Does this water look as cold as a northern Minnesota lake is going to feel this weekend? Maybe not but hopefully as peaceful, sans loons. From peerggettyimages:

Geir Pettersen’s night swimming deserves a quiet night

~reblogged by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

(via peergettyimages)

An Image We Loved That Didn’t Make the Cut by Trent Gilliss, senior editor Searching for a lead image for our show “The Far Shore of Aging” with Jane Gross, I happened upon this fabulous photograph titled “Late adventures at Arco de São Jorge.” The dynamic nature of the composition of elderly people walking in the surf coupled with the saturated colors is exquisite. And the juxtaposition of a vibrant, healthy couple navigating the rocky shores with the need of a balancing stick illustrates their vitality and fragility all at once. Oh, and don’t you just love that splash of red of the lady’s bathing suit! Nevertheless, I decided against using this photo because it was too “easy” for our purposes. This photo would’ve represented more of an idea rather than the grounded intimacy of an aging, fully sentient human being. Here, we’re looking at their backs, but we never see their faces, which perhaps compels us to think of far-off ideas and themes. All quite lovely, but, as it relates the subject matter of Krista’s conversation with Jane Gross, too abstract.  I wanted the viewer to embrace the face and the eyes, the deep intimacy of a person who is not one of the “elderly” but an individual who remains vibrant and changing, that individual’s relationship to the caregiver, and a sense of the caregiver’s pain and love, frustration and anger.  (photo: alex@Tlön/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0) (via beingvisual)
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An Image We Loved That Didn’t Make the Cut

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Searching for a lead image for our show “The Far Shore of Aging” with Jane Gross, I happened upon this fabulous photograph titled “Late adventures at Arco de São Jorge.” The dynamic nature of the composition of elderly people walking in the surf coupled with the saturated colors is exquisite. And the juxtaposition of a vibrant, healthy couple navigating the rocky shores with the need of a balancing stick illustrates their vitality and fragility all at once. Oh, and don’t you just love that splash of red of the lady’s bathing suit!

Nevertheless, I decided against using this photo because it was too “easy” for our purposes. This photo would’ve represented more of an idea rather than the grounded intimacy of an aging, fully sentient human being. Here, we’re looking at their backs, but we never see their faces, which perhaps compels us to think of far-off ideas and themes. All quite lovely, but, as it relates the subject matter of Krista’s conversation with Jane Gross, too abstract. 

I wanted the viewer to embrace the face and the eyes, the deep intimacy of a person who is not one of the “elderly” but an individual who remains vibrant and changing, that individual’s relationship to the caregiver, and a sense of the caregiver’s pain and love, frustration and anger. 

(photo: alex@Tlön/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

(via beingvisual)

Fake Synchronicity, or Just Good Timing? (video)

by Trent Gilliss, senior editor

Japanese Divers from "Fake It!"Japanese men diving from three different platforms within milliseconds of each other with near-perfect synchronicity seems too good to be true. And Fake It!, the video’s title, really makes you question what’s real and what’s crafty editing.

But, in the end, who cares? It’s incredible to watch — and I still found myself holding my breath when the divers appeared to be on the verge of pig-piling in the pool from 10 meters high.

[via VSL]

Swimming at the Top of the World
Trent Gilliss, online editor

A thoroughly inspiring lecture from a man who has been called the human polar bear. Lewis Gordon Pugh has swum in unimaginable places, including long-distance swims in all five oceans, in order to call attention to climate change.

Here, he talks about his most recent feat: swimming one kilometer (nearly 20 minutes) in minus 1.8 degrees Celsius water at the North Pole in order to raise awareness of the melting polar ice cap and rising water levels. For every one hour he spent training in cold water, he spent four hours in “mind training” — visualizing himself at every phase of the swim and willing his brain to raise his core body temperature.

If you only have a few minutes and can’t watch all 19, I recommend dropping in at the 10:25 mark to watch a short film about his journey. It’s quite moving.

(via Mashable)