From The Lens of Peter Schneider

Peter Schneider

Frankfurt, Germany

Black and White

by Jim Brandano

No this is not Michael Jackson's song...which is by the way a very inspiring song. This blog will be presenting images that will also inspire our members in spite of its lack of colors. 

   I've chosen the following images on this blog for one main reason...or let us say two, being Black and White. The images here I believe would lessen its drama when we dab color in them.

   B and W pictures always give to me that classic feel. I can't avoid not to think of my father, who as a camera man would crawl to his dim lit inner sanctum he called "dark room" and would not allow me and my sister to enter because of the said toxic fume. But maybe that depends on his mood because there were times I remember that he would let us in and allowed us to watch him perform magic.

   Those rare instances inside the "dark room" were sort of a mystery to me. Maybe until now. Of course I knew by now that those chemicals create reactions on paper after being expose by light. But the mystery to me was how those images came to life. Yes it came to life. I'm not sure how I would be able to express this vagueness...colored picture don't gave me this kind of chills and thrills. In spite of modern technologies attempt to create images that rival the human eye, I still admire photographs done in Black and White.

   Why? Maybe in B and W photos I can distinguished the shadows very easily. Actually, it was those shadows forming the images and eventually suggesting  some texture that made me the more baffled. Again maybe Black and white images triggers our brain to imagine more from the less. 

  It is to me I supposed more difficult to execute since you are given only two tone to work with. If its too dark, then necessary images will not be distinguished. If too white then we get very little of the subject. 

   Black and White photos in my opinion are the real photographs. It saves us from the malice of colors but Allowing our brain to imagine more...

   Colored photographs gave me that sense of finality in terms of realism. While Black and white on the other hand are mere suggestions...Am I seeing the truth or not? Is it mud or cake? Those kind of questions that arises which colored images already revealed. I hope you are following me...

   Anyway, I'll just let these photographs speaks where language fails.

by Hemant Kumar

by Aaron Offord

by Syed Alfandi Syed Mansor

by Mari Sterling Wilbur

Latest Images from Art Lovers

I've seen some pretty good artworks this past days and weeks...Oh maybe "good" is an understatement. Well, excellent art works and therefore worth sharing...I'll try to haunt them down, since our Facebook page run faster than my  laptop. I hope I can immortalized it here...that is, if blogger.com will exist farther into eternal life...

   Here are some of them...I'm not going to express in words why I like these collections...I'll simply let these pictures speak for itself. 

by  Syed Alfandi Syed Mansor

by Maheshwar N. Sinha

by Elena Peichinova

by Portia Burton

by Aaron Offord

    By the way, the above image I have downloaded a month ago but have forgotten who made it...sorry! Anyway, if anyone of you happen to know, please tell me so I can add the caption. I like it so much. 

   That's all for now...that's all my computer can handle at this time.

Crazy Pictures Fictions chapter 2 The Search

   The mysterious disappearance of Melissa intrigue StreetogrOFFY Investigator Aaron Offord decided to "I didn't always want to be a street photographer.  In fact, when I took up photography a year ago I was more interested in parlaying the photography thing into a paying gig; I know the dream of most photographers" (a line from My Becoming a street photographer) but this is beyond money now he decided to look for the Depth in Melissa's story.

   So together with his sidekick Fher Ymas they set out an adventure. Fher an expert in disguises called The Art of Realizationism  made Aaron look like this...

 

   "Hey, I don't look like a street photographer..." Aaron contested. 

   But Fher stopped him "Shhhh!!! You look like Hemant Kumar don't you like it?"

   With lots of arguing finally Aaron agreed to look like Hemant to "blend in the field, so they would not recognized you." The handsome sidekick said. (Don't argue again, this is my story remember?)

   Where do they start? That's the first stage of this investigation. 

   "We will go to Aabhisek Panda." Aaron decided. "He had archives of known expert in We Have a Story maybe there we can find relevant clue."

   I heard whispers of many mysterious and great revelations can be found in the book...but some said it was just a legend and it doesn't really exist. There maybe danger along the way...

    

   Then they started to walk The Road Liz Traveled like Liz M. Derry but along the way he remember something...he hesitates...

