Rachel Wood, Cath Simard, Ryan Newburn, Jenna Dixon, Joelle LB, Mikko Lagerstedt, Neil Burnell, Ryan Warner,
Sarah Lyndsay, Ty Lekki, Wolf Mercury, Nevin Johnson, Kyle Reader, Brynn Schmidt, Tara Workman, Jared Armijo,
Rach Stewart, Houston Vandergriff, Hugo Korhonen, Nick de Jonge, Katrina Armstrong, Fvckrender, 
Ramiro Torrents, Justin Wood, Jord Hammond, Samantha Cavet, Andrew Semark 


medium

Me Llamo Imagination

test

I grew up in the woods of New England, surrounded by winding trails that led to secret places. 

The hum of civilization is distant and the limits to my imagination are endless when surrounded by trees. 

Many times when I stressed and confused, I go out into nature to find my roots again. 

Water reflects the world as it is, and reminds me to embrace the natural course for it is miraculous.

I am My Own Boat

Nuit Blanche, my mind is a blank canvas
At night, my awaken spirit paints ideas.

A self-induced immersion into the sleepless Noir
Connected with the blue void within myself.

Into the darkness
The eye can’t perceive its surroundings.

Deprived of a single sense
The brain fills the gaps with vivid imagination.

A state of euphoria follows
The blinded eye looking for the light.

Amnesia manifests
As a slow moon rises.

I don’t know where I am
But I know who I am.

La Nuit
Hallucinations invade my world
Memories and self
Colliding with reality.

La Nuit
Le Noir du Soi
Cherche le Blanc de la Lumière.

Nuit Blanche

-January 10, 2019- Transcript written after the storm-

All was pitch black and silent as I hiked out in the frigid, yet still, winter morning towards the glacier. With just a headlamp to light my way, I walked along the path alone. My mission was to chop steps into the ice, making it safer for the morning ice cave tours ahead. As I walked, my thoughts lingered on the previous night: how this calmness compared to the chaos of just hours before. 

I reached the glacier's edge, put my crampons on, and hiked up the ruined path that we used previously to scale the ice. After the winds of the night’s storm, there wasn't much left of our path on the fragile trail. The moraine would have to be raked into a walkable path once again.

As I swung the massive ax over my shoulder—striking it through the ice—a loud thud and crack could be heard with every swing. Winter glacial ice feels like 50-meter-thick glass and cannot be broken easily. Still, relentless swinging eventually molded a walkable step. One step down, three more to go.

As I continued chopping and the minutes rolled into an hour, the pitch black slowly faded with the coming dawn. The rolling glacial hills that met the edge of the lagoon came into view; there was a subtle, pink glow to the water as my eyes slowly adjusted away from the darkness. I then looked up over the volcano, Öræfajökull, that this glacier rested under. To my surprise, a sprinkled glow began to appear. 

A colossal, lenticular cloud gradually came into view as the morning light poured over the horizon. Its slight pink color began to saturate deeper with every passing minute. For a few moments, I couldn’t process what I was seeing. The sheer scale of this cloud made everything else seem minuscule. Simply put, I had never seen anything like it. This existed only because of the violent wind battle from the night before. 

More minutes passed and I gave up on chopping my ice steps. The sheer mesmerization of the cloud's growing luminosity held all of my attention...like a moth to a light, I was transfixed. Then in a brief moment, I broke my trance and I remembered that I had brought my camera with me. As I moved to capture the moment, I noticed that the UFO cloud was beginning to evolve once again as the sun rose higher. What I experienced next, I’ll never forget.

The lenticular cloud had transformed from a hot pink to a brilliant, fiery orange. Its vivid radiance lit the normally blue ice, into a shining orange ice that of which I had never seen before. The sun could not be seen over the horizon, and yet myself, the ice, and the lagoon were all on fire under the heavenly cloud. For those 15 minutes, I had left Earth. I was alone, in an alien world, brought upon only by chaos. Nature's unrelenting destruction had created its own perfect storm of a masterpiece—and I had it all to myself. To this day, it is still the most beautiful moment I have ever experienced...and it had all come to pass after the most perilous night of my life just 10 hours before... 

