The award-winning photographer Kurt Markus led a life and career that seemed as vast and varied as the Western landscapes he captured on film. As a West Point graduate and a former Army Ranger, he felt at home in the rugged outdoors, and he could load film while traveling on horseback at a trot. While…
Growing up in Ipswich, Mass., Nina Freeman spent a lot of time playing video games with a pair of close friends, twin sisters whose basement served as an arena for marathon sessions. “My friends and I were nerds,” she recalled. “We played a lot of games. ‘Final Fantasy 11’ was like a second life to…
Christophe ArchambaultGetty Images It’s a strange time to be in fashion; not just to write about it and consume it, but also to create it. Even the mind-blowing artistry of a haute couture show, where one-of-a-kind garments are sewn together by practiced hands with millions of tiny stitches, can only temporarily distract from the world’s…
Good morning. I remember a Fourth of July a few years ago when I flew into New York in the evening, and I could see fireworks all over the surrounding counties on the approach to the airport: soundless explosions of twinkling lights, beautiful and maybe even moving. (Emotions are heightened on planes.) When I got…
As the United States has grappled with the unfolding consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision overruling Roe v. Wade, one question lurks between the lines of court opinions and news stories alike: Why are the risks of pregnancy so rarely discussed anywhere, even though that information is relevant not just to individual decisions but to…
“Yallah, yallah, yallah! Woooo!” I was visiting the pyramids of Giza, Egypt, in the company of Mark Lehner, a renowned Egyptologist, when suddenly a series of voices erupted and echoed throughout the site. Our small group turned to face the commotion, wondering what had happened — and if anything was wrong. Instead, we saw the…
SANTA FE, N.M. — Tens of thousands of art collectors, aficionados and spectators are expected to converge in and around the central Santa Fe Plaza next month to check out the work of hundreds of Native American artists offering some of their finest jewelry, pots, paintings and other pieces for sale. The annual Santa Fe…
GALWAY, Ireland — Over the years the Claddagh ring — which shows two hands clasping a crowned heart — has been a love token, a friendship ring and, in modern times, a symbol of Ireland itself. In the Past Rings depicting two hands, called “fede” or fidelity rings, were worn in the Mediterranean region during…
LONDON — Before her successful, if somewhat niche, career, the Hungarian-born pearl stringer Renata Terjeki was never a fan of pearls. “I never wanted to string,” said Ms. Terjeki, 47, in a recent video interview from her small, windowless, lamp-lit workshop, tucked in the basement of the luxury antique jeweler Bentley & Skinner on London’s…
Macle. Maccle. Maacle. Mackle. Little wonder few people know what this particular type of diamond is; even the experts don’t agree on how to spell it. Over the many centuries and countries where macles have been used, the spellings differ, and that continues today, between companies and sometimes, even within them. But they do agree…