Thomas Scott Kuebler is a sculptor who crafts amazingly realistic likenesses of freaks, witches, monsters, super heroes, and other extremely creepy humans. Take a look at his gallery – you won’t be disappointed!
Amazing! Astounding! Absolutely Alive!
Thanks to Elizabeth for the link.
I’ve been in heaven this week housesitting for my sister in California because the Ovation channel has been featuring photography documentaries every night. On Wednesday night, I caught the best one yet: a documentary on one of my favorite photographers, the distinctly morbid Sally Mann, entitled What Remains: The Life And Work Of Sally Mann. The film follows her as she works on her fascinating series about death, What Remains. Sally is an amazing artist – working with huge glass negatives using the archaic wet colloidal photography process that was used by Matthew Brady during the Civil War – but the best thing about this documentary is realizing what a kindred morbid soul she really is. She’s the type of person who keeps the body of her favorite dog until it has decayed and then holds its mummified leg up and says in awe, “This leg ran all over this farm”. She’s also the type of person who gets permission to photograph corpses at the University of Tennessee “Body Farm” and walks up to a mummified corpse, leans over to get close, touches it and talks about how amazing mummified skin is. And never once complains about the stench or needs to wear a mask. She’s awesome.
And her photographs? Even more awesome. The wet colloidal process creates mysterious imagery that is perfectly suited for the subject matter. I must admit that I don’t actually have the book yet (it has been on my Amazon wish list for several years), but I am ordering it immediately. Salon has a few images from the book in this review of the documentary that give you an idea of their quality: What Remains.
I highly recommend you take the time to watch the DVD (which is available from Netflix). It’s a fascinating look at an intelligent artist with a touch of the macabre. (Oh, and her darkly evocative photographs of her children are awesome as well.)
I just finished watching a documentary on Shelby Lee Adams, a photographer who snaps stark and frightening portraits of poverty-stricken Appalachian hillbillies. In other words, the people from Deliverance. And these people, as depicted in the documentary and in the images, made my blood run cold. If I believed in Hell, my vision of Hell would be to have to live with them. I hope I don’t have nightmares, but the chance of avoiding their inbred faces in my darkest dreaming seems slim. Have a look for yourself!
Images by Shelby Lee Adams – People and Animals
Napier Family Photos by Shelby Lee Adams
While driving from Charleston to Savannah on vacation with the DeSpairs a couple weeks ago, I managed to convince them to take a detour to the ruins of the Old Sheldon Church in South Carolina. (It had been built in the 1740’s, burned down by the British, rebuilt then burned down again by Sherman’s army in 1865.) I took a roll of film shot with my beloved Holga camera and they turned out very nice, indeed. Please take a look and let me know your thoughts.
I love stumbling across old Fallout Shelter signs, those relics of the Cold War that invite you into a sturdy basement to wait out the rain of radioactive waste falling outside so that you can emerge in two weeks to find your country a wasteland of rot and toxic filth. I came across this one in Chicago a few weeks ago and photographed it with my Holga (cheap plastic camera that I love ever so much). I thought it turned out excellent and wanted to share. (Click on the image for the full version on The Camera DeMentia.)
