L E N S C R A T C H

Emma Kisiel

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:02:00 +0000

I had the great pleasure of discovering Emma Kisiel's work while in Colorado. She shared her touching and beautiful project, At Rest, during portfolio reviews at the Center of Fine Art Photography, just weeks before she was about to open her BFA Thesis Exhibition at the University of Colorado Denver (UCD) of the same work.

Born in Buffalo, New York, now living in Colorado Springs, Emma's work focuses extensively on the human influence on animal life and documents her physical closeness to animals, both living and dead. The subjects of her series have included roadkill, animal shelters, the dog overpopulation problem on the Navajo Nation, animals in zoos, petting zoos, and pet stores, and taxidermy, dead animals, and animal parts in documentary and still life settings. Even as a child, Emma was drawn to dead birds that would appear on her front lawn and roadkill she spotted while walking to the bus stop. She realized that the immobility and lifelessness of these animals allowed her an intimacy that she couldn't achieve with a living wild animal.

Emma has had exhibitions in Manitou Springs, Fort Collins, and Denver, CO, and Baltimore, MD. Her photographs have also been featured online at Design-Freak, Design For Mankind, ShareSomeCandy, and RootSpeak.

At Rest is a photographic series depicting roadkill on American highways and addressing our human fear of confronting death and viewing the dead. My images draw attention to the fact that, while man has a vast impact on animal and natural life, dominant American religions insist that animals do not have a place in Heaven and are, therefore, of little value in our society. To cause the viewer to feel struck by this truth, I photograph memorials I have built surrounding roadkill at the location at which its life was taken. At Rest expresses the sacredness to the bodies of animals accidentally hit by vehicles while crossing the road.

By surrounding the subject with living and fake flowers and stone markers, I elevate the often ignored and overlooked dead animal to the level of a human being and impart the beautiful grace of their fallen bodies. My photographs convey the sublime, the grotesque, and the lure of the macabre; we can hardly bear the visual of death, yet we cannot tear our eyes away.

While working, I assume a practice similar to attending a funeral or visiting a grave. Quietly and peacefully, I assemble a memorial around the animal, considering shape, form, texture, and color. All planes in the images in At Rest are in focus, referring to the sacredness of all things. The lighting is natural; the warming light of the sun is an important factor in my roadkill grave setups. My animal subjects are not moved or altered. They are happened upon, visited with, remembered, and left to return to nature.

Loretta Ayeroff

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 11:20:00 +0000

I often think that we create work at such a fast pace, that we really don't have time to revisit and digest the plethora of images in our photo reserves. Loretta Ayeroff has recently had the good fortune of revisiting her work from the early 1980's, finding a new audience and fresh appreciation for imagery that is 30 years old. The work is being celebrated in the new exhibition, Backyard Oasis: The Swimming Pool in Southern California Photography, 1945-1982 in the Annenberg Wing of the Palm Springs Art Museum. Four of her images from her project, Motel Series, are being featured in company along with image makers such as Sim Arrons, Diane Arbus, John Divola, David Hockney, Bill Owens, Ed Ruscha, and Garry Winogrand.

Loretta is a former editorial photographer, having worked for the Los Angeles Times, New West, and Westways magazines, amongst other publications. She has taught photography since 1983, at UCLA Extension and Otis College of Art+Design, the Continuing Education Dept., where she also ran the AFA Photography Certificate Program for several years. Currently, Loretta teaches digital photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

These delicious color images from The Motel Series were captured on Kodachrome Slide Film, 64 ASA, using an Olympus XA Camera.

Manifest Destiny at the Analog Salon

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:24:00 +0000

Manifest Destiny, curated by Kathleen Clark, features the photographs of Randi Berez, Claudio Cambon, Larry S. Clark, Nicholas Alan Cope, Amanda Friedman, Michael Kelley, Lisa Romerein and Todd Weaver. Opening on Saturday, January 28th at The Analog Salon at Samitaur Constructs, in Culver City, the exhibition will run through March 17, 2012.

Randi Brerez, Number 82

Kathleen Clark was the longtime Photo Director of Los Angeles Magazine and LA Weekly. She co-directed Clark | Oshin Gallery in Los Angeles and is currently working on a variety of projects including consulting, reviewing portfolios for Eyeist.com and the publication of her photography blog, Kathleen Clark Exposed. She also serves as a portfolio reviewer for Review Santa Fe, Review LA, Foto Fest - Houston, Palm Springs Photo Festival, Art Center College of Design, and The Lucie Foundation. She holds an MFA from UC Irvine. In other words, she is a force in the photo world.

Kathleen states: "Photographers by their nature are inquisitive beings, seeking or creating worlds in which to tell or repeat a visual story. The eight artists in this exhibition, Randi Berez, Claudio Cambon, Larry S. Clark, Nicholas Alan Cope, Amanda Friedman, Michael Kelley, Lisa Romerein and Todd Weaver, come from a variety of backgrounds. Some came to the West for reasons not that dissimilar from travelers of the past. Some have lived all their lives in the west and share a deep and abiding connection to this place as much for its open landscape as for its propensity for other forms of discovery, in architecture, in technology.