-January 09, 2019 (The Night Before)- Transcript written on the night of the storm and rescue operation-

The hurricane winds picked up tremendously since we had finished our tours for the day. I could hear large gusts hitting our base camp, shaking the metal window shutters as I edited a photo from my past Greenland expedition. Around 9:00 pm, I heard helicopter blades swishing from above. One of my friends who worked at the national park knocked on our door and entered our container. He informed us that a Japanese woman went missing from one of the trails around a famous waterfall in the cliffs above the glacier. The Icelandic Search and Rescue (SAR) team had been deployed around the national park to find her.

The woman had been missing since she, along with her husband and child, hiked to the waterfall. Her husband wanted to retreat due to the dangerous weather conditions, but she resisted and traveled further. After she did not return from the afternoon hike, the park rangers summoned the search party. Apparently, she continued up the trail with a dead phone and micro spike crampons for just one foot. Day turned into evening and the search had grown from a handful of people to three hundred SARs dispatched from all around Iceland with a helicopter scouring the area with thermal detection. There was still no sign of her.

As we found out, our lead guide entered the container and implored us to join in the search. We quickly geared up. As we drove to the SAR Headquarters, the dark night sky lit up. The northern lights burned across the entire sky. We arrived to find that every single company on site gathered its gear for this one common cause. I never felt more pride than in that moment for the Skaftafell community.

After a quick briefing, our team of four guides embarked on our mission. We accompanied two SAR members into the canyon, leading up to a massive waterfall; unfortunately, there was a possibility that she could have fallen down the rocks or into the river. As we hiked towards the canyon over the hill—in pure darkness—bright, green light radiated above us. The atmosphere of the wild aurora was beautiful, tense, and hopeless. She had been lost for more than six hours and the helicopter’s thermal cameras were unable to detect anything. We reached the point where we would have to scale the river, venturing off of the trail.

There was no path for us to walk on as we attempted to navigate the canyon—only over the ice of the half-frozen river. We could hear the unfrozen river surging below us as we stepped across the uncertain ice. Every few steps, the ice would break below me and my leg would plunge into the waters. Still, we continued on.

Halfway up the canyon we reached a wall. Our lead guide and the other SAR member climbed up and called for the two of us to remain at the base of the wall. They continued on while we helplessly waited. Eventually, we were told to cease the search that night, while the lead guide continued to navigate the canyon up above. Unfortunately for us, there was nothing more we could do. Yet, despite the orders, we were not ready to give in just yet.

Instead of calling it in for the night, we returned to brief the SAR command and inquired into further missions or ways to help. There were still many areas of the landscape where she could have fallen, but we had not yet covered, including the ice on the glacier under the top of those cliffs. It turned out that this was exactly what they were planning to do next and asked how many times we had been onto Skaftafellsjokull Glacier. "Twice a day, everyday for months," I replied. The two of us being guides knew that glacier inside and out. We decided that we would lead a team of 5 SAR members up to the ice and show them our carved path near the cliffs. Providing them with pairs of our glacial crampons and harnesses, for the first time that night, I felt like I was contributing.

We drove the SAR team’s Super Jeep across the walking pathway to the glacier. The 5 SAR members appeared to me like an action team out of a movie. These guys who had trained and had performed missions together as brothers, began giving each other shit—attempting to lighten the solemn and terrifying mood. As we drove into the dark abyss, the glacier roared at us. At this point in the night, 100mph winds were pushing against our vehicle, attempting to halt our progress. To add to the chaos, a dust storm enveloped the vehicle as we approached the glacier. After 20 minutes of driving against the hurricane force winds, we came to a stop.  From here we would walk to the access point, about half a kilometer away. We began to gear up within the shelter of the vehicle, preparing for the ensuing storm ahead of us.

