<h2><a href= "https://mymodernmet.com/birth-photography-competition-2023/" rel= "nofollow">Powerful Winners of Birth Photography Contest Celebrate the Emotions of Childbirth</a></h2> <div class="wp-caption alignnone" id="attachment_590211" style= "width: 1210px;"><img alt="Woman holding her baby just after birth" class="size-full wp-image-590211" height="801" src= "https://mymodernmet.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IAPBP-54232-watermark-delivery.jpg" width="1200"> <p class="wp-caption-text" id="caption-attachment-590211"> The expected meeting by <a href= "https://www.karolsaadifotografia.com.br/" rel="noopener" target= "_blank">Karoline Saadi</a> (Brazil). Subcategory winner, Delivery (B&W).<br> This is the surprise of those who received their daughter in their arms after an expulsive period of 3 minutes! Surprise and happiness to complete the family!</p> </div> <p>Bringing a new life into the world is one of the most powerful human experiences. And thanks to birth photographers, families are able to have a record of these moments. This unique category of photography requires professionals who are able to capture these intimate moments and the wide range of emotions that come with them. Thanks to the <a href="https://birthphotographers.com/" rel= "noopener" target="_blank">International Association of Professional Birth Photographers</a> (IAPBP), families have access to birth photographers from around the world. Their annual Birth Photography Image Competition is a way to show off their work, which honors the beauty and emotion of childbirth.</p> <p>Now in its 13th year, the competition is open to the 1,100 members of IAPBP from 52 countries. They are able to submit their work to four categoriesbirth details, labor, delivery, and postpartum. And, for the first time, the photo competition also includes four subcategoriesblack & white, documentary, fine art, and hardship & loss.

The winning imagery captures the full range of childbirth, from water births to cesarean sections to the incredible moment when a child takes its first breath. But, at the same time, the competition also acknowledges that giving birth does not always mean taking a child home. The new hardship & loss subcategory is a reminder that still-born and miscarried babies also need to be honored and that through photography, families who experience loss will always be able to carry their children with them.

We are thr...</p>

College Professor Offers to Take Care of Doctoral Students Kid After She Couldnt Find a Babysitter

The availability and access to childcare can make or break a situation. From having a night out to tending to an emergency, having someone to look after a kid is indispensable. When Traniece Brown-Warrens, a doctoral candidate at Baylor University, couldn't find someone to take care of her foster baby while she went to class, she found an unlikely babysitter in her classmates, and even her professor.

Brown-Warrens works as principal at Markham Elementary School in Portland, Oregon, but once a month, she attends weekend classes at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. When you have a dream, you figure out how to make it work, Brown-Warrens told Today.

Since becoming a foster mom to a 7-month-old child she has nicknamed Baby Bear in mid-February, she has been able to keep up with her work schedule by placing the baby in childcare during the work week. However, she wasn't able to find someone to take care of the infant for the weekend of March 18. Running out of options, she sent an email to her professors, proposing to either attend classes virtually, or taker her baby with her to class. They said, Feel free to bring him,' Brown-Warrens recalled.

The foster mom then flew out to Texas with Baby Bear, who not only melted the hearts of everyone in the room, but behaved very well during the lectures. He was very inquisitive and didnt cry, Brown-Warrens said. He wanted to be in my arms while I took notes and engaged. I multitasked, like most parents do. Later, at a class titled School Business Management and Finance, other students offered to take turns holding the baby. Then, the lecturer himself asked to be part of the fun. Don't forget about me. May I hold him? professor Bobby Ott told Brown-Warrens, and carried the baby for about 30 minutes.

The intent look on Baby Bears face lets you know you enjoyed Dr. Otts lesson on taxes and account codes. Thank you for holding him so I could take notes & work with my partner, she then wrote in a tweet featuring the pictures of the baby in the lecturer's arms.

Ott then shared...

3D Maps Visualize the Stark Population Density Differences in Cities in the U.S.