Our West Coast of the present has been exploited and broadly tamed by the generations that followed the original intrepid explorers and native peoples before them. The romance of the West still lingers, however, fascinating us with its wildness, its opportunity, it’s modernism, light, water, open mindedness, creative ingenuity as well as with its withering assets.”

Amanda Friedman, Lifeguard Station

“We came on foot, on horseback, by train, by ship and eventually by car and airplane. We came west for a multitude of reasons: for adventure, for economic opportunity, to escape the crowds of the East. Our quest over the last 200 years led to the discovery of a great expansive and rugged geography, of open range and potential farmland, of rich forests, wildlife, bountiful rivers and streams, to otherworldly desert scapes and to the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. While the term Manifest Destiny was used in the 19th century to promote transcontinental expansion and provide justification for the war with Mexico, it brought devastation to America’s native cultures. This exhibition is built more broadly around the concept of Western movement, of the need to discover what there is to find beyond the next hill.

Michael Kelley, Blue Curtain

Claudio Cambon

Larry S Clark, Train Dreams

Lisa Romerien, Mt. Tabor

Nicolas Alan Cope, San F

Todd Weaver, Mindy

Carson Sanders

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:51:00 +0000

Carson Sanders has had the good fortune be educated on two continents at the same school. He spent last year at Savannah College of Art and Design's Hong Kong campus and is now back at the Savannah, GA campus working towards his BFA. Born in Dallas, Texas, Carson is an editor at aint-bad magazine, a quarterly art journal focusing on images that discuss human existence, culture, and contemporary issues. Carson is continuing to document the south and is about to take a road trip across the lower half of the U.S.

I am featuring two bodies of work he produced in China, Yuen Po Street Bird Marketand Happy Valley Racecourse.

Yuen Po Street Bird Market: The Yuen Po Street Bird Market located in Prince Edward is a place that I grew accustomed to during the ten weeks that I spent in Hong Kong in the Fall of 2011. Witnessing the love that these men and women have for their birds is something that I never thought I would come across while studying abroad. For me, this body of work transcribes the beauty that can often go un-noticed when passing through the heavily congested market.

One must stop and watch, as these men do each day, to understand why these creatures mean so much to this culture as a whole. Men spend hours staring past the bars of the cages and into the souls of these birds; as if they are trying to understand exactly what it is that these little creatures are doing here on this planet. This question may go unanswered for hundreds of years, but the men will keep staring, day after day.

Happy Valley Racecourse is located in Wan Chai, Hong Kong and is completely surrounded by skyscrapers. Standing inside the complex is surreal as you look in each direction and see tall buildings all around with a clearing in the middle for a grass track. Men and women flock to the horse races that take place on Wednesdays and Sundays. For some, this is the only excitement that they will have all week. For others, it’s a chance to finally make it big on a winning ticket. Regardless of why; they come. And they come each night, each week, and sit in the stands, or in the indoor sections, watching small televisions mounted on walls. They are all watching to see if the horse that they chose will make them a winner.

As the horses round the final corner, the noise is almost too much to handle. Screaming and shouting at a television set that has no control over the outcome of the race is common practice at Happy Valley. The winners are known immediately and can be heard from almost anywhere in the stadium. Their eyes fill with tears of joy as they proceed to the counter to collect their winnings. The losers can be heard as well, but it’s a different sound. They are not shouting with joy but rather cursing with anger. And while walking to the counter, they aren’t smiling, but rather fidgeting for coins and other money that can be spent on another race, another chance to have a better tomorrow.

Success Stories: Cole Thompson

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:09:00 +0000

Cole Thompson's work has been on my radar for a number of years. I have always appreciated his well-crafted images and all that he brings to the table in terms of being a professional. His newsletters are as elegant as his work, and everything is presented with grace. I was thrilled to meet him in Colorado at the Center for Fine Art Photography, when we both sat on a panel hosted by Hamidah Glasgow. It was during that panel session that I discovered his unique approach to marketing and sales and thought it a good subject to explore on Lenscratch.

As part of Cole's approach, he has let go of his long and accomplished resume, his bio filled with achievements in and out of photography, and his need to garner gallery representation. Instead, he prefers to let the work speak and sell for itself. What I do know for sure, is that he lives in Colorado, is deeply committed to his craft, and is a person I am glad to have in my orbit. He also writes a wonderful blog, Photography Black White.

Road to Nowhere - Death Valley, CA - 2011

INTERVIEW

It was great to finally meet you in person at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Colorado. I found it so interesting to learn more about your unique perspective about marketing and selling your work. I'd like to quote from your resume page:

My art has appeared in hundreds of exhibitions, numerous publications and has received many awards. And yet my resume does not list those accomplishments, why?