The two of us—as the Skaftafellsjokull Glacier guides—instructed the team how to strap their glacial crampons on and traverse the ice. It was our job to lead them to the only access point. Layered up, line equipment ready, and crampons on, we opened the door and just as fast, the piercing wind almost blew it off.

We could barely stand as rock and dust shot at us like bullets and obscured any visibility. There was then a moment in my life that I will never forget. Roped up to each other, the search and rescue leader approached me, shining our brightest light, handing it to me and yelling, "LEAD THE WAY." My heart raced as I took my first steps into the jowls of a roaring monster.

And right as I took those first steps...as if predestined, a call suddenly came in. They had found her. She was alive.

What felt like a death march just moments before instantly shifted into an explosive celebration. You could see the joy and relief on each of our team's faces as we realized she was alive and stable. We screamed, danced, and embraced in the wind for a brief moment knowing that the day was won. The effort of everyone that night had not been in vain. An entire community of volunteers and the effort of a country's bravest SARs had come together in a time of emergency to help just one individual in need. We survived the storm.

My night that had started just as any other—editing photos—ended with meaning greater than any picture could ever embellish. And so I typed this as it is fresh in my mind on this very same night, so I can always look back upon it as the moment in my life where I felt most alive, and yet closest to death. Goodnight.

<Final Words>

And with that storm's passing, this picture is the only proof of that night's endeavor. For but the memory of its howling winds along with this recounting tale of it will ever exist. 

A Flame forever Frozen in my soul.

The Frozen Flame

For countless years, I have chased the aurora and its spiritual like existence within the night sky. During each memorable occurrence, for a brief moment, I feel a sense of knowing and inexplicable truth. Almost like a powerful interconnection between past, present and future self. There is much to be learned from within underneath this beautiful symphony of light and colour.  Look up and listen.  

In a life that is moving at warp speed, there are few moments that can stop the world in its tracks.  The aurora captivates, mesmerizes and emotionally moves me more than any other experience on earth. And so I dedicate the chase to this natural phenomena time and time again. Whether near or far, this is where you'll always find me.

Capturing the aurora was what sparked my love and passion for photography, therefore it only made sense to start my journey on Super Rare from the beginning. An image created from the Vestrahorn in South-East Iceland.

Symphony in the Sky

"I have come to lead you to the other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice."
-Dante Alighieri

I shot this surreal scene during a 4 day canoe expedition in Maligne lake, Alberta a few years ago. It sat on my hard drive as I wasn't happy with my edits. 

We were hoping for clear skies to shoot the milky way during that expedition, but wild fires got so bad we had to rush out and paddle 22km in one day as the sky was covered in smoke, ashes started falling all over the lake and breathing became challenging. On our way back we stopped to take a few shots as the faded mountains looked completely different than what you'd normally see. They ended up being my all time favourite photos from this location. 

Collector has the option of getting a print if desired.

Havoc

LightArtists

A cold day turned into an even more freezing evening. As the temperature dropped, the views started transforming when the mist formed. While driving through different sceneries, I stopped by this small road to appreciate the moment. I used a tripod and ran into the frame to have a subject in this expansive-looking view.

By Mikko Lagerstedt

Lost

TOMBSTONE

ryanadrift

As the rest of the world sleeps, the Watchman begins to rise. The skies burns like a raging fire. But as the color eruption takes place, the whole park stops and stares for a while. Water from the river below runs into the distance, into the base of the Watchman. This is when the Watchman is at its finest. Standing tall, showcasing the true beauty held in the southwest. These are moments photographers dream about.

This image is a classic from Zion National Park. A park that I would consider one of the most beautiful places on earth. In this particular image you can see a raging sunset, burning overtop of the mountain as the river runs into the distance. That mountain is named The Watchman, standing tall and overlooking the town Springdale. Overall this scene is truly magical on any given day. But given these conditions it turns into an otherworldly level of beautiful.  

