R.I.P. WCST

Well, I figure it's time to officially put a nail in the coffin of We Can Shoot Too. Over the last 6 months, I've found it increasingly difficult to post to the blog. My job takes up a lot of time and then I've got to make work of my own when not there, so that leaves little time to post. Each post takes quite a bit more time than it should to create and I'm not sure my audience on here ever took off like I'd hoped. I figured there would be a lot of people who would be eager to keep up with photography in LA but I never reached a critical mass on here, even when posting regularly.

I'm going to keep the blog archived here as a source for finding work made here in Los Angeles and by Angelenos that I've featured.  I will continue to post interesting shows, events, and photographers that I see fit on the blog's Facebook page here, which I encourage you to like and follow. It's a lot easier and less time-consuming that way.

I've loved all of the connections that I've made and work I've discovered from We Can Shoot Too.

Please keep in touch.

- Wesley

Quote of the Week - Paul Schimmel

"...to begin to define what later will be understood as the history of your particular moment is one of the richest aspects of being a curator."


- Paul Schimmel, who was fired today, Via


Brings to mind John Szarkowski...

Jamie Stillings Shoots Ivanpahe Solar for NYT Mag

I've been curious about this place in the Mohave Desert since I first heard about it.  Jamie Stillings did an excellent job shooting it for the NYT Magazine this Sunday.  Check out his shots here.

Copyright Jamie Stillings

Before Baldessari

...there was Man Ray:

Hier (Kiki de Montparnasse) Detail, 1930
© Christie's Images/CORBIS

Palms

A nice little history of LA's non-native palm trees is here, illustrated by some nice vintage photos.

This is what MacArthur Park used to look like.

And Canon Drive in Beverly Hills when they were first planted.

Quote of the Week: Paul Melcher

"What does this means for the future of photography ? Well, for one, it’s certainly confirms that we are addicted to it. Not just at looking at the images of the masters but to participating in its creation. We are slaves to the shutter, even if, that too, is poised to disappear. 
We have also have entered the area of the disposable image. Shoot, beautify, share and forget. Repeat. Hundreds, thousands, millions of time. Because it is so simple and easy, we can photograph leisurely, for free, with no worries whatsoever. Its the era of the instantaneous image, not only because it is easy to take but also because it is easy to share. It’s the fast food of photography. Fast, cheap, appealing, and easily forgotten."


Paul Melcher, via his post on Instagram's acquisition.

Bruce Davidson in LA

Nice video over on the New Yorker on Bruce Davidson's work in LA.

“I’ve never been a photographer that loves sunshine, I love gloom. But now it’s changing for me. I just want the tree to be there and to be lit beautifully, and the light in L.A. is extraordinary. It’s still L.A. It’s still wonderfully absurd. I began to really love it:"

Quote of the Week - Joerg Colberg

"...and we don’t know whether the photographer made him do that or not. OK, it’s probably safe to say that he did. But the image works because it doesn’t look as if he did. It feels like a real moment."


- Joerg Colberg, via.


I've long felt that the photos I stage are most successful when it feels like they aren't staged; as if you've just stumbled onto the scene.

Opening Sat - Play It As It Lays

Time for a little shameless self-promotion:

I'm in the company of some truly great photographers in this group show, an official MOPLA selection curated by Audrey Landreth.

There's also an Ansel Adams show in the back gallery (DRKRM) going on.

Saturday, Apr 07 2012, 6-9pm
Play it as it Lays: Picturing California
Edgar Varela Fine Arts Gallery, 727 S. Spring Street

Admission: Free 

Play it as it Lays: Picturing California is a group photography show of California images that share a quiet and somber tone. Images of people seeking connection and focus, as well as landscapes that illuminate a certain psychological haze that one could argue is distinct to California. On a grander scale, this haze seems to transcend California and taps into a timely sensibility of people trying to navigate through social and political blurriness to figure out who they are in the world, dealing with what they have. The pictures evoke the inner-workings of individuals alone in their own head. Alone, yet not necessarily lonely. Just free to awkwardly unravel and to get lost for a while in the landscape of California.

Participating Artists include:

Michael Muller
Jesse Chehak
RJ Shaughnessy
David Black
Danielle Nelson Mourning
Todd Cole
J. Wesley Brown
Danielle Levitt
Amanda Marsalis
Alex Hoerner
Emily Shur
Jason Nocito
Zen Sekizawa
Juco
J. Bennett Fitts
Lauren Dukoff
Thomas Prior
Megan Mack
Sean Garrison

MOPLA Opening Reception Saturday

It's that time of year and MOPLA is once again upon us.  Saturday's opening sees a lot of activity over at Bergamont Station, including the second Lise Sarfati show at Rose Gallery, which should be worth the trip in itself.  Be sure to check their website to see all of the programming, as there are a lot of good shows going on.


March 26th, 2012 (Los Angeles, CA)- The Lucie Foundation is pleased to announce the fourth edition of
Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA), kicking off on Saturday, March 31st. This year’s theme is
Intersect: An Exploration of Innovation and Technology in Contemporary Photography, and over the
course of the month, MOPLA is presenting a series of dynamic photography programs related to the topic
of new technology. MOPLA 2012 will engage and stimulate the Los Angeles photography community via
its comprehensive slate of group and solo exhibitions, outdoor photo projections, portfolio reviews, photo
workshops, artist lectures and more.


