Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison

I know everyone loves the couple's old monochromatic photographs (The Architect's Brother),

but I hadn't seen any of their more recent color work (Grey Dawn, Counterpoint)..

The Undergrowth

The Scribe

Red Tide

Grey Dawn

Black Snow

I think it's every bit as compelling as their older pictures.

Elsa Dorfman

Elsa Dorfman is a portrait photographer who uses a Polaroid 20x24 camera, of which there are only 6 in the world. She lives and works in Cambridge, MA and has taken over 2,000 portraits with the camera, of everyone from 14-day old infants to lesbian motorcycle gangs and from families with the pet dog to Pulitzer Prize winners and her most frequent subject, Allen Ginsberg. This is Elsa with her camera:

She has an extensive website that includes most of the portraits she has taken, along with essays, portrait stats (under faq), and lots of other information about her work and collaborations with other artists. It's hard to express the magnitude of her work, and easy to spend hours looking through dozens (and hundreds) of the pictures she's taken. Here are a few:

nostalgia

I've been thinking about California recently, and looking again at a few pictures I clicked there this past summer.

more Pictures of the Day, Oct. 30, 2008

Police officers stood guard outside the Education Ministry in Rome, during a protest against school reform that will reduce spending on education and research. 

Massimo Percossi/European Pressphoto Agency.

The death toll continues to rise after a powerful earthquake in Ziarat, Pakistan. 

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press.

A series of synchronized bombs killed dozens in Assam, India. 

Anupam Nath/Associated Press.

Lise Sarfati (b. 1958, France)

"The New Life" or "The American Series" 

"Her subject, however, as she herself asserts, is not youth or "teenagerhood" per se, but the possibilities inherent in that period of life, during which emotions are close to the surface, reminding us of the individuality, vulnerability, and also fortitude that we all carry."    

-Aperture

"Rough, Cold and Close: A Russian Poem"

Skate Rats

Travis Dove's (www.travisdove.com) images of Skatopia, an 88-acre skate park in Rutland, OH are compelling, repelling, fascinating, disturbing and enchanting all at once. Dove was the gold medalist in the Documentary category of this year's CPOY contest (individual photos of his also won other awards) and his pictures of the anarchist farm show have been published on other sites as well, such as Blueeyes Magazine (blueeyesmagazine.com). After the 18-photo slideshow on the Blueeyes site, I still want to see more shots of his. I think the photos show remarkable nerve, dedication, and desire and ability to capture a facet of society that most people are ignorant of.

CPOY

This is the kind of thing that can make you feel like shit: seeing what other college photographers (even in Ohio!) are doing. Below are some images from the 63rd annual College Photographer Of the Year contest. Started in 1945, the contest is sponsored by National Geographic, the National Press Photographers Foundation and Nikon, among others. Interestingly, many of the winners (this year, at least) are from Ohio University - and many of the projects take place in Ohio - Travis Dove's 'Skate Rats' in Rutland, OH, Kainaz Amaria's 'Above and Below: Life Along the Northwest Appalachian Coal Belt,' at the Central Appalachian Mine, OH, Jenn Ackerman's 'Circle of Love,' in Creola, OH. 

Check out winning photographs from various categories and from various years at cpoy.org. There are some amazing images. 

Dominic Nahr (Ryerson University)

A young Palestinian boy looks back at the camera as others gather around a grave and hold up green flags during a Hamas funeral, 5th January 2007, Beit Lahia, Gaza Strip.

Peter McCollough (Ohio University)

Joseph Gunthrie circles in the cage with blood smeared across his back after breaking his opponents nose with a knee strike during a cage fight in Birch Run, Mich.

Carl Kiilsgaard (Western Kentucky University)

Claude, Richard and Tammie’s newborn baby, suffers from a lack of blood circulation, which was supposedly caused by Tammie’s cigarette use during pregnancy. Here, Richard and Tammie attempt to warm Claude’s cold arms by blowing hot air on them and pressing on them.

Kainaz Amaria (Ohio University)

Central Appalachian Mining Ohio coal miners shower after their shift underground.

ten works with artificial lighting

Fiona Aboud

Patrick Demarchelier

Irving Penn

Magdalena Bors

Philip Lorca DiCorcia

Annie Leibovitz

Inez van Lamsweerde

Robert Mapplethorpe

Ye Rin Mok

Greta Anderson