Wikimedia Commons: Lakeview #1 oil gusher, Kern County, California, USA, after the well had partially subsided, the derrick removed, and the well surrounded by a sandbag berm. Photo by W.C. Mendenhall, US Geological Survey, 1910

The Lakeview Gusher Number One was an immense out-of-control pressurized oil well in the Midway-Sunset Oil Field in Kern County, California, resulting in what is regarded as the largest oil spill in history, lasting 18 months and releasing 9 million barrels (1.4×106 m3) of crude oil. In what was one of the largest oil reserves in America, pressure built to an extreme due to the quantity of crude oil in the area. (wikipedia)

Alfred Gescheidt is a professional photographer born in Queens, New York on December 19, 1926. He won a scholarship to the Art Students’ League and studied with Will Barnet and Harry Sternberg. He served briefly in the Navy during World War II, then went to the University of New Mexico and studied with Raymond Johnson. He decided to become a photographer and transferred to the Los Angeles Art Center School and here studied with George Hoyningen-Huene. In the 1950s he documented life on city streets and beaches of America. (Escape Into Life: Alfred Geischeidt)

Previously on Skandalon

Previously on Skandalon

David Foldvari was born in Budapest, Hungary, but has lived in the UK for the last 20 years. His work often tackles issues of alienation, identity and belonging, formed by a preoccupation with his eastern European roots, combined with his experience of growing up in the UK.

David’s work is bold, darkly humorous and often political in tone, his considered and energetic draftsmanship having led to a prolific output both personally and commercially. Some of his previous clients include the New York Times, Greenpeace, Random House, Penguin Books, Dazed & Confused and Island Records. (Bigactive.com)

Visit David Foldvari’s blog. Some of his artwork can be purchase over at the Product of God online gallery.

Nina Leen fascination with the world veiwed through a camera lens extends to both the human and animal kingdom. Born in Russia, Leen grew up in Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, where she achieved acclaim as an animal photographer. Upon first arriving in the United States in 1939, her reporter’s eye led to a series of wryly amusing works on the habits and rituals of her newly adopted homeland. Her series on, “A Teenager Monopolizes the Telephone,” or her descriptions and images of “The American Male,” are timeless evocations of symbols of modern American society. (read on)

Read The New York Times obituary for Nina Leen. Browse her “teenagers” series for Life Magazine.

About the photo:

George Tames covered Washington D.C for four decades (1945-1985) and is best remembered for one, “The Loneliest Job,” a photograph of President John F. Kennedy looking out of the south window of the oval office. Tames took the photograph through the door of the Oval Office, after Kennedy thought he had left. From behind, it looks as if he is carrying the weight of the world. Kennedy – who had a bad back – simply was reading the newspapers standing up, as he often preferred to do.[…]

Although the photo was taken on Feb. 10, 1961 — just a few months into Kennedy administration — the image would later take on a more symbolic meaning as the Kennedy presidency waded into difficult waters. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the New York Times christened the photo, “The loneliest job in the world.” The photo was a favourite of President Clinton, who hang it in the Treaty Room, the presidential private office on the second floor of the White House. The West Wing recreated it for its opening segment (below). (more)

This photo is part of the George Tames Collection hosted by The New York Times Agency. George Tames was a photographer for The New York Times from 1945 to 1985.

From a set of stereoviews made in Makkovik, Labrador by a member of the Moravians around 1900. (converted to anaglyph). View over Makkovik Bay with the Moravian Church and the mission house in the distance. Both were destroyed by fire in 1948.

In case you’re wondering : here’s Makkovik Bay.

Abbey Lincoln, a singer whose dramatic vocal command and tersely poetic songs made her a singular figure in jazz, died on Saturday in Manhattan. She was 80 and lived on the Upper West Side.Her death was announced by her brother David Wooldridge. Ms. Lincoln’s career encompassed outspoken civil rights advocacy in the 1960s and fearless introspection in more recent years, and for a time in the 1960s she acted in films, including one with Sidney Poitier. (The New York Times: “Abbey Lincoln, Bold and Introspective Jazz Singer, Dies at 80” by Nate Chinen, August 14, 2010)

About photographer Roberto Polillo:

From 1962 (when I was 16) to 1974 I was lucky to photograph the most important jazz musicians of the time. These images have been almost hidden for many years, but recently I have made an outing… A selection of these images have been recently shown in personal exhibitions in Milano, Roma, Torino, Siena, Napoli, Genova, Verona and other places, and collected in a big photographic book, “Swing, Bop & Free” , which also cointains texts by my father Arrigo , who was a well known jazz critic and historician. (more)

Jules et Jim, François Truffaut, 1962

• I found the photo in sterile’s photostream on Flickr (click for hi-res).
• There’s a virtual exposition about the film at the Bibliothèque du Film (Cinémathèque Française). In French.
• An essay in English about Jules et Jim by John Powers hosted by The Criterion Collection website.
• Another essay, this time by Dudley Andrew over at Film Reference (in English).
• Technical information about the film in French (Cinémathèque Française).

The photo comes from sarcoptiform’s photostream on Flickr. Because the way those photos were taken and assemble (frontal shot, neutral gray shade) it’s reminiscent (in a way) of Bernd and Hilla Becher typology of water towers (Amazon, Wikipedia).

The two authors behind the blog Mrs. Dean, Norman Beierle and Hester Keijser, did a much more elaborated (and explicit) hommage to Bernd and Hilla Becher’s water towers series : Joghurtbecher. It’s a study ― Becher style ― of… yogurt cups. See example here. More about Joghurtbecher.

Metropolis: All New Restauration ― Behin The Scenes

Seldom has the rediscovery of a cache of lost footage ignited widespread curiosity as did the announcement, in July 2008, that an essentially complete copy of Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS had been found. (more)

He put the knife in the robot’s hand and caused the arm to raise. Then something went wrong.

Learn more about Thrilling Wonder Stories on Wikipedia

Previously on Skandalon

About Elliot Landy:

Elliott Landy (born in 1942) is a photographer best known for his iconic photographs of rock musicians. A 1959 graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, ten years later he was the official photographer of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. His photographs have appeared on the covers of such magazines as Rolling Stone, LIFE, and The Saturday Evening Post. Landy’s portraits have also graced the covers of many of the best known albums of the era, including such classics as Bob Dylan’s Nashville Skyline, Van Morrison’s Moondance, and The Band’s second album, eponymously titled The Band. From 1967 to 1969, Landy travelled with and photographed Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, and Jim Morrison. He has published several collections of his work. (wikipedia)

Check the same photo on his official website.