Posts by Navis

Last week I was wandering around Barnes & Nobles and in the section where they put painters and other artists of the likes, there was a book called Desert Air by George Steinmetz. The book had somehow had lost it’s way home from the Photography section a few aisles down. Stuck between Monet and Ruscha, the book was like “YO TIM. I KNOW YOU LOVE DESERTS AND STUFF SO PICK ME UP.”

George Steinmetz captures very intimate photos of landscapes. Most of these from this set are from his Desert Air collection. He achieves this intimacy via paramotoring which is a giant fan backpack with a throttle attached to a parachute. He’s able to fly both very high and low at slow speeds. All I know is that when I come back from my walk across America, I’m purchasing a paramotor, taking lessons and going straight to the Mojave.

View more of Mr. Steinmetz’s stunning, non filtered landscape photography: GEORGE STEINMETZ

One of my favorite people on this planet is Cameron Ballensky. I recently visited Cameron and… well… you know how some people hoard cats? Or hoard old papers? Cameron hoards Polaroids. Call it an obsession or whatever but his hoarding skills are starting to pay off. Recently he’s been learning to do double exposures with Polaroids which is a pretty cool and ingenious process. The last two are examples of his first attempts. I can only imagine that his skills at this process will only get better. Would love to have a wall dedicated to a bunch of his photos someday.

Cameron, perhaps you can share with us some of the equipment, film and processes you use in our comments?

Check out his website for mas pictures: CAMERON BALLENKSY

Hey ya’ll!

I wanted to do a little shameless plug here for my new project/adventure I’m attempting. In March 2013, I’ll be heading to the east coast where I will dip my feet in the Atlantic and keep walking westward until my feet soak in the Pacific.

That’s right, I’m walking across America and I’m inviting people to follow my new blog as I journal, photograph and record my journey. And no, I’m not Forest Gump’ing.

I’ll also be doing exclusive posts here at ISO50 when I get the chance. One of my objectives is to interview local American artists and photograph them and their works. So if anyone who reads this blog knows an awesome artist of any discipline that’s along my route please contact me!

Check it out:

AMERICAN OUTLIER.US

Last year I got to be a part of an amazing project with an immensely talented group of film makers, musicians and fellow photographer Kim Holtermand. The clip above is a sample from the film that Scenic Studios created along with DERU. I’d like to thank everyone that has supported the project. It’s so great to have projects such as this and many others come to life through Kickstarter.

You can see more of my photography from the project on my website:

NAVIS ICELAND

There’s also a few more printed postcard books that can be purchased:

Outliers Postcard Book

Or if you’d like, you can also purchase the film as a HD digital download:

Outliers Vol. 1: Iceland

Paintings such as Samantha Keely Smith’s make me want to throw my camera away and pick up a paint brush again. I miss the quiet, tranquil nights or afternoons where it felt like it was just me and my canvas and the world around me dissolved entirely. I love inspiration like Samantha’s paintings.

According to her website, she uses oil on canvas along with shellac, varnish and enamel. I’d imagine, given the size of these paintings, that they command every ounce of your attention. They are simply powerful. Her new work is jaw dropping and I can’t imagine what they look like and how they would make me feel viewing them in person. If any one feels like buying me the first one, I would forever be your friend.

I could sit here and explain how I feel about Samantha’s work but I would rather let her paintings speak to you. Take a look at her website to see the rest of her work and her artist statement. I would be first in line to purchase a print if she offered them.

Samantha Keely Smith.

One of America’s dying traditions, or so it seems to be dying, is visiting our backyards: National Parks. I’ll get into that subject later but for now I wanted to share these amazing art pieces created by an aritst who goes by the name of Ranger Doug.

The history behind these posters is quite a story. You can read about why the WPA created these posters in the first place here. Here’s a little excerpt from his website:

Between 1935 and 1943 the WPA’s Federal Art Project printed over two million posters in 35,000 different designs to stir the public’s imagination for education, theater, health, safety, and travel. Due to their fragile nature only two thousand posters have survived to this day; less than one tenth of one percent!

