I was reading Harpers magazine few days ago I I come across one photography by Brad Moore (a native of La Jolla, California, very close to where I live), that reminded me how much I like his work. His are simple images of ordinary beauty that would scape the attention to most, but in his frames they become curiously interesting. I am not alone to appreciate his work of course. The jury of the 2009 Photolucida Critical Mass competition thinks that his work should be in the top-50 list this year.

© Brad Moore

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“Hurry Up and Wait“ is a new ongoing photo series by the duo Tribble & Mancenido, after 18 months living the truck culture from within. Artlog published an interesting interview with the photographers where they shared their experiences creating the project.

Hurry Up & Wait is an ongoing collection of images exploring the obscure and anonymous life of America’s trucking culture. Driving for a year in our own tractor-trailer, we focus on the banal repetition and periods of isolation from constant movement on the road. These images are a byproduct of the world we entered and a glimpse of the places eighteen-wheelers are allowed. We are constantly faced with the same landscape regardless of location. This is where we photograph. From moments of obliged waiting in truck stops to transporting products, we showcase the openness of the road and the lonesome journey of the driver. We hope our images bring new light to the harsh beauty of this unknown world. – Tribble & Mancenido

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Cuba is one island, one country, that  that holds the duality of both sharing the mystique of one of the most beautiful places to photograph and a society that is poised to change dramatically once the current regime evolves into a open and democratic government. Both conditions make Cuba a place of our times, a unique subject of photography, that may not remain as is for long.

Violet Isle, a project by the great Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb, a true collaborative series between both photographers, is an extraordinary portrait of Cuba, the place that was, the place that it is and the place that will not be in the future. The project is being released as a photobook by Radius books (see amazon.com as well). For the lucky opnes living or visiting NYC you can find the photographs at Ricco Maresca until January 2nd, 2010.

For the book and exhibition of Violet Isle, we chose to collaborate in order to create a more complicated and multi-layered portrait of Cuba, one that explores not just the streets of this Caribbean island, but also the relationship between Cubans and the natural world.

Interweaving our work, we discovered, expanded upon our understanding of Cuba, upon the notion of an island in a kind of bubble — a political, economic, social, and ecological bubble –– the latter, which scientists now say, may protect Cuba environmentally because of the dearth of cars and plastics and other consumer goods.

This collaboration also allowed us to embrace visually and conceptually the enigma of Cuba, what Pico Iyer calls, the “ambiguous island.” – Alex Webb (source from their blog)

Violet Isle © Alex Webb and Rebecca Norris Webb

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Farewell Books has published two new small books, limited to 500 prints, that I received from Mårten Lange the publisher of Farewell. The books are printed offset, in black and white with on matt paper and they are delicately nice. The only thing I miss is that there is no much information about the photographers or the series in the books, just the photographs.

Sensation by Noriko Takazawa (see images)
24 pages, saddle stitched, 16 images, black and white.  Offset printed, edition of 500.
€6 (EU) or $12 (USA)

Even Your Ears by Hyunjin Kim (see images)
24 pages, saddle stitched, 21 images, black and white. Offset printed, edition of 500.
€6 (EU) or $12 (USA)

Both are available for purchase from the Farewell store or from Photoeye (USA) - Sensation and Even Your Ears

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Jane Bown, one of the most revered photographers in the UK, and one of the most significant portrait artists of the last 5 decades, is an example of excellence by being persistent while being consistent. This is the story of a newspaper and a photographer that partnered to create one of the most outstanding collections of images of people that matter, celebrities or not, since 1949, the year when “The Observer” (a sister paper of The Guardian) published the first photograph by Jane Bown. Since then the partnership has continued, six decades of reporting, six decades of art. What is most remarkable is how along the years, even using a very similar style, the portraits don””t look dated, they look fresh and vibrant. This enduring quality is what makes her work so special. The excellence of persistence and consistency.

As part of the publication of a retrospective collection of her work, a book titled “Exposures” (that Amazon.com is yet to import to the USA), “The Guardian” has published online an outstanding multimedia retrospective of her images. There is a corresponding exhibition of 100 portraits ongoing in London, at Kings Place Gallery, on display until November 21st, 2009.

