Happy Holidays!

Copyright Kevin Cooley

It's been a joy sharing photography with all of you over the past, crazy year. I've enjoyed our meetings, emails, and conversations and look forward to another photo-filled year in 2010. Wishing you all the best. See you in the new year!

Quote of the week - Giacometti

"What is important is to create an object capable of conveying the sensation as close as possible to the one felt at the sight of the subject"

- Alberto Giacometti

 I don't usually accompany the quotes with a photo, trying to let them speak for themselves. However, I saw this series of photos by Ugo Mulas in his show at PhotoEspana (my third favorite of the festival after "Evidence" by Mike Mandell and Larry Sultan and the Bartolome Ros show) taken of Giacometti as he receives news that he has been awarded the Grand Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale.   It's too powerful not to share and admittedly got me chocked up when I first saw it.

(Slight) Mission Change

When I first started the blog, I thought I'd be a bit ambitious and try to help photography along in all of California, or even on the West Coast. I just realized I've been doing this for over a year and it doesn't make much sense for me to try to expand much beyond LA County. It's just not feasible. So, I've slightly altered the mission statement and will be focusing on photography in Los Angeles and hopefully some San Diego, San Bernadino, Central Valley, San Francisco etc. etc. equivalents will pop up and the west will prove best.

Feature - Rebecca Sittler

 Ok - features resume!  I just got back the ability to post from work, which makes things a lot easier (on my lunch hour, of course).

Rebecca Sittler is the Head of Photography at Cal State Long Beach.  I'm drawn to the small figures in her landscapes and I like the fact that she puts her statement after her photos so that you can experience the visual work visually and then delve deeper rather than being influenced into thinking one way or another about them before you even see them.

Chris McCaw opening tonight @ Duncan Miller

Copyright Chris McCaw

I'm going to try to attend the opening of San Francisco based photographer, Chris McCaw's show at Duncan Miller Gallery tonight, from 7-9.  Any photographer who uses a camera that big...

From the website:

Photographer Chris McCaw has released a new series of original work, based on paper negatives, long exposures, and the sun burning its way across the image.

Opening reception for artist, Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 7-9 pm.

This series is titled P.O.P., and is made using an arcane photographic paper that was popular in the early 1900's. The paper's common name is "Printing Out Paper." This paper produces beautiful, ethereal prints with a range of colors from deep magenta, violet or brownish tint.

The subtle color hues in each piece are quite different in each piece as a result of the paper, the hand processing and the gold toning of each image during processing.

Due to the scarcity of this paper, this series is currently limited to 14 pieces. As each piece is the actual negative that was placed in the camera, they are one-of-a-kind and cannot be reproduced.

McCaw's work has been recently acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Works are currently on display in both museums.

The gallery is displaying a concurrent exhibition, Frank Paulin "Color Works", in our North and East galleries.

Aline Smithson interview on Nymphoto

Copyright Aline Smithson

Aline Smithson, who runs the excellent, LA-based blog Lenscratch has an interview up over on Nymphoto.

Check it out here.

RIP - Larry Sultan

The Golden State has lost one of it's golden boys. Larry Sultan passed away yesterday at the age of 63 due to cancer.

Read "Reconstructing Family: Larry Sultan’s Pictures from Home" by Merriah Lamb over on American Suburb X

Obituary here

UPDATE: His last work with words posted over at American Suburb X here!

Los Angeles per Doug Rickard

Doug Rickard is a master with words, IMO. He had this to say about our fair city alongside a post on the excellent John Humble:

Los Angeles… L.A…. the City of Angels.


The words are charged… they carry a feeling and a complex weight… emotion and human stories seem to be carried within the letters… they come off of the page... a heavy vibe... just in the words. This massive thing is no ordinary place, this is no ordinary city and those that come here, those that are from here… those that live here and those that die here... no ordinary folks. Los Angeles is a living-breathing-epicenter and its waves are felt far and wide. It is vast... it is a dream, it is its people… it is its country… its culture and its effects reach out across the land. Alive... it thrives, it grows, it expands... it gives, it takes, it demands. It is birth, it is death... it lifts dreams up yet it crushes them with impunity… it breathes up the air and it consumes it voraciously. A place where dreams are born, where they fight to survive… where dreams try their best to come true. 13 million souls, 13 billion stories, every spoken language… every skin... every color... every rich-every poor… every good-every bad… every hero-every villain… every thought-every vice… everything that exists under the blazing sun. This is a city that needs to be shown… this is a city that needs to be seen, needs to define and needs to be understood… needs to be experienced, needs to be told… needs to be “felt”. Even if you never go there… you can “feel” Los Angeles and you can know it.

