Anthony Luke's not-just-another-photoblog Blog

Photographer Profile ~ Colin Delfosse.

2024-05-25T11:11:00.000-04:00

Born in 1981, Colin Delfosse grew up in Brussels, Belgium where he is currently based. He graduated in journalism, then turned to documentary photography in 2006 and cofounded a photographic collective and worked with various agencies. As a freelance photographer, Delfosse keeps a strong focus on meaningful and personal long-term projects in Central Africa.

After his first assignment in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) covering the elections in 2006 he was drawn back to DRC frequently, focusing on social and contemporary issues in the region. His work on Kinshasa’s voodoo wrestlers is the starting point of the international recognition of his work.

In his series ‘Fulu Act’, Colin Delfosse set out to illuminate the ecological and social consequences of the several tones of consumption goods and rubbish that are dumped in the streets of the Congolese capital every year, He started photographing a community of "KinAct" artist-performers dressed in fantastical costumes made almost entirely of recycled materials.

Explaining the concept, Delfosse reveals that “fulu” in Lingala translates to waste or rubbish bin, an apt description for the recycled materials that form the artists’ costumes.

These elaborate costumes, crafted from discarded items, serve as potent symbols of protest against issues such as pollution, poverty, and healthcare deficiencies.

Junior Mungongu @junior10bureaux - Bolole Nkemi ("I’m the idiot:") costume

Tickson Mbuyi @ticksonmbuyi - in a condom costume in “Bon Marché” district, a popular nightlife neighborhood in Kinshasa.

Jean Precy Numbi Samba @precy_numbi - costume made from used car parts

Florian Sinanduku @anassfloryan - pill costume, Selembao district

. “In Kinshasa, and in the whole country, finding medicine is still a big issue. You never know where it comes from and what it is made of. You can find pills everywhere, but most of them are coming from China, and came here without any control”, says Florian Sinanduku.

Congolese artist Nada Thsibwabwa @nadatshibwabwa -

Eddy Ekete @eddy_ekete - Limete district

Belgian Photographer Colin Delfosse's "Fulu Act" is a photography series that captures performance artists from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) wearing fantastical costumes they have made from recycled trash. Pictured is Congolese artist Eddy Ekete wearing his tin can suit in the Limete district of DRC's capital city, Kinshasa.

Falonne Mambu @falonneluamba - electric wires costume in Limete district

Abdoulaye Kinzonzi Kiakanda posing in his plastic water bag costume in Selembao district

David Baketimina @davidbaketimina - costume made by artificial hair

Hemock Kilomboshi @papenoirekilomboshi - costume made from recycled materials, Matonge district

Congolese artist Nada Thsibwabwa @nadatshibwabwa

Congolese artist Junior Mungongu posing in his plastic pipes costume in Selembao district, Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of Congo). Trough this performance, Mungongu condemns the obvious political inaction in a city of 13 million inhabitants where single-use plastic is king.

Photographer Profile ~ Matt Weber

2023-10-06T13:00:00.006-04:00

Who knows New York City better than a NYC cabbie? No one. They have seen literally everything - from the seedy underbelly of this real life Gotham to the glam and glitz of the capital of the world.

The ubiquitous cabs in New York become virtually invisible to the citizens as they go about their daily lives. This fly on the wall existence affords one, with the right proclivities and skill, the opportunity to record some remarkably candid moments.

Former cabbie Matt Weber became a street photographer after seeing some pretty crazy stuff and began to document the pulse and rhythm of the city like no other New York shooter.

"It had nothing to do with wanting to be a street photographer. I was driving a taxi and I saw so many crazy things on the street that I kept saying, “Damn, I’ve got to buy a camera.” Driving a taxicab in 1978 on the night shift at four in the morning in mid- town, if you saw the movie Taxi Driver, that was the world that was out there. There were prostitutes on the corner, Times Square was crazy; it was a dangerous part of town. I was robbed in my taxicab at double gunpoint." ~ Matt Weber

Very few taxi drivers went up to Harlem. I chose to go up to Harlem because I couldn’t disrespect someone and not take them there unless they looked like they’d rob me. I saw some crazy things: knife fights, people having sex on the streets, and all of a sudden I was like, wow, I better get a camera. Then, once I got one, I was constantly looking around and people were like, “This taxi driver can’t keep his eyes on the road!” ~ Matt Weber

Photographer Profile ~ WILLY RONIS

2023-09-13T13:39:00.007-04:00

“The Lovers of the Bastille,” 1957, by Willy Ronis

Willy Ronis, the son of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, had dreamt of becoming a composer. Tragically, the early death of his father, who ran a photography store and portrait studio, meant he had to start working at a young age to support the family.