MOPLA provides an invigorating forum for photography in Los Angeles through partnerships with local
galleries, museums, studios, curators, photographers and magazines. It’s programming aims to inspire and
engage the professional, enthusiast, emerging artist, and collector—both young and seasoned.


Past editions of MOPLA have been a tremendous success, with over 25,000 people taking part over three
years. Current partners include Los Angeles Times, Robert Berman Gallery, Frank Pictures, Photo
District News, The Icon, Smashbox Studios, Santa Monica College, A And I Studios, APA, ASMP, Rose
Gallery, Venice Arts Gallery and dozens more.


http://www.mopla.org

Robert Adams, The Place We Live @ LACMA

How could I possibly not tell you about Robert Adams having a show at LACMA, opening to the public on Sunday and to members today, considering he's one of the great western photographers?

There, now you know.

Also, there are drink specials for members today and tomorrow during preview days.  Sounds like a good after-work plan.

More info.

Since taking up photography in the mid-1960s as a response to the rapidly changing landscape of his native Colorado, Robert Adams has been widely regarded as one of the leading chroniclers of the American West. Edited and sequenced by Adams himself, The Place We Live surveys a career spanning four decades. This unprecedented retrospective features nearly 300 black-and-white photographic prints as well as a selection of the artist's many important photo books. Adams’s work reflects his extended dedication to describing the changing Western landscape, the growth of its built environment and the lives of its inhabitants. The Los Angeles presentation highlights Adams’s extraordinary portrayal of the terrain of the Los Angeles region.

WFT Quote of the Month - Jay Sanders

See what I did there?  I lowered expectations.  It's more likely that I'll post one a month than one a week but don't shoot me if I post a few in any given month.  It just depends on what I come across.  This week's month's isn't artspeak nonsense per se, just plain old nonsense.

“Our ideal viewer is going to come seven or eight times.”


- Whitney Biennial co-curator, Jay Sanders


Via

Saturday Openings

These first two are both at Bergamont Station so you can kill two birds with one stone.

Lise Sarfati: On Hollywood @ Rose Gallery from 6 - 8pm

Copyright Lise Sarfati

Corey Arnold: Wolf Tide @ Richard Heller from 5 - 7pm

Copyright Corey Arnold

And close by in Culver City, also a twofer.

J. Bennet Fitts: 8 Dead Palm Trees and Kelli Connell: Double Life @ Kopeikin from 6 - 8pm

Copyright J. Bennett Fitts

Quote of the Week: John Conn

“It was different back then, before everyone everywhere had a digital camera. You had to know what you were doing, how to frame a shot, focus a lens, read exposure. Also, a photographer was a unique animal at the time. People were easy to approach because it was such a novel concept to have your picture taken in ordinary life.”


- John Conn

Copyright John Conn

Weekend Openings + Shows!

I've admittedly been quiet here due to work being crazy and trying to wrap up a photo project I've been shooting for the past two years.  What this means is I've missed telling you about some good shows, which I'll post below those opening this weekend.

Saturday Openings:

Ansel Adams, Los Angeles at DRKRM Gallery

Opening Reception 6-10 pm

Related.  This too. And this.

Sam Falls @ M+B Gallery - Opening from 6-8pm

"Overall, the show hopes to look at time spent and time to come — tied together with color, material and a sense of death."

Ongoing ones I missed:

Brassai and Other Vintage Noir Photographers at DNJ, through February 25th.

John Divola at Gallery Luisotti, through March 10.

Naked Hollywood, Weegee in Los Angeles at MOCA, through Feb 27.

In Focus, Los Angeles 1945-1980 at the Getty through May 6.

Quote of the Week - Colin Pantall

I've been crazy busy at work.  Dec-Jan is my worst time each year but I'm back, baby.  I promise more than QOTW's starting tomorrow.  In the meantime:


"Sam Taylor-Wood once gave a commentary on The Chapman Brothers when they were altering £20 at Frieze (or something like that). The Chapman Brothers  claimed the currency defacing undermines something or other and challenges this or that and subverts the rest. "But does it though?" said Taylor-Wood when appraised of this claim.

Indeed. Does it though? The retort to fit virtually every artist statement."

Colin Pantall, Via.

I've always thought that subvert was a particularly egregious choice of a word to describe art.

Quote of the Week - Brassai

"Why did I write, in what was undoubtedly the most obscure of my letters, dated August 2, 1939, “It was obvious that, come what may, I had to free myself from photography”? Why did I still consider it merely a “springboard to my real self”? To understand this thinking, one shouldn't forget that photography was my livelihood, a means of support that sometimes involved assignments that I carried out with reluctance. It was mainly this “subservience” that I was attempting to escape."


- Brassai


Via.

Quotes of the Week - William Wegman

Total geek out video by William Wegman and Michael Smith on Blindspot. I'm glad it found a home and I think I understand Wegman a little more now:


"Rule Number 6: Be Creative.  Nobody likes a straight on shot - that's dull"


Runner Up:

Wegman: What were you thinking about in this one?

Smith: Man and nature.

Wegman: Hmm...


2nd Runner up:

Wegman: Now it's a big boot.

Smith: Will that give it more meaning?

Wegman: It'll give it more size.


The World of Photography from Blind Spot on Vimeo.

Photo LA this weekend - Opening Thurs.

It's that time of year again.  I'll be attending the opening reception  for Photo LA on Thurs. but there's a lot going on all weekend so get your tics to the programming now.  I'm excited to see what's in store this year.