It could not have been easy to fly a drone inside a 20-square-meter squash court, but photographer Brad Walls felt it was the only way to enhance geometry and movement in a few shots. The “Vacant” series depicts the geometry of bodies, moving a choreographed within scenes inspired by surrealism and retro-futurism.
The idea of choosing that particular location came from a visit by the artist to the squash court in which he played in his high school days. The empty space the lines of the field inspired the artist to create one of his aerial series, which had at its center the human body detached from the context but perfectly inserted into the geometric layout.

One of Brad Walls’ challenges was to avoid a claustrophobic effect, so white is the predominant color in the shots, repeated even in the models’ clothes, a choice that would make even Wimbledon organizers happy.
The clothes themselves are an element that reinforces the concept of retrofuturism, creating a tension between past and future through the inclusion of a futuristic wardrobe in an 80s context such as the squash court.
Looking forward to publishing his first book, due out in the fall and titled “Pools from Above,” Brad Walls defined “Vacant” as follows: “Geometry provides a hint at consistency in an ever inconsistent world. Innately, humans are drawn to it. Me, maybe more so”.

Hosted this week by All for the Gram is not just a serial profile but an actual archive that collects details of an aesthetic that, however decayed, still holds great appeal. Soviet Innerness is a journey into Soviet design through the interiors of abandoned houses, amid torn wallpaper and cold, chipped tiles.

The wallpaper has been replaced in some cases by newspaper pages bearing news and photos from the 1980s, the peeling walls look like a layering of now-faded colors, as do the flower designs that once probably appeared more colorful.
The walls of Soviet Innerness are full of tired geometries, blocks of color and forms that always give the idea of unfinished, or of something that ended too quickly, leaving time for cracks to make everything look so beautiful and decadent.

The project curated by Elena Amabili and Alessandro Calvaresi describes the aesthetics of the Eastern Bloc and the themes that were present throughout the houses. There are illustrations on the walls of the countryside in USSR space, but also the great industrialization of communist cities and the memory of Misha, the popular mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympics.

In summer, whole herds of cattle move from the valleys to the mountain meadows, thousands of feet above sea level, where the air is thinner and the rhythms are dictated only by nature’s needs. Along with the animals travel shepherds, who in the mountain pastures become part of a single cycle of life, which does not suffer pauses but flows slowly and steadily.
Giulia Degasperi has represented this age-old practice of the mountains of Trentino, without directly showing the beauty of the landscapes but that of work, effort and tradition. The series “These Dark Mountains” is an anthropological study that describes the abandonment of small mountain towns and the difficulty of preserving habits that have always linked man and nature.
The choice to shoot in black and white makes the photographs almost timeless. One cannot frame a historical period because everything has remained the same, from the places to the shepherds’ clothes.

You can support the publication of a volume dedicated to the work of photographer Giulia Degasperi through the fundraiser launched by SelfSelf, click here to find out how you can help make this photography project a reality.

A world without “when I was your age it was different,” without “the youth of today are worthless,” a world in which therefore there is no “adultsplanning” and children seem to be able to do everything in total autonomy.
This is the landscape depicted in photography by Julie Blackmon, an American artist associated with family issues and small-town life.
The shots are social satire disguised within everyday scenes in which children are the real protagonists, not to say the only ones. All the details depicted are symbolic, as is the arrangement of the subjects, inspired by scenes painted by 17th-century Flemish painters.
Julie Blackmon’s goal is to represent the context of small American communities, tracing the dreams promoted by the American model.

One characteristic of Julie Blackmon’s children is their total detachment from anything related to contemporary technology. Thus they can be found playing “like in the old days,” painting the driveway with chalk, or in the handcrafted swimming pool in their own backyard.
Of inspiration for the photographer’s vision is the context of large families, being herself the eldest of nine siblings. In doing so she traces memories and what more generally influences childhood, made up of landscapes and elements that shape the way we think even as adults, those that Julie does not want to represent, deliberately leaving the feeling of a world in which everything is disconnected.