For almost five years, photographer and mom Leilani Rogers has been taking stunning images of birth in its many forms -- home births, hospital deliveries, water births, C-sections and more.
"Birth is considered by many to be a private matter," Rogers told The Huffington Post. "And yet, it is this amazing thing that we should be teaching our children about and celebrating. So I think people view these photos as equal parts enlightening and fascinating."
Recently, Rogers shared a compilation of some of the most powerful birth photos from her archives. While the photos empower the moms they depict and sometimes help heal memories of times when they felt weak or vulnerable, the images also prompt conversation around a somewhat taboo topic.
"I sincerely hope that these photos normalize birth -- show that is isn't 'gross,'" the photographer said. "There are people in this world who won't even subject themselves to discussing birth, let alone viewing images of it. But I don't see how anyone can deny that these images portray birth as the miraculous occasion that it can be."
"It doesn't matter if you birth at home, in a birth center, in a hospital, vaginally, or by C-section. Birth is birth!" Rogers continued. "We all work hard to bring our babies into this world. And we all love them with every fiber of our being! Most importantly, in the end we all hold the same divine position as 'mother.'"
Keep scrolling for a look at Rogers' birth photography.
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According to Japan Today, she was arrested in July and December of 2014 for sending the 3D scans to paying recipients. The artist, who also calls herself Rokudenashiko ("good-for-nothing kid"), said in court the artwork was not "salacious," Japan Today reported.
“Having created works that defy the (existing) image associated with genitalia, I cannot agree with my arrest,” she said, per the Japan Times.
Prosecutors countered that recipients could use the images for obscene purposes.
Igarashi, pictured below with one of her pop art pieces, previously told The Huffington Post that she had been self-conscious about her vagina and actually underwent rejuvenation surgery.
The court's decision whether she violated obscenity laws is expected May 9. An earlier HuffPost report noted that the maximum sentence for distributing obscene objects is two years in prison and/or a fine of up to 2.5 million yen.
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A heartwarming video featuring three young Syrian refugee brothers showing off their rap skills is part of a campaign to show the importance of going to school.
Samir, Abdulrahman and Mohamed, aged 13, 12 and 9, are the stars of "Straight Outta Syria," a video published on Jan. 13 by global children's charity Theirworld. The video is part of the charity's advocacy campaign to get 1 million refugee children into formal education for free in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan by the end of 2016.
In the video, the brothers rap in Arabic about the hardships of leaving Syria and about life as refugees in Lebanon.
"I sat in the living room and turned on the TV / I decided to watch the news but that was a mistake / I put on Al-Arabiya and saw that Syria was collapsing," 12-year-old Abdulrahman rhymed, describing a day at home.
"When I grow up I'd like to write humorous songs because I don't like to write about misery," Abdulrahman told Theirworld.
The video is part of the charity's larger efforts to get viewers to sign a petition that calls on world leaders to provide education for refugee children across the Middle East.
Over half, or 680,000 of 1.3 million Syrian refugee children between the ages of 5 and 17 living in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan are not enrolled in formal education, according to the UN's 2016-2017 Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan. This is partly because of a lack of places available in formal education institutions.
"There are very few [places] available [in schools], and there are a lot of Syrian refugee children," Claire Wilkinson, Theirworld's senior campaigns and communications manager, told The WorldPost, referring to Lebanon in particular. "You can try and register and be on a waiting list, but if there's not a space available, you won't get in."
Many refugee children receive informal education in the refugee camps they live in, where they take basic literacy and numeracy classes, Wilkinson noted. But what they learn there doesn't translate into formal educational qualifications, and being excluded from a formal education could put children at risk of falling into child labor, forced early marriage, or even extremism, UN education envoy Gordon Brown wrote in a blog post for The WorldPost.
Theirworld discovered the boys' talents while working with Sonbola, a Lebanese nonprofit that provides informal classes and psychological support to Syrian refugee children.
Abdulrahman, Samir, Mohamed and their parents fled the Syrian city of Aleppo in 2012, when the parents deemed the country too unsafe for the boys to grow up in, Wilkinson said.
The escape from Syria was far from easy, Wilkinson said. The family fled amid a snow storm and almost froze to death as the bus on which the refugees traveled got stuck near the Syrian-Lebanese border. Without food or water, the boys told Theirworld, they had to melt snow just to get something to drink.
The boys and their family had led a comfortable life in Aleppo, where the boys went to school and Mohamed, their father, worked in the family stone masonry business, Wilkinson said. Now, the boys and their parents share one single room off a shopping street in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, where over 371,000 Syrian refugees live across informal settlements.
"They became involved in rap because they thought it would help them through the pain," Faten, the boys' mother, told Theirworld.
"I believe when [the boys] go to school and they play, they might get over what they went through," Faten added.
