What Averaged Face Photographs Reveal About Human Beauty

As per the finding that 32 faces are seen as more attractive; I used this as the threshold for the amount of faces to average. The selection of images to use was based on my own criteria: facing forward, eyes looking into the camera, limited facial expression, decent size and decent colouration.

For each ‘category’ (Male and female, attractive and unattractive) I aligned and resized the images, until the internal features of the face (eyes, nose, lips and chin) were as aligned as feasibly possible. Then they were averaged....

What’s interesting is that attractive male and female faces seem to have similar structures and similarities. When aligning the images in Photoshop; I could see that faces which appeared completely different actually have similar basic proportions. You can see this in the averages and in relation to conformity with the Marquardt mask.

The most interesting aspect, to me, is the incoherence seen in the ‘unattractive’ averages. Attractive faces seem to conform to a basic attractive structure, with little variance of internal features. Unattractive faces have more varying features – this would explain why the unattractive averages are less coherent.

Sleep of the Beloved

What happens to lvoers while they are sleeping? Is it a sleeping just next to each other, each on his own, or is there a sharing of certain places or emotions? Is is a nocturnal lover's dance, maybe a kind of unaware performed tenderness, or does one turn the back on each other? Is there a conjunction with the other, with one's self?

"the sleep of the beloved" was born as my diploma in 2010 at the university of applied arts Vienna and has become an ongoing long-time project.

Each picture of the sleep of the lovers is one long-time exposure. The exposing time is 6 hours, from midnight until 6am. The room with the bed is in my studio-apartment, I am at no time of the expose in the room myself. I just light the candles, set up the stage.

How might "your beloved sleep" look like?

Interesting concept, however, I don't know how comfortable I would be letting people sleep in my bed for the sake of art.

Glass art by Jon Kuhn

Where the majority work with molten or blown glass, Mr. Kuhn works in cold glass that is cut, polished, and fused into a myriad of shapes from the inside out. The result is a sculpture that takes in surrounding light, then reflects and refracts it back into space much like a fine diamond. No two are alike, and once created they appear to change color and radiance when viewed from different angles and lighting. His desire is to continue creating beautiful works, every one unique, bringing light and joy to those who experience them.

Some of his work is displayed at Gallery Mack at Western x Lenora. Next time in Seattle.....

Vainest Cities in the US

We added up each city's rates for cosmetic procedures (American Society of Plastic Surgeons), Botox users, folks who go for dye jobs, and people who will spend anything to look younger (Experian Marketing Services). We also tallied sales of at-home hair dyes, teeth whiteners, and shapewear (SimplyMap), as well as per-capita rates of cosmetic dentists, plastic surgeons, and tanning salons (American Academy of Cosmetic Dentistry, AMA, and SimplyMap). Finally, Foursquare told us where people check into those salons most often.

Most vain:

1. Tampa, FL
2. Plano, TX
3. Atlanta, GA
4. Las Vegas, NV
5. Dallas, TX
6. Pittsburgh, PA
7. Houston, TX
8. Miami, FL
9. San Francisco, CA
10. Providence, RI

Seriously....every other block is a plastic surgery center in west Plano.

Fimmvörðuháls/Aurora Borealis

British photographer James Appleton has spent the past seven years capturing the volatile yet stunning landscapes of Iceland – and was rewarded with this incredibly rare shot.

Eat. Learn. Move.

EAT

LEARN

MOVE

3 guys, 44 days, 11 countries, 18 flights, 38 thousand miles, an exploding volcano, 2 cameras and almost a terabyte of footage... all to turn 3 ambitious linear concepts based on movement, learning and food ....into 3 beautiful and hopefully compelling short films.....

= a trip of a lifetime.

move, eat, learn

Graffiti

Every now and then, in between all of the ugliness, name calling and self-centered egoism, you see something beautiful. Sometimes, you just have to go searching for it, as it is out of the way and rather hidden.

Prosper, Tx, 07/26/10

Library of Dust

In 1913, Maisel explained, an Oregon state psychiatric institution began to cremate the remains of its unclaimed patients. Their ashes were then stored inside individual copper canisters and moved into a small room, where they were stacked onto pine shelves.
After doing some research into the story, Maisel got in touch with the hospital administrators – the same hospital, it turns out, where they once filmed One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest – and he was granted access to the room in which the canisters were stored.