Strange Angels

In Vitebsk, Russia millions of tiny butterflies flocked to a bridge one night and began to die.

Moth Flight

This kind of thing (a video made from long-exposure still photos of moths in flight) makes me want to sit outside with my camera and make art. I really don't photograph things (and certainly don't *make* things) often enough. I plan to remedy that soon.

Enjoy.

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

Epic Fox

These are really awesome fox photos. Apparently this guy (the photographer) had to move to a nature preserve in Kamchatka for 6 months, and had nobody to look after his cat. After some deliberation, he decided to bring Ryska along. These are some resultant shots from their stay.

Ice Diving

This looks kind of terrifying. Isn't this how Houdini died? (Ok no, he died from trying to "absorb" some punches to the stomach. That didn't work out so well). But anyway, losing hold of the safety line that leads you back to the hole in the ice...sounds like no fun. It is gorgeous though. These photographs come from an ice diving trip to a lake in Kazakhstan famous for it's "underwater forest."

Green Porno

You should absolutely start watching Isabella Rossellini's short film series "Green Porno", available to watch at the Sundance Channel website here.

I've seen all three seasons, and I have to say she's completely brilliant. Ostensibly it's a series about the sexual habits and characteristics of various animals (insects, ocean creatures, you name it). It becomes so much more than that in the viewing. Rossellini, in donning the animal costumes and performing these sexual acts invites a completely new reading. Rather than a "simple" documentary film, her work becomes a complex relationship between information about nature and poetry that seems to revel in the intricacies and beauty of nature. Her dialogue is more lyrical than you'd expect, and what is titillating and exciting at first becomes moving and provocative as you continue.

It was difficult to embed the videos directly from the site, and YouTube had a limited selection of them to choose from. My favorite was the shrimp episode from Season 3 (so by all means, watch that one)--but here is another really great one:

Fennecs

I recently discovered that Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince was based on his own experiences with a crash-landing in the desert. He even tamed one of the desert foxes (a fennec), which I suspect is why the fox from the story doesn't really resemble the foxes we're familiar with. More on The Little Prince later...I've recently rediscovered my adoration for it.