Blork’s Photos of the Week

I’ve been looking at a lot of photoblogs lately, and have seen some pretty interesting work. Therefore, I’ve decided to present, on a kinda-sorta, maybe or maybe not basis, a completely subjective choice of my favorite photoblog images each week.

Generally speaking, each Monday (or so), I’ll point to two or three images that I had spotted the week previous in my tours around the photoblogosphere. I’ll show a thumbnail with a link to the full image at the originating photoblog.

So check it out. Below are some of my favorite photoblog images I saw last week. (Click the thumbnail to go to the original image on the owner’s photoblog.)

Susan Burnstine has a photoblog called “Outafocus,” which is aptly named considering most of her images are fuzzy and often a bit surreal. She uses a variety of cameras and techniques (judging by my quick tour around her photoblog), including a “Diana” toy camera with a plastic lens.

So-called “toy camera photography” is quite popular among quirky people, and I consider myself one of them. I like the unpredictable results and the fuzziness. Unfortunately, a lot of toy camera photography comes off as just a gimmick. Burnstine’s work with toy cameras is, however, outstanding.

I like this one because of it’s spooky undercurrent. At first glance you might think it’s a bit sentimental, but with the perspective from behind the girl, down low, there’s a sort of otherworldly character to it, as if we’re seeing the scene from the grave, or some other otherworldly dimension. There’s a sad nostalgic feeling inherent in the image, as if we were witnessing this image through the fog of time.

Here’s another fun one. Carlos Carzurro publishes daily life and travel photos from Spain. I like his straight-on, documentary approach, which is very rooted in geography, and his formal arrangements. I particularly like this photo he published last week showing two metal benches pushed up against a crumbling old wall. The photograph has a lot of symmetry as well as a lot of contrasting elements. The benches are quite elegant, but they are presented against a beat-up wall that has seen better days. The sign in the middle of the frame is hilariously incomprehensible. The balcony at the top of the image, which we see only a little bit of, shows signs of life in this otherwise very static tableau. Very nice.

The next image is by Travis Ruse of New York. There’s something about views through urban pedestrian tunnels that always catches my eye. Perhaps it’s because I walk through such tunnels every day and I find them infinitely fascinating. And when I travel to other cities I am always drawn to their underground built environments.

I saw quite a few “tunnel” shots last week, but this one keeps coming back to me. Perhaps it’s the nostaglic feel from the sepia-like toning. Perhaps it’s the stillness of the scene, devoid, as it is, of people. Whatever it is, I like it.