© Jane Bown (The Guardian)

© Jane Bown (The Guardian)

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Renato D’Agostin, a photographer from Italy and now working in New York City, captures life situations in the most elemental manner,  so that by isolating few elements in the frame he creates images that are simple in form and fascinating from their composition. Starting on November 13th and until January 9th he will be exhibiting work at the Leica Gallery in New York City.

© Renato D’Agostin

© Renato D’Agostin

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“Now that everyone in the developed world seems to own some form of camera, a different space has opened for documentary photographers. It is a space free from specific events, where there are different expectations, where it is first and foremost about ideas. Now we can all take pictures, with varying degrees of consistency, more than ever before it”””’’s about what we do with photography.”

- Mark Power

This quote by Magnum photographer Mark Power points to a key quality of photography that serves to add significance and impact to the images and has nothing to do with the visual aesthetics of the photograph. It is usually referred as “the purpose, the intent of the image, the idea that justifies the making of the picture”. Although isolated images can hold a lot of visual impact even when there was no intent or purpose to be made, the body of work of a photographer will be shaped and defined by its purpose in ways that ultimately define the so called “photographic style” even more than the color palette, the contrast or the compositions. Indeed, one could even say that the style of photographs will follow its purpose.

Browse the portfolio of Mark Power and you will find a superb collection of images. Images that certainly were made with a purpose even when, like most times , the viewer may not have sufficient access to the story behind the picture to understand the intent of the image.

It has been a while since I saw such an extraordinary portfolio.

© Mark Power

© Mark Power

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“Tel Aviv 100″, a series by Gabriel Benaim is about urban lines and geometry (of course it is also a series about the 100th anniversary of the city of Tel Aviv). This type of photography, where the subject itself is less important that the composition of lines defining the environment is quite difficult to achieve with good results. Tell Aviv 100 works very well because it feels sophisticated while at the same time it is not overly complex, so visually is a very nice series of images to look at.

© Gabriel Benaim

© Gabriel Benaim

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Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann is a photographer that photographs totally distinct subjects and topics and does them all exceptionally well. From portraits, to still life to reportage to landscapes. The three series Conditions, Zapallal Yurinaki and All Lillies Sold Out Today are different are exceptional. I was quite surprised to see the different style between the portfolio 1 and portfolio 2 of the series Zapallal Yurinaki. Remarkable.

from the series Zapallal Yurinaki © Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann

from the series Zapallal Yurinaki © Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann

from the series Conditions © Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann

from the series Conditions © Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann

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Paolo Morales is a very young and budding photographer. The series “Women Studies” is very good and feels to be a project that could become great.

© Paolo Morales

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Robert Hooman is a photographer located in New York that just recently made his jump to build a career professionally.  I browsed his online portfolio and I liked a lot what I saw. Of all the series, one named Editorial 3, gabbed my attention the most. It is a reportage of Brooklyn native, Former Marine and Vietnam war vet John Miciko, who spends many hours everyday tending to his hobby of Pigeon Couping. The photograph illustrating this post is from that series. I love the composition and the texture that the pigeons create while flying (read more at his blog). Robert made a promotional video with more than 1000 still shots showed a a video clip that is an interesting way to see his style of work.

In his online gallery you will also find an interesting series taken with the iPhone. A trend popularized by Chase Jarvis and embraced by many who found the imperfections of the iphone a feature rather than a limitation. This leads me to mention that Chase Jarvis has recently founded “The Best Camera” a new online community where people can share images taken with the iPhone. The Best Camera is the one you have with you when you see something beautiful to photograph. I would say that The Best Camera is the one that allows you to play so you can free up your creative muscle by doing what you are not supposed to do. This is the exploration of possibilities and this is the real feature of the iPhone, allows you to try without the fear to screw up. Quite cool, indeed.

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Boy on Bike, Vrindavan, India, 2009 from “Waking Vrindavan”, ©  Shane Lavalette

I am due to share with you two requests.

One is from Shane Lavalette, who has a print for sale (limited edition of 30 prints) to support some personal projects. The image is gorgeous (see above), so it will not be surprising if it goes fast.

The second request is from The Philadelphia Photo Arts Center. The center is  a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization devoted to the study, practice, and appreciation of photography in the Philadelphia region. The organization offers educational programs, photographic exhibitions, lectures by practicing artists, and affordable access to high-end digital equipment for the creation of photographs.