In December, the UN launched a $750 million appeal asking world leaders, NGOs and businesses to help fund the schools willing to take in 1 million refugee children this year.
So far, about $500 million has already been raised from sources including the European Union and the World Bank, The Guardian reported.
Theirworld hopes the remaining $250 million will be raised by world leaders, NGOs and businesses at the Syria Donors Conference, which will be held in London this coming Thursday.
"We'll push and push to make sure that every child has the opportunity to have a formal education," Wilkinson told The WorldPost.
More stories on the children of the Syrian refugee crisis:
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They say every dog has its day and thanks to photographer, Robert Stoetzel, a few lucky pups in New York City are getting just that.
Every day, on the site Human + Hound, Stoetzel posts one new picture of a pooch/person pair he meets on the street along with a caption that illustrates their unique bond.
“Every human and hound duo really does have a story,” Stoetzel told The Huffington Post. “It’s so interesting to hear how people came to find their dogs and how they’ve changed each others’ lives.”
Stoetzel is the primary photographer for the online store Dog & Co, for which he shoots a lot of people with their pups. After a while, he began to notice something about the inter-species relationahip:
“It’s amazing how many people say that they don’t like being photographed, and then they love the pictures of themselves with their dogs,” Stoetzel said. “I think people are their truest selves, most relaxed and happiest when they are with their dogs.”
Thus, Human + Hound, a daily visual Scooby Snack that will make you feel as warm and fuzzy as a Pomeranian sitting on your lap, was born.
Stoetzel still remembers his first day on the street, looking for pups to immortalize online.
“I was a bit nervous about approaching total strangers and asking to take their photos,” he said. “But even New Yorkers tend to be much friendlier when they are with their dogs. People were excited and enthused about the project. It kept me going.”
Stoetzel leaves his Williamsburg apartment at least two to three times a week and heads all over the city on the hunt for hounds. He even takes his camera out when he runs errands, just in case the perfect pooch comes along.
“My main priorities are people who look like they have a good bond with their dog," he said. “But, of course a really interesting-looking dog always catches my eye.”
Stoetzel’s interest in dogs is more than just capturing man’s best friend with man. He fosters dogs in his spare time and has a dog of his own, a Havanese named Cheeky who he describes as “a diva.”
Although Stoetzel has a heart made of kibble, Human + Hound doesn’t discriminate against other critters. All humans and their nonhuman best friends can be featured on the site, just so long has they have an obvious connection.
“If that best friend happens to be a bird or a monkey or a pig or even an alligator, who am I to judge?”Stoetzel said. “I'm totally willing to go outside the species line, I don't think the dogs will mind that much … unless it's a cat, but even then I'd still do it!”
Scroll for more photos from Human + Hound:
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This artist's charitable project is her delectable way of thanking her mother for being the peanut butter to her jelly.
Jessica Olah, a 30-year-old artist who lives in Brooklyn, New York, spent five days making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as part of an art installation at community bodega Specials on C. The 30-year-old made 2,340 -- approximately the number that her mother, Elizabeth, made for her while she was growing up -- to show appreciation for mom's relentless devotion to her.
Not only was the project a super sweet ode to Olah's mother, she also donated the sandwiches to The Bowery Mission, a nonprofit organization that helps the homeless.
Olah, who joked that her hand hurts after her big project, told The Huffington Post that she was inspired to start the project after a conversation about old school lunches with a coworker.
"What got me started thinking about how my mom actually made me lunch every single day to bring to school," the artist said. "I was blown away by her dedication in doing that ... I wanted to recognize that as something that often goes overlooked."
So Olah calculated the number of sandwiches her mother would've made her over the course of 13 school years and then made it her mission to make that many for people in need. With the help of donations from an Indiegogo campaign, as well as contributions from various generous people and a large donation of peanut butter from nut butter company Once Again, the artist made her vision a reality.
The 30-year-old began her installation last Wednesday. She told HuffPost that the event was made even more special because she hung up photos from her mother, a photographer, featuring a step-by-step process of making a PB&J sandwich. People were able to admire Elizabeth's photos and interact with Olah as she assembled the hundreds of sandwiches. Food was dropped off to Bowery Mission twice a day.
Olah's parents flew in from California and stayed with her for an entire day at the installation, handing her ingredients.
Though the artist says she probably won't attempt this giant sandwich-making process again, she hopes that we can all take time to show appreciation for the little things our mothers have done for us.
"Part of this was recognizing, beyond my mom, what mothers in general do as a sacrifice or things that go unnoticed and just bringing that attention," she said.
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When Andrius Burba decided to do a series a cat photos, he wasn't pussyfooting.
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Today, for the very first time, we're thrilled to welcome you to HuffPost Queer Voices.
