Jeremy Cowart, Photographer

I went to Jeremy Cowart's website because of the write-up in the current edition of Layers Magazine. His is one of three photography websites spotlighted by the magazine as being a cut above the rest.

It certainly is a fine example of how Web 2.0 technology is making its way into sites that are using it for its practicality and not its novelty – but that's a post for another time. As I said, I went based on the magazine's review; I stayed because of Cowart's amazing photographs of Africa and its people. These are some of the most achingly beautiful photos of that place that you'll ever see.

This is not just another shoot for the photographer. He's collaborated with Jena Lee to produce a book, Hope in the Darkness, with the intent of raising awareness of both the desperation and the hope that exists on that continent, or, rather, in its people.

If you browse through more of Cowart's portfolio, you'll see that he's tagged a number of photos with the term "Christian." (The ability to sort and organize the photos by such tags is another cool application of technology for this site.) The photos in this section are primarily of musicians, and well-known ones at that (e.g. Jars of Clay, Switchfoot, Casting Crowns, Mercy Me, Everyday Sunday, and some guy named Michael W. Smith). Given that his website's target audience is art directors (according to the Layers article) it's pretty gutsy of him to use the "C" word anywhere on the site.

He's got a Virb blog, if you're interested.

Technorati tag: Jeremy Cowart

Charles Sovek (1937-2007)

I've noticed more than a few visitors are coming to the Gazette* seeking information about Charles Sovek's obituary. As a public service – I'm not sure it's linked anywhere else – you can find it here. This page also has a link to the funeral home's guestbook. If you were a fan or student of his work, I'm sure his family would appreciate your condolences.

*Charles was an internationally recognized artist and author, and my client for more than five years. His death on June 8 was a shock, and I will miss him. We had exchanged 5,000 emails since 2002 (he was an active participant in the management of his website), and I came to think of him as a friend as much as a client. Our discussions ranged from website design to computer graphics and hardware, to the next kind of van he was thinking about buying. I never met him in person.

Evocative Artwork

There's something about this guy's work that's quite calming. Even this one, which puts a whimsical spin on one end-of-life scenario.

Update: This is apparently a recurring theme.

The artist is Shawn Bonsky and I ran across a sample of his painting on his Gawker Artists page.

[After all these years, I just realized that I don't have a category for "Art." I guess I don't post much about art, or I've shoehorned it into other categories. Maybe I'll do more of this in the future. Maybe not. But we've got a category now, so our taxonomy has that going for it.]

Analog Sci-Fi Mag Cover Art

I forget...have I ever pointed out my lovely collection of cover art from "Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact" magazine (1966-70)?

It's a work-in-progress, but the first two years have turned out nicely, I think. If you were a sci-fi geek like me in the 60s, perhaps this will bring back some pleasant memories.