Looking at their website I noticed that Mitch Epstein will be giving a presentation about his outstanding series (an upcoming photobook, reviewed by Joerg Colberg) American Power in November 5th. That will be an interesting event indeed. You may like to read an essay about American Power published at the Guardian. Foto8 published an interview with the artist where he talks about the project.

Mitch Epstein has spent five years travelling around the US as an “energy tourist”, photographing every kind of power station. He was regularly stopped, searched, followed, run out of town, shouted at and interrogated by state police and the FBI. Simple pictures of electrical power production in the everyday landscape of middle America became an exploration of political and corporate power, a portrait of the American landscape and people defined by an energy-dependent consumer lifestyle [source]

from American Power, © Mitch Epstein

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The work of Cécilia Jauniau, a photographer located in France,  concerns with photographing forms and bringing about remarkable simplicity and extraordinary compositions that serve to accent the geometry of the image. The resulting  pictures turn into exquisite, delicate and interesting objects of art. Browsing the portfolios in “landscapes”, or “interiors” or “artifacts” leads to appreciate a style that is noticeable cohesive and delicate.

© Cécilia Jauniau

© Cécilia Jauniau

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I learned about the work of David Hilliard while reading the very interesting interview that Michael Werner published recently at his blog, Two Way Lens. It is quite remarkable how the combination of different images to complete a full perspective gives a sense of wholeness that is different from what you could get by blending the images in a continuum. In some ways, the disconnected frames force the viewer to look more carefully around the whole composition rather than focusing only in the main subject.

Photography became a vehicle through which I could navigate and maintain a kind of control. I could order events, categorize friends and places…edit my world. Photography made everything around me look better. It made life clearer. As a boy I felt as though I had very little control over my life. Photography was an antidote. It was my escape. – (David Hilliard) read the interview here.

© David Hilliard

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[SP] Seven selves is a collective of contemporary photographers that have decided to join efforts and combine an excellent set of images around the topic of self-portrait photography. Seven different styles, with about 21 images ready for exhibition that they plan to tour around different cities. If you are a gallery owner or you know about locales that can be interested in exhibiting please get in contact with them.

I had the great pleasure and honor to write a brief blur about the collective (see bellow) that is a description of the purpose of this joint effort by these great artists. The list of photographers includes:

• [ feltus brothers ] feltusfeltus.com
• [ cornelia hediger ] corneliahediger.com
• [ aaron hobson ] aaronhobson.com
• [ russell joslin ] russelljoslin.com
• [ susanne junker ] susannejunker.net
• [ kate pollard ] katepollard.com

And this is the description of the collective:

[SP] seven selves is a collective of seven artists that dare to challenge the conventional language of self-portrait photography. Their images uncover an engaging diversity of styles, where each artist explores unique possibilities of creativity and emotion. With their work they speak stories, they provoke new realities, they question mainstream thinking, and they share intimate feelings. This is their effort to disengage from the confinement of the self and become part of the story, to blend with the language of the message. This is their chance to break through the comfortable isolation of self-identity. This is an exploration of their own conscientiousness to reach and connect. This is their journey to pursue an intimate dialogue with the viewer.

The cinematographic work of Aaron Hobson, the visual narrative of characters of Cornelia Hediger, the message against conformity by Susanne Junker, the delicate and intimate images of Kate Pollard, the dreamy pictures of Russell Joslin, and the picturesque photography of the Feltus Brothers. The work of [SP] seven selves demonstrates the beginning of infinite possibilities of self-portraiture, and elevates the significance of the artist with the pretension to become part of the pictorial narrative.
- Miguel Garcia-Guzman

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The True Love Project from Zack Seckler on Vimeo.

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How was the image taken? Read the story at the NASA site. You can download the image here.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field in 3D

The deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), the million-second-long exposure reveals the first galaxies to emerge from the so-called “dark ages,” the time shortly after the big bang when the first stars reheated the cold, dark universe.

Image Detail.

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It fine art photography it has become usual that portraits of people should capture faces that are an introspective reflection of the subject, serious, looking far out, distant and appearing to hold their own identity without sharing more than the necessary presence of being in front of the camera. Somehow, picturing people smiling at the camera is perceived as ordinary in the fine art field, a situation probably influenced by the usual presence of people smiling in snapshots we all take from friends and family. Photographing seriousness has become a principle in fine art portraits.