Our name change comes four-and-a-half years after we originally debuted as HuffPost Gay Voices -- and after countless conversations with countless people, both inside and outside of the HuffPost newsroom.
Though I've had my own love affair with the word "queer" for as long as I can remember (more on that in a minute), at the time of our launch in 2011 some people felt that the term was too controversial, too divisive and, because of its history as a slur, perhaps just too painful to use.
Instead, we settled on HuffPost Gay Voices (you can read more about how that decision was reached here). Though it wasn't my first choice, I have to admit, at the time, there was something radical about seeing that instantly recognizable three-letter word proudly emblazoned on one of the most-read websites in the world.
A lot has changed since then -- from marriage equality sweeping the nation and parts of the world to Laverne Cox gracing the cover of Time magazine to Miley Cyrus coming out as pansexual -- and we believe that this is an especially critical time for queer people and the queer movement to regroup and redefine its mission in the wake of these incredible, once unimaginable changes to the political and cultural landscape. We hope that HuffPost Queer Voices can be a place where discussions about where we're headed, what matters to us and how we can become the best possible, most authentic versions of ourselves as queer people -- and as a community -- can take place on a daily basis.
We, like many others before us, have chosen to reclaim "queer" and to rename the section HuffPost Queer Voices because we believe that word is the most inclusive and empowering one available to us to speak to and about the community -- and because we are inspired by all of the profound possibilities it holds for self-discovery, self-realization and self-affirmation. We also revere its emphasis on intersectionality, which aids in creating, building and sustaining community while striving to bring about the liberation of all marginalizedpeople, queer or not.
"Queer" functions as an umbrella term that includes not only the lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people of "LGBT," but also those whose identities fall in between, outside of or stretch beyond those categories, including genderqueer people, intersex people, asexual people, pansexual people, polyamorous people and those questioning their sexuality or gender, to name just a few. These groups have been and will continue to be featured on The Huffington Post, however now the section dedicated to these identities will be inclusive not only in scope but also in name.
We will also continue to present, cover and provide opportunities for conversations about topics that we believe to be patently queer and that we feel do not receive enough attention from mainstream or queer media including: non-traditional gender expressions and experiences, non-traditional sexualities, sex positivity, queer homeless youth, HIV/AIDS, the fight for global queer rights and expression, sex work and sex workers, romantic and non-romantic relationships, non-traditional families, the intersections of race, gender, class and sexualities and more.
As ecstatic as we are about our new name, we understand and respect that for some people, "queer" conjures up incredibly intimate and wholly negative associations and memories. We have no intention of telling anyone what words they should or shouldn't use to define themselves or their community. That's a personal, powerful and important choice. Our hope, however, is that those who have been hurt by this word or believe it to be solely derogatory can understand how we are employing it and why (for some useful resources related to the word "queer," look below).
My own first encounter with the word was being called "a queer" by my hunky neighborhood garbage man (he was all muscles and mustache -- totally my type at the time) when I was just five years old after I snuck outside to perform (what I guess I then imagined to be) a seductive dance for him in my underwear. Too innocent to understand that he was using the word against me, I ran inside and proudly told my dad what had happened. Before my dad, visibly upset, could make his way more than a few feet toward the front door, he stopped and turned back to face me, stunned, when he heard me say, "It's OK. I like being a queer."
Of course I had no idea what was really going on -- I simply thought "queer" referred to someone who was magnificently, extraordinarily different and that sounded like a pretty magical way to live my life.
As we at HuffPost Queer Voices see it, the end goal of the queer movement has never been about assimilation or becoming just like everyone else. We're proud of our queerness -- our glittering otherness -- and we want to be treated with the same dignity and afforded the same rights and humanity as everyone else while our magnificent, extraordinary differences remain intact to be honored and celebrated.
We hope you feel the same way and that no matter who you are or how you identify, you'll help us celebrate this new beginning. And we want to say thank you for joining us on this journey. We wouldn't be who we are or have gotten this far without our incredibly passionate readers. We hope you'll stick around because we can't wait to show you -- and to see for ourselves -- what happens next.
We're here! We're queer! Get into it!
The HuffPost Queer Voices Team
Noah Michelson, Editorial Director Curtis M. Wong, Senior Editor JamesMichael Nichols, Deputy Editor Michelangelo Signorile, Editor-at-Large
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HONOLULU -- Sometimes, photography is all about being in the right place at the right time.
And on Saturday morning, astrophotographer Steve Cullen managed to do just that.
Around 2 a.m, Cullen was on his way down from a nearly five-hour photo session at the 13,796-foot summit of Mauna Kea on Hawaii's Big Island. The owner of Hawaii's Starscape Gallery stopped about 11,000 feet to shoot one final night-time panorama of nearby Mauna Loa, the largest active volcano on Earth.
"I was looking west to take the final frame of my panorama when I saw an orange light coming towards me," he told The Huffington Post in an email.
