I think the life cycle is all backwards

 

 

The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating…

 

…and you finish off as an orgasm.

– George Carlin

Before you judge others or claim absolute truth, consider that..

 

 

 

Mind-Boggling Painted Hands Illusions

They say that the human hands are the most difficult subjects to illustrate, but I wonder how it compares in difficulty to painting directly on them. Instead of simply drawing a pair of hands, these series of images by photographer Ray Massey use palms, fingers, fingernails, and fists as the canvas for some incredibly illusionary body art. As an advertising campaign for Ecclesiastical Insurance Group, Massey teamed up with body paint experts Annie Miller and Annie Ralli to transform some patient Body London models’ hands into creatively deceiving objects, architecture, and scenes.

The campaign, headlined by the witty slogan You’re in Good Hands, presents eight craftily executed eye illusions that may draw anything from a simple smirk to a jaw-dropping state of awe from the viewer. Perhaps one of the most effective illusions in the series is the Finger Pen. You may have to do a double-take because that isn’t simply a hand holding a pen atop a blank sheet of paper. In fact, there is no pen. That hand is merely gripping its own expertly painted finger.

Check out the video, below, to take a look at the time and effort that went into the making of the photos.

Ray Massey website
Ray Massey on Tumblr
via [Amazing World Pictures]

Sequences of Extreme Sports Motion Merged Into One Image

Photo by Ray Demski (Vicky Arvaniti)
Extreme, risky sports are fun to watch but they generally involve accelerated, quick movements that speed right past the cheering crowds. Sometimes we don’t catch all of the cool moves, the power plays, or the incredible surfing flips that happen in a blink of an eye. Red Bull decided to partner with various photographers in order to capture a frame-by-frame sequence of energetic athletes at their best. The results are a visual display of motion as the athletes jump, flip, dive, spin, and take all kinds of risks right before our eyes.

The images include an intense volleyball serve by Vicky Arvaniti, Levi Sherwood’s freestyle motocross tricks, the simple, gliding descent through the air of championship cliff diver Orlando Duque, Robbie Maddison jumping, by motorcycle, 322 feet across a large canyon, and more. To create these spectacular displays, the photographers used a tripod, a long exposure, and some digital manipulation. Without having to move the camera, a ton of motion was captured across multiple frames and then merged together into one unique scene. Seeing every step of the process stitched together creates a lively and captivating final product. Viewers can almost hear the roar of a motorcycle zooming past, the rush of the ocean waves, or the crunch of skis across fresh snow.

For more extreme sports photography, check out this work by photographer Marcel Lammerhirt, winner of the Red Bull’s 2010 sports and adventure photography contest.

Photo by Brian Bielmann (Jordy Smith)

Photo by Predrag Vuckovic (Robbie Maddison)

Photo by Wojtek Antonow (Tanner Hall)

Photo by Agustin Munoz (Travis Pastrana)

Photo by Alfredo Martinez (Felix Baumgartner)

Photo by Agustin Munoz (Orlando Duque)

Photo by Rutger Pauw (Clemens Doppler)

Photo by Alex Schelbert (Levi Sherwood)

Photo by Garth Milan (Red Bull Art of Motion)

Photo by Justin Kosman (Chris Doyle)

Photo by Christian Pondella (Corey Bohan)

Photo by Agustin Munoz (Petr Kraus)

Photo by Predrag Vuckovic (Paul Bonhomme)

Red Bull website
via [FStoppers]