In the past I've considered those accolades as the evidence of my success, but I now think differently. My success is no longer measured by the length of my resume, but rather by how I feel about the art that I create. While I do enjoy exhibiting, seeing my work published and meeting people who appreciate my art, this is an extra benefit of creating, but this is not success itself.

I believe that the best success is achieved internally, not externally.

Can you expand on coming to these perspectives?

First let me thank you Aline, for how kind and giving you’ve always been to me. Your generosity is something I have always respected and I appreciate this opportunity you’ve given me today.

For much of my photographic life I pursued success without ever stopping to ask what success meant to me. I simply accepted society’s definition which generally included things such as being published, gallery representation and selling your work for high prices.

But as I began to achieve those things I found that the euphoria was temporary and I was left with an empty feeling,. Yes, it was nice to hear the accolades, but in the morning it was still just me, my art and my opinion of my art. I began to realize that it didn’t matter what others thought of my work, that in the end my opinion was the only one that really mattered.

I began to question things; how do I as an artist gauge my self worth? Do I base it on sales, reviews of my work, the galleries I’m in, the price tag on my art or the awards I receive? Are external accolades my success or is success measured against an internal standard?

External success is a fickle mistress; she may love you one day and not even know you exist another. You’ll never really know her, for her standards frequently change and she’s always looking for her next new lover. To measure success by her standards can lead to an insecure existence and frustration as you try to win her affection by creating work that you hope will please her. Please do not misunderstand, I do enjoy showing my work, exhibiting it and I do gain pleasure when others like it. But these are not the reasons why I create and those things are not necessary for me to feel good about my work or myself.

The Fountainhead No. 70 - 2010

My portfolio “The Fountainhead” is an example of achieving internal success. This is a series named after the novel of the same name and it is a significant to me because architecture was one of my first loves and because I admire the novel’s theme; achieving success on one’s own terms. This series was an excellent test of my philosophy because these images have not been well received, widely published. And yet still, I consider the project a success because of how “I” feel about them.

I was reading about how the movie “The Beaver” with Mel Gibson and director Jodie Foster failed miserably at the box office. The article talked about Jodi Foster’s belief in the film’s message, and when asked about the financial disaster said:
“I’ve learned … that if you gauge your self-worth at the box office, you will be a very sorry person. “

That is also true about art; success should be measured from within and then the external accolades are like a cherry on top of a very nice dessert.

The photograph on your website that you took at age 14 is quite remarkable. How did you know at such a young age that you wanted to be a fine art photographer?

Egg in Glass, - Age 14

It sounds so pretentious to say it out loud, but at 14 years of age I knew that I was destined to be a photographer.

I was living in Rochester, NY where one day I was out hiking and stumbled upon the ruins of an old home owned by George Eastman. This so piqued my interest that I read his biography, and before I had finished the book, before I had even taken a photograph or entered a darkroom, I knew that my calling was to be a photographer. For the next ten years my life was entirely consumed with photography; I read about it, studied the images of the great masters and taught myself how to photograph and work in the darkroom.

When I look back at the images I created at that very young age, I think see a glimmer of creativity and originality.

Moon and Gull - Age 16

I recently restored this image from a single print that had survived the many years since I was 16 years old. Seeing this image brings back my earliest feelings about photography. Those were simple times when it just about me and my images, with none of the other “baggage” that one collects along the way in life. Just the pure joy of simple creation and self-satisfaction.

That to me is the essence of photography and art. Just you and your vision and creating images for yourself, it’s a wonderfully free feeling!

You've been pursuing photography for over 40 years, which gives you an amazing viewpoint on photography today. Has shooting digitally changed how your shoot? What changes have you seen for the better and for the worse?

I love the perspective that age and experience has given me, it’s one of the great things about getting older. I grew up in the darkroom and had such great times with all of those old processes, but I love digital because of how it frees me.

To me cameras and processes are simply tools that help me to create, and even though I have some wonderful memories of those old days, I have no desire to stick with a technology simply because of my nostalgic feelings for it. Tools are a means to an end and not the end itself, and I seek to use the best tools that are available to me. I love digital because it allows me to do things that I could not have done with film and because it allows me to focus more on the creative process.

Auschwitz No. 14

For example I don’t believe I could have created my long exposure series “The Ghosts of Auschwitz-Birkenau” with film equipment. In fact much of my current long exposure work would have been difficult if not impossible, to create with those old tools.

Bottom line, I find digital to be more convenient, more capable and most importantly it allows me to focus more on the creative process and less on the technical. I like digital because it has improved my work.

Even though you work exclusively in black and white, you still manage to keep your work contemporary and explore lots of photographic ideas. After 40 years, are you drawn to similar subjects and terrain or looking to explore new territories?

This is the second time you’ve brought up my “40 years” of experience Aline, exactly what are you insinuating?