As a photographer who has spent his life watching airplanes, satellites and meteors in the night sky, Cullen quickly realized the "orbital fireworks" were from something man-made re-entering the Earth's atmosphere.
Cullen said the rare experience, which lasted all of about two minutes, was nothing short of "surreal."
"I have never seen a re-entry like this," he said. "I was so excited by what I was witnessing that I fell over the berm of lava rocks and nearly tumbled down the mountain as I went to reposition the camera for the eastward view. I think I was actually lying on the ground (with a freshly scuffed up knee) when I snapped the shutter for the first east-facing shot!"
It is believed that the space junk that broke up over Hawaii's sky was a Long March rocket re-entering after being launched from China’s Xichang Space Center last September. That month, Hawaii was treated to a similar sky show when a decades-old Russian satellite re-entered Earth's atmosphere.
Cullen told HuffPost that Saturday morning's sky show was certainly a case of being at the right place at the right time, but that you could argue chance favors the prepared mind.
"If you’re out shooting in the middle of the night often enough, you’re bound to see some cool stuff once in a while," he said.
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Our cultural obsession with lumberjack-level beards, mustaches, goatees and sideburns is what inspired New York photographer Mindo Cikanavicius to photograph handsomely bearded men for his editorial series.
The twist: their facial hair is actually made of bubbles.
Cikanavicius decided to poke fun at the persistence of facial hair trends with his series. Within his photos is a subtle commentary on how we embrace masculinity in our society. Beards are, as the bubble beards demonstrate, probably temporary.
"I chose bubbles because they're temporary, like a trend, they pop when they reach their end," he explained to Creative Boom. "Bubbles are fragile, like us men can be fragile -- whether we're bearded or not ... Soap bubbles are also a childish substance. When a little boy is wanting to look grown-up, he plays with a soap beard in the bath to reflect the subconscious transition from boyhood to manhood."
Sooner or later, some other craze will capture our attention. Until then, bubble beards:
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"A relationship, I think, is like a shark," Woody Allen, as Alvy Singer, famously declared in 1977's "Annie Hall." "You know? It has to constantly move forward or it dies. And I think what we got on our hands is a dead shark."
And with that, the neurotic New Yorker lets go of his menswear-clad goddess in one of the most bittersweet moments in rom-com history.
If you a) recently endured a breakup, b) love rehashing cinema's most iconic relationship downfalls, or c) just f**king love coloring books, we highly recommend Dead Shark, an adult coloring book for the jaded cinephile.
There are few better ways to get the creative juices flowing than by wondering what went wrong in a relationship past, even if it's fictional. Artists Grace Miceli, Grace Helmer, Bunny Bissoux, and Patch Keyes take on film breakups from films including "Wayne's World," "A Clockwork Orange," "Heathers," "Her," and "Frida," to start. Let the ugly tears flow as you add your own colorful touch of drama to these stylized movie moments.
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A radical new art show that reimagines classic 18th century paintings is now on display at the United Kingdom's Birmingham School of Art at Birmingham City University in the school's ARTICLE gallery.
The original series of paintings that served as inspiration for "Obscene and Pornographic Art" include Rococo style paintings by French artist François Boucher and other various nude male portraits. The exhibit, which is comprised of work by Sadie Lee and Matthew Stradling, also includes portraits inspired by the recently deceased transgender Warhol superstar Holly Woodlawn.
"The reality is that the ‘body’ has been presented to us in the form of art through time, and yet society can still struggle with certain representations, despite the Internet and ready access to pornography," gallery director Mona Casey told The Huffington Post. "This exhibition inherently asks the questions ‘Is this obscene? Is this pornographic?’ because it comes from a queer perspective. It challenges the right to present gender positioned images, simply because it is still the case that in certain societies it is outside of the norm."
The Huffington Post recently chatted with Casey about "Obscene and Pornographic Art" to find out more about what attendees can expect.
The Huffington Post: How did this exhibit initially come about?
Mona Casey: ARTICLE, as a University gallery space, presents exhibitions and events, which reflect the research taking place within its academic environment. The Arts Based Masters programme at Birmingham School of Art is built upon this research and echoes the various artistic practices of both staff and students. Within the programme we have, among others, courses such as MA Fine Art, MA Contemporary Curating and MA Queer Studies. The exhibition came about because of a determination to represent these arenas and open up a dialogue on queer agendas and the impact on Art production, but in a space open to the public. Sadie Lee and Matthew Stradling’s work is increasingly visible and the concepts and theory they are engaged with fit very well.
What is the intention in reinterpreting these paintings with erotic makeovers?
