July 7, 2012

Les Rencontres d’Arles 2012 is one of the world’s key photo exhibitions. this year it has an off-grid theme.

In the centre of town, the biggest and most well-attended show is a historical one: Gypsies by Josef Koudelka. The book, first published in France in 1975, is one of the defining photobooks of the 20th century. Koudelka’s brand of poetic sadness is more powerful today given that the world he photographed has all but vanished in the intervening years to be replaced by a new Gypsy generation which prefers concrete and mains power to caravans and wood fires.

The most haunting image in the collection shows a beautiful, bewildered young man in handcuffs. He stands in the foreground as if mesmerised by Koudelka’s camera while, behind him, a string of onlookers and a pair of uncertain policemen await their parts in this mysterious drama.

The conquest of space may one day become man’s salvation. Mars is our species most likely second home. This picture, taken over a period of several months, is the most detailed ever seen of the surface of the red planet. The view is presented in false color to make some differences between materials easier to see. Download the high-res version here.

From fresh rover tracks to an impact crater blasted billions of years ago, the scene, recorded from the Opportunity’s mast-mounted color camera includes the rover’s own solar arrays and deck in the foreground, gives a sense of sitting on the rover and taking in the view.