-Ryan Warner

The Watchman Awakens

Tucked away in the northern part of the famous Canadian Rockies is Jasper.  

This is where I like to escape during the busy tourist seasons of the Rockies.   The lakes are pristine and calm in Jasper and the solitude is welcoming.  Waking up for sunrise and rowing along the lake is an unforgettable experience.   The boat carving through the calm reflection with the birds chirping in the trees is humbling and a reminder of all the beauty in this chaotic world. 

The blue sky, green trees and boats are the definition of Canada to me and I am incredibly blessed to be able to photograph these peaceful scenes. 

For this image, I used a long exposure technique with a 10-stop ND filter to create glass-like water and movement in the clouds.  

1/1 NFT

Sarah Lyndsay - Photographer

Pyramid Lake

Tylekki

Burning Man Gift #3

Edition: 1/1
License: Extended Editorial
       Resolution: 5304x6630

This is a photo about community. The passengers, having boarded the ferry, sail on across the vast waters of existence - together. We aren’t ever truly alone. Whether the ghosts of our memories, the friends and family along the way, or the vast powers that inhabitant this world with us, we are never truly alone. “Like a bridge over troubled water...”

Extended Editorial License: Can be used to display privately, or in commercial and non-commercial settings, or in groups with an unlimited number of participants. The License includes unlimited use and display in virtual or physical galleries, documentaries, and essays by the NFT holder. Provides no rights to create commercial merchandise, commercial distribution, or derivative works.

Sail On Silver Girl

nev-in-color

Light fading over the Grand Tetons. A day of adventure through the beautiful landscapes of Wyoming ends with a spectacular light show over the picturesque mountain range. 

This was the first sunset we experienced while in Wyoming. I had a feeling that the partial cloud cover over the mountains would make for a spectacular sunset. I loaded up the camera with my favorite film stock on 120. The dynamic range of this film allows one to capture all the detail in the shadows while retaining spectacular color & detail in the highlights.

This photo was shot on Kodak Portra 800 on 120 film. Schwabacher Landing in Moose, WY. June 16, 2021.

This NFT is a 1/1.

Purchase of the NFT comes with a Fine Art 16x20 framed print.

Day's End

Kyle_Reader

Overcoming self doubt is one of the biggest hurdles I’ve faced as a photographer. I spent a solo trip in Lake Tahoe looking for inspiration to push me forward during a challenging time in my creative journey. My final morning, the sky was awash in beautiful color and as my shutter clicked, I knew that capturing moments like this was something I would do for the rest of my life. 
This sunrise taught me to trust my passions and follow them. The places they may take you are always worth it.

Day Break

BrynnAlise

One of my favorite places is Napili Bay on Maui. It feels so familiar and a bit like home now as we have been eight times over the last fifteen years, and always stay at the same condos. My parents have been bringing our family here since my boys were young and it is a very special family place with lots of memories. After we lost my mom two years ago, we went back with my dad and brother's family last summer. I didn't bring my telephoto lens and I was so disappointed when I visualized the image I wanted of the bay we stay at, and yet couldn't get it. I realized I wanted an abstract image for our home of this extremely special place. This summer, I packed the lens and had my shot planned out. The first few days of the trip, the sky was somewhat cloudy and the brilliant blues I wanted weren't there consistently. On the fifth day, I woke up to blue skies and the perfect shades of blue I had been waiting for in the water. I grabbed my camera and spent about an hour focusing on Intentional Camera Movement (ICM), which is a form of long-exposure photography.  Each shot ends up completely unique and while I liked a few of them, when I checked them on my computer, the photo that I had envisioned wasn't there. So back out I went for another hour and I captured the exact shot I wanted! The only difference was that I had no idea the camera would pick up purples from the reefs in the bay. It was such an incredible feeling to see what I had envisioned come to life, but even better with more color than I anticipated.  This shot captures all the blues of the bay along with purples from where the reefs are almost exposed, but right below the surface of the water. 


