The Opium Museum
The Opium Museum is, at the heart, about the trade in rare antiques, since opium smoking paraphernalia was outlawed. Still, there are pages and pages of the history of opium and its use in countries all over the world, with many historical photographs.
Beginning in the 18th century, opium accompanied the Chinese diaspora: first to the Chinese quarters of Asian cities, and later to the Chinatowns of the West, particularly North America, where opium smoking in the Chinese manner and with Chinese-made paraphernalia became fashionable among non-Chinese.
Once the drug was banned and its paraphernalia outlawed, these illicit items were heaped into piles and burned in public bonfires. From Shanghai to Saigon to San Francisco, the means to smoke opium were destroyed along with the drug itself. So few examples of these relics remain that most experts on Chinese art are blithely unaware of just how sumptuous and opulent this art form had become during its heyday.
For serious collectors, there is information on how to identify genuine opium tools and have them appraised. Link -via Metafilter
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Cave Diving
Jill Heinerth has spent the past 14 years exploring underwater caves all over the world. Wired has a gallery of beautiful photographs she’s taken in underwater caves, lava tubes, and glaciers. This picture was taken at Devil’s Eye Spring off the coast of northern Florida. Link -via Digg
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The United Steaks of America
What better for a Labor Day cookout than a steak in the shapes of the USA? Philadelphia artist Dominic Episcopo took photographs of states that look good enough to grill. Link -via the Presurfer
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Nails Have Feelings Too -Nail Art
It’s easy to fall in love with this photo series from Vlad Artazov. With only bent nails and some basic sets, he is able to convey a whole spectrum of human emotions. The result is beautiful and surprisingly, sadly touching. View the whole gallery to get the full effect.
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MLK Assassination Aftermath
Tomorrow will mark the 41st anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. LIFE magazine has published a set of pictures taken of the scene at the Lorraine Motel directly after the shooting. The photographs were previously unavailable to the public.
They were taken April 4, 1968, by Life magazine photographer Henry Groskinsky, who was on assignment in Alabama with writer Mike Silva when they learned that King had been shot in Memphis and rushed to the scene.
To their surprise, they had access not just to the motel but to King’s room.
“I was very discreet. I shot just enough to document what was going on. I didn’t want to make a nuisance of myself,” the 75-year-old Groskinsky said in the caption to a photo showing a group of King’s associates, including Andrew Young and the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, assembled inside the room.
“It’s very somber, and there I am with a flash camera. So I took a couple of pictures and just kind of backed off,” Groskinsky said.
Link to story. Link to gallery. -via Fark
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11 Extinct Animals That Have Been Photographed Alive
The Bubal Hartebeest was a magnificent, tough beast which was once domesticated by the ancient Egyptians as a food source and for sacrificial purposes. The creature was even mentioned in the Old Testament.
Although it once roamed throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East, the deep-rooted mythology which surrounded the animal was not enough to save it from European hunters who began hunting them for recreation and meat. The last Bubal Hartebeest was probably a female which died in the Paris Zoo in 1923.
Animals are going extinct at a much higher rate now than through most of the earth’s history. Many species have disappeared since the development of photography. Take a good look, because this is all you’ll see of these eleven species as they were. Link -via Digg
Previously at Neatorama: Video of a Thylacine and an attempt to resurrect the Quagga.
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Ghost Images
University of Hertfordshire psychologist and researcher Richard Wiseman (he wrote The Luck Factor
So he asked people to submit their "ghost" photographs in an effort to find scientific explanation of the mysterious, "ghostly" images found in them. Here’s the preliminary result, a list of 10 most remarkable ghost photos as voted by web users:
(This one above is the Tantallon Castle Ghost, as taken by photographer Christopher Aitchison)
Previously on Neatorama: 15 Famous Ghost Photos | Ghostly Angel
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Earthrise 1966
The first photograph of Earthrise was taken in 1966 by NASA’s robotic probe Lunar Orbiter 1. After the Apollo manned lunar missions brought back better pictures, the original image and other priceless photographs stored on 2-inch tape were dumped into storage and forgotten. In the 70s, NASA hired Nancy Evans to look after their archives. Evans was appalled that a lot of the space agency’s original data was regularly dumped to save on storage costs.
When the clerk came in to ask about the Lunar Orbiter tapes, she didn’t hesitate.
