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photo-eye Book Reviews: Interior Relations

2012-03-05T10:35:00.003-07:00

Interior Relations, By Ian van Coller.
Published by Charles Lane Press, 2011.

Interior Relations

Reviewed by George Slade

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Ian van Coller Interior Relations
Photographs by Ian van Coller
Charles Lane Press, 2011. Hardbound. 68 pp., 27 color illustrations, 11-1/2x13-1/4".

Always remember that you haven't fully experienced a book until you open its jacket. Interior Relations is an outstanding example of this. Its publisher, photographer Richard Renaldi, is a big book fan; the small handful of books released by his indie imprint pay close attention to design (issuing from Andrew Sloat) and to the physical experience of reading. Thus, a Charles Lane Press issue, like that from most quality photobook publishers, begs attention as a sculptural, signifying object, influencing and reiterating the implications of the photographs it carries.

The front cover reproduces one of van Coller's portraits full-bleed, with small, white text burned in across the bottom of the image—classic, modern, succinct. The rest of the cover, including flaps and back panel, are bare white. "Clean" is an apt word here. But remove the cover from the book, open its end flaps, and bam! an explosion of color, pattern, and contrast, Marimekko channeling Africa rather than Finland.

Interior Relations, by Ian van Coller. Published by Charles Lane Press, 2011. Close-up by George Slade.

I assumed the bold pattern was found in one of van Coller's portraits, but searching the plates to find it was fruitless. It is a natural exuberance, filtered through a civilizing screen into mass reproduction, and it is not tied to a specific portrait but can be read as a background to them all (though its motif is perhaps a bit wild for the tasteful interiors that contextualize the portrait sitters). The pattern is tied to the book in a different way, however; the stylized, yellow flower vase filled with a half-dozen maroon blooms is embossed into the front and back covers of the book. These covers, like the jacket, are pristine white, and they are exceedingly stiff; the boards are practically double weight, and feel bulletproof.

Interior Relations, by Ian van Coller. Published by Charles Lane Press, 2011.

The whiteness, then, is clean, enwrapping, disguising, threatening to overwhelm the spirit that is color. Nature's myriad forms are reduced to a stencil, almost cartoonish in its naïveté. The book is in constant danger of being smudged and besmirched; retailers advise publishers not to release white books, but Renaldi must have missed the memo. Or willfully ignored it, for the sake of this transcendent fact; Ian van Coller is white, born South African, and his photographs address the ongoing struggle, Apartheid's dismantling notwithstanding, of blacks to gain employment that is liberating or affirming.

Interior Relations, by Ian van Coller. Published by Charles Lane Press, 2011.

This, then, is a white book, by a white man, about the riotous, if suppressed, colors of black, female South Africans who have, because of limited options for advancement, sought shelter as cleaning women within stolid, white homes. It's all there, before you even open the book (though please do that, too; the cake is as good as the frosting).—GEORGE SLADE

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Kevin Messina

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GEORGE SLADE , a longtime contributor to photo-eye, is a photography writer, curator, historian and consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He can be found on-line at http://rephotographica-slade.blogspot.com/

Steve Fitch on Highway Culture

2012-03-02T12:37:00.000-07:00

Arrow Motel, Highway 85, Espanola, New Mexico, March 23, 1982 -- Steve Fitch

In reading the introduction of his first book Diesels and Dinosaurs, I get a vivid visual image of a young Steve Fitch speeding down a two lane highway in back of his father's 1951 Buick. This lead me to recount my own experiences as a child watching the road fly by out of the window of my parents car — I believe that experience must be stuck in many peoples minds. My focus was always trees silhouetted against the sky -- Fitch was fascinated with small towns, glowing neon signs and 18-wheelers roaming the highway.

In 1971 Fitch earned a degree in Anthropology from The University of California in Berkley, and then in 1978 an MFA in photography from The University of New Mexico. In 1971, inspired by his family's road trips, Fitch began to explore the Western two-lane highway and make photographs – which he continues to do today. His images capture the essence of the classic American highway in neon, motel signs, drive-ins and roadside attractions. On the occasion of the Highway Culture exhibition at photo-eye Gallery, up through April 14th, I've asked Fitch to tell us more about his work. -- Anne Kelly

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Dinosaur, Highway 40, Vernal, Utah, 1974? -- Steve Fitch

Anne Kelly: In your introduction of Diesels and Dinosaurs you vividly describe your experience as a kid traveling down the highway in your fathers 1951 Buick – you reflect on perceiving your observations as “Raw American Voodoo.” It seems clear to me that these childhood adventures inspired the photographs that you have made in your adult life.

Steve Fitch: No question about it -- the trips I took with my family as a kid had a big influence on the photographs that I have made as an adult. Although I didn't realize it at the time, the photographs I was making that ended up in Diesels and Dinosaurs were very much an homage to the two lane highway and the kind of trips my family took when I was a kid. We would travel from northern California to the family farm in South Dakota where most of my relatives lived. We would stop at all these tourist places along the way (like snakepits, dinosaur parks and rock shops) and stay in funky, neon lit motels. The journey of getting to South Dakota was as important as actually getting there. Today, with interstate highways and jet travel, the journey has been diminished. Flying on a jet somewhere is more like an amusement park ride than a journey. With my photography I have been interested in the "vernacular of the journey" ever since the first pictures in Diesels and Dinosaurs.

Steven Fitch photographing -- images by Rick Dingus

AK: Did you ever take any photographs as a child when you were on family trips – or if not did you have the desire to?

SF: No, I don't think that I ever took photographs on these trips. I started making photographs when I was in junior high school but by then I wasn't traveling so much with my parents. But my father did take photographs. He was a serious amateur photographer who made a lot of 35mm Kodachrome slides (many of which I have today). In fact, in Diesels and Dinosaurs there is a black & white reproduction of one of his slides in my introductory essay. I have a vivid memory of one night when we were pulling into a small, desert town after a thunderstorm, The streets were wet and there were a ton of neon reflections bouncing off of the pavement. One time many years later I was going through my fathers slides and I found one taken at night in Wells, Nevada that I swear was a photograph that matched my memory. That was incredible to me: finding an actual color photograph of a memory!

Drive-in theater, Dalhart, Texas, 1974 -- Steve Fitch

AK: You have a degree in both anthropology and photography and you seems to have combined the two. Was this ever your intention or do you think your interest in anthropology naturally influenced the images you have made?

Steve Fitch shooting in 1982 -- photograph by Rick Dingus

SF:     When I graduated from Berkeley in 1971 I had a BA degree in anthropology with a minor in chemistry. Upon graduation I started taking trips to make photographs along the highway. I don't remember ever thinking at that time that my anthropology classes had any influence on my photography. However, ten or fifteen years later I was reflecting on the fact that I had not become an anthropologist and wondering what my life would have been like if I had. It dawned on me at that moment that my photographs had very much been influenced by my anthropology studies (and continue to be) and that a lot of the black & white darkroom work that I did in the 1970s was very influenced by my courses in chemistry. One anthropology professor who had a big influence on me was Alan Dundes who was a folklorist. He collected all kinds of oral folklore and gave these great lectures drawing upon his vast knowledge of many different cultures' folklore. In some ways, I have thought of myself as a visual folklorist who uses photography to collect material.

AK:     In 2012 your images inspire nostalgia. You had mentioned in a recent radio interview with Mary-Charlotte on KSFR that when you were making the images you did not have nostalgia in mind, you were just recording the world around you. However, it seems that your road trips were a bit like the childhood trips that you reminisce about – only you are the driver. In a sense perhaps there is a bit of nostalgia involved on a subconscious level?

SF:     Nostalgia is a tricky word: it implies a longing for, or romanticizing of, something in the past. With photography you can't make pictures of things in the past because your subject exists in the present, right in front of you. That has been the case with the things that I have photographed whether they are neon signs or drive-in movie theaters. Drive-in movie theaters were in full swing when I started to make pictures of them in the early 1970s. Having said that, I now look at many o the photographs that I have made over the years and it is obvious that much of what I have photographed is gone or in ruins (such as the drive-ins of pre-franschise neon motel signs). So I do think I had some kind of subconscious premonition that things were going to change; I think that my photographic interests have always been driven, to some extent, by an eye towards history. It is as if I had a sixth sense that what I was making pictures of was going to disappear and that what I was doing was important.

Motel, Highway 66, Elk City, Oklahoma, 1974? -- Steve Fitch

AK: You have photographed many great neon mom and pop hotel signs and drive in theaters. Do you have a favorite motel sign or theater, or perhaps a favorite story about the making on a particular image?

SF: There are so many stories it is hard to know where to begin. In 1972 after I had been making pictures along the highway for about a year I reflected upon all the pictures that I had made so far and realized that something was missing. I had photographed tourists, truckstops, motels, billboards, truckdrivers and waitresses, snakepits and dinosaurs but some crucial aspect of the American highway was missing. It dawned on me that I needed to make some photographs at night. So much of the experience of travelling our highways had to do with driving at night, listening to funky AM radio stations and pulling into towns that you could see coming twenty miles away because of all the neon. So, on the next highway trip that I took I decided to try making some photographs at night--something that I was not even sure was possible. In Deadwood, South Dakota I spotted a homely little motel at dusk, with a row of bare light bulbs and a neon sign. Through the window I could see a neon rimmed clock. Over the next hour, as it got dark, I shot a roll and a half of 120 film, bracketing my exposures. Two weeks later, back in Berkeley, I developed the film and was excited. The photographs of that motel looked great! I picked one to print and it is in Diesels and Dinosaurs. I love the quality of light at dusk and in this photograph the clock visible through the window tells me what time the photograph was made (8:20), and the second hand is blurred for about a second so it also tells me how long the exposure was. Ever since I have been very fond of photographs with clocks in them!

Near Trujillo, New Mexico, September 9, 2006? -- Steve Fitch

AK: Some of your more recent images are of radio towers along the highway – which to me seems like a very natural evolution of your work. What is the story behind the first time you made a radio tower image?

SF: The radio towers were made on the Llano Estacado region of western Texas and eastern New Mexico. I was working with five other photographers photographing that region as part of a survey project partly funded by the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. For years I had noticed radio towers out on the Llano because the region is so flat that anything that sticks up into the sky really stands out. I had been wanting to make a photograph of one at dusk for sometime; in the summer of 2004 the chance presented itself outside Levelland, Texas. In the picture that I made (which is about an eight minute exposure) there is the tower exactly in the center of the frame surrounded by a field of oil pumpjacks, some blurred from moving up and down, others not moving. The sky is dramatic with a parade of big, Great Plain's storm clouds. The next day I found out that the storm clouds flooded counties north of where I was and that several tornados touched down. Today, I look at that image and am surprised that I was even able to make it--if it is very windy I an unable to make the tower pictures because of the camera shaking during long exposures. The photograph is included in the book Llano Estacado: Island in the Sky published by Texas Tech University Press.

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View Steve Fitch's portfolios at photo-eye Gallery here

Signed copies of Diesels and Dinosaurs, Gone, Llano Estacado, and Motel Signs are available for purchase at the photo-eye bookstore.

Special thanks to Rick Dingus, who provided us with the images of Fitch making his photographs. Dingus' work is featured along with Fitch's in Llano Estacado.

For more information about Steve Fitch's work, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

photo-eye Book Reviews: Supercell

2012-03-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

Supercell, By Kevin Erskine.
Published by Hatje Cantz, 2012.

Supercell

Reviewed by Daniel W. Coburn

___________________________________

Kevin Erskine Supercell
Photographs by Kevin Erskine
Hatje Cantz, 2012. Hardbound. 200 pp., 120 color illustrations, 13-1/2x10-1/4".

Kevin Erskine is not your average storm chaser. While a new generation of thrill seekers barrel down gravel roads in vans equipped with digital imaging equipment and the latest satellite technology, Erskine relies primarily on intuition and his large format film camera to document the fury that unfolds in the sky. His images come straight from the camera to the pages of his latest monograph Supercell. He doesn't spend hours polishing and retouching them on the computer, so these photographs function as art and as a strict documentation of meteorological phenomena.

Supercell, by Kevin Erskine. Published by Hatje Cantz, 2012.

Erskine transports his viewer to the realm of the sublime. We see turbulent skies rolling over the plains of Kansas, Nebraska and Texas. The tiny towns, grain silos and windmills that litter the rural countryside are dwarfed by enormous "mothership" cloud formations. Fueled by atmospheric convection, giant squall lines swirl and rotate over the furrowed fields of tornado alley. Erskine shows us brilliant blues and greens on the underbelly of monster storms, while towering cumulus clouds glow orange and pink as they bask in evening sunlight. At times, the pictures resemble abstract paintings, punctured only by the presence of a narrow strip of farmland in the foreground. One of the last images in the book depicts the shattered suburban landscape of Greensburg, Kansas ravaged by a tornado in 2007. This image serves as a poignant reminder of the devastating power of nature, and as a counterpoint to the abject beauty present in each of Erskine's images.

Supercell, by Kevin Erskine. Published by Hatje Cantz, 2012.

Environmental writer and historian Richard Hamblyn compares Erskine's photographs to the expressive landscape paintings of William Turner. In the introduction to Supercell, Hamblyn provides a history of storm chasing. He traces the American tradition back to weather tracking efforts made by Ben Franklin. Redmond O'Hanlon contributes a poetic text that simultaneously celebrates and criticizes Erskine's artistic practice, warning those that dare to tempt the deadly wrath of nature.

Supercell is a beautiful oversized book bound in linen. Its 190 pages are filled with amazing panoramic images reproduced in brilliant color. This book will appeal to weather geeks and those that appreciate documentary landscape photography. I am pleased to have this book on my bookshelf and I am sure you will enjoy it as well.—DANIEL W. COBURN

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Read the photo-eye Blog interview with Kevin Erskine here

DANIEL W. COBURN is a contemporary photographer whose visually arresting images have garnered national and international praise. Selections from his body of work have been featured in prestigious exhibitions at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art and the Chelsea Museum of Art in New York. In 2007, Coburn was a recipient of the Artist-In-Residence award at Rocky Mountain National Park. He published a photographic essay entitled Rediscovering Paradise which focused on the impact of an overwhelming human presence in the National Park. He was a recipient of the 2008 Kansas Mid-Career Artist Fellowship Award presented by the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Coburn's prints are held in many public and private collections including The Mulvane Museum of Art, The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, The Mariana Kistler-Beach Museum of Art and the Moraine Park Museum. Daniel is co-author of a book entitled "Between Earth and Sky" which showcases his collection of photographs from the Midwest. His writings and photographs appear regularly in regional and national publications including Fraction Magazine and photo-eye Magazine. Coburn recieved his BFA with an emphasis in photography from Washburn University where he was the recipient of numerous honors including the prestigious Charles and Margaret Pollak Award. He is currently an instructor and graduate student studying photography at the University of New Mexico.

Steve Fitch Highway Culture: Press & Pics

2012-02-29T13:15:00.001-07:00

On Saturday February 25th, 2012 photo-eye celebrated our newest represented artist, Steve Fitch with a book signing and reception for his work Highway Culture: photographs from 1971-present.

If you missed the opening, or just haven't had a chance to see the exhibition, not to worry! Highway Culture will be on exhibition through April 14th. You can also view all of Fitch's portfolios here.

The show received an excellent review in the Santa Fe New Mexican's Pasatiempo

From the Pasatiempo

Photograph Magazine

And Douglas Fairfield wrote a wonderful article about Fitch's work in Photograph Magazine, which you can read here.

It's also not to late to acquire a signed copy of any of Fitch's titles: Diesels and Dinosaurs, Gone, Llano Estacado, and Motel Signs.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the gallery at gallery@photoeye.com or by calling (505) 988-5152 x202

A Closer Look -- As Long As It Photographs, It Must Be A Camera

2012-02-28T11:16:00.001-07:00

from the book As Long As It Photographs

Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs new self-published two-volume newsprint As Long As It Photographs, It Must Be A Camera sure does bring out the inner photo nerd. I mean, really… there is a photograph of a camera made from a turtle shell and it's pointed at another live turtle. How disturbing is that? And to top off the nerd factor, Onorato & Krebs started up a conversation about the turtle camera on the Large Format Photography Forum (screen shots of the dialogue appear in the book). There is also a camera made out of a rock, and while I'm not sure how that quite works… it's fairly curious. My favorite camera in this book looks like something out of Dr. Strangelove… it might be a time machine, but I'm not entirely sure.

And while the first volume focuses on the oddly constructed cameras, it also points to a larger intent. The artists made a company name for themselves, Honour & Crab Ltd and then sold these precious items on ebay. In the book's pages are more screen shots of the dialogue between the artists and potential buyers of these odd cameras. And while some of the conversations are crude, the more interesting ones come from the buyers actually invested in purchasing the objects.

from the book As Long As It Photographs

This book really relays the idea that the possibilities of photography are endless. You can make an image out of just about anything, you don't even need a camera. I remember seeing a pinhole skull-camera once on boing boing. Made from the skull of a 13-year old girl who died some 150 years ago, it was pretty strange to say the least, and the guy who made it even made photographs with it. Onorato and Krebs really aren't out to disturb, but to humor and create a dialogue about self-reliance and creativity. Most of us reading this blog love self-published books, so why not have an affinity for self-produced cameras?

from the book It Must Be A Camera

from the book It Must Be A Camera

And then there is the second volume featuring a selection of images taken by the photography duo. My assumption is that these photographs were not taken with the cameras shown in the first volume. But the images are no less interesting. In fact, they are some of the most out-there and striking series of pictures I have seen in some time. The pair's first book The Great Unreal is one of the top photography books in my collection; it might very well be my favorite book I own. The photographs in The Great Unreal are surreal depictions of the American West, a place so well documented that the duo's approach was a surprising breath of fresh air. Manipulated landscapes and interior images appear closer to a nuclear apocalypse or alien invasion than the ideal notion of the western United States. Their new publication is no less odd. At times the photographs in this new two-volume book give the sensation of being flung into an LSD induced world of apparitions and magic spells, while other images in this series are simply unexplainable, seemingly concentrating more on surrealist forms and cleaver notions of framing. I will warn the buyer that Onorato & Krebs have certainly evolved from their last publication, but it is no less engaging or wonderful to look at. -- Antone Dolezal

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Anouk Kruithof

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photo-eye Book Reviews: Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures

2012-02-27T10:10:00.000-07:00

Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures, By John Gossage.
Published by Super Labo, 2012.

Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures

Reviewed by Adam Bell

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John Gossage Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures
Photographs by John Gossage
Super Labo, 2012. Softcover. 36 pp., 27 color illustrations, 7-1/4x10-1/4".

Place has always played a central position within photography. If photographers or artists are lucky, they may find a place, or subject for that matter, that transforms their practice and informs the work they make throughout their lives. In his new book, Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures, John Gossage returns to Berlin and pays tribute to the fertile terrain that shaped and informed him as an artist. Dedicated to Gossage's friend and artist Eva Maria Ocherbauer, this slim volume is a love-letter and tribute not only to Eva but also to the city and period where he made his own greatest artistic discoveries.

Primarily shot in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the work is a return to black and white and Berlin for Gossage. It is also some of his most frankly erotic work. This may come as something of a surprise to people who only know his recent color photography, his work in Berlin, or the recently reprinted book The Pond, but portraits and nudes have appeared before in his images. The book begins with a dark shot of a landscape painting, then moves on to an image of a woman in the distance who appears to be taking a photograph or perhaps luring us down the dark hallway and into her apartment. After these two images and the title page, we move to a series of erotically charged images of a nude woman, presumably Eva, lying in bed or in various states of undress throughout an apartment. Interspersed throughout these images, are signature Gossage images of cityscapes, buildings, debris and fragmentary details. Erotic tension permeates the book as Gossage circles Eva, explores her apartment, searches under the tables and scrutinizes the odd sculptural quality of her shoes. Although the images often take us outside to Berlin, we are always led back to Eva – the book's guiding force and heart.

Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures, by John Gossage. Published by Super Labo, 2012.

Gossage's previous book with Super Labo, The Absolute Truth, can be seen as a companion volume to Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures. Both books are dedicated to close friends of Gossage, Lewis Baltz and Eva Maria Ocherbauer respectively, and share a similar design structure built on existing or appropriated books. For this volume, a tattered and crudely taped copy of Memphis in Pictures acts as the new cover. The sole alteration is the 'Berlin' boldly scrawled in red across the Memphis in the original title. Books have long served as a source of creative and graphic inspiration for Gossage. In another recent book, The Auckland Project, a tiny field guide to star gazing in the southern hemisphere became the structural inspiration for his contribution. In this case, the Memphis book doesn't so much provide a structural framework for the work, but alludes to one of the central themes of the volume – namely a sense of displaced longing, or dreaming about a place or time far away, but loved dearly.

Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures, by John Gossage. Published by Super Labo, 2012.

Measuring a discrete 10"x7", the book only contains 27 images but both the edit and design are excellent. The book also contains one of Gossage's signature design elements - the use of color or actual image fragments to counterbalance the main image. This technique was used to great effect in both The Thirty-Two Inch Rule/Map of Babylon and Secrets of Real Estate. Here Gossage uses colored bars to animate the spreads and break up the image and design. My only criticism with this book is I wish the black and white reproductions were a little better. Ultimately this is a minor criticism, because the slightly rough reproductions seem to lend themselves to the modest book and design.

Eva's Book/Berlin in Pictures, by John Gossage. Published by Super Labo, 2012.

The book's copy states that it is a "portrait of an artist and a dreamer in Berlin." As with most books, the copy can be deceiving or speak a half-truth. In this work, we can see Gossage revisiting one of the most artistically fruitful periods of his life as a photographer. On its surface, the work is a frank love letter to Eva, but seen in light of Gossage's work, it must also be acknowledged as a loving tribute to a period and place full of restless creativity, growth and possibility.—ADAM BELL

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ADAM BELL is a photographer and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and his work has been exhibited and published internationally. He is the co-editor and co-author, with Charles H. Traub and Steve Heller, of The Education of a Photographer (Allworth Press, 2006). His writing has appeared in Foam Magazine, Lay Flat and Ahorn Magazine. He is currently on staff and faculty at the School of Visual Arts' MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department. His website and blog are adambbell.com and adambellphoto.blogspot.com.

New on photo-eye's Publisher Direct

2012-02-25T13:51:00.000-07:00

Found and Lost, Shut Down by, Kosovo in Progress, Voices & Images from Bulgaria

Found and Lost by Nicu Ilfoveanu showcases the photographer's year-long trek through a flea market where a bustle of people crowd around new and old goods in an almost frenzied manner. The photographer's grainy black-and-white snapshots reveal the hysteria of the close-quartered flea market, as well as consumerism in an almost surrealist approach.

Shut Down: Industrial Ruins in the East is a beautifully designed handbound book. Each cover is individually crafted out of a multi-coated, rusty metal plate. Christoph Lingg's striking photographs take the viewer through fourteen countries in search of industrial ruins, baring witness to overconsumption and wasteful decay. This curious object leaves us pondering the significance and environmental impact of the progress of industrial practices.

Kosovo in Progress by Åke Ericson is an intense document on the reconstructive efforts underway following the war in Kosovo. Focusing on the village of Loxha, this book reconstructs the path back to normal living environments and life. Receiving high praise and widely exhibited, the photographs in this book are both timely and offer a staggering account of the aftermath of war.

Voices & Images from Bulgaria by Martin Koenig offers selections from the artists many years documenting Bulgarian music, dance and ceremonies through the use of film, recording and photography. While often quiet and subtle, the images in this book are simply stunning. Beautifully reproduced, this book contains a 53-minute CD of traditional Bulgarian songs and instrumental music recorded by Koenig.

All Publisher Direct titles are available for order through the publisher via a special link within their listing.

See all the Publisher Direct books here.

Three Books by Charlotte Dumas

2012-02-24T15:22:00.003-07:00

Paradis, Al Lavoro! and Retrieved by Charlotte Dumas

I can understand approaching Charlotte Dumas' work with hesitance. Images of animals are among the quickest ways to attract interest in humans, play on our sympathies, tug on our heartstrings. Advertisers seem to be well aware of this, using animals for cheap attention grabs to manipulate our empathy for the promotion of a product. While Dumas' images may initially gain attention due to their subject matter, her photographs move beyond this basic attraction, speaking to the core of the human desire for a connection with animals. Depictions of animals are everywhere, omnipresent in videos and memes on the internet, and growing in importance in the family structure of our homes -- there seems to be a sizable societal yearning for closeness with animals. Not only is the way we relate to animals shifting, but also how we relate to each other -- animals often become a proxy for human relationships, but can also be a foundation for relationships between humans, a bonding element in a world of increasing disparity.

from Paradis by Charlotte Dumas

Dumas has said of her own images, "the state of mankind can be read and studied by the way we relate to animals." She is a formidable portrait artist, her subjects captured as elegantly and thoughtfully as we expect of the best portraits of humans. Painterly lit and sculpturally rendered, her subjects seem to emote through every part of their being, their posture, and most compellingly, their eyes. The animals captured by Dumas are soulful and her images feel revealing. But what is it, exactly, that we are seeing when we look at Dumas' images? Are we glimpsing the soul of these animals, or are we seeing a reflection of our desires for them? In his essay for Al Lavoro!, Francesco Zanot states: "What you can read in the expressions of these dogs is, above all, a projection of our thinking. Their eloquence is, at least in part, the eloquence of those viewing them.” That eloquence is also a large part from Duams, the expressions captured a reaction, or not, to her lens and presence.

from Paradis by Charlotte Dumas

Paradis collects images from a number of Dumas' projects, including her sold out book Heart Shaped Hole. It opens with a few portraits of dogs, soft and low lit, leading into two of Dumas' series of horses, the first of many well-sequenced and surprisingly natural transitions between projects centered on different species. The first equine image depicts a horse in an oddly vulnerable position, lying down, back to the camera, creating a striking parallel to an image of a German Sheppard a few pages prior. Moving through these images, we are left with an overwhelming sense of an inner life behind the eyes of these creatures, but as the book progresses the animals depicted grow more wild -- from domesticated dogs and horses, to strays, to wolves, and here the expressions become more inscrutable. A street dog sitting in a box is paired with an image of a wolf, the animals linked by the similarities of their coats, but the wildness of the wolf is notable. Without the generations of co-evolution that have made man and dog so compatible, these canines are harder to connect with, but the urge to find meaning in their gazes is still palpable if only in its attainable absence. A wolf with downy white fur leads into an image of a white tiger, here again, back to Dumas' lens. In these images the viewer is also confronted by the captivity of her subjects, the power of the cats contrasting with the shabby concrete human-made surroundings. Ultimately I am left wondering -- what is it that we do to these creatures in our attempt to make them part of our lives, in our attempts to bond with them? The book opens with a delicate essay by Mooseje Goosen and finishes with a plate listing, including images from these projects that are not pictured in this book.

from Al Lavoro! by Charlotte Dumas

More straight forward in concept, Al Lavoro! features a series of Duams' images of working dogs with jobs ranging from lifeguard to retired lab animal. The book also reveals a bit of Dumas' process, featuring seven medium format images filling the page in fantastic reproduction, but also 24 of her preparation Polaroid images, presented in smaller size in the intervening pages. The essay by Francesco Zanot in English and Italian accompanies the smaller images on these pages, which has the dubious attribute of being a bit too engaging for this format -- at times it can distract from the images. Ultimately, the effect is rather like a slide lecture, and the publisher can be forgiven for not wanting to hide the text at the end of the book. In these portraits, Dumas captures the canines in their work environments or at home, each photograph captioned with the dogs name, age and occupation. There is a subtle tension in these images -- the animals occupying a space more complex than the average pet, they are employed in our service. The cover image, Ursus, the 16 year old lifeguard dog, is a showstopper, eyes fixed to the ocean with what seems to be concerned vigilance. One gets the sense that Ursus finds his job fulfilling, which contrasts with the images of Cannella and Diva, a laboratory dog and racing dog, who are depicting lounging, grateful in their retirement.

from Retrieved by Charlotte Dumas

Retrieved follows the theme of working dogs, but Dumas achieves something different in this book. Following up on the rescue dogs who worked at the World Trade Center and Pentagon sites during 9-11, Dumas photographed dogs who were still living 10 years after the event. For Dumas, the images of these events that most stuck with her were of the animals, sniffing through the rubble, and captured here in her tender, thoughtful style, for me, these images become a representation of the psychological usefulness of our emotional connection to animals. In Retrieved the dogs provide a proxy, an easier way in to the tumultuous ordeal of dealing with a paradigm-shifting tragedy ten years later. Time passes quickly, and our distance from the events can be hard to perceive. Here, that time is written on the faces of the dogs, grey appearing around many of their eyes and snouts. Photographing them in their homes, the dogs look noble and alert, brave. There is catharsis in these images; the silence of these dogs allows them to become symbols, a perfect space to project what we humans may have difficulty dealing with. The book ends with a statement from Dumas and bios of the 15 dogs portrayed in the book.

from Retrieved by Charlotte Dumas

All three books are slim and modest sized books, all approximately 8-1/2"x11". Retrieved is a soft cover, the images beautifully printed on Japanese-bound pages. The others are hardcover, Al Lavoro! with splashy bright yellow endpapers and big glossy images. Paradis is more understated, the images smaller, but finely reproduced, and ultimately the most intimate of the three books.

Purchase a signed copy of Paradis here
Purchase a signed copy of Al Lavoro! here
Purchase Retrieved here

Exhibition Review: Robert Adams: The Place We Live, A Retrospective Selection of Photographs

2012-02-23T10:26:00.000-07:00

Longmont, Colorado, 1979 -- Robert Adams courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery

Since I moved to Santa Fe, there are only two men for whom I have driven to Denver and back in one day (720 miles roundtrip): James McMurtry, who played a show at the Bluebird last year, and Robert Adams, whose work was recently on view at the Denver Art Museum (DAM). McMurtry is unlikely to be bested by anyone but I was excited about seeing Robert Adams: The Place We Live, A Retrospective Selection of Photographs, 1964-2009, a traveling exhibition organized by The Yale University Art Gallery. After almost six hours in the car, I was road weary and ready for the visual pleasure of the maestro’s poignant, gelatin-silver stylings. The show was featured in the DAM’s special exhibition space and I was delighted to see that photography and Mr. Adams were given that honor and that Adams’ work would have room to breathe. For those of you who haven’t yet seen it (it now travels to Los Angeles, then Yale, before a generous tour overseas), the show offers selections from Adams’ major bodies of work (twenty!) throughout his long career. Given Adams’ significance, it’s a worthy and ambitious undertaking, one that resulted in a three-volume publication that accompanies the exhibition and an informative, easy-to-use website that I particularly admire.

Nebraska State Highway 2, Box Butte County, Nebraska, 1978 & Neahkahnie Mountain, Oregon, 2004 -- Robert Adams courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery

While I am not the rabid Bob-o-phile that many of my friends are, I oversaw a large collection of his work during my years at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and I recently included two of his photographs in Earth Now: American Photographers and the Environment, which I organized at the New Mexico Museum of Art. I love that Adams found a way to visually express the tension he felt between the miraculous beauty of our earth and the dubious addenda made by mankind. I love that if you take the time with each picture, it continues to unfold and never gives you a definitive answer. I love his simplicity (in the best sense of the word), his eloquence, his lyricism. I love an English major who makes magnificent photographs. The show is classic, understated, perchance elegant, and in that sense respects the artist’s esthetic. DAM’s photography curator, Eric Paddock, did a good job of creating individual spaces for the bodies of work, offering small helpings of pictures with pauses in between. The walls were painted in sherbet colors that were somehow both anemic and distracting but served to differentiate the galleries. I enjoyed seeing many of the photographs, some old favorites and some new discoveries, especially the work from the series Along Some Rivers and the very recent Alder Leaves.

So I’m glad I saw the show but I didn’t like it. That is not meant to denigrate the considerable efforts of my colleagues to put together a comprehensive survey of work by an important photographer. My inquiry is more about how exhibitions work, what they are for, what they can offer. In this case, quality isn’t the issue but quantity is; it’s about a big retrospective not feeling like a good fit for an artist of such subtlety. Certainly the idea of examining the depth and breadth of Adams’ considerable oeuvre is a good one, offering the opportunity to assess

covers of Robert Adams: The Place We Live and What Can We Believe Where?

what it adds up to. Creating a retrospective book that will undoubtedly be indispensible for reference and reflection is also surely a great service to the field (it’s $250, so neither I nor my museum’s library has it), as is Yale’s commitment to reissuing Adams’ monographs and publishing books for some of his newer bodies of work. But the book Adams and his wife Kerstin put together on the occasion of the exhibition, What Can We Believe Where? Photographs of the American West ($25, with an afterword by exhibition curators Joshua Chuang and Jock Reynolds), also spans Adams’ career and reminds us that less is more.

Adams is known for his books as much as his photographs and over the years has put together a group of remarkable publications characterized by their careful selection and sequencing. They are small books, easily held by human hands, easily picked up and put down while thinking. In their structure and their pacing, these books invite leisurely, contemplative consideration, which is probably the best way to apprehend Adams’ work. A retrospective exhibition is, almost by definition, antithetical to that kind of ease, intimacy, and thoughtfulness. All of Adams' work is black-and-white, all of it is the same size, all of it was matted and framed identically in the exhibition. While that kind of consistency of presentation is standard in a museum show, with the intention of keeping emphasis on the pictures themselves, what tends to happen is that they all look the same. It’s hard to fight that effect, especially with small pictures that require the viewer to get up close to view each one individually. Adams’ work demands and indeed merits that kind of attention, but the march of frames across pastel walls wasn’t particularly enticing, even for someone as invested in seeing the show as I was that day. Seeing all those pictures didn’t support the message of Adams’ work for me, it diluted it.

Northeast of Keota, Colorado, 1969 and From the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon, 1991 -- Robert Adams courtesy of Yale University Art Gallery

What would I have done differently? If each room held just one picture or three, it would have been too precious. If some bodies of work had been left out, it wouldn’t have been a genuine retrospective. I guess what I’m most interested in is what connects the bodies of work, what does seeing them together add up to. Perhaps the essays in the three-volume publication address this in depth but I’d like to see a summary of that for museum visitors. I’d like to come out of that show with a clear sense of why Adams' work warrants a retrospective, why it was important when he made the work and why it is relevant now. Each viewer can and should address that question for himself, but a lifetime of work aspires to be rich enough to require more than an hour or so to digest. That’s part of why it takes a lot of time to write a catalog, to organize a show. Perhaps the curators, and perhaps Adams himself, prefer that we each bring to and take away from the work an unmediated individual experience. But I’d like to benefit from their considerable thought on the subject.

After I returned home, I found the statement I was missing, written by the curators as the afterword to the aforementioned book What Can We Believe Where? I don’t think I have ever had occasion to write these words before, clichéd as they may be, but the book is a triumph. Three paragraphs of words at the beginning by Robert Adams and a half dozen at the back of the book by Chuang and Reynolds are just right in offering clarity and resonance to the selection of pictures in between. The images reproduced are, again, from across the artist’s career. But this time they are unconstrained by chronology and are arranged with great sensitivity into a river of joy and sadness and laughter and shock, concluding with the inexorable tides that will surely outlive us all. What a beautiful testament to Mr. Adams and his work.

from the book What Can We Believe Where?

For me, the exhibition alone was too standardized, too factual, too neutral, too big. Before getting back in the car for another six hours, I would like to have tasted the wonder and the tears that motivate Adams’ art. His pictures work best when they are allowed to be in direct conversation with you, each individual, and I’m not sure that works well in a big exhibition. To be sure, his photographs are quiet and his approach is gentle, but that’s forged out of the artist’s conflict and passion on a topic no less monumental than the nature and quality of human life on this planet. Adams and McMurtry might not be so far from one another in that respect, come to think, both railing against a broken world while holding it in a tight embrace. Yes, broken windshield glass can glitter like stars, but so can actual stars, when you can see them through the haze of man-made pollution and electric lights. Adams’ work is ostensibly restrained and so is the show, honoring his style without interpreting his contributions. I would rather have seen a retrospective that revealed and illuminated the tremendous complexity of this artist’s life of work for museum viewers at its many venues.--KATHERINE WARE

Robert Adams: The Place We Live was selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by Raymond Meeks, Kevin Kunishi and Anne Kelly

Read Antone Dolezal's blog post on Robert Adams: The Place We Live here

Purchase a copy here

Read Tom Leininger's review of What Can We Believe Where? in photo-eye Magazine here

Purchase a copy here

KATHERINE WARE, Curator of Photography, New Mexico Museum of Art. Before serving at her post at the New Mexico Museum of Art, Katherine Ware was the Curator of Photographs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Ms. Ware served as Assistant Curator in the Department of Photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum during the 1990s. She has also worked with the photography collection at the Oakland Museum of California and began her career at the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in Washington, D.C. She is a frequent juror and reviewer of contemporary photography and has written essays on the art of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

photo-eye's Newest Gallery Artist: Steve Fitch

2012-02-22T10:12:00.000-07:00

photo-eye Gallery is pleased to announce our newest Gallery artist Steve Fitch!

