Planning a wedding in the South West of England – use Hagenland Photography

Boutique Wedding Photographer Based in Bristol

Image by Hagenland: a fantastic wedding Photographer based in Bristol, South West England

This is a shout about my good friend Hagen Landsem who has been providing a boutique wedding photography experience to clients for a few years now, and has launched a new website to show off his wares and attract new clients.

He covers both traditional and boutique wedding styles; and also offers a range of “fantasy” image options similar to this wonderfully fun, digitally manipulated photo, by Louisiana-based wedding photographer Quinn Miller featuring a roaming dinosaur chasing the wedding couple.

If you like this Hagenland will do the same for you. Image by Quinn Miller – all rights reserved.

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Tell Hagen you know me and he’ll give you 20% off (save £300 ) – if you book him before the end of July 2013.

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Click here to go to Hagenland

Have your  wedding captured perfectly

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Dark Art: Evil Spirit by Danielle Tunstall

Evil Spirit

Evil Spirit: image by Danielle Tunstall – All Rights Reserved – Click full size

Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.

Blessed are the damned for they walk in wake of the divine light, robbed of forgiveness and healing they remain to roam the mortal lands until the end of all things.  Danielle Tunstall delivers another visual impact.  This is a particularly haunting blend of photography and digital manipulation.  Is this the fresh host of a demonic possession?  Or is it something more outre, a direct attack by some cosmic horror that exists within the pantheon of psychological and physical nightmares known collectively as the Cthulhu Mythos.  Or is it a new hybrid of Infected and Changed (Orc) spinning out a new vector from the cocktail of organic and military-designed compounds that came together in the apocalyptic event known as Yellow Dawn?

Danielle Tunstall has a vast repository of images she’s created and showcasing on her website, definitely worth a look if you’re into the darker side of Cyberpunk, verging on horror, smeared in blood and corrupted tissue.

• Danielle Tunstall website.

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Available in paperback or Amazon Kindle

Paperback: LULU & Amazon Kindle US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro), FR (Euro)

THE BLACK LAKE: The Earth has been ravaged by an event known as Yellow Dawn. Ten years later, survivors are putting lives back together and probing the frontiers of a new Wilderness; whilst overhead the orbital colonies slide across the sky, removed and unaffected. Five men leave the fortress island of Malta on an expedition to the sub-Arctic waters above Scotland. They intend to undertake scientific observations of an alien meteorological phenomenon that has followed the apocalyptic event. What they find is a cosmic horror that seethes amongst the shadows of a shattered Earth. It is a story of escape and wonder, of madness and terror. David J Rodger’s trademark unforgiving rendering of harsh reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a novel that tears open a rent in the boundary of reality, providing a nerve-jarring glimpse of the Outer Chaos and the horrors that lurk just beyond the threshold of our fragile, human existence.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Dark Lens photos by Cédric Delsaux – where the urban landscape meets Star Wars

Boba Fett shootout

Boba Fett shoots it out with Stormtrooper – Dark Lens photos by Cédric Delsaux – All rights reserved

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

When French photographer Cédric Delsaux began snapping up what he calls “the peripheral zones” of urban landscapes, his creative instinct rebelled and demanded he infuse something else into the imagery.  Something was missing, he felt.  Passionate about Star Wars, Delsaux realised that a lot of the modern scenery suited itself well to the almost dystopian vision of the future that George Lucas created in his early movies.  So with a little trickery and Photoshop pokery, Delsaux has combined fact and fiction into a fusion of humour and hyper-realism.

Excellent work.

You should take a peek at the photographer’s official website  for more.

Or find yourself a copy of the book, Dark Lens, that celebrates these images in glorious glossy hardcopy format.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photography: Ethereal Being – angel, demon or the mythos in disguise – Kristian Schuller

Ethereal Being

Photography Ethereal Being: Image by Kristian Schuller – All Rights Reserved – Click Full Size

Ghostly light and shimmering golden skin, this apparition of a human male form could be mistaken for an Angel or the seductive beauty of the creature, Lucifer.

Romanian born fashion photographer Kristian Schuller has crafted this shot with a more sombre hand, angling away from his usual flare for vibrant colours and dramatic form.  It’s a stunningly simple effect. A male face, in thoughtful repose or slumbering.  But the concept leaps towards the super-human… or non-human in a bipedal, mammalian guise.