Details: Abstract of Napili Bay, Maui 
Canon 5D Mark III
Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6l is ii
Breakthrough ND 6-stop filter,
Intentional Camera Movement with a .5 second exposure

Abstract

Parent and offspring; A relationship that can influence the trajectory of personal growth and life experiences for most of us. Some grow up with strong bonds & fond memories often influencing our role in society, whereas others are not so fortunate. 

In this world however I wonder; Is the parental role important? Do they teach, nurture and mold the future generations or are they created fully mature and self-sufficient? Do they retire and allow younger beings to take over when no longer capable or does the life cycle end abruptly when usefulness ends?
Is there the concept of fun, excitement, frustration or regret? Do relationships or  family even exist? 

In the Land of Dreams, anything is possible. 
What do you think life is like here?

Land of Dreams - "Circle of Life"

I drip my colors onto me

Then onto you

And onto the landscape

Never truly alone

Within the confines of my mind

Never a prison

Just a mind drenched in watercolors

A mind full of lost wonders

Synesthesia colors inspired by Enya, Lana Del Rey, and Stevie Nicks.

Synesthesia is a neurological condition, where you experience one of your senses through another. For me when I listen to music I see color, and shape. I photograph while listening to music to find shapes, and to see what colors might look best in the landscape I'm looking at. I then add the colors back in post processing of the photograph.

By Jerad Armijo

Watercolor

A morning that was like stepping into a dream.

My plans to shoot the sunrise seemed out of reach when I arrived at Lake Tarawera in New Zealand's north island to a blanket of fog and no view to be seen. But as the sun rose it slowly started to burn away the fog and the scene became ethereal and like some sort of dreamy wonderland.

It was after this moment that I realised mother nature has a way of surprising us when we least expect it. We should always embrace the unknown. I came away with a beautiful shot I could never have imagined in my own mind, and it has become one of my favourite images from this location.

By Rach Stewart

Into the Unknown

As the sun set in Yellowstone we made one last frantic attempt to catch the sights in the long summer twilight. In this National Park, beautiful sights can be seen in any direction. But, as Houston roams with his camera, we are never certain just what he has captured until we are safe at home. 

This image surprised everyone. Somehow between the pine trees, he captured the rising mist as it appears to be forming a “ghost tree.” 

Houston is always surprising us and those around him. The dire predictions he received at birth have been blown away. He is able to do so much more than anyone anticipated. 

In this image, the ghost tree is a perfect representation of things that are not always seen but are there all along.

Legend of the Mist

I visited this gorgeous place for the first time in the 2019 winter.

I stayed in Kuusamo, Finland with my family on our skiing holidays. Thanks to this, I had a fantastic opportunity to photograph a spot I had wanted to photograph for such a long time. And of course, I took the opportunity.

My dad and I drove to start this hike for around 40 minutes from our accommodation. Once we arrived in the parking lot, we realized this hike wouldn’t be an easy one.

There were many paths but none were tracked, so we had no idea which would lead us to the spot.

All the downhills and stairs were also covered in ice which made this really dangerous. We had to be very careful.

Eventually, though, we made it to this spot I had wanted to see with my own eyes for such a long time.

I love how this photo came out. It is one of my most popular photographs to date.

A wish come true

The Zaanse Schans, a beautiful museum located around 20km above Amsterdam. 
All the buildings you see in the museum have been transported from the surrounding area. The region called Zaan was actually the worlds first industrial area around 15th century. There were about 1000 windmills there and they made almost 75 ships per year. 