Starlite Motel, Mesa, Arizona, December 28, 1980 © Steve Fitch

Steve Fitch is a photographer and educator who has been making photographs of the American West for more then four decades. As a boy, the scenes that he observed out of the window of his father's 1951 Buick fascinated him. In the introduction of Fitch's first book Diesels and Dinosaurs, he recounts memories of observing small towns, glowing neon signs and 18-wheeers roaming the highway. Fitch was also witness to the rise and fall of the drive-in theater. All were experiences that molded his interests as an adult, leading to his visual studies of the highway culture of the American West and man's encroachment upon the land.

Fitch currently has five portfolios of work on the photo-eye website: Vernacular Assemblages, Llano Escandado, Gone, Diesels and Dinosaurs, and Western Landmarks. All of the portfolio's may be viewed by visiting www.photoeye.com/SteveFitch.

If you are in the Northern New Mexico area, please stop by the gallery Saturday February 25th from 3-6pm for an artist reception and book signing with Steve Fitch. The photo-eye Gallery exhibition of Fitch's images, Highway Culture will run through April 14th, 2012. Signed copies of Fitch's books, including Diesels and Dinosaurs (1976), Gone (2003), Llano Estacado (2011) and Motel Signs (2011), are available at photo-eye Books.

This past monday Steve Fitch was interviewed by Mary-Charlotte on the Santa Fe Radio Cafe. You can listen to the interview here.

If you would like to reserve a signed copy of one of Fitch's books or have any questions regarding the exhibition, please contact Anne Kelly (anne@photoeye.com) or Cliff Shapiro (cliff@photoeye.com) or by call the gallery at (505) 988-5152 ex 202.

A Closer Look -- Stone By Stone and Farms

2012-02-21T10:18:00.000-07:00

Farms by Bernhard Fuchs and Stone By Stone by Taj Forer

For years now I have been fascinated with how photographers examine their/our personal relationship to food and its production through art to comment on how we as a society interact with what we eat. I started examining this imagery and my own personal relationship with what I consume in Fraction Magazine years ago in The Un-Natural Nature of Food. This curated online exhibition focused on how many in contemporary society cultivate, raise, hunt and forage for what they consume through indirect and direct means. I included the work of Brian Ulrich, Colleen Plumb, Dan Nelken, Jake Chessum, Susanna Raab and many others whose images or entire projects have considered the chasm that separates many of us from what we eat. Photography, along with the numerous books and documentaries on the subject, was a catalyst for me to further consider what I consumed and how I consumed it. In contrast to the somewhat aggressive and political work I chose for the Fraction exhibit, two recently published projects, Bernhard Fuchs' Farms and Taj Forer's Stone By Stone, take a more subtle approach to the subject of food production and our relationship to the resources of the land.

Farms features images from many of the agricultural regions near Bernhard Fuchs' birthplace in Helfenberg, Austria. The cover is unassuming with linen wrapped boards and earth toned embossed text. Upon opening the book, Fuchs (and his designer) takes us for a walk in the Austrian countryside to see fallen fruit in an orchard near Piberschlag, a pitchfork resting against a plastered wall in a fodder store (the building for storing dry food to feed cattle) in Thurnerschlag, a white and weather-stained farmstead in Herrnschlag.

From Bernhard Fuchs' Farms

From Bernhard Fuchs' Farm

Fuchs notes that the region's 'climate is bleak' and all of the photos displayed benefit from the seemingly numerous overcast days. Fuchs' photos lack animated life - he shows no humans or animals in the photos and images are mostly devoid of vibrant colors. He reminds us briefly in his afterword that the family farm is losing to regulation and urbanization. Fuchs' images question the growing state of disuse of this land with a light-handed and nostalgic aesthetic. The images and book, beautiful and unassuming, add to Fuchs' theme of meandering journeys previously presented in the projects Roads and Paths and Streets and Trails.

Taj Forer's work in the book Stone By Stone is like Fuchs in that he often chooses to capture his images on the overcast days: the days we are most in need of shelter, days that remind us that winter, if not here, is on its way. Unlike Fuchs, whose images are more of a meditation on the land, Forer is creating a visual how-to-manual: this is how I do it; this is how I keep the cycle going and make use of the resources I have. Forer presents a photographic exploration of how we interact with nature to supply us with the basic necessities - food, water and shelter. He shows us images of the life of a hunter/gatherer - his mud and straw structures, a tinder nest and grooved fireboard, a hand reaching for the foraged apple, a gourd canteen, and a pelt contrasted against the white tent wall. The debossed cover image shows foraged Jerusalem artichokes supported in a bed of pine needles, an image that fully represents the idea of living off the land with each of the materials supplied by nature. Many of Forer's self-made structures remind me of Edward Curtis' images of Native American structures like the primitive Apache hut image from 1903 - the continuation of a cycle of living off the land. Forer is documenting his experience of reconnecting with what has always surrounded us.

From Taj Forer's Stone By Stone

It is an art book with intent and purpose carefully and lovingly produced by Forer with the publisher Kehrer Verlag. Forer was able to oversee the printing with the help of an AOL grant. Watch the grant follow-up video to hear more about the project in Forer's own words.

The messages in Forer and Fuchs' books are not blatantly about the evolving nature of agriculture and human sustenance, but undertones relating to this theme are present in both. It may sound like a heavy subject, but neither artist is proselytizing with the work, the images produced in the both books are light and meditative. The books physically match in weight, both measuring approximately 10x10 inches and around 100 pages and would fit well into the shelves of a consciously-minded foodie, food activist or art book collector.

Purchase Farms here

Purchase Stone By Stone here

photo-eye Book Reviews: The Altogether

2012-02-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

The Altogether, By Chris Coekin.
Published by Walkout, 2012.

The Altogether

Reviewed by Colin Pantall
_____________________________________________

Chris Coekin The Altogether
Photographs by Chris Coekin
Walkout, 2012. Hardbound. 124 pp., 28x4 page gatefolds, 27 color illustrations, 8-3/4x6-3/4".

"The Altogether is inspired by manufacturing and the manual workers who make and produce, craftsman who are skilled and work with their hands," says Chris Coekin of his latest journey through English working class culture.

Part of that craftsmanship is found in the book itself. Every detail is thought out and included so it connects into a narrative whole. First off, the book comes with a foil-blocked embossed cover of a man pulling on a rope. It's chalk white against coal black cloth, a touch-and-feel introduction to a book in which tactile, visual and auditory combine to perfect effect.

Open the book, and you don't see any pictures. Instead you get lines from a verse; "Days, Days at the factories," "They come and they go," "As sure as the sun sets." Coekin wrote the verse, a parallel text that pulls the book and the images together through language, rhythm and song.

The Altogether, by Chris Coekin. Published by Walkout, 2012.

The lines are printed on gatefolds. Flick these over and you see the three sets of pictures that form the heart of the book. The first set shows the factory workers; men stand in a line pulling on a rope against a background of oil-stained concrete and heavy machinery, four men stand in a quadrant, one hand shaking a diagonal across the human square, the other holding the tools of their manufacturing trade; a spade, a sledgehammer and a pick.

The Altogether, by Chris Coekin. Published by Walkout, 2012.

Inspired by old Trade Union banners, the pictures aren't so much the idealised propaganda images of old but a restaging with imperfections added. The poses are stiff, the backgrounds too real and the economics more complex than those of the past. These are real people with real jobs.

The Altogether, by Chris Coekin. Published by Walkout, 2012.

At least they used to be real jobs, because the complexities are added to by the setting for the book; John Pring & Son Wire, a wire-making company in Cheshire, England. The factory closed down as Coekin was making his photographs, giving a sense of loss to the book. This sense of mortality is accentuated by the second set of pictures: photographs that show leaks and stains, geological formation of chemical leakage on walls, floors and machinery.

The final set of pictures shows old tools lying in damp recesses of the factory floor; the fossilised remains of labour lost perhaps?

The Altogether, by Chris Coekin. Published by Walkout, 2012.

The Altogether is a memorial to the people who worked in the British manufacturing industry, and the pride and organisation of the labour movements that helped make it something to be proud of. In that sense, it's not a very fashionable book. How it is made, though, is of the moment. The cover is tactile, the layout is manual and the pages are handfolded. The special edition comes with a seven inch disc that plays the lines scripted into the body of the book, an analogue detail that is both archaic and of the moment. Even the typeface Coekin sourced for the book has an industrial feel.

The Altogether is a small but perfectly formed book, the latest in what is becoming an impressive body of published work by Coekin, a memorial to an old England, a veritable blue-collar Jerusalem that is lost but not forgotten.—COLIN PANTALL

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COLIN PANTALL is a UK-based writer, photographer and teacher - he is currently a visiting lecturer in Documentary Photography at the University of Wales. His work has been exhibited in London, Amsterdam, Manchester and Rome and his Sofa Portraits will be published as a handmade book early next year. Further thoughts of Colin Pantall can be found on his blog, which was listed as one of Wired.com’s favourites earlier this year.

New on photo-eye's Publisher Direct

2012-02-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

Desire Lines by Jan Dirk van Der Burg investigates the human desire to get from point A to point B as soon as possible. By focusing on the methodically organized paved sidewalks and other pedestrian areas, Dirk van Der Burg highlights the small intrusion and grassless paths left by the human footprint. These diagonal paths, created as a shortcut to bypass the grid like sidewalks and streets give both a curious insight into human behavior and the small footprints we tend to leave behind.

Strawberry Snow by Yves Suter is a documentation of the photographer's travels alongside snowboarder Dominik Betschart. The pair embarked on a one-month snowboard journey through central Japan and traveled to Hokkaido and back. Accompanying Suter's photographs are written accounts of their journey that make for an intimate and unique view of the Japanese landscape.

All Publisher Direct titles are available for order through the publisher via a special link within their listing.

See all the Publisher Direct books here.

A Closer Look -- The Place We Live

2012-02-17T10:33:00.000-07:00

from the book The Place We Live

A few weeks ago my pal Jonathan Blaustein wrote a "non-review" of Robert Adams' The Place We Live, a retrospective selection of photographs from 1964-2009 on A Photo Editor. In all of its headiness Jonathan's review made a few poignant and satirical remarks on the state of collecting and possible over-exposure of Adams' work as of recent. I agree, what else is there to really say about his work? With his current travelling exhibition and the ever-growing number of reprints of older titles, those of us paying attention are going to continually rehash and reevaluate the importance of such a prolific voice in photography. But by God, I can't stop picking up The Place We Live, and it's my turn to write for the blog, so here we go.

from the book The Place We Live

One of my top 5 photography books of all time is Summer Nights Walking. The new reprint by Aperture is incredibly gorgeous. I continually pick this book up, and it reminds me of nights walking through the dense neighborhoods of my childhood. This book always sucks me in -- it's dangerous to pick up on a busy day. While not as enticing, The Place We Live brings me back to the full scope of Adams' career. Its beautiful reproduction quality and large size fit well with the elegant and simple design, but elegant and simple is also at the heart of Adams' images.

from the book The Place We Live

The three-volume set weaves Adams' most well known work together. From the prairies and suburbs of Colorado to the gravel roads of Wyoming and Nebraska, Volume-One provides a sweeping introduction to the photographer's earliest, and in my opinion, best photographs. Volume-Two takes the viewer to the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington, as well as their inland landscapes of pastures and ghastly depictions of deforestation in the Northwest Forests. Volume-Three provides a visual anthology of Adam's monographs and extensive essays and books on the photographic practice. The final volume also includes essays by Tod Papageorge, Joshua Chuang, Jock Reynolds and John Szarkowski, all of which provide thoughtful accounts of Adams' life and work.

from the book The Place We Live

Back to the subject of collecting, we all collect for different reasons. For me, collecting serves as a reference for both my understanding of the history of the medium as well as a way for me to track the pulse of contemporary trends regarding image making relevant to my own photographic practice. Adams' is someone whom I have followed, been influenced by and keep rediscovering. His photographs inform my broader scope of how social and environmental landscape photography has been shaped and why it continues to change. In my mind, Adams is one of the most important photographers of the last half century, and this book pays a timely tribute to his life and work.

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Raymond Meeks
Kevin Kunishi
Anne Kelly

Purchase a copy of The Place We Live

photo-eye Book Reviews: Pontiac

2012-02-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Pontiac, By Gerry Johansson.
Published by Mack, 2011.

Pontiac
Reviewed by Karen Jenkins
______________________________________________
Gerry Johansson Pontiac
Photographs by Gerry Johansson
Mack, 2011. Hardbound. 160 pp., 102 duotone illustrations, 7x9-3/4".

I must leave it to a different expert to say whether the car on the cover of Pontiac, with its solid body and custom wheels, is the namesake of this Michigan town and its now-defunct auto brand. Regardless, it's a funny sort of portrait, proud but behind the times, an uneasy emblem of a beleaguered industry town on the decline. Gerry Johansson has produced six books of photography that focus on specific geographic places from his native Sweden to America. And this spare beige volume from MACK, with its hyper-legible font and immaculately printed photographs certainly starts off like some sort of primer. Its didactic first note is underscored by the photographs' only companion text: a list of demographic facts and figures for Pontiac from the state's housing and development authority. Some are relatively neutral in tone, while others spell out a ten-year, relentless rise in unemployment and poverty. And surely the book contains images of chewed-up parking lots and overgrown yards seemingly inhabited by no one. Yet the collective impact of these photographs defies a narrow meaning or foregone conclusions.

Pontiac, by Gerry Johansson. Published by Mack, 2011.

Pontiac has a lot to do with the idea of architecture as the defining vernacular of a city or town. All the basic forms are here: house, church, school, office building and shopping mall. Johansson's photographs collect the idiosyncrasies and hallmarks of this place – from small cottages with vinyl siding to windowless churches marked by hand painted signs. Johansson also situates each scene precisely in time and space. Over one hundred photographs dated to April 2010 are labeled as to the particular street name or intersection where they were shot and include some sites photographed repeatedly from multiple points of view. There is a compelling push-pull between the specifics of this place and a generalized portrait of a worn-down, small American town. This reminds me of the documentary film, "Los Angeles Plays Itself" which describes how the L.A. cityscape has stood in for all manner of other places in movies filmed there. The specificity of its landmark buildings and vistas are no obstacle for an audience largely from somewhere else and primed to see a story first, projecting its fiction back onto the chosen setting.

Pontiac, by Gerry Johansson. Published by Mack, 2011.

The narrative potential of Johansson's photographs of Pontiac is slow to emerge and somewhat filmic in its nature. The book's reproductions are small for a monograph, and call for a measured pace in their size and quiet content. Pontiac sometimes feels like a film that lingers on a static image, a disconcerting stance full of the anticipation of movement or action. The trees that appear throughout are major characters, as anthropomorphized sentries and intruders as well as more passive markers of regimented order or gradual neglect. The banal meets the slightly strange where bare flag polls on an abandoned shopping mall roof look like armaments that failed to ward off its closing, but now fortify a cavernous bunker for the few who remain. A playground rocket toy and parking lot lights and wooden crosses feel like beacons or antennae to somewhere else. Pontiac is a worth a careful look, for what it says about stasis and summary and the potential of such places to reveal something new to come.—KAREN JENKINS

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Antone Dolezal
Darius Himes

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KAREN JENKINS earned a Master's degree in Art History, specializing in the History of Photography from the University of Arizona. She has held curatorial positions at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, AZ and the Demuth Museum in Lancaster, PA. Most recently she helped to debut a new arts project, Art in the Open Philadelphia, that challenges contemporary artists to reimagine the tradition of creating works of art en plein air for the 21st century.

An Interview with Ken Rosenthal

2012-02-15T10:22:00.000-07:00

A Dream Half Remembered #ZD-54-12, 2004 -- Ken Rosenthal

This year marked the first retrospective exhibition for Ken Rosenthal, and with it, his first book, an archive of ten years of photographic projects — Seen and Not Seen, Not Dark Yet, Ghosts, A Dream Half Remembered, Missing and Days Between. Ken Rosenthal: Photographs 2001-2009 contains 14 of his most iconic images from these projects, several of which photo-eye has been proud to represent on the Photographer’s Showcase for many years. Rosenthal's much anticipated publication was selected as one of photo-eye’s Best Books of 2011 by Susan Burnstine and Gordon Stettinius.

The images from this series established Rosenthal as an accomplished photographer making thoughtful and memorable images in a distinctive style. Deliberately out of focus, they are glimpses from a hazy black & white world of a distant memory — or perhaps a dream. The basic imagery is always simple, making them more familiar — at times eerily so — but belie an emotional complexity. Rosenthal’s images feel at once personal and universal, as if tapping into our collective memories of childhood, our family photo albums, our visual cinematic archive.

On this occasion, we’ve asked Rosenthal to tell us a bit more about this series and how he went about making it, putting together his exhibition catalogue, and the process of moving away from the signature style that previously characterized his work.

__________________________________

Your work featured on the Photographer's Showcase has a distinctive style and uses an unusual process that you worked in for 10 years. How did you stumble upon making images like this? What about this technique spoke to you?

I was trying to make sense of some prints I was working on using family negatives. These images eventually formed the foundation of my series Seen and Not Seen. I had been printing the images completely straightforward, but the prints weren’t at all successful. To me they were too recognizable as my own family, and referred too directly to a specific period of time. I did have a base idea of what I wanted the prints to look like, and a pretty solid idea of how I wanted them to function. I actually stumbled upon my printing technique quite by accident. It was probably the one time that carelessness due to distraction paid off. I was on the phone while printing, which I never do, and was clearly not paying attention fully to the task at hand. As a result of this happy accident, I came upon the style of printing for which my work is known. It did take awhile to figure out exactly what I’d done, and longer still to refine it. But the origin of the technique was really a byproduct of chance.

A Dream Half Remembered #JLB-49-7 and From the series Seen and Not Seen #788-3 -- Ken Rosenthal

When working in this method, there's a difference between what you capture with your camera and what ends up the final product in the darkroom. How do you conceive your images? Are you visualizing the final outcome when shooting, or does the image come to its own spontaneously in the darkroom?

