WE ARE ALL MADE OF STARS

WE ARE ALL MADE OF STARS

“The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff,” said Carl Sagan in Cosmos. Russian photographer Daria Khoroshavina brings this quote to life with this beautiful conceptual series we are all made of stars. Using body paint, glitter, and black light, her subjects appear to be made up of stars. Also into retouching and cinemagraphs, Khoroshovina used a Canon 6d/50mm 1.4 for this series but also owns some vintage zenit cameras with a bunch of helios lenses.

Snowboarding in the Himalaya, Nepal

Snowboarding in the Himalaya, Nepal

Photograph by Andrew Miller

Getting the Shot

"I think this is probably the highest and burliest spine line ever done on a snowboard," says photographer Andrew Miller. Miller had met snowboarder Jeremy Jones, one of our Adventurers of the Year, two weeks earlier while testing snowboards in Chile. Soon after, Miller heard from Jones. "I got a call from Jeremy asking if I had any interest in a trip to Nepal because a spot might open up. A few days later, he called back to see if I was still serious about going. And a few days after that, he called to tell me the spot was mine if I wanted it. I said 'yes.' "
During the 40-day expedition to try to ride two new lines above 20,000 feet in the Everest region of Nepal, Jones's film production crew mapped out and reconned several different options and angles on the glacier for shooting the wall, as well as the safest spots. "I setup two still cameras for two different options to make sure I nailed the shot and had photos to choose from—we knew this trip would be one, maybe two lines ridden total," recalls Miller. "I was shooting from a barbie angle, adjacent to the spine wall. We had to scramble up a rock face to the toe of the glacier, put our crampons on, and rope up for a three-hour walk across a broken glacier to set up our angle at 18,500 feet."
Knowing that the mountains might not be climbable or ridable, Miller and the team weren’t sure what they would encounter. "The snow conditions went from full Alaskan powder spines to rock-hard, sun-baked, barely edgeable snow in two days. This made the final descent pretty tough, and you can see the in the photo that Jeremy is just barely off belay, snowboarding with an ice axe in hand," says Miller.

Miller photographed with a Canon 5D Mark II and a Canon EF 400mm, f/5.6 lens.

Heaven In Nature

Bangkok-based Thai photographer Weerapong Chaipuck discovered his passion for photography after an early retirement from the medical profession. Now, Chaipuck travels the world, snapping shots of all the beautiful landscapes he comes across. His breathtaking images offer eye-catching perspectives that are rich with color and texture, not to mention content.

Whether he's atop Mount Hua in Xi'an, China peering down at a cloudy abyss or overlooking the expanse of the Ratchaprapa Dam located at Khao Sok national park in Thailand, Chaipuck captures the magnificence of each scenic view.

His growing collection of images evoke a variety of emotions that promote both the beauty of nature and inspire others to travel and see it all for themselves. Chaipuck says, As a new task of travel photographer, I experienced a lot of memorable moments from kind-hearted people during my trip. So, pay it forward, if you want to make a trip as a travel photographer too, welcome to my country. Contact me and be my guest!