All stories about "Photos"

Web design zine, Openers Gallery, has a preview of photographer Yabuta Osami's project "Tokyo Bunny Girls." For the series, Osami took black-and-white pictures of bar hostesses in Downtown Tokyo. The artist says his photos are "erotic/sexy but elegant." The racy shots show tired-looking waifish women writhing around in lingerie and their trademark bunny ears. Osami cites magazine photography as a major influence, and his bunny girl photos have a documentary quality. I see these images as portraits of a hard profession-- they're far more sad than they are sexy. Some of the photos show the bar bunnies out on the streets, while others seem to capture the hostesses in their places of employment. More Tokyo bar bunny shots after the jump. [via]

Here at Gridskipper, we love chronicling all the insane construction in Dubai. It's easy to get distracted by the elaborate theme parks, island cities, and rooftop tennis courts and forget that not too long ago the area was practically a desert. After the jump, a photo that dramatically illustrates the breakneck speed of development in Dubai over the last few years.

Tokyo is packed with tons of late night convenience stores. Along with ordinary snack food staples and Japanese snacks like ngiri, instant ramen, and bean cakes, these convenience stores offer a variety of truly bizarre foodstuffs for under $2. I strolled the aisles at a 7-11, a Familymart, and an AM/PM in Ginza, and spotted much Japanese mini-mart greatness, including tiny cans of Asahi and an astonishing array of pre-made meals. After the jump check out photographic evidence of some of the better items on sale in Tokyo's convenience stores.

Heavens! I don't know if National Geographic is having a bit of fun with us or is just endlessly pure of mind, but they've given a rather noticeable headline to one of their photo galleries: "Angkor's Ancient Enormity Uncovered." I am reminded somehow of Hugh Hefner. For what it's worth, the photos are lovely, just not what my demented mind was expecting. [Nat'l Geographic]

This year marks the 150th birthday of one of Berlin's most beloved artists. Heinrich Zille's photographs and comic drawings of the city's less glamorous neighborhoods, lumpenproletariat inhabitants, and their hard-won amusements helped the city see itself as never before. Like his friend and comrade Kathe Kollwitz, Zille had an eye for the injustices of the era and the sufferings of the poor and downtrodden working class warehoused in Berlin's tenements, saying famously "one can kill a man with an apartment as easily as with an axe." His books and prints found an audience not only among the leftists and working classes of the day but also with members of the city's cultured elite -- the National Gallery bought works in 1921, and three years later he was nominated for membership in the prestigious Prussian Academy of Art.

If I don't get around to creating a roundup of photos from Milan Fashion Week, I just wanted to say: I love this hat.

Flight attendants have long proved a point of fascination, especially when they're disrobing in a cockpit midflight while on duty. Or, when they're scantily clad on-air personas getting into catfights over shared lovers and extramarital affairs. So when I first learned of photographer Brian Finke's tome Flight Attendants (out on DUMBO's own Powerhouse Books), I'll admit my interest was piqued. While Finke's photos of flight attendants may seem banal, I figured there was still a possibility that his in-air experiences would offer at least a few scandal-ridden stories. Here's what Finke learned from 50+ flights and the lovely ladies he photographed.

Yes, this Bangladesh hairdresser named his shop after MacGyver. And yes, he will give you "the MacGyver" hairstyle on request. Seems the man has something of an established Bangladeshi cult following, as seen in a dedicated song and an impressive portfolio of media clippings. [via]

The folks at Wired have shattered my dreams by posting a gallery of photos from Flight Attendants, photographer Brian Finke's new book of cabin crew portraiture. The shots are all banal depictions of flight attendant drudgery, including pushing beverage carts and walking across the tarmac. Absolutely none of the photos feature stripping stewardesses or cat-fighting air hostesses in skimpy uniforms. WTF? [Wired]

At Rio de Janeiro's recently concluded Carnival celebrations, ladies are traditionally permitted to run around bare-chested and bethonged, as long as the genitals (or really, just the actual genital slits) are technically covered. One crew was somehow disqualified from parade competition because of too much nudity. The offending member of the Sao Clemente crew wasn't named, but everyone knows it was carnival queen Viviane Castro, who paraded around in a tiny patch of glue-on fabric that apparently failed to reliably adhere. Fullsize NSFW pic after the jump, of course.

Berlin's just-concluded Fashion Week, as sponsored by Mercedes-Benz, doesn't have nearly the high-test crazy couture seen at its recent equivalent in Paris. And the Berlin shows do evince a certain interest in a rather martial air at times. That said, designers on show in Berlin had no problem, say, literally riding a lingerie model down a catwalk, a practice this gentleman visibly enjoyed at the Agent Provocateur display. Join us now for a short stroll through other fashion crimes at Berlin Fashion Week, both victimless and not so much.

Berlin's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week kicked off with one of the few big names on the program -- Hugo Boss. Before I start in on why Hugo Boss overdid it, it's important to note that Germans overdo everything, so it's probably unfair to give Hugo a hard time. (This first photo, for example, is from the collection by the fine folks at Torsten Amft.) Let me explain: Do Berlin clubs really need to stay open until 5 p.m. the next day? No. Do Germans really need to drive 180 miles per hour on the autobahn? No. Must they drink beer at breakfast? Hopefully not. But they do -- because they're German, and somehow, therein lays their charm. If the Germans are going to do anything, they're going to do it to the extreme. They take a good idea -- or even a bad idea -- as far as it can go, and then some. Nihilism, hedonism, and sadomasochism all have their own niche in the collective German consciousness. And let's not forget fascism. Berliners definitely haven't, since it's all over Fashion Week here.