In 1936, tired of spending his days in the family store, he decided to take his camera into the streets of Paris and went on to create a body of work that continues to inspire and captivate.

Ronis unfairly lived in the shadow of Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier Bresson for much of his life and did not receive the proper recognition until his twilight years. He is now considered by many to be the father of "Humanist Photography" His sensitivity and humanity can easily be seen in his masterful work.

“ ‘Photographing couples on the banks of the Seine in spring — what a cliché!’ But why deprive yourself of the pleasure?” Ronis wrote in his photo album. “Every time I encounter lovers, my camera smiles; let it do its job.”

“The Little Parisian,” 1952.

Credit...Willy Ronis

“Chez Max,” 1947, at an outdoor ball in Joinville-le-Pont outside Paris.

Credit...

Willy Ronis

Credit...Willy Ronis

Café de France, Isle–sur-la-Sorgue, 1979

“My photographs are not an attempt to overcome death and I’m not aware of suffering any existential anxiety. I don’t even know where I’m going, except forward – more or less fortuitously – to the things or people that I love, that interest me or disconcert me.”

Sid Kaplan ~ Photographer Profile

2022-12-26T14:53:00.009-05:00

Sid Kaplan was born in The Bronx in 1938. At the age of ten he became enamoured with the seemingly magical alchemy of the dark room. Seeing the latent image slowly reveal itself on photographic paper had him hooked for life.

Kaplan gained notoriety as a master black-and-white printer, producing the work of other photographers such as Robert Frank (whose photographs he printed for 35 years), Philippe Halsman, Duane Michals and Weegee.

Despite this esteemed circle, Kaplan’s career was primarily spent in obscurity, literally as much as figuratively. His own work has finally garnered him much deserved admiration.

Kaplan’s work is available for purchase at the prestigious Les Douches La Galerie in Paris

New York City, 1999

Sid Kaplan has mentioned that the biggest highlight of his career was the day when he took a break from the darkroom with Mr. Frank. The two of them walked to a local bar for a beer when they ran into another photographer who lived next door, W. Eugene Smith. They invited him to join them and they spent the evening together swapping stories and comparing their royalties from the Minamata and The Americans. "This reinforced my feeling that photography was best practiced as a gentleman's hobby like Lartigue or Steiglitz.

"I never wanted it to become just a job where editors' art directors and deadlines ruled; that would make me crazy and demoralized. Printing other people's work gave me the bucks to pursue my hobby and photograph what I want to without answering to anyone"

One Madison Ave, New York City, 1977-79 © Sid Kaplan

Twin Towers, New York City, 1977-79 © Sid Kaplan

Robert Frank introduced Kaplan to poet Allen Ginsberg, his neighbor and longtime friend, who would come directly to the darkroom to advise him on how to print portraits of Peter Orlovsky and William Burroughs.

Check out video on Kaplan via link below.

https://vimeo.com/128175438

1940's Yakuza Tattoo Culture ~ Horace Bristol

2019-12-10T10:29:00.000-05:00

Born in 1908, Horace Bristol studied at the Art Center of Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the work of Edward Steichen and Margaret Bourke-White. He moved to San Francisco, met Ansel Adams and through him befriended fellow photographers including Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, and Imogen Cunningham.

He became a LIFE magazine contributor in the late 1930s and was soon hired on staff. In 1937 Bristol proposed a story about migrant farm workers in California’s Central Valley—a project that would include accompanying text by novelist John Steinbeck. LIFE turned down the story and Steinbeck withdrew from the partnership to write the story as a novel, which became his masterpiece The Grapes of Wrath but Bristol photographed the region on his own.

In 1941 Bristol became one of five photographers documenting World War II under the direction of Edward Steichen, and he photographed battles in North Africa, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima.

Following his documentation of World War II, Bristol settled in Tokyo, Japan, selling his photographs to magazines in Europe and the United States, and becoming the Asian correspondent to Fortune. He published several books, and established the East-West Photo Agency.

In 1956, devastated by the suicide of his wife, Bristol burned all the negatives and photographs that he kept at his seaside house in Japan, effectively ending one of the most intense photographic careers of his time. His remaining photographs were packed into footlockers, stored, and left untouched for nearly thirty years. Below are some of his stunning documentation of mid-century tattoo culture in Japan.

Horace Bristol, Yakuza Public Baths, Japan, 1947

During the Edo period (1603 to 1868), criminals in Japan were tattooed by authorities in a practice known as bokkei, making it hard for them to reenter society and find work. This is a primary reason why the tattoo culture of the Yakuza evolved in protest to this branding.

The meaning of Yakuza tattoos are usually related to imagery and symbolism in Japanese art, culture, and religion. The full body suit tattoo, in particular, is a product of Yakuza culture. In the past, it was obligatory in many Yakuza clans for members to get tattoos.