The Cthulhu Mythos is riddled with non-human species that have adopted the human form. British science fiction and dark fantasy author, David J Rodger has added to this pantheon with several of his own creations.  Things that walk shoulder to shoulder alongside the creaking, arthritic, nefarious and polymorphic creations of H.P.Lovecraft.

Most hideous of these new additions are the Grom crabs.  Parasites, a little smaller than a human fist, they resemble a translucent grey crab, with horribly long spider-like legs, a segmented carapace with hard black chitinous pincers.  They wield a Nerve Sting attack, effected by a set of “semi-visible” tendrils that can lash out up to 6 metres; made of an alien matter that can slice through flesh, bone, clothing and armour to reach into the nervous system of any living thing and deliver a crippling, paralysing attack. Any living organism can be affected. And the effects are instant; the target becomes paralysed, all muscles cease to function. The primary use of this attack is to allow the Grom crab to crawl into any cavity near the brain (usually the mouth), and burrow into a suitable resting place, from which to occupy and control the host. Highly intelligent, the Grom roam different worlds, taking control of hosts – including human victims – and building empires.

Upon arriving in a suitable location, they construct hive-like temples, dedicated to their god, Murg, incorporating the flakes of crystal they excrete through their appendage from time to time (Resonators). Grom themselves are
rarely encountered outside of a larger “host” creature; they are often accompanied and served by mutated-beings known as Groth.

In the post-apocalyptic “Mythos fiction” novel, Dog Eat Dog, the Grom are encountered by the main protagonists.  The encounter, sinister, brutal, and shocking in its climax reveals the silent incursion of alien horrors into the abandoned spaces of an Earth left ravaged by the event known as Yellow Dawn.

The photo by Kristian Schuller is more akin to the sublime and mysterious creatures known by erudite scholars as the “The Great Magi”. Formidable sorcerers from a time on Earth predating the evolution of Modern Man.  They are anthropomorphic, walking upright, with a humanoid head that resembles a cross between a chimpanzee and a cheetah.  However, they are renowned for their use of potent illusionary magick to walk amongst humans as if one of them. Often mesmerizing with the physical beauty and charm.

Skeletons of The Greta Magi have occasionally been discovered by scientists and mistaken as the “missing link”, these people are normally silenced and the evidence removed (by the Order of the Amber Eye) before the truth ever comes close to the surface. The Great Magi came to Earth after the Elder Things had retreated beneath the oceans and for a while came to dominate the proto-human savages that had evolved from the Elder Thing experiments. In their ancient culture they wore ceremonial robes and carried weapons (typically daggers). The Great Magi warred heavily with the far older race of Serpent People. Because of this war, only a few remain in existence at this time on Earth. The Order of the Amber Eye is based in a sandstone city on a remote planet, a temple held up by vast ape-like statues, surrounded by alien jungle; any Great Magi will have access to this place via a magical gateway.

Kristian Schuller has an incredible portfolio of imagery from his career in photography and fashion. You should certainly take a peek at his work on his website:

• Kristian Schuller website

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YOU MAY ALSO ENJOY:

• More creations for the RPG Yellow Dawn in a free download called Monsters of the Mythos
• The Ninth Gate: occult and tarot-like symbolism in the engravings by Aristide Torchia and Lucifer, plus wider meanings of the movie

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Available in paperback or Amazon Kindle

Paperback: LULU & Amazon Kindle US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro), FR (Euro)

“Atmospheric and creepy” – The Guardian

THE BLACK LAKE: The Earth has been ravaged by an event known as Yellow Dawn. Ten years later, survivors are putting lives back together and probing the frontiers of a new Wilderness; whilst overhead the orbital colonies slide across the sky, removed and unaffected. Five men leave the fortress island of Malta on an expedition to the sub-Arctic waters above Scotland. They intend to undertake scientific observations of an alien meteorological phenomenon that has followed the apocalyptic event. What they find is a cosmic horror that seethes amongst the shadows of a shattered Earth. It is a story of escape and wonder, of madness and terror. David J Rodger’s trademark unforgiving rendering of harsh reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a novel that tears open a rent in the boundary of reality, providing a nerve-jarring glimpse of the Outer Chaos and the horrors that lurk just beyond the threshold of our fragile, human existence.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photography: cyberpunk gang member and a Mythos apocalypse – Tattooed survivor with a samurai sword, by Danielle Tunstall

Life or death in the flash of a blade

Tattooed survivor with a samurai sword. Image copyright danielle tunstall – all rights reserved. Click full size

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

In the post-apocalyptic world of Yellow Dawn, survivors don’t just have to find food and resources to stay alive – they have to defend themselves from those who would take it from them.  The apocalypse strips away the pretensions of our current age.  Your platinum credit card won’t protect you from the swarms of feral gangs feasting on the remains of your city  – where more than seventy percent of the population died from an aggressive fever and coma within a handful of days.

