Category: Face Of The Day

Crazy Kiev picture by Vlad Sodel of @Reuters: Protesters coming across a policeman after clashes this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/MSZBKaeMSZ

— Michael Kelley (@MichaelKelleyBI) February 18, 2014

Photographer Alex John Beck creates two portraits of a person by reflecting the left and right sides of his or her face:

Beautiful faces, both in fashion and real life, are often described as symmetrical. As such, Beck decided to reproduce the faces of several people, as though each half of their face was a mirrored replica of the other. Neither of the portraits in each pair of images offers a realistic portrayal of the subject, but rather a greatly manipulated version. It reveals how unsymmetrical faces really are and how different one would look, were they to be completely equal on both sides. The series also forces one to think about the definition of beauty.

More images from the series here.

(Photo by Alex John Beck)

Bear Kirkpatrick shares how playing with hair coverings inspired him to create his series “Wallportraits”:

The first Wallportrait came about because I had my friend Ashley in my studio and I was playing dress up with her. I had borrowed clothes from a vintage store and from a costume maker and was just dressing her this way and that and taking photos, just seeing what happens. Playing. Most photographers hire Ashley because of her incredible hair, but in my mindless playing I wondered what she might look like without that hair. You know, take away the obvious, the given. I didn’t “think” this. I just wrapped her head with apiece of white fabric and took some pictures.

And her eyes! Man, they were out of this world! I mean, something really shifted visually — my own visual response system seemed to completely change its footing and include information that was newly revealed. Not by addition but by subtraction. And so there’s a clear antecedent there to my own experience of having been deaf when I was a child. Something taken away that can lead to discovery.

(Photo by Bear Kirkpatrick)

Freya Jobbins creates sculptures our of discarded toy parts:

The Johannesberg-born artist takes her inspiration from an ecletic range of sources including the Toy Story trilogy, controversial anatomist Gunther Von Hagen, Guiseppe Archimboldo and his fruit and vegetable paintings, and various other artists. Her creations are also inspired by a keen interest in Greek mythology. Freya takes miscellaneous parts of discarded dolls and toys to create the bizarre faces, heads and busts. Each piece of plastic is painstakingly carved and glued layer over layer to add depth to each sculpture.

As well as her plastic sculptures, Freya, who moved to Australia at the age of nine and grew up in Sydney, also makes prints. She said: ‘The plastic toy assemblages, disturbing to some, I see as my humorous side and my printmaking is what I consider more my voice.’

(Photo by Freya Jobbins. Hat tip: Colossal)

An engaged couple attends a Valentine’s Day celebration in St Peter’s Square on February 14, 2014. The Vatican said there were around 20,000 future brides and grooms attending from 25 countries, all of them enrolled on Catholic marriage preparation courses. By Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images.

Canada’s Jill Officer throws the stone during the Women’s Curling Round Robin Session 6 match Switzerland vs Canada at the Ice Cube Curling Center during the Sochi Winter Olympics on February 13, 2014. By Damien Meyer/AFP/Getty Images.

A bride arrives for her wedding ceremony at Cheongshim Peace World Center in Gapyeong-gun, South Korea on February 12, 2014. 2,500 couples from around the world exchanged vows in the wedding the Unification Church claims as one of its largest ever. By Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images.

Pascal Tessier receives his Eagle scout badge at his weekly troop meeting, at the All Saints Church in Chevy Chase. Tessier will be one of the first openly gay Eagle scouts. In the past he would have been asked to leave or be booted from scouting, but BSA ruled that it would accept gay scouts but not gay scout leaders. By Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post via Getty Images. Update from a reader:

Great to see you featured Pascal Tessier receiving his Eagle scout badge. I sat on his Eagle Scout Board of Review, and he’s a remarkable young man. He helped change policy in a huge organization, and moved history along a little in so doing. Our two oldest boys also made Eagle Scout the same night – there were 7 candidates from the region. Very proud of them all.

Adrian Chesser photographed friends and family right after revealing he’s HIV+:

When I tested positive for HIV and was diagnosed with AIDS, I had an extreme physical reaction whenever I thought about having to tell my friends and family. Looking at this reaction more closely, I realized that it was the same reaction I had as a kid whenever I had to disclose something uncomfortable to my parents, fearing rejection or even abandonment if larger secrets were revealed. It occurred to me that it might be possible to overcome this paralyzing fear by photographing my friends as I told them about my diagnosis. I invited each friend to come to my studio to have their picture taken, a simple head shot for a new project. They weren’t given any other information. For a backdrop I used the curtains from the living room of the house I grew up in. I put everyone through the same routine, creating a formal process that proved to be transformative. At the beginning of each shoot I would start by saying, “I have something to tell you”.

All of us who have this virus went through something similar. Twenty-one years ago, of course, the reactions were more extreme. I saw some faces look at me as if I were already dead. The shift in their expressions carried with them all the baggage of stigma, horror, and, worst of all, pity. My mum’s face barely changed – she simply refused to believe it, and went on for a while as if nothing had happened. My dad’s face fell like a sudden mini-avalanche. Every small point of animation collapsed. It registered in a second all the fear and terror and sadness I had been experiencing – and oddly made me begin to resist all three. If only to help my family cope.

More photos from the series here.

For her series “Behind Glass,” Anne Berry photographs primates through the glass separation barrier:

“They’re looking at us like we’re looking at them,” Berry said.

Her title not only means the obvious, that the animals are behind enclosure windows, but also draws a metaphor to how humans separate themselves from nature. People like to observe the natural world but want to segregate wild animals in contained preservations or zoos.

“I want people to say, what are we doing to the habitats?” Berry said.

More images from the series here.

(Photograph by Anne Berry)