Tiago Photography

"A time-lapse taken from the front of the International Space Station as it orbits our planet at night. This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, El Salvador, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Lake Titicaca, and the Amazon. Also visible is the Earth's ionosphere (thin yellow line), a satellite (55sec) and the stars of our galaxy."

Labels: Blue Marble, Earth, International Space Station, Iss, Satellite, Space, Universe, Video, Youtube

This weekend I went to visit my home city of Manchester, and was intrigued by the title of the exhibition "Dark Matters" at The Whitworth Art Gallery.
I have just finished reading "The 4% Universe" by Richard Panek which explores the idea of dark matter and dark energy within our universe.
The artist Daniel Rozin absolutely steals the show as the first "Dark Matters" exhibit you see on entering, is "Snow Mirror". Silk thread hangs from the ceiling and gives the impression of pretty fairy lights, it is only when you face the installation that you see yourself mirrored in the thread.
I was impressed to say the least, but my mind was blown to pieces when I saw "Peg Mirror" in the next room.


There is a camera placed in the centre of the "mirror", and the pegs oscillate to imitate the surroundings.
I can't begin to understand how Daniel Rozin has created these amazing installations, and for that reason I am absolutely fascinated with them.
If you're in Manchester before the 15th of January 2012, you should definitely check out this exhibition! If not, check out Daniel Rozin's website.

Labels: Artist, Daniel Rozin, Manchester, Mirror, Peg Mirror, Richard Panek, Silk, Snow Mirror, Technology, Thread, Video, Whitworth, Wood, Youtube

On this blog, I have made a few entries concerning Fibonacci.
Fibonacci is a series of numbers which can be used to construct a golden spiral, which is only one type of logarithmic spiral.
A golden spiral adheres to the golden ratio, which has been used in art for centuries.
The most famous artist who uses the golden ratio within their work is of course, Leonardo Da Vinci seen here in his most famous work, The (tiny) Mona Lisa.
(Yep, I went there...)
I just wanted to make this entry to show how evident the Spira Mirabilis (miraculous spiral) is within the natural world.



The last image you see here, is part of the the fascinating Mandelbrot set, which is a series of fractals which reveals infinite self-similarity. I.E. If you continually "zoom in" on a feature of the mandelbrot set, you will eventually end up looking at the same image you started with, and so the pattern will continue.
This is the best video I have found to illustrate the Mandelbrot set:

Labels: Fibonacci, Galaxy, Hurricane, Leonardo Da Vinci, Logarithmic Spiral, Miraculous Spiral, Mona Lisa, Nature, Shell, Spira Mirabilis, T, The Golden Ratio, The Mandelbrot Set, Video

Brandon McConnell of Space Paintings . Com uses some unique spray painting techniques to create amazing imaginary visions from outer space.

Labels: Art, Artist, Brandon Mcconnell, Paint, Paintings Universe, Space, Spray, Video

Whilst studying Fine Art at Leeds College Of Art, I went along with my course friend to a few Leeds Psychogeography Group meetings.
Psychogeography is defined as "the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals." source.
So, in other words, the study of environment and how it makes us feel. A mix of art and geography that can be both playful and academic.
The concept of psychogeography is important to an artist, as responding to a given environment is necessary for any working artist. For example; hanging work in a gallery, scoping out space for an installation, creating the right setting for video art.
If you'd like to practise Psychogeography, here are some ideas for places to start:
- How To Become An Explorer Of The World : Portable Life Museum
Two weeks ago, I found a great book by Keri Smith which instructs you to collect things you have found and document your surroundings. This is a great basic Psychogeography book which may lead on to more fascinating things.
- Geocaching
See if you can find evidence of Geocaching happening in your area.
"Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online."
- View the work of Tina Richardson and her blog Particulations

- Take A Boundary Walk
One evening in Summer 2010, I took part in a "Beating The Bounds" walk with the Leeds Psychogeography group.
A member of the Psychogeography group designed a map based on the designated drinking areas in Leeds City Centre. We then were able to walk following the boundaries of the map, clutching alcoholic drinks, and seeing if we would attract the attention of the police.
We didn't get fined or told off, but it was fun.
- Read "Psychogeography" by Will Self
Will Self is a noted psychogeographer, and this book is a collection of visual essays that he wrote for The Independent.
"Ranging from the Scottish Highlands to Istanbul and from Morocco to Ohio, Will Self's engaging and disturbing vision is perfectly counter pointed by Ralph Steadman's edgy and beautiful artwork."
- Project 365
One of the most important things about Psychogeography, is to explore and to notice.
Personally, I have found that committing to taking a picture every day has helped me to find beauty and interest in my immediate surroundings.
You can see my 365 Project for 2009 here, and 2011 here.