I have always visioned this place with fog but each time the conditions were not right or I was not able to go. It was 2 years ago when it was actually perfect April weather but it was also a very dry month...hence no fog in the morning. However, this one evening a weak cold front passed and it rained slightly. I knew it was going to be humid during the night and with dropping temperatures, the perfect ingredients for fog. Indeed the airport weather was showing forecast for fog (handy to know aviation weather which I use to plan my fog shoots Winking face). Alarm clock was set and the next morning it was magical. The building you see is actually a Cheese shop/Museum!

Nr 17 from the collection was taken a couple of months later also at the Zaanse Schans.

#2 The Cheese Museum

The chants grew louder as we sailed past the golden lit plumes of smoke. My eyes welled up in uncertainty, yet I was continuously reminded to shift my perspective. This isn’t mourning, this is a celebration of life. 

"Here we embrace death, as it defines life. We bathe in and pray for Ganga Ma, for she washes away our sins and directs our reincarnation. Her waters give us hope that we can one day be liberated from this endless cycle of birth and death and attain Nirvana."

I arrived in India with a world of optimism and a shadow of lingering doubt. After leaving my job and moving back home, I had spent a year in the depths of recovery from ignoring my mental health. Travelling was always a dream, but a little voice would tell me I wasn't ready. I was tired of listening to it and wanted to experience life in a way that took me away from familiarity. India still unravels yet grounds every bit of my soul and being.  

6000 x 4000 px | Ma Ganga Varanasi 
15% to Food For Life Varanasi

Transcendence

This picture was taken in 2019 with a canon 60D 

We went in Trona Pinnacles Tokimonsta and I to get some shot to integrate 3D in them and create her album cover at that time!

Form.

“There’s a whole world out there, right outside your window. You’d be a fool to miss it.”

I took this photograph in Argentinean Patagonia. 
After a 3:30AM start to hike my way through the bitter cold I needed to make stops to rest, using those moments to turn off my headlamp and take in the incredible sights of the milky way above me in the complete darkness. After about 10km of constant ascent I arrived at my destination. I made a  hot coffee while enjoying the twilight gradually illuminating the natural beauty in front of me. Right after arriving there, during blue hour, I was looking a while for an element to use as a frame. I had to find it before sunrise. Just as I was about to give up, I came across this piece of wood from an old lenga tree. With only a tight space to shoot from it was hard to manipulate my camera into position.
The clouds had beautiful shapes and began to light up until they took on colors that I could only have dreamed of, but I was more awake than ever!

La Ventana

Video Projection.  Photograph.

06/05/2022
Goblin Valley, Utah
38.567521, -110.701592

One More Ghost

Cái Răng Market is found deep within a network of canals that sprawl throughout the Mekong Delta. As the sun rises, the surrounding waters come to life. It's here that you'll often find a lone ranger heading straight for the center of commerce.

This edition is 1 of 3 artworks in the first installment of ‘Abstract Vietnam’, a body of work showcasing my favorite aerial work from Vietnam in 2022 and 2023.  
Every edition you own is an entry to win 1 x framed and signed print of your choice from the collection.

Collect and hold all 3 editions for one week and you’ll be airdropped a secret 4th edition.

Lone Ranger

Claude Monet's garden in Giverny, France. 2022

Two boats on the lake

'Finding focus' is an accumulation of imagery that has shaped the direction of my work. 

Each image is unique within itself. Little details that draw the focus of the eye. These details showcase the beauty within an otherwise intimidating ocean. 

Throughout my career I have continued to develop my process to really showcase the sheer volume of the incredible ocean I am surrounded by. These huge southern ocean swells smash the Western Australian coastline with such violence that it's easy to miss the small elements within. The images capture a moment in time that draws your attention to an incredible volume and weight of water. 

'Finding focus' is not only a collection but a mindset that I have applied over the years.  Years of oceanic knowledge and passion for the environment has sculpted my work. I want to showcase the ocean to the world in a way no one has seen before. 

Thank you for being a part of this journey.

mellamomatt

Me Llamo Imagination