It is therefore refreshing to see the excellent work of Christian Sinibaldi, where happy subjects and contagious smiles are captured with a presence and elegance that demonstrates that smiles that are inner mirror of the subject’’s soul are indeed precious achievements in fine art photography. Under Portraits look at “I can see into your eyes” and “who is afraid”. When you visit his website take a look at the series “Little White Men” under personal projects. It is smart and it is beautifully crafted. “Parallel Visions” is also quite interesting.

from “Who is Afraid of the Black Man” © Christian Sinibaldi

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G.M.B. Akash was was a co-winner of the International Competition of photography at Vevey (Switzerland) with his series “Born to work” reporting on the labor abuse of children in Bangladesh (his own country).  Seeing these images should make everyone gulp and choke.

To abolish child labour you have to make it visible, by G.M.B Akash (Bangladesh) will denounce the children’s work.  Although this practice was abolished since 1992 by the country, the situation of these children has not changed.

© G.M.B. Akash

Don””t miss the chance to browse also other galleries at his website, some projects are specially intense and shaking and the photography is of the greatest quality. The series “Take Me Home” (see image bellow) is staggering.

from Take Me Home © G.M.B. Akash

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“Emotion or feeling is really the only thing about pictures I find interesting. Beyond that it is just a trick.” – C. Anderson

Capitolio is the most recent book of Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson. The series is an amazing visual reportage of the popular turmoil in Caracas, Venezuela,  a city and country that is most defined by the intensity of hope, desperation and violence. Lens, the blot at the New York Times, has a very interesting reportage on this series.

The image of the boys playing in a slum is incredibly beautiful and in ways it looks like a classic image for the times. The high contrast landscape image of Caracas, with the drops of rain and dust is like a metaphor, a beautiful view of a dense city, sparked by problems and revolts of violence.

The word capitolio refers to the domed building that houses a government, here, the city of Caracas, Venezuela, is itself a metaphorical capitolio building. The decaying Modernist architecture, with a jungle growing through the cracks, becomes the walls of this building and the violent streets become the corridors where the human drama plays itself out in what President Hugo Chavez called a revolution. – Christopher Anderson

© Christopher Anderson [Magnum]

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There is photography that I like because it is beautiful, because it is interesting, because it makes me wonder about the subject, or because the composition is unusual and amuses me how the photographer could think on such a way of seeing things. And then there is photography that in addition to all these things, captures the intensity of trivial moments of life to reveal common but distinctive qualities and behaviors of people. This is the work of Susana Raab.

I saw the work of Susana Raab a while ago, when Liz Kuball shared a very interesting interview with her and since that moment I was due to highlight it here. One thing to note about her work is that even when she has a very successful editorial career she has been in control of a style and look that is her own, so that editorial and personal series look alike, and this is wonderful, indeed. Read more about her work at Lens the blog of the New York Times on photography.

© Susana Raab

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Take a look to the work of Zhou Mi. Many galleries to explore and lots of great work. These are photographs that meant to be shot in black and white, using the extremes of light.

© Zhou Mi

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Art performs this pacifying function in culture, and its practitioners create commonalities, create things to gather about, [...] in primitive cultures there is a excahnge of gifts, where gifts can be kept but have to be passed on, and the passing on of gifts is a device to prevent people to kill one another because they all become part of the single experience, and this is what artists do in culture, artists provide a gift to the culture, so the people have something in common. Milton Glaser, graphic designer, humanist.

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Each time I look at the work of  Simen Johan I can””t avoid being amused on how photography can create nonexistent realities that look so present and factual. His series “Until the Kingdom Comes” are now on show at Yossi Milo Gallery in New York City. This series remind me a lot of the fantastic work of Amy Stein with “Domesticated” that is also being displayed at Clampart gallery in New York City.

In his ongoing series Until the Kingdom Comes, begun in 2004 and first shown at the gallery in 2006, Simen Johan depicts a natural world hovering between reality, fantasy and nightmare.  Merging traditional photographic techniques with digital methods, Johan’s images are crafted over time and may include a synthesis of landscapes from various geographical locations and animals photographed in captivity or in the wild. – Yossi Milo

© Simen Johan

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Christian Poveda, spanish film maker and photographer, who recently released a documentary about the gangs in El Salvador, La Vida Loca, has been killed by the same people he was documenting. It is a brave world for photographers with the guts to go beyond mainstream media documentaries to  raise awareness of important and ignored social situations even when they may put them in danger. Christian Poveda understood that the only way to document and photograph is to become part of the story, and he did so to the extend that he witnessed seven murders while filming the documentary including three members of his film making crew. Now it is himself the one that became the vicim,  he is now part of the sad story he fought bravely to share with the world.