Labels: Art, Geocaching, Leeds, Leeds University, Particulations, Psychogeography, The Culture Vulture, Tina Richardson, Video, Walking, Will Self

Yesterday I went to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to listen to a lecture by Dr Omar Almaini from the University Of Nottingham.
The talk covered the nature of supermassive black holes, why we think that they exist and how to discover them which was fascinating.
However, as an artist, I was moved by the visual data that Dr Omar Almaini provided along with his talk.
This video shows a cluster of stars hidden behind the black dust of the milky way. The camera used to capture this information was specifically designed for this purpose, as scientists were fascinated to discover if there was a black hole lurking in our galaxy.
For scientists to determine if a black hole did exist in our galaxy, the scientists would need to track the movement of stars. If the stars were found to be moving around, then this would become evidence of a black hole in our galaxy.
Dr Omar Almaini described this clip as "pure unadulterated data straight from the telescope". This video shows that stars are in fact orbiting a central point of gravity within the space of a few decades, so most scientists now believe that a dormant black hole does exist in the Milky Way.
Using this definition of "dormant", there are no collisions of planets / there is no fuel for the black hole to emit any kind of radiation. It is also rather unlikely that we will get sucked in to the black hole any time soon!
Using this data, scientists have been able to make models of the stars orbiting the black hole as a visual aid. (Towards the end of this clip).
I am always impressed by any super-intelligent professor who can simplify complex ideas for consumption of the general public, so I found the talk by Dr Omar Almaini very educational.
I will leave you with an excerpt from "Physics Of The Impossible" by Michio Kaku, on the scientist Albert Einstein.
"What was the secret of his genius? Perhaps one clue to his genius was his ability to think in terms of physical pictures (e.g. moving trains, accelerating clocks, stretched fabrics) rather than pure mathematics.
Einstein once said that unless a theory can be explained to a small child, the theory was probably useless;
that is, the essence of a theory has to be captured by the physical picture; the mathematics would come later".

Labels: Albert Einstein, Dr Omar Almaini, Michio Kaku, National Maritime Museum, Physics Of The Impossible, Stellar Motions In The Galactic Centre, Supermassive Black Hole, The Milky Way, Video, Visualization, Youtube

Reuben Margolin creates sculptures that are inspired by waves in the natural world i.e. ripples on the surface of water, the movement of caterpillars, the wings of birds.
The sculptures are finely engineered, and are complex to make. If one component of the machine does not work, the entire movement of the sculpture will come to a halt.
For me, Margolin captures the elegance of the natural world, which comes from a true understanding of science and nature. Margolin draws a series of equations accompanied by sketches of his final piece, it is hard to understand where the art ends and the science starts.

Labels: Birds, Caterpillar, Kinetics, Materials, Movement, Moving, Natural, Nature, Recycled, Reuben Margolin, Sculpture, Video, Waves, Youtube

Numerically Controlled from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.Matt W. Moore has been successful in creating some robotic drawings.
"Vector graphics are converted into a tool path and then a machine language which controls a 3-axis CNC machine retrofitted with a special fixture that holds a marker and mimics hand pressure during the act of drawing. "
To lift the jargon a little bit, CNC means Computer Numerical Control which is used in computer-aided design (CAD) or computer-aided manufacturing (CAM).
In my experience, CNC has involved laser-cutting materials such as acrylic or vinyl.
Instead of using a laser to carry out the path of his drawing, Moore has devised a gadget to hold a sharpie.

Labels: Cad, Cam, Cnc, Drawing, Robot, Robotic, Sharpie, Video

Soap bubbles are a staple feature in this blog, so I was excited to see this video on TodayAndTomorrow by Kim Pimmel.
Compressed 02 from Kim Pimmel on Vimeo.

Kim Pimmel has included some more stills of this video on his flickr profile.

