Guess Who? Fun photos of famous photogs

I had such a good time composing this post over on the PRC's blog, I thought I'd cast it out into the world again here. Enjoy!

Photoshelter’s Shoot the Blog had another great recent post, pointing me to a treasure trove of wonderful portraits. Photographer Bill Jay has been photographing photographers for close to 40 years. Currently, he has over 1,000 portraits in his files, with more to be added.

Guess who that is above….? John Pfahl in 1980.

I just sent a good 30+ minutes cruising Jay’s amazing Web site and its curious organization, until I realized that I could look at the portraits alphabetically. Oh well, my bad is your gain. Below are some of my favorites from page 1 alone as well as some folks of local interest. Be sure to look up past PRC Lecturers as well! Good news for us, he’ll be releasing a book with Nazraeli Press soon.

CAUTION, this is VERY ADDICTIVE. Enjoy!

Aaron Siskind
Frederick Sommers
A young Jerry Uelsmann
Lucien Clergue, who looks a lot like Dustin Hoffman
Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Martin Parr
Paul Caponigro
Robert Heinecken
Russell Lee

Of local interest:
PRC founder Chris Enos
Nick Nixon
Marie Cosindas and John Szarkowski
Joe Deal
Diana Gaston

ABOVE IMAGE: John Pfahl, copyright Bill Jay

What's next Boston?

Sign the petition before August 3rd if you disagree with the following:

From http://www.blogger.com/www.pictureny.com "The NY Times reports that the city’s tentative rules include requiring any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour (including setup and breakdown time) to get a city permit and $1 million in liability insurance. The regulation would also apply to any group of five or more people who would be using a tripod for more than ten minutes, including setup and breakdown time."

This is includes everyone from the amateur to the professional and most that use large format photography and just about every class or group of students that desire to experience NYC on film, not to mention it is a challenge to a historical legacy. Being with a photographer, I understand the hassle that can go along with an 8 x 10 camera even without such a measure.

Sign the petition here: www.pictureny.org/petition/index.php

UPDATE: In response to the now over 20,000 signatures and other outcries, NYC is revisiting and redrafting their proposed rules. Even though this is a minor win, let's not have this fall off of the radar. Be on the lookout for another public 30-day response period. More information here: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/03/after-uproar-revised-rules-coming-on-filmmaking-and-photography/index.html

More art & accident and black suns

Speaking of "black suns" and "art and accident" in the last post, I wanted to share the work of Chris McCaw of San Francisco. I saw his work at Photolucida and have been coveting it ever since (don't be surprised if it shows up in a PRC show in the future). As Chris explains on his website, his Sunburn photographs are his "new experiments in starting fires in my camera." Not only are these aesthetically and conceptually gorgeous, but Chris is a very nice person to boot (always a good thing for a curator!). Before packing a picnic to go hear a live taping of Prairie Home Companion on the lawn at Tanglewood, I share with you a few images and part of his artist statement:

This new project initially began completely by accident. In 2003 an all night exposure of the stars made during a camping trip was lost due to the effects of whiskey. Unable to wake up to close the shutter before sunrise, all the information of the night’s exposure was destroyed. The intense light of the rising sun was so focused and intense that it physically changed the film, creating a new way for me to think about photography.

In this process the sun burns its path onto the film base. The sky as a result of the intense light exposure reacts in an effect called solarization. The resulting negative literally has a burnt hole in it with the subject in complete reversal. ... After experimenting with burning film and working with this minimalist aesthetic, I wanted to see what else could be done with different media. I chose to use fiberbased gelatin silver black & white photographic paper. By putting the paper in my film holder, in place of film, I create a one of a kind paper negative. Each negative due to varying sky conditions and length of exposure is scorched by the sun to differing degrees, sometimes burning completely through the paper base. I used both an 8”x10” view camera and a home made 16”x20” camera to create the paper negatives.

Not only is the resulting image a representation of the subject photographed, but part of the subject (the sun) is an active participant in the printmaking. This is just the beginning of this new body of work. I plan to continue to investigate the possibilities of this method of printmaking. My favorite part is watching smoke come out of the camera during the exposure. Thank you for looking.

All images from www.chrismccaw.com

Portaits: IN studio and AS performance

I just came across this interesting work via the super-in-depth photo blog site I *heart* photograph, which I visit quite often. The mostly-anonymous Laurel (many wonder, but here is her identity here and here) posts a new photographer and photograph almost every day - and many are new to me. (I wonder where and for how long she scours the internet?!)

I *heart* photograph shared this work by Nora Herting. For the series "Free Sitting," she got a job in a department store portrait studio. She explains that by breaking the rules of the studio portrait, she changes their status as social symbols. The jury is still out on her written conclusions - I like them more for her "hacking" of this genre and her mining of the layout of the commercial portrait printout. The visual design and patterning of the gestures, colors, and gazes, for me, is their strongest suit. I especially like the layouts that include "outtakes," images that the customer would not have selected.