In modern times, the practice is no longer as common. Many Yakuza in the 21st century maintain clean skin to better blend in with society. Conversely, more and more non-Yakuza in Japan are getting tattoos.

Despite these changes, being tattooed is considered a rite of passage for the Yakuza.

1946, Tokyo, Japan ~ A Japanese tattoo artist works on a group of Yakuza gang members.

Into the Wild: Journey into the World of Peter Beard

2019-10-18T17:49:00.000-04:00

Photographer, collector, diarist, and writer Peter Beard (January 22, 1938) has fashioned his life into a work of art; the illustrated diaries he kept from a young age evolved into a serious career as an artist and earned him a central position in the international art world. He was painted by Francis Bacon and painted on by Salvador Dalí, he made diaries with Andy Warhol and toured with Truman Capote and the Rolling Stones—all of whom are brought to life, literally and figuratively, in his work. As a fashion photographer, he took Vogue stars like Veruschka to Africa and brought new ones—most notably Iman—back to the U.S. with him.

After spending time in Kenya and striking up a friendship with the author Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) in the early 1960s, Beard bought a piece of land near hers. He witnessed the dawn of Kenya’s population explosion, which challenged finite resources and stressed animal populations—including the starving elephants of Tsavo dying by the tens of thousands in a wasteland of eaten trees. So he documented what he saw—with diaries, photographs, and collages. He went against the wind in publishing unique and sometimes shocking books of these works. The corpses were laid bare; the facts carefully recorded, sometimes in type and often by hand. Beard uses his photographs as a canvas onto which he superimposes multi-layered contact sheets, ephemera, found objects, newspaper clippings that are elaborately embellished with meticulous handwriting, old-master inspired drawings and often swaths of animal blood used as paint. ( His style has influenced countless art directors and art journal/diary folks)

In 2006 TASCHEN published the book that has come to define his oeuvre, signed by the artist and published in two volumes. It sold out instantly and became a highly sought after collector’s item. The books were re-released in one volume, (a handsome hardcover edition revised by Nejma Beard with new images never published before). But alas it sold out as well. You can snag one from re-sellers for a hefty price but I think it is still worth it!

"Beard’s unique photo-collage style may not fall within any particular genre, but the diaries, stuffed with pictures of wildlife as well as the people who impacted his life, represent a true and original snapshot of both his passions and his era. He doesn’t however consider himself an artist, preferring to describe himself as an “adventurer, explorer, photographer and writer”. And although there are ecological themes in Beard’s work, he also denies being an environmentalist. In short, Peter Beard defies being categorized."

1890s Spy Camera Street Photography by 19 Year Old Carl Størmer

2019-02-06T16:03:00.001-05:00

Carl Størmer (1872-1957) got his C.P. Stirn Concealed Vest Spy Camera in 1893 when he was studying mathematics at the Royal Frederick University (now, University of Oslo) Norway.

"It was a round flat canister hidden under the vest with the lens sticking out through a buttonhole," he told St. Hallvard Journal in 1942. "Under my clothes I had a string down through a hole in my trouser pocket, and when I pulled the string the camera took a photo."

These wonderfully candid images are a window into a time when most photographs were very formal and rigid. One of the first good examples of street photography.

“I was a young 19 year-old student at the time and had gotten hold of a funny detective camera.” ~ Carl Størmer

"It was a round flat canister hidden under the vest with the lens sticking out through a buttonhole. Under my clothes I had a string down through a hole in my trouser pocket, and when I pulled the string the camera took a photo.

I strolled down Carl Johan, found me a victim, greeted, got a gentle smile and pulled. Six images at a time and then I went home to switch plate.” Størmer lived nearby Karl Johan and took a total of 500 images."

~ Carl Størmer

Lu Guang ~ Brave Photographer Documented Pollution in China... Until He Went Missing.

2019-01-25T17:59:00.000-05:00

Chinese photographer Lu Guang spent nearly 40 years documenting the effects of environmental destruction in rural and industrial regions of China. Then, in November, he disappeared.

Lu, who lives with his family in New York, returned to China to lead a photography workshop in late October. The region he was visiting, Xinjiang, is the location of detention sites holding hundreds of thousands of Muslim prisoners. About a month and a half after his disappearance the Chinese police informed Lu’s family that he had been arrested, his wife told the New York Times.

Forty-seven journalists are known to be imprisoned in China as of the end of 2018, says Steven Butler, the Asia program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) [via National Geographic]

“We don't know the precise reason why Lu Guang was arrested,” says Butler. "However, he was an independent-minded journalist who had, among [other] things, documented environmental degradation that authorities might have found offensive."