Labels: Bubbles, Ferrofluid, Iron, Kim Pimmel, Liquid, Soap, Video, Videos, Vimeo

The other day I made a post on A Timeline For The Universe by Omid Kashan which has been featured on the website Information Is Beautiful.
Patterns can be captured and processed through software to create artwork, and in this digital age, the possibilities are endless.
For his graduation project from The Royal Academy Of The Arts (Den Haag), Frederic Brodbeck has focused on visualizing and comparing movie data in his Cinemetrics project. By focusing on one aspect of the film, (such as movement) the program can generate an overall fingerprint of the film in its entirety, as you can see below.
cinemetrics from fb on Vimeo.
In the video, Brodbeck compares many different films so that you can see the varying degrees of movement in films such as The Shining and Alien.

Labels: Alien, Art, Cinemetrics, Data, Film, Frederic Brodbeck, Information Is Beautiful, Movies, Royal Academy Of The Arts Den Haag, The Shining, Video, Vimeo

Sometimes, art can just grab me by the throat and leave me astounded.
This is what happened when I discovered Etsuko Ichikawa on the ANTHROPOLOGiST.
I would highly recommend watching the video "IntoTheFire" on the ANTHROPOLOGiST website.
The video is elegantly shot and transfixing.
If you don't want to leave this page, here is an equally engaging video embedded for your convenience.

What you are seeing in this video is Etsuko Ichikawa drawing with molten glass , a balance between performance and drawing to capture the immediacy of the moment.
As a result, the drawings are delightfully expressive.
The process of drawing with molten glass is named as a "Glass Phyrograph"; an example of how experimentation, scientific knowledge of material and self expression can co-exist in art practice.

Labels: Burning, Etsuko Ichikawa, Fire, Glass, Hot, Molten, The Anthropologist, Video

Today, I was drawn to the work of Amie Siegel , in particular the series of photographs in which holes seem to have been burnt out.
On further research, I found that these photographs are in fact stills from her film Black Moon.


"Black Moon / Hole Punches" (is) derived from the hole punches, or black moons, typically cut by the motion picture laboratory into the first frame of action in film negative. Always left out of the final edited film, these hole punches appear in Siegel�s prints as imperfect black disks or voids cut out of film frames. They are evocative of lunar phases, yet strangely violent in their intercession into the otherwise smooth picture plane." source.
In other words, this "black moon" phenomena is due to a fault in the film. The artist embraces the fault and uses it to her own ends.
The motion-picture film in its entirety explores a post-apocalyptic landscape and the concept of a world with no future. For me, the gaping void in each film still add to the feeling of hopelessness and absence.

Labels: Amie Siegel, Apocalypse, Artist, Black Moon, Circularity, Film, Video

This "Last Clock" application records 60 seconds of video information and warps it in to a circular pattern.
Last Clock from New Mediology on Vimeo.
As someone who is interested in alternative photography processes, the use of a clock is very interesting. I love the idea of representing the passage of time in one image.

Labels: App, Film, Information Is Beautiful, Last Clock, New Mediology, Time, Video, Vimeo

When researching the soap bubble photographs of Richard Heeks, I came across another artist specializing in the art of bubbles; Jane Thomas.
Whilst writing this blog, I have come across many artists who have used soap bubbles in their work and each artist has shed some light on the way soap bubbles behave in different situations.
In this video that Jane has uploaded to her Flickr, you can see how soap bubble mixture moves around within a fixed frame.

Jane Thomas' flickr profile has some delightful psychadelic-looking images of soap bubbles that are unique to her own style of processing.


Jane is so interested by the images that soap films create, she has opened a soap films flickr group where members can submit their own pictures of soap films. There are 547 photographs submitted to the group, and each photograph is different.
Jane is also a member of The Physics Classroom flickr group, which is a collection of photographs which relate to The Physics Classroom website. The Physics Classroom website is particularly good for refreshing knowledge on basic physics, but provides a good set of tutorials which could be altered for artistic merit!

Labels: Bubbles, Film, Jane In Colour, Jane Thomas, Soap, Soap Film, Soap Films, The Physics Classroom, Video, Videos

Soap bubbles are a fascinating phenomenon.
In this video, you will see mini-vortexes forming due to the soap bubble heating up to 45 degrees centigrade.
The thermal plumes resemble hurricanes forming in the earths atmosphere, but that is as far as the analogies extend.
However, Xiao-Lun Wu a physicist at the University Of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, says that by observing the turbulence in soap films we can find more about turbulence more generally (for example, how hurricanes might react to surrounding turbulent air). source

Labels: Bubbles, Physics, Soap, Video, Xiao-Lun Wu