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.
Friday, December 11, 2009
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.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, December 7, 2009
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
Copyright Ragnar Axelsson
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
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
Digital Printer-$150.00
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
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
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
Digital Printer-$150.00
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
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
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
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!
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!
Monday, November 9, 2009
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
"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
Friday, November 6, 2009
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**
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**
Thursday, November 5, 2009
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.
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
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
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
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
San Luis Obispo, California
San Bernadino, Calfornia
San Andreas Fault, California
Near Three Rivers, California
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
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
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
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