Amazing Accomplishment in Animated Gifs

Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg's animated gifs

Readers of this blog know that I am a big fan of that Internet underdog commonly known as the animated gif. But Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg’s animated gifs are on another level. FastCoDesign says it best:

Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg’s animated photos turn the medium of choice for 4chan trolls into something approaching high art. You know how people sometimes say that jazz is the only truly American art form? Animated GIFs are like the jazz of the internet: they could only exist, and be created and appreciated, online. That said, PopTart Cat is not exactly on par with Thelonious Monk. But photographer Jamie Beck and motion graphics artist Kevin Burg may have finally found a way to elevate the animated GIF to a level approaching fine art, with their “cinemagraphs” — elegant, subtly animated creations that are “something more than a photo but less than a video.”

Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg's animated gifsThese are so quiet and so beautiful. I could seriously stare at them for a while. In response to why they chose to work in the format of the animated gif, the designers said:

“GIF is very basic, highly linkable through outlets such as Tumblr, and integrated into the web. Flash certainly has more capabilities but since our images are at their heart a traditional photograph, a format like .gif makes the most sense.”

Jamie Beck and Kevin Burg's animated gifsLook at all the animated .gifs (with a broadband connection, but who doesn’t have one these days?) HERE. So gorgeous!