Holing up in your apartment will only seem like a good idea until the food runs out and the water stops flowing.  Eventually you’ll have to go outside.  And face the random vicissitudes of a life now slotted into a survival track.  Getting out of the city is your only true option but then do you know how to grow or even harvest the things you need to live?

The man with the sword could be your nemesis or merely your own reflection in a grime spattered storefront – long since raided and emptied of anything useful.  There are worse things to fear out there. Depending on how close you live to southern Europe and North Africa, the 2nd pathogen – the Infection is spreading outwards from the original impact crates of the doom-laden deep space merchant cruiser the Callisto.  Shrieking in mindless rage, sprinting on limbs that will never grow weak or tired, or crawling around in shattered bodies that seem unable to die, the Infected come stalking into the urban places to create Dead Cities.  It is eventually here that the brave and the desperate come, to scavenge and explore, to find artefacts from a close yet distant era of human civilisation on a planet still quivering from the aftershock of what has happened.

High above, untouched but grieving, the orbital colonies spin silently and observe the expanding push for a new life into deep space.  Backs turned on mother Earth. Whilst down below, in the abandoned spaces, fresh horrors are being born as non-human things drift down from alien dimensions of space and time to reclaim  a landscape they once ruled as their own.   When it comes to it – it’s you and the sharp-edged blade of the sword. You’re a survivor or you’re a victim.

Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur is an RPG and the setting for a collection of novels.  British sci-fi dark fantasy author David J Rodger is currently working on The Social Club, the third novel placed in this post-apocalyptic survival horror world.  It follows  Dog Eat Dog and The Black Lake (which recently received critical review in the Guardian newspaper website UK).  All three novels are separate stories but share the one universe.  Another five novels exist, taking place in this shared universe before Yellow Dawn wrecked such global havoc and devastation. You can view all of these novels here.

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Danielle Tunstall has a vast repository of images she’s created and showcasing on her website, definitely worth a look if you’re into the darker side of Cyberpunk, verging on horror, smeared in blood and infection.

• Danielle Tunstall website.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Top 10 blog posts of 2012 from Sci-fi, Fantasy, Cyberpunk and Cthulhu Mythos Horror

That was the year that was 2012

The Christmas tree is winking away at you, glittering with lights and baubles; the bins are stuffed full of empty bottles and discarded wrapping paper. Now’s the time to actually relax a little and contemplate the fact we survived the Mayan apocalypse of 2012 and are rapidly approaching what is likely to be one of the most challenging years in human history. Will Europe survive as the interlinked economies teeter ever closer towards a brink of oblivion – and anarchy in the UK?  Will a global pandemic of weaponised bubonic plague unfold?  Will reality TV and plastic home-brew “celebrities” increase their hold on the declining values of western civilisation: Ancient Rome, anyone?  Don’t take your eyes off the ball.

Meanwhile, take a moment to ponder the year that was 2012.

I’ve been running this blog for  a couple of years now.  It’s a great counterpoint to the daily grind of crafting novels and RPG systems – where often there is very little to show for weeks at a time.  This is a place where I can pin-up the things I find online, or post promotional offers on my products or scribble down thoughts and ideas.  I’ve gone from a few hundred folks a month taking a peek to now over 17,000 uniques a month. Not bad. Quite pleasing, actually.

Here’s a countdown of the top ten ranking articles as viewed by you, from sci-fi and dark fantasy, cyberpunk, and the cosmic horror of H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos.

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John Waters Says: We Need to Make Books Cool Again

John Waters

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Cyberpunk art ¦ future fashion or post-apocalyptic decadence – photography by Danil Golovkin

Future fashion or post-apocalyptic decadence? Photography by Danil Golovkin – All Rights Reserved

Danil Golovkin is a Russian fashion photographer who has a spectacular eye for detail.  These images come from a series that he calls Garbage Reign.  For me, these characters could fit very easily into a decadent post-apocalyptic scenario, where the “top of the pile” survivors perpetuate the same-old human instincts of social isolation and exclusion through fashion – are you a part of the club?  Equally as much this is pure cyberpunk, figures who float through the parties held by one of the corporate dynasties, members of the social elite or grifters waiting for the moment to move in on their mark.  Certainly these are images good enough to inspire a myriad of ideas.