We can read about the population of a state, but it can be hard to visualize what its density looks like. Data technologist Spencer Schien is demystifying a selection of U.S. states with his fascinating population density maps. In each of his three-dimensional visualizations, he uses publicly available data and R programming language to chart the areas where people live.

What this looks like, in practice, are bold maps that have the more densely populated areas represented by bars resembling skyscrapers. The more people there are, the higher these sites get, making them reminiscent of a topographical map. For some states, the difference between rural population areas and urban centers looks extreme, such as in the case of Chicago, Illinois. The lower population sectors are light blue while there are so many people in the Windy City that the bars transition from an orange to a bright yellow.

Schien was inspired to make these maps as part of the #30DayMapChallenge in November 2021. The theme for day 21 was the Kontur Population Dataset, he explains to My Modern Met. The specific style was inspired by maps created with Aerialod (3D rendering software), and I was also driven to create comparable maps with my open-source software of choice, the R program language.

His aesthetic was further inspired by the internet at large. I also have long drawn inspiration from the Twitter user @researchremora, Schien explains, who started making beautiful shaded relief elevations maps a while ago (they're an anonymous account).

As of now, Schien has created several state maps, city maps, and comparative maps, as well as some maps of regional areas like neighboring towns alo...

All images Cari Letelier, shred with permission

During the last couple days in February, a series of impressive solar storms sent the aurora borealis as far as California and Western Australia. The lights were particularly brilliant in northern places like Scotland and Iceland where the long winter nights provide ample darkness as a backdrop to the waving illuminations. Chile-based photographer Cari Letelier took advantage of Icelands position just a few degrees south of the Arctic Circle to capture vibrant images of the auroras as they traversed the skies above waterfalls, icy expanses, and the Arctic Henge.

The northern lights result from enormous solar events in which the sun emits energized particles that slam into Earths upper atmosphere at speeds of up to 45 million miles per hour. Earths protective magnetic field redirects the particles toward the poles in a process that produces spectacular light shows. Letelier had been to Iceland once in 2019, but didnt have much luck finding the phenomena, sharing that when she reached the Arctic Henge, it was so cloudy and snowing, I told myself, I have to come back and catch this place with the aurora.'

This time, when she and a fellow photographer learned that there would be a solar flare that was likely to produce a spectacle, they made the seven-hour journey from the southern part of the island in search of sightings and captured some incredible images. I had to make a decision whether to take the photo or to enjoy the show making mental captures, s...

These Whimsical Candles Reveal an Unexpected Surprise As They Melt

54Celcius | $39

You may think you've seen it all when it comes to candles, but the creative brand 54Celcius will surprise you. Their PyroPet candles look like geometric animals on the outside, but as the wax melts, an unexpected secret is revealed. My Modern Met Store has recently added two of the brand's most stunning creations to its collection, and once you see how they work, you will be smitten, too.

The Kisa Cat Candle, for instance, captures the fiery spirit of the housecat. Available in three colorsblack, white, and pinkPyroPet Kisa begins as a stylized cat-shaped candle. But as it burns, it reveals something a bit more unusual. Underneath the unscented wax is a metallic skeleton of the kitty, which gives you a reason to light the candle time and time again until you fully excavate it the skeleton within.

PyroPet Einar works the same way. Based on the Icelandic myth of a unicorn called Einar, who was said to have a heart of gold, this candle contains a gold-colored metal skeleton, complete with an elegant horn. Although it starts out as a stylized animal in lilac or white-colored wax, each time you light the wick, more and more of the secret will be uncovered.

There are a few things to note about PyroPet candles, as they differ from traditional kinds. During the burning process, the candle releases large amounts of wax, so it is recommended to place the candle on a plate or other container to prevent wax overflow. In addition, the metal skeleton should not be touched while the candle is burning as it becomes very hot and can cause injury. However, once the wax has fully melted off, the wick is gone, and the metal has cooled, the remaining skeleton can m...

Prince Harrys book Spare has caused quite a stir since its publication because of his frank and open admissions.

And one of the major takeaways is how much of a positive impact his wife Meghan Markle has had on his life.

...