   "Maybe we can take some Photography Tips first with Mari Sterling Wilbur We can't just go there..."

    

   So instead of going directly to Aabhisek's they take first The Long and Winding Road  similar to the one taken by Jorie Pacli...  

   But little did they know they are being watched...

(suspense sounds here!!!...don't have the gadget so just imagine Lady Gaga singing My Way)

   What would happen now to our adventurer? Will Aaron Offord be comfortable being Hemant Kumar? How about Mari, will she be willing to help them with some Tips? 

   Watch for this intriguing story of love, deceptions, and passionate blogging. Will they have the Sensitivity like Sancheeta Biswas? Stay tuned...

   

   

   

Latest Arts and Blogs

It's hard to keep track of what's happening and are the latest works from our members...lately we received very interesting paintings and even blogs  that keep our page rolling. Thank you guys for the unconditional sharing. I'll try to list here some of them, in case you missed them the first time. 

   Our members had been very supportive to other artist as they post works from other creatives too. Here is a sample of that sharing posted by Vince Roque, a work from fellow Filipino artist R. Alcantara 

Acid Swim by Rolly Alcantara

   "Langoy sa Asido" or Acid Swim is a mixed-media piece...this one may have been inspired by the recent fish-kill from various part of the Philippine Archipelago. This takes us to wonder if we are really good steward of our planet.  

   Now here's another work that is currently making some thread. Although we maybe united in our ideals of uplifting the arts, of course you can not discount the possibilities of some exchanges of ideas that are not totally aligned with each other...yet through it all we still meet in the end (I hope). 

by Maheshawar N. Sinha

      Let us also welcome our latest member Tahira Lobrano from Rotterdam, Netherlands...

 Hello hello everyone!! I'm new here, but I've already seen so many lovely work floating around. So cool! If you're curious at my work, just have look at my page. Looking forward to  see more of your work! Ciao Xx

baby mermaid by Tahira Lobrano

   Portia Burton show us her latest work that took her a month to finished. She said she was a bit somber creating this and Shakespeare's line is ringing on her mind..."All comes to dust..." 

by Portia Burton

   Also presenting to you some of nice blogs that I've found from our contributor:

Aaron Offord's blog streetogOFFY is taking us to a familiar path...

http://streetogroffy.blogspot.com/2011/07/afternoon-chat-in-park.html that's the link to a one particular blog with images that struck me most. Unforgettable....An afternoon chat in the park.

.

The Grand Canyon by JP Brandano

"...I knew at this point I was as close as I was going to get. He was still looking at me as he ate. When he put his head down to get more grass, I really noticed how large his antlers were. I also remember thinking if he charges me, I really don't have anywhere to run, the rim was about 60 feet behind me in darkness. I started thinking I should back up and get out of there. But this time when he brought his head back up from the ground, he snorted. That's not a good thing and I remember seeing him charge at me. I still took one more images as I was backing up quickly..."  -- http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com/

The Inspiring Aaron Outward

What would you do if you found out you had an acute Leukemia? Hit the streets, Take photographs and write an inspiring blog. That is exactly what you will discover on Aaron Outward: A Reflective Glimpse into my Ongoing Journey with Acute Leukemia , daily this blog chronicles street scene according to his very keen eye. The blog aims to do 365 days of photos that on my own opinion often taken for granted, but by having them caught on film caught our attention to take a deeper look. The same way Aaron photograph images in reflective detail of what is inside his heart in that moment.

   The blog is full of reflections and lessons learned along the way while capturing amazing composition of endearing photographs. There is also a page dedicated about his struggle as a Leukemia victim and some tips and link to assist people about the disease, like how to manage an active lifestyle during Chemotherapy and My Secret to beating Chemotherapy.  

   The amusing thing about this blog is how he manage to give us anecdote with a touch of humor. Aaron also able to clear some myth and fallacy by giving us medical detail on laymen terms. He was able to explain complex process and definitions in easy to understand English is an amazing feat. Perhaps, experiencing the pain almost daily will give you the enlightenment to at least know what it going on inside you. 

   Winning a "Bloscar" for Most Helpful Blog says it all.

   To follow Aaron Outward: http://www.aaronoutward.com/