View full image…

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08

Cyberpunk ¦ digital photography – gothic blue in rubber suspenders #wallpaper by Terrorcat

Terrorcat – All Rights Reserved

Terrorcat. Heavily manipulated but I like this image.  More club-wear than sex; a character who can comfortably settle into the fringes of the dance floor where shadows are sliced apart by the laser rigs, a bemused grimace held in reserve for anybody who actually reacts to the partial nakedness.  Prowling the club with an easy and confident stride, fluorescent irises gleaming like predatory cat-eyes in the purple neon gloom.

View full image…

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07

Reasons to like Lovecraft: Hastur, as The King in Yellow

Hastur as The King in Yellow – image by Jezebel

Hastur (The Unspeakable One, Him Who Is Not to be Named, Assatur, Xastur, or Kaiwan) is a fictional entity (Great Old One) of the Cthulhu Mythos.  The King in Yellow is merely one of many aspects of this potent and truly amorphous denizen.

It is possibly one of the most written about and discussed Great Old Ones within this Mythos, and conversely, one of the least understood. This fuzzy, blurred and vague state of comprehension is exacerbated by a divide between literary fans of Hastur, and the RPG community. The fact Hastur is so hard to accurately quantify is no coincidence.

Read full article…

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06

Sci-fi Art: Robot #wallpaper – Big Bot, by Benedict Campbell

Big Bot, by Benedict Campbell – click to view full size

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet. Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Read full article…

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05

Photography ¦ submission and sex games – the naked skill of Igor Vasiliadis

Image by Igor Vasiliadis – All Rights Reserved

This is a great image from the highly accomplished and experimental Moscow based photographer Igor Vasiliadis.  It immediately weaves some stark and intriguing story possibilities into your mind; sex games and the roles of sub, dom and voyeur.  Of course, it could equally plunge a little further into the realm of dark art if you consider that the centre-posed figure is not taking part in this with any sort of free-will.  What is the distant male figure expecting to observe?  His relaxed posture speaks of a boredom with the mundane pleasures of life – a killer or thug who’s sensitivity has been dulled and blunted by repeated exposure to the visceral highs of violence and danger. Or is he just a bored businessman looking to satisfy shadowy sexual desires that some men can’t exorcise with their pretty wives?  There’s certainly a sense of mystery within the glossy and brightly lit image; shadows that are more off-camera than in-shot.  I’d strongly recommend you check out Igor Vasiliadis’ website, there’s some fantastic images brought into enigmatic life with silver and cyanide.

View full image…

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04

The Ninth Gate: occult and tarot-like symbolism in the engravings by Aristide Torchia and Lucifer, plus wider meanings of the movie

A copy of The Nine Doors To the Kingdom of Shadows – De Umbrarum Regis Novum Portis

The Ninth Gate is probably one of my favourite movies of all time, as is the official soundtrack. A film by Roman Polanski, its stars Johnny Depp as the ambivalent protagonist, Lucas Corso; and features an incredible performance by Frank Langella as the brazen, smug and sinister collector of all things diabolical – Boris Balkan – a wealthy man where money and morals are no obstacle to acquiring books that deal with the Devil.
The film is an adaptation of The Dumas Club, a book written by Arturo Pérez-Reverte.
I’m a huge fan of H.P.Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos cycle of stories which provide unnerving glimpses of a pantheon of Outer Gods and their minions, writhing obscenely within alien vortices of inarticulate sounds and invisible light, sometimes only just beyond the perceptions of ordinary folk. The cosmic horror of the Mythos has nothing to do with this movie which limits itself to the spiritual, psychological and metaphysical menace of Evil, and all its many incarnations within the Quantisphere (the realm of Man, Spirits, Elementals and Angels & Demons).

Read full article…

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03

Sci-fi Art: Cyborg #wallpaper – Under Construction, by Benedict Campbell

Under Construction, by Benedict Campbell – All Rights Reserved

Yet another brilliant piece of digital art by Benedict Campbell. Sums up the nature of synthetic humanoids perfectly – and perhaps the darker aspect of male interest in the female form: an attractive woman with blank, almost submissive features lacking the “complication” of limbs?  Or just a bit a cool cyber tech eye candy for your computer desktop.

