Marilyn Monroe photos to be auctioned at Christie’s

Before the world knew her as Marilyn Monroe, Norma Jeane Baker so captivated photographer Andre de Dienes at her first modeling assignment that he later recorded their meeting in his diary: “An earthly sexy-looking angel! Sent expressly to me!”

De Dienes simultaneously captured the innocent exuberance and seductiveness of the young model in a series of photos that day in 1949, as she frolicked on a Long Island beach.

They are among more than 100 Monroe images being offered for sale in three sessions next Tuesday and Dec. 17 at Christie’s auction house. They are expected to bring between $811,000 to $1.1 million.

The photographs represent a chronicle of Monroe’s short life, from obscurity to Hollywood sex goddess. They capture her in all her manifestations – playful, sexy, innocent, insecure and anguished – as recorded by some of the biggest names in photography, including Tom Kelley, Richard Avedon, Bert Stern, Gary Winogrand, Elliott Erwitt and Cornell Capa.

A set of four portraits from the Tobey Beach series, showing Monroe with long, curly tresses and her trademark winning smile, is estimated to sell for $7,000 to $9,000.

Among other highlights is a group of photos known as the “Last Sitting” and taken by Stern for Vogue in 1962, just weeks before Monroe’s death at 36.

Vogue ultimately ran the eight-page feature as a memorial tribute. Fifty-nine images from the three-day shoot at the Hotel Bel-Air in Beverly Hills – including an uncharacteristically forlorn-looking Monroe in a black dress that conceals her body – are estimated to bring $100,000 to $150,000.

A 1957 portrait of a crestfallen-looking Monroe in black halter dress – in which Avedon turned “the subject from a star into a mere mortal” – is estimated to fetch the sale’s highest price for a single photo, as much as $35,000, Christie’s said.

Christie’s said the collection of Monroe photos is the largest to come on the market. Many were featured in a 2004 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum of Art.

New York collectors Leon and Michaela Constantiner are selling the photos plus 250 other images representing fashion, glamour and celebrities by such art-world stars as Andy Warhol, Helmut Newton, Irving Penn and Robert Mapplethorpe.

The collection also has an unusually large number of sexually explicit prints as well as nude photos of actors and models such as Kate Moss, Patti Hansen, Charlotte Rampling and Nastassja Kinski.

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Do you want to live on a small island?

Do you want to live on a small island?

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Ipod’s contemporary art

Ipod’s contemporary art

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Arnold Schwarzenegger and Barack Obama

Does it get any better than the photo above? The Governator (aka California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger), President-elect Barack Obama, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist (R) and Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D) all gathered at the National Governors Association meeting today in Philadelphia.

Offer your most creative caption to the photo in the comments section. We’ll pluck a few highlights and feature them in a post of their own later this week. And, let’s keep the comments PG-13 if possible.
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Night’s Photos: Moon with planets Venus and Jupiter

Photo of the night: The crescent moon is accompanied by planets Venus, bottom, and Jupiter, right, as evening sky clouds stream by the trio in this 15-second time exposure made from Stedman, N.C. Monday night, Dec. 1, 2008 using a telephoto lens. The striking grouping was widely observed from the eastern US. Earlier in the day observers in England saw the moon completely cover Venus. (AP Photo/The Fayetteville Observer, Johnny Horne)

If you weren’t able to see it in your area because of cloud cover or the kids missed it, it was spectacular! When I first saw this in the sky last night I thought maybe aliens had finally come to visit or something. Luckily, I was able to rest easy when I found out those were just planets showing so bright and beautifully!

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See too Great pictures of the moon

fantastic city of the future

Web Urbanist has compiled a list of fantastic and visionary designs for “green” living. Check out a sampling below.

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The Bridge documentary offers insight on suicide

A 2006 documentary about suicide would have stirred up controversy if more people had seen it. “The Bridge” includes footage of 23 people ending their lives in 2004 by jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

Colin McEvoy describes the film — its insight and its artistic value — in this week’s column. It’s not graphic, but it’s unsettling, he says.

Some of the interviews with family members “simply need to be heard to believed, including one by a man who jumped off the bridge in a suicide attempt and survived, McEvoy says. He calls it “simply unforgettable.” Full story and movies here

Not good Sean Conery’s movies

International Space Station happy birthday

I was lucky enough to be at mission control in Moscow’s Star City when the Russians launched the first stage of the International Space Station (ISS).