Art can have many purposesto be beautiful, to teach, to make us feelbut sometimes, art is just for fun. Such is the case for SFMOMAs Soapbox Derby, a raucously creative race that sent dozens of artist-designed cars barreling through the streets of San Francisco in 1975, 1978, and again last April.

The idea originated with Bay Area sculptor Fletcher Benton (1931-2019) back in the 70s when he proposed that the museum commission a competition to make art fun and accessible to the public and to provide local artists with funding. SFMOMA agreed to the project, and more than 90 artists were tasked with designing racers and trophies. Rules stipulated that the cars must coast, that they must not exceed the dimensions of six feet in width and seventeen feet in length, (and) that the vehicle contains an adequate steering and braking system. Plus, the works should be cost-effective, and the museum offered $100 per car and $35 for trophies.

Thousands of viewers lined the 800-foot winding slope of McLaren Parks Shelley Drive to watch artists like Ruth Asawa, Carlos Vila, and the collective known as Ant Farm compete. Racers were varied in subject matter and material and included vehicles shaped like bananas, sneakers, enormous hands, and a yellow No. 2 pencil, the latter of which was built by Richard Shaw, the winner in the Fastest Looking category of the legendary 1975 competition and the only alum in the 2022 revival.

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People spend their whole lives looking forward to their weddings and then, when they realize how stressful it is planning a wedding, they start to look forward to the honeymoon afterward so they can relax

This couple had a big one planned that would last several months across more than a couple of countries.

My husband (m32) and I (f24) just got married a three weeks ago and we are currently celebrating our honeymoon. The plan was to travel for two months for different countries of Europe, Asia and Africa.

We currently are in Spain and we are supposed to take a plane to Morocco in two days. However my husband wants to cut the trip short and go back to our home now.

Then, her new husband got a phone call that his sister-in-law and niece had been in an accident. He wanted to go home to help support his brother.

The thing is his brother is in a horrible situation, his wife and daughter had a car crash and theyre on the hospital. The kid is fine but his wife has to be a little longer in the hospital, thats all I know.

Which sounds nice, until OP tells you that one of the reasons she didnt want to go is that his niece had already been released from the hospital, he refused to tell her the condition of the SIL, and that her in-laws are caring for the kids to help already.

I told my husband that I understand he wants to support his brother but that hes not a doctor so he cant do anything to help really. And his brothers wife is fine, she probably only has a broken leg or something and thats why she needs some more days in the hospital.

I told him to just call his brother and ask to talk with his wife so he can send her his best wishes and thats all that he can do honestly. His parents and his in laws are help...

Its easy to see why kumihimo, the ancient Japanese art of silk braiding, is described as a meditative act.

The weaver achieves an intricate design by getting into a rhythmic groove, overlapping hand-dyed silken threads on a circular or rectangle wooden loom, from which up to 50 weighted-wooden bobbins dangle.

If the mind wanders too far from the task, the weaver risks screwing up the pattern or the uniformity of the threads tension. The word kumihimo translates to gathering threads one mustnt let them get snarled by a lack of attention.

Life imitates art, and by art, I mean, of course, The Simpsons. More than thirty years ago, the show took on the issue of censorship with a story in which Marge Simpson launches an impassioned campaign against cartoon violence, only to find herself on the other side of the fence when asked to support a protest against the exhibition of Michelangelos David. This episode returned to cultural relevance just last month, when a parents complaint about an image of that most renowned nude sculptures indeed, that most renowned sculpture of any kind being shown in a sixth-grade art-history class led to the firing of a Florida school principal.

It seems that the problem wasnt just David: that same lesson included Botticellis painting The Birth of Venus, another glorification of the unclothed human body and so much more besides, according to the Great Art Explained video about it previously featured here on Open Culture.

The world changed a few years ago, and ever since then, more and more companies are taking advantage of letting their employees work from home. There are many benefits for workers and employees alike, but as anyone who has done it can tell you, there are drawbacks as well.

For OP, his is in the form of his parenting duties, which his wife cant seem to handle on her own while he is on the clock.

