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Oct

Discoveries: Serenity in Cities

by Joyce McGreevy on October 10, 2016

The Culture of Urban Quiet

Marit Krogh's "Seated Girl with Headphones" in Oslo, Norway exemplifies the potential discoveries in urban peace and quiet (© Joyce McGreevy)

In Oslo, Norway, Marit Krogh’s “Seated Girl with Headphones” evokes sound and silence.
© Joyce McGreevy

Ah, the quest for urban tranquility. “No man should live where he can hear his neighbor’s dog bark.” That’s how ardent ruralist Nathaniel Macon admonished city dwellers.

Macon was born in the 1750s, when 3 percent of the world’s population lived in cities. He also said those words while active in what some consider a major source of annoying noise, the U.S. Congress.

A sign for Quiet Street in Bath, England is one of the more whimsical discoveries in the quest for urban peace and quiet (© Joyce McGreevy)

Finding quiet is easy in Bath, England.
© Joyce McGreevy Read more...

Joyce McGreevy 1 Comment

Crossing Cultures/Discoveries/Worldwide Sites

Sep

World Photography: The Art of the Neighborhood

by Meredith Mullins on September 12, 2016

Man from Dublin street photography series by Eamonn Doyle. (Image © Eamonn Doyle.)

Untitled, from the i series
© Eamonn Doyle/Courtesy Michael Hoppen Gallery

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Eamonn Doyle’s Dublin Streets

Sometimes the sets and characters of a neighborhood become just a background track for daily life. The peripherals fade from view. Familiar details lose their luster. People pass unseen.

The act of creating through a camera lens can bring a neighborhood back into focus.

That’s exactly what happened when Irish photographer Eamonn Doyle took camera in hand after a 20-year hiatus.

He rediscovered his home turf—capturing the urban landscape of North Dublin within a half-mile radius of his house, often finding his subjects within just 10 meters of his front door. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 4 Comments

Ireland/The World's Photography

Aug

Japanese Traditions in Yakushima Photography

by Meredith Mullins on August 1, 2016

Yakushima rainforest showing reverence for nature and Japanese traditions in photography. (Image © Kodo Chijiiwa.)

Photographers Show Reverence for Nature, Beauty, and Time

Yakushima is an island in the North Pacific that seems to have its own spirit, its own magic. It is rich in Japanese traditions, as well as exceptional natural beauty—with its lush vegetation, wild coast, ancient trees, and proud mountains.

I had not heard of Yakushima, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, before wandering into a gallery at the famous Rencontres d’Arles—a massive annual photography event in southern France. Read more...

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Japan/The World's Photography

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