View full image…

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02

Reasons to like Lovecraft: Mi-go (Fungi from Yuggoth)

Mi-go investigating human – click for full size – WARNING: Graphic content

The Mi-go are highly intelligent and independent race, renowned for their worship of the Outer Gods: Yog-Sothoth, Nyarlathotep, and Shub-Niggurath.

Also known as The Fungi from Yuggoth, their first appearance in Lovecraft’s work was within the excellent and spine tingling tale The Whisperer in the Darkness, since then they’ve been brought in as “bugs” in CthulhuTech and given some decent exposition in Pagan Publishing’s sourcebook for CoC: Delta Green Eyes Only Volume One: Machinations of the Mi-Go.

Read full article…

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01

Post-apocalyptic #wallpaper – UTOC Public Safety Notice from early days of Yellow Dawn – Infection Warning

Artwork: Ben Chapman

This is a public safety notice from the early days of the catastrophic, apocalyptic event known as Yellow Dawn, when the Infection was even less understood than it is today.  It’s an example of UTOC attempting to exert control of survivors in the wake of the disaster.

View and download poster…

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That’s all folks. I hope you found something that ignited a spark of inspiration or stirred something deep inside your chest.  This is all about sharing creativity and ideas.  It’s also about me throwing out hooks to try to catch the interest of people who like reading sci-fi dark fantasy novels, who like fiction with cyberpunk and Cthulhu Mythos flavours – and of course, people who enjoy RPGs.  If you’re one of those people then please take a moment to investigate my fiction writing (7 novels) and the Role-playing game: Yellow Dawn – The Age of Hastur.

Wishing you the best of dark dreams for 2013.

David J Rodger – Bristol, England

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Got Kindle?

If you’re keen to try these novels in digital format then you can buy all these titles at Amazon with a choice of currencies, $ US Dollars; or £ GB Pounds, or the Euro.

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photography: Calming Angels Demons Tormenting – The Vicarious Nature of Identity by Jeffrey Wang

IDENTITY

Image by Jeffrey Wang – All Rights Reserved – Click Full Size

Two images that show contrasting angles of a theme being explored by the super talented creative, Jeffrey Wang.  From the calm healing hands of angels that we sometimes feel around us, pushing through the fabric of reality from some realm of energy and love, to soothe our pains or simply hold us upright with confidence and power. To the claustrophobic experience of calamity that comes out of nowhere – the series of disastrous events nobody could have foreseen that tear us down from our fabricated pedestal of personal happiness, leaving us screaming into the dark hours of night and hunched against the fear that something malign has invaded our space.

Image by Jeffrey Wang – All Rights Reserved – Click Full Size

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Born in New York, Jeffrey Wang lives and works in the Far East. This duality of racial and cultural influences has left its mark on his creativity.  Described as a visual artist – his skills reach deep and masterfully into the realms of branding, graphic design and fashion. Wang himself sees these images as portraying the danger women face against the power of material consumerism to overwhelm and consume the sense of self – women (and men) who forget who they really are, beneath the mannequin model caresses and couture of an icy smooth, art-exhibit slick, cold-hearted industry.

• You can view more of Jeffrey Wang’s work on his website: 
  http://www.blanqworld.com
  

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photography: Lip gloss and sex – Christel B delivers a unique flavour to fashion and beauty

Colour Me

Lip gloss and sex – image by Christel Bangsgaard – all rights reserved

This is just one of many images that Christel Bangsgaard has crafted that strikes the perfect chord. Like a chime resounding from crystal. Her images strike your senses and reverberate in some particular way that generates waves of pleasure.

Bouncing between the mellow cobblestone harbour area of Copenhagen and the hyper-energy streets of New York, Christel Bangsgaard is a professional photographer who is recently grabbing the media limelight and industry attention.

From close up lips, to eyes with vivid make-up, to fashion model shots – there’s a unique flavour to her composition and colourings that just makes her work very special to engage. Her models rarely look like injection-moulded mannequins fixed rigidly in some posture of the poseur. Rather, Christel B’s models come out with warmth and sensuality that invites you closer, seductive and charming.  The open mouth with parted lips that suggest pleasures to be received – or given.

I’d highly recommend you dig through her online portfolio -   www.christelb.com

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Digital Photography ¦ Cosmic Fungus by Mark Mawson – alien #wallpaper

Surreal Universe

Cosmic Fungus by Mark Mawson – All Rights Reserved – Click for Wallpaper size

Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.

