© Ben Cort

Cephalopods reach out to capture this unfortunate vessel. More surreal images from Ben Cort’s “Dreams” series are included in the PDNedu Student Photo Contest 2011 online gallery.

© Kenji Aoki

This past summer, Kenji Aoki photographed a live 5ft bluefin tuna for a NYTimes cover story. The fish was kept still using acupuncture and was fed through a tube in the back of its mouth.

Aoki recently moved from Tokyo to New York in early November 2010. He has been represented by Michael Ash Partners for the last 4 years. Coming from a design background, his work has the simplicity, beauty and elegance that sets him apart from his contemporaries. He does not rely on retouching and his work requires minimal post; the image “mother earth” has none. To see more of Aoki’s work click here.

© Myriam Babin

The fate of this porcine beast was sealed at the Brown Café. It’s pigheadedness was documented by Myriam Babin as part of an ongoing personal project on New York City restaurant kitchens. More images from Babin’s series can be seen in the PDN Self-Promo Awards 2010 online gallery.

© The Irving Penn Foundation. Above: 20 Metal Pieces, New York, 1980.

Opening tonight at the Pace/MacGill Gallery is Irving Penn: Archæology, an exhibit featuring over twenty platinum still lifes.

Penn’s archaeology pictures investigate the visual intrigue of seemingly inconsequential debris and junk — plumbing fittings, steel fragments, bolts and bones — in the exquisitely executed medium of platinum.  Dedicated to the art of meticulously handcrafted prints, Penn is reputed to have spent nearly 50 hours on the production of a single platinum print.  He reflected on this work in his 1991 book, Passage: “For some years I had been accumulating scraps of material that obsessed me: bits of glass, metal, and bone; a human cranium; old sewing machines; a variety of dusts.  In 1979 I acquired an early twelve-by-twelve-inch banquet camera and had it altered. . . We made thirty-two negatives between 1979 and 1980.  The platinum prints themselves however took a year of work.”

Rich in tonal distinction and elemental in construction, these photographs demonstrate Penn’s deep regard for the print as a physical object, as well as his extraordinary ability to create striking compositions with the most unsuspecting of materials.

Irving Penn: Archæology will be on view from October 28, 2010 through January 15, 2011. To find out more about the exhibit click here.

© Stephen Mallon

Next Stop Atlantic – an exhibition of Stephen Mallon’s work is opening at the Front Room gallery on September 10th, 2010. This stunning series features the process of artificial reef building off the East Coast in the U.S. The exhibit will be running September 10th through October 3rd.

See more of Stephen Mallon’s work here.