Herting also produced a "studio performance" installation/audio piece on the same idea. Here is what she says about this work (click on the word here to hear it, I had to do it several times):

As my employment as a trade photographer wore on, I became fearless and obsessed. I made hidden microphones embedded in Santa Clause pins and flower broaches. I was striving for covert ways to reveal the odd dynamics and labored performances required to make these mundane photographs. Audio of photographic sitting between a family of four and myself was collected by hidden microphone.

The middle part of the audio is a bit too layered and jumbled for me; I'd love to hear more from more than one family and mixed up with more variety in the endlessly repeated phrases. BUT - I love this idea and it would make a great installation in a gallery.

Visual Studies Workshop did an exhibition on photographic backdrops a while back. Does anyone know what it was called and if it had a catalogue? I'd love to get my hands on one. Update: I just found an essay from Afterimage on the show.

Credit: Nora Herting, Wanted, 44 x 65 inches and Nora Herting, 29' x 12' Photographic Background. Sensor. Audio. Dimensions variable. From http://www.noraherting.net/

Emerge away...Northeast Exposure Online

I thought I'd do a little post on one of my favorite PRC programs, NEO. Northeast Exposure Online (NEO) is a web-based showcase of emerging photographic artists in New England (MA, RI, CT, ME, VT, NH) as selected by PRC (i.e., me). Featuring one new artist each month, the online gallery includes 6 to 12 images, a biography, artist and curator statements, artist resume, and a link to the photographer's website. Best of all, past presentations remain archived online. Many check them out online when we send out our monthly free email and even more reference the archive page.

Since we conceived of this program almost 4 years ago, we have showcased over 40 photographers on the PRC website (click on the little square icon on the lower left of the homepage to go to their page). These are some amazing people to watch and many great things have happened to them since showing (a couple have direct ties to NEO). I especially enjoy choosing shy artists or artists that need a deadline to complete a series or their website--basically those who need and deserve a little push into the spotlight. I can also act and show someone much quicker than in the physical gallery as well as display work that might not necessarily fit into something I am working on right now, but still deserves to be out there. It's very rewarding to work with and help these great people. I feel very close to and proud of this group and keep in touch with them. The best way to be considered? Join the PRC and sign up for one of my in-person monthly portfolio reviews for members.

It is my hope that gallerists or curators surf on in and are intrigued enough to contact them. I personally love such projects on other photo websites and frequently troll them. I've gone on to show several of the artists in themed, group exhibitions and others have been tapped for our juried exhibition by our outside guest jurors. The latter especially makes me happy, as it means other people like them too. Jen Bekman selected 3 past and 1 future NEOs for the soon-to-be announced upcoming PRC juried show (sign up today on the bottom of our homepage to get the April 1 email)! I hope you enjoy discovering their work. Catch them while you can!

A partial screenshot of the 2006/2007 NEO season to date. We're currently scheduled through August.

Myself as compositional element

Bruce has his first show at a commercial gallery, which opens next Friday, April 6 at Gallery Kayafas. I am so proud of him. It mainly features his ongoing series "The Fortieth Parallel," but also showcases a few that aren't a part of a series. Funnily enough, the gallerist selected one image that features me. As we often go on trips together, it seems I often pop up in Bruce's panoramas as a compositional element, knowingly or not!

Here I am atop the observatory on the top of Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina--the highest point east of the Mississippi (higher than Mt. Washington! and not as cold). I love the guy on the left, looking not at the vista, but at the map. The other couple is also not looking at the view per se (I can't get over how much this fellow looks like Bill Burke). I am in the shade, looking down, loading film into my Holga. Me aside, I think this is one of Bruce's best pictures. My eye darts around the picture; ironically while "site-seeing," we all have different site lines and are consumed in other activities (me with a picture taking device with an aptly named "viewfinder") or with what we "think" we ought to be looking at or doing. Of couse, the time-honored "view" is behind Bruce and just beyond the railing. Compositionally, it is also just out of reach to the viewer of the photograph.

I have another story about myself as compositional element when I was two years old. Apparently I started young! I will leave that story for my 5 things meme, to be published likely this weekend.

If you ever need to hire a compositional element, contact me!

Monday (late) Show and Tell & The Viewfinder Shift

We made it back from SPE and Miami! Many poor souls are still stuck in airports across the country, but we managed somehow to get out with minimal delays. Quick update: took the PRC student show down in one day (with amazing interns) and after a night of rolling with the punches, Jen Bekman emerged triumphantly with a smashing presentation to a standing-room-only audience! Thanks Jen!

I will have little time to blog in the next few days, but wanted to share this great image with you courtesy of Adam Gooder's mother from a recent trip (can you see the monkeys in the background?). I've always wanted to write an essay or musing on the impact of not looking through a viewfinder anymore (and some digital consumer cameras not even having one) on contemporary photography. This will hopefully get the ideas flowing for you and me. (PS - I haven't forgotten my 5 things meme either Jeremias!) Enjoy the image...

Bending Spoons, Palm Reading, and more...

