Artist Vacuum Seals Couples For Photo Portraits

Tokyo-based photographer Hal vacuum-sealed couples together to create a bizarre photo series titled ‘Flesh Love’.

Hal wraps willing couples in plastic normally used to store futon covers, then sucks the air out with a vacuum cleaner nearly smothering them. The subjects then have to hold their breath for about 10 seconds, while he snaps a couple of quick pictures with his Pentax 645D DSLR. Sometimes the models are clothed, other times naked, and occasionally they'll bring a prop, like a guitar, into their vacuum pack of love. ‘Flesh Portrait’ is available in a book form and will also be available in a $13 iPad app.

If you are wondering where he gets his couples, the artist explains:

I go to Kabukicho in Shinjuku, underground bars in Shibuya, and many other places which are full of activity like luscious night time bee-hives. When I see a couple of interest I will begin to negotiate. I'm sure that many people initially think of my proposal as unusual or even look through me like I am completely invisible, but I always push forward with my challenge to them. The models appear from all walks of life and individually have included musicians, dancers, strippers, laborers, restaurant and bar managers, photographers, businessmen and women, unsettled and unemployed, et al.

Reflections: Street Photography Through Puddles by Ira Fox

Reflections is a series of photographs by New York-based fine art photographer Ira Fox,  where she used puddles as a looking glass to capture the city life on a rainy day.

Spotted Lake, Canada

Located near the city of Osoyoos in British Columbia, Canada’s Spotted Lake draws visitors from around the world. The Spotted Lake has a very highly concentration of numerous different minerals such as magnesium sulfate, calcium and sodium sulphates. It also contains extremely high concentrations of eight other minerals as well as some small doses of four others such as silver and titanium.

Most of the water in the lake evaporates over the summer, leaving behind large “spots” of minerals. Depending on the mineral composition left behind, the spots will be of white, pale yellow, green or blue in color. The spots are made mainly of magnesium sulfate, which crystallizes in the summer to form harden natural “walkways” around and between the spots.

During the First World War, minerals from the lake were harvested for manufacture of ammunition. Chinese laborers were said to have skimmed up to a ton a day of salts from the surface of the lake and shipped them to munitions factories in eastern Canada.

Known as Kliluk to the natives of the Okanagan Valley, the lake is a sacred and culturally significant site whose potential for commercial exploitation recently generated much controversy. The therapeutic quality of the waters has been known for millennia - the Native Indians used the mud and waters of the lake to heal aches and ailments. According to a story, once two warring tribes signed a truce where both parties were allowed to tend to their wounded in the Spotted Lake,

The lake was originally owned by the Ernest Smith Family for about 40 years. In 1979, when Smith attempted to have a spa at the lake, the natives attempted to buy the lake so they could keep it as a sacred site. After over 20 years of trying but failing to convince Smith to sell the land, they finally did make a deal in late October 2001, when they bought 22 hectares of land for a total of $720,000. The First Nations paid $150,000 while the Indian Affairs Department paid the remainder.

Today, the lake is surrounded by a fence to keep people off, but you can get a good view of it from the highway.

Origami Art of Brian Chan

American artist Brian Chan makes incredible origami pieces from a single uncut square piece of paper.

Chan is craft instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and completes his amazing paper sculptures in his spare time.  He said: "I started by copying work of other authors about 20 years ago but after a while I was good enough to start coming up with my own pieces. When I was growing up, my parents bought me a lot of origami books they start with simple models and then the diagrams get more and more complex near the end, so they are good sources for independent learning.”

He has now fashioned more than 100 unique artworks, from people, insects to jungle cats.

Kinderkookkafe: The Restaurant Run by Kids

Kinderkookkafé is a family restaurant in Amsterdam that is run entirely by children: they cook, serve, bring the bill and wash up, all with a little help from the friendly grown-up staff, of course. The simple set menu includes main course and dessert: ingredients are fresh, the food is healthy and prices are very low. Reservation is usually required to get a table.

The place is part restaurant, part cooking school and part day care. Parents drop their kids off in the afternoon and return to eat the meal the children have made. While the kids are there, they are taught how to cook, serve and wait. With the help and supervision of two adults, and a reservation, kids can prepare dinner on Saturday, and bake cookies and pies for high tea on Sunday. If they want to, they can join the kitchen brigade with other kids or just relax with their families  and enjoy the meal.

Picture menus are provided looking at which kids can make sandwiches, milkshakes, and bake cakes. The ingredients, necessary cooking items, and instructions are all at their level. Children can do everything here -- cook, wait tables, wash up, serve behind the bar (soft drinks only), and write checks. The basic idea is to teach kids how to be responsible and helpful by cultivating that behavior in a fun and child-friendly environment.