He and his wife have two children, one a toddler and the other a baby. He works a regular schedule during the day and his wife is home on maternity leave.

Their toddler goes to daycare for at least some of the time during the week, and OP does more than his fair share of night wakings/feedings with the baby, and takes time out of his day other times he really probably shouldnt.

So my wife and I have two kids. One who is a bit over 2 years old and another that is 5 months old. I work Monday to Friday 9-5 from home, occasionally go in to the office. My wife is on maternity leave and taking care of the 5 month old. I take care of the baby for over night wakings and feedings.

The 2 year old is in daycare. Whether I send my kid to daycare 1 day or 5 days a week for 1 hour or 8 it costs the same. My wife likes to pick up our toddler from daycare around 3:15 everyday instead of letting me go when I finish work because she doesnt want our kid to be there so much during the day. The problem is I am left watching the baby for the 45 minutes while she is gone and then for the hour that she is taking care of both of them she gets overwhelmed, stressed, very annoyed at me and our kids, its just not great overall.

Every day my wife tells me that she is exhausted, she has no time to herself she doesnt get things done that she needs to, shes overwhelmed, just wants to relax when the baby naps etc...

We all want to believe those were closest to in life are good people. That said, sometimes people are hiding things about themselves that are far too unseemly to forgive once they come to light.

These 18 people thought they had found their ride or die only to realize at some point that theyd actually need to kick their BFF out of the car.

18. Its not the money.

When I trusted and believed he was like a brother only to have him steal thousands of dollars from me. The money didnt even matter but the treason hurt for years.

17. Some kind of lunatic.

My brother turned his back on our dad who paid his way through college, paid the down payment on his condo, and gave him two cars.

When I asked him why, he said it was because he didnt text him enough.

Our dad had had a stroke and could only use one hand. He texted my brother once every day or two with one hand anyway.

I took care of our dad through surgery, radiation therapy, physical therapy, stroke rehab, and chemo.

On the last weekend before our dad was starting chemo, I asked him if he wanted to come up and do some grilling with dad because it was the last time wed ever see him healthy.

He said he had plans. I asked what the plans were. He wouldnt give me a straight answer.

Our dad got so sick after that. Couldnt leave a wheelchair. My brother and sister came at christmas and my dad made such an effort to spend time with my brother that he broke both hips.

My brother said to me later he honestly thought it would be best if our crazy mother shot our dad and herself.

I think my brother is a lunatic. Theres no anger or hate, I just cant t...

Photographer Kwame Brathwaite, who through his warm and elegant photos documenting life and culture adjacent to the civil rights and Black Power movements popularized the phrase Black is beautiful,

From 1974 to 1997, Helen Frankenthaler (19282011) lived and worked between New York City and Shippan Point in Stamford, Connecticut. Yet during the summers of 1990 and 91, she was a master-in-residence

ON WEDNESDAY EVENING, the guards of Metropolitan Museum of Art wore orange to mark the museums yearlong partnership with Sulwhasoo, a Korean heritage beauty brand currently rolling out their

Art historians have known for some time that Old Masters such as Leonardo da Vinci and Sandro Botticelli mixed egg yolks into their oil paints. Now, scientists may have discovered the reason why. An article published last Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications suggests that these Renaissance painters may have known about egg yolks ability to protect their works against damage.

Scientists incorporated egg yolk into oil paint for their experiment using two methods: first, by directly mixing yolk and oil paint with a palette knife, creating a thick and stiff consistency; then, by grinding pigment with drops of diluted yolk and then mixing in oil, a technique Renaissance painters may have employed. For both samples, the presence of egg yolk slowed yellowing of the paint.  

Ophlie Ranquiet, the study author and a chemical engineer at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, told ...

You should feel at home whenever you pay for and use a guest room at a hotel. At least thats the way the hotel wants you to feel. The little soap and other toiletries, plus the coffee makers, hair dryers, and ironing boards are put in the rooms so you shall want for nothing during your stayjust like youre in your own home.

And, if youd like a nightcap or need to fill your Yeti to keep your drinks cold as you continue your journey, you can even avail yourself to the hotels ice machine thoughtfully placed on every floor (most of the time).

