Road Trip

Today my "little" brother Alex turns twenty-two (the secret's out!!) As I write he's somewhere in the United States enjoying the last few weeks of a three and half month road trip which has taken him on a figure of 8 shaped route around the country. Aside from the odd Skype call from all manner of destinations, we have been keeping up on his progress via his online journal, seeing landscape changing from east to west and north to south and reading anecdotes of the adventure. Envious is an understatement, but I look forward to a catch up on his return to see all the photos and hear all the tales of this once in a lifetime experience. Happy Birthday Al!

Images by Alex Dowle

That Life

This evening I watched a BBC4 documentary America in Pictures: The Story of Life Magazine, a story told by the photographer Rankin. They were the ones to coin the "photo essay" - the telling of a narrative with pictures and minimal words. As well as showing the public what was going on overseas, the importance of the magazine remains with the tales of ordinary Americans and the issues that effect them. After all a picture paints a thousand words.

Images from Life

Charles & Ray

There is a film out about the design duo Charles and Ray Eames. They didn't have a profession as it were, it was a Jack-of-all-trades philosophy. That's how I'd like to be. Here is the documentary trailer.

Images from First Run Features

Abandonment

In parts of North Dakota, people have moved on and moved away. Barns and farmhouses sit empty in the vast, endless landscape, crumbling day by day. This evening, I came across these photos by Rick Craig, who captures these incredible scenes. This is the America that I am fascinated by and would love to explore. It's a place with some kind of personality, but with no persons there.

Images by Rick Craig

Map o' Harmony

Housing, mapping, drawing... here is the Map of New Harmony, Indiana drawn by Wallrath Weingartner in 1832. On each block the houses are drawn with their facade facing the street. Even some of the trees are upside down! It appears to be such a naive diagram, yet show all the necessary components of an urban plan.

Image from eril kent