This is a great image from London / Sydney based photographer, Mark Mawson.  He’s a master of underwater photography – check out his portfolio of humans striking poses beneath the mirrored surface- but he’s also has a profound talent for making coloured dyes and smoke behave in interesting ways – and then photographing the results.  This image struck me as something from a dream – a protrusion within an astral plane – or the cosmic fungus of some surreal corner of the universe.   At the very least, it’s pure eye-candy and makes a nice background on my high res computer monitor.

• Mark Mawson – website

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Available in Paperback or Kindle

Paperback : from LULU & Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

GOD SEED { novel } In the near future, a documentary film-maker is covering mercenaries engaged in corporate espionage. A nervous executive wants to smuggle stolen data to Cairo. Yet events rapidly and frighteningly escalate out of control. The film-maker finds himself battling for his life and his sanity as a new and dramatic story unfolds, dragging him across the globe…and beyond. Fascist extremists, Islamic terrorists, corrupt government officials and a religious sect that worships a nefarious avatar of a many-faced God of the Outer Void, become fused into a gruesome knot of lies, treachery and mass-murder. David J Rodger’s trademark gut-wrenching rendering of a dark and edgy reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that plunges you uncomfortably deep into crawling chaos festering and feeding on the membrane of human existence.

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David J Rodger – DATA

Magic and imagery ¦ Astral Dreaming, photograph by Sofia Ajram

Astral Dreaming

Astral Dreaming by Sofia Ajram – All Rights Reserved – Click Full Size

Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.

If you look at the gallery of images by Montreal based photographer, Sofia Ajram, you’ll find yourself instantly dragged (willingly & seductively) into a universe of paganism and the female principle in magick.  Ajram’s images conjure up echoes of the five eerie photos of the Cottingley Fairies taken by Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths at the start of the 20th Century.

This image really strikes me because of the beautiful sense of magic (positive in nature) that exudes from the sleeping, dreaming, spirit-travelling character.  The room, the whole setting, possesses a story.  And at the heart of the story, it’s as if her physical reality is being warped by the deep gravitational pull of distant galaxies as her mind tumbles through space and time to journey amongst the immortal architects of this construct we call a world. She has become a conduit to the physical defying powers of the Elder Gods – allowing a backwash of esoteric light particles to flood into the room. And to invade you, the casual voyeur of this remote moment snapped by a digital camera, to seep into your consciousness even now as your eyes scan words on this screen, your brain registering the fact that like a neurolinguistic virus, the idea has been planted, the seed taking root within the creative / spiritual centre of your mind – so that the magic (positive) will carry forward through different places and a universe of different people. Look at this image and have a wonderful day.
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Available in Paperback or Kindle

Paperback : from LULU & Kindle: US ($), UK (£), DE (Euro)

GOD SEED { novel } In the near future, a documentary film-maker is covering mercenaries engaged in corporate espionage. A nervous executive wants to smuggle stolen data to Cairo. Yet events rapidly and frighteningly escalate out of control. The film-maker finds himself battling for his life and his sanity as a new and dramatic story unfolds, dragging him across the globe…and beyond. Fascist extremists, Islamic terrorists, corrupt government officials and a religious sect that worships a nefarious avatar of a many-faced God of the Outer Void, become fused into a gruesome knot of lies, treachery and mass-murder. David J Rodger’s trademark gut-wrenching rendering of a dark and edgy reality, and relentless narrative pace, are here in palm-sweating abundance, delivered in a tense action-packed novel that plunges you uncomfortably deep into crawling chaos festering and feeding on the membrane of human existence.

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David J Rodger – DATA

Photography blurring the lines between reality and fiction – Infinity Seeker by Kanoa Zimmerman

Infinity Seeker

Infinity Seeker by Kanoa Zimmerman – All Rights Reserved

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

This is a great image. When I first spotted it I thought this was a piece of artwork, an illustration of a near future, sci-fi cyberpunk soldier of fortune in an endless horizon – some kind of virtual reality or deep space environment. But it’s actually a photograph of a free dive. Stunning bit of work by Kanoa Zimmerman. You should check out his website here: www.kanoazimmerman.com

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A novel

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photography and Fashion: Cyberpunk Citizen by Julia Noni

Cyberpunk Citizen

Cyberpunk Citizen by Julia Noni – All Rights Reserved – Click Full Size

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

A very evocative image created by photographer Julia Noni capturing model Ajak Deng in full fashion pose, complete with chilled caffeine drink and wearable technology (conceptualised by Barbara Loison).  In the my near-future sci-fi universe the choice for how people input output falls into the categories of total immersion (cybernetic implants connecting a device directly to the neural cortex) through to passive observers who utilise softscreens, hardscreens or wearable data viewing technology known as DVFrames. This photograph has actually expanded my own perceptions of how I might describe DVFrames – taking me away from the cold functional lines of things that look like chunky glasses to this über fashion statement: wraparound semi-faceplate formed from solid hydrogel in a range of urban colours.