My heart always hearkens back to its roots which are black and white images in the tradition of Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Wynn Bullock, Paul Caponigro and the other great masters of photography. But even though my heart goes there, I rarely create there anymore. Instead I go to new places and enjoy a variety of subjects and techniques. Just this week I ran across this Edward Weston quote which sums up my feelings exactly:

Anything that excites me, for any reason, I will photograph: not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual, nor indulging in extraordinary technique to attract attention. Edward Weston

One of the great things about finding your own vision is that you can create unique images from common subject matter. Even though everything’s been photographed before, it’s not been photographed with “your” vision.

Ceiling Lamp, Mourning Dove Ranch

For example my series on Ceiling Lamps is my unique look at a very common object. I was standing in a hotel lobby in Akron, OH when I looked up and saw an incredible ceiling lamp, what was incredible about it was how differently it looked when you stood directly beneath it. I soon had the furniture pushed out of the way and was lying on the lobby floor to study it (twice people approached me and offered to call 911). It was a series that came about by sheer luck and sudden inspiration, and it was the start of a series that took me on many adventures.

For so long people had advised me to focus on just one subject and become known for that. I never cared for that advice and finally developed the self-confidence to say “No!” I love photographing a variety of subjects and with different styles. While my subject matter varies greatly, I hope my vision that is the common thread that binds them all together.

Linnie, No. 2

Another very different series is “Linnie, A Portrait of Breast Cancer.” Ironically this was a project I tried very hard to get out of because I typically don’t photograph people and this was a subject that I was uncomfortable with. But I’m so glad that Linnie wouldn’t take no for an answer because it turned out to be a touching experience and I made a friend for life.

I love working with vastly different subject matter, not seeking out different just to be different, but I love the variety and challenge of trying new things. If I ever become known for anything, I want to be remembered as the photographer with a wide range of portfolios.

Time No. 2 - Death Valley, CA

You consistently approach everything you do with the utmost professionalism. What can you share with emerging photographers about how you present yourself and your work to the world?

Thank you Aline, this compliment took me by surprise because it’s a quality that I didn’t appreciate about myself. I do try to live by certain principles and I hope that's what shows through. Some of those principles are:

1. Be honest and trust others. There is nothing more important to me than my word and reputation, and I always assume others will act in the same way.

2. Simple is always better. I appreciate simplicity in everything I do including my images, my website and my words.

3. Do things right. Little things do matter and being precise and accurate is important to how I present myself.

4. Be proud of your work. If I am not proud of my work, then I cannot expect others to value or appreciate it.

5. Develop personal relationships. I believe in making friends of customers and customers of friends.

6. Be a good person. This is the basis for being a good artist and being successful.

Lone Man No. 7, Oregon Beaches

What took your work to the next level?

Several years ago I was attending Review Santa Fe and the last reviewer of the day quickly looked at my work, shoved it back towards me and said “It looks like you're trying to copy Ansel Adams.” I responded that I was, that I loved Ansel Adams’ style and that I sought to create work like his. He then said something so profound that it would change my life, he said:

“Ansel’s already done Ansel and you're not going to do him any better. Find your own vision.”

It was a hard thing to hear at the time, but over the course of the next year I came to understand exactly what he meant. Was my goal to really become the world’s best Ansel Adams imitator? Didn’t I want to create something original of my own?

It was then that I vowed to find my own vision, but did I have one? I grew up believing that I lacked creativity and so I compensated for this by becoming very good at the technical side of photography and imitating the look of others. Finding my vision over the next several years turned out to be one of the most difficult things I’d ever done in my life, but it was worth it because it changed my life.

The most important technique that I used to assist me on this journey was to stop looking at other photographer’s work. I found that when I’d look at other’s art, I’d want to run out and imitate their style and even that exact image. Sometimes it was done consciously but often it was done unconsciously.

I knew that I couldn’t just erase those images from my memory, but I wanted to minimize their influence so that I could see a subject as freshly and originally as possible. I wanted to be like a blind man who gained his sight for the very first time; how would I see things?

And so for the last several years I have practiced what I call “Photographic Celibacy.” My photo magazines are donated, my books gather dust on the shelf and I do not seek out new work on the internet. Not studying other photographers work has been very helpful and I give this technique much of the credit in helping me unearth my vision and to become more creative.

I do not argue this is the right approach for everyone, but it has worked for me and a recent experience reinforced the practice. I happened to see this wonderful image of three telephone poles entitled “Three Crosses” by Brian Kosoff and I immediately wanted to go out and find telephone poles that I could photograph in a similar arrangement! I caught myself and realized that I still have this natural tendency to want to imitate when I see a great image.

So for now I’ll I continue my Photographic Celibacy as I seek to further develop my vision and to see uniquely. I suspect that one day I’ll abandon this practice and once again enjoy the beautiful work that others are creating.

Harbinger No. 10 - White Sands, NM

How have you gotten your work out into the world and how do you find your buyers?

Initially I followed the traditional route and entered juried competitions to build my resume as a prerequisite to seeking gallery representation. But I never did approach galleries because I felt that a new paradigm was emerging, one that was diminishing the traditional role of the art gallery. I do not yet know exactly what that new paradigm will eventually look like, but clearly the internet will play a larger role and the gallery a smaller one.

So given that, I set out to sell my art directly via my website and have been focusing on SEO (search engine optimization) to bring traffic to my site via internet searches. I still do purchase some print advertising but have found that it, like the gallery, is a part of the old system.

Selling art direct via the internet presents many new challenges that must be understood and addressed. For example the internet has exposed thousands of new photographers from around the world, all competing for the buyer’s attention. Another challenge is how to sell art that the customer cannot see directly and can only view on a computer monitor? Something else I’m finding is that younger people who grow up on the internet do not seem to purchase prints as much as previous generations, but are content to enjoy them online. Books and prints are less important in this new internet age.

The internet is the new frontier when it comes to selling art and new techniques will need to be developed to address these emerging issues.

The Angel Gabriel - Newport Beach, CA

You write a well-read blog about your photographic life. Has the feedback and community enriched your experience, and do you ever regret giving away your knowledge?

I initially started writing my blog to improve my SEO and to drive traffic to my website by offering something of value. But what I’ve come to appreciate is how useful it is in sorting out my own thoughts and to learn from the ideas of others.

Do I regret giving away my secrets? Never, because how I photograph and process an image is not the key to its success! Vision is the key and I couldn’t give that away if I wanted to. So while I do share my technical knowledge, I stress that the real key is to find your own vision. Technical knowledge without direction is a waste.

I mentioned that in my past life I was very focused on the technical, to the point that gadgets and processes were almost more important to me than the image! In the last several years I’ve made the transformation from photographer to artist and have purposely pushed my technical pendulum way over to the other side. I now value simplicity in my seeing, photographing and processing.

When I show people how I create something using Photoshop, I let them know that I’m generally only using six tools out of the many hundreds offered. I want to make the point that great images are not dependent on complex processes, but can be created with the simplest of procedures.

Swimming Towards the Light - Kihei, Hawaii

Do you have a favorite series?

Picking a favorite series is like picking a favorite child, and so I’d have to say that I have several favorites. I am very proud of “The Ghosts of Auschwitz-Birkenau” because it was an original idea and borne out of spontaneous inspiration. I am also very attached to “The Fountainhead” for what it represents and how incredibly fun it was to create the series.

If I could pick just one more favorite, it would have to be “Harbinger.”

Harbinger No.1

This is a series that features a solitary cloud in each image. The above image was the first in the series and this will be a very long term project due to the difficulty in finding great clouds in great locations.

What are you currently working on?

I’m in-between projects! I recently finished “The Fountainhead” and I have not yet found the inspiration to start something new. I have a list of ideas but in truth the only ones that have ever worked out are the unplanned, sudden inspiration ideas.

So while I have many ideas, I do not yet have the inspiration to pursue them.

That used to bother me, these periods of down time without inspiration, but not any longer. Now I see those down times as a part of the creative process, perhaps like a farmer letting a field lay fallow for a season to rejuvenate it. I’ve also learned that inspiration cannot be rushed; to try is ineffective and frustrating.

Windsurfing - Laporte, CO

And finally, what would be your perfect day?

Well Aline, with my “40 years” of experience, I’d answer this question much differently than I would have when I was younger! Strangely enough the perfect day may not involve photography at all. Despite how much I love photography, I do not love it more than my family or my life. Photography is not my life, but it is one of those special things that help me to enjoy life.

A perfect day would be spent with my family and new grandson at La Jolla Cove in San Diego. We would walk the beach in the morning, then enjoy two dives in the ecological reserve and then have a picnic lunch on the grass overlooking the Cove. Then I would slip away and go do some long exposure work while relishing the warmth of the sun, appreciating the sounds and smells of the ocean and being grateful that I could enjoy it all. And oh yes, we’d have Mexican for dinner!

Auschwitz 3 - Poland

LENSCRATCH Exhibition Opportunities

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 11:14:00 +0000

LENSCRATCH is creating exposure opportunities for photographers with group on-line exhibitions. Photographers will be allowed ONE entry per exhibition and ALL photographs will be published. I firmly believe in having occasional unjurored opportunities that allow for community and conversation.

Submission Guidelines:
Image size: 72dpi at 1000px on the long side

Send name, title, location (where you captured the image), and link to your work (website or other)

Example:
Aline Smithson, The Red Rose, Los Angeles, CA (http://www.alinesmithson.com)

In the subject of your e-mail, type the name of the exhibition (example:LOVE) and e-mail to:
alinesmithson@gmail.com

If your images are sized incorrectly or the submission is incomplete, they will not be posted.

