Around the World: Aerial Photos of Yann Arthus-Bertrand

We often forget how beautiful the world we live in in the rush of the daily grind. We hardly ever take a moment to sit still with our heads up to enjoy the blue skies, birds chirping and leaves on trees swooshing as the gentle breeze of the air discreetly pass us by. We take all these things for granted and yet from time to time we bump into something that reminds us on how beautiful the world truly is. Sometimes, slowing down to open your eyes is all that it takes for the world to enthrall you with its beauty.

For aerial photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand, however, it's just part of his five-year airborne odyssey documenting through his lens the world as we rarely see it. So, if you need a reminder to make you appreciate Earth more, here are some of Yann Arthus-Bertrand's amazing works.

Amazon River, Brazil

Bazaar of Istanbul, Turkey

Boats stranded on the dry Aral Sea, Kazakhstan

Coal mine, South Africa

Easter Island, Chile

Elephants on the Savannah, Botswana

Epicenter of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima, Japan

Fraser Island Dune, Australia

Freeways in Los Angeles, USA

Gullholmen, Sweden

Hashima Island, Japan

Louver and Ile De La Cite in Paris, France

Machu Picchu, Peru

Military Cemetery, Verdun, France

Pigeon Houses Mit Gahmr Delta, Egypt

Ruins of the Medieval City of Shali, Egypt

Solar Plant in Andalusia, Spain

Stockholm, Sweden

Tasmania, Australia

The Changping District in Beijing, China

Varanasi, India

Walled City of Dubrovnik, Croatia

Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand

To see more of his wonderful works, click here.

Definitely another beautiful topic to write about, don't you think?

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

LA Printers Fair 2010

Here in LA, you can be sure there's always something happening somewhere between Santa Monica and Downtown Los Angeles whether you are into theatre, sports, literature, art, music, dancing, etcetera... this Saturday is extra busy for Dan and I with the Glow Festival, a bi-annual music and art festival at the Santa Monica Pier, Epicenter (another amazing music festival - this year's headliners Eminiem, Kiss, Buss and Blink-182), and Nocturnal Festival 2010 (which we've got free passes for thanks to Brad Athens of Insomniac Events). But there's one major event that I'm so heartborken to miss! It's the:

The museum itself - The International Printing Museum at any given day is a printing and paper addict's paradise which houses Ernest A. Lindner "Collection of Antique Printing Machinery considered by many authorities to be one of the largest, most comprehensive collections of historic graphic arts equpment in the world." It has the first iron printing press built in the 1800 by Lord Standhope; the second one built in 1813 by John Clymer; the Albion press in 1820; the Washington hand press of Samuel Rust in 1821........ and there's so much more! 

14x19 Albion

24x35 Washington

Columbian Press

6x9 Platen Jobber

This Saturday's fair will include over 100 vendors selling tasteful paper products and some will even sell classic printing presses. Click here for the vendor highlights. If you do make it you MUST blog about it! It's times like these I wish half of my Gemini self could materialize and be in two amazing events at once! That's double dose on happiness!

Well, wherever you will be this weekend, be safe, have fun with good company, good food and a ton of laughter!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

In My Mailbox : Vintage Stamp Dispenser

The life of my mailbox is at an all time high now with lots of friends from around the globe and all those postcards from Postcrossing.com! It's never seen better days! Especially when I shop around for unique vintage or handmade Etsy finds.

Not really a self-professed collector myself, things just seem to find me (yeah yeah) and soon enough found fallen bird feathers on the streets are piling up on my growing collection of vintage tin cans that spurred from hours and hours of looking over the vintage category on Etsy!

So when this little darling found me (it's fate), the letter-writing, letter-mailing, vintage loving me, how could I say "No"? There's no stopping my epistolary from growing now, from the modest start with letters, postcards, stationery to this little baby, my mailbox is as curious as I am as to what will find its way to me next.

Stay tuned!

According to seller Sassydoggs, this vintage stamp dispenser is.........

"from the 1960s because the stamp pictured on the side appears to be a 1965 4 cent Lincoln stamp."

Visit her shops:

http://www.sassycatts.etsy.com/
http://www.peppermintpixies.etsy.com/ 



Happy writing! (And collecting!)

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

Paper (and flower) Art : Kari Herer

A repost from my Facebook Notes 10/09/2009.

