Kim Erlandsen said it, I repeated it: symmetry is sexy. Don’t believe me? Check out her photography series by that very title (Symmetry Is Sexy) and just try to contest that statement. Can’t do it, huh? Not when something is just this good, … and her photographs are. No denying it. The idea is simple: each side is a mirror image of the other. I love how she’s shot these massive, massive interior spaces that are almost completely devoid of anything else but wide open space. The architecture has such a commanding presence. I also love that these are all shot in one-point perspective, so every horizontal line converges together leading the eye directly into the image from all sides. And the contrast of light and dark! Oh, I could go on and on. Let’s just stop here and say I’m WOWed and save you all a massive gush fest on my part.

Images via Ufunk.

Prepare yourself to die from pretty overload. Are you ready? Here it comes… with these absolutely EXQUISITE black and white photos from the set of Mad Men by photographer James Minchin III. Are they blowing your mind? They’re blowing mine. I love how candid they are capturing the quickest and most fleeting moments in time. I love seeing behind the scenes shots in general – be it outtakes from interior shoots, or backstage photos from fashion week – and these ones taken during those in-between moments of filming are equally as thrilling to me. There’s something strangely magical and captivating to me about seeing the little “x” tape marks for an actor or a prop during the take, or a rack of perfectly crisp white dress shirts, or a cropped view of the lovely January Jones waiting for her scene.

Are you on the Mad Men train? I’ve only recently hopped on, but it’s instantly become one of the shows I most look forward to each week. It’s one of those shows that’s so honest and fearless, and that’s what I love about it. It’s very real. And I love how that’s captured in this set of photos.

P.S. You can see a whole bunch more photos – there’s a tonne more! – and at full size, over here. Well worth your while.

Images via Everyday I Show

Beauty can be found anywhere and everywhere. And often times it’s not necessarily the conventionally pretty things that are the most remarkable, right? Case in point: a series of photographs featuring decrepit swimming pools. So ordinary, easily overlooked, even considered and eye sore in their state of dilapidation. No clear water, no chlorine smell, just ruins. But in their decay, they make for some oddly captivating subject matter, don’t they? There’s a sense of melancholy and nostalgia to these photographs by J Bennett Fitts, and I find them oddly quite beautiful in all their strangeness. (Or maybe I’m just weird?)

Images via J Bennett Fitts.

Happy weekend! The sun is shining and I’m going on a little exploration/adventure this afternoon – how about you?

Perfectly complementary to my afternoon plans… Have you seen the photo website Downtown From Behind, yet? It’s a series of photos shot of various residents – from behind, as the name suggests – riding their bikes around the streets of NYC. It’s such a light hearted, casual look at the typically bustling Big Apple. Plus it’s kind of neat that the portraits are shot from behind – adds a little mystery, yeah? Who are these people? The website offers brief little stories about each, but by never showing their faces, there’s still this anonymity and curiosity to it all. Really cool. And the photos are pretty. Added bonus. ;)

Images via Downtown From Behind.

Last week was a little quieter than usual around these parts. Midterms had a large part to do with that. And I needed to take a few days after the fact to just clear my head and refresh the ole creative spark, you know? Now if only I could have transported myself into the photographs of Jennifer Squires, and my task would have been simplified tenfold. Her images of the Great Lakes are the epitome of calm, peace, and serenity, and in a way, almost seem to be their own special sort of creative therapy. I love her minimalistic approach to photographing these expanses of water – it makes them seem so mystical and otherworldly.

Images via Jennifer Squires on Flickr