Submission Categories and Due Dates:

Due date: February 8th
LOVE Exhibition to run on February 14th

Due date: March 28th
ANIMALS Exhibition to run on April 3rd

Due Date: May 3rd
MOTHER Exhibition to run on Mother's Day, May 13th.
Photographs can be old family photos-all interpretations open

Check back for new opportunities....

photo L.A. 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:09:00 +0000

Image by Ashly Stohl

Los Angeles just finished a five day celebration of all things photography at Photo LA: The 21st Annual International Los Angeles Photographic Art Exposition at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica. It's an event that brings together galleries, private dealers and publishers, photographic artists, collectors, and anyone interested in photographic images. In addition to the many in booth exhibitions, Photo LA offered lectures, panels, book signings, and special installations. Stephen Shore, Eileen Cowin, Catherine Opie, and Ken Gonzales-Day offered lectures, along with many other well know names in photography.

© Anthony Friedkin, Woman by the Pool, Beverly Hills Hotel, 1975

This year there was a big emphasis on photo books, with many booths featuring artists books. Raymond Meeks/dumsaint editions shared his journals and books for a second year, and Liz Steketee's work was featured in a number of booths, including Material Press & Steketee Books. LA Artist Book Arts showcased artist books by Ching Ching Cheng, Meg Madison, Charlene Matthews, and Susan Sironi.

Liz Steketee at Material Press

Liz Steketee at the Stephen Cohen Gallery

There were two names that were very much in evidence: Moby and Vivian Maier. Both artists had small exhibitions in the lobby of the show, and Moby also had work and a book in the DAP booth. I attended his lecture on Saturday and was very much impressed by his intelligence and philosophy about image making.

Image by Hannah Kozak
Moby at his lecture and book signing

Moby in the lobby

Moby in the DAP Booth

Vivian Maier in the lobby

Vivian Maier in the lobby

Whenever I attend a large art or photo fair, I take the time to see what's new, what's selling, how things are framed, what sizes are artists exhibiting, and what are the trends. This year was somewhat conservative--only a few massive large scale color images, plenty of black and white and sizes that were easily collectable. A few artists were printing on plexiglass, but much of the work was traditionally framed.

A few of photos of the opening night

Two exhibitions on display

Soho Cameraworks / Cameravision 1975-1983

Emerging Focus Finalists

Saturday morning, before the event opened, Weston Naef conducted a Docent Tour. Weston Naef is the Curator Emeritus, Dept. of Photographs, The J. Paul Getty Museum and has recently written a book Carleton Watkins: The Complete Mammoth Photographs (J. Paul Getty Museum 2011). He started the tour in the Northern Light Gallery (Denmark).

Jay Mark Johnson at Gallerie Deschler (German)

Michael Krebs and Cynthia Greig at the DNJ Gallery (Los Angeles)

Dan Miller of the Duncan Miller Gallery (Los Angeles)

Claudia Kunin's 3D images at Focus (New York)

Louis Klaitman Gallery (Berkley)

Light Work Gallery (New York)

Los Angeles Art Association | Gallery 825 (Los Angeles)

Nancy Baron at the Los Angeles Art Association | Gallery 825 (Los Angeles)

Bob Poe at the Los Angeles Art Association | Gallery 825 (Los Angeles)

PX Photography (New York)

Christopher Capozziello

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:31:00 +0000

Looking at few of the portfolios that received Honorable Mentions for the Santa Fe Prize offered by Center and jurored by Maggie Blanchard of Twin Palms Publishing....

I had the great pleasure of getting to know Christopher Capozziello when he attended his opening at the Julia Dean Photo Workshops in Los Angeles last year. He had won the Berenice Abbott Prize for his series, For God, Race, and Country. From our conversation, and from exploring his many meaningful and compelling projects, it is obvious that Christopher is a very special person and photographer. He is founding member of AEVUM, a collective that looks at photography as a privilege, and seeks to give voice to others. Christopher's work is well celebrated and for good reason. His philosophy is this:

"His work focuses on documenting both life around him, and stories that are outside of his own experiences. He believes that there is a redemptive quality to photography; that it can take the unpleasant or repulsive and make it beautiful, not by misleading anyone, but by allowing the viewer to stop and take a deeper look at the subject. As a photojournalist, his method of making pictures is not something new or incredibly deep – it is, simply, to tell the truth."

The project that garnered Christopher the Honorable Mention for the Santa Fe Prize, The Distance Between Us, is a deeply personal series about his twin brother who navigates the world with Cerebral Palsy. His compassionate lens takes us on a life journey full of struggle and suffering, but ultimately is life affirming. Chris writes a monthly column on AEVUM about this project. There is also a terrific interview with Chris in Daylight Magazine.

The Distance Between Us from Christopher Capozziello on Vimeo.

The Distance Between Us: Over the last ten years I have been making pictures of someone very close to me, but it wasn’t until recently that I disclosed the photographs I have been making of the young man with cerebral palsy are of my twin brother Nick. By sharing who he is, I have seen first hand what suffering can do. It unites people in ways that other aspects of life cannot. When I meet someone who has a sibling that is sick or down on their luck, a friend or close relative who is ill, I hear the ache in their voice as they tell me their stories and express the guilt they feel as they watch the ones they love suffer. Then, almost always, they ask how Nick is doing. Sharing stories of suffering creates solidarity, and it makes us care more deeply for others.

Nick’s brain surgery was completed in early 2010 and for the first time our family holds out hope that things might change for him. We now wait to see how his condition changes as the doctors continue to treat him over the coming year.

©All images by Christopher Capozziello

My brother Nick, sitting on a fire hydrant in New York City, trying to relax from a cramp.

Nick has been getting bad cramps again. Earlier tonight he came out of his bedroom with his knee turned in, barely able to walk. It was hard to look because it appeared broken at the knee. Mom and Dad helped him into bed, straightened his leg against the end of his bed, and gave him medicine to relax his muscles.

After 30 years of struggling through life, the doctors decide to allow Nick to undergo Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery. They hope that the surgery will help curb the muscle spasms from the CP. Should this work, Nick's life will change in a drastic and beautiful way. He may be able to get a job and function better in society.

During the first surgery Nick stopped breathing, and the doctors had to pull him quickly out of the anesthesia before they were finished. They told him that he didn't have to go back for the other half of the surgery, but I pulled for him to do it. "Why only fix half the problem," I questioned. He was afraid of having the metal frame screwed into his head again. They did that while he was awake and he was only given topical Novocain. But, two months later, we were back in the hospital, and it was finally over. Now we wait to see what the surgery will do for him.

Nick smokes. He has been unable to hold down a job because of the muscle spasms, and when he is around other smokers, it's a way for him to connect with them. But, Nick is diabetic and at tremendous risk of stroke and heart disease. He has tried quitting.

When I visit home, I can almost always find Nick in his room on the computer, playing Farmville or listening to music.

When I photographed Nick at the Ale House, a woman asked if I was making fun of him. I told her I was his twin brother. She yelled over Nick's singing, " 'Cause if you're making fun of him, there are a lot of guys here who wouldn't like that!"

Manjari Sharma

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:55:00 +0000

Looking at few of the portfolios that received Honorable Mentions for the Santa Fe Prize offered by Center and jurored by Maggie Blanchard of Twin Palms Publishing....

Congratulations are certainly in order to Manjari Sharma for this achievement, but also for her new baby, Siya! She sent me materials for this post just days after giving birth, so I am very grateful. Manjari was born and raised in Mumbai, India and now lives in Brooklyn, New York. Before moving to the U.S. in 2001, Manjari worked for The Times of India as a freelance photojournalist. Manjari holds a bachelors degree in Visual Communication from S.N.D.T University, Mumbai and a BFA in Photography from Columbus College of Art and Design in Columbus, Ohio. Her work has been in exhibitions and published worldwide.

Her project, The Shower Series, garnered much attention, many exhibitions, and commissions.

Recently, Manjari produced a successful Kickstarter campaign for her Darshan project. It was this series that received an honorable mention for the Santa Fe Prize.

Darshan 2011 Ganesha from Manjari Sharma on Vimeo.

DARSHAN: Darshan is a Sanskrit word that means vision or view and is most commonly used in the context of Hindu worship. It can also be defined as an apparition, or a glimpse. One may seek and receive the darshan of a deity and upon sight that Darshan may invoke an immediate connection between that deity and the devotee. A Darshan can ultimately be described as an experience purposed on helping one focus and call out to his or her sense of spirituality.

I grew up in a Hindu home to parents who were quite religious. Visiting countless temples was a common practice to us. I moved from India to the U.S.A to pursue a degree in fine art photography. This move precipitated an enormous cultural shift and the frequency with which I visited Hindu temples was gradually replaced with frequent trips to museums and art galleries. To me, the museum, where creativity in all mediums was placed on a pedestal, heavily mirrored the experience of a Hindu temple. Hopes and aspirations drove countless people to the Museum where they would line up and wait to experience a darshan of an artist’s works. Most Hindus have seen painting and sculpture used to illustrate deities, but rarely photography. The idea of the museum as a temple and the lack of photographic depiction in Hindu mythology is what compelled the birth of this series.

Darshan aims to photographically recreate classical images of Hindu Gods. The experience of viewing pieces of art is an essential part of the art. Hence the final Darshan presentation  will be a massive print installation complete with incense, lamps and invocations. This project hopes to invite viewers into a museum one day, to have a Darshan of my work aimed at resembling the experience of a Hindu temple.

Dona Schwartz

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:22:00 +0000

Looking at few of the portfolios that received Honorable Mentions for the Santa Fe Prize offered by Center and jurored by Maggie Blanchard of Twin Palms Publishing....