© Christian Poveda

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Bill Jacobson is an american photographer that in the 1990s and early 2000s created a series of images characterized by the absence of focus. The lack of detail is like a distiller that eliminates the significance of the subject but keeps the form and composition so it can be rebuilt throughout the imagination of the viewer. I like this style but I also see how it could become too repetitive, so it is no surprise that his new work, ”A series of human decisions”, is quite different. This time the images are sharp and full of detail, and ironically, the images convey a similar message of melancholia,  speaking visually about the irrelevance of the world people construct around themselves. The new work, “A series of human decisions”, has been published by Decode Books.

“A series of human decisions” © Bill Jacobson

“A series of human decisions” refers the idea that we live in a highly constructed world. The world is just that, a series of human decisions, one layered upon another over time. We move constantly from one fabricated arena to another.” – Bill Jacobson

Bill Jacobson doesn”t have a personal website to see his work but you can see images at several sites like Julie Saul Gallery, Rena Bransten, G.Gibson Gallery.

© Bill Jacobson

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Ever wonder how war photographers survive out there? We”ve enlisted Teru Kuwayama, a photographer who has covered conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and other hotspots for Time, Newsweek, Outside, to explain the perils of working in a war zone. (source)

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Alan Hawes / The Post and Courier

MSNBC was the first initiating what would become a new way to publish news online, the use of multimedia slideshows depicting selected images for the week. Ten years ago Brian Storm, then multimedia director at msnbc, started “the week in pictures“. Now this video remembers the significance of online slideshows at news channels. The companion slideshow is very interesting to browse. I love in “The Week in Pictures” the combination of happy and humorous pictures with the dramatic views of current news. Although very contrasting in the emotions that they elicit, it helps to go through hard images.

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Photography is most of anything the art of mapping light in two dimensions.  Yes, we feel compelled to like images with interesting subjects, interesting gesture, interesting moments. But at the core, it is the ability to map the light what gives photography the texture to become art. Stefan Heyne, is a photographer of light. I am naturally inclined to like to images that are simple, elegant and well crafted. His work is about beautiful light shaping objects to reveal the elegance of forms.

© Stefan Heyne

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I found the work of Rachael Rands at Shutterspark a new online site that showcases the work of budding photographers. Very interesting work, specially the series “Transitions” and “Illuminated Signs“.

“Advertising is something that surrounds us and much has been written about its impact on us. I am interested in the way advertising affects our public spaces and how mass media defines our personal tastes. By focusing on the surface of those sliding street billboards these images are a comment on the superficiality of the medium as well as its pervasiveness.”- Rachael Rands

from Transitions © Rachael Rands

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The People Project by Morgan Hagar. Nice, interesting, and I love the mixed written and visual message. I particularly like this statement: “curing chronic helplessness”. Smart, to the point, sincere.

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There are a myriad of challenges facing the human race today. The People Project attempts to define the challenges facing humanity as a whole by examining the views of the individual. Through compelling images and the thought provoking words of his subjects, Morgan Hagar has begun an ambitious ongoing project in hopes of answering one question…

What is Humanities Greatest Challenge? (see here)

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In times when photojournalism is so sensitive about manipulation and staging, the polemic about the famous image by Robert Capa, “Falling Soldier”, continues. I understand the historic interest of the topic, but personally I don”t think that it changes a bit the significance of the image. The location of the shot, or even the fundamental question if the image captures a moment of the real battle, doesn”t change the symbolism, the emergent message that war is the ultimate disregard of the value of human life.

The Spanish culture minister declares in the article, “Art is always manipulation, from the moment you point a camera in one direction and not another”, indeed good photography is always a new viewpoint of a strong message.

From the New York Times:

After nearly three-quarters of a century Robert Capa’s “Falling Soldier” picture from the Spanish Civil War remains one of the most famous images of combat ever. It is also one of the most debated, with a long string of critics claiming that the photo, of a soldier seemingly at the moment of death, was faked. Now, a new book by a Spanish researcher asserts that the picture could not have been made where, when or how Capa’s admirers and heirs have claimed. – read more.