Opening Saturday - Matthew Porter @ M+B Gallery

I'll be headed to the opening on Saturday of Matthew Porter's new series, High Lonesome, in which he continues using his Photshopping skills to merge the Hindenberg with cowboys in the American West in a bizarre twist of history and time. Should be, um, interesting.

The Photo Book

The Resolve blog, alongside Andy Adams from Flak have teamed up to coordinate a cross-blog conversation on the future of the photo book so here are my two cents:

I’d just like to say that JUST AS MUCH as a bad quality photo (where the photographer pays little attention to the technical or is inept) can easily ruin a concept for me, so too can a bad quality photo book, a la Blurb. (In case you missed my earlier post, you should make sure to read Jonathan Sounders’ Blurb horror story.)

Joerg over at Conscientious says “…that print quality is one parameter of what makes a good photo book, and I don't think it should be taken as the only one that separates good photo books from bad ones…” Well, I disagree slightly in that I think it is either the most important parameter or at least one of the most. I judge the quality of the printing in the book much in the same way I judge the quality of prints.

The art is in the printing. We’re making photographs here, not JPEG’s. You can take a photo that looks great on a computer screen but can you print the thing and well? Have you shot it “correctly” or is it full of digital artifacts and noise because you haven’t mastered the technical? Did you print it too large for its own good? I mean, you can print a medium format shot at 2m wide but not a 35mm. Sure, I guess you could, but you shouldn’t. I can’t count how much work I like that when I finally see it printed, am disappointed by (and I won’t name names but a certain local and well-known female photographer is the most egregious example I’ve seen as of late).

What I’m saying is that while print on demand is great for some people, as a serious artist, there is no way based on what I’ve seen, that I would be willing to present my work that way. I’m looking to impress so why accept poor quality printing?  I want the value of a book I produce and which people collect to go up, just like my prints.

This, of course, is from a photographer’s perspective who is thinking of publishing his own work for the purposes of promotion (it worked for Ryan McGinley, right?). I’d have to go with hand bound or with a small and affordable, yet quality printer to produce my book and I don’t see this changing anytime soon unless one of these quality publishers starts a print on demand business (which they should!). Yes, I’ll have to print 250 or 500 copies upfront but, hey, you get what you pay for.

If I ever get recognition, though, there is no question I’d go with Steidl. The quality is unparalleled and I don’t foresee this changing anytime soon. One can dream, right?

Joerg next says, “Bad printing can ruin great photography, but great printing doesn't guarantee a great photo book.”

I agree with this but are we really to get into a discussion about things other than quality, price, and distribution? It just seems to me to be way too nuanced of a topic. There are a million different ways of arranging a photo book, deciding upon content, design, text etc. that I don’t see how to possibly cover all the possibilities in a general discussion.

If what he means (and I think he does) is that we should think of doing something other than just presenting photo after photo in a basic design, then I agree – we definitely should.

So I guess to finish my thoughts, I’d say that to me, the future of photography books looks just about the same to me as the last decade has - not much change when you are talking about producing something of quality.

But then, I didn’t see the financial crisis coming… In fact, I’d love to be proved dead wrong by the emergence of a quality on-demand printer with unlimited design options.

Read everyone else's views over at Resolve.

Wet Plate Workshop - Julia Dean @ Translight

Trying to figure out how to setp away from the crowd and shine?  Why not get back to basics?  I mean, really basic in terms of history but actually complex.

The Wet Plate Collodion Workshop
INSTRUCTOR: Allan Barnes
DATE: December 12th & 13th, 2009
2 Session(s) Sat 1-5pm, Sun  10am-4pm   
CLASS FEE: $245.00
Workshop Fee does not include $85  Lab Rental Fee to be paid to Translight Photography Center.

