Carmel Art & Film Festival - Deadline!

I feel bad about not getting on top of this sooner, as proven by my own scrambling to get my own application in on time by the impending deadline (this one is by mail, folks and must be postmarked by September 5th).

The folks who run Artworks Magazine are putting on the first annual Carmel Art & Film Festival. There will be separate juried Art and Photography (sort of a funny distinction, but I guess we photogs have better chances that way) shows put on during the festival, with the photo show up from October 8-30th.

From the website:

Through a juried process, 50 artists will be selected for a month long exhibition at the Marjorie Evans Gallery at the Sunset Center in Carmel, California. Ten top winners from this group will be given a group show at the FARMANI Gallery, in New York City. One top winner will be featured in ARTWORKS Magazine.

Yes, Farmani as in the Lucie Awards and Photo LA. The jurors:

Hossein Farmani is the founder of the Lucie Foundation, and the The Lucie Awards recognizing excellence in photography. He also founded the International Photography Awards, Month of Photography L.A., and the non-profit Focus on AIDS Foundation, just to name a few. Hossein also owns one of the largest private collections of photography in the United States. His Marilyn Monroe collection has been a part of a traveling show that has toured the world.

Kim Weston is a third-generation member of one of the most important and creative families in photography. Weston has been a fine art photographer for 30 years specializing in large format photography. He learned his craft assisting his father, Cole, in the darkroom making gallery prints from his grandfather’s (Edward Weston) original negatives. Kim and his wife, Gina, often share their passion, artistry and unique photographic vision at workshops held at Edward Weston’s former home.

Bruce Haley is the recipient of the Robert Capa Gold Medal, one of the most prestigious photography awards in the world. Haley received this honor for his coverage of Burma‘s bloody ethnic civil war. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize by the Baltimore Sun, for helping to break the story of the famine in Somalia. His clients include Time, Life, U.S. News and World Report, The London Sunday Times Magazine, Stern, Paris Match, GEO, Aperture, Esquire.

Off topic

Really interesting series of shots of mold on bread (Yes, I thought the same thing) by Martin Scott-Jupp over at Deep Sleep Magazine. Submissions for their next issue, Dance, are due by Sept. 1st.

Random thought

Why does it seem that every Tom, Dick and Harry has photographed David Lynch? Is he the most accessible celebrity around?

Feature - Corey Seeholzer

Continuing the features of local photographers, I present the work of Corey Seeholzer. I first learned of Corey at a charity auction at Smashbox where he had the astronaut print donated. It was gorgeous.

August drought

Things are pretty quiet on the good photo event front these days. Too bad it doesn't feel like August out there. Where did summer go?

I just saw this gem is coming to the Getty in September though:

Irving Penn: Small Trades

September 9, 2009–January 10, 2010

Working in Paris, London, and New York in the early 1950s, photographer Irving Penn (American, born 1917) created masterful representations of skilled tradespeople dressed in work clothes and carrying the tools of their trade. A neutral backdrop and natural light provided a stage on which his subjects could present themselves with dignity and pride. Penn revisited his Small Trades series over many decades, producing evermore-exacting prints, including platinum enlargements. In 2008 the Getty acquired the most comprehensive group of these images, carefully selected by the photographer—155 gelatin silver prints and 97 platinum prints—which will be exhibited in their entirety for the first time.

Artist Statement - Sally Mann

Joerg posted works from Sally Mann's new series with her artist statement broken up between the images. It is one hell of an artist statement. I'm not sure whether she intended for it to be presented in this way - between the images, between those specific images, etc. (though I think so) but it really works. I've never seen the presentation of text in between photos work so well except in the case of Mr. Toledano's Days With My Father.

Opening - Katie Shapiro

Katie Shapiro, who I featured before is having an opening of her show at Azucar Gallery Saturday from 7-10pm.

Mathew Scott - Venice

I previously featured the work of Mathew Scott but wanted to showcase work from his new series, Venice, obviously shot along Venice beach. Not only is the project a lovely portrayal of Los Angeles beach culture, which hits close to home, I know how hard it is to get exposure for a project once you've done all the work and lived and breathed it.

As always, be sure to click images for larger views.

LACMA has a new Photography (etc.) Curator

Britt Salvesen has been named as Charlotte Cotton's succesor at LACMA and will start in October. She will be the new Department Head and Curator of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, and the Department Head and Curator of the Prints and Drawings.

Now, what exactly Prints & Drawings has to do with Photography is a mystery to me, other than they are both on paper?

Maybe in these tough economic times we should just fire the Middle Eastern Art Curator and have the Latin American Curator handle both - you know, to save money...

Britt comes to LACMA from the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, where she served as Director and Chief Curator.

Feature - Aaron Ruell

Originally from Fresno and now living in Los Angeles, Aaron Ruell is a man of many talents but I'll focus on those he employs as a photographer.

Quote of the Week - Mark Wrigley

“Writing about photographs is a risk. The first sign of a good photograph is that it makes you want to say something about it. The second sign is that it makes whatever you say seem inadequate. The best photographs entice commentary then demean it, stimulating reaction and then cutting it off, producing noise only to extinguish it. The image actively silences the viewer.”

—Mark Wrigley

I don't know who this Mark Wrigley fellow is but I found this over on but does it float via Rachel Hullin

Lynsey Addario is one hell of a photographer

And she's got some cojones working as a female photojournalist in Afganistan and Pakistan. She talks about what that's like on an audio slideshow over on Lens blog and also shot the cover of this week's NYT mag.