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Thomas Ekström is a young photographer located in Oslo, Norway. I like his work quite a lot. You will see at his website a variety of interesting images, some showed as diptychs that coalesce together very well. The projects section has a number of different projects with few images each. The one that I found most intriguing and creative is “Recognition” (see example bellow), I wonder how these images show in print ? … this is a style of photography that I have explored with my own work, either extremely dark or extreme light pictures that become a guessing exercise for the viewer to perceive the elements of the image.

© Thomas Ekström

(from Recognition) © Thomas Ekström

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I have one of his photo books, “men like me” that is signed and now will not only be a very nice book but a nice remembrance. Lenswork has a special tribute issue with the best writings from his contributions to the magazine and Lenswork Extended has a large portfolio of his work. I got both of them, and I do recommend them to anyone who likes to read smart and genuine writings on photography.

Some quick notes from Bill Jay, published in the Lenswork issue:

True, there are photographers who are failed artists, but so are most artists.

The best photographers know what not to photograph.

The average photographer thinks he is not.

There are two essential guides for becoming a photographer. A camera is desirable but not essential. No ones knows what the second one is.

Studying photography at a University is like learning about women from planned parenthood.

The most extraordinary thing about photography is how it elevates the ordinary.

Also take a look to the posts from Darius Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson about Bill.

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During the summer of 2009, I followed the migration of thousands of young Russians who were going to dance at one of the musical festivals of the Crimea coast. They come to the Ukrainian beaches to celebrate hedonism, sun, music and vodka. -Ukraine, by Matthieu Raffard

See also his other work and the works of design. Wonderful, indeed.

© Matthieu Raffard

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The work of Federico Ferrari captures the beauty of simplicity. Images that are devoid of distractions and just focus on the essential. Looking at strong but simple compositions leaves a range of possibilities that are incomplete, the image becomes reactive, and source for thoughts and imagination.

© Federico Ferrari 

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Take a look to the work of Brian Shumway and you will see many interesting images. I particularly love the portraits, the series Happy Valley and La Chureca (see it at Burn Magazine). His photography connects, it has the ability to raise empathy with the subject.

© Brian Shumway

© Brian Shumway

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Each day The Black Snapper presents a different photographer selected by one of the many guest curators, who switch places on a weekly basis. Visitors of the online magazine can expect to see a new series of some eight to twenty photos each day. The Black Snapper aims to create an online community that will inspire professionals and photography lovers worldwide and expose new talent. In addition, the online magazine emphatically supports the emancipation and promotion of photographers from Asia, Africa and South America.

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© Zack Seckler

Facial expressions are primary means of conveying social information between people. Minute alterations in the contraction of facial muscles become a source for diversity of the common language facial expressions, it is like the tone of the voice, the accent of the verbal language. Although facial expressions can be forced voluntarily, complex emotions like love are difficult to mimic unless they are truly related to the real emotion of the person. This is the challenge of portrait photography, to seek for the distinctive albeit common language of facial expression that convey the real emotions experienced by the subject while depicting the diversity of each individual.

“The True Love Project“, by Zack Seckler is about picturing the real facial language of love. But, how to reveal the the expression of true love when a subject is placed in front on the camera?

Zack Seckler had a  brilliant idea … hypnosis. The result are wonderful images.

How do you express true love?

Love is intimate and deeply personal, and its expression may be hard to share in a staged setting, with a stranger, or in front of a camera. People feel and express love in so very many ways  it is impossible to imagine finding a gimmick such as “say cheese” that might facilitate an image of love which would be anything but a bad joke. Feelings of love, however, live within us all as emotional memories, whether from being held as a baby years ago, or caressed in bed just the other night. In TRUE LOVE a group of volunteers worked with a professional hypnotist to reach, in trance, a point where they were able to visualize the camera as a beloved person. The resulting images capture people who are actually in love with the camera, and through the image, with the viewer, permitting a rare opportunity for direct emotional contact with other human beings. – Zack Seckler

© Zack Seckler

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By exploring topics that elicit the amusement of the audience, and combining descriptive text with carefully crafted images, the work gains exposure at both journalistic media and fine art galleries,  with publication at the New York Times and exhibits at the best branded galleries like Gagosian Gallery.

