Photographer Sage Sohier says she finds beauty in odd places. “I’m drawn to look at things many people would turn away from,” she writes in our correspondence.

She also knows how to put things in perspective. Like: You may worry about wrinkles or complexion, she offers, but at least you have control over your facial expressions. Her portrait series About Face puts a frame around people who, for various reasons, lack that ability.

In 2007, Boston-based doctors Tessa Hadlock and Mack Cheney asked Sohier to make portraits of patients at their facial nerve clinic. Since then, Sohier has photographed people with Bell’s palsy or congenital nerve damage, patients who have had tumors, strokes or accidents — people who may have trouble smiling for the camera.

What If You Couldn’t Just Say ‘Cheese’?

Photo Credit: Sage Sohier

“I kind of fell in love with these little multigenerational, old businesses that were … community centers,” [Photographer John] Delaney says on the phone. “I realized that because this town is transforming so fast into a commuter town, a lot of these places can’t afford the rent, so I wanted to capture that.”

Delaney quickly learned that this effort is a race against the clock. Many of Hoboken’s small businesses — even ones he had just photographed — didn’t survive Hurricane Sandy, let alone the economy.

Mom And Pop And Hoboken: Portraits In Mile Square City

Photo Credit: John Delaney

nprmusic:

Metal is catharsis, metal is flooring it to “Love Me Like a Reptile” on an open highway, metal is a flailing mosh pit-punch to the eye (and the killer shiner afterward) and, when in the throng of tens or thousands of headbangers, metal is where I find my brothers and sisters, horns up and ready to scream bloody gore. — Lars Gotrich

Meet four people who headbanged and high-fived at Maryland Deathfest.