“Do not destroy those tapes,” Evans commanded.
She talked her bosses at JPL into storing them in a lab warehouse. “I could not morally get rid of this stuff,” said Evans, 71, in an interview at her Sun Valley home.
She had no idea what she was letting herself in for. The full collection of Lunar Orbiter data amounted to 2,500 tapes. Assembled on pallets, they constituted an imposing monolith 10 feet wide, 20 feet long and 6 feet high.
The mountain of tapes was just part of Evans’ new burden.
There was no point, she realized, in preserving the tapes unless she also had an FR-900 Ampex tape drive to read them. But only a few dozen of the machines had been made for the military. The $330,000 tape drives were electronic behemoths, each 7 feet tall and weighing nearly a ton.
The L.A. Times has the story of how Evans fought bureaucracy and outmoded technology for 30 years to preserve the 1966 pictures. Link -via Metafilter
Also see a post with photographs that follow the story of the recovery. Link
(image credit: NASA)
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Photos Of Strangers
Inspired by a similar idea in Atlanta early last year, a writer left two disposable cameras on park benches in Brooklyn and Manhattan. With just a note telling people to take any photo they like and her hope that someone wouldn’t run away with the cameras she left them for the day.
On returning she found the cameras exactly as she’s left them, with no exposures left. The developed photographs are an interesting slice of city life across one day.
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Monsters of the Past
Many years ago, monsters walked among us. Don’t believe us? Here are the some photographic proofs from Flickr user Relleno De Mono.
These are absolutely gorgeous renderings …
Link – via woostercollective
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Celebrity Yearbook Photos
Looking back, everyone had a bad yearbook photo, and over groomed, picture perfect, celebrities are no exception.
Have a look at some of the pictures these famous faces would love to forget. Including George Clooney, Tom Cruise and Zach Braff
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Aerial Art
Some amazing artwork is one thing when viewed in a text book as a grainy one inch photo, but quite different when viewed in a gallery and you realise it’s 20 feet across. These works of art are only visible in photographs as they’re HUGE… it’s aerial art:
Whether you’re convinced that crop circles are caused by some extraterrestrial force or believe it’s the work of humans, you’ve got to admit that some of the designs are pretty incredible. And, these mysterious and intricate field patterns aren’t the only amazing things you can see from the air – snow raked into swirly designs, Japanese rice paddy art, strange spontaneous sheep formations and even ‘transformer’ robots made from choreographed vehicles all make for impressive high-altitude viewing.
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Invisibilia - When Photographs and Drawings Collide
This is a really simple idea, but the effect is really interesting. The artist has just taken pictures – some are his personal pictures and some have been found on the Internet – and replaced a real person with a drawing. He also gives a tutorial on how to create your own, if you’re interested.
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Anamigo
Anamigo is a social networking site for dogs and cats (and the people who love them). Your pet can have its own profile page, and you can join in the forums to discuss pet issues. They also have a photo contest with daily and weekly cash prizes! Members can upload a photo or vote for your favorite photographs, but you don’t have to be a member to look at the sweet puppies and kittens. Link -Thanks, Dan!
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15 Amazing Environmental Photographers
WebEcoist constantly has amazing photographs displayed on their site and this post of 15 Environmental Photographers is certainly no exception. From macros to weather to amazing animal pics, if you like photography, you’ll be happy you clicked on this link.
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Pictures of the Year 2008
Many times we’ve linked to The Big Picture features from the Boston Globe here at Neatorama. Now they’ve collected the best photographs of the year in a three-part series featuring the most amazing images from all over. Shown is Finnish ski jumper Harri Olli competing in the Czech Republic.
Link to part one.
Link to part two.
Link to part three. -Thanks, Justin!
(image credit: Reuters/David W Cerny)
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Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2008
Phil Plait of Bad Astronomy blog has selected his ten favorite astronomy pictures from the year 2008. His descriptions are as entertaining as the pictures! This one shows spiral galaxy NGC 7331, which is about 50 million light years away. Link -Thanks, Amos Kenigsberg!
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Amazing Things the Sky Can Do
Discover Magazine has a gallery of ten awesome photos of the visual effects created by sky conditions, explained in the accompanying text. Pictured is a sunset over Chile, which appears flattened due to light refraction. Link -Thanks, Sara!
(image credit: Luc Arnold)
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