Both of these artists, within their oeuvre, create images that depict sexual content. How erotic these paintings are is very subjective, but their production, color ways and aesthetics are seductive. The imagery calls for indulgence and fantasy, the latter especially in Lee’s work, which invites a pleasurable experience, potentially an erotic encounter. Whether the erotic is associable more with the images of women and their female power is up for interpretation by the audience. Some of the work by Stradling depicts imagery from porn and is, at times, of a graphic nature. But the rendering in paint of these small intimate images on canvas could be seen to exploit "desire" in the face of what might be taboo to some.
What do you want people to take away from this exhibit?
This is an exhibition of work by two technically exquisite painters who produce seductive and sometimes hardcore images of queer relationships. I hope the audience might consider where Lee and Stradling’s imagery stands in relation to the genre’s of traditional Portraiture and the Nude in historical painting. Perhaps this exhibition will also challenge and question our views about gendered perspectives, the pre-supposed essential characteristics of gender and open our minds to the inclusion of different attitudes about the body and relationships.
"Obscene and Pornographic Art" will be on display at Birmingham School of Art of Birmingham City University (UK) at the school's ARTICLE gallery until February 11, 2017. Head here for more information.
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As a millennial who graduated from high school in 2006, a girl who has always enjoyed relationship-oriented dramedies and female-driven media -- and, yes, a verbose little goody two-shoes nerd -- I should be chugging celebratory coffees and talking way too fast while sporting a baby tee. (Does that sound right?) But forget "Gilmore Girls," I say.
What we really need is a "Felicity" reunion.
Now, OK, I’m biased. Despite my aforementioned qualifications, I’ve simply never gotten into "Gilmore Girls." I’ve watched a few episodes here and there. I tried to binge it after its much-heralded arrival on Netflix, but -- how can I put this -- everything about it annoyed me. The Sorkinesque pace of the banter, Alexis Bledel’s monotone delivery and monoexpression face, Lorelai’s whole adorably-incompetent-parent schtick: it strikes me as artificial and sometimes unbearably saccharine.
In this era of dark comedies and twisted dramas, are we really ready for a jolt of early-aughts schmaltz?
But enough about "Gilmore Girls." I’m not properly qualified to say it’s not worth a reunion at all. I’m just saying: What about "Felicity"?
"Felicity" slightly predated my time, meaning the time when I realized I could watch TV if I just waited for my dad to go to bed rather than asking for permission. (That’s when I got really into "One Tree Hill," but let’s leave that story for another day.) "Felicity" drew to a close just as "Gilmore Girls" was beginning, and it focused on the vertiginous independence of going off to college where "GG" is more about the small-town comfort.
Like many great shows of the past two decades, "Felicity" has found new life online -- you can stream all four season on Hulu, which is where I found it. I was skeptical of the dreamy theme music, which seemed to have no lyrics whatsoever; and of the whole voiceover gimmick, in which Felicity narrates the events to her old French tutor, Sally, as a cassette tape recording she sends through the mail instead of a letter. But I was wrong.
Watching "Felicity" as an adult, the entire show seems beyond insane from the very beginning. Felicity herself, played by the winsome Keri Russell, chucks her plan to matriculate at Stanford to follow her high school crush, Ben (Scott Speedman) across the country to college in New York City. Without telling him! She manages to befriend him, despite this very suspicious behavior, then puts her job in the admissions office and this friendship at risk by improperly accessing and reading his application essay. He does not respond well to that! Meanwhile, Felicity’s adorable R.A., Noel (Scott Foley), has fallen for her, although she wears unflattering pants and has never gotten her eyebrows waxed. She gets together with Noel, then cheats on him in a fit of pique. She gets together with Ben, then cheats on him with Noel.
This is how the show unfolds: Felicity is our manic pixie dream heroine, stumbling from triumph to triumph yet consistently getting in her own way as only dumb kids can. It’s infuriating to watch, and yet, I found myself thinking, was I any better as a college student? Over the course of four years, I too went from wearing unflattering pants to cute dresses. I too did unexpected things to my hair. I too became embroiled in romantic dilemmas that, in retrospect, involved some very questionable behavior on my part. I too treated friends carelessly and with selfish entitlement (though they weren’t always as quick to forgive as Felicity’s loyal troupe of sidekicks).
In college, I, too, thought that my soulmate would be found within the limits of campus. I thought he was almost definitely the boy I was in love with that whole time. If I’d been watching "Felicity" in those years, I probably would have been a Ben girl, even though he thought pizza was better than poetry (as if you can’t enjoy both at the same time).
Felicity and Ben had lots of issues, like an inability to communicate about any meaningful issues, basically no common interests, and a tendency to be unfaithful to each other. Plus, they met in high school and got together via, basically, stalking. Yet, the show finished its original run with the main couple riding off into the Stanford sunset, happily ever after.
