:: Warbling Whales Speak a Language All Their Own
The songs of the humpback whale are among the most complex in the animal kingdom. Researchers have now mathematically confirmed that whales have their own syntax that uses sound units to build phrases that can be combined to form songs that last for hours.

:: _MG_0180_wts
more tree shadows. beautiful shot in brooklyn by laura holder.

:: september 11th roots
This is a bronze cast of a tree which was at the northwest corner of St. Paul's Church which was demolished during the terrorist attacks of September 11th. - plemeljr on flickr.

:: conductor
at hullabaloo.be: a nice example of how image composition, scale, cropping, perspective, context, etc, can change the entire story of a photo.
compare with this.

:: DIY Access
it seems that if one is interested in making good pictures, there may be a natural trajectory in at least attempting to create access that normally wouldn't be there. (And by access, I mean conversationally, even. Try talking with your subject.)... Michael David Murphy on street photography, from an essay in which my work is mentioned. (thank you!)

:: double tree in gowanus
minimalism at blue jake.

:: Up With Grups
During the dot-com boom, businesses not only allowed people to come to work in clothes they might usually wear to clean out the attic but encouraged this as a celebration of youthful vivacity and an upheaval of the fusty corporate order. Suits were thought to be the provenance of, well, suits. The dot-com bubble burst, but the aesthetic remained, as part of the ongoing rock star-ification of America. Three-day stubble and shredded jeans are the now-familiar symbols of the most desirable kind of affluence and freedom. So why would anyone dress up anymore?

:: food fight
the first shot of the four, definitely.

:: year 4
easy to stare at for a while.

:: lyon
Michelle Arcila on flickr.

:: l'océan et la mer
beautiful blues at EYESwideSHUT.

:: gridskipper photo contest
my parisian birdfeeders have been nominated. go vote for it!

:: China Daily on ziboy.com
a nice article on Wen Ling, and the power of international observations through photoblogging... sharing lives from abroad. via lightningfield, who's also mentioned.

:: Gordon Parks, a Master of the Camera, Dies at 93
...the photographer, filmmaker, writer and composer who used his prodigious, largely self-taught talents to chronicle the African-American experience and to retell his own personal history, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He was 93.

:: tongues out
drinking in japan (from new years) by yamasaki ko-ji.

:: dark waters
a tragically beautiful piece of writing.

:: street
black and white street photography by markus hartel on flickr.

:: A Love Affair With The City
My work featured in Friday morning's Metro newspaper, page 8. (March 3rd issue: pdf here - 4.5mb).

A very special thank you to Paul Berger for such a lovely New York City send-off. :: Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina
In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in New Orleans' Superdome and overwhelm rescuers, according to confidential video footage of the briefings.