See some of Lu Guang's shocking pictures China doesn’t want you to see below

Denim processing village Xintang in Zengcheng city Guangdong 2010 © Lu Guang

Dalian Oil spill Liaoning 2010 © Lu Guang
The pipeline of the Newport Oil Wharf of Dalian Bay exploded, sending untold gallons of oil into the sea. Many fishing boats were "assigned" to clean up the oil contamination.

Assigned by Greenpeace to the area, Lu Guang documented the environmental destruction and the clean-up effort in Dalian. While he was photographing the city's harbor for his assignment, a 25 year-old firefighter named Zhang Liang waded into the harbor to clear a water pump but lost his footing. Despite efforts by rescuers, Liang drowned.

The Chinese government reported the leak at 1,500 tons. Speaking to Greenpeace, Dr. Richard Steiner, professor at The University of Alaska and a specialist in oil spills, estimated the Dalian spill at 90,000 tons

Guiyu, Guangdong province, rivers and reservoirs have been contaminated. This villager is washing in a seriously polluted pond. November 25, 2005

Guang was awarded the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography for his series "Pollution in China." These images were taken in various factory towns around China and Mongolia, showing how the byproducts of industry have devastated the regions.

These towns are still very much inhabited, with people living and suffering under apocalyptic conditions.

High Pollution Industry Wuhai Inner Mongolia 2006 © Lu Guang

Shizhuishan Industrial Park Ningxia 2008 © Lu Guang

Zhuzhou Industrial Park Hunan 2010 © Lu Guang

"They often wanted to confiscate my camera, I was often beaten, but until now, nothing serious has happened to me." ~ Lu Guang

Maoergou Coal Mine in Hequ Shanxi 2014 © Lu Guang

Coal mining left Hulun Buir Grassland pockmarked by sinkholes Inner Mongolia 2012 © Lu Guang

Steel Mills Tangshan Hebei 2014 © Lu Guang

Lasengmiao traditional center of Tibetan medicine now affected by polluting industries Wuhai Inner Mongolia 2008 © Lu Guang

“At the junction of Ningxia province and Inner Mongolia province, I saw a tall chimney puffing out golden smoke covering the blue sky, large tracts of the grassland have become industrial waste dumps; unbearable foul smell made people want to cough; Surging industrial sewage flowed into the Yellow River…”Lu Guang

Workers at a lime kiln in the Heilonggui Industrial District in Inner Mongolia. The woman on the left is wearing two scarves, a red one to protect her eyes, a grey one to cover her mouth. Photo: Lu Guang, 22 March 2007.

As a result of drinking polluted groundwater for years, more than fifty residents of the village of Xiakang -- including 64 year-old Wang Baosheng -- suffer from cancer and cerebral thrombosis. Linfen City, Shanxi Province. July 10, 2005. © Lu Guang

Zhou Mao sold his blood three times in order to raise the money to send his five children to school for one semester. He has been ill for three years, and his children have now left school to take care of him.

15 year old boy from Tianshui, Gansu Province, dropped out of the school after 2^nd grade, following his parents to Heilonggui, Industrial District. He earns 16 yuan ( $2.37 USD ) a day doing hard physical labour ~2005

Children also live in the industrial district. China is now the world’s second-largest economy. Its economic development has come at a monumental environmental and humanitarian cost.

"The oldest is 9, not attending school and the youngest is less than 2 years old. The children lived in a severely polluted area. Their hands and faces were always dirty ". April 10, 2005

©Lu Guang

Disabled orphans adopted by charitable farmers Shanxi 2009 © Lu Guang

Shanxi Province is the most seriously polluted region in China today. It is also the province with the highest rate of birth defects. April 15, 2009.

Child with cerebral palsy licks milk powder off a bed to feed

Lead poisoning in children due to pollution is a horrific consequence Jiahe Jinjilin Hunan 2010 © Lu Guang

Disabled toddlers abandoned by their impoverished parents.

Farmer burying dead infant, Lankao Henan 2010 © Lu Guang

Lu Guang (2011 Photo Contest) from World Press Photo on Vimeo.

Read more info about China's out of control pollution here

1940's & 50's San Francisco by Photographer Fred Lyon

2019-01-10T14:43:00.000-05:00

Fred Lyon has been called "San Francisco's Brassaï," and has also been compared to Cartier-Bresson, Atget, and Andre Kertesz, but with a San Francisco twist. The lifelong San Francisco Native happily admits his debt to those icons.   Now at 92 years old, his nonstop career reaches back to the early 1940s and embracing news, fashion, architecture, advertising, and food. In the golden years of magazines, his picture credits were everywhere from LIFE to VOGUE. He is now combining his extensive picture files for galleries, publishers, and print collectors.

