Amazing Pool Table Shots
A trickshot is when a pool cue strikes one or more balls on a billiards table, and the balls react in an odd or unexpected way. There are sanctioned trickshot world championships such as the WPA Artistic Pool World Championships, and made-for-TV events such as the World Cup of Trick Shots. Unlike artistic billiards, in which competitors must perform over seventy pre-determined challenges, trickshot competitions usually allow the players to make up new tricks. However, there are many standard tricks, and serious players will often have a large notebook of trickshot designs that they bring with them to competitions. Here is an amazing trickshot video from the Czech Republic:
Volcano Thunderstorm
“Few sights in nature can compare to the sheer magnificence of a volcano erupting in full flow. But while scenes of molten lava are relatively commonplace, this otherworldly picture of Chaiten Volcano in southern Chile shows a truly spectacular, and devastating, volcanic phenomenon.
“As clouds of toxic ash and dust tower into the sky, they ionize the air, generating an explosive electrical storm. Colossal forks of lightning spark around the noxious plume as it spews from the volcano’s crater, creating an image of raw, terrifying energy - as if the air itself were ablaze.”
The 3,300-foot Chaiten Volcano, 800 miles south of the Chilean capital Santiago, is erupting for the first time in thousands of years.
Danger Art
Flying out of a skyscraper window 30 stories up, death appears imminent for this unlucky man. But in the world of “danger art,” everything is not what it seems.
Chinese artist Li Wei has produced an unsettling series of self-portraits, a mixture of performance art and photography that creates illusions of a dangerous reality. Wei has taken his work all over the world including Italy, Spain, Korea and the USA. His original photos sell for up to $8,000 each.
“My work and artistic experience are characterized by a unique specificity and particularity,” says the 37-year-old Beijing artist. “My artistic language is universal and deals with themes about contemporary politics and society using symbols understood by everyone in every part of the world. I am fascinated by the unstable and dangerous sides of art and I hope my works reflect these aspects.”
Interactive 360 Degree Panoramas
Interactive Panoramas (or VR Photography) is a relatively new media that creates a panoramic view that immerse the viewer ‘inside’ the image. This is far far more advanced than the kinds of panoramas you can make with your digital camera and stitching software. Using your mouse you can view from side to side or top to bottom and all points in between of some fantastic imagery taking by Interactive Panorama photographers from all over the world and collected and displayed by Hans Nyberg a commercial photographer in Denmark.
There are over 400 stunning interaftive images of every thing from the Oslo Opera House to Death Valley, from the Oscars to Carnival In Rio. A truly stunning collection in a format that’s as close as you can get to being there from your PC.
A Picture A Year For 31 Years
No doubt most net-warriors have seen at least one of the ‘picture a day’ for X number of years videos that have become increasingly popular. But to date we’ve yet to find an earlier adopter than Diego Goldberg, a professional photographer who lives in Buenos Aires, Argentina and who has been taking passport style photographs of his family in the exact same deadpan pose for over 30 years.
The family is very dedicated to the once a year shot which is taken every June 17th whether everyone is in town or not. And while 30 images aren’t enough frames to make a spiffy video, it stands as one of the most amazing and detailed record of a families visual history I’ve ever seen.
Texas Globetrotter
The Harlem Globetrotters are world famous entertainers who have turned the sport of basketball into performance art. Now comes Tim Nolan, a professional juggler and basketball entertainer who has performed at The White House, Busch Gardens, The Guinness Museum in London, The Super Bowl, The World’s Fair and holds the Guinness record for bounce-juggling 11 balls. Tim is gaining a large following for his amazing ability to juggle balls, clubs, rings, torches and knives.
Juggling “is a great way to express yourself,” says the 36-year-old bachelor. “I feel as though it’s a perfect blend of the mind and body. Your mind has to keep thinking about what you’re going to do next . . . and your body has to be able to do it. There’s movement and motion and expression. And the tricks are endless. Just when you think you’ve seen everything, somebody else comes along and does something you’ve never seen before.”
Biggest Black Hole Discovered
Astronomers have discovered the largest black hole in the universe. The black hole itself is the size of our entire galaxy and has a mass of 18 billion Suns. It’s six times larger than the previous record-holder.
The massive black hole is 3.5 billion light years away from Earth and sits at the heart of a quasar named OJ287. Quasars are extremely bright objects in which matter spiraling into a giant black hole emits large amounts of radiation.
Orbiting around the giant is a smaller black hole weighing only about 100 million Suns. The smaller hole orbits the giant every 12 years and comes close enough to punch through the disc of matter surrounding the larger black hole twice each orbit, causing a pair of outbursts that make the OJ287 quasar brighten suddenly.
Northern Lights in Iceland
The Northern Lights (or Aurora Borealis) are natural, colorful light displays, usually visible at night in the polar regions. The lights often appear as “curtains” of green that constantly evolve and change into all colors of the rainbow.
The sun ejects high-energy charged particles called ions that travel into space 300-1200 kilometers per second. This “solar wind” interacts with the Earth’s magnetic field in the upper atmosphere and glows in bright colors.
Sigurdur H Stefnisson has dozens of amazing photographs of the Northern Lights in Iceland. For this photo, Sigurdur says: “Iceland is within that belt where auroras are very common. Here Siggi captured this beautiful scene of the auroras in full swing, and the red color is caused by the solar particles hitting high altitude oxygen.”
Amazing High-Definition Photos
The High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique can create amazing pictures that seem to come alive on screen. HDR attempts to accurately represent the wide range of exposure and color intensity found in real scenes, ranging from bright sunlight to dark shadows. This is usually accomplished with image processing and tone-mapping software.
As a result, HDR pictures can sometimes appear too colorful or bright to be real, but they are indeed actual photographs and not Photoshop illustrations. Check out 35 Amazing HDR Photos.
Amazing Chalk Drawings
Julian Beever is an English artist famous for his elaborate 3-D chalk drawings in England, France, Germany and the USA. Beever creates his art using a projection method called anamorphosis, which creates the illusion of three dimensions when viewed from a specific angle. Besides his pavement art, Beever also paints murals, collages, oil paintings and replicas of master artwork.
