Between 1909 and 1915, Russian photographer/chemist Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii traveled across his homeland, using the relatively new technology of color photography to document what he saw. Outfitting a private train car with his own dark room equipment, Prokudin-Gorskii captured landscapes, buildings, and people in a series of breathtaking images. Given the rarity of vibrant color photography from this era, Prokudin-Gorskii’s work is all the more striking: Without sepia tones’ time-distancing effects, the characters in these images feel right there, full of stories of a bygone era and a diverse, colorful culture on the brink of revolution.

Posted by: Todd Goldstein // Twitter: @armsongs

Brighton’s Ital Tek comes out kicking on his new EP Hyper Real for Civil Music. The movement through his sound isn’t about making club bangers, the substance that molds it into making Alan’s music special is making space for the atmosphere and melody. Once you master the timing and care that takes then you’ll start producing something as beautiful as this. One last thing I have to say though I couldn’t wake up and have some cereal and turn on my computer and make music at this tempo, i’d probably leave my house spinning and walking on clouds right into the street.

Support Ital Tek on his soundcloud.

Some inspiring artwork from Carolina Niño. The level of detail in her work is amazing. Just a small portion of a full image is a composition on its own. Be sure to check out her portfolio and if your are interested in prints you can find her on S6.

Posted by: Seth Hardie | Instagram: @hallwood

BVD perfectly executes a rebrand for 7-Eleven in Sweden, look at that cup! Projects like these serve as excellent reminders that even an experience as steeped in mediocrity as patronizing a 7-Eleven can be made desirable through good design. I suddenly have a craving for bad coffee.

BVD 7-Eleven Rebrand via Sam Valenti

Gold Panda surprises us with a brand new EP full of classic melodies and hopefully a glimpse of an LP.

Lindstrom reworks Brooklyn’s Grizzly Bear, full of daytime synth-funk.

Benoît Pioulard and Foxes In Fiction collab on 7 inch, prepping a big year for both of these dreamgazers.

I’ve been on a Boiler Room kick for a few months now, this Deadbeat one is more my speed. Any favorites by you guys?

I usually like to present these posts in a factual tone, but it’s hard for me to be impartial when talking about [the original] DTM. Nowadays they run silhouette cars – merely skinned to resemble production vehicles [ie NASCAR]. Back then, the M3 you bought at the dealer was basically what these guys ran, and the series spawned a lot of my favorite cars. Seeing pictures of the 190e with all four wheels off the tarmac really rustles my jimmies. Enjoy!

In terms of digital reproductions, there really isn’t much of Roloff Beny’s work online. So when I came across this Wine & Bowties post with gorgeous scans of Roloff Beny’s work in India from 1969, you bet I was totally stoked! (note: There are more images on their blog, so follow the link posted above)

From the write-up:

“…Beny was a world traveler, and India is one of a number of his works which could effectively be described as a love letter to the place it documents. One of the most impressive examples of his eye for color, scenery and natural beauty, India finds Beny exploring a place with no shortage of gorgeous landscapes, architecture, and rich culture. In some ways, these images read like an idyllic Westerner’s portrait, an aesthetically idealized version of a complex place…”

Posted by: Owen Perry | Instagram: @circa_1983

Adam Fuchs and Flying Lotus team for a psychedelic video to promote Moog’s Sub Phatty. Moog claims that this is their “grittiest Moog synth ever”, they definitely found the right man for the job, this “Such a Square” track refreshes FlyLo sound.

Sundance is going on right now, so I thought this might be a good time to post the trailer to Shane Carruth‘s new film “Upstream Color”. If you’re at Sundance and have the opportunity to attend the world premiere tomorrow, here’s the details, and I’m very envious of you.

Carruth is the writer, director and actor from a film called Primer. Of my all time favorite films, Primer rests comftorably in the top five. If you haven’t seen it, I’d suggest going here and downloading it, trust me it’s worth it. That said, Upstream Color is Shane’s newest film and as cryptic and mysterious as the teasers and trailer are, I have full trust that this film will be nothing short of amazing.

The synopsis for Upstream Color,

A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism.

Trailer 1

You can view the teasers for Upstream Color and trailer for Primer here.

If Mr. Carruth stumbles upon this and is looking for someone to collaborate with on visual elements for upcoming films, I’m onboard.

Say hello to Afterglow, one of my favorite apps for editing photos on iPhone. There are many photo editing apps out there – believe me, i’ve tried most of them – but this one stands out for a few reasons:

Usable. Flexible. Designed well.

From a design perspective, this app strikes the perfect balance between usability and flexibility. At first blush, it’s easy and obvious to use, with lots of “single-tap” filters, yet maintains a high level of flexibility for the more discerning eye, allowing you to combine filters and settings while varying their strength from 0 – 100. Awesome.

It’s a scalpel, not an axe.

Afterglow gives you Photoshop-like editing options, with fine-tuned, hard-to-over-do-it control. A good example of this is pulling the saturation bar to 200% – the effect is rather subtle, compared to other apps that would blow out the colors. Plus, you’re editing at full resolution, so your exports can be print-ready. The one thing that’s currently missing is layer support, but that’s what Photoforge 2 is for.

Real film textures.

Most of the film burns & textures come from actual film, reminiscent of these hasselblad misfits. They can also be flipped & rotated to best suite your image. Lovely.

You can grab the app on iTunes for $0.99 cents: Afterglow [iTunes Link]