Not the most credible ending, but then show creators J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves managed to mess it up even more: When “Felicity” was unexpectedly picked up for five more episodes after the finale had already wrapped, they tacked on an arc in which a grief-stricken Felicity, mourning for her friend Elena who’s died in a car crash, catches Ben cheating. She flees back to New York for Noel’s wedding, then uses a time-travel spell to go back to senior year so she could pick Noel instead of Ben. Things do not go well. The whole plot is reminiscent of the classic horror story “The Monkey’s Paw” -- be careful what you wish for, because it will definitely create misery and death beyond your wildest imagining.
Worse, the arc doesn’t even make sense: After going back in time, her choices lead to Noel’s death, but when she comes back to the future, he’s fine -- it was just a dream, right? Except… Elena’s alive again? Felicity told her to go to a different medical school in the past, so she lived! But… THAT WAS JUST A DREAM.
Finally, Felicity simply forgives Ben for cheating on her during her moment of deepest need. What a happy ending, said no emotionally intelligent person ever.
This is a goddamn debacle.
Clearly, this is a show in dire need of a revival, for a few reasons.
J.J. Abrams has some ‘splaining to do about that ridiculous time-travel arc.
Keri Russell’s hair looks killer again.
Can we just call a mulligan on that whole time-travel part?
Everyone needs to know whether Felicity really became a doctor or whether she flaked out again.
Felicity cannot be ended forever on that godawful time-travel episode. Just, no.
Felicity was always a show about growing up and evolving into one’s own person, and yet we haven’t yet seen the protagonist evolve into an adult who can be without her high school crush.
TWIST: Neither Ben nor Noel was really right for Felicity. Where’s that ending?
In conclusion: Bring back Felicity! And please do it right this time. Don’t even think about time travel.
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In the late 19th and early 20th century, photographer George Shiras lived something of a double life.
During the day, he served as a successful lawyer and politician, eventually becoming a member of the House of Representatives for the state of Pennsylvania. At night, however, he roamed the black wilderness from Allegheny to Lake Superior, photographing the deer, lynx, raccoons and other wildlife that passed by.
Shiras, born in 1859, was not just indulging in a latent hobby after hours. He was, through endless experimentation and commitment to his field, inventing the genre of wildlife photography as we know it today, as well as developing the techniques that would make it possible. He was, after all, the man who earned the nickname "Grandfather Flash."
An avid hunter growing up, Shiras is known for incorporating elements of sport into his artistic practice. When he began photographing in 1899, he took inspiration from a hunting technique used by Ojibwa tribes called jacklighting. He would place a kerosene lamp at the front tip of a boat, while he sat quietly in the bow. The light would catch the gaze of animals who happened to pass by, leading them to pause momentarily in a captivated trance. Then, Shiras would snap his camera, aiming between the eyes of the animals, which catch the light of the fire and take on an eerie gold glow.
To snap wildlife farther off the shore, Shiras employed a method he called "flashlight trapping," in which he suspended ropes hooked up to a system of wires that triggered a remotely controlled camera and a flash. When an animal made contact with the rope, the flash went off, thanks to an explosion of magnesium powder, and the camera was activated. Shiras described the visual effect of the flash radiating in the darkness as "a mystifying 'blowing moon.'"
In July of 1906, National Geographic published 74 of Shiras' photographs in a groundbreaking article titled "Hunting Wild Game with Flashlight and Camera." It was the magazine's first time publishing wildlife photos. As a result, two National Geographic Society board members resigned in "disgust," claiming National Geographic was en route to becoming a "picture book." Five years later, Shiras himself filled one of the empty spaces himself, becoming a member of National Geographic's Board of Managers.
Aside from being an innovative artist, Shiras was a monumental conservationist as well. He discovered a moose subspecies in Yellowstone National Park and initiated the creation of several other national parks and refuges. He also fought to replace "rifle hunting" with "camera hunting" as a way to capture the beauty of the natural world without lethal consequence. Shiras, who called President Theodore Roosevelt a supporter, argued that photographs were greater trophies than the animals themselves.
He was as close to an art world superhero as it goes. Wildlife photography, camera hunting, experimental art making -- whatever you call it, Shiras was a turn-of-the-century pioneer whose work seamlessly combined politics and poetry, capturing the beauty of the natural world while fighting to protect it. And now, nearly a century after his National Geographic debut, an ongoing exhibition in Paris, entitled "In the Heart of the Dark Night," is chronicling Shiras' pioneering methods and gorgeous early images.
Curator Sonia Boss explained the magnetism of the images to National Geographic:
When I first discovered Shiras’ photographs, I was struck by their beauty and eeriness. But beyond the poetic element that emanates from these pictures, there is something more. Their experimental and committed nature distinguishes them from the images of certain 19th-century painters and photographers, with their portrayals of a nostalgic, idealized nature, unspoiled and authentic.