"BOTANICAL ART IN THE NEW"

This morning, I tried to understand the last images I have left engraved in my thoughts from the sleep I just woke up from...dream residue. I only caught one scene in a shabby house with a makeshift bed in the center. The main focus shifted to a baby, my baby lying next to me his body warm and safe. I'm not sure if in my dream when I was still in it, if it was a real human baby, because my mind now argues that it was a polar bear cub! My heart cringed at the memory, I so love polar bears and I grieve over their increasingly desperate fight for survival. It must explain why I scoured the web pages for flowers mix with whatever comes close to my vision of a rotten corpse. My search turned up these beautiful works by photographer Kari Herer. Each piece reminds me of those flowers in the graveyard set adrift in a sea of melancholia.

Check out more of Kari Herer's work here and shop her Etsy shop for these lovely, one-of-a-kind prints.

Another exquisite work of art to write about!

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

Subscription Freebies!!!

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Blog update!

I've decided to make this a full-on offer to new subscribers of Letter Parade blog, and not limited to the apothecary-style address labels found below. The contents of the letter/package to new subscribers will be a surprise! Each letter/package will contain different stuff all letter-related or something to support your hobby (like assorted stationery, postcards, stickers, etc)! 

To get yours in the mail, just subscribe to this blog by clicking the FOLLOW button found at the left hand side, follow the simple instructions how then drop me a short, sweet email with your address so I can send the goodies to your way! It's that easy! Get all your pen pals to subscribe, too! My letter love extends beyond the USA :0)

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

PS If you blog and would like to use the subscribe banner (above) feel free to do so! It's created by yours truly. Just link Letter Parade for credit.

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Tuesday, August 31, 2010

As my way of saying thank you for following my newborn blog, Letter Parade, I'm giving away a set of five apothecary-style labels I designed under my GKkards to each follower. So 'Ria Cabral', 'The Missive Maven', 'Angie Seffker Cope', and 'Jan. F' please email me your mailing address so I can send one set on your way, postage is on me!

Spread the love to your pen pals and have them follow this blog so I can send them a set, too!

Again, thanks for the support.

Thanks for keeping the art of letter-writing alive; for building long lasting friendships through this medium; for spreading love, peace and happiness as effortless as writing letters :)

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat

PS This limited design label is printed on thick cardstock with matte finish and is not yet sold anywhere.
      Sticker version will be available soon here!

USPS Goes Retro?

Lately, I'd been reading about the issues USPS has been having, like closing on Saturdays and increasing postage from $0.44 to $0.46 by January 2011. It's inevitable! While a lot of people claim that USPS will soon close down its services to the public as more and more people choose to pay bills online with the urging of most billing companies adding a certain percentage of fine for not going paperless - the number of letter writers and postcard collectors are rapidly growing each day! I would think so. Ask any letter writers you know who go past sending greeting cards on holidays and they'll tell you we are on a letter-writing revival! It's certainly not primarily to save USPS, but personally, I think because people just miss the feeling of getting actual letters that are not bills you needed to pay, or coupons and catalogs you only browse once. It's true, there's nothing quite like it, and the joy of every process in writing, sending, receiving and reading one is unmatched. It especially excites me that younger generations are getting into this old trend. I've noticed more names in the 14-20 year-old bracket at the penpal section of this one pen pal finder site I found some of my new friends at.

Which brings me to this new argument re: USPS rebranding, will redesigning it appeal to the masses or help solve the ongoing budget crisis?

Designer Matt Chase created these gorgeous body of work for USPS taking in a more retro appeal. I love it and support implementation of this project, why should USPS be a stark white space like every other boring government office? While the eagle head logo is famous, I sure won't miss it if they changed it to Matt Chase's proposed one. In fact, I think the current eagle head logo would be more appropriate for, say, a new military or air force department if they don't have enough eagles in their logos already.

But this argument should also be taken into consideration: Shouldn't USPS focus more on finding strategies to become more competitive with FedEx, UPS, and perhaps partner with larger companies to develop some sort of mailing campaign? To make USPS the primary carrier if that is at all still possible? This article by Max Fisher (The Future of Mail) packs some very feasible solutions, including one that I don't approve of: shutting down USPS.

While the nostalgia route of the proposed designs appeal to people like me, if it's only going to generate appreciation instead of more supporters, then I think it's time to look the other way. But seriously, how can these not work? If our government couldn't rescue USPS, maybe a designer/creative agency could?

Happy writing!

Cindy Gonzales-Kujat