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David "Beníliam", photographer extraordinaire

Beníliam - Gran Vía from Beniliam on Vimeo.

I love the street photographs of Beníliam, aka David Benito Martinez. More of his work can be seen on his homepage.

Quote of the Day: On Street Photography

bongo: Once you ask someone for permission, or pay them, they are posing—they are doing the thing they do when they are in front of a camera. It's not street photography in the traditional sense. It's like taking pictures at the zoo and calling it wildlife photography.

(From the ongoing discussion about street photography in The Online Photographer.)

100 China Blogs: Expatriate Games

China's English-speaking blogging community has a wealth of talent and today I would like to commence a long overdue project of chronicling some of those blogs (and providing myself with an excuse to surf the net and read them- something I don't do often enough).

While this series will focus on English blogs, that is not out of any disrespect for the Chinese language blogs, but simply a reflection of my still inadequate language skills. Chinese language blogs are their own fascinating sphere beginning with the always brilliant Han Han. There are a number of websites where Chinese language blogs can be read in translation- EastSouthNorthWest, Danwei, China Hush, China Geeks, China Media Project, and Global Voices, just to name a few.

But on with our current endeavor...

I would like to kick things off with Expatriate Games, overseen by my friend Michael Steverson down in Liuzhou, Guangxi province. Rolling through the streets with a Canon 5D Mark II, Michael captures well-colored portraits of everyday life on the street. In one brave enterprise last year, Michael spent 24 straight hours photographing the city on the Chinese New Year. He is now dipping his feet into the photo tour business so if you're headed down that way and need a photo guide, look him up. Also not to be missed is the photographer interview series: first editions published are here and here.

During recent visits to Liuzhou, I've had the good fortune to go with Michael on a couple photo walks. On ExpatriateGames.net, you can see his results from our 2010 and 2011 rambles.

If the blog doesn't offer enough for you, you'll find more of his pictures elsewhere on the web...

On his Flickr page, this photo is one of my personal favorites. You can explore other China pictures he has taken in this album. Steverson's photos are noteworthy for their nice bokeh, clear colors, and celebration of the everyday spirit. A few other memorable portraits can be seen here, here, and here. Enjoy!

From the April 1 collection... Coming soon: The Complete Winogrand (h/t The Online Photographer)

Nue York: Self Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen by Erica Simone

Photographer Erica Simone has been making her way through the streets of New York naked for a self-portrait series that will now be on exhibit at The Dash Gallery.

Some of the photos incorporate suggestive text such as "Park Here" or "Only in America."

Simone has been showing off her derriere and other private possessions in public for this collection- on the subway, at the hot dog stand, in the library stacks, even taking out the trash. Naked!

Here is a link to the full photo series. It's art! Or at least that's one way to get a gallery showing.

For the more literary-minded (who would rather read about nude pictures than look at them), there is also this article.

Okay, so I am not that impressed with the artistic quality of these photos. I will admit they are nice to look at.

Related: Zach Hyman, Photographer, Takes Nude Shots of Models on Subway Trains (NSFW)

 

Street photography with a Leica M9 in India.

Gothamist:

Woman Who Photographed Cops Got Beatdown, Files $24 Million Lawsuit

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