Cool Shop Window In Boston

My pal Seth sent me these photos he took from a jewelry store display in Boston's South End neighborhood. The cool display is made from garden hoses, to a very eye-catching effect.

Have you got some pictures for me? Saw something cool and interesting and want to share with the world? E-mail me the images (via the link on the right column) and I'll post the ones that have the best fit for Little-Pumpkins. High resolution please, folks!

Agent Provocateur Window @ Selfridge's London

People on their way to work got an eyeful today when a woman stripped naked in the window of Selfridges - but it was all in the name of art. The model posed nude for an artist to paint her to promote Strip, a fragrance by lingerie label Agent Provocateur.
Passers-by gaped, fumbling for their camera phones, while buses slowed down and passengers swarmed to the windows. But once the artist, who calls himself Jacques le Trompet, finished the painting, the model, Jen, covered up and the curtain was drawn.
Sadly for those with a sudden urge to rush down to Selfridges this afternoon she has now been replaced by a clothed mannequin. It is the latest and most daring window display by the label. A spokeswoman said: "It's part of the tradition for Agent Provocateur. In 2005 we had a live striptease in the window of our Soho branch. The street was rammed."

Via The Daily Mail

Floridian Santa Claus

A quick shot of Mr. Santa Claus at the Christmas Village in the Gardens Mall, in Palm Beach Gardens, this past Sunday. There was a huge line of little kids waiting to sit on Santa's lap and have their picture taken with him. Father Christmas looked very much the part, with a real white beard and rosy cheeks, and seemed to be enjoying meeting the little tots. I must say that the mall's Christmas Village set-up was quite fancy and richly detailed - and dare I say -tasteful.

iPods & Nutcrackers

The Apple Store shows it's holiday spirit in their shop windows in Florida. I caught these great life-size nutcrackers with their neon iPods at the Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens yesterday. The mall was packed with last minute shoppers (like me) and was open from 9 am to 9 pm on the last Sunday before Christmas.

Hoo-Ray For Massachusetts

My friend Seth - my Boston attache - sent me these cool images of a building in Cambridge, MA. Great stuff, huh? Swiss cheese and building blocks comes to mind. He also e-mail me this fun window from Camper on Newbury Street in Boston. I love the vintage-looking robot dude made out of shoe boxes. Faboo!

Street Art @ Miami's Design District

Great street graffiti art in Miami's Design District neighborhood. It was clearly a commissioned mural but nonetheless fabulous and really striking, as I spotted it from about 2 blocks away. It reminds me of an "Adam & Eve in Paradise" reference and I am sure it might have been the artist's inspiration as well. The mural is the work of Danny Fila, a Miami-based street artist. I can't help seeing Shakira the longer I look at the girl's face. Am I crazy or doesn't she look like that Colombian fire-cracker?

Julian Opie @ Aventura Mall

As a brand-new Florida resident, I've been exploring my surroundings to get acquainted with what's out there. I was at Aventura Mall the other day, literally killing time, waiting for a friend's ride to pick me up. I decided to stroll around to check out what's there and at first glance it just seemed like any big American mall chock-full of chain stores and a very noisy food court. To my delight and utter surprise I spotted these two digital sculptures by British artist Julian Opie, whom I covered recently here at Little-Pumpkins. I am still not sure what they were doing there as there were no plaques or signs stating the purpose of the displays. Were they on loan or a permanent purchase? It kind of baffled me that they were there, lost amidst Banana Republic and an under-construction Christmas village. I must say that they worked perfectly with the passing traffic of strolling shoppers, as the displays perfectly mimicked their hurried struts, though not quite as runway-model like as his svelte female figures.

Juicy Couture @ Worth Avenue

Great window at Juicy Couture's Worth Avenue shop in Palm Beach, Florida . I love the whole design and the plane-as-a-hat prop is just delightful. The light pink background is perfect for all the black accents such as the gloves and opaque tights. Love it!!

I'm Not Gay - I Just Really Love Rainbows

"I'm not gay, I just really love rainbows..."
How funny is that? I was browsing at Urban Outfitters the other day when I came across this great air freshener and coaster set by BlueQ in their housewares department. I often go in there to look around and always end up picking something up as their prices are just too good to pass stuff up. I do have a taste for the kitschy-off-beat stuff and Urban's is chock-full of tempting merchandise that appeals to this low-brow side of mine. Urban's is a great place for graphic tees too, though I swore a while back to not buy any more of them, but their clothing selection is a bit too alternative for my current age status. I also love all their in-store displays and visual merchandising, very cool, young and hip.