There is indeed a huge difference! I’m often asked if I shoot my images out of focus, which I do not. I always shoot my film in focus, enabling me to have complete control over how much detail I allow each image to have. All of the image manipulation is done in the darkroom. Due to the nature of my process, I do have to visualize how I want the image to look in the print before I take the shot. Without wanting to give too much away about my printing technique, the way I expose and light a shot is determined by how I envision the print will look.

My images are often conceived with a series in mind. My series usually start off with several images that have been shot some time ago. I’ll periodically go through older contact sheets, looking for images that I’m interested in but have not printed before. It’s fascinating to me how differently an image reads several years after I’ve shot it from how it did at the time I took it. They are constantly changing, I suppose, because we are constantly evolving. Anyways, I like to make work prints of these images and lay them out together. Eventually several images will begin a dialogue with each other, and spark some ideas that shape the direction of the series.

Ken Rosenthal: Photographs 2001-2009, your first book, is a wonderful retrospective catalogue of your work. Can you tell us a little bit about putting this project together, your decision to feature the tight selection of 14 images, and using the online fundraising site Kickstarter?

Cover of Ken Rosenthal: Photographs 2001-2009

I embarked on this project last year after a chat with my friend Mary Virginia Swanson (aka Swanee). We talked about a show that I had upcoming, and Swanee thought the time was ripe to produce a catalogue of my work. I had been showing for a fair number of years at that point, and it made sense to bring out a publication, even a modestly sized one. The only real obstacle was I did not have the funds to produce a catalogue, especially one with print quality high enough to do justice to my prints (which are not easy to reproduce well.) We set up meetings with a fantastic design firm owned by a friend of mine, as well as with a local press, and began moving forward (despite the lack of funding.) Late one night I recalled a website for crowdsourced funding of creative projects, Kickstarter. There were a few photography projects on the site, including one by a friend, and it seemed like as feasible way as any I could think of to come up with the finances. Swanee was skeptical at first, but the more in depth we researched past and active Kickstarter campaigns, the more we believed it might work. I spent a great deal of time on the site, and did extensive research before concluding that it was feasible to raise the needed funding through the launch of a Kickstarter campaign. My thinking was that this was a good way to, in essence, pre-sell the catalogue, as well as a limited edition of the catalogue with a choice of silver-prints. Additionally, it enabled me to offer prints at a smaller size, and at a less expensive price than my regular editioned prints sell for. I have for some time wanted to be able to make some work that was at once accessible to more people without competing with the works that my galleries handle.

The scope of the project, 14 images, was two-fold. For one thing, I needed to scale the project to fit the budget I had to work with. But more than anything, my goal is to find a publisher interested in publishing a larger collection of this work. I have a very tight edit of approximately 60 images that I feel would make for a very strong debut monograph.

From the series Seen and Not Seen #94-3 -- Ken Rosenthal

You recently moved on from the formal process that characterized your pervious work. What were your reasons for leaving this technique behind and how has this changed the way you make images? Has this altered conceptual elements behind your work?

Yes, for several years now I have very gradually been inching away from the formal qualities that people associate my work with. When one works in a highly stylized manner for a long time, it can be hard to break away from that for any number of reasons, not the least of which is the expectations of one’s audience. And there’s also the comfort factor. It took me a while to realize that some of the things that made me reluctant to change were, in and of themselves, reason enough to change. As an artist, it is not to your benefit to play it safe, to remain stationary. You have to keep moving forward and taking chances.

In 2010 I began working on a series (now nearly completed) titled That Was The River, This Is The Sea. It is the first series where I backed off of the blur I had employed for years. In this body of work there is still a very recognizable connection to my earlier work, both in terms of subject matter and conceptual concerns. The main departure I made was formally, in my style of printing. The series is still highly autobiographical in nature, as is the latest series I’ve begun working on. Some of the negatives I began working with were of images that I tried to include in earlier series but that didn’t translate well to the way I was printing.

What are you working on now?

I’m currently working on a very dark series of landscapes, titled The Forest. It’s probably the most complicated and personal work I’ve done. All of the images have been made in the Selkirk Mountains, in NE Washington State. My family has a cabin in the Colville National Forest, and I have spent nearly every summer of my life there. There is no place on earth that I have greater affection for.

The Forest #4987 -- Ken Rosenthal

But as beautiful a place as it is, there is a very palpable sense of mystery and darkness. I believe that there is a very strong presence in this forest, a presence that is hard to define but is experienced viscerally. On the periphery, the forest appears pristine: very neat, and seemingly ordered. But upon hiking further in you realize that there is more of a state of disorder. Fallen trees and jagged branches litter the forest floor. Majestic pines give way to a more gnarled mass of decayed and fallen trees, clusters of anthropomorphic trees akin to those in a fantastical film.

The Forest #5000 -- Ken Rosenthal

This body of work in part relates to a specific place, but is in essence an exploration of self. While The Forest is a series of landscapes, the work is really not about landscape or the region depicted in the photographs. The landscapes function as metaphor for an internal state. The work is very dark and densely layered, visually as well as in content. To me, the photographs are more closely aligned with fairy-tales, story telling and portraiture/self-portraiture than with landscape. The images are interwoven with thoughts on magic, loss, spirits, discovery and renewal. I’ll be returning this summer to continue working on the series.

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View Rosenthal's work on the Photographer's Showcase here

Signed copies of Ken Rosenthal: Photographs 2001-2009 can be purchased here

For more information on Ken Rosenthal's work, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

A Closer Look -- Is This Place Great Or What

2012-02-14T12:21:00.000-07:00

from Is This Place Great or What

From Aperture and The Cleveland Museum of Art, Is This Place Great Or What by Brian Ulrich is the publication of his ten-year Copia project, documenting the consumer-centric atmosphere of contemporary America. The project grew from Ulrich’s curiosity at whether the 9-11 request of George W. Bush for Americans go out and shop to support the country was truly taken to heart. As economic turmoil overtook the country, it was clear that what Ulrich was documenting was a massive story. Separated into three sections, Is This Place Great Or What is a triptych of the collapsing American consumer system.

The book is split into three parts, Retail, Thrift, and Dark Stores. In the first, we see familiar scenes in big box retailers. Entering stores that typically do not allow photography, Ulrich did not scout his images, but seated himself inconspicuously and waiting for his shots to come to him. They are impressive images in their adeptness at capturing the atmosphere of these experiences. Avoiding a sensational approach to depicting American consumption -- there are no black Friday images of overcrowded isles and monstrously excessive purchasing -- Ulrich instead presents the psychological condition of shopping. Paging through we see well ordered absurdly decorated interiors, and oddly detached human expressions -- the shopper's version of the 1000 yard stare, weirdly glazed over, at once desperate and bored, or perhaps just internally focused. Humorous juxtapositions add an absurd levity, but heaviness cannot be avoided. The impersonal spaces of endless product displays, set off by a few shots of miserably shabby back rooms, impersonal in a whole other way, evoke the distressing nature of material desire.

from Is This Place Great or What

In Thrift we see what is generated by a culture of excessive purchasing. Here, the focus is not on the shoppers but the store employees and volunteers who are saddled with sorting and making sense of the donated items. It is a Sisyphean task, the overwhelming nature of which can be seen in the eyes of Ulrich's subjects. In these locations his desire to photograph was met with complete understanding -- the thrift stores invited him in and even suggested the best days for shooting when the piles would be up to the ceiling. Indeed, Ulrich captured shelves full of white plastic-cased computer accessories -- printers, monitors, faxes and towers -- their planned obsolescence making them nearly useless for all. Clothes over flow from industrial laundry carts, VHS tapes fill shelves -- endless piles. These spaces are so markedly different from the retail spaces of the previous section, they are worn and confused, overwhelmed by their products. There is so much gathered in these spaces, and so much of it will end up as refuse.

from Is This Place Great or What

Dark Spaces follows this line of excess to the retail spaces themselves. Now seen in various states of decay, devoid of shoppers and product, they are empty carapaces of the once vibrant retail animal. At times, they are post-apocalyptic looking — there's hardly a more eerie sight than vacant anachronistic trendy architecture. The desolate buildings are odd spaces, which Ulrich captures with an almost morbid humor -- window decals reading "100 years" and "Yes" -- but also tenderness, these images are among the book's saddest. They are also the most formal, with Ulrich recognizing his new topographics predecessors, particularly in the image Richland Mall, 2009 (after Stephen Shore, 1973). Photographed by Shore in its bustling days, the Lazarus department store is reshot by Ulrich, now closed and empty.

from Is This Place Great or What

The book concludes with Ulrich's essay, ephemera collected by Ulrich during shooting, and a fantastic essay by Juliet B. Schor, which can get a little overwhelming as the enormous scope of the problem outlined in Ulrich's photographs are driven home with history and statistics. Yet the essay also makes it evident that this is the beginning of a new era, a post-consumer America. We aren’t there yet, but the following years will show how this transformation will happen. Ulrich has mentioned his interest in attempting to portray how this era began, and with any luck he’ll document how we move out of it.

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Raymond Meeks

Purchase Is This Place Great or What here.

Given its timely nature, it’s no surprise that Ulrich’s project has appeared in a number of magazines and blogs. Here are some of the best:

A wonderful interview by John Mahoney for American Photo that discusses the process of making the images in the series and gives Ulrich the opportunity to share some great stories.
An academic essay putting Ulrich and his work in a historical photographic context can be found at The Great Leap Sideways.
A music heavy but good interview with Ulrich from the Art Uncovered podcast.

photo-eye Book Reviews: Salt & Truth

2012-02-13T10:37:00.000-07:00

Salt & Truth, By Shelby Lee Adams.
Published by Candela Books, 2011.

Salt & Truth

Reviewed by Karen Jenkins

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Shelby Lee Adams Salt & Truth
Photographs by Shelby Lee Adams. Introduction by James L. Enyeart. Text by Shelby Lee Adams, Catherine Evans
Candela Books, 2011. Hardbound. 120 pp., 80 tritone illustrations, 9-3/4x12".

The Appalachian hollers of Eastern Kentucky are a restorative realm for Shelby Lee Adams and photography a tonic. Having dwelled there as a child, he has returned to photograph for nearly forty years. Adams reveres the rural tempo and traditions of this place, fueled by his belief that such an authentic, "salt of the earth" culture should be preserved, both in image and fact. Change is coming to these isolated communities and Adams' latest monograph, Salt & Truth from Candela Books feels like something that needs to be said, while there's still time. This collection pushes back against the material assault of the satellite dishes and SUV's seen more overtly in previous works. Where these mountain roads will lead is less sure than in years past, and Adams also pulls inward in defense of his subjects and himself, in a subtle recalibration of the domestic views that define his work.

Salt & Truth, by Shelby Lee Adams. Published by Candela Books, 2011.

Adams inhabits these images through the force of his own history, and in his signature style. Weathered wood and wire fencing are frame and backdrop to portraits containing a nuanced range of self-expression and sense of occasion. Structural beams, open car doors and light itself divide picture planes, suggesting layers of time and interior worlds, and creating dramatic shifts in mood and meaning such as in Benny and Arch. Two side-by-side portraits of a girl named Tammy are separated by five years' time and experience. A young child inhabits a closed-off world of elemental symbols, strange fish and the swirling realm of a Disney princess. Later, she emerges from the darkened interior of a culvert pipe, against the backdrop of a thought balloon- like sphere, containing her matter-of-fact circumstances of home.

Salt & Truth, by Shelby Lee Adams. Published by Candela Books, 2011.

Language is also worked over and put to work in service of Adam's mission, beginning with the volume's potent title. He writes a detailed history of his Appalachian roots and a sometimes defensive, but largely lyrically self-assured statement on the intrinsic value of his subjects and legitimacy of his work. For Adams, photography is a self-affirming collaboration and he feels a responsibility to engage his subjects with their own depictions from the Polaroid tests that begin his process (seen in tacit approval on the counter of Billy Ray) to final prints given to all he photographs. This is a compelling exchange that enriches a consideration of this work. Nevertheless, the use of the word truth in this volume feels both too grandiose and too narrow. This is art after all, and for me, is at its most powerful in those sweet spots of discovery where my own expectations of the medium and my fellow human beings collide with not what is true or false, but with what he and they aim to show of their best, or strongest or most tender selves where the mind's eye meets the printed page.—KAREN JENKINS

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Susan Burnstine
Antone Dolezal
Larissa Leclair

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KAREN JENKINS earned a Master's degree in Art History, specializing in the History of Photography from the University of Arizona. She has held curatorial positions at the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, AZ and the Demuth Museum in Lancaster, PA. Most recently she helped to debut a new arts project, Art in the Open Philadelphia, that challenges contemporary artists to reimagine the tradition of creating works of art en plein air for the 21st century.

photo-eye Book Reviews: Notes from a Quiet Life

2012-02-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Notes from a Quiet Life, By Robert Benjamin.
Published by Radius Books, 2011.

Notes from a Quiet Life

Reviewed by Tom Leininger

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Robert Benjamin Notes from a Quiet Life
Photographs by Robert Benjamin
Radius Books, 2011. Hardbound. 72 pp., 40 color illustrations, 7-1/2x9-1/2".

What does it mean to be a “photographer”? Today it can be as simple as making a picture with a mobile phone, or a digital camera or it can mean that you are dedicated to a particular process that is no longer in the main stream. It does not necessarily mean that one is interested in making intentional images where the everyday is changed into something more. Robert Benjamin is one of those photographers who cares about the image more than any of the external recognition of being a photographer.

Notes from a Quiet Life is a culmination of his 40 years of documenting his family. It is the printed catalog of his exhibition from the Denver Art Museum from 2011. The relatively small sized book is a love letter to his family and the quiet life they have lived. As a physical object, the book inspires repeated readings. It does not overwhelm the viewer, but encourages one to carry it around. The printing is excellent and showing the Polaroids as scanned objects adds to the experience.

Notes from a Quiet Life, by Robert Benjamin. Published by Radius Books, 2011.

Eric Paddock, Curator of Photography at the Denver Art Museum, describes Benjamin as a “dad with a camera.” That is a true statement, since Benjamin is a father who makes pictures, but the pictures he makes transcends the simple title. Common themes of nature, portraits and reflections tell of what he was able to put in front of his camera. His vision is direct and clean. He is more than a technician. The work bears traces of a contemporary practitioner and working at a high level.

Notes from a Quiet Life, by Robert Benjamin. Published by Radius Books, 2011.

Images like Sun Drying Tomatoes and Walker in the Volvo show the more common suburban experience in a new way. The portraits tend to be formal and direct, which adds to their intensity. The two pictures of his son asleep speak to those who have seen a young child contort himself in a deep slumber. Through careful sequencing Benjamin’s color palette is subtle and comes to the forefront in places.

Notes from a Quiet Life, by Robert Benjamin. Published by Radius Books, 2011.

The small book shows a life that goes beyond what is normally seen in art photography. It is not an extreme lifestyle, but a common one. They are no extreme edges of society, but Western suburbs and Eastern foliage. There are clear-eyed images of his wife who confronts the camera directly and children who shift back and forth in age. It is a view into a life that is not often shown in museums or printed in books. This book offers up the quiet visual poetry of a photographer clearly in love with his subject.—TOM LEININGER

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TOM LEININGER is a photographer and educator based in Denton, Texas. He received his MFA in photography from the University of North Texas. Prior to that he was a newspaper photographer in Indiana. His work can be found at http://tomleininger.net.

Photographer's Showcase: Mennonites of Manitoba, Bolivia

2012-02-08T13:41:00.000-07:00

The Photographer's Showcase is pleased to announce the opening of a portfolio from Lisa Wiltse -- Mennonites of Manitoba, Bolivia

Mennonite School Girl -- Lisa Wiltse

Without reading the title, it quickly becomes obvious when looking at Lisa Wiltse's portfolio that we are witnessing an unusual sight. The simple garb of her subjects, overalls and conservative floral dress, immediately indicate a lifestyle rejecting modern ways and isolation from the greater world. The subjects of Wiltse's images are among the most conservative and traditional Russian Mennonites practicing today; having left Manitoba Canada after the government disapproved of their schools, they moved first to Mexico, then to Bolivia, coming to an agreement with the government permitting their cultural autonomy in exchange for agricultural expertise. The 2,000 residents of the Manitoba colony maintain a lifestyle founded in 1789 by their Dutch ancestors, a simple life of religious study and farming, denying technological and speaking low German.

Living in deliberate isolation, it is a community that is seldom seen, but became international news in 2009 after a serial rape scandal. Eight Manitoban men were turned over to the Bolivian police and charged with drugging entire families while they slept, raping the women and sometimes girls. Figures of the actual number of victims are not entirely clear, but upwards of 130 came forward. The events had been going on for two years — rumors had circulated, but women who remembered the incidents were disregarded -- many blamed the devil.

School Boys -- Lisa Wiltse

While some blamed the influences of the outside world, others called for more openness. Wiltse entered the Manitoba in the wake of this turmoil, interested in daily life inside this cloistered community. Wiltse’s images capture the children of Manitoba as they begin to be separated by their gender. Their impending futures are very different: boys learn the profession of their fathers, often learning Spanish on their trips to Santa Cruz to trade; girls work exclusively in the home, seldom leaving, and are discouraged from learning Spanish. They play in gender-segregated groups, sit on opposite sides of their class room.

There is a simple beauty to these images — colorful fabrics of the women’s dresses and the shapes of their matching white hats, the dynamic poses of the children at play — but also an underlying tension. While adults are mostly absent, the children ignore the camera and at times engage with it, their gazes compelling and raw. Photographing Manitoba at this juncture, Wiltse's images are a glimpse of this rarely seen lifestyle, but also an emotional gage. Wary of the outside world, the community was suddenly forced to open itself to the outside because of the failures of the patriarchal elders. Her depiction is rightly nuanced; the emotional conflict is palpable, some display shame through their covered faces, while others remain unabashed and serene; complexity permeates every image.