Be sure to visit her site.

Weekend Reading - Robert Adams

Copyright Robert Adams

This interview with Robert Adams posted over on PhotoEphemera is absolutely beautiful. Trust me when I say you'll be glad you read it (you'll need to scroll down a bit).

Have a great weekend!

Feature - Nicole Lloyd

I met local photographer Nicole Lloyd over the weekend while grabbing some beers with other photographers. She had her portfolio with her and I was struck by the quality of her prints (she knows what she's doing), her consistent color palette, and the fact that they were spray mounted on matte boards , which I liked more than presenting loose prints for presentation. Images are from her Places Like Home series. As usual, click each to view larger.

Quote of the week x2 - Danny Lyon

The sign at the entrance to my gym locker room says “no cell phones please, cell phones are cameras.” They are not. A camera is a Nikon or a Leica or Rollieflex and when you strike someone with one,--- that is take your camera and use it as a weapon, they know they have been hit with something substantial.

- Danny Lyon, from a piece over on American Suburb X

I cannot wait for 5 years from now

Things are going to be so good, so cheap.

Have you seen the new Leica S2?

16k British Pounds, huge sensor, 37.5 mpx, SLR.

Free Webinar Tuesday - Printing

Calumet's having a free webinar next Tuesday. The topic is how to get great prints back from the lab:

Wouldn’t you like to get prints back from your lab that look just like they did on your monitor? In this webinar, we’ll discuss all of the steps involved to make this happen. Starting with your monitor, we’ll cover how to make your monitor perform to the best of its ability and how to judge if it might be time to upgrade. Using hardware and software, we’ll calibrate and profile both desktop and laptop monitors so that the most accurate editing and evaluation can take place.

Now that we know our monitor is correctly set up, what are the issues when dealing with color spaces and profiles in Adobe Photoshop. We’ll explain the importance of color space conversions and soft proofing in preparation for sending our files to the lab.

End the frustration of getting back prints that are too dark or too light with color shifts and get the results you want the first time.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Info and registration Here

Quote of the Week - Rod Slemmons

"Placing words and images in the same perceptual space is not as easy as it looks. The artist has to keep track of four phenomena, not just the apparent two. First, the words have accepted, coded meanings and contexts that affect what we see in the adjacent images. Second, the words invoke mental images that might also conflict with what we see. Third, images have meanings and contexts that may alter our engagement with the adjacent words. Fourth, images can call up words in the mind of the viewer. The coordination of image/word/word/image is not easy, but the more difficult it is, the more possibilities present themselves for qualifying or clarifying the larger world."

- Rod Slemmons

Banner - charity: water

So I've considered once putting banner ads on the blog and decided pretty quickly against it. However, I've decided to add one and only one for a terrific nonprofit that provides clean drinking water to the 3rd world, charity: water. I figure it's the least I can do.

100% of donations go directly to the cause - all overhead is donated separately.

Kristoff sounds off here.

If you don't have anything nice to say...

...don't say anything at all.

Can we translate this to:

If you can't post a good photo, don't post any photo at all?

Article on Alec Soth

From Fashion Magazine - Copyright Alec Soth

There's an interesting piece in the NYT about Alec Soth. I thought before posting this, "Who doesn't read the NYT?" but then I figured some people in LA might not.

LAT: You can step up to the plate at any time; you get consistently schooled.

Rob Hornstra - The Sochi Project

I stumbled upon the Sochi Project today, which is a five year attempt by Rob Hornstra and documentary film maker Arnold van Bruggen to document the drastic changes forced upon the people who live in the are the Russian government is preparing for the 2014 winter games.

What I found most interesting about the project is the way in which they are seeking to finance it (with a very modest 15,000 euro goal).

They state:

Documentary stories start with your donation.

For five years, Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen will document the area around Olympic Sochi. Never before have the Olympic Games been held in such a turbulent region. We believe it is of great journalistic importance that the run-up to such a major international event can receive sustained and in-depth coverage. Dutch newspapers and magazines do not have the budget or manpower to realise a project of this scale. That’s why we are doing it ourselves. Your support in this is indispensable. As a donor of The Sochi Project you will have access to every section of this website.

You can support us in three different ways:

BRONZE A donation of a minimum of €10 per year will give you access to the private donors’ section of the website. This is of course where all our articles, photo series, interviews and essays will be published. But there’s more. In our sketchbook we will provide an extra dimension to the published stories. Here, we will write about photography techniques, travelling, production and content dilemmas, as well as the many encounters and adventures we have had along the way that do not appear in the larger publications. This will be of interest to anyone who wants to find out how slow journalism comes about.

SILVER From €100 per year you will not only receive access to the website. You will also receive all the publications produced by The Sochi Project, including an annual report, exclusively designed by Kummer & Herrman. We will inform you personally of exhibitions, readings and presentations related to The Sochi Project and you are welcome to attend any of these for free.

GOLD If you donate more than €1.000 per year you are a gold donor. This will give you access to the same benefits as silver and bronze members. In addition, after you make your first gold donation, you will receive a special collectors’ box for five original prints and articles. For every year you are a gold donor, you will receive a numbered hand-printed image from Rob Hornstra and an article specially written by Arnold van Bruggen as a gift. After five years you could be the owner of a unique collectors’ item, the existence of which was only made possible thanks to your donation. Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen are happy to visit you – or your union or club – personally, to explain the project further.

I wish I had an extra 1,000 euros but 10 per year sounds pretty reasonable to follow the project and contribute to a good cause.