You can see more of Julia Noni’s work here -  although none of it crosses over into the cyberpunk genre. Merely a pleasing (futuristic) coincidence for this shoot.
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A novel

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photography ¦ Freak by Frank Bayh and Steff Rosenberger-Ochs

Freak

Freak by Frank Bayh and Steff Rosenberger-Ochs – All Rights Reserved – Click Full Size

Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.

A playful but wonderfully photographed shot by Stuttgart based photographers Frank Bayh and Steff Rosenberger-Ochs.  It’s representative of their off-kilter sense of humour. Love it.

You should check out their portfolio of work on their website - here.

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A novel

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photographic Art ¦ Moon Landing – Millennial Maintenance

Celestial Repairman

Moon Landing – Source unknown, please advise and I’ll credit

Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.

I found this by pure chance whilst browsing search engine results and I absolutely adore it.  Picture some remote location on Earth where the silent Golem giants of the Gods lurch across desolate landscapes to carry out the work prescribed to them in a Time before humans.

What happens when the moon is obscured by clouds at night?

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We’re all confident in our beliefs – part of the Galileo paradigm – that when we can’t see the Moon, so long as it’s not lost to a new phase or concealed on the opposite side of the planet, it’s still up there.  But what if like all things determined to be enduring throughout eternity, they need a spot of downtime and maintenance once in a thousand years or so.

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If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness.

Job 31:26

They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.

Psalm 72:5

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David J Rodger – DATA

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Photography ¦ Supernatural – by Toby Burrows

Supernatural

Supernatural – Photo by Toby Burrows – all rights reserved – click full size

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Part of a series of images from the shadowy fringes of the Internet.  Visuals that stir my sense for the eerie and macabre.

This stunning image is by Australian photographer, Toby Burrows, now living and working in the UK since heading to London in 1991.

It invokes a response beyond artistic statement and truly conveys a sense of the supernatural – caught on camera.  Is she a sorceress or an entity merely in the guise of a human?  This is reality warped and flexed by somebody or some-thing with the capacity to focus on the rules that govern the flow and structure of movement through Time and Space, and control them.  Is the figure revelling in the rapture of power or being twisted by an overwhelming force of metaphysical current passing through her?  And what will happen next?

Great image.  Very inspiring and thought-provoking.

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Photography Illustration Fusion: Sci-fi Cyberpunk Theme – Robots and Synthetic Biology – Nanomech weave

Image by Diego Indracollo and Pok U Chan for Schon! Magazine – all rights reserved – click for full size

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Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Two London creatives, Diego Indracollo (photography) and Pok U Chan (illustration) have come together under the art direction of Kay Korsch to produce some incredible visual concepts. This one in particular, has a very futuristic flavour. A woman, human or otherwise, revelling in the fluid weave of extraneous technology: some organic, snake-like familiar, as might be used by a medieval sorceress, but in this case by the next-generation of homosapien.  Traveller.  Adventurer.  Functional consumer.  Genomed to extrude like hair and chiffon fabric, but bristling with receptors and loaded with offensive anti-personnel systems: cardiotoxins, constriction or neural distruption from a single touch. If non-organic, then this technology fits into the mould of Nanomech; with the gossamer appearance of spider silk, the consistencyof warm hydrogel, and the strength and conductive qualities of aerographite.  Wearable and re-configurable on command, it can conceal bodily areas to conform with the cultural dress codes of any place; or facilitate 360-awareness, dispersed processing power and digitally augmented senses through direct interface into the neural cortex.

A great shot that captures a nude in almost manga-like motion. She’s the pin-up girl of cyborgs and Carbon-88s.