The Peter's Family -- Lisa Wiltse

See Lisa Wiltse's portfolio on the Photographer's Showcase here

For more information on Wiltse's work, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

Michael Levin - New Image & Last Print of Infinity

2012-02-07T13:28:00.002-07:00

Morning Fog -- Michael Levin

We are pleased to announce a new image from Michael Levin titled Morning Fog. We asked Levin to tell us a bit more about the print:

I actually took that image Morning Fog back in 2007 somewhere in France....I think. I can't really remember where it was as I never know exactly where I am on these trips. When I developed the film I liked the negative so I did a straight print from it and it lived on my walls for 4 years. Last week I was looking at it and I finally said "aha, now I see it!" So, I spent about 30 hours working on it pulling out what I knew it could be and I just finished it. -- Michael Levin

Levin's exhibit Continuum currently on display at photo-eye Gallery in Santa Fe has been extending through February 18th, so there's still time to catch the show if you haven't yet been able to see it. It's also a chance to see the very last print in the edition of Levin's iconic image Infinity, which is bound to sell out soon.

Infinity -- Michael Levin

For more information on the last print of Infinity or any of Levin's other work, please contact Anne Kelly at anne@photoeye.com or by calling the gallery at 505-988-5152 x202.

See more work by Michael Levin here

See Michael Levin's book Zebrato and the limited editions here

Read the interview with Michael Levin on photo-eye Blog here

New on photo-eye's Publisher Direct

2012-02-07T10:47:00.001-07:00

SMOKE # 1, Onomasticon, Bearing Witness (to AIDS), Hard Boys + Bad Girls

SMOKE # 1, a self-published book from the impressive Smoke Collective features the work of the seven photographers — all from different corners of the world — that make this photography collective one of the most unique in the world. In this volume, we are forced to gaze at the everyday and bare witness the extraordinary. From images depicting desperation to contemplative scenes of quietness, this book takes the viewer on a surreal journey.

Onomasticon: A Vocabulary for Nowhere by Ian J. Whitmore is a unique subscription series composed of 26 books. Currently in progress, this series is housed in a large cloth-covered book case. Along with this unique design, Onomasticon creates a new dialogue for contemporary urban and suburban landscape photography. Through its original design and stunning imagery, this book takes the viewer through the streets of America, deep into its ubiquitous, yet abstract spaces.

Bearing Witness (to AIDS) by Thomas McGovern is a thoughtful and sobering look into the lives of those living with AIDS. Compiled of photographs and interviews with people living with HIV/AIDS, this book highlights the individual as well as the political and social impact this disease has had on our society. Taken between 1987 and 1997, McGovern has put together a thought-provoking collection of images.

Also by Thomas McGovern, Hard Boys + Bad Girls takes a close look into the lives of professional wrestlers attending the School of Hard Knocks in San Bernardino, California. The wrestlers, always in character, are presented as their professional persona, while the interviews in this book explore their personal lives and aspirations.

All Publisher Direct titles are available for order through the publisher via a special link within their listing.

See all the Publisher Direct books here.

photo-eye Book Reviews: The Significant Savages

2012-02-06T10:30:00.000-07:00

The Significant Savages, By Gregorie Pujade-Lauraine.
Published by RVB Books, 2011.

The Significant Savages

Reviewed by Adam Bell

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Gregoire Pujade-Lauraine The Significant Savages
By Gregoire Pujade-Lauraine
RVB Books, 2011. Hardbound. 392 pp., 374 color illustrations, 6-1/2x9-1/2".

As more and more of our lives are lived online, the spaces and networks within which we communicate and express ourselves become critical stages and playgrounds for the formation and construction of our identities. Facebook and other such social networks are not merely places where we connect with friends and family, but they are spaces where we make public our imagined and real selves. Grégoire Pujade-Lauraine’s new book, The Significant Savages, is an encyclopedic collection of profile pictures or avatars that offers a nuanced perspective into the clichés and hopes of our online selves.

As anyone who has carefully crafted an online profile for Facebook, Google+ or an online dating site knows, your profile photo can say a lot about who you are and what you care about, but more importantly how you want others to see you. The dynamics of identity formation online has been the subject of much research by scholars such as Sherry Turkle, danah boyd and others. As would be expected, what initially seemed like a space with boundless freedom to construct ones identity is nevertheless still mapped within real-life spaces that are constrained and shaped by gender, class, race and culture.

The Significant Savages, by Gregoire Pujade-Lauraine. Published by RVB Books, 2011.

Pujade-Lauraine’s clever and disarming collection of avatars and profile pictures reveals these dynamics in a humorous, but compassionate manner. Organized into four parts along with an epilogue, Pujade-Lauraine has collected a massive number of profile pictures and organizes them into various categories – landscapes, pets/animals, cars/motorcycles/boats, bodybuilders and finally more random images like hot-air balloons or seashells. The one thing that is immediately apparent is the complete lack of actual personal portraits in these images. With the exception of the body-builders, who may or may not be the actual people, although we are led to believe not, the people whose profiles these images represent are absent. The profile portrait with all its own tropes and clichés could easily be the source for another book, but is left out of this collection. Instead, we are left with an assortment of identity signifiers that are at times obvious and repetitious, but also odd. What kind of person uses a German Sheppard or a well-toned and oiled body-builder to represent him or herself? Or a motorcycle? Or an abstracted shell? Why so many pets or cars?

The Significant Savages, by Gregoire Pujade-Lauraine. Published by RVB Books, 2011.

Stripped of context, the images are organized into these different categories in the book with no text, save the belly-band, which offers a brief artist statement and declaration of intent. The images are all printed in a rough color halftone, which not only unifies the images visually, but also helps absorb them into a collective image bank. Paging through the book, one cannot help but think about what kind of person you are and which picture you would choose. I was immediately reminded of the options offered when you set-up a Macintosh. Do you pick the football or the lightning bolt? Or the robin’s eggs? What will people think? How will you be judged?

The Significant Savages, by Gregoire Pujade-Lauraine. Published by RVB Books, 2011.

Like many contemporary artists, such as Eric Kessel, Peter Piller, Penelope Umbrico and others, who are equal parts editor and artist, Pujade-Lauraine has used the vast riches of online imagery to create a body of work and that says something about the world and how we use images. Like the best work in this genre of internet image appropriation, the work transcends its immediate kitsch quality and subject matter through Pujade-Lauraine’s incisive edit and the deeper questions the work asks. Although it might be easy to make fun of the images enclosed, we all use images to communicate something about ourselves. We are all bound, even in complete opposition, to the clichés and tropes of self-representation. The hopes and desires invested into our online selves reflect not only our own dreams, but also the aspirations we are taught to represent by the culture we live in, the media we consume, the friends we have and the images we consume and disseminate both online and off. While this book is not for everyone, fans of similar work and admirers of smart, but funny, conceptual work will enjoy this well-designed book.—ADAM BELL

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A Closer Look -- Haiiro

2012-02-03T13:19:00.000-07:00

Haiiro -- Karianne Bueno

The photo-eye Best Book lists from 2010 and 2011 both featured books by Karianne Bueno. In Asper, selected by Alexa Becker in 2010, Bueno takes the viewer to a small village in Flemish Belgium. Through the idyllic pastoral surroundings, a tone of melancholy seeps in -- as Bueno says, "the oppressive feeling of living in a small rural community is never far away." Bueno's ability to take the viewer to a location but leave us with more of an emotional understanding of a place than a literal sense of location is also a feature of her new book Haiiro. A small volume of 14 images, Haiiro takes us to Japan. It is a travel log of sorts, but abbreviated, giving us an emotional impression of Bueno's visit while leaving the physical vague.

The book is beautifully designed, bound in printed linen boards with an elastic holding the pages, an accordion fold, or leporello, a form that also allows the pages to be unfolded and all images to be viewed at once. This type of binding makes a subtle connection to popular tourist view albums, an allusion that is delicately followed up in somewhat expected photographic subject matter of Japan -- an expansive shot of Tokyo, koi, a Japanese maple, rice fields. These images serve to emphasize the nature of being a tourist, but are cast in a tone that causes them to transcend a simple reading. Haiiro translates to gray or ashen, and all of the images are overcast, not simply in hue but in emotional tone.

from Haiiro by Karianne Bueno

The images are accompanied by a poetic text from Bueno, describing her journey by plane and train to an unnamed Japanese destination, and emphasize the feeling of strangeness implicit in a trip far from home. Her statements about the book describe a 'longing for elsewhere;' indeed there is a sense of heartache in this book, a dull yearning for something, a slightly unsettled interest, as if one cannot disengage with one's emotional state to fully engage in one's physical surroundings. The tight selection of images are each beautiful in their own right and together form meditation on her attempts to connect with a place very different from what she knows.

Paging through Haiiro is like opening a slim volume of poetry, and it reads very much like a visual lyric poem. Motifs repeat throughout the pages -- water most poignantly. Multiple readings feel inevitable.

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:

Darius Himes

Purchase Haiiro here

photo-eye Book Reviews: More Cooning With Conners

2012-02-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

More Cooning with Cooners, Edited by Faye Robson.
Published by Archive of Modern Conflict, 2011.

More Cooning With Cooners

Reviewed by Faye Robson _________________________________

Kalev Erickson More Cooning With Cooners
Edited by Kalev Erickson
Archive of Modern Conflict, 2011. Hardbound. 60 pp., 39 color illustrations, 8-1/4x8-1/4".

As a British citizen, I have to confess I didn't know much about 'coon hunting before I opened this book. Now having closed it, I'm not sure how much better informed I am. This is simultaneously the most confusing and the most beguiling thing about this book. It is not an obscure, difficult or even unfocussed publication – More Cooning With Cooners is as much about raccoons, and the hunting thereof, as a sixty-page photobook can be. Even the cover is designed to resemble a raccoon pelt, with the bloody red endpapers inside evoking the inevitable conclusion of the chase. It's just that, alongside this thematic coherence, this blatancy about its theme, there is an ambiguity about the photographs within, and the book project itself, that far exceeds one's initial expectations.

So, what are you looking at? A short note at the beginning of More Cooning explains that the images within have been edited from 'a family collection of Kodachromes taken during the 1960s in Ohio.' We never find out who this family are, how editor Kalev Erickson encountered their photographs or, indeed, how he knows for sure that they are 'the work of a single, but unknown, photographer with a clear enthusiasm for the hunt' (all of the photographs are presented without captions). Other minor mysteries pervade the book: where one would normally expect to find a contextualising, critical 'essay' on the body of work presented, there is a short, straight-faced prose piece on 'The Art and Craft of Cooning,' describing the sport’s history and traditions. Similarly, the 1924 vernacular poem 'Dat Scanlus Coonhunt Itch' is dropped into the book without introduction – yet another element in a patchwork of references that circle the 'coonhunt' at the centre of this book, but never quite state their relationship to it.

More Cooning With Cooners, by Kalev Erickson. Published by Archive of Modern Conflict, 2011.

Perhaps what I'm trying to get at is the problem of attitude posed by this book – what and who it is for. It is not simply the document of an enthusiast, though it makes reference to the eponymous 1924 'Cooning' manual whose cover illustration is reproduced on the title page. Nor, quite obviously, is it a sentimental campaign against blood sports, though the violence of the kill is emphasised in a number of individual photographs in the book and echoed in the raccoon skull line-drawing featured towards its end. It is conspicuously an 'art' book, an edition of 500, but without the patronising discussion of 'vernacular' photography and its charms that can appear in such collections.

More Cooning With Cooners, by Kalev Erickson. Published by Archive of Modern Conflict, 2011.

What this book captures is the strangeness of going through someone else's photo archive – their memories and their passions caught on film – and the inevitable editorial distance that is created when one tries to order or 'archive' this work in any way. It is impossible to know the names, lives and motivations of the men captured in these photographs, and so they are reduced to a series of gestures and poses – presenting their dogs, sweeping their flashlights, posing with their kill – which we read from a distance. As a work of art in its own right, the book belongs to a tradition mined by photographers such as Zoe Crosher, working with 'found' material, who are interested in what is gained and lost when we 'read' a foreign group of photographs. The publishers of More Cooning, the resolutely mysterious Archive of Modern Conflict, have won international awards and garnered themselves a cult following by releasing a number of beautifully-produced titles in this vein, in which often historically fraught collections of photography (see Nein Onkel – a collection of playful domestic photos taken by Nazi soldiers) are mined for their significance and their conflicting effects.

More Cooning With Cooners, by Kalev Erickson. Published by Archive of Modern Conflict, 2011.

So much for the conceptual ambitions of the publisher, what about the images themselves? Cropped with rounded corners, to emphasis their antique origins, and with errors of exposure and colour intact, these are enthusiastic, playful photographs edited with an eye to their humour and energy. While there is an element of threat about the images which juxtapose hounds with young children (and this is a recurring theme in the edit), emphasizing the contrast of vulnerability with strength, domesticity with animal instinct, there are equally images included that are about tenderness (a young man holds a hound puppy) and also, simply, routine (identically dressed men sit, blankfaced, outside a hunting lodge at night). Erickson also gives free rein to the excitement of the chase, as captured in a number of blurred, close-up shots showing hounds as they pursue their victims to the treetops. The images themselves are taken with an eye to composition and colour, while the editing – which focusses emphatically on the volume of kill towards its end, with repeated photographs of 'trophy' walls of raccoon tails – usually allows the emotional and formal range of the images its full play.

You may feel like you've been on a hunt after finishing this book, but whether for raccoon or a couple of cold, hard facts, it's hard to say. How much you enjoy it will depend on how informative, how eloquent, you like your photobooks to be. I, for one, only wished there was more of the book to hunt through.—FAYE ROBSON

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FAYE ROBSON is an editor of illustrated books, currently based in London, UK. She has worked on photobooks for publishers including Aperture Foundation, New York and Phaidon Press, London, and writes a photo-blog called PLATE.

Steve Fitch - PDN Image of the Day

2012-02-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

Drive-in Theater, Sharon, Pennsylvania, 1975 -- Steve Fitch

Drive-in Theater, Sharon, Pennsylvania, 1975 by Steve Fitch was chosen as PDN's photograph of the day on January 26th. PDN Photo of the Day is a daily selection by the photo editors at Photo District News. You can view the post here. Congratulations Steve!

An exhibition of photographs by Steve Fitch - Highway Culture will be opening at photo-eye Gallery on Saturday, February 25th, 2012 3-6 PM with an artist reception and book signing from 3-6 pm.

Highway Culture, photographs by Steve Fitch, includes a selection of images made between 1971 through the present. Fitch will be present for an artist reception and book signing on Saturday, February 25th, 2012 from 3-6 pm. Copies of his books Diesels and Dinosaurs (1976), Gone (2003), Llano Estacado (2011) and Motel Signs (2011) will be available for purchase.

For more information please contact Anne Kelly at anne@photoeye.com or by calling the gallery at 505-988-5152 x202

New on photo-eye's Publisher Direct

2012-01-31T11:17:00.000-07:00

The latest volume from the Museum of Fine Arts Boston MFA Highlights series offers a striking collection of over 100 of the museum's finest photographs. Tracing both the technical advances of the medium from the camera obscura into the digital age this issue compares the relationships of image quality through technological advances. Containing images from Eugene Cuvelier, Alfred Stieglitz, Hiroshi Sugimoto and more, this comprehensive volume makes for striking comparisons of photographic practice.

An Enduring Vision: Photographs from the Lane Collection published by the Museum of Fine Arts Boston contains a selection from one of the most remarkable private collections of the photographic medium. Consisting of 120 photographic reproductions, An Enduring Vision includes the works from William Henry Fox Talbot to Diane Arbus, Dorthea Lange, Paul Strand and many more.

Mill River by Joseph Gerhard displays a contemplative look at a one-mile stretch of the river from the Elie Whitney Dam to the Wilbur Cross High School, in New Haven Connecticut. This manmade artifact appears as a natural entity within the surrounding landscape. Gerhard’s striking black-and-white images are both meditative and informative of how man and environment coexist, both positively and negatively. Mill River is an ode to man's ability to coexist and in some respects protect the natural environment.

All Publisher Direct titles are available for order through the publisher via a special link within their listing.

See all the Publisher Direct books here.

photo-eye Book Reviews: Watch the Weather Change

2012-01-30T10:29:00.000-07:00

Watch the Weather Change, By Marco van Duyvendijk.
Published by Marco van Duyvendijk, 2011.

Watch the Weather Change

Reviewed by Adam Bell

___________________________________________
Marco van Duyvendijk Watch the Weather Change
Photographs by Marco van Duyvendijk
Marco van Duyvendijk, Rotterdam, 2011. Hardbound. 96 pp., 46 color illustrations, 7x8-3/4".

Quiet and meditative, Watch the Weather Change is a loosely structured collection of personal images that meander through Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Netherlands. An impressionistic journal, van Duyvendijk's book weaves together such seemingly disparate images as a puppet-maker in his workshop, Hong Kong cityscapes and portraits of an attractive Asian model to make this modest, but elegant book. Part poetry, personal journal and documentary, van Duyevendijk's book is an alluring mix of photographic fragments, tranquil moments and half travelled roads.

The book begins with a series of abstract Polaroid minis and then moves through a series of city and seascapes. From there we visit a puppet maker's studio before moving to more East Asian landscapes, portraits, nudes and still-lives. Interspersed through the book are quotations, a poem by Jo Landheer and a series of email exchanges between the photographer the model who appears later in the book. Mixing photographs, Polaroids, emails and poems also give the book a diaristic feel – like Van Duyevendijk is gathering material, taking notes and responding to the world around him as he travels.

Watch the Weather Change, by Marco van Duyvendijk. Published by Marco van Duyvendijk, 2011.

Disposition, the song by Tool that gives the book its title and whose lyrics begin the book, offers a framework to understanding the book and work. A trippy prog-rock song, the lyrics do not extend much beyond the title, but the moody and evocative nature of the song pushes the listener to find their own meaning in its ambiguity. Looking through the book, there is almost a feeling of playful free association, like we are looking through van Duyevendijk's contact sheets from a recent trip. At first glance, it almost seems like these are all outtakes from a larger or on-going project in East Asia. There are a few images of the Netherlands, but those are not necessarily identifiable. While none of the individual subjects seem to completely coalesce on their own, as we move from one to the next we can't help but surrender to van Duyvendijk's quiet rhythm and whimsy.

Watch the Weather Change, by Marco van Duyvendijk. Published by Marco van Duyvendijk, 2011.

