Anthony Samaniego

Ah, Los Angeles. Covered in concrete, butting up to hot mountains spread over with tinder brush. Chaotic with millions of people under pastel smog sunsets. Ridiculous traffic, art deco building-lined streets, 100 ft high advertisements for BCBG, cement next to white sand beach. 

Anthony Samaniego's "dreamscapes" evoke the feeling of existing in this hot, frantic, fantastic place.  Like his photos, Los Angeles feels restless, colorful, changeable, sprawling, hot with steam. 

Apparently, Samaniego wanders the byways of LA -- particularly at night, at dusk -- looking for the perfect shot. He takes photos with his old, film Mamiya camera. To get the layered effect of his images, he takes multiple exposures on the same negative. To get the nice white splotches, he exposes the negatives to light multiple times. Afterward, he works with the colors until they're neon-perfect.

Don't you love 'em? Doesn't it make you want to wander into the hot hills looking for graffiti-ed rocks and lizards and the line of brown smog hazing over the streets and sprawl?

To see more of his groovy visions of Los Angeles, visit his website, or his Instagram. 

Bryan Sheffield - Lord God

FatherSons zine released its first book, Lord God, by Bryan Sheffield. The book has photos that are big camera flashes on trees at night. Light creates spots on the images like light fairy (devils?).

I love the one of palm trees blowing in the Santa Anas. I grew up in Orange County, CA, surrounded by those skinny, ridiculous Seuss trees that freeze in temps below 55 degrees Fahrenheit and struggle to stand up straight. Those trees leaning under the street lamp at one am when I was 16 and sober and The Used squealed through the bad car speakers. 

I wonder why he named the series Lord God?

Go see more emotive tree pictures photos at fathersons.net.

Rick Schaier - collage instagrams

Rick Schaier's Instagram handle, victoriancow, is full'a his collages (made with documerica photos?), paintings, and other well-curated mash-ups. He must be a busy dude because he's apparently also in these bands: Miniature Tigers, Alvin Band, and Spooky.

The first image I posted below -- the one with the Poseidon Nasa man -- caught my eye particularly because Mad Men was all about the moon landing last night (which is amazeballs; we have been to the moon: a leap for man(woman)kind, and all that). As for the second one: I love the colors and all the feathered dirty blonde ennui it's got goin' on. 

To see more of Schaier's paintings, collages, etcetera, visit his Instagram account. 

Alan Dickson aka alanrules - Be Healthy, Yeah (NSFW)

I met Alan in Brooklyn at his art show. He'd plastered the walls with shinnnny gold pom poms he said Cee Lo Green had used in a music video. (Or maybe it was the 2012 superbowl halftime show starring Madonna. One of those.)    

Near the gold pom pom wall, he'd hung babe-alicious bodies peeking out from the gold poms.

His series, "Be Healthy, Yeah," follows suit with the babe-alicious photos. But, in the series it's bodies + fruit. More body than fruit. But, yeah. They're pretty cool. Check 'em out.

Be Healthy. Yeah.