Her first notable project, “The Innocents“, explored the impact of photography in the conviction of inmates that were wrongfully incarcerated and later were exonerated by DNA evidence. Her new project “An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar,” explores hidden America, topics and subjects that we are not allowed to see or are not permited to see. 

© Taryn Simon 

Marijuana Research Grow Room National Center for Natural Products Research Oxford, Miss.: The center is the only facility in the United States that is federally licensed to cultivate cannabis for scientific research.

© Taryn Simon 

Hymenoplasty Cosmetic Surgery, Professional Association, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The hidden patient in this photograph is a 21-year-old Arab woman living in the United States. In order to adhere to cultural and familial expectations regarding her virginity, she had her hymen reconstructed.

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“The $12 million stuffed shark” by Don Thompson is a book about understanding what seems incompressible, the market of contemporary art.

If you get surprised while reading the news about art by contemporary artists [or not contemporary] being sold at obscene prices. If you wonder what makes some artists like Damien Hirst sell work that is done by assistants  but “conceived by the artist” in high volume of units at extremely high prices. If you ask yourself why some few artists find the path to success while others struggle to make a living for life, even when the work seems comparable. If you feel that you need to understand who would drop more that “$12 million” for a stuffed shark, a piece of taxidermia that could be replicated any time. Work that weights more than two tons and it is entitled “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”. If you wonder why Richard Prince can photograph a photograph and sell it for millions. 

If you wonder about all this things, then this is a book for you. This is is a book you will enjoy reading.

The stuffed shark in formaldehyde. Art piece by Damien Hirst entitled “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”

The book describes the market of contemporary art and it reads like a thriller. Extremely well documented, very well organized and conceived. This is the book that explains the art market as a product of brands and branding. Branded artists, branded galleries, branded collectors, branded dealers, branded museums. It is all about creating the assurance to the buyer that it is worth to pay millions of dollars (or thousands of dollars) for a material piece of art that the buyer may not even like, but they need to think it will give them prestige. Money for multimillionaires means nothing, all of them have it.  Art is prestige. 

And even when this is about  the market of high-end contemporary art, the book will serve to gain unique insights that may benefit any photographer immersed in the world of fine art photography and to anyone willing to pay thousands of dollars for a photograph. The psychology and the forces that shape the market are similar at the high-end and the middle/low end, just the scale changes.

If you are curious about art, but you are foreign to the intricacies of dealing with art, you will find this book revealing and fascinating.

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I referred to the excelent work of Muge a while ago. Now his series “Go Home” are complete, picturing his hometown, around the China’’s Yangtze river.

This is a city in China, Chongquin, in the Three Gorges area in China, the area where the biggest hydro-electric dam in the world was finished in 2008. This is an area that has experienced rapid change in the last years. Because of that, Muge’s work has become both an artistic representation of the present and a memory of what it was in the past.

© Muge

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“Everything i want it to be / everything i wanted to be” is a very nice series of images by Scott Ener Grover. The images are assembled in a photobook that becomes a deconstruction of the family album. It is very nice photography and a very original way to present it.

Each page spread contains an image on the right, and text on the facing page. The text is made up of all the titles in the book. The title of the relevant photograph is highlighted. Throughout the book images are repeated with different titles, allowing the viewer to experience the same photograph in a different context. The experience of viewing the book mimics the experience of viewing a family album without the benefit of prior knowledge the family’’s life. The familiar structure is perceived differently as the context shifts. – Scott Ener Grover

© Scott Ener Grover

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The Tour of France is entering the last week and the most interesting part of the race is coming up. Speaking about Le Tour, take a look of the work by Brent Humphreys entitled Le Tour. The images are awesome and they reveal the interesting and colorful support of the aficionados. Read an interview with Brent Humphreys  by Andrew Hetherington here.

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Nguan is a photographer located in Singapore that photographs people in the street. Most images are unstaged, with some casual portraits. What I like of the work is that the images capture well the energy of crowds while conveying the wonder of individuals. People appear to have identity even where they are among many, and single portraits elicit the interest to understand the circumstances, the place and time of the subject.

© Nguan

© Nguan

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© Nancy Siesel

Aren”t these images wonderful?