There is much conversation today about the changes in photographic technology, but these changes are nothing new. In efforts to advance photography in the mid-19th century, Fredrick Scott Archer, an English sculptor and photographer, experimented with collodion in the hope of producing a photographic negative on ordinary glass plates. This process was perfected in 1851. The Wet-Plate Collodion Process replaced the first dominant form of popular photography, the Daguerrotype. There were three phases of this technology: The Ambrotype, (a glass positive) The Ferrotype, (or Tintype) and the Glass Negative. Eventually, the dry-plate process replaced the wet-plate process. Then along came George Eastman and gelatin film, which made photography accessible to the masses.

In this hands-on workshop, participants will use vintage cameras to explore the craftsmanship of coating their own glass and metal plates to make a photograph, using the three sub-fields of WPC. First, we delve briefly into the history of this process and its revival. Then students will be trained in the coating of a photographic plate, exposure, development and preservation of the plate. Participants will also be provided with the information needed to purchase their own WPC equipment. Chemistry, media and cameras will be provided. Participants should come to the workshop with aprons and work clothing (materials are not overly toxic but can easily stain clothing). Students will be required to pay $85 to Translight Photography Center (TPC) for use of the facility. Upon completion of the class, all students will receive a free one-month membership to TPC, which includes a 25% discount off the regular darkroom rental rates.

Enrollment limit: 12 students

Enroll here.

Collect.give

Copyright Dalton Rooney

Hey, it's holiday season, which means you probably need some gifts, right?  Collect.give is a new effort where each photographer donates 100% of the profits of their sales on a chosen edition to a cause of their choosing. L.A. local Emily Shur's edition is sold out so my next recommendation would be to pick up a print by Dalton Rooney for $40 to benefit MillionTreesNYC.  Having one in my collection, I can assure you Dalton spends the greatest of effort on his prints.  Or, grab someone elses.  Either way, it's a win-win.

Off-topic

I couldn't help it. There is an amazing photo essay on winter hunting in Greenland in the NYT travel section by Ragnar Axelsson.

Copyright Ragnar Axelsson

Translight Changes - Support!

I received the following email detailing changes over at Translight. Like everyone else in this economy, they're having trouble turning a profit. I'd urge everyone to go check out this last existing darkroom resource in the L.A. area to help ensure it's survival.

I've used the Espon 9800 myself a couple of times and I can assure you that you won't find a better deal on digital printing in town (plus, you get to control it yourself or with a bit of guidance):


UPDATE:

My intention when I purchased TPC at the beginning of 2009 was to keep this facility operating
and servicing the photographic community. Since the purchase TPC has invested in new digital
service, expanded our hours, increased our marketing expenses and efforts, solicited art patrons,
continued to service and maintain our equipment, and done whatever we could think of to try to
move the lab closer to a break-even financial situation. However, as many of you have no doubt
struggled during this recession, TPC continues to experience monetary losses at a monthly rate that
is increasingly difficult to sustain.

I remain as committed today as I was in January to keeping TPC around for years to come. In
order to make that a reality, TPC is undertaking some changes in the hopes of narrowing the gap
between expenditures and revenues. We hope you remain as committed to us as we are to you. 

Changes [Effective Tuesday 12/1/2009] are as follows:

New Hours of Operations
Based on our analysis of facility usage over the past eleven months, we have identified these days
and hours as the most popular. This reduction in hours represents a significant salary cut to our
staff, but we feel strongly that cutting expenses is as necessary as increasing revenues.

Monday  Closed ***
Tuesday  Noon- 9pm
Wednesday Noon-10pm
Thursday  Noon- 9pm
Friday  Closed ***
Saturday  11am- 9pm
Sunday  11am- 6pm

NOTE: Classes/Workshops can be scheduled for any dates or times.

*** Minimum Commitments for Special Arrangements [Assuming Staff Availability]:
Entire B/W Group Room-4 Hours                        

  Color Darkroom-6 Hours
Digital Printer-$150.00                                         Digital Scanner-4 Hours
The required minimum commitment is to be pre-paid at the time of scheduling. Overages will be
collected on the day of service. No cancellations or refunds for these special arrangements.