But did you ever stop to wonder why theres so much ice available at hotels?

Image Credit: Pixnio

The other stuff I can understand because I have those things in my home and they are necessary for my home away from home co...

106-Year-Old Indigenous Filipino Tattoo Artist Becomes Vogues Oldest Cover Model

 

View this post on Instagram

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When Josephine Halvorson finds her subject, she stops just long enough to paint it. It could be numbers on the siding of a railroad car, a sign tacked to a tree trunk, the dark patch where a sign once was, or a window sill. Her work can be divided into two periods. Between 2007 and 2018, she painted in oil on canvas, often using a dark, tonal palette, and she was seemingly never more than an arms length away from her subject. While she has stayed close to her subjects, her palette and brushwork changed after she began painting in acrylic gouache on absorbent grounds. Addressing the change on her website, Halvorson posted this statement: 

Inspired by fresco paintings ability to hold color and mark, Ive wanted to make a sensitive surface that preserves my observations in real time. Painting in longhand, I work in a verit style, documenting the subtle shifts in shadow and thought. I want to make a painting that remembers better than I can.

Halvorsons desire to have her paintings be synonymous with real time means that she cannot go back into a work the way she could with oil paint. Every mark she makes is in...

Spotted: this side of Fifth Avenue is dotted with massive paint blob stickers, realistically rendered in the artists brushstrokes, touching the feet of everyone who passes. The artist is Yayoi Kusama, commonly known as the princess of polka dots and one of the highest-selling living female artists. These decorations are a part of Louis Vuittons new rounds of global campaigns in collaboration with Kusama.

Is she alive? I overheard the person next to me whispering to his friend in disbelief.

Wow, she is smiling at me Hi! said another spectator. 

I too found myself drawn to the color-dotted sidewalk of Fifth Avenue. I searched for my phone upon seeing the uncanny dots and many onlooke...

Kuwaiti-born artist Alia Farid has been announced as the recipient of the Henie Onstad Kunstsenters Lise Wilhelmsen Art Award. As part of the prize, one of the art worlds largest, Farid will receive

Hyperallergics monthly Opportunities Listings provide a resource to artists and creatives looking for grants and paid gigs to further their work.

Subscribe to receive this list of opportunities in your inbox each month. Sign up here!

An elderly man sits at the edge of a mangrove riverbank. Dressed in white, as if to match the color of his hair and long beard, he stands out against the vivid colors around him. He is reading a newspaper, his bare feet outstretched and books and sandals piled next to him. The water catches his reflection, and catches him in the act of reflection. But this is no luncheon in the park. This is a scene in a painting about war and resistance.

He looks like grandmothers Chinese neighbor, then six-year-old Raysa Mederos commented, after seeing another portrait of the same man. Is he from the Soviet Union? 

Her father, the Cuban...

Innovative Desk With Attached Playpen Designed for Working Parents

Photo: Chris Cunningham Photography

Parents know how difficult it can be to get work done while keeping an eye on a little one. Wrangling a toddler or infant and shooting off a few emails is already difficult at home, but its next to impossible in a public space. In fact, the staff at Fairfield Area Library in Herico County, Virginia, often saw parents of young children struggling to use the computer stations in their adult reading room. Feeling that creating an inclusive environment for the entire family was important, the library's director Barbara Weedman reached out to TMC Furniture to solve the problem.

Finding a way to allow parents of infants and toddlers to work peacefully without having to pay for childcare is an issue particularly close to Weedman's heart. As a single parent of a now-grown son, she has firsthand experience of what it's like to parent in a public space that isn't designed for families.

So Michigan-based design firm TMC Furniture stepped in, working with an architect and interior designer to create a desk with an attached play area for children. The enclosed space is filled with didactic panels that help keep children engaged so parents can focus on their work while knowing their child is within arm's reach.

