Inspired: World Press Photo Awards

The results of the World Press Photo Awards were released a few weeks ago, and the winners are stunning. Out of 103,481 photographs from 5,666 photographers, a few winning photos were chosen by an international jury in a number of categories ranging from sports to news to daily life. These were a few of the photos I found most striking, but all of them are so incredible. Head over to the World Press website to check out the rest of the winning images for 2013.

Gaza Burial, Paul Hensen, 20 Nov 2013
Gaza City, Palestinian Territories
World Press Photo of the Year, 1st Prize, Spot News Singles

Joy at the End of the Run, Wei Seng Chen, 12 Feb 2012
Batu Sangkar, West Sumatra, Indonesia
1st Prize, Sports Action Single

Emperor Penguins, Paul Nicklen, 18 Nov 2011
Rose Sea, Antarctica
1st Prize, Nature Stories

Cross Country Steeplechase, Roman Vondrous, 15 Sep 2012
Pardubice, Czech Republic
1st Prize, Sports Action Stories

At the Dandora Dump, Micah Albert, 03 April 2012
Nairobi, Kenya
1st Prize, Contemporary Issues Singles

Want to know how they picked the winners? Check out these interviews with the jury members.

Short Film: Dark Side of the Lens

At the heart of "Dark Side of the Lens" is one man's struggle to capture the power and beauty of the ocean. After seeing some fairly big waves in person, I can't imagine going out there in that surf and trying to film it or photograph it. It must take some combination of adventurousness and insanity. But it seems he's doing what he loves:

Winner - Best Cinematography, Rhode Island International Film Festival, 2011 | Action Sports Category, Vimeo Awards 2012 | G-Raid Driven Creativity award - Professional Category | Best Cinematography, 5Point Film Festival 2011 | Grand Prize - Chamonix Film Festival 2011 | Best short - New York Surf Film Festival 2011 |  Digital short of the Year, Surfer Poll | Relentless Short Stories 2011 | Amstel Surf Film Festibal, Peoples Choice award | Best short, Sheffield Adventure Film Festival | Best International Short, Canadian Surf Film Festival | Best Short, Waimea Ocean Film Festival

Wedding Sneak Peek

The end of a wedding seemingly opens the floodgates for a torrent of wedding photo requests, one that I cannot quite satisfy since we still don't have all the official photos. However, we do have a few "sneak peek" photos generously provided by our lovely photographer as well as some wonderful shots from family and friends. Perhaps they can buy us another few weeks?

Photos by Thea-Grace Okimoto (our lovely photographer), Uncle Calvin, Uncle Jack

North Shore

We made the drive out to Oahu's North Shore on a wet, stormy day when the clouds hung low across the mountains. The grey mist shrouded all but the road and a few glimpses of pineapples, coffee, and corn stretched out across the flat plains. As we hit the coast, the rain finally let up enough to promise a clear view of the surging surf that had closed the beaches for the last few days.
 

From Waimea to Pipeline to Laie Point, the sea pounded the shore under a blanket of grey skies. We wandered the shores, disregarding the wind in favor of a chance to try to capture that moment of breaking.

Laie Point provided the most haunting views, at the edge of the land, a glimpse north into nothing, knowing that from here only the Aleutian islands dared to rise above the sea.

After the shutters stopped, the wind carried on relentlessly, bringing with it another misting of rain. We stood bundled in our coats, content to watch the waves and wonder.

All photos by Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved

Lanikai

If you've been reading for a while, you might remember the pictures from the hike I took up to Lanikai Pillboxes with Nate and a couple of his friends. Since I loved the hike so much and since we had friends with us who had never seen a sunrise in Hawaii, we decided the hike was a must-do activity while we were on Oahu. 

The weather that morning was wet, misty, and overall uncooperative. Rain soaked the trail, rendering it a slippery, muddy, mess that could only be navigated with the help of ropes strung along some small trees by some helpful prior traveler. We scrambled up the hillside to be greeted with a view of mist, mist, and more mist. 