Cancellation Policy
TPC has been experiencing a reservation cancellation rate of over 50% this past year which has a
strong negative impact on staffing and operational expenses. As a result, we feel reluctantly
compelled to implement this policy.
> $25.00 charge for all cancelled reservations scheduled for regular business hours. 
>  Reservations cancelled by 2pm PST on the day prior to the reservation will incur NO
      cancellation charge.  Cancellation by Phone Only [No Emails or Text]. Customer can leave
      a voice message [fyi: TPC’s messages are time-stamped and saved at the phone company’s
      messaging service]. 
>  The cancellation fee will be collected prior to any subsequent service. 

NOTE: We continue to strongly recommend customers make reservations in advance. If there
are no reservations for a particular day, it is highly likely that TPC may not open in order to
reduce expenses.

New Rates [Effective Tuesday 12/1/2009]
TPC will be offering a quarterly membership for $90/quarter [3 months]. The monthly member
rate of $35/month is discontinued [Existing memberships will be honored through their end dates].
This new membership level will continue to give its’ holders a 25% discount off darkroom rates
and additionally a 20% discount on the Nikon Film Scanner.

 Rates:
        
 Color Darkroom Rental Non-Member  $23.00/hour
 Color Darkroom Rental Member  $17.00/hour
 B/W Darkroom Rental Non-Member  $16.00/hour
 B/W Darkroom Rental Member  $12.00/hour
 B/W 20 x 24 Rate  Non-Member  $23.00/hour
 B/W 20 x 24 Rate  Member  $17.00/hour
 [One Hour Minimum usage and 15 minute increments thereafter]

 Press Mount  $20.00/hour [No Change] No minimum usage. 1⁄4 hour increments.

 Epson 9800 Digital Printer [Self-Service]  TPC  Paper $10/sq. Ft.
 Epson 9800 Digital Printer [Self-Service]  Cust. Paper   $9/sq. Ft.
  
 Standard Size Examples:           11x14          16x20         20x24          30x40
 TPC’s Paper                             $21.00          $30.00       $37.00          $60.00  
 Customer’s Paper                     $19.00          $27.00       $33.00          $53.00 

 Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED Film Scanner Drop-Off Service [No Change]
 Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED Film Scanner [Non-Member]  [Self-Service] $25/hr.
 Nikon Coolscan 9000 ED Film Scanner [Member]  [Self-Service] $20/hr.
 [One hour minimum. 1⁄4 hour increments]
 
As always, I thank you for your patronage and understanding. To demonstrate TPC’s solidarity
with our customers I am pledging that there will be no additional rate increases for at least 18
months. 

Sincerely,
Michael Gotz
Owner
Translight Photography Center

Silence Explained

So, all of a sudden, starting about 2 weeks ago, I lost the ability to post from work.  This makes it much harder for me to keep up with the blog but I will continue to try to find a solution (The IT dept. is unhelpful for obvious reasons - stupid PC's!) and will do my very best to jump back into the swing of things regardless.

As for now, I had my wisdom teeth - all four - yanked yesterday so once I'm out of this world of pain and feel like speaking / writing again, the blogging will resume. I hope to see you all again soon!

Quote of the Week - Mike Mandel

From an excellent interview on Shane Lavelette's blog:

"It’s a little bit of a false sense of democratization, what’s happening. I think what’s happened is that it’s gotten much, much worse. There are really just a few people now that get recognized. They’re young people that get out of grad school and there are these vultures of the commercial art market that choose these particular artists. They get the shows, they get published and everyone else is ignored."

- Mike Mandel

Max Dolberg - Bloodwork: Sleeves

Copyright Max Dolberg

San Diego-based photographer, Max Dolberg is releasing his second book of Tattoo photography, titled Bloodwork: Sleeves and has a show that opened yesterday at Anno Domini Gallery in San Jose. If you can't make it, check out his blog, where there are shots of his very crowded opening.

California Represents in Critical Mass

The 50 finalists and 5 book award finalists were announced for this year's Critical Mass.

Big Congratulations to the California Photographers selected, some of which have been already featured** on WCST. The rest are hopefully to follow.

(Please let me know if I missed any)

Victor Cobo
Mitch Dobrowner
Ed Freeman**
Simone Lueck**
Brad Moore**

Current Shows @ California Museum of Photography

My first reaction last year when I found out about this place was, "There's a California Museum of Photography?!"