This is the photo that ran with a Reuters story last week about Amsterdam police being forbidden to smoke weed even in their off hours. Nice one, anonymous wire service photo editor! Subtle too. [Reuters]

Yesterday the Chicago Menupages blog published this incredible gallery of bacon Bloody Marys from across the country. I first heard of the brunch concoction when researching the much buzzed-about Chicago restaurant Sepia, and it's one of their most popular creations. However, this photos prove that great minds think alike, or at least that restaurateurs know a good idea when they see one, especially when pork is involved.

Amusing Rambo vs. Arthur Rimbaud re-appropriation of street art chic, allegedly found somewhere in San Francisco. [Copyranter]

How your terrorism sausage gets made: Wired has a gallery of photos of makeshift bombs and detonators from last week's Homeland Security Stakeholders SI Conference in Los Angeles. The devices weren't made by evildoers; they came from the Transportation Security Laboratory's Office of Research and Development, a lab that makes faux bombs to test baggage handlers. The photos include this plastic explosives-packed radio, a replica of shoe bomber Richard Reid's sneaker, and debris from a simulated plane blast. [Wired]

As only the first of many, many awkward and uncomfortable moments to come regarding the untimely death of Heath Ledger and his role in the upcoming Batman summer blockbuster The Dark Knight, here's a contest/community page related to the movie. Click through, and you're asked to submit photos of yourself and friends dolled up as Ledger's Joker, standing in front of buildings or landmarks representative of your city. Lots of pre-death examples already, such as LAX, the Taj Mahal, Rio de Janeiro, Washington DC, Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, and the Sydney Opera House. Ripe for both abuse and actual homage work. [via]

Sib site Jalopnik has been keeping track of auto accidents immortalized by the roving photographers of Google Street View. So far, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and (south of LA) Oceanside, CA, have been captured. A nice little memento for the accident participants, really. [Jalopnik]

But wait, there's more! Sure, it's easy to make fun of Fashion Week, especially Paris Fashion Week -- or more properly in this case, Spring/Summer 2008 Haute Couture. But as the graceful ensemble above proves (from On Aura Tout Vu), the outlandishly unwearable extravagance of earlier years hasn't moderated in the slightest. After the jump, a photo-heavy tour of 14 particularly heinous examples, all courtesy of the fine folks at Getty Images.

Yes, this is more someone else's gimmick (and someone else's before that), but couldn't resist when I saw this pic. Italian fashionista Valentino enjoys plaudits on the occasion of his retirement at Paris Fashion Week. Unfortunately, designer Karl Lagerfeld materialized from the netherworld and drank his soul before security could intervene. [Photo: Getty]

Here's a great gallery chock full of pictures from December's Havana Film Festival. There are lots of shots of wonderfully retro Cuban cinemas, including the Karl Marx, a tri-level movie palace that seats 4,800 people. Apparently, one Havana theater features live English dubbing coming from a translator who sits in the back and reaches listeners via earpiece. [Maclean's]

Included in Wired's slide show of photos from the new book An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar, we have this photo of some of the contraband food seized at JFK. Now this is just over a 48-hour period, so imagine what they collect throughout the year and how funky that customs room smells. The photographer, Taryn Simon, tells Wired she spent hours arranging the food to make it look like a still life. The shot contains "African yams, uncooked meats, fresh eggs, okra and a South Asian lime infected with citrus canker." [via]

"This will show that bitch Angelina Jolie," Madonna did not say to reporters. She actually did not speak to anyone or even explain why she and husband Guy Ritchie were touring the Mumbai slums today.

A good article in the New York Times on Bangkok street food is made great by its accompanying gallery, which features several salacious close-ups of Thai snacks and succulent seafood dishes. Some of the shots are so nice that they almost look styled -- it's hellishly difficult to get decent food photos in the field like this. Kudos.

Street Smarts in Bangkok [NYT]

To promote the opening of the forthcoming Standard Hotel in New York, handsome hotelier Andre Balázs had a 2008 calendar made featuring some of his most photogenic employees. It's not as titillating and fun as the controversial Ryanair calendar, but it does have a couple things going for it. For one, there are men. Also it has semi-amusing blurbs about each featured employee along with their astrological sign(!). My favorite, tattooed Asian waiter Brock, is a Gemini; his blurb reads: "Weirdest requests? Ranch dressing and orders to strip off his clothes. He's never obliged the latter." Cheeky. As one would expect, the waitstaff is heavily represented with a few design and sales people thrown in. To take a real look at all of Standard's hotties without have to call up for the calendar, check out our defiantly non-chronological gallery.

Brits are known for heavy drinking, but they really exceeded even the stereotypes this past New Year's. According to the Daily Mail, London emergency services responded to over 1,825 drinking-related emergency calls, 17% more than last year. From 2-4 a.m., they received eight calls every minute. But, the pictures really tell the story. [via]

To help you gear up for the next week's festivities Slate compiled a slideshow featuring photos of Christmas day celebrations in far flung locations around the world. The indisputable highlight of Slate's gallery of global festivities is this bizarre shot of a Colonel Sanders statue dressed in full Santa regalia outside of a Tokyo Kentucky Fried Chicken. [Slate]

To do Kuala Lumpur so fast is of course a tease, so here's how to get the most out of what's likely a layover. Get into town by rush hour -- even on Monday, rainy after-work traffic was brutal. Pick a place to stay the night slightly off the main drag, Jalan Sultan Ismail, and save landmark hotels like the Shangri-La for meeting up for cocktails before heading out to the Central Market, or for noodles and durian in Chinatown. In the morning, you can watch the Thai & Malay working girls and ladyboys pack up for the day, get roti channai for breakfast from a street vendor, and change your cash for a little extra local currency to get a last minute cab to the airport (the monorail is lovely, too). Then say your farewells to Malaysia at high speed on the freeway in a blur of palm trees and billboards. The photo starts below.