The water was still a lovely crystalline blue, and a few small islands could be glimpsed through the white mist, presenting a pretty, if not astounding, picture. We snapped a few photos, trying to make the best of it.

But just before we turned to make the treacherous slide back down the muddy mountainside, the sun began to illuminate the clouds.

The mist rolled back.

And the sun broke through.

And we were treated an array of pure, awe-inspiring light. 

After a brief break in the clouds, the mist rolled back in, and soft rain began to fall.

We ran and slid back through the mud, giddy and soaked, glad for a brief blessing at dawn.

Inspired: Anna Aden

Anna Aden's photography is highly evocative and beautifully composed. A carefully-paced hand, a sweeping vista, a pause before a moment's breath-- the best photographs induce a sort of stillness, a curiosity, and a sense of near intrusion upon an intimate moment. These photographs from Aden's series, Autumn Fields, do just that. 

Anna Aden is a photographer based in Umea, Sweden. Her work has been featured in a number of publication. To see more of her wonderful photography, click here.

P.S. Check out her facebook page for more loveliness

At home in autumn

These lovely flowers graced my table last week, for a few fleeting days. With the cold, windy nights, and the crisp, biting mornings, the brief showers of rain, the few leaves turned gold, and the bright oranges and golds of squash and blossoms on my table, autumn seems all around. 

I think the moment at which I realize that autumn is truly here is that midnight waking in the frigid cold of a window left open, when the blankets piled up and the sweaters piled on are not enough a barrier between oneself and the icy air surrounding.

One slams the window shut and with fumbling fingers and bleary eyes, grasps for the switch on the small square box that marks the departure from the season of warmth and one's grand venture into this coming frost, the annual passage from summer towards winter.

And on this night, and from this night forth, the heater is on.

In my home, this night was Saturday. From now on, my friends, this is fall!

all photos by Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved

In Photos: All Souls Procession

Nate and I attended Tucson's All Souls Procession this last Sunday night. Begun in 1990 as a performative art piece by Tucson artist Susan Johnson in remembrance of her father, the Tucson All Souls procession has become an annual event attracting nearly 35,000 participants to come, walk, and remember those who have gone before. Inspired by the Mexican holiday of Dia de los Muertas, the All Souls Procession is meant to be a ritual that allows public mourning, reflection, and celebration of death, a universal human experience. These photos were taken at Tucson's 2012 All Souls Procession.

A parade of color

Of all ages

Of all cultures

Of all talents

Of causes

Of music

And of ghosts in the night

all images belong to Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved

Inspired Election Edition: Michael Mergen

Today is Election Day (Go Vote!), and Slate's Behold photography blog featured some of these photographs from Michael Mergen's piece called Vote. Mergen, while covering Election Day from 2008-2010, captured these images of unusual polling places  around the U.S. He writes on his site:

"Vote investigates the spaces where the ideals of our political system meet the mundane realities of participatory democracy. The photographs consider the collision of private and public, consumer and citizen, and the incongruity between the functionality of the spaces and that of the voting booths."

These are a few of my favorites:

Precinct 10, Saugus, MA, 2009

Precinct 22020, Corona, CA, 2010

Precinct 9, Shelby Township, MI, 2010

Ward 40, Precinct 32, Philadelphia, PA, 2008

District 4-2, Murfreesboro, TN, 2010

Precinct 28080, Providence, RI, 2010

All photos belong to Michael Mergen

P.S. Go out and VOTE!

Autumn

Autumn in Tucson can be quite frustrating. The cool evenings and light breeze provide a welcome respite from the heat, and all around the city life springs up again. The mornings are crisp and clear, the perfect weather for sweaters and boots*. However, with afternoon highs still hitting the nineties, it's the season of on-again-off-again layers, the time of teasing weather, of "just-wait-a-little-longer-fall-is-almost-here-for-real-this-time." These photos from Prescott remind that it is indeed autumn somewhere, at least. And perhaps autumn will be here soon as well.

*anything under 75 degrees is sweater-and-boot weather here in Tucson

all photos belong to Kara Haberstock, all rights reserved