Why, yes, there is. It's at UC Riverside, which I realize is a bit out of town, but why not head out to Joshua Tree for the weekend and use this to break up the drive halfway through?
Their shows always look interesting and two that are on right now particularly caught my eye:

Smoke and Mirrors: The Magic of the Autochrome
September 26, 2009 - January 02, 2010


Olindo O. Ceccarini

Pictures from potatoes? Before mass produced subtractive color film became available in the 1930’s, the Autochrome was the favorite color method of professional photographers and amateur artists. First sold in 1907, and invented by the Lumière brothers, simultaneous inventors of the moving picture with Edison, the Autochrome process used miniscule grains of potato starch dyed red, blue, and green to create a chromatic screen through which to capture color with an ease never before possible. Often compared with the works of Impressionist painters, the starch grains lend a vague and painterly aspect to the images. The result is a one of a kind glass plate of striking beauty and muted, smoky color. UCR/California Museum of Photography collection contains several examples of these early twentieth century images taken by Californian photographers, such as Will Connell of Los Angeles and W. Edwin Gledhill of Santa Barbara. Smoke and Mirrors invites viewers to experience these lovely and haunting images of a time before color.


OPEN SOURCE: Lisa Oppenheim
September 26, 2009 - January 02, 2010

Lisa Oppenheim

For the project Killed Negatives: After Walker Evans, the artist accessed Walker Evans' Depression-era negatives, now part of the Farm Security Administration photographic archive in the Library of Congress. From 1935 to 1943, the FSA hired artists to photograph the effects of the Great Depression and publicize government-sponsored initiatives that changed land use and purported to improve the living and working conditions of impoverished migrant farmers, sharecroppers, and tenants. The photographs that Evans, and fellow photographers, made were largely responsible for a visual and social consciousness of the economic conditions of that time. The FSA artists sent out on assignment would ship their film back to Washington D.C. for processing. The editing of images, led by Roy Stryker, often involved "killing" negatives that he deemed unfit to print by punching holes through them. This gesture, as evidenced by the language assigned to it, is a violent one; it is also particularly poignant as the holes often cut through the bodies of the already-vulnerable people who were documented.

Working with these "undesirable" and largely unseen negatives, Oppenheim pairs a copy of a killed Evans print with a contemporary color photograph that contains only the circle of information that she imagines might have been extracted. Her work sets up a visual dialogue between the 1930s and the present day. This is a gesture and set of concerns that seems strikingly relevant, as current economic conditions are repeatedly compared to those of the Great Depression.

Oh, and also on view is Lewis Baltz's Park City Portfolio.

Saturday Symposium: New Topographics

LACMA's hosting a symposium on New Topographics this Saturday from 11-4. Looks pretty fascinating:

What’s at Stake?
New Topographics: Photography and the
Man-Altered Landscape

11:00 a.m. Opening Remarks

11:30 a.m. Session 1—The Question of Curatorial Reenactment

On the occasion of the re-staging at LACMA of the 1975 exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man Altered Landscape, the morning session will address what the reenactment of exhibitions can mean within a museum setting. Participants include Douglas Crimp, Professor, Department of Art & Art History, University of Rochester and curator of the original 1977 exhibition Pictures, Philipp Kaiser, Curator, MOCA and co-curator of the forthcoming exhibition Ends of the Earth: Land Art to 1977, and Britt Salvesen, Department Head and Curator of Prints and Drawings and the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department and organizing curator of the touring exhibition New Topographics. The conversation will be moderated by Richard Meyer, Associate Professor, Department of Art History, USC and Director of The Contemporary Project.

1:00 p.m. Break

2:00 p.m. Session 2—Learning from New Topographics

The afternoon session will address the importance of New Topographics from the perspective of environmental impact, architecture, and urban history. The panel will question how many of the issues of the 1970s have returned in our present moment, and how they resonate in Los Angeles. Participants include Matthew Coolidge, founder and Director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation, Christopher Hawthorne, Architecture Critic, Los Angeles Times, and Norman Klein, Professor, Critical Studies Department, California Institute of the Arts and author of The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory. The conversation will be moderated by Edward Robinson, Associate Curator, Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography.