Self-published and designed, van Duyvendijk's close attention to the layout, sequencing, and production of the book pays off. From the simple, but tasteful belly band, to the blind stamped spine and restrained matte printing, Watch the Weather Change is an elegant and precious book. Lacking bombast, van Duyvendijk's book offers us a fleeting glimpse of his world, the places he visits and people he meets - allowing us to savor and find meaning in the fragments of a journey.—ADAM BELL

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First Wednesday Photography Salon with Toba Tucker and Michael Levin

2012-01-27T11:15:00.001-07:00

Images by Michael Levin and Toba Tucker, respectively

First Wednesday Photography Salon

Artists presenting: Toba Tucker and Michael Levin (via Skype)

February 1st, 2012, 6:30-9:00
photo-eye Gallery, 376-A Garcia Street Santa Fe, NM 87501
Contact: Anne Kelly 505.988.5152 x121 or anne@photoeye.com

First Wednesday’s February Salon will be held on February 1st, 2012 at photo-eye Gallery. Local photographer Toba Tucker will show and discuss her recent landscapes made in the West and Southwest and will also touch on her portrait work, which she has been making for several decades. photo-eye Gallery artist Michael Levin, whose work is currently being exhibited, will join us via Skype to reveal a little more about his work. Levin’s talk will be the first virtual presentation at a photo-eye First Wednesday Salon!

More of Michael Levin's work can be seen here. Read Anne Kelly's photo-eye Blog interview with Michael Levin here.

photo-eye Book Reviews: Sasha

2012-01-26T11:03:00.000-07:00

Sasha, By Claudine Doury.
Published by Le Caillou Bleu, 2011.

Sasha

Reviewed by Colin Pantall

______________________________________

Claudine Doury Sasha
Photographs by Claudine Doury. Text by Christian Caujolle and Melanie McWhorter.

Le Caillou Bleu, 2011. Hardbound. 72 pp., illustrated throughout, 12-1/4x8-3/4".

Chasing or Following?

Sasha is a story of a girl becoming a woman. Sasha’s mother, Claudine Doury, starts the book with a picture of Sasha gazing into a shiny ball, looking at what the future might hold. Next she is in the woods, standing in a sun-dappled glade amidst of sea of dry ice.

The mystery continues as Sasha walks into water, a baptism that leaves her reborn and immortal, able to walk on water and conquer the world – until the next picture at least where she wades with a clump of water weed on her head, a teenage creature from the Black Lagoon.

Sasha, by Claudine Doury. Published by Le Caillou Bleu, 2011.

Weeds change to mud, the body changes and soon Sasha is cocooned in grass, ready to reach the forest where she laps up the sunlight on her face and luxuriates in her new womanhood.

Sasha is shown holding a bird, on a bed with a younger child weighing down on her, in a living room with her head trapped in a bell jar. Here Sasha’s eyes are closed, blocking out the outside world. In an accompanying essay, photo-eye’s Melanie McWhorter quotes Sylvia Plath’s view of the exterior world as “blank and stopped as a dead baby, the world itself is the bad dream.”

A cut plait and suffocation follow as Sasha seeks her place in the world. She is domesticated, frozen, liberated and free – a freedom that comes to an end with the final picture of the book; of Sasha running after a boy into the forest. Or is she chasing him?

Sasha, by Claudine Doury. Published by Le Caillou Bleu, 2011.

Where many photographers try to portray the transition into adolescence through portraits emphasising an in-between time of affective withdrawal, with a focus on the physical and emotional oddness of adolescence, Doury has projected her explorations onto the physical world. It’s a poetic view but one with a solid grounding in the non-sentimental reality of being coming-of-age, of the loss of a childhood that is supposed to have gone yet still remains, and the responsibility and worry of an adulthood that may never come. Combing beauty and complexity, Sasha is a book that continues to reveal new layers with every viewing.—COLIN PANTALL

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COLIN PANTALL is a UK-based writer, photographer and teacher - he is currently a visiting lecturer in Documentary Photography at the University of Wales. His work has been exhibited in London, Amsterdam, Manchester and Rome and his Sofa Portraits will be published as a handmade book early next year. Further thoughts of Colin Pantall can be found on his blog, which was listed as one of Wired.com’s favourites earlier this year.

Photographer's Showcase: L'Enfant-Femme

2012-01-25T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Photographer's Showcase is please to announce a new portfolio for Rania Matar L'Enfant-Femme

Youmna 11, Beirut Lebanon from L'Enfant-Femme -- Rania Matar

Matar’s new body of work continues her investigation into the psyche of the teenage girl, this time focusing on even younger women, girls on the cusp between childhood and their teenage years. Photographing young women from the United States and Matar’s native Lebanon, the images depict girls of varying backgrounds -- from privileged Boston homes to the residents of Lebanese refugee camps -- yet the locations are inconsequential. As the images pass before one’s eyes they become harder to place geographically, and prove the universality of life at this juncture -- what stands out are the similarities between the girls. Some are vulnerable, others defiant, yet all portray the uniqueness of their age, the in between years, the age of transition from child to young adult.

Ayah 9, Beirut Lebanon, Molly, Brookline MA, and Juliette 10, Arlington MA from L'Enfant-Femme -- Rania Matar

Life is full of transitions, but perhaps at no other time in a person's life is the rapid mental progression so link to their changing physicality. The anger and pleasure, confusion and discomfort, awkwardness and maturity of this age are simultaneously visible. Matar approaches her subjects with one instruction — don’t smile. From there, the girl is left to pose and arrange herself as she will, leaving her to present herself to the camera in a way of her choosing. This simple direction yields impressive results and as we witness these girls struggle to present themselves, attempting to bridge the gap between childhood and the start of sexual maturity. It is easy to see both the past and future in these images — the girls become remarkably readable in poses that are intentional but nevertheless telling -- both the child they are growing out of and the coming adult are visible, coexisting in the frame.

Ellice, Jamaica Plain, MA 2010 from A Girl and Her Room-- Rania Matar

photo-eye is also releasing a new edit of Matar’s A Girl and Her Room portfolio, which is soon to be published in a book from Umbrage Editions. In this series, Matar established herself as a keen and sympathetic observer of young women, producing images that depict girls at an age of transition into adulthood in the one space they control themselves. I remember the importance of my bedroom at that age — and even my dorm room in college. There were totems of my self expression that made it into every space, and these rooms were as much a free expression of my personhood — if not at times more so — than my style and demeanor. They are a way to begin the exploration of self-expression, a way to fall into a personal identity of adulthood.

See Rania Matar's L'Enfant-Femme and A Girl and Her Room portfolios here

A Girl and Her Room from Umbrage Editions is due in May of this year. Both signed and unsigned copies are available for pre-order here.

For more information on Matar's work, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

A Closer Look: The Mushroom Collection

2012-01-24T10:45:00.001-07:00

from The Mushroom Collection

The Mushroom Collection is an exhibition catalogue of Jason Fulford's work on exhibit at the Minneapolis Institute of Art through April 8th. Entitled New Pictures 5: Jason Fulford the Mushroom Collection, it is the first museum exhibition of the project that was initially inspired by a gift of a flea market envelope containing 80 or so images of mushrooms, carefully annotated by an obvious collector of fungi. Using these images as a starting point, Fulford made a number of images that riff on elements of the found images, the resulting combination of which became the celebrated book The Mushroom Collector. Association is a big part of this project and in the Minneapolis Institute of Art exhibition Fulford goes beyond his own associative imagery creating interventions in the museums permanent collection as well. In this catalogue, Fulford invites his reader to do the same.

The Mushroom Collection isn't just an exhibition catalogue — it’s also an extension of Fulford’s ever expanding Mushroom Collection project, which now includes several books, sculptures, video and performance pieces. In this small volume, the Mushroom Collection becomes participatory, inviting the reader of the book to contribute by gluing each of the 30 stickers featuring images from the exhibition onto one of the 30 Xs that appear through out the pages of the book (and one on the cover).

from The Mushroom Collection

The reader is asked to pair images with a variety of objects, patterns and text: a round stamp reading ‘the pleasures of chaos’ backwards, museum pieces from New Guinea, China and Europe (all with their representative caption), optical patterns, a quotation from William James and a quite lovely looking Smith Corona. It is an experiment designed to play on free association. A number of the objects in the book are from the museum's collection, and at least some of them were items selected by Fulford as he expanded his exhibition — his images sprouting up like spores throughout the collection, creating new ways of seeing old images and objects.

The postage stamp-sized reproductions of the exhibition images are as fun as they are beautiful, and the oppertunity to create an exhibit of this work of one's own curation invites an entirely new way to engage with it. The catalogue is playful and thoughtful -- and I imagine that a collection of these completed catalogues could make for very interesting viewing.

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The video below gives a fascinating glimpse into Fulford's project and exhibition at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

photo-eye Book Reviews: Bifröst

2012-01-23T10:27:00.001-07:00

Bifröst, By Espen R. Krukhaug.
Published by Einer Books, 2011.

Bifröst

Reviewed by Daniel W. Coburn

__________________________________

Espen R. Krukhaug Bifröst
Photographs by Espen R. Krukhaug
Einer Books, Fetsund, 2011. Hardbound. 104 pp., 81 color illustrations, 11-3/4x11-3/4".

In Norse Mythology the word Bifröst is used to describe a burning rainbow bridge that spans between earth and the realm of the gods. In his recent monograph, Espen Krukhaug uses the term Bifröst and a series of photographs in an effort to describe what it's like to suffer from insomnia. In the preface he writes, "I can imagine a good night's sleep, but it always seems just out of reach, as if I'm walking across an endless bridge, never reaching the other side."

Krukhaug presents a series of images that are easy on the eyes. The photographs are well crafted but often employ an eerie colorcast, infusing each image with a poetic and dreamlike ambience. These green, pink and purple tones provide context and a suitable backdrop for Krukhaug's subjects who seem plagued by the penetrating light of a city that is never dark.

Bifröst, by Espen R. Krukhaug. Published by Einer Books, 2011.

Bifröst includes images of dimly lit interior spaces and semi urban landscapes veiled by a sheath of darkness. These photographs seem appropriate and represent scenes that an insomniac might encounter on a midnight stroll. But Krukhaug also photographs models that supposedly suffer from sleep deprivation. Fortunately for him, insomnia seems to only affect young indie/hipster women that like to lounge partially nude in their bedrooms under soft light. The pages of this book are littered with heroin chic faces, either engaging the camera with a come-hither gaze or staring into oblivion in a deep contemplative state. These images are sure to help sell additional copies of Bifröst, but in my opinion detract from the credibility of Krukhaug's investigation.

Bifröst, by Espen R. Krukhaug. Published by Einer Books, 2011.

The strongest images in this book are those that elevate the mundane elements of every day life to monumental status. In Krukhaug's world a wrinkled sheet is transformed into an expansive mountain range. Pebbles, cobblestone, and dust on a dirty path begin to form alien landscapes. The artist uses blur to create beautiful abstract images that remind me of color field paintings by Mark Rothko. This approach to image making begins to describe the psychological state of a suffering insomniac.

Bifröst, by Espen R. Krukhaug. Published by Einer Books, 2011.

Bifröst includes about 80 images in a single hardbound volume. The photographs are beautiful but sometimes redundant and a bit self-indulgent. Krukhaug's artist statement is the only informative text printed in the book, so as a reader you won't be overwhelmed by artspeak or intellectual ballyhoo. I like this book because I see it for what it is: a series of beautiful photographs, made by a skilled photographer with a poetic vision. I think you will like it too.—DANIEL W. COBURN

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DANIEL W. COBURN is a contemporary photographer whose visually arresting images have garnered national and international praise. Selections from his body of work have been featured in prestigious exhibitions at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art and the Chelsea Museum of Art in New York. In 2007, Coburn was a recipient of the Artist-In-Residence award at Rocky Mountain National Park. He published a photographic essay entitled Rediscovering Paradise which focused on the impact of an overwhelming human presence in the National Park. He was a recipient of the 2008 Kansas Mid-Career Artist Fellowship Award presented by the Kansas Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Coburn's prints are held in many public and private collections including The Mulvane Museum of Art, The Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, The Mariana Kistler-Beach Museum of Art and the Moraine Park Museum. Daniel is co-author of a book entitled "Between Earth and Sky" which showcases his collection of photographs from the Midwest. His writings and photographs appear regularly in regional and national publications including Fraction Magazine and photo-eye Magazine. Coburn recieved his BFA with an emphasis in photography from Washburn University where he was the recipient of numerous honors including the prestigious Charles and Margaret Pollak Award. He is currently an instructor and graduate student studying photography at the University of New Mexico.

A Closer Look -- God Jul och got Nytt År önskar Gerry och Ann

2012-01-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

from the book God Jul & Gott Nytt Ar

In the last few weeks on photo-eye Blog we have been highlighting books picked by our Best Books of 2011 contributors. My list (as well as Darius Himes' list) both featured Gerry Johansson's new book Pontiac (scheduled to be reviewed in photo-eye Magazine in the coming weeks). Pontiac is a spectacular and intimate book, one that certainly deserves high praise for its production quality and simply stunning set of images. While putting together my list, I was completely unaware of Johansson's other new book God Jul och got Nytt År önskar Gerry och Ann. Had I known about this book -- published by the Gun Gallery -- it would have easily made it on my list of 10 best books.

God Jul och got Nytt År önskar Gerry och Ann is a collection of images taken by Johansson and later made into Christmas cards from the years 1978 - 2011. The photographs -- taken in the photographer's hometown of Höganäs, Sweden -- are subtle, quite depictions of holiday decorations and lights on empty streets. Often cast in a heavy fog or taken at night, these images rarely (if at all) give the viewer any sense of holiday jubilation -- they simply depict the reality of the dreary Swedish weather and worn out decorations. It is as if Johannson's Christmas cards are a protest of the commercial and superficial circus Christmas has become.

from the book God Jul & Gott Nytt Ar

That being said, the photographs are also striking in their beauty. While looking at these images, I often feel as if I am standing in Johannson's shoes, slowly meandering through lonely streets and contemplating the spirit of the season. In all of its crazy hype, for Johannson Christmas seems to be a very ordinary event. I am also amazed at how in all of their ordinariness, these images and this collection are quit telling. The photographer has made a holiday revolving around community and family appear lonely, desolate and many times reflective. -- Antone Dolezal

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photo-eye Book Reviews: Oceanomania

2012-01-19T10:43:00.001-07:00

Oceanomania, By Mark Dion.
Published by Mack, 2011.

Oceanomania

Reviewed by Karen Jenkins

_________________________________________________

Mark Dion Oceanomania
By Mark Dion
Mack, 2011. Hardbound. 176 pp., 200 color illustrations, 8-1/2x11-3/4".

The ocean for me is the lyrical vision of Hiroshi Sugimoto – magnetic, impenetrable fields of horizon and sea. It is also an enveloping realm of childhood adventure, persisting in nostalgia’s muted recollection. Of late, the sea is fodder for Peter Thiel’s Libertarian island dreams and victim of BP’s spewing, stifling sludge. We are drawn in by countless aspects of the deep; turning to the mediated experience of the museum to enhance or replace direct, visceral experience. A suspension of disbelief is required by these seemingly transparent portals that are in fact imbued with the assumptions and attitudes of the culture at large. Artist Mark Dion visits them with a mind toward deconstructing the curatorial acts of selecting, ordering and describing, and creating critical shifts in the museums’ prevailing narratives.

Oceanomania, by Mark Dion. Published by Mack Books, 2011.

Dion’s latest project, Oceanomania took him to the Nouveau Musée National and the Oceanographic Museum and Aquarium of Monaco where he explored the grand halls and backrooms of these storied maritime collections. Past works that convey his long-standing interest in representations of nature and concern for its degradation were inserted into existing displays. The creation of a gigantic curiosity cabinet was a more regimented and often jarring re-framing of collected objects. The project team also invited twenty artists to use the museums’ souvenirs and specimens as both inspiration and appropriated objects. The resulting disparate visions underscore the museum as a mutable construct and argue for what the ocean realm has come to mean in contemporary art and life. The sea as exploited resource and sometimes treacherous conduit informed political works by Allan Sekula and Xaviera Simmons. Alternatively, artists James Prosek and Alexis Rockman explored the continuum between the illustrations of natural history and sci-fi creations, with a heavy dose of beauty along the way.

Oceanomania, by Mark Dion. Published by Mack Books, 2011.

Oceanomania’s deep blue covers and gilt-edge pages conjure a Victorian encyclopedia – the whimsy and wonder of an era’s mania for the sea woven into a serious tome. With both a sly glance and a deep cut, this book travels through the cultural intersections of science and art from the mid-19th century to the present day. Explorers in search of new discoveries and bragging rights populate its chapters as do the heroic vessels of Jacques Cousteau and Captain Nemo whose technology and tools are the stuff of steampunk fantasy. Photography also plays a prominent role in the purposeful disorientation cataloged in this volume. Long a tool of collection and classification, it is the medium of choice of several project artists, but also serves as document, reproduction, and installation shot for all. Until captions and context sort things out, a first flip-through of Oceanomania’s photographs further muddles our assumptions about what is art or artifact, chosen or created. This is a playful tandem journey to Dion’s larger project which should entice even those otherwise immune to mania.—KAREN JENKINS

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New Work by Tom Chambers - Illumination series

2012-01-18T10:11:00.000-07:00

Pennants over Pienza -- Tom Chambers

Travel is always a fountain of inspiration for me, and a recent trip to Florence was no exception. The classical art, architecture, and landscape were magical. Things I had seen in a textbook as an art student or in a travel magazine came alive for me and in turn generated many ideas and images for me to explore. The photomontages in my new Illumination series are different from previous work in that Illumination is about aesthetics and personal meaning, and less about socio-political ideas. -- Tom Chambers

Ursa Minor -- Tom Chambers

Renaissance artists affirmed the transformational nature of light in their classical paintings. Taddeo Gaddi and Giotto di Bondone of the Renaissance period painted breathtaking frescoes in which light created dramatic effects. Artists, such as these masters, inspired me to create photomontages that highlight the aesthetic power of light. -- Tom Chambers from the Illumination artist statement

Autumn Moorage and Walk on the Wild Side -- Tom Chambers

The unique light accentuated the brilliance of the Renaissance artistic and architectural masterpieces. I came away with the understanding that light exposes possibilities and opens the mind to seeing things differently. -- Tom Chambers from the Illumination artist statement

Chamber's work will be included in the Worldwide Photography Biennial Exhibition, The Borges Cultural Center, Buenos Aries, Argentina, January 19-February 27, 2012 and Azart Photographie #14, a contemporary French photo magazine, has published a selection of images, “La Substance de Rêves.”

See more of Chamber's work at photo-eye Gallery here

Chamber's book, Entropic Kingdom can be viewed here. The photo-eye Editions limited edition portfolio Dreaming in Reverse, can be viewed here.

