FallFromTheTree.com

First of all, I want to thank all of you that have visited this blog! It has been great knowing that people scattered around the globe have found it and enjoyed my posts. I now have a new blog: FallFromTheTree.com (new & personalized design, similar content) and you are more than welcome to visit that too.

FallFromTheTree.com is a place where you can waste some time in a way that’s worthwhile. Designed to be a source of distraction and inspiration, it wants to add some depth to those fleeting moments in life. Hand-picked content that is meant to inspire, amuse, connect, or maybe just put a little smile on your face. Hey, it may even create that tiny spark in your brain, like the apple that fell from the tree and inspired Isaac Newton to compose his theory of gravitation.

Take the LONG route, or the SHORT, depending on your mood and timetable and just start swiping.

I hope you will take some time to visit my new site at FallFromTheTree.com

Thanks again!

Interesting Little Fact

Unfinished portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart. This portrait was the source for the face of Washington on the American $1 bill. It hangs in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

The North American Native

Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868 – 1952) was an American photographer and ethnologist most famous for his extensive documentation of Native Americans. His publication The North American Indian, a 20-volume work was created between 1907 – 1930 and commissioned by his patron J.P. Morgan. Not only did he photograph members of over 80 tribes, he also made wax recordings of music and language. He documented many aspects of Native American life. Traditional foods, clothing, customs and ceremonies, because he felt it was important to do so before this way life disappeared forever.

ESC: I want to make them [American Indians] live forever. It’s such a big dream I can’t see it all.

Interesting Fact

Leonardo da Vinci could write with one hand and draw with the other at the same time.

Matchbox Art

In 1892 the Mendelssohn Opera Company in NYC was the first company to use matchboxes for advertising purposes. Supposedly the manager had the cast decorate them by hand with details of the show and images of the stars. The opening night was a success and matchbox advertising became a new industry, perfect for all sorts of products and messages, since everybody used matches. However, by the seventies, the introduction of disposable lighters put an end to this practice. Many collectibles come from Japan and Eastern-Europe.

For some more info: collectorsweekly.com / via: fastcodesign.com

What’s in the Box?

Alla fin del gioco tanto va nel sacco il re quanto la pedina.

“Once the game is over, the king & the pawn go back in the same box.”

– Italian Proverb

21st Century Hunter-Gatherers

Photographer Kiliii Yuyan is dedicated to telling the story of Native cultures and natural history in stunning photographs. For his project Living Wild, he joined a group of people from the Stone Age Living Project. These people want to live the primitive life in the way of hunter-gatherers, away from modernity. During their month in the wilderness, Yuyan documented their activities. He also created very formal looking portraits of the members of the group, who look very striking in their Paleolithic outfits.

Kiliii is himself is a descendant of the Han Chinese and Nanai/Hezhe people of Siberia. He is also a trained wilderness expert and traditional kayak builder.

KY: I have spent the last 15 years exploring the traditional skills of Nanai and other Native cultures, including wilderness subsistence and traditional kayak-building. It’s led me to documenting the stories of modern indigenous peoples around the world, from urban communities to remote villages in the Arctic. Those communities have shown me what it is to see the land through indigenous eyes.

KY: As our modern needs make increasing demands on the land and its resources, indigenous knowledge is evermore important to understanding ecology. These communities have balanced competing human needs with the preservation of wildlife for thousands of years. There’s an urgency to cultural collaboration—each day, indigenous cultures come under threat from loss of language, identity, land, and hunting rights. As we lose their stories, we lose the knowledge that gives all human beings a chance to shape a future on this amazing planet.

KY: As our modern needs make increasing demands on the land and its resources, indigenous knowledge is evermore important to understanding ecology. These communities have balanced competing human needs with the preservation of wildlife for thousands of years. There’s an urgency to cultural collaboration—each day, indigenous cultures come under threat from loss of language, identity, land, and hunting rights. As we lose their stories, we lose the knowledge that gives all human beings a chance to shape a future on this amazing planet.

All images © Kiliii Yuyan

(via: featureshoot.com)

Tragedy in Close-up

Tragedy is a close-up. Comedy, a long shot.

– Buster Keaton (1895 – 1866, American silent film actor & director)

The Writing of Birds

Barcelona photographer Xavi Bou has a degree in Geology but has been working in photography since 2003. The inspiration for his project Ornitographies is his fascination with birds that was awakened during long walks with his grandfather as a child. During these times together, his grandfather taught him the names of the trekking birds along the Llobregat delta. XB: Curiosity led me to investigate a system that would capture the tracks of the birds in the sky. In his series he captures the beauty of birds in flight and the patterns they make.

XB: Ornitographies is a balance between art and science; a nature-based dissemination project and a visual poetry exercise but above all, an invitation to perceive the world with the same curious and innocent look of the child we once were.

XB: Technology, science and creativity combine to create evocative images which show the sensuality and beauty of the bird’s movements and which are, at the same time, clues for those wishing to identify or recognize them.

XB: Ornitographies is a balance between art and science; a nature-based dissemination project and a visual poetry exercise but above all, an invitation to perceive the world with the same curious and innocent look of the child we once were.

All images © Xavi Bou

(via: de Volkskrant, Sir Edmund. Jaargang 3, nr. 32)

Fun Fact

A flock of crows is known as a murder.

Photo © Jesse Weinstein