With great anticipation, I kept checking to see who won this year's 2007 Project Competition at Center (I find myself calling them "The Organization Formerly Known as Santa Fe Center of Photography" to differentiate). I was thrilled to surf in this past week and see that Carol Golemboski won out of an astounding 819 entries. I first met Carol at a SPE conference in 2003 in Austin, TX. I was doing research at the Harry Ransom Center for a PRC show that united spiritualist tendencies in historical photographs with contemporary work. I had an amazing time sifting through the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini archives surrounding the "Margery the Medium" debate going on in Boston in the 1920s. Floating heads, light orbs, and ectoplasm - oh my! So, when I looked at Carol's stunningly beautiful manipulated gelatin silver prints on the topic of Psychometry (or object reading) in the back of Jonathan Singer's booth, I knew right away I was going to show her work. You can check out the online version of the 2004 show, Concerning the Spiritual in Photography, here. Congrats Carol!

As a side note, one of the artists that showed in another PRC group exhibition, Julie Blackmon, went on to win the Center's 2006 Project Competition and was recently chosen as one of PDN's 30 Emerging Photographers for 2007. I am astounded at what has happened to her career since I first came across her work and showed her in the 2005/2006 exhibition, Group Portrait. She now has 3 galleries, a rep, and her prices have doubled. I can't help myself in saying: You go girl!

Selections by Carol Golemboski, as chosen by the 2007 jurors: Charles Guice, Director, Charles Guice Gallery, Berkeley, CA; Deborah Klochko, Director, Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, CA; Kira Pollack, Deputy Photography Editor, New York Times Magazine. You can find Carol's work locally at the Robert Klein Gallery.

Berkshires, History, and Rice

Instead of going to the NYC artfairs, we're heading west to the mountains, the Berkshires that is. Why? We need a little time in the woods. The Clark Art Institute is hosting a symposium in conjunction with MassMoca's exhibition, Ahistoric Occasion: The Uses of History in Contemporary Art. (It's also a perfect topic given Bruce's interests and his new series, Markers: History.) I am very excited to hear and meet all of the artists and speakers, but especially Greta Pratt, whose Nineteen Lincolns is pictured below (hmm, I guess it IS President's week) and who will be showing this spring at Bernard Toale Gallery in Boston. We'll be staying at a wonderful inn in North Adams. I always feel so relaxed when we go there. Maybe it's the trees, the fireplace, and the 3 hour drive?

Also at MassMoca is a performance/installation piece that is closing this weekend, Of All the People in All the World, which I am excited to see. This piece uses tons of rice -- 875 million grains to be exact, the number of people in the world (oops, my faux, just those in North, South, and Central America)-- that are continually being rearranged to represent various statistics and a variety of issues. There was a great piece in the Boston Globe just this week on it. While we are there, we'll also hit 3 other photo exhibitions at the Clark and Williams College Museum of Art, which range from ruins in photography, to Crewdson and Hopper, to photography and poetry. Here's to a full weekend filled to the brim with art...

From www.gretapratt.com/index_all.html and www.boston.com/ae

Monday Show and Tell

My apologies for my blog neglect. We had friends in town from Rochester for Bruce's opening at the Benton Museum of Art at UConn. We had a lovely evening in Storrs, visited the new ICA, South End galleries, the PRC, and went out to eat (several times). Overall, it was a fun and jam-packed weekend.

We took our friends to hear Pelle Cass's gallery talk at the wonderful Gallery Kayafas on Saturday. As my friends are both trained philosophers, I thought that Pelle's blend of poetry, language, and theory-turned-on-its-head was sure to please. Pelle gave a great talk: funny, subversive, and absurd (of which I think we all need a good dose). I highly recommend you check out his other "poems" as well as his newest work, especially the crosshatching and shadow work. I showed Pelle's work 3 years ago at the PRC when he first started photographing after a hiatus of over 10 years. He just keeps getting better. I couldn't be prouder. I present you with one of his poems, an earlier one that goes with a different image, and one of my favorite photographs from his newest series.

From pellecass.com

SUBTRACT
Here is what I learned this week:

Things are linked and must add up,
or rather they always do,

even if you can't count them.
That's why there are rules:

everything needs an armature.
Think of a grammar without a language:

Grip o grop si lasky sop. A language
without semantics: The been run run,

sure the run, set, set, set.
A world without hair: O Daddy-O!

A sound without vibration: tang.
A word without a voice: sand. A hill

without dirt, ha! An island without sky: bottle.
Take flatness from paper: sculpture.

A rebus without meaning: "Enjoy Coca-Cola."
If you could subtract green from trees

you'd steal the simpleness from an apple.
You can't empty without transforming —

take sleep from night and you have endless days.
Take height from the sky and you bump your head

on the moon. Subtract feeling from the man
and you have an angry woman.

Take risk from love and you get marriage.
Take criss from cross and zig from zag,

take color from flowers, take
the last shudder from your body

and prepare the world for life without you.
— Pelle Cass