They called it Zarya, which means Dawn.

The enterprise itself was meant to be just that – a new dawn for human space exploration.

Moments after the launch, the then head of Nasa, Dan Goldin, said: “Within a few years, the brightest star ever will appear in the sky.”

He said it would be a sign of hope because nations who had once fought each other had now come together to use their ingenuity, not to blow up humanity, but to make a better world.

But 10 years on and it is still not completed. It is tens of billions of pounds over budget and the limited science that has been carried out on board so far, according to Dr Andrew Coates of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory in Surrey, has been distinctly mediocre.

He said: “The International Space Station has been a big waste of time and money over the past 10 years. It’s 240 miles above our head and that’s hardly real space exploration.”

Moving on?

Even though the ISS is still unfinished, it may have already become an outdated idea.

The US space agency’s new focus is to return to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Nasa’s current administrator Mike Griffin does not seem to be a fan of shuttling his astronauts back and forth to low earth orbit in order to carry out experiments such as growing crystals or watching how ants behave in zero gravity.

For him, these are hardly deeds that compare to the epic Moon missions that once stirred his blood.

So what has been the point?

The primary purpose of the project, from the outset, seems to have been political – to make the Russians feel loved and give the American space industry something to do.

The Soviet Union had recently crumbled and the US felt that it was important to place construction orders with the Russians – there were fears within the US administration that Soviet-era rocket expertise might otherwise be put to use making arms for rogue states.

For its part, the US could no longer afford to go to the Moon, but congress felt it needed to continue to be a space faring nation.

So in terms of domestic and foreign policy goals, the space station may be considered a success.

International endeavour

According to Dr Chris Riley, a leading space film maker and journalist, the ISS is also a symbol of international co-operation.

He said: “For the past 10 years, you’ve had nations that were once fighting each other working together for a big peaceful international endeavour.” Source

Advice on buying a digital camera

1. Buying a Digital Camera Without Using it First
This is probably a fairly common mistake, but easily the worst. It’s so easy to get caught up in reviews and specs and features and comparisons, and forget one essential fact. You need to like the camera. That means, even if you buy the camera online, you should first hit a local camera store and handle the camera. You want to be sure it’s a powered, fully functional model (and it’s the exact same model that interests you , not a “similar” one). Also don’t be afraid to asks a salesperson to take it off the tethers if that interferes with your ability to handle it. Pretend you’re taking pictures. See how it feels in your hand. Try to do specific tasks, and see how hard the camera controls are to navigate.

2. Buying the Most Expensive Digital Camera You Can Afford
It can be tempting to get the coolest, slickest, most high-end camera you can afford. That doesn’t mean you should. For example, if you’re new to photography you won’t want an advanced digital SLR with lots of manual controls. If you’re just looking to take pictures for your blog, you don’t need 12 megapixels. There is no need to pay for features you won’t use and, in fact, it will make using the camera more confusing and less pleasant. It’s better to look within your budget, but focus on finding the best camera for your specific needs.

3. Focusing Only on Digital Camera Megapixels
Megapixels are often the first thing people wonder about when considering a digital camera. Sure, you shouldn’t ignore megapixels. It certainly shouldn’t be your only consideration, and may not even be your primary consideration. In fact, if you have an older computer or you don’t care to buy high-capacity memory cards, you will not want a 12 megapixel camera that will eat up storage space. Think beyond megapixels, because another feature (such as zoom) could be much more important for you.

4. Being Wooed by Junk Digital Camera Zoom Numbers
If you need zoom, don’t get fooled by inflated numbers based on digital zoom. Digital zoom is essentially useless. A salesman might give it a nice spin by saying something like, “You get a total zoom of 10x!” How much of that is optical? If it’s just 3x optical, that is pretty much the standard zoom on digital cameras and nothing to get excited about. You always want to ask about the optical zoom rate. If you are used to film cameras, you should also ask about the 35mm equivalent so that you understand just what 5x optical zoom really means.

5. Not Knowing What You Want in a Digital Camera
There are an awful lot of digital camera features available, but you won’t find many cameras that do everything well. It is better to understand the available features, and decide which features are the most important for you. Consider making a list of your three most important features, then rank them. That way, you can work on finding a camera that meets those needs first, and worry about extra features if they so happen to come in the camera you like.