Topics

Jul

Personal Growth Inspired by Ramadan

by Janine Boylan on July 18, 2013

reading the Quran during Ramadan, illustrating cultural traditions

Boys in Saudi Arabia read the Quran during Ramadan.
© Abdullah Alshathri

Learning From Cultural Traditions

The month-long observation of Ramadan began earlier in July, when the thin crescent of the new moon was spotted. This celebration is particularly important to Muslims because it is believed that the Quran was revealed to the prophet Muhammad during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. This month, known as “Ramadan,” lent its name to the holy celebration. Read more...

Janine Boylan Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Middle East

Jul

Paris Expo: Bravos and Bouquets for Urban Gardens

by Sheron Long on July 15, 2013

Roses on display at Paris Garden Show, featuring creative ideas in urban gardening. Image © Sheron Long

A bouquet of roses brightens a rainy day at Jardins, Jardin Aux Tuileries, annual Paris garden show.
© Sheron Long

Creative Ideas Find Fertile Ground

Plenty of creative ideas grew in the Paris salon of Gertrude Stein (early 1900s), including her famous quote:

A rose is a rose is a rose.

Though generally interpreted to mean that “things are what they say they are,” I’m not so sure that’s the case when it comes to the term “garden show.”

A garden show is a garden show is not just a garden show when it’s in Paris. Read more...

Sheron Long 1 Comment

Clever Ideas/France (Paris)/Innovations

Jul

Arles Photo Festival: Inspired by Black and White

by Meredith Mullins on July 11, 2013

Black and White installation by Daido Moriyama, including a fishnet frame and enlarged contact sheets, offering creative inspiration for black and white photographers

Labyrinth + Monochrome
Installation at Rencontres d’Arles by Daido Moriyama

Creative Inspiration—It’s Back in Black (and White)

Black-and-white photography is alive and well . . . and living in Arles this summer.*

The annual photo festival, Rencontres d’Arles (Conference in Arles), proclaims loudly and clearly in this year’s program that black-and-white photography is not dead.

But, how does B&W live in this world of creative inspiration? As nostalgia, poetry, humanism, a graceful simplification of form and light, abstraction, raw power, sentimentality, or timeless truth. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

France/The World's Photography

World Views: