Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Nudes per second.

In 1882. it was possible to record 12 consecutive images of the moving object per second and those frames would be stored on the same photo . The great mind behind this invention which I guess we can call a camera, even though it was gun-shaped, was Étienne-Jules Marey. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of photography and cinema. Marey was actually a physiologist who developed an interest in photography as he realized it could be the useful tool in studying the movement of animals and humans. 

via MoMA

In 2012. Shinichi Maruyama captured human motion with the camera which allowed him to take about 2.000 images per second. Advancement of technology in numbers: from 12 images in 1882. to 2.000 images per second in 2012. Impressive. As are the photographs from Maruyama's NUDE series:

NUDE #5

NUDE #8

NUDE #6
© Shinichi Maruyama

The NUDE series consists of naked human bodies performing choreographed dance. Maruyama collaborated with the choreographer Jessica Lang who helped in creating the perfect dance moves. Each shot was created by layering 10.000 individual photographs of the dancers into one piece which gives the photos the incredible creamy substance effect. 

Saturday, May 4, 2013

From the waggle to kaleidoscopic dance.

It all started with the bees. I was fascinated with how bees communicate through a waggle dance


An Austrian biologist Karl von Frisch, who studied the behavior of the honeybees back in the 60's, defined it as "Tanzsprache" or the dance language. I adore the idea of a dance being the only language used for communication between the living beings. The waggle dance is used by the bees to share the information about the food source with the other members of the hive. By performing the waggle dance, the dancing bee gives the other honeybees information about the direction and the distance of the location of food source. As I was exploring this subject, I accidentally came across a video by Emily Knight, which was inspired by Busby Berkley.



Busby Berkley was a Hollywood movie director and choreographer, best known for turning dancing bodies into human kaleidoscopes. In his choreographies, he used dancing showgirls for creating complex geometric patterns. I am completely astonished by the symmetry and the rhythmic precision in Busby's movies. And now I finally understand where Michel Gondry found inspiration for some of my favorite music videos:

via Retronaut
"Let forever be" by The Chemical Brothers 
via Retronaut
"Around the world" by Daft Pank

And in the end, the most memorable and surreal scene from Berkley's movie "The Gang's All Here"  where legendary Carmen Miranda sings "The Lady in the Tutti-Frutti Hat" . I would love to put some bees in there. ;)