Foggy Night, Land's End, San Francisco, CA

Lyon reflects on his favourite image:

"In those early days, I lived in Sausalito. I had a new bride. We’d been invited upstairs for a cocktail. But earlier in the day, I’d spoken with an editor of a story I was doing on San Francisco and he said, ‘Fred, we’re trying to close this story but we need a fog picture.’ I said, ‘You cannot queue the fog here, we haven’t had a foggy night.’

He said, ‘We‘re holding a space for it, but you better get it soon and you better get it good.’

My wife and I went upstairs to our landlord and he was just about to pour the drink and I looked out the window and I saw the fog snaking in through the Golden Gate.

I said, ‘Don’t pour, we got to take a picture.’ My landlord and my wife said, ‘What do you mean? We’re dying of thirst, we’re ready to drink.’

I said, ‘I promise, we’ll go to the nearest bar if I just get this fog picture. But we’ve got to go right now.’

We went out to where Sutro Baths was…We parked the car there. We got out and it was wonderful, thick fog. That’s an idyllic picture of a couple, very romantic. It’s my landlord and my wife. And what they’re saying: ‘Fred, for Christ’s sake take the goddamn picture, we’re dying of thirst and we’re freezing.’

A Walk in the Fog 1949

I’ve always had a ravenous camera and my camera would always take me out on these excursions. ~ Fred Lyon

Fred Lyon Embarcadero Lunch 1948

Parking in style, below the Mark Hopkins hotel

San Francisco Ballet performance of the Nutcracker Suite.

Barker at a strip club on Broadway.

The greatest attribute that any photographer can have is insatiable curiosity.~ Fred Lyon

Golden Gate Bridge section aerial with Alcatraz near Upper Border

San Francisco Post and Powell Street, Union Square 1947

Coit Tower, atop Telegraph Hill, Downtown Skyline, San Francisco, CA c. 1940

San Francisco Cable Car Turnaround, Powell & Market 1946

North Beach-Kearny and Fresno, San Francisco 1952

Skate coasters, North Beach.

Kearny Street above Broadway, North Beach 1952

Herring fishermen, Sausalito’s Old Town in the distance

Ocean Beach from Sutro Heights.

Two construction workers eating lunch downtown revel in their front-row seats above the bustle of the noon crowd.

Tin Wah Noodle Company, Chinatown 1948

Boys Fishing on the Wharf, 1954

Young Fishermen, Fisherman’s Wharf 1954

Setting Out to Sea, China Camp, San Francisco Bay 1952

Buy Fred Lyon's book here
\

Remarkable Portraits of Veterans of the Napoleonic Wars

2018-11-21T09:41:00.000-05:00

Napoléon Bonaparte won the vast majority of his battles, building a large empire that ruled over continental Europe before its final collapse in 1815. He is considered one of the greatest commanders in history, and his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleon's political and cultural legacy has endured as one of the most celebrated and controversial leaders in human history.

Napoléon's final defeat was the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Even after his death in 1821, the surviving soldiers of Grande Armée revered his historic leadership. Each year on May 5, the anniversary of Napoléon's death, the veterans marched to Paris' Place Vendôme in full uniform to pay respects to their emperor. These photographs were taken on one of these occasions, possibly in 1858.

All the men — at this time in their 70s and 80s — are wearing the Saint Helena medals, issued in August 1857 to all veterans of the wars of the revolution and the empire. These are the only surviving images of veterans of the Grande Armée and the Guard actually wearing their original uniforms and insignia.

Quartermaster Fabry, 1st Hussars

Sergeant Taria, Grenadiere de la Garde, 1809-1815

Monsieur Vitry, Departmental Guard

Monsieur Dreuse of 2nd Light Horse Lancers of the Guard, c. 1813-14

Grenadier Burg, 24th Regiment of the Guard, 1815

The Place Vendôme was decked out in garlands of immortelles as the old soldiers of the Empire performed their homage

THE TIMES OF LONDON, MAY 1855

Monsieur Moret, 2nd Regiment, 1814-15

Monsieur Dupont, Fourier for the 1st Hussar

Quartermaster Sergeant Delignon, in the uniform of a Mounted Chasseur of the Guard, 1809-1815

Monsieur Maire, 7th Hussars, c. 1809-15

The identity of the photographer is unknown unfortunately. Some of the images are slightly blurred, which indicates that the men may have found it taxing to remain still for the duration of the exposure, which in the 1850s would have lasted a number of seconds.