Ranger Doug’s Enterprises is the only source for faithful reproductions of WPA National Park serigraphed posters. Originally produced between 1938 and 1941, these sixteen stunning historical posters have been painstakingly restored, one screen at a time and are now offered as silkscreened prints.

I’ve managed to collect nearly all of these stunning prints in postcard form. As some of you know, I’m an avid National Park traveler. Not only for what each park’s beauty has to offer but each park has its own fascinating history behind it that I love learning about. One of my favorite parks has to be Glacier National Park in northern Montana. I’ve never felt so small and insignificant in this universe before when I was there. Absolutely breathtaking. What are some of your favorite National Parks or National Monuments here in America?

You can purchase various prints directly from the website: Ranger Doug WPA National Park Posters.

I’m really loving the beautiful tranquility of Hungarian photographer Akos Major’s photos. I really admire photographers who can achieve such a crisp, light tone in their images. When I look at Akos’ photographs, I can feel the solitude and cold air in these photos and in some, I can almost taste the air. They remind me of the quiet winter nights growing up in Wisconsin. Still to this day one of my favorite things to do is lay out in the woods while it’s snowing and listen to the snow flakes pelt the fabric on my jacket and surrounding trees.

To view more of Akos Major’s work, check out the photographer’s website:

AKOS MAJOR

If you think you’re having a rough start to the week, flip through the portfolio of photojournalist Lynsey Addario. The images Addario captures may not inspire you directly per se but, at least you’re not one of the victims in some of her photos. What she is doing is completely mind blowing to me. As a photographer, I live to capture moments as intense and raw as these but at what cost? It looks that Addario really puts her life on the line to capture images and stories that she can share with the rest of the world. Here’s a snippet of who Lynsey Addario is taken from her website’s bio:

Lynsey Addario is an American photojournalist based in New Delhi, India, where she photographs for The New York Times, National Geographic, and Time Magazine.

Lynsey began photographing professionally in 1996-with no professional photographic training or studies-and started photographing conflict and humanitarian issues. In 2000, she traveled to Afghanistan under Taliban rule to document life and oppression under the Taliban. She has since covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, Darfur, and Congo, and shoots features across the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa.

Addario’s work is NSFW. I selected images that would compliment this blog’s style. But be warned, there is a lot of gruesome photos. I honestly can’t put her work into words. It’s an experience that made my heart drop, eyes widen with jaw on the floor.

View the rest of Lynsey Addario’s work at her website.

Jonathan (B3PO) turned me onto Eric Valli’s work a few weeks ago and I’ve been obsessed with it ever since. One thing I want to do more of in life is experience situations like Valli has. You get a strong feeling that he deeply immerses himself into whatever culture he’s living in at the time. His award winning work on the Honey Hunters for National Geographic is insane. Climbing cliffs on who knows what kind of rope system with who knows how many bees flying around? Nuts. But the shots he brings home are flat out jaw dropping. They inspire me to want to buy a plane ticket to Tajikistan and find some sort of photo essay to do out there.

Check out the rest of Eric Valli’s work on his website. Hopefully it’ll inspire you to go out and travel somewhere awesome.

Eric Valli

I don’t care much for vacations. I find them dull, boring and usually unfulfilling. I’ll vacation when I’m dead. I much prefer adventures. Jordan Manley makes me incredibly jealous and inspired all at once with this adventure. The story telling. The visuals. The hardships endured to create something beautiful are bound together perfectly. Every shot is breath taking. It makes me want to pack up my bags today and head north.

It’s videos like these that keep my spirits alive. They keep my dreams burning. What Jordan Manley has done here with a talented group of athletes is unlike anything that I’ve seen or felt from a sports video. It’s not the standard issue helicopter pan shots of Valdez or Chamonix. This is hours upon hours of hiking in extreme conditions. Putting their lives at risk to create a beautiful story in a place most of us have never heard of. Talk about passion.

Hopefully this video will inspire a few of you to take an adventure somewhere crazy this summer.