A Closer Look: Sicarios & Interrogations

2012-01-17T15:53:00.002-07:00

cover of Sicarios by Javier Arcenillas

In the last few years (and I feel this may be a consequence for many as they reach middle age), I have been thinking about how to do something larger than myself, to make an impact on my community for the better. Considering I am leaning towards a universally philanthropic thought-process and my line of work, I have been thinking a lot lately about activism and photography. I have started to face the uncomfortable nature of the art form and the seemingly conflicting notions of voyeurism verses activism. Is it simply looking or looking with a purpose?

cover of Interrogations by Donald Weber

I agree that emotions should not form our criticism of photography, but I want to think AND feel when regarding. As Susie Linfield states in her book The Cruel Radiance when speaking about the approach of movie critic Pauline Kael, she “urged her readers to reclaim their emotions as a key part of their aesthetic, intellectual, and moral lives: feeling could enhance rather than undermine critical thinking” (Linfield, 13). Linfield’s essay argues that a photograph displaying the suffering, misery, humiliation of another human being makes the viewer not just see that “this is so,” but feel that “this must not be so” (Linfield, 33) and that photos are the perfect vehicles for personifying the abuses of human rights, putting a face on the injustice. The camera is not a means to stop the violence, but a way to bring awareness about the global inequalities, to bring about global consciousness. Amongst these arguments, she points out that for many years good photojournalism (and one can assume documentary photography as well because many genres cross those the previously defined boundaries) has not been considered art -- a photo within this genre with “craft, care, structure, and visual power” could be considered “morally suspect” (Linfield, 44). I can't agree with Linfield on all her arguments, but I would agree that a photograph can be beautifully framed and well-printed and still make the viewer consider and react with empathy to the pain and suffering of the subject—and likely even more so.

Although a single image and a series of images are a totally different animal, I believe Linfield’s aesthetic argument applies to the photobook as well. Two recent books that exemplify this point are Javier Arcenillas’ Sicarios: Latin American Assassins and Donald Weber’s Interrogations. Both are lushly printed, thoughtfully edited, and provide visual and textual insight to the photographer’s motivation and intent. In Sicarios, the conditions of the lives of assassins and those living in Guatemala make up more of the story than just the killings. Many images are violent and disturbing, partially because often the victims have committed a minor injustice, if any at all, and the assassins are often young men who see no future for themselves, men for whom killing becomes a job motivated by simply a need to make a living, and often a meager one at that. Sicarios is a vehicle for Javier Arcenillas, with the help of his friends at El Periodico de Guatemala, to tell a very real story. Included is an introduction by the director of El Periodico, Juan Luis Font, and an interview with Arcenillas, and complete plate listing with detailed captions. Each plate is equally as engaging as the next showing fleeting moments of movement in intense situations or scenes in crisp sharp fine details. The printing, at Ofset Yapimevi in Istanbul, resulting in crisp whites and lush blacks, are quite seductive, leading me to want to look and discover what is in each frame.

from Interrogations

Donald Weber’s Interrogations is a masterpiece of design by Amsterdam’s Heijdens Karwei and printed by Wachter GMBH & Co in Bönnigheim, Germany. The book is stitched with one thread in the center and wrapped in a textured printed paper that mimics one of the wallpapers of the interrogation rooms. The uncut text block allows a play on design; the "creep" extends way beyond the cover. This element is cleverly designed, but feels as though it may also be commentary on the character of those unseen in the second section. It is finished with a cardboard slipcase. It is presented in three chapters: Prologue, which shows some images of daily life; interrogations, portraits of confused, distressed and scared citizens being questioned by the authorities; and finishes with Epilogue by Larry Frolick and Weber, a text which further illustrates Frolick and Weber's love for the Russian citizens and their role in this project: "letting the denied tell their stories through you." Interrogations illustrates Weber's love for his temporary home of the ex-Soviet Union and the bureaucracies and inequalities that still exist and often impede "progress."

from Interrogations

Each book is an object with its own voice, but documentary or photojournalism's ability to speak to the viewer in an artistic language can be seen in many if not all of Arcenillas’ and Weber’s images. In Interrogations, one of the suspects holds his head in his hands seeking respite from the questioning. It is one of many well-composed images; the table leads the viewer in from the left to find the man’s white hands clasping his head. His kempt fingers and short-cropped hair are in sharp focus while the background is blurred bringing attention to his gesture, one of frustration, fear, pain, and submission. His dark clothing also serves to draw more focus to the center of the frame while light falls softly on the man’s jacket creating highlights and shadows. In another image, a woman’s fuzzy brown jacket and darker brown hair frame her face. Clearly the woman has been crying as her cheeks glisten in the harsh interrogation light, its presence shown by the shadow that falls on the exterior wall. She looks away from the camera in a non-confrontation glance over her shoulder. The colors in all photos are muted, subtle; Weber’s palate is decidedly contrary to a vibrant, thriving environment.

from Sicarios

Arcenillas chooses black & white as his medium to dramatic effect. Plate 55 shows a single corpse lying on a gurney on the way to the morgue at San Juan de Dios Hospital. The corpse is shrouded in black material while white medical tape holds the wrapping around the deceased. The photo’s bottom edge is cropped below the gurney pad filling, the frame the whitish painted wall. But almost perfectly centered on the wall is the emergency fire pull station. It is a portrait of an object, the composition reminiscent of the Lisa Kereszi’s Water Fountain, PS 26, Governor's Island, NY 2003, and centered below this banal device in a vignette of light rests the lifeless body resulting from the everyday conflict that faces this region. Throughout the book Arcenillas consistently contrasts death and life. A young girl stands in an alley and stares into the camera. The two walls that form the alley lead back in linear perspective and end approximately where the girl’s eyes look right into the lens. Her face is unsmiling and concerned and her hands are held near her body in a closed unwelcoming gesture. The darkness of the deep rich soil is countered by equal amounts of the overcast sky. These photos display what Linfield calls "craft, care, structure, and visual power," the descriptors of art. Both Arcenillas and Weber use their mediums and subjects not just for the message. The content of these images is equally weighted between artistic composition and social commentary.

from Sicarios

What is not readily present in Arcenillas and Weber’s photos is what Weber in his afterword calls the “unseen subject… Power.” For the sicarios, most of the victims are of the same economic class and many killers only receive modest pay, “fifty dollars and a jacket” and likely Weber’s subjects do not fair much better economically. Arcenillas himself in the introductory interview mentions that he can not save the world with images, but present the world with one of the “most real stories [he's] ever told,” and like him, Weber states that, “the artist’s goal is to shock us with our own wordlessness: to show us proofs of life in its willful alternative histories.” As I was unaware of the conditions of both of these regions in Russia and Guatemala, the books and photographs acted as education tools. I may not remember all images in the future, but I will recall the feeling I had when looking and now have knowledge to act, if not for this specific community, for someone to make something better. Many of my memories of childhood are faded, but I remember the feeling of childhood. I will remember the feeling of these books.

Both books were selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by Melanie McWhorter

Purchase a copy of Sicarios here

Purchase a copy of Interrogations here

photo-eye Book Reviews: Redheaded Peckerwood

2012-01-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

Redheaded Peckerwood, By Christian Patterson.
Published by Mack Books, 2011.

Redheaded Peckerwood

Reviewed by George Slade

______________________________________

Christian Patterson Redheaded Peckerwood
Photographs by Christina Patterson.
Mack Books, 2011. Hardbound. 164 pp., 98 illustrations throughout, 7-1/2x9-1/2".

Several years ago I reviewed Christian Patterson's book Sound Affects in this space. I enjoy extrapolating the accomplishments of newer material from past efforts. So, what carries forward into Patterson's much admired new volume? Sound Affects, for those who haven't seen it, channels a socio-cultural reflection on auditory phenomena through a photographic filter, and relies on disparate material that, magically, fashions a whole narrative.

Like the earlier book, Redheaded Peckerwood is devoid of first generation images of people—that is, seen and captured on film or pixel by Patterson himself. But the symbolic associations generated by the catch-all camera are poignant, dense, and, in the present publication, both ominous and awfully human. I wrote that Sound Affects "sings a poignant, a cappella harmony;" in Redheaded Peckerwood, that song intensifies into full-blooded, Grand Guignol opera. Patterson is clearly mastering his medium, before, during, and after the exposure. He conceives, executes, edits, and designs with forceful subtlety.

Redheaded Peckerwood, by Christian Patterson. Published by Mack, 2011.

I must admit to a certain satisfaction in seeing not one but two photographs of soda bottles in Redheaded Peckerwood ("7-Up Bottle" and "Oregon Trail Bottle," the former an abandoned item nearly camouflaged on grass, the latter the first and most fascinating of the archival photographs employed in the book); about SA I wrote that "perhaps the least interesting image in the book" was one of a 7-Up bottle that seemed minimally valuable. "Stax Bottle," I wrote, "gains traction largely because [it] calls up a legendary recording studio and leads one to wonder just what music-world celebrity might have left salivary DNA, or a cigarette butt, in that soda pop." We must speculate, again, about the roles played by the two new bottles.

Patterson's new images are all insidiously guilty by association. Having read the bragging, confessional letter co-written by Redheaded Peckerwood's antagonists, the teenager spree killers Caril Fugate and Charles "Chuck" Starkweather, one is duly prepared for all subsequent images to terrify or shock, if only by implication. The letter, part of the pre-title page "overture" to the book, is must reading. Even without it, though, the book conveys a message of looming horror. This anticipatory sensation is a rare feat. Patterson collected photographs and artifacts along the route the killers took more than fifty years ago. But Redheaded Peckerwood creates a sense of building toward something that hasn't yet happened. Though its terrible facts were inscribed two generations ago, Patterson's version tells the story in present tense. We are on a journey with Caril and Charles, one that will, as the letter notes, be "going to the end."

Redheaded Peckerwood, by Christian Patterson. Published by Mack, 2011.

More so than many, the physical structure of this book is critical to Patterson's intentions; he is the designer as well as the photographer, and the little touches feel just right. Securely bound in are immaculately reproduced documents—a receipt from a general store, handwritten and typed notes of prurient and sarcastic tone, truly evidence that weighs on a reader's imagination. A booklet containing insightful essays by Luc Sante and Karen Irvine is tucked inside the front cover, like a magazine blow-in card. Although it is linked visually by matching the book's endpapers and conceptually by an intriguingly erratic manual typewriter font, the booklet has no physical ties, allowing its interpretive strategies to circle Patterson's carefully structured narrative like an orbiting moon and shine in reflected light. Even the cover, dust jacketless boards printed with a screened, dimly grey picture of the charismatic criminals, shifts elusively from image to reflection, like a daguerreotype or a printer's plate.

Flip through this book once, casually. Even from back to front. Then reread it, starting with the opening letter and proceeding slowly, page to page in order, letting things sink in. Open yourself to the realm of CSI, or the psychodrama of "profilers." You may, as I did once or twice, flinch when you encounter a newly "informative" bit of evidence. When was the last time that happened to you while reading a photo book?—GEORGE SLADE

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
John Gossage
Raymond Meeks
Antone Dolezal
Larissa Leclair
Adam Bell
Gerry Badger
Shane Lavalette
Melanie McWhorter

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GEORGE SLADE, a longtime contributor to photo-eye, is a photography writer, curator, historian and consultant based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He can be found on-line at http://rephotographica-slade.blogspot.com

A Closer Look -- Paloma al aire

2012-01-14T10:52:00.000-07:00

Paloma al aire

Paloma al aire is a funny little book. Spiral bound with cardboard covers (the front of which, unfortunately, has a propensity to curl), it is small in size with an oval cutout in the front cover revealing a portrait of a serious looking man. The book has an easy, informal feel, reminiscent of a personal album or scrapbook. Brightly colored pigeons, numbered yet still in a confusing assortment, grace the cover, but the true focus is the unsmiling visage of the man peering through. The full picture reveals him standing in a field, one hand on hip, the other holding a green carrier box. This is a book about men and birds -- though not in the colloquial sense. Ricardo Cases brings us to look into a type of pigeon racing specific to the Valencia & Murcia regions of Spain. The pigeons, each painted in its own identifying pattern, are released in chase of a female pigeon, the winner being the male who has succeeded in spending the most time with her.

The first few pages establish the premise -- the man with the carrier, a floor strewn with colored feathers, an ariel shot of a city with a red arrow indicating the exact location, an aviary of birds -- and then clusters of vividly colored pigeons. Wings and tail feathers tarted up in shades only seen on parrots, the typically drab pigeon is charmingly clownish in this getup. They fly in flocks over the heads of spectators, through orange groves and between power lines, but also land and clump up in seemingly random places.

from Paloma al aire

Looking at pictures of clusters of pigeons with unusually bright plumage is entirely delightful, but the colorful birds never really steal the spotlight. Cases keeps the focus on the men as well, following them as they chase after their birds, retrieving them from rooftops, stone walls and various types of comcially prickly, tall and tangled vegetation. Here resides the sweetness of this book -- images of the pigeon fanciers tending and holding their beloved birds are interspersed with images from the races, and the book establishes an allegory between the birds, competing in a contest of manners and sexual drive, and their aging handlers. The majority of the men shown are in their middle to later years, and towards the end of the book two facing images invite an odd comparison — an aged ear, mottled in color and hairy, toothpick tucked behind, faces a pigeon, red-eyed and cutting a profile of virile regalness. The image on the next page shows a flock flying over a cemetery. Perhaps for some of these men, pigeon racing is an opportunity to display their own prowess through the actions of their feathered cohorts.

from Paloma al aire

The colors in Paloma al aire are rightly highly saturated — both the green of the countryside and the green of the pigeon's painted feathers pop on the page. While the spiral bounding is impossible to ignore, it grounds the book and surprisingly only detracts from a few of the many two page image spreads. The book is well printed, sequenced, and entirely captivating.

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Martin Parr
Horacio Fernández
Alec Soth
Shane Lavalette

Purchase a copy here

photo-eye Artist Update

2012-01-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

Empty Cage, 2005 -- Jon Edwards

We've just added five new images to the portfolios of Photographer Showcase Jon Edwards. In his portfolios A Life and A Way of Being, Edwards looks into the lives of people living on islands off the coast of Maine:

These individuals live simply, and demonstrate dignity and tenacity when, by choice or lack of opportunity, they are forced to survive under either the harsh economics or isolation of island living, or an increasingly difficult traditional way of life. They reside in remote or isolated beauty, and maintain a direct connection with the natural environment. -- Jon Edwards

See Edwards' work on the Photographer's Showcase here.

Petroglyph Panel, San Cristobal Pueblo, Galisteo Basin, New Mexico -- Edward Ranney

photo-eye Gallery artist Edward Ranney has been featured in the newest edition of Fraction Magazine. In Issue 34, the first of 2012 and marking the fourth year of publication, editor David Bram departed from usual focus on emerging photography to showcase seminal photographers who have influenced his personal work. Issue 34 can be found here, and the portion on Ranney here. See more of Edward Ranney's work here.

Shannon, 21, Boston -- Rania Matar

An exhibition of Photographer's Showcase artist Rania Matar's A Girl and Her Room opens at The Foster Gallery in Dedham MA on January 19th. A new selection of images from this series, as well as a new portfolio from Matar, will be available on the Photographer's Showcase in the coming weeks. The forthcoming book A Girl and Her Room from Umbrage Editions is now available for preorder -- including signed copies. See Matar's work on the Photographer's Showcase here.

photo-eye Book Reivews: Illuminance

2012-01-12T11:03:00.002-07:00

Illuminance, By Rinko Kawauchi.
Published by Aperture, 2011.

Illuminance

Reviewed by Nicholas Chiarella

________________________________________

Rinko Kawauchi Illuminance
Photographs by Rinko Kawauchi.
Aperture, 2011. Hardbound. 352 pp., 130 color illustrations, 8-1/2x11".

Rinko Kawauchi’s Illuminance demonstrates the transcendence of media over message. Her overwhelming, complex volume of images undermines expectation, supplanting it with excitement, as photograph after photograph carries the viewer from simple to sublime, seemingly without effort.

Each image is a puzzle for the viewer to decode; each requires attention to the precise quality of light. The process inverts photography, capturing and conveying light, rather than using light to capture and convey. The objects of every photograph—whether obvious or obscure—are redefined by the manner in which they interact with light. The result is a catalogue of subjective spectral analysis—a visual vocabulary for the interplay of light, landscape, and object. A nursing infant, a roadside pool of blood, sakura, and kaleidoscopes all attain an equal weight as descriptions of the behavior of light.

Illuminance, by Rinko Kawauchi. Published by Aperture, 2011.

Time, even, is realized in its contingency upon expression through light. Two cascades of water are shown on facing pages. On the left, a torrent of drops escapes an indoor swimming pool, trailing from the foot of a swimmer. On the right, a cascade of dew rests suspended between saplings on a canopy of spiderweb. In both images, motionless water implies intense movement. Only after one pulls away from the images is there room to consider the difference in exposures, that the scenes themselves would be experienced differently in time.

Illuminance, by Rinko Kawauchi. Published by Aperture, 2011.

The sequencing of images creates an incredible amount of joy and surprise, as well. Natural settings, domestic scenes, and rural and urban life coalesce. Kawauchi’s vocabulary plays out confidently, and the characteristics of light constitute a method for creating photographic syntax and meaning. Illuminance is a generous and exhilarating work.—NICHOLAS CHIARELLA

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Kevin Messina
John Gossage
Martin Parr
Lauren Henkin
John Jenkins
Antone Dolezal
Horacio Fernández
Alec Soth
Marco Delogu

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NICHOLAS CHIARELLA is the imaging specialist at the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His poems and photographs have appeared in Santa Fe Trend, BathHouse, Slideluck Potshow Santa Fe, and other venues. He is a member of Meow Wolf artist collective, contributing technical and design skills to performance and art installations. Chiarella graduated from the St. John's College GI program in 2007. He can be reached at nicholas@nicholaschiarella.com.

Photographer's Showcase Interviews: Kevin Erskine

2012-01-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

Supercell Johnson Kansas 2008 -- Kevin Erskine

We see a massive variety of work while reviewing photo-eye submissions, I get a bit excited when something extra special comes in, which is how I felt when I first looked at the images in Kevin Erskine’s Supercell portfolio. The Photographer's Showcase jury was equally impressed -- Erskine's panoramic images capture the fierce overwhelming beauty of supercell thunderstorms in striking color. Recording these spectacular storms, the images are always framed with just enough of the earth visible to ground the viewer and -- when combined with the scale of the prints (and now the oversized book from Hatje Cantz) -- articulate the feeling of being dwarfed by the overwhelming force of nature.