Now imagine to have a display of large prints of images like these in room hospitals where the patients can feel the soothing calmness of looking at photographs, the pleasure that comes from images that convey the beauty of life. Humans respond to visual clues in ways that affects the intrinsic biochemistry of our brains and so guide our response to the environment and thinking of our place and time. For a patient this means a faster way to recovery, or at least a more hopeful and tranquil transition for what is to come.

© Nancy Siesel

These are images by Nancy Siesel, part of a project entitled ”View in a Room” that received funding from the Brooklyn Arts Council. You can see the rest of the series under “In Search of the Baobab Tree” at her website.  The photographs are currently on view at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn. 

View in a room would be comprised of 10 -12 30×30 landscape photographs that have a dreamy, mystical quality.  They would initially be exhibited in public areas of the hospital that are easily accessed by patients, caregivers, visitors, and hospital personnel. The photographs would then be hung on the bare walls of patient’’s rooms in the intensive care unit.  According to a nurse in the unit patients often become claustrophobic in this small space cluttered with medical equipment. She felt that landscape photographs could significantly improve the patient’’s state of mind and calm their anxiety. 

I have been lucky so far. Few visits to hospitals and for minor things. And yet, I recall vividly the last time I visited, 2 years ago, when I saw beautiful prints hanging on the walls of the waiting room. Arts serves for many things, and perhaps the most genuine purpose is to make people feel better in times when they can””t, to make people be optimistic in times when they think they shouldn”t.  

It is time to bring art to all places, not to galleries alone, and doing that at hospitals serves a double purpose, to provide visibility of the work and humanize an environment that may look otherwise sterile and threatening.

If you browse the website of Nancy  you will see many more wonderful projects that communicate the level of sensitivity and beauty of a true artist.

The following is a description of Room “View in a Room” by Nancy Siesel.

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View in a Room is a project that has evolved through recent experiences in my life.  I have spent significant time in hospitals, as a caregiver for my boyfriend who was suffering from brain cancer. I wandered down hallways, and explored various spaces in the hospital and was impacted by the sterility of the surrounding environment. As a photographer, I have been working on a series of landscapes for the past 10 years in South, Central and North America, as well as in three countries in Africa.  This exploration of the natural world has had a profound impact on me.  I hope to have the opportunity to transmit the healing qualities of nature to others in the form of large-scale photographs in hospital corridors and patient rooms. 

When my boyfriend was first diagnosed with a brain tumor he was hospitalized for two surgeries nine months apart at Beth Israel North on East End Ave in Manhattan.  The hospital (which has since been converted to luxury condominiums) overlooked Schurz Park, Gracie Mansion and the East River.  The view from the window of his room on the eleventh floor was spectacular. The cloud formations of changing skies, the river currents and the tugboats silently moving through the water had a calming effect on him.  I believe his rapid recovery from these surgeries can be partially attributed to the way he spent his waking hours gazing out the window.  

View in a room would be comprised of 10 -12 30×30 landscape photographs that have a dreamy, mystical quality.  They would initially be exhibited in public areas of the hospital that are easily accessed by patients, caregivers, visitors, and hospital personnel. The photographs would then be hung on the bare walls of patient”’’s rooms in the intensive care unit.  According to a nurse in the unit patients often become claustrophobic in this small space cluttered with medical equipment. She felt that landscape photographs could significantly improve the patient’’s state of mind and calm their anxiety. 

- Nancy Siesel

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© Lina Scheynius

I usually prefer to look at photographs that are organized as a cohesive series of images, but the work of Lina Scheynius, a photographer from the Sweden, is bold and reminds me that good photography is not only about seeing differently but also about expressing it with a distinct visual language, even when this involves to reveal the intimate. Not all the images fit my taste but each image becomes something new and it builds a response of  surprise. The surprise of real life.

You can see more work at her Flickr site. Don””t miss to look at the series of polaroids.

© Lina Scheynius

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Manuel Vazquez’’s project “Traces” is quite excellent. Snapshots of light that barely show the people walking along the composition. Very original and distinctive, a series to remember.

© Manuel Vazquez

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© Beatrix Reinhardt

Check the work of by Beatrix Reinhardt. You will find many interesting series, cohesive in both aesthetics and subject. Her work brings a nice example on how series of cohesive images that don”t hold as single pictures can nevertheless form a very compelling body of work.  I like the series “Coca-Cola houses in India” a lot, perhaps because it is a banal subject that brings a feel of everyday life.

© Beatrix Reinhardt

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