The Fairfield Parent + Child Carrels have been in use since the new library opened in 2019 and are greatly appreciated by the community. On opening day, a mother with an infant and a small child sat down at a Work and Play Station to use the computer and placed her children in the carrelwithout having received any direction from staff, Weedman shared. It was gratifying to see that the design was immediately intuitive.

April 1 was no joke to Ultima Generazione (UG), a group of Italian climate activists who staged a joint demonstration in both Rome and Ancona that morning. Members of the group used a charcoal-based powder to dye the water of the Barcaccia Fountain in front of the Spanish Steps in central Rome a deep black color and covered the historic 13-spout Calamo Fountain in Ancona with a long banner emblazoned with the organizations We Dont Pay for Fossil[s] slogan.

Both demonstrations occurred within an hour of each other late Saturday morning, with UG citing the Italian right-wing governments allegiance to fossil fuel projects through 2028 amidst the politics of water access along with increased flooding and drought incidents in recent years. In a press statement, UG said that staging the demonstrations at fountains was symbolic of the refreshment offered by the water and, on the other, of the danger it can represent.

The organization also cited Italys outdated water distribution infrastructure that was responsible for...

Join the New-York Historical Society on Friday, April 14, at 1pm (ET) for Latinx Art and American Pasts and Futures.

With museums seeking to implement more inclusive practices and Latinx art emerging as an area of focus, the panelists will consider how three museums are navigating this pivot point in the framing of national culture and the recalibration of understandings of US art and history.

• Marcela Guerrero
  DeMartini Family Curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art
  
• Rodrigo Moura
  Chief Curator of El Museo del Barrio, New York
  
• E. Carmen Ramos (moderator)
  Chief Curatorial and Conservation Officer, National Gallery of Art

Registration is required to receive a link. To RSVP for this free discussion, visit nyhistory.org.

Since its founding in 1982, the Henry L...

All images gnes Herczeg, shared with permission

Delicate silk threads laced around tiny wooden armatures compose intricate scenes in gnes Herczegs sculptures. Using branches from fruit trees like wild cherry or pear or foraged driftwood from the banks of the Danube River near where she lives, the Hungary-based artist (previously) meticulously carves the gentle curves of figures, animals, and domestic objects to tell stories about home, traditions, and daily life.

Throughout the past year, Herczeg has focused on woodcarving, enjoying the process as she learns along the way. I really tried to make as thin and intricate pieces as I can by hand I really love this process, she says, sharing that the details provide even more opportunities to show new stories and compositions.

Find more on Herczegs website, where she also regularly updates her shop with available pieces, and you can follow her work on Instagram.

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Tokitae the Orca Will Finally Be Freed After More Than 50 Years in Captivity

Photo: kmiragaya/Depositphotos

After over 50 years in captivity, Tokitae the orca is finally going home to the sea. The killer whale, who was formerly known as Lolita, will be relocated thanks to the work of animals rights advocates, Indigenous leaders, and non-profit organizations who wish to see this creature live in peace for the rest of her days.

Tokitae lives at the Miami Seaquarium in what is considered the smallest whale enclosure in North America. Since she is thought to be about 57 years old, the orca is also widely believed to be the oldest living orca in captivity. Tokitae's life away from home began in 1970, when she was taken from Penn Cove, off the coast of Washington State. It is believed that she was about four years old when that happened. According to The Guardian, Tokitae's relatives are still alive, including the 90-year-old orca believed to be her mother.

The project to have Tokitae freed was announced at a joint press conference featuring members of the Miami Seaquarium; The Dolphin Company, the business that owns the park; Friends of Toki, a non-profit that has pushed for the whale's freedom and has welfare checks done on her every month; Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava; and philanthropist Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts, who has provided financial support to the relocation project. Today, March 30th, for the first time ever, a private company with marine mammals under human care, and a non-profit animal welfare organization, executed a binding agreement with one goalreturn the beloved Lolita to her home waters, the Seaquarium wrote.

Fortunately, Tokitae's health has improved and remained steady over the last few months after a round of infections she suffered due to the size of her enclosure, which is what eventually led her to be pulled from display in 2022.

Tokitae is a southern resident orca, a group...