This is the type of camera that was likely used back in 1857:

Wet Plate Camera |1850-1860 | Tailboard | 9x12cm

Monsieur Mauban, 8th Dragoon Regiment, 1815

Monsieur Schmit, 2nd Mounted Chasseur Regiment, 1813-14

Monsieur Lefebre, Sergeant 2nd Regiment of Engineers, 1815

Monsieur Loria, 24th Mounted Chasseur, Regiment Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Monsieur Loria seems to have lost his right eye.
Monsieur Verlinde of the 2nd Lancers, 1815

Stunning Underwater Photographs by Christy Lee Rogers are Reminiscent of Classical French Baroque Paintings

2018-11-15T10:27:00.001-05:00

The underwater ‘muses’ photo series by Christy Lee Rogers is reminiscent of French Baroque painter Nicolas Poussin.

The Hawaiian visual artist produces her colourful, luminous works by submerging her models interlaced bodies, draped in vibrant fabrics, into water and capturing the refraction of light which gives the photographs a painterly effect.

Christy Lee Rogers poolside in between shots.

Nicolas Poussin: A Dance for the Music of Time
(c.1634 - 1636

Dogs Catching Treats! by Photographer by Christian Vieler

2018-11-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

German photographer Christian Vieler has been snapping these amusing gobbling quadruped shots since 2013, when he bought a portable flash that allowed him to work with shutter speeds as fast as 1/8000th of a second.

He was with Lotte, his Labrador retriever, when the equipment arrived. “To make her move and in order to test the ‘freezing options’ of the flash, I started throwing treats at her,” Vieler said. “Days later, when I cleaned my hard drive, I noticed how funny the shots were.”

These hilariously sweet images will certainly add some joy to your day.

17 Year Old Stanley Kubrick: Life in New York

2018-05-14T15:02:00.000-04:00

The Museum of the City of New York has presented a new reading of the work of one of the 20th century’s great masters of storytelling by displaying, for the first time, a photographic archive of more than 120 stills shot by Kubrick for the general interest magazine Look from 1945 – when he was a 17-year-old high-school graduate from the Bronx – to 1950.

The commissioned stories range from profiles of celebrities such as Montgomery Clift to photo essays on urban life, such as A Day in the Life of a Shoeshine Boy.

A new book published by Taschen accompanies the exhibition, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of Kubrick’s cult science-fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs is at the Museum of the City of New York until October 28, 2018. Entrance is free

Photographer Profile ~ Sergio Larrain

2018-05-07T16:08:00.001-04:00

Sergio Larrain (1931-2012, born in Valparaiso, Chile) grew up in Chile but left at age eighteen to study at the University of California, Berkeley. Upon his return he began taking photographs in the streets of Santiago and Valparaiso; and the early purchase of two images by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, reassured him in his chosen profession.

Impressed by Henri Cartier-Bresson's photographs, Larrain presented the photographer his work on los abandonados (street children in Santiago) during a trip to Europe. Cartier-Bresson then invited Larrain to join Magnum in 1960; around this time he also began what would become a legendary project on Valparaiso with a text by poet Pablo Neruda.

London. The City. 1958-1959
© Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos

London, England 1958-1959

“I saved my first money…and bought my first Leica, not because I wanted to do photos, but because it was the most beautiful object that one could buy (also a typewriter)… for the first time in my life, I had money to buy what I wanted.” – Sergio Larrain, in a letter to Agnes Sire, who was the desk editor of Magnum (Paris) for 20 years.

© Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos
England. London. 1959.

BOLIVIA. Potosi. 1957

“Photography is a walk alone in the universe…The conventional world veils your vision, for photography you have to find a way to remove the veil.” – Sergio Larrain

© Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos

© Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos
CHILE. Between Chiloe Island and Puerto Montt. 1957.

© Sergio Larrain / Magnum Photos
BOLIVIA. Potosi. 1957.

“…People that do creative work, have to isolate themselves, they are all hermits, one way or another…Picasso would live in a world of happiness, with his children and women as you have seen…far from ugliness, sadness…” ~ Sergio Larrain

CHILE. Santiago. 1963.

London, England 1959.

Sergio Larrain getting a shoe shine, London, England.

Sergio Larrain from eclipse libros on Vimeo.

Sergio Larrain, Retrospective from Les Rencontres d'Arles on Vimeo.

Behind the Scenes of the STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI photoshoot by Annie Leibovitz

2017-12-11T14:54:00.000-05:00

Daisy Ridley’s Rey hones her lightsaber skills—and channels her inner Force.

Photographed exclusively for V.F. by Annie Leibovitz. For The Last Jedi: costume design by Michael Kaplan; production design by Rick Heinrichs. For V.F.: set design by Mary Howard. For details, go to VF.com/credits.

Daisy Ridley as Rey, at the helm of the Millennium Falcon, with Joonas Suotamo as co-pilot Chewbacca.

