Astrophotographer is one of the world’s cooler job titles and also exactly the type of person honored by the Royal Observatory of England’s Astronomy Photography of the Year competition. Now in its seventh year, the competition has gathered more entries than ever, from over 60 countries around the world. Each entry offers an awe-inspiring vision of the mighty cosmos as glimpsed from our humble position here on Earth. While the winners won’t be announced until September 17, you can view the shortlist–and probably seriously contemplate your place in the universe–at The Roosevelts.
Water Crisis In The West
As waters level of Lake Mead outside Las Vegas continued to fall, the city’s growth raced on, all but unchecked.
“When I got to Lake Mead,” photojournalist Michael Friberg said. “It looked like a dirty toilet: huge ring encompassed the entire shoreline. We stumbled upon a marina that was abandoned, old food still rotting in the kitchen, the docks bent upward by the ground they were never supposed to touch.” These grim scenes are, sadly, just a few of the many Friberg and company encountered throughout their project, “Killing the Colorado,” documenting the water crisis in the American West. While the drought is dire, Friberg found that we are to blame, that our endless expansion of Western cities was too much for our infrastructure to bear. Dovetailing with this guilt, Friberg realized that “the hardest thing about photographing this project was that all of this was and is beautiful.”
“The hardest thing about photographing this project was that all of this was and is beautiful,” the photographer Michael Friberg said. “Lake Powell looks like a prehistoric sea on the surface of another planet.” Source:
The New York Times
image: http://all-that-is-interesting.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/dam-low-water-dusk.jpg
The Glen Canyon Dam. There is now a serious debate about whether to take the dam down.
Dronestagram Gathers The Year’s Greatest Drone Photography
2nd Prize, Category: Nature. Mont Saint Michel. (Wanaiifilms)
Not surprisingly, Dronestagram’s annual drone photography contest is in just its second year. Likewise, it shouldn’t be surprising that the entries are astoundingly beautiful. Featuring both the scope of aerial photography and the dramatic sweep of classical landscape photography, these images present a truly singular point of view. In the words of Dronestagram founder Eric Dupin, “Some people want to change the world, at Dronestagram we want to change the way we see the world.”
1st Prize, Category: Nature. Snorkeling with sharks in French Polynesia. (Tahitiflyshoot)
3rd Prize, Category: Places. Tulip fields. (Anders)
Running With The Bulls, Roaring With The Crowd
A steer jumps over a fallen runner as two Jandilla fighting bulls follow behind at the Mercaderes curve during the first running of the bulls on July 7, 2015.
It starts with a rocket launched into the air. Pamplona, Spain’s Fiesta de San Fermin has, since 1591, been an annual celebration of maximalism. There’s the parade of giants, the flaming bull statue, and more than enough wine and fireworks even for the 1 million people that pack into a city that normally holds just 200,000. Then there’s The Roar, in which revelers gather at the town square one minute before midnight and, for several hours, simply make as much noise as they can.
And, of course, there’s the running of the bulls. Set aside your ethical objections to bullfighting and stifle your enochlophobia (fear of being in a crowd), as the case may be, and immerse yourself in the festival at The Atlantic.
Revelers celebrate during the launch of the Chupinazo rocket, which marks the official opening of the 2015 San Fermin fiesta.
A runner is knocked by a steer during the second running of the bulls on July 8, 2015.
The Spotted, Chameleon Lake Of Western Canada
First you have to acknowledge that there is an honest-to-goodness desert in Canada. Then you have to acknowledge that there is a lake there–that is, a lake in a desert–that appears to be spotted, with large puddles of water dotting the surrounding gray earth. Lastly, you have to acknowledge that those spots not only come in bizarre colors like yellow, green, and blue, but that the spots can change colors, based on the lake’s mineral content. Transport yourself to what feels like an alien planet with this startling gallery.
