some of the images I chose for their composition and/or color while others I chose for the pure emotion you feel when you look at them.  And then there were some that just had it all.  Definitely looking forward to seeing who the winners are.  *Click here and here to see many more entries.

A Date in Fairytale Town by Erol Can Ün

Marbet by Cedric Houin

Love Triangle by Dhwani Thapar

Grandmother by Sarah Baker

99 is just a number by Aditya Mendiratta

The Running Boy by Pietro Sferrino

Shaft of Light by G Huin

Woman, San Cristobal de Las Casas by Raul Amaru Linares

The Last Kalinga Tatoo Artist by Michal Duchek

Milking a Yak by John Quintero

Portrait of a man in a citron green turban by Xuesong Liao

Little Cleaner by Miki Kudo

A Peruvian Woman and Her Llama by Laura Grier

Working on Tofu by Helminadia Caryati

Lighter Than Life by Geralyn Shukwit

Sharing the Big Apple by Iago Barbeiro

Marrakech Traveler by John Barnhardt

Elisabeth’s Gaze by Frank Trimbos

Inspiration

Visiting National Geographic‘s site for their photos of the day is something that I love to do.  I am always inspired to take better photographs when I see the amazing work of the photographers showing their work there.  Below are some of my favorites from NG’s “photo of the day” black and white series.

Street Scene, Rio de Janeiro by Rasko Ristic

Children Playing in Rain, Bangladesh by Jashim Salam

Underwater Surfer by Tony Heff

Round Tower, Copenhagen by Robert Floerke

Hidden Face by Drussawin Leepaisal

Millennium Bridge, London by Nathaniel Gonzales

Chinatown, New York by Matthew Goddard-Jones

Alpine Climbers, Midi-Plan Traverse, France by Tommy Harris

Crowded Street, Kathmandu by Larry Louie

(click on the photograph for more information about the image)

Where is Matt?

A friend shared this video with me and I had to share it too because it is so inspiring and heart-warming!  It took Matt (and Melissa) 14 months and 42 countries to make the video.  Now, I want to go travel and have a little dance in every locale.  :)

Here is to all of us doing a little “Matt dancing” everyday and everywhere.

For more about Matt:  http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/

Heidi Lender – She Can Leap Tall Buildings

Isn’t photographer Heidi Lender’s series called “She Can Leap Tall Buildings” simply amazing?!  As a beautiful and inspiring homage to her mother, she states, “[a]s I move through my own grown-up life with a mountain of responsibilities, I humbly nod to all the superwomen of the world, especially my mother, who amazingly do it all.”

I share some of my favorites from the series but visit her site (here) to see more in the series as well as other works by her.

Cook

Yogi

Travel Planner

Photographer

Provider

Handyman

Laundress

Philipp Igumnov

I wanted to share some works by a very talented Russian artist that I have recently learned of.  His name is Philipp Igumnov. As a huge fan of photography and mixed media artwork, I really appreciate what he does (particularly with his Surrealist pieces). I love when an artist can put a bit of humor, whether dark or not, into their work and he definitely does that.

I share some of my favorites of his work below but you can see a lot more here and here.













































“Art is not a thing; it is a way.” ~Elbert Hubbard

Postcards to Alphaville

by Alejandra Villasmil

Postcards to Alphaville is a very cool project consisting of illustrated postcards of characters from films.  The postcards are by guest illustrators who chose a film and then were required to portray one character from that film.  The project, according to founder Paul Paper “is [a] love-letter to films and those characters that brings us, the viewers, moments of joy, sorrow and revelation and sometimes seems more real than the neighbor next-door.”

It is so much fun to choose a film from the list and find out which character the illustrator chose to portray.  Below are some of my favorite illustrations but there are many more to see on the project’s website.  I love how each illustration is so different from the others.  Some are more like sketches while others are more like paintings or charcoal drawings.  Way too difficult to try and pick a favorite one!  :)

by Craig Atkinson

by Byron Eggenschwiler

by Joan Xavier Vázquez

by Anna Higgie

by Mia Christopher

by Will Bryant

by Daniel Göttling

(All images via Postcards to Alphaville)

“I don’t want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I’m not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It’s like Tiffany’s.”  ~Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany’s.