3:30 p.m. Special Preview Screening—excerpt from Learning from Bob and Denise
The symposium will conclude with a brief presentation by Jim Venturi, followed by the screening of a preview clip from his forthcoming documentary Learning from Bob and Denise, about his parents the architecture team Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

Tickets: $10 general admission, $7 museum members, seniors (62+), $5 student

Feature - Jesse Chehak

All three of Jesse Chehak's series are worth checking out thoroughly, including his great graphic series, Autos, but it was his Fool's Gold that really caught my attention for a feature. Jesse is originally from Tarzana and now lives in New Mexico, where he represents that state for The 50 States Project, which you should also check out. California is represented by Jeremy and Claire Weiss.

As far as I can tell, Fools Gold contains images of the western third or so of the US inspired by writings of old on the frontier.

He writes:

I have been exploring the American West on a photographic vision quest of sorts, using history and the words of those before me as a guide.

I've chosen to highlight CA shots but make sure to see the whole series.


Towards Sequoia Park, California


Hollywood, California

(Does this one remind anyone else of Jeff Wall's Outside a Nightclub minus the unecessary budget and timeframe?)

San Luis Obispo, California

San Bernadino, Calfornia

San Andreas Fault, California

Near Three Rivers, California

Two shows - Peter Fetterman Gallery

Jean Philippe Charbonnier Bettina, La Plus Belle Vitrune, Place Vendome, Paris 1953

Two shows are going on concurrently and through March 7th 2010 at Peter Fetterman Gallery.

The first is Lillian Bassman: Women, which highlights over 50 images from this 93 year old photographer (why do most photographers seem to live into their 90's?). Most of these were taken ebtween 1940 and 1960 for Harper's Bazaar.

Continuing with the fashion theme, The Face of Fashion features work by Irving Penn, Horst, Hoyningen-Huene, William Klein, Louis Faurer, Douglas Kirkland, Barry Lategan, Eve Arnold, Georges Dambier, and Jean Phillipe Charbonnier, among others.

Peter Fetterman Gallery
2525 Michigan Avenue #A7
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Minter

In case you missed the opening or if you're just curious to get a better idea of what the Marylin Minter show up at Regen Projects is about, The Flog documented it for you here.

I was most struck by how painterly some of the pieces felt (due to a lack of focus used to nice effect) and by the strange resin she'd covered some of them with. Definitely worth checking out.

Quote of the week - Henry Wessel

Copyright Henry Wessel

In honor of the opening of New Topographics at LACMA this Sunday:

"The process of photographing is a pleasure: eyes open, receptive, sensing, and at some point, connecting. It's thrilling to be outside your mind, your eyes far ahead of your thoughts."

- Henry Wessel

Cody Cloud talks on Camera Obscura

Cody Cloud talks about his Shanghai Zoo series, which I previously featured over on Camera Oscura.

Holy Crap! VC for JB

This one is right up my alley, having done my MBA (just one letter off from an MFA, right?) and specialized in entrepreneurship. It turns out Jen Bekman's 20x200 just received $800k in first round start-up financing. Man, I'd kill to get my hands on this business plan.

This leaves me wondering:

a) how much Jen put down and what percentage she retained - $ 200k would net her 20% of her business for example.

b) since when do people invest in art galleries, online or otherwise?

c) how could she really grow this business and what does she need the capital for, when expenses are all post-sale and her "storefront" outside of the gallery space is virtual and seems to run just fine (I'm sure the investors have good answers to this question).

d) Does this mean Hey Hot Shot entry fees will be waived in the future? :)

Speaking of HHS, the deadline is this Tuesday so get editing.


UPDATE: Todd Walker brought my attention to this NYT blog post also. Thanks!

Saturday Openings - One more

Looks like I forgot to include this one, which merits a mention for sure. While technically also at M+B, this makes four concurrent openings on Saturday within a one block radius.

A preview can be seen here.

Brewery Walk, Classes & Free Print @ Translight

To coincide with the upcoming bi-annual Brewery ArtWalk this weekend, Translight Colors is giving away a free 8x10 this Sat. & Sun. from 11am - 6pm. Just bring in your file prepped to that size at 300 dpi and they'll print one from their Epson 9800 beast, which they also rent out at a price I guarantee you beats any lab in town.

Translight is the last remaining lab where you can rent out B&W or Color darkrooms by the hour and they've also got you digitally covered with that Epson and a Nikon Super Coolscan 9000ED.