Supercell 4 Albert Kansas 2008 -- Kevin Erskine

The images also come with a fantastic back-story -- a Nebraska farmer who took up chasing and photographing storms as a teenager. Except the man behind these breathtaking images isn't who he seems to be -- Kevin Erskine is only a good story, the fabrication of a celebrated Dutch photographer and filmmaker. Releasing this body of work under the name Kevin Erskine allowed him to leave his previous photographic existence behind and immerse himself in the world of storms.

All of this, of course, is just as fascinating as the original story, but the biography of the photographer can't compare to the enthralling images themselves. We asked Erksine to tell us more about the project, the pseudonym, and the gorgeous book from Hatje Cantz.

_______________________________

photo-eye: As a Dutch photographer who is well known for his portrait photography, shooting storms in the United States seems like a bit of a photographic departure. Where did the idea for this project come from and how did it develop?

Kevin Erskine: My fascination with big storms started in my childhood during the winterstorms in Holland. During a trip in the US, I teamed up with renowned stormchaser Tim Marshall. From that moment on I was totally addicted and obsessed with the beauty of severe weather.

Supercel 2 Prittchett Colorado 2009 -- Kevin Erskine

PE: Using a pseudonym for this photography project is an unusual choice, but you didn't just use a different name, you developed a character. Why did you choose to do this? Did it alter the way you see the work?

KE: Kevin Erskine is my way to escape the reality of everyday life and to fully concentrate on storms. Stormchasing to me has always been a sort of psychological quest. A close - occasionally too close- encounter with the overwhelming energy of Mother Nature. As Richard Hamblyn puts it "To stand beneath a supercell structure that extends from one horizon to the other, and to watch as it begins to eerily rotate, is to realize that we live not at the top of the solid earth, but at the bottom of an unfathomable ocean of air." To really get in touch with these forces of nature I decided to step in the role of an American farmer. A loner, someone who almost lives weather. Someone who learned that the destructive powers also have beauty to it.

PE: Your images would generally be classified as landscapes, but the focal point is very much the sky -- the land itself is often just a small strip at the bottom of the frame, grounding the viewer. What’s it like to be shooting images in the face of an oncoming storm?

KE: The small strip of land gives reference to the magnitude of the storms. The storm dictates the position. To get ahead of the storm and be in the path of a coming Supercell gives you (mostly little) time to set up a tripod and do lightreadings. The closer the storm gets the more beautiful it often is. It's like a living and breathing beast. Ever changing its appearance in color and form.

On the road in Wyoming

PE: What are the challenges of shooting something so huge that is constantly moving and changing? How do you find the storms you shoot?

Watching a storm

KE: The greatest risk is the lightning threat. Photographing Supercells puts you in the open field quite close to a rotating storm.You just can't predict where lightning strikes. For finding the storm and safely getting me out I rely on Roger Hill. He is a great expert.

PE: You're shooting medium format in a tricky environment. Can you tell us about your technical set up?

KE: I use a Linhoff 617 camera. It has the largest medium format possible (6.7 inch wide). Having only 4 images per roll makes me to concentrate on the right moment. Changing film in the storm is usually not an option. The result of the large film showing the rich tonality and colors of the storm makes it worth while. I prefer to keep the images pure and unaltered by computer manipulation.

Proofs from Supercell published by Hatje Cantz

PE: Your book Supercell from Hatje Cantz is beautiful -- the colors are rich and the oversized format is optimal for displaying the panoramic images. Tell us about the process of putting the book together. Did you collaborate on the design?

KE: Every image tells it's own story. We chose a classic design to give every image room to breathe. So my selection of around 100 images resulted in a 200 page book. I got to know the people of Hatje Cantz as dedicated craftsmen with a love for bookmaking. I am indebted to historian Richard Hamblyn for writing the introduction. Reading his award winning book The Invention of Clouds humbles me.

From the book Supercell

PE: What's next for you?

KE: The first large solo show in the U.S. is planned in March in New York. Kevin Erskine will continue to photograph the beauty of big weather.

____________________________________________

See more of Kevin Erskine's work on the Photographer's Showcase here

Supercell is also available in a boxed limited edition containing a book with one of five special cover images and a corresponding print. For more information on both the trade and limited versions of Erskine's book Supercell and to pre-order a copy, click here

Read Daniel W. Coburn's review of Supercell here

For more information, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

A Closer Look -- Animals That Saw Me

2012-01-10T11:50:00.003-07:00

from the book Animals That Saw Me

My days outside of photo-eye are spent living on a ranch 20 miles south of Santa Fe. On the ranch there is a sense of being a part of a very specific ecosystem that I have never fully experienced living in a city. Antelope, cattle, chickens, horses, a pack of coyotes and a pair of ravens are often the only creatures I interact with on my weekends. It's these interactions with the animals in my small ecosystem -- and whom I cannot directly communicate with -- that often create humorous stories (usually caused by moments of frustration). There are also many moments of understanding… as at the end of the summer when the herd of cows crowd around the house and ball because their calves have been sold at the market. On occasions such as this, my interactions with these animals can change my worldview.

This is why Ed Panar's book Animals That Saw Me is so striking to me. Here Panar has crossed paths with a countless number of animals, creating a series of singular moments that allow the viewer to become part of that interaction. Many times there is a direct exchange between animal and photographer -- a dog staring out of a second story window looking curiously perplexed at the man with a camera below. And in many cases it seems as though Panar and the animal he has photographed are caught off guard and trying to figure out their next move.

from the book Animals That Saw Me

The photographs are also often humorous. An image of a squirrel appearing to square up to the photographer had me laughing out loud, which provoked a conversation between Melanie McWhorter and myself about the type of humor Panar's photographs display. In my mind, I sense an observational humor in the everyday occurrence. There is definitely a subtlety to the images, but any animal lover will agree that animals are pretty funny and quirky at times, even in their own seriousness. Not all of the images are solely quirky -- some are brilliant in their beauty. A sheep crossing paths with Panar blends in seamlessly with the mountainous landscape, becoming a very simple and elegant image. The intimacy of the photographs in this book displays a certain acuteness that the artist must have had while meandering with his camera. Here I am reminded about my own interactions with animals that exist in my life, even if only in passing. -- Antone Dolezal

Picked as a Best Book of 2011 by Darius Himes.

Purchase a copy of Animals That Saw Me.

photo-eye Book Reivews: Redwood Saw

2012-01-09T13:31:00.000-07:00

Redwood Saw, By Richard Rothman.
Published by Nazraeli Press, 2011.

Redwood Saw

Reviewed by Adam Bell

________________________________________

Richard Rothman Redwood Saw
PHOTOGRAPHS BY RICHARD ROTHMAN
Nazraeli Press, Portland, 2011. Hardbound. 136 pp., 81 duotone illustrations, 12x13".

As sentient animals, we arrogantly pride ourselves on our dominion over the land and its creatures. Entering the 21st century, the demands we have placed on the earth are reaching their limits. In the long view, after we are gone, the forest and animals will reclaim the Earth, and humans will likely become a footnote in Earth's long history. Richard Rothman's first monograph, Redwood Saw, tackles the thorny problem of our relationship to the planet. Rather than show often clichéd images of environmental destruction, as powerful and real as they are, Rothman focuses on a dying timber town, Crescent City, CA. Beginning in the forest and weaving his way through the town, Rothman leads us through the landscape and the inhabitant's lives, and offers an affecting portrait of America struggling in the face of depletion and worn-down dreams.

Redwood Saw, by Richard Rothman. Published by Nazraeli Press, 2011.

As Rothman discusses in the accompanying interview, he began the work five years ago and was primarily interested in the old growth forest that surrounds Crescent City. Seduced by the baroque chaos of the forest, Rothman spent a long time documenting the area, but was eventually drawn to the town and its inhabitants. Evolving from a more traditional landscape project, the work is given metaphoric weight and depth as the project expands and we move out of the woods. Rothman's own journey serves as the editorial guide and path through the book and work. Beginning in the forest, we slowly approach the outskirts of the town, the clear-cut forest and the ramshackle houses and shops on the edge of town. Along the way, we encounter the town's residents, at times clothed or unclothed, modest homes and stores. The tension between the gnarled splendor of the woods and the threadbare existence of the town and the people that live there creates a mournful evocation of consumption, depletion and lost dreams. Ending at the sea, we are brought full circle and offered a vision of beauty, albeit tinged with sadness, as well as proof of the ultimate power of nature.

Redwood Saw, by Richard Rothman. Published by Nazraeli Press, 2011.

Measuring 12"x13", Redwood Saw is a large and sumptuous book. The printing and B&W reproductions are gorgeous. Although the book might be a bit too long, the slight lack of editorial restraint can be forgiven because the images are all so beautiful. A classic monograph with single or double image spreads, fussy design does not interfere with the images and they are each given ample space to breathe. Accompanying the book, which is otherwise free of text, is a pamphlet with numerous photographs and an extended interview with Rothman. Emerging from a chance encounter on a plane, Alex Stein's interview with Rothman provides insight into the work, as well as Rothman and the town's history.

Redwood Saw, by Richard Rothman. Published by Nazraeli Press, 2011.

In 1893, the historian Frederick Jackson Turner wrote a seminal essay – "The Significance of the Frontier in American History." Although the American frontier was long gone, Frederick wrote about how it offered a perfect transformative foil that shaped and defined America as a unique nation. However problematic this assertion and belief, the myth of the American West and our frontier has always offered the promise of redefinition, plenty and transformation. Crescent City, like so many resource rich western towns, once embodied this possibility. From mineral resources to timber to fish, Crescent City drew from the land and sea to sustain itself, but has reached an impasse and exhausted its riches. Rothman's powerful work leads us through these exhausted hopes and dreams, and offers us glimpses of restoration and renewal – not only for towns like Crescent City, but for us all.—ADAM BELL

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Raymond Meeks
Antone Dolezal
Adam Bell
Todd Hido

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ADAM BELL is a photographer and writer based in Brooklyn, NY. He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, and his work has been exhibited and published internationally. He is the co-editor and co-author, with Charles H. Traub and Steve Heller, of The Education of a Photographer (Allworth Press, 2006). His writing has appeared in Foam Magazine, Lay Flat and Ahorn Magazine. He is currently on staff and faculty at the School of Visual Arts' MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department. His website and blog are adambbell.com and adambellphoto.blogspot.com.

Zebrato: Limited Edition Monographs by Michael Levin

2012-01-06T14:03:00.000-07:00

Zebrato -- Michael Levin

In conjunction with the photo-eye Gallery show of Michael Levin's Continuum (on view from December 16th - February 4th), we are pleased to announce Zebrato: Limited Edition Monographs.

In 2008, Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK) released Zebrato, a monograph of 46 duotone plates drawn from Levin's on-going photography catalogue. Printed by Editoriale Bortolazzi in Verona, Italy, PDN magazine selected Zebrato as a "Top Photography Book of 2009." The book earned many favorable reviews and juried awards and sold out in its first printing. Now in its second printing, two limited editions of Zebrato have also been released.

Each limited edition publication is hand-bound by Jace Graf of Cloverleaf Editions in Austin, Texas.

Zebrato: Deluxe Edition with archival pigment print

Deluxe Edition

Cover made from dark grey Japanese bookcloth
Title and author's name debossed in silver foil
Measures 12"x12"
Limited to 75 signed and numbered copies
Includes an exclusive 7"x7" archival pigment print of Zebrato, signed and numbered in pencil by Michael Levin "au verso"

Zebrato: Collector's Edition with platinum/palladium print

Collector's Edition

Cover made from white linen
Title and author's name debossed in silver foil
Book enclosed in a custom-designed slipcase made from heather grey linen
Limited to 26 copies, lettered A through Z, signed by Michael Levin
Includes an exclusive 7"x7" platinum/palladium print, selected from a choice of 4 titles. Each print is handmade to order and will be shipped directly to you once completed.

Choices for the images are as follows:

Floating

Posts and Shadows

Reveal

Zebrato

*Note about platinum/palladium prints: The unique chemistry of the platinum/palladium process allows for the richest tonal composition, the most delicate details and the highest archival standard.

Purchase the second printing of Zebrato or the Limited Editions here
See more of Michael Levin's work here
Read Anne Kelly's interview with Michael Levin here

For more information, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202

Best Books Blog Posts from 2011: Part 2

2012-01-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

When looking over this year's Best Books list, we noticed that it included a number of books that we've already posted about on the blog -- 32 in total. We present here in two parts a collection of previously posted reviews and looks into the Best Books of 2011. New reviews and write-ups to come soon!

Brut - Photographs by Paul Kranzler

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Raymond Meeks

Read Adam Bell's review here

A Criminal Investigation - By Watabe Yukichi

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Raymond Meeks
Horacio Fernández
Alec Soth
Darius Himes
John Gossage
Marco Delogu

Read Melanie McWhorter's blog post here

Double Life - Photographs by Kelli Connell

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Cliff Shapiro

Read David Ondrik's review here

Elad Lassry - Photographs by Elad Lassry

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Aron Morel

Read Shane Lavalette's review here

In the Face of Silence - Photographs by Christophe Agou

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Anne Kelly

Read Adam Bell's review here

The Pier - Photographs by Nils Petter Löfstedt

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Anne Kelly

Read Sarah Bradley's blog post here

First Pictures - Photographs by Joel Sternfeld

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Marco Delogu

Read Antone Dolezal's blog post here

Mexico Roma - Photographs by Graciela Iturbide

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Melanie McWhorter

Read Alexandra Huddleston's review here

Homage - Photographs by Jim Krantz

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Melanie McWhorter

Read Melanie McWhorter's blog post here

Read George Slade's review here

One to Nothing - Photographs by Irina Rozovsky

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Adam Bell
Melanie McWhorter

Read Adam Bell's review here

The Half-Life of History - Photographs by Mark Klett. Text by William L. Fox

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Melanie McWhorter

Read David Ondrik's review here

Seacoal - Photographs by Chris Killip

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Shane Lavalette

Read Colin Pantall's review here

Crime Victims Chronicle - By Raymond Meeks and Deborah Luster

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Gerry Badger

Read Melanie McWhorter's blog post here

Oculus - Photographs by Ken Schles

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Adam Bell

Read Adam Bell's review here

The Auckland Project - Photographs by John Gossage and Alec Soth

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Adam Bell

Read the blog post here

Dune - Photographs by Misha de Ridder

Selected as one of the Best Books of 2011 by:
Horacio Fernández

Read George Slade's review here

Michael Levin on Continuum

2012-01-04T11:42:00.001-07:00

Tempest, 2008 -- Michael Levin

Sitting in the gallery surrounded by Michael Levin’s photographs, I feel a sense of calm. Though the images are still frames I perceive a sense of movement. There is something about Levin’s images that inspire a sense of “being” in the moment – and it is a peaceful and pleasant moment. After speaking with Levin and discovering a little more about the work I learned that when he sets out to photograph he is not seeking a specific location – rather he is on a journey and is waiting for a place or moment to speak to him. -- Anne Kelly

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Anne Kelly: Prior to discovering you love of photography spent years learning to play flamenco guitar. Do you feel that your knowledge and love of music is translated visually in your photographs?

Michael Levin: The short answer is yes. What initially attracted me to flamenco guitar was the repetitive rhythmic passages and I think that has found it’s way in to my work. Images like Atsumi Nets or Biwako could visually be compared to notes on a page. Of course I’m never consciously aware of this musical idea while I’m out shooting. Guitar playing has given me the understanding that in order to achieve effortless technique it requires significant dedication and practice. I approach my photography with these same principles

Biwako, 2006 -- Michael Levin

AK: Most of your images are long exposures. Can you talk a little bit about your reason for that – and how do you decide how long to make the exposure?

ML: It’s been so long now that I’ve been shooting long exposures that I don’t think about it anymore. It’s really just a technique that allows me to create the look of the image. I like the unexpected aspect of capturing time on a single frame, so many possibilities. You can’t predict all the subtle shifts of how light, clouds and water will impress upon the film. I have a general idea of how long I want to expose the film for but I try to mix it up all the time.

AK: When looking at your work I always had the impression that your images involved a journey. Brad Kremer's atmospheric documentary about you and your work, KI, reaffirmed this in my mind. Can you talk a little more about that?

ML: From the start my images have never been about documenting a place but rather capturing the emotion of a place. These images are few and far between so it always involves a great dealing of driving and observing. My experience with photography really revolves around this journey and exploring unknown destinations. Brad’s idea was to simply document me at work and I think he did a great job of capturing the spontaneity of the whole experience. Brad and I are pursuing this idea to a new level and I'm looking forward to seeing the results in the near future.

photograph of Michael Levin - courtesy of Brad Kremer 2011

AK: You have made a number of short films during the process of your long exposures. Can you tell us a little more about those short films?

ML: Photography has given me the ability to travel the world and I’ve had a number of incredible experiences. From the start I never knew this would turn into a career so I decided to record these experiences so that I could relive them for years to come. It just turned out that I was able to continue to take photographs, so I just kept on recording. I had shown parts of the videos to some friends who suggested I post them and I did. I also recognized that the vast majority of people who view my work see it on my website. I thought the addition of videos would allow people to further connect to the work and see what it’s like behind the scenes.

AK: Typically humans are not present in your images – however in Zebrato you walk out onto the dock during the exposure. What inspired you to do so?

Zebrato, 2005 and Rift, 2007 -- Michael Levin

ML: I think I excluded people from my images for a couple of reasons. I typically find myself in out of the way places early in the morning and there just isn’t anyone around. The other reason is that with my style of composing I intentionally leave out visual cues as to the scale of the subject. This frees the viewer from recognizing exactly what they’re looking at, the unknown.

The lone “pescatore” on the end of the dock is in fact not me, he’s a fisherman catching dinner at the day’s end. My intention with that composition was to not have him or anyone in the shot. I spent two days shooting that image in hopes that I would have a clear view of the pier, but things worked out differently and the photograph turned out to become my most recognizable in my portfolio.

AK: What is next?

ML: Last summer I traveled to Berlin to start a new project. I had a loose idea of what I wanted to achieve however as always there is the unexpected. In the hotel one night while I was reviewing the day’s work I saw an image that really had something interesting to say and this gave me a clearer direction fresh. Generally, the new work explores urban environments and leisure. I know it’s kind of vague but I’m excited by the possibilities.

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See more work by Michael Levin here
See Michael Levin's book Zebrato and the limited editions here

For more information, please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202