Brain Pickings

Posts Tagged ‘emotion’

13 NOVEMBER, 2008

Artist Spotlight: Teddy Zareva

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How a photographer’s lens can break through the thickest of walls.

Visual art, at its most powerful, charges a static image with a fluid and turbulent flow of thought and emotion.

Photographer Teddy Zareva does just that in her work, sometimes aspirationally glamorous, often gritty and raw, and always rich in human complexity.

American Boy

Her work shows a profound understanding of the human body, made all the more impactful by her brave use of light and color.

Green Tea

Look at me like THAT

But we’re particularly taken with Teddy’s series of emotive portraits, which capture those deepest, most complex layers of how we relate to others and to ourselves.

Together Apart

Make Love Like a... Star

Free Hugs

Play You

Do You Have a Light?

Check out more of her work on deviantART, with select prints available for purchase.

06 JUNE, 2008

Friday FYI: Hate Mornings Less

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Why orchids are better than coffee.

Feel anything from grumpy to homicidal when you have to get up in the morning? Yeah, we hear ya. Luckily, a bunch of researchers at — where else — Harvard have discovered a neat trick to soften the punch of the alarm clock: stick a bouquet in your bedroom.

The behavioral study found that those of us who don’t consider ourselves “morning people” report feeling happier and more energized after looking at flowers first thing in the morning. This, in turn, makes us more positive throughout the day, which makes those around us a tad friendlier too, thanks to the whole “emotional contagion” thing. (We won’t get into the mirror neurons shenanigans, but it’s compelling and legit stuff.)

(And another study in that series found that flowers in the home make people feel less anxious and more compassionate. Which, you know, really helps in case the “emotional contagion” stuff didn’t work on that jerk at work.)

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