Define contemporary

Even in the age of flickr, when everyone and their aunt has a web gallery and photography seems to be democratic like never before, the old truth remains: trends are set by the opinionmakers. But who is an opinionmaker nowadays? Bloggers give old giants like Aperture a hard time and don't let them rest on their well-deserved laurels. However, even with a photo blog behind every virtual tree, just a few bloggers have the eye to present artwork that's diversified but equally high quality-wise. Blogs like http://www.vasodeaguablog.com/ do us a great favor: they search the net for finding the buzz, and show us the best of their pick.

What I like about this blog is the diversity of the featured artists. For instance, there's Isa Marcelli with her stunning ability to master the difficult art of square format composition. One has to admire John Salisbury's travel in time. David J. Nightingale offers HDRs that make sense (his jumping shot is hilarious). Aneta Kowalczyk's portraits are a hot breath in the neck of some well-established glam and portrait masters, not to mention Falsalama (although he has better stuff on his flickr page than the selected ones imo). James Wainwright re-defines blur. There's even food photography by Christopher Hornaday, definitely off-limits for people on a diet. Jordi Gual makes you commit suicide in a very beautiful and peaceful way, listening all the way to Hurt by Johnny Cash. Tom Stone gives dignity a new meaning with his shots of homeless people. And so on and so forth... the only thing I miss is nudes. Fine art, classic, pin-up, emotive or whatever - there's something inspirational in almost every genre from street to decay, even graphic and furniture(!) design, but this very basic genre is missing.
Anyway, the blog's title is very apt - browsing throught the galleries is indeed like a having a glass of pure refreshing water. Or even better: kaltes klares Wasser...



The site leaves only one question... what does this guy want from me? Compared to some folks featured there, I'm just a wannabe.