Carrie Fisher, Oscar Isaac, John Boyega, and Kelly Marie Tran as the rebels General Leia Organa, Poe Dameron, Finn, and Rose Tico, with droid BB-8.

Neal Scanlan (seated), creative supervisor of the Star Wars creature shop, and guests at the Canto Bight casino.

Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, with droids R2-D2 and BB-8 and the Droid Department’s Brian Herring, Dave Chapman, Matthew Denton, Lee Towersey, and Joshua Lee.

Carrie Fisher (General Leia Organa), writer-director Rian Johnson, Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), and producer Kathleen Kennedy with Fisher’s dog, Gary, and Hamill’s daughter’s dog, Millie.

Fisher, who passed away last December, with daughter Billie Lourd (Lieutenant Kaydel Connix).

Fisher and Hamill, with whom she first worked four decades ago.

Benicio Del Toro, as the shifty “DJ,” a newcomer to the saga.

Adam Driver, in character as Kylo Ren, Han Solo’s son and slayer, wields a crossguard lightsaber.

THE DARK SIDE

First Order leaders General Hux, Kylo Ren, and Captain Phasma, played by Domhnall Gleeson, Adam Driver, and Gwendoline Christie.

Go Behind the Scenes with Lighting Master, Albert Watson, As He Photographs Preeminent Dancer Sergei Polunin

2017-09-11T12:31:00.000-04:00

I had the good fortune to meet one of my photography idols a few years ago. Albert Watson was gracious and generous with his time and knowledge. He is a living master who continues to inspire and push his creative vision well into his 70's.

"Behind Albert’s vision and his subtle play with light is great skill that takes his images to a higher level of art. He transforms a great image into an artistic experience." [Via Profoto]

Sergei Polunin by Albert Watson

Albert Waston at work

Behind the Greatest Photo of Muhammad Ali Ever Taken ~ By Photographer Neil Leifer

2017-08-22T11:50:00.000-04:00

Muhammad Ali Vs. Liston II

Watch video below - full sceen!

The undisputed champ of boxing photography, Leifer has delivered some of the sport’s most iconic and memorable images in Sports Illustrated’s 60-year history, none more so than Ali posed over Liston.

Photographer Profile ~ Ramón Masats

2017-06-27T15:55:00.002-04:00

Ramón Masats' (Born 1931 Caldas de Montbui, Spain) interest in the world of photography began when he performed military service . Bored, he discovered the magazine Foto Art and this inspired him to acquire his first camera. He made his first photos and enrolled in the photographic circle of the Casino del Comercio de Tarrasa . His eye for composition and form caught the attention of numerous collectors and magazines throughout Spain.

Time Magazine's Person of the Year 2016 Issue ~ Trump

2016-12-07T12:19:00.000-05:00

For the 2016 Person of the Year issue, TIME commissioned Nadav Kander to photograph President-elect Donald Trump—the person deemed to have most influenced the year’s news, for better or worse—for the cover of the magazine.

"It’s hard to measure the scale of his disruption. This real estate baron and casino owner turned reality-TV star and provocateur—never a day spent in public office, never a debt owed to any interest besides his own—now surveys the smoking ruin of a vast political edifice that once housed parties, pundits, donors, pollsters, all those who did not see him coming or take him seriously. Out of this reckoning, Trump is poised to preside, for better or worse." ~ Time Magazine's NANCY GIBBS

Past Issues of Time's Person of the Year:

Light Painting With A Drone ~ By Landscape Photographer Reuben Wu

2016-04-16T11:40:00.001-04:00

Reuben Wu is an artist with a profound interest in the ways that advancing technology can foster new forms of creative expression. Using a Fiilex AL250 in tandem with the 3DR Solo drone and Phase One XF 100MP ( yes a 100) camera system, Reuben has developed a method for selectively “painting” nocturnal landscapes with light via multiple exposures. The results are otherworldly. [via Fiilex ]

Lux Noctis from Fiilex LED on Vimeo.

2 for 1 Celebrity Portraits by Photoshop Artist Gesichtermix

2016-01-14T17:16:00.001-05:00

Impressive... and sometimes freaky results from these celebrity mash-ups by Gesichtermix. Try and guess who the celebrities are before you look at the description below each photo.

Leonardo DiCaprio / Sean Penn

Jennifer Lawrence / Claire Danes

Arnold Schwarzenegger / Sylvester Stallone

Natalie Portman / Scarlett Johansson

Ewan McGregor / Colin Firth

Jennifer Lopez / Halle Berry

Robert de Niro / Kevin Spacey

Emily Blunt / Christina Ricci

Pharrell Williams / Channing Tatum

Rihanna / Katy Perry

Ben Affleck / Daniel Day-Lewis

Charlie Sheen / Ashton Kutcher

Steven Spielberg / Woody Allen

Robin Williams / Brendan Fraser

Shaquille O'Neal / 50 Cent

Paris a 100 Years Ago...In Colour. C'est très Magnifique!

