[image above taken from colormekatie.blogspot.com]

I stumbled upon Katie Sokoler’s photography after watching this short documentary on her street art and immediately developed a huge crush (watch the video and you will too)!   Katie credits being forced to photograph 100 strangers in 5 hours during a college project with inspiring her art.  The above is an image from her Bubble series, where she sets creative traps and waits for the perfect moment to snap the shutter.  Her blog,  ColorMeKatie, takes you behind the scenes of her projects, her involvement with Improv Everywhere and life with her adorable cat Moo.

Keep reading for more “creative traps” set by Katie!

[all images above taken from colormekatie.blogspot.com]

Keep reading for my other picks…

[Image Above: Steven Meisel/Vogue Italia March 2008]

For this weeks photo we took a step into the world of high fashion, Steven Meisel has photographed the covers of US and Italian Vogue for over 20 years.  This image comes from the series “Reflections of Glamour” featured in the March 2008 issue of Italian Vogue.  If you are not familiar with this artist,  you still may recognize his work. Check it out here.

[Image Above: Bruce Mozert/University Press of Florida]

Bruce Mozert, now 91,  was the pioneer of underwater photography.  In the 1930s he began taking pinup and lifestyle portraits underwater off the coast of Silver Springs, Florida.  His unique vision created some amazing images.  See more here.

[Image Above: Cooper the Cat and his artwork]

Cooper is one heck of a photographer. Although he isn’t the first cat to take photos like these, I would argue that that he is the most talented. Cooper’s parents attach a lightweight digital camera to his collar that is set to snap photos every 2 minutes. This past weekend was Cooper’s first gallery opening in Seattle to benefit Paws Cat City Adoption Center, and the show is running until March 10th at the Urban Light Studios. Check out his blog and his Flickr page for more photos.

Think your kitty has artist potential? You can purchase a camera similar to Cooper’s here on Amazon!

[Image above: From Francois Bunelle's "I AM NOT A LOOK-ALIKE!" collection courtesy of doobybrain.com]

Photographer Francois Brunelle from Canada has an ongoing project titled “I AM NOT A LOOK-ALIKE,” where he photographs people from across North America and Europe with their Dopplegänger.  Some know their look-alike, others he has paired together but he promises that none are related.

Do you have a dopplegänger? You can fill out this form to participate in the project.  Francios’s goal is to photograph 200 pairs of people.

Pittsburgh is going to the Super Bowl!!

Photo: Hugh Morton, 1934

Do you remember that sketch from The Kids In The Hall when they would crush strangers heads? The perspective was just right to crush someone’s head in between your thumb and forefinger from across the street. So ridiculously simple and childish, it was hilarious! In the spirit of that idea, I thought it’d be fun to explore some similar “trick photography.”

The Eiffel Tower in your hand? Sure!

The Statue of Liberty smooshing helplessly between your fingers? Of course.

I’m asking you, faithful readers, to go forth and seek out fun photos or create some of your own. Why not post them to the ModCloth Photo School Flickr page?

If need be, check out the awesome Flickr group, I Crush Your Head, for a little inspiration.

www.Henri Cartier-Bresson/MAGNUM

For my first “Photo of the Week” post, I had to go here. This is the image that sparked my photography obsession. To this day, my heart races when I see this image from Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “The Decisive Moment” collection. At first sight, I wondered how many times the poor man had to jump into the water for the photographer to get the image he wanted….but upon further investigation, I learned that it wasn’t staged. WHAT!? No stylist? No high speed, five-frames-per-second camera? What on earth….Keep reading to find out how he did it…The entire “The Decisive Moment” collection is filled with images based on Bresson’s once-you-miss-the-moment-it’s-gone-forever philosophy. None of his images were ever “set up;” he was where he was and released the shutter at precisely the correct moment. He said of this image:

“There was a plank fence around some repairs behind the Gare Saint-Lazare train station. I happened to be peeking through a gap in the fence with my camera at the moment the man jumped.”

Some critics have called his photography a collection of snapshots, but when you look through the volume of his work and discover his mastery of composition (he never cropped in on a negative), available light, and his camera, on top of his ability to capture the human spirit, you start to see something awe-inspiring. He often said being a photographer is similar to being a hunter and recalled the excitement of receiving his first camera: “I prowled the streets all day, feeling very strung-up and ready to pounce, determined to ‘trap’ life – to preserve life in the act of living.”

www.Henri Cartier-Bresson/MAGNUM

As the “father of photojournalism and street photography” you see his influence all around us in newspapers, magazines, and more recently, in wedding photos– as photographers move away from posed portraits and towards capturing a more candid “in-the-moment” style.

A few years ago, one of Henri’s photos was submitted anonymously to a Flickr pool. It is quite entertaining to read the comments. You can learn more about my favorite photographer here or explore his images here.