The photographer passed away in 1942 and, despite his enormous impact on the future of wildlife photography, his name and work remain widely unknown. "In the Heart of the Dark Night," on view at Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, chronicles the influential artist's massive contributions to the fields of art and conservation, introducing the icon to audiences who've yet to understand his influence. The monochromatic images, cloaked in darkness and punctuated with piercing glimmers of movement and light, show a world most of us will never encounter in person, a world that may never have been documented if not for the fierce imagination of an unlikely politician.
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Polish-born photographer Josef Schulz is reusing remnants of Europe's fragmented past to imagine its future.
Inspired by his own experiences living in Germany, and teaching in Norway and Sweden, Schulz traveled across Europe in 2007 and 2008, taking photos of old, defunct checkpoints to challenge how Europeans view the notion of "borders." Schulz's project is named "Ubergang," the German word for "transition" or "crossing."
As the European Union grows continuously in size and scope, many internal borders have come down. Most EU countries now belong in the Schengen zone, where citizens can travel freely across countries without border controls.
"Borders were put up because of political decisions, and people got used to it," Schulz told The WorldPost. "It's more a border in your mind."
But while physical borders have fallen, psychological borders remain, Schulz said. He wants to break those down, too.
"[Tearing down borders] is not about giving up your own culture," Schulz wrote. "It's about a world which is moving closer together, where we solve problems together and not against each other."
The Schengen area -- one of the European Union's largest and most celebrated policies -- has been under attack lately, however. Countries like Hungary, Croatia and Slovenia have sealed their borders to stop thousands of migrants and refugees from entering their countries, leaving thousands stranded in the cold outdoors. Denmark and Sweden have also enforced stricter border controls to slow down the flow of people into their countries.
Following the deadly attacks on Paris last November, French authorities also established checkpoints on major roads with Belgium, requiring drivers and passengers to show their passports before being able to pass. Armed guards also started patrolling cross-border trains, The Telegraph reported in November.
Take a look at the photo project below:
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said Schulz had lived in Germany, Sweden and Norway. He lives permanently in Germany and taught as a visiting lecturer in Sweden and Norway.
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Shakira has won hearts around the world ever since, well, this happened:
But the Colombian superstar had a huge career in Latin America before she crossed over to the English-language market and promised fans they'd be together "Whenever, Wherever."
At the beginning of her career, Shak's natural jet black hair curled in the heat of her native Barranquilla. Colombians and Spanish-speakers worldwide knew her as a Latin rock star with an edgy look and powerful lyrics.
Shakira may now be forever synonymous with honest hips, but in the hearts of thousands of Latin American fans there will always be a nostalgia for the rocker Shak that gave them "Pies Descalzos," "Inevitable" and more.
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After a months-long hiatus, "The Bachelor" franchise has returned, this time with all-American family man Ben "Unlovable" Higgins at its center. And on "Here To Make Friends," we talk about all of it -- for the right reasons.
In this week's "Here To Make Friends" podcast, host Claire Fallon recaps Episode 5 of "The Bachelor," Season 20, with guest Erin Gloria Ryan, deputy editor at Vocativ. We'll discuss the unlikely overlaps between the Iowa caucuses and "The Bachelor" cocktail party, Ben's magnetic pull toward classroom settings, and Jubilee's untimely exit.
Don't worry about host Emma Gray; she's out of town this week at a conference, but she'll be back next week!
See who made the cut this week in the handy graphic (above), and check out the full recap of Episode 5 by listening to the podcast:
Do people love "The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette" and "Bachelor in Paradise," or do they love to hate these shows? It's unclear. But here at "Here To Make Friends," we both love and love to hate them -- and we love to snarkily dissect each episode in vivid detail. Podcast edited by Nick Offenberg.
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As Americans count down the days until Super Bowl 50, people in China are busy getting ready for a celebration of their own: the Lunar New Year.
The Year of the Monkey will not begin until Feb. 8, but preparations in southern China have already been fraught with chaos. Family gatherings for dinner on New Year's Eve are a widely respected Chinese tradition, prompting mass migration in the days leading up to the celebration.
But on Monday, nearly 100,000 people were stranded at a railway station in Guangzhou as icy weather conditions delayed several trains, stalling travelers who'd hoped to get home before the New Year festivities kick off.
Authorities declared a “level two emergency” and deployed more than 2,600 security guards to control the crowds, according to The Guardian, which cites Chinese media.
Story continues below.
Meanwhile, people are decorating cities across the country, including the capital Beijing, with paper lanterns and other traditional decorations to ring in the Zodiac festival. Cultural activities like dragon dances, ancestor worship and firecrackers will begin on Monday and continue for about 15 days. Most people will also get a week off from work, marking the nation's longest public holiday.
