• Tagged architecture, art, beaches, bizarre, culture, nature, sand, sand art, sand castle, sand sculpting, sand sculpture, sand sculpture competition, sand sculpture festival, sandcastles, travel

When a person builds a castle, it’s a strong fortress meant to last hundreds of years. Yet some people build temporary, fragile castles of sand. In fact, most sandcastles are not castles at all but, amazing works of sand sculpture art. This is a mixture of nature, of art, of science. Physicists theorize that even more massive sand castles could be built underwater. While that would be cool, it would be much harder for the masses to enjoy the sandy works of art by masters of sand sculpting. We really liked these and imagined what it might be like to walk along the beach, enjoying nature, but taking in giant cultural pieces of sand art at the same time. While it’s still summer hot in the USA and some “kids” will soon start school, let’s globe hop and enjoy a summer day on the beach and these sensational sand sculptures. [47 Photos]

• Tagged art, bizarre, culture, Easter, ethnology, Holy Week, people, photo documentary, photographer, photography, religious

Sometimes we are fortunate enough to find a photographer previously unknown to us but with amazing talent. Jose Pereira is such a photographer. When we came across his attention-grabbing photo documentaries, the images were so compelling, so ‘different’ that we had to look closer. We are surely glad we did, or else we might not have had this look at this culture and ethnological religious expression. Mr. Pereira captured these images of Living Easter of Paradela (Meis), Spain. The photo-documentary spans 5 days and were taken during the Holy Week processions. He said it took “many hours of walking, running down the street, escaping the multitude of the public who attend the events.” Pereira added, “I have spent many years photographing events and ethnological religious expressions in Spain, other countries such as China, India, Russia, etc.” His site, RoughPhoto was a project he initiated. “In recent years for work reasons, I have a bit abandoned it. In recent years I spend more time working in office, instead of taking pictures in the street!” [27 Photos]

• Tagged art, bizarre, culture, Dante, Dante's Inferno, Italy, odd, photos, pics, places, sand castle, sand sculpture, sand sculpture festival

Dante’s Inferno – welcome to hell, a mixture of culture and amazingly intricate and evil sand sculpture art. Dante Alighieri wrote the 14th-century epic poem in which Inferno, meaning hell in Italian, is the first part of his Divine Comedy. The International Sand Sculpture Festival was held in Venice, Italy, on the beach of Jesolo Lido. The Sultans of Sand Worldwide brought together 18 incredibly talented master sand sculptors from 9 countries. 2,000 tons of sand were used to craft 24 different scenes from the 9 circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno. Some of these wildly wicked sculptures stood over 4 meters (13 feet) high and were built in only 10 days! While professional sand sculptors can carve out both amazing and sometimes bizarre creations, the intricate designs of these giant sand demons make this one of the most mind-blowing, bizarre, and unforgettable International Sand Sculpture Festivals ever. A very special thank you to photographers Marco Rizzetto and Gael Reignier for granting me permission to post their copyrighted pictures that show off all 9 circles of Dante’s Inferno. Get ready to traipse through the nine levels, “circles,” of hell: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery. [46 Photos]