Month: May 2016

Koshchei the Deathless

Artist Unknown, “Koshchei the Deathless: The Immortal Villian”, Illustration, 1901

His name Koshchei originates from the Slavic word for “bone” and it indicates that Koshchei is bony or skinny in his form. Myths of Koshchei are mostly found in East Slavic lands and scholars there see him as an interpretation of a Slavic god of Death, or a frost sorcerer that has the ability to bring death and frost to anyone that opposes him.

In modern approach on the subject some scholars don’t see him just as a villain but as a force of nature, in other words not necessary that he is evil. Still, in various Russian myths Koshchei is seen as a powerful frost sorcerer, with cunning mind and not so good intentions. In few different fairy tales he turns people into a walnut, or even turns entire kingdoms into stone so folk legends still see him as an evil character.

Paul Politis

Paul Politis, “Dead of Night” Series

A series of conceptual black and white and colour photographs of dead bodies in various locations, taken at night. This series was initially inspired by crime scene photographs taken by Weegee in the 1940’s.

Paul Politis is a self-taught photographer from Montreal, Quebec, and currently is  living in Ottawa. He has been making photographs since 1988, first in the traditional chemical darkroom, and since 2005, digitally.

Please credit photographer when re-blogging. Thanks.

Color and Its Absence

 

Photographer Unknown, (Color and Its Absence)

“Life is like a box of crayons. Most people are the 8 color boxes, but what you’re really looking for are the 64 color boxes with the sharpeners on the back. I fancy myself to be a 64 color box, though I’ve got a few missing. It’s okay though, because I’ve got some more vibrant colors like periwinkle at my disposal.”

–John Mayer

Fred Michel

The Photography of Fred Michel

Fred Michel explores Horticultural Art through creating still life images of plants and their component parts. Inspired by a deep love of his garden, his images are broad and diverse, ranging from botanically inspired photos to mandalas, patterns, textures, and designs made from plants he disassembles and reconstitutes.

Equisetum arvense, the field horsetail or common horsetail is a herbaceous perennial plant, native throughout the arctic and temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. It has separate sterile non-reproductive and fertile spore-bearing stems, growing from a perennial underground rhizomatous stem system. The fertile stems are produced in early spring and are non-photosynthetic, while the green sterile stems start to grow after the fertile stems have wilted, and persist through the summer until the first autumn frosts.

The plant contains several substances which can be used medicinally. It is rich in the minerals silicon (10%), potassium, and calcium. The buds are eaten as a vegetable in Japan and Korea in spring time. E. arvense herb has been used in traditional Austrian medicine internally as tea, or externally as baths or compresses, for treatment of disorders of the skin, locomotor system, kidneys and urinary tract, rheumatism and gout. All other Equisetum species are toxic.