LINKS RELEVANT TO THIS ARTICLE:

• Diego Indracollo (photography)
• Pok U Chan (illustration)

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Photography: blurring the boundaries between cyberpunk and contemporary violence – Danielle Tunstall

image copyright danielle tunstall – all rights reserved – click for full size

Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carb0-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

On the surface it’s just a gritty street thug welding two guns in blissful, narcotic and booze fuelled, re-enactment of some scene in a movie or console game.  This could be anywhere today. But look a little closer.  No gang tattoos.  The man’s face is as cold and immobile as granite  – not a wild-eyed sneer of delusional glory in sight.  The guns are well-maintained, high-end manufacture but not customised; easy to dispose of.  The skin of those hands is possibly smeared in a quick drying gel to seal away DNA imprinting.  And the blur speaks of potentially enhanced synaptic responses; a nervous system laced with graphene allotropes, the chemical inserted through nano-clusters grown to plunge along blood vessels and sink through flesh and muscle tissue to find the correct bonding sites.  A frenzy of limited self-replication. The agony of nerve fibres burning in a storm of biochemical re-engineering at the molecular level.  All of this via a slap-patch or pen-like needle stab a few moments before the conflict occurred. The quickened reaction time enables the killer to sight both weapons correctly in what could be the blink of an eye.  Bang bang.  You’re dead.  Killer sinks back into the context of the urban environment he’s selected to take down his target.  A bare-chested thug.  No heads turn.  Weapons tossed away – unused bullets retained. It’s all over before anything had the chance to begin.

Yet another stunningly simple and powerfully evocative image from Danielle Tunstall.

It also makes me think of the semi-professional street gangs and paid-thugs I introduced into my cyberpunk thriller novel, Iron Man Project.  The sweltering oven and poverty of the Southern Euro Zone, where organised-crime syndicates conscript anyone willing to carry a gun and use it; and in turn, these clusters of armed men covertly hired by corporations to fight dirty wars on public streets.

Danielle Tunstall has a vast repository of images she’s created and showcasing on her website, definitely worth a look if you’re into the darker side of Cyberpunk, verging on horror, smeared in blood and infection.

• Danielle Tunstall website.

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Photography: Metropolis Nude by Betsy Vanlangen

Metropolis Nude

Image: Betsy Vanlangen – All Rights Reserved – click for larger size

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Part of a series of images from the liquid metal, carbo-plastic, hydrogel and permacrete core of visual creators on the Internet.  Images that stir my senses and evoke plots and concepts for what I’d like to see (or fear) in the future.

Not quite cyberpunk, not particularly dark, more steampunk meets some 1927 Fritz Lang creation; an image carved from shadows and the welling-up of some particular emotion, caught, frozen in freeze-frame, the moment before the scene erupts or collapses. This is one of Vanlangen’s less surrealist images and I really like it.  Great pose and tendrils of light. Wrapped in enigma.    What do you think?

Betsy Vanlangen (New York) has a far-ranging ability to conceive interesting and enjoyable ideas and deliver them with high impact.

• Website for Betsy Vanlangen – New York based photographer

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Photography: harbinger of the apocalypse, calcified caped dove by Nick Brandt.

Icon of a dead planet. Image: Nick Brandt - All Rights Reserved

Nick Brandt  is probably best known for his wonderfully developed photographs of the wild animals of Africa caught in a state of existence (rather than action shots of them splashing through water or diving dramatically through the sky).

However this image struck me as iconic of something beyond wildlife photography.  It could be an icon of a dead planet.  The final curtain call of environmental change or the consequences of something catastrophic like Yellow Dawn: the image would not be out-of-place in a Mad Max movie. Those who have survived would walk past things like this every day, but sometimes, they are going to encounter sights that will punch through their brain-shocked desensitivity. And make them stop. And stare. And remember.

I think Brandt has captured this raw, gut-wrenching emotion of the absolute end of things.

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If you like his work, check out Nick Brandt’s website.

He also has a stunning hardback book available:

On This Earth, A Shadow Falls
Photographs by Nick Brandt
Big Life Editions, 2010. 192 pp., 90 illustrations, 13¼x15½”.

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2010 by:

• Anne Kelly
• Elizabeth Avedon

View here:
http://www.photoeye.com/bookstore/citation.cfm?Catalog=ze223

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Photography ¦ Evolution, an image by Sydney based photographer Jonathan May

A leash must be worn at all times

Image by Sydney based photographer Jonathan May - all rights reserved

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This photo of a dog walking a woman on a leash is one of many surreal, quirky and playful images created by Sydney based photographer Jonathan May.  As some folks pamper their pets more than their partners, it could be construed as a future glimpse of the relationship between human and domestic animal.

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David J Rodger – DATA