Well, I thought it was just too funny not to post it at Little-Pumpkins' "shopping section".

Coaster set U$4.99 and air freshener available directly at BlueQ

Autumn in Boston

Though it's officially Fall I must admit that it feels more like summer weather to me. I remember spending many chilly Autumns in New England and cannot recall temperatures as warm as the ones we've had these past few days. I spent a few days in Boston visiting friends and had the luck not to have to lug a jacket around, as a short sleeve tee was more than sufficient during the day. Boston, my hometown for many years, remains as beautiful as I remember and the nice sunny days allowed me to stroll around quite a bit. I snapped a few (corny) pictures around Copley Square, as they also have a small farmer's market in the afternoons. The sunflowers were screaming "Take my picture!" and I had to oblige, though I am not a "flower photographer" kind of guy. Nothing against flowers or any threat to my masculinity, but it's such a cliche subject that has no appeal to me unless they are fake and meant to look it, then I love it. The colorful chairs were displayed in front of Auntie Sadie's, a charming home-goods store in the South End neighborhood. They were so "picture-ready" that it almost looked like a photo prop.

I have a few more great images of my trip to Boston that I'll post here during the week.

Theme & Variation - Rua da Alfandega

I keep noticing a certain pattern to the things that appeal to me in the photographs I've been taking recently. I am very attracted to images of clusters of repeat objects or things. I love neat store shelves and supermarket aisles, specially when I see rows of a repeat products perfectly aligned in a pattern. I find beauty also in everyday things that have been casually grouped, without prior thought. I guess I just like visual repetition of a theme or color. It could be a row of chairs, a discount bin, a stack of plastic bowls or a stylized shop window. I don't have any aspirations or claim to be a good photographer, nor do I use professional equipment, so pardon my lack of technique. My little Sony camera is serving me very well so far. I decided to name this new series "Theme & Variation" to paraphrase Piero Fornasetti, one of my favorite designers of all times.

All these images here were taken at Rua da Alfandega, in downtown Rio, that is a popular (read low-end) shopping area. There are about 6 or 7 rows of long narrow streets, chock full of "stuff" for sale, spreading out of the stores into the side walks. They call this area SAARA, the name of it's commercial association, and it's well known as a bargain hunter's paradise. There you can buy carnaval costumes, boot-leg DVDs, budget kid's toys, clothing, house goods and anything else you can imagine. Nowadays there is a new wave of Korean and Chinese merchants flooding the streets with Made in Asia discount merchandise, from electronics to cheap plastic stuff. It's definitely worth the visit, if not to shop just for the Brazilian cultural experience.

Cool Shop in Rio - Virzi

I just love the window displays at Virzi, at Rua Nascimento Silva in Ipanema, Rio. The half-sawed gold-painted skulls are a great contrast to the chic fashions that are found at Virzi, a high end women's boutique. Designer Marcella Virzi should be congratulated for her daring windows - associating women's couture with such dark Gothic touches - specially while in a beach culture city like Rio de Janeiro where the sexier the better. Kudos!

Ché Magazine

Ché is a magazine from Belgium that focuses on straight men and what they’re supposedly interested in. It's based on testosterone-charged laddie's magazines like Maxim, Stuff and FHM and focus on women, fast cars, cool gadgets and sports. Their current ad campaign is nothing short of suggestive and misogynist, portraying women as sex-objects (what's new?) and bad drivers. I must say that the campaign is very visually appealing and their art direction is superb. As a publicity stunt they outfitted several newsstands in Belgium with posters, that attached to it's check-out counters, gave them a quite sexy-funny effect. You can actually buy the "single-guy's bed sheets", with the lingerie-clad pin-up printed on it, from Ché's website.

Miscellaneous Images - Volume One

I've been amassing way too many interesting images lately, as I always have my little Sonny camera on me when I am out & about. I have to say that I've been "rediscovering" Rio de Janeiro - and Brazilian culture in general - after so many years living abroad. Maybe I see the city with a tourist's perspective now or simply just am photo obsessed, not sure. These pictures here are a few (of many) that I keep around looking for the right post to use it in. As the "right post" may not show up anytime soon I decided to group them in "miscellaneous" and publish them anyway. All of these were shot here in Rio, mainly downtown and in Ipanema, and they illustrate a bit of my current experience here.