Also known as the Spring Festival, the family-oriented celebration occurs annually at the turn of the Chinese lunisolar calendar, which often comes one month after the start of the Gregorian calendar.
Check out these stunning photos from China, taken one week before the Lunar New Year.
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At the MAKERS conference on Tuesday, Berry spoke with CAA's Kevin Huvane about the significance of that moment and how heartbroken she is that the industry seems to have changed so little in the years that have followed.
"I believed with every bone in my body that this was going to incite change, because this door, this barrier, had been broken," said Berry. "And to sit here almost 15 years later knowing that another woman of color has not walked through that door is heartbreaking. It's heartbreaking because I thought that moment was bigger than me, and it's heartbreaking to think maybe it wasn't bigger than me."
In the wake of yet another #OscarsSoWhite, Berry said she's been asked by many people for her "take" on the situation, and what can be done to increase representation in Hollywood. She said that it ultimately comes down to creating movies that are truthful to the world we see around us:
As filmmakers and as actors, we have a responsibility to tell the truth. And the films that are coming out of Hollywood aren't truthful. And the reason they're not truthful is that they're not really depicting the importance and the involvement and the participation of people of color in our American culture. Our cities are filled with black and brown people. And many times, unfortunately, we see films that are set in Chicago, New York, Atlanta -- in big metropolitan cities -- and they're devoid of people of color. Or they're the people passing in the background that really aren't significant. I feel like when we really live up to our responsibility and challenge ourselves to be truthful and tell the truth with our storytelling, then people of color will be there in a real and competitive way. And it won't be about inclusion or diversity, because if we're telling the truth, inclusion and diversity will be a byproduct of the truth.
That truth certainly can't come soon enough.
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Russia-based artist Landysh knows that all too well. She recently captured the quirkiness of everyday relationships in her new illustrated book, 21 Reasons Why I Love Him.
"St. Valentine's Day is coming ... I wanted to draw something special for this day," she wrote to The Huffington Post in an email. "I really wanted to celebrate love and relationships! Because it's a beautiful thing. But I am not a cheesy person. I decided to show what relationships are really about: We love people with all their imperfections and all the weird stuff they do. It makes them so special for us and it definitely makes our lives much more interesting!"
"There are so many reasons to love him," Landysh writes on her site. "The way he looks at you. The way he makes you smile. The way he can make you feel so happy and comfortable. You can be as crazy as you want with him. He loves your imperfections and yet thinks you’re perfect!"
"My colleague Asia and I spent an hour sitting in a cafe, remembering our past relationships and laughing our heads off," Landysh told The Huffington Post of the creative process. "As a result, we made a list of reasons that I illustrated later in the form of a book."
See more quirky illustrations below:
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Welsh dad Glenn Gameson-Burrows has always enjoyed taking photos of his children, particularly his 2-year-old daughter Aneira, who has autism spectrum disorder.
To raise awareness and dispel common myths about his daughter's condition, Gameson-Burrows started photographing other children (and a few adults) with autism. He compiled the images into a series called "Magpie."
"My hope is that these photographs will make people think," the dad told The Huffington Post, adding that he wants others to realize that autism isn't always visible. "A screaming child in your supermarket isn’t always a naughty child. A stressed-out parent isn’t a bad parent. A child lining things up, hiding objects, eating food in a strange manner or making strange noises isn’t uneducated or rude, just different."
The title of the series comes from Gameson-Burrows' special nickname for Aneira. "As a very young child Aneira was always drawn towards shiny objects much like someone with Magpie Syndrome. I usually call her my little Magpie."
By working with other kids and grownups with ASD, Gameson-Burrows says he has learned that everyone with autism is unique. "They all have different personalities, obsessions, routines and at time difficulty communicating and making sense of everything around them," he explained.
The dad also noticed that the other parents of kids with autism shared the same concerns and fears he and his wife have: Will my child ever live independently? Will they have a good education? Will they get married and have children? Will they have friends? Will my child get bullied?
Gameson-Burrows describes parenting a child with autism as "tiring, uncertain, frustrating, stressful, heartbreaking, challenging and loud." But most of all, he said, it's rewarding.
"Every day Aneira amazes us -- to the normal parent it may not seem like much but the first time Aneira held our hands without running away was huge for our family," he said. "The more we see her develop the more rewarding it is and makes those hard days and nights worth it. We are on a journey and we are doing the best we can."
By raising awareness, Gameson-Burrows hopes his project can lead to policy measures in Wales (and around the world) to support families touched by autism. From increasing the resources to make early diagnoses to supporting adults with autism in the workforce, the dad sees many potential avenues for improvement.
"Everyone is different and everyone has challenges in their lives," he said. "This is our challenge, but I love that our daughter is different. These are great kids, and to be honest if we took more notice we could learn a thing or two ourselves."
Keep scrolling for a look at his stunning photos of kids with autism.
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