2015-12-31T11:32:00.001-05:00

Albert Kahn (1860 -1940) was a French banker and philanthropist, known for initiating The Archives of the Planet, a vast photographical project. Spanning 22 years, it resulted in a collection of 72,000 colour photographs and 183,000 meters of film.

In 1909, Kahn travelled with his chauffeur and photographer, Alfred Dutertre to Japan on business and returned with many photographs of the journey. This prompted him to begin a project collecting a photographic record of the entire Earth. He appointed Jean Brunhes as the project director, and sent photographers to every continent to record images of the planet using the first practical medium for colour photography, Autochrome plates, and early cinematography. Between 1909 and 1931 they collected 72,000 colour photographs and 183,000 meters of film. These form a unique historical record of 50 countries, known as The Archives of the Planet.

Kahn's photographers began documenting France in 1914, just days before the outbreak of World War I, and by liaising with the military managed to record both the devastation of war, and the struggle to continue everyday life and agricultural work [via wiki]

Kahn commissioned four photographers to collect images set specifically in cosmopolitan Paris: Leon Gimpel, Stephane Passet, Georges Chevalier, and Auguste Leon. They utilized pioneering technology that employed colour filters made from microscopic grains of dyed potato starch. The artists began documenting the city in 1914, just days before the outbreak of World War I. The images collected portray the everyday struggle of real life, juxtaposed with a joie de vivre characteristic of Parisians, in a city on the brink of devastation brought on by a war that would alter the world.[via mymodernnet]

The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn Europe on the Brink BBC Documentary

Behind the Scenes of TIME’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens Photo Shoot

2015-12-12T16:41:00.002-05:00

"You get almost star-struck when you meet R2-D2." ~ Photographer Marco Grob

R2D2

Han Solo ( AKA Harrison Ford)

John Boyega poses for Swiss photographer Marco Grob

23-year-old British actress Daisy Ridley. Ridley will star in her first film as the character Rey, a female scavenger who was abandoned by her family when she was five years old, in the upcoming Star Wars sequel.

Adam Driver plays the villain.The details of Driver’s villain character, Kylo Ren, have remained extremely secretive during the lead-up to the film’s Dec. 18 release.

Lupita Nyong'o

Gwendoline Christie: Brienne of Tarth on Game of Thrones, Commander Lume in The Hunger Games series and now, Captain Phasma in the upcoming Star Wars sequel. Her costume has particular significance, she tells TIME. "It is rare that women get to play a character and below the neck they are really covered up to the extent that you cannot really see the flesh outlines of their body," she says. "It felt really progressive to me. And consequently I'm very proud to play this part because yeah, you look at her and she looks badass. But also it means something much deeper and it represents something of proper progressive thought."

Oscar Isaac who takes on the role of X-wing pilot Poe Dameron

Photographer Camilo José Vergara's New York in the 70's

2015-12-11T13:10:00.000-05:00

Chilean-born Camilo José Vergara began photographing American ghettos when he was a Notre Dame undergraduate; he continued while earning a master's degree in sociology at Columbia University. He is best known for his photographs of New York City; his imagery captured the soul and essence of life in the Bronx circa 1970.

His works have been widely exhibited, most recently in the New York Historical Society (Martin Luther King Jr.: The Dream Continues, 2013), the Museum of the City of New York (Tiny Towers: 1970–2011, 2011–12), and the National Building Museum, Washington D. C. (Detroit Is not Dry Bones), 2012; How the Other Half Worships, 2009). Amongst his publications are Harlem: The Unmaking of a Ghetto (forthcoming, 2013), How the Other Half Worships, 2005, The New American Ghetto (1995), and Twin Towers Remembered (2001).

In 2002 Vergara was awarded a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant and he was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in 2013.

"East 167th Street, South Bronx." 1973

"Bronx River, Bronx." 1970

"Girls with Barbies, East Harlem." 1970

"Fifth Ave at 110th Street, East Harlem." 1970

"Hoe Avenue at 172nd Street, Bronx." 1970

Teenagers in the Melrose Section, South Bronx, 1970

"Puerto Rican wedding, East Harlem." 1970

"Cadillac Fleetwood, Harlem." 1970

"View of the World Trade Center under construction from Duane Street." 1970

2015-11-23T16:27:00.001-05:00

file://vistek.ca/users/FoldersHA/aluke/Desktop/google6a7d268cd9a746df.html