Also, they'll be hosting some super interesting classes coming up shortly at very affordable rates:

LITH PRINTING AND TONING WORKSHOP

Instructor: Francesca di Leo
Dates/Times: Sundays, Nov 8, 15, 22, & Dec 6 from 11am-2:30pm (14hrs total)
Workshop Fee: $200 + $140 lab fee
Location: Translight Photography Center

In this four week workshop, students will explore the world of Lith printing and a whole new way to express themselves artistically. Attendees will learn how to “expose for the highlights and develop for the shadows”, which is the basic principle in Lith printing. The last day of the workshop will involve toning previously printed Lith prints to really evoke a mood and bring greater depth to the image. All students who attend this class should have a basic knowledge of traditional black in white printing.

Platinum/Palladium and Cyanotype Alternative Processes Workshop
INSTRUCTOR: Norma Smith
DATE: Sat 11am-2pm, October 31 - December 12
No class 11/28
code: ALT-PP-Oct
CLASS FEE: $335.00 Plus $100 Lab Fee

This six-week workshop offers students hands-on experience in print making using both processes. Students will learn how to choose the best negative contrast, and how to coat, expose, and process his or her paper or fabric. Since both techniques are contact printing processes and require negatives the same size as the desired print, there will be a demonstration of traditional darkroom techniques for making enlarged negatives, as well as a discussion of making negatives digitally using ink jet printers. This highly experimental workshop will provide participants with a basic understanding of the platinum/palladium and cyanotype mediums and the ability to use each in order to add new spice to their images.

Saturday Openings Galore!

Yes, things have been a bit quiet here on the blog front due to a nasty cold I've been battling and also because not a whole lot has been going on. As I'm sure you can tell by my barage of posts today, all that seems to have changed.

This Saturday we've got two (three?) great openings in store and I'll be at both if anyone would like to say hello or make a field trip out of it. They're across the street from one another too.

First up is Marylin Minter at Regen Projects from 6-8pm.

Regen Projects and Regen Projects II
633 N Almont Drive and 9016 Santa Monica Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90069
Tel. (310) 276-5424


Copyright Marylin Minter

Then, head across the street to M+B Gallery from 7-9pm to see Mona Kuhn's new series, Native, which was shot in her native Brazil.

M+B
612 North Almont Drive
Los Angeles, California 90069
Tel (310) 550 0050


Copyright Mona Kuhn

Bonus: While there's no word of an opening on Kopeikin's site, they typically do have opening receptions on Saturdays so I'm quite sure you can then walk just one block down from M+B to catch the opening of Susan Anderson's High Glitz at Kopeikin.

Kopeikin Gallery
8810 Melrose Avenue
West Hollywood, CA. 90069
(310) 385-5894 tel


Copyright Susan Anderson

That's right, folks. Three openings within walking distance. It's like Chelsea in LA. Who's in?

Free events at Calumet

Calumet's celebrating their 70th anniversary with a number of free events.

New Topographics at LACMA!

Copyright Frank Gohlke

Yes, the infamous New Topographics show has been rehashed with some new additions and will be traveling the country. We are blessed to have it at LACMA starting on Sunday. I was able to finagle myself a ticket to last night's preview, which was great. They said in the introduction that New Topographics is the second most cited source in photography writing, yet very few people actually saw the show at Eastman House back in the 70's. This is not one to miss.

The show has been given top billing and occupies the second floor of BCAM along with The Sum of Myself: Photographic Self-Portraits from the Audrey and Sydney Irmas Collection, which contains many self portraits I'd not previously seen by the masters. Imogen Cunningham with her grandchildren particularly warmed my heart.

The first event tied to the show happens this Saturday. Frank Gohlke will discuss the show and topics from his new book.

All info on other related events and artist walkthroughs can be found here.

Go get your man-altered landscape on.

Booksigning tonight - the Sartorialist

Yes, tonight the Sartorialist himself, Scott Schuman, will be signing copies of his new book, which is quite affordable. Not only does he have a great fashion sense, Scott is one hell of a street portraitist.

Thursday October 22nd
8pm-10pm
The Beverly Center
8500 Beverly Blvd
8th Floor, Outdoor Terrace

Flak + Simon Roberts + FB = Book Giveaway

FlakPhoto is giving away another book and since one of my readers won the last one, I thought I'd make sure to let you all know again. All you have to do to win a copy of Simon Roberts' new publication, We English, is post a link on Flak's Facebook page to your favorite photo on Flak. Details here.

Opening Saturday - Chris Anthony

Copyright Chris Anthony

Chris Anthony, who's prior show I featured will have a few new pieces in a group show at Merry Karnowsky Gallery on La Brea through November 7th. The opening is tomorrow night from 8-11.

If you hit that up, swing by Melrose Lightspace after, where I'll have a piece up in a group show for the evening with wine and cheese also from 8-11.

Show - Brian Bress @ Cherry and Martin

Copyright Brian Bess

I found the work of Brian Bress through Ian Aleksander Adams' blog post last week. His work definitely has it's own feel to it, which is refreshing. If you act quickly, you can catch his show up at Cherry and Martin through next Saturday the 24th.

Feature - Ed Freeman

I came across Ed Freeman's work through the Art of Photography Show, curated by Charlotte Cotton.

I'm featuring work from his "Desert Realty" series.

UPDATE: Ed was just selected for Critical Mass `09. Congrats, Ed!

Contests

The Magenta Foundation's Flash Forward just began accepting submissions for it's 2010 edition and the deadline for the current Hey Hot Shot competition is next Friday, Oct. 23rd. Get those entries in.

Last chance - Andrew Bush Vector Portraits at M+B

Copyright Andrew Bush

Just a reminder that Andrew Bush - Vector Portraits closes this Saturday at M+B. This is definitely one to see if you haven't yet.

Quote of the Week - Edward Weston

"My work has vitality because I have helped, done my part, in revealing to others the living world about them, showing to them what their own unseeing eyes had missed"

- Edward Weston


In researching for my trip up to Carmel this weekend for the festival I came across this really lovely NYT slideshow about Weston and the area narrated by his grandson and photographer Kim Weston. I highly recommend spending 5 minutes with it.

Here.

Irving Penn - RIP

"

"A good photograph is one that communicates a fact, touches the heart, leaves the viewer a changed person for having seen it. It is, in a word, effective."

- Irving Penn 1917 - 2009

Feature - Craig Doty

Craig Doty graduated from Art Institute of Chicago and then went on to receive hi MFA (one of 8 or so per year accepted, I believe) from Yale.

Craig just moved out to Los Angeles from Chitown so here's a big warm welcome. I can't say I'd want to be involved in any of the scenes his images depict but it sure is fun being a fly on the wall.


"Greco"

"Milk Chuggers"

"Die! Die!"

"Untitled #5"

"Craig"

"Untitled #3"

52 Editions

52 Editions features one photo per week at 8x10" in a limited, very affordable edition. I'm proud to have my photo "The Walk" featured this week.

This is a great way to get an affordable piece at just $45 unframed so please head over and take a look! Be sure to check out the catalogue too and join their mailing list to be notified of future editions.

Thanks, Arnaud!

From the site:

52 Editions is the anti-gallery

Our weekly goal: to demolish the misconception that collecting great photography is a privilege solely for the hoity-toity. We're knocking it off its pedestal, and bringing it live, to your walls.

As the cliche goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And the eye behind 52 editions, Arnaud Gregori, is no ordinary beholder. A curator and all around international man of the photo world, Gregori is also a self-proclaimed French snob. Translation: he has the exquisite taste and the chops to back that up, having spent hardcore time working with pro-photogs. Seriously, trust a frere.

Here's how it works: each week, 52 Editions features a different photograph for $45, published in a limited edition of 275. This postmodern approach to art dealing is more about spreading shutterbug love than making a buck. It's contagious, let's start a pandemic...

The photographs we feature are selected on a case-by-case basis. So, if Gregori thinks its good, it doesn't matter whether the artist is an amateur or professional, famous or anonymous. It doesn't matter to our prices either.

Making each photo inexpensive means if you love it, you can buy it. If we have it our way (and artsy-fartsy elitists be damned, we mean to!) a piece of art you've purchased isn't always a bank-breaking, life-long commitment. It's a gift to yourself, or a gift for another.

We hope to continuously expose you (you didn't really think you'd get through this without a darkroom pun, did you?!) to great works of art that will make your day as much as they make ours.