I've shared Dona Schwartz's terrific project, In the Kitchen, in my classes for a number of years, so I was happy to see Dona receive an honorable mention for her new project, On the Nest. Dona's work is about space and time; she examines the "interactions among and within the physical, social, and emotional spaces we inhabit". She also recognizes the fleeting and evolving periods of childhood, parenting, and being part of a family. The image below, Christina and Mark, 14 months, from On the Nest was the Third Prize Winner in the 2011 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize competition, awarded by the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Dona lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She earned her PhD at the Annenberg School for Communications is an artist, scholar, and educator. Amongst her many academic publications are two photographic ethnographies, Waucoma Twilight: Generations of the Farm (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1992) and Contesting the Super Bowl (Routledge, 1997). Her new photographic monograph, In the Kitchen, was published by Kehrer Verlag.

Her work has been internationally published and exhibited at venues including the National Portrait Gallery, London, Blue Sky Gallery, the Milwaukee Art Museum, The Stephen Bulger Gallery, the Pingyao International Photography Festival, and in numerous juried exhibitions in the United States. Her work is included in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, George Eastman House, the Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland, the Harry Ransom Center, the Portland Art Museum, the Kinsey Institute, and the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago's Midwest Photographers Project.

ON THE NEST: In our lives we experience multiple transitions, and in these moments of change we renegotiate our sense of self. Events like communions, weddings, baby showers, and retirement parties formally mark the new roles and statuses we take on. We cross other thresholds without rituals or celebrations—even though divorce is a momentous life transition there is no script for marking its passage. I am intrigued by the ways in which we move from one life phase to the next, and I am working programmatically to represent complex processes of changing identity.

In On the Nest I use environmental portraiture to examine two moments of change that bookend parents’ lives—the transition to parenthood with a first child’s birth, and the transition to life without day-to-day responsibility for parenting when young adults leave their childhood homes. I photograph expectant parents in nurseries or other spaces they have made ready for their newborns, and I photograph empty nesters in the rooms left vacant by their grown children. The nursery is a canvas on which parents paint in broad strokes their imagined picture of the future. Creating the space is itself a celebratory ritual, and for many parents-to-be the nursery is a showplace—and a sacred space—to be shared.

Teenagers’ abandoned bedrooms tell different stories. The transition to life as an empty nester lacks formal ritual observance. There is no finite gestation period and the new beginning it heralds may be more sobering. In some vacated rooms, abandoned childhood toys compete for shelf space with high school trophies, providing a time-lapse history of nurturance, growth, and development. In others, boxes containing once treasured items await their final disposition. Unused beds become temporary worktables. A sewing room is born. By showing expectant parents alongside their empty nester counterparts I invite viewers to reflect on their own experiences of change and the trajectories we trace in the course of a lifetime.

Pinar Yolacan

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:47:00 +0000

Looking at few of the portfolios that recieved Honorable Mentions for the Santa Fe Prize offered by Center and jurored by Maggie Blanchard of Twin Palms Publishing....

I've been a big fan of Pinar Yolacan's work for number of years. Her images are disturbing, intriguing, and layered, and certainly unique. Born in Turkey, Pinar studied fashion design in London, and has lived in New York for the last decade. She recently collaborated with Missoni to create Mother Goddess figures for store windows.

Two of Pinar's series brought her tremendous attention, Perishables and Maria, where she created portraits of mature women wearing raw meat in colors similar to their own skin: WASPs in New York and London for Perishables and Afro-Brazilians off the coast of Bahia for Maria. In Perishables, I am interested in this Queen of England-type imperial icon and the Victorian body. In Maria, the Christian religious icon of Maria and the colonial baroque period. In both of these projects, I am looking at the vocabulary that established the western Caucasian female as the ideal representation of beauty in a colonial context.

From Perishables

From Maria

Mother Goddesses is the project for which Pinar was awarded an Honorable Mention for the Santa Fe Prize. Captured in Turkey, she wanted to recreate Greco-Roman friezes she encountered in Aphrodisias, an archeological excavation site in Turkey that used to be the sculpture school of the Roman empire.

In Mother Goddess, I am looking at the deity figures from pre-neolithic period which was the archetype of beauty in my geography thousands of years ago. When I came to New York to study, I realized how much of Western art history actually happened in Turkey. I thought it was interesting that what the west considered their foundations of aesthetics and formative vocabulary for beauty, actually happened in my geography.

Success Stories: Jessica Ingram

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 12:20:00 +0000

Congratulations to Jessica Ingram for being awarded Center's Santa Fe Prize for Photography, jurored by Maggie Blancard of Twin Palms Publishing. Maggie states that Jessica's series, A Civil Rights Memorial, "understands that people need a tool to become aware of the history around them, to see what would otherwise go unobserved. Jessica creates a portrait of civil rights atrocities that conveys more meaning."

Born and raised in Tennessee, Jessica brings a southern perspective to much of her work. She received BFA in Photography and Political Science from New York University and her MFA from California College of the Arts and is now teaching at the California College of the Arts, San Francisco. Along with much recognition, this series also was awarded the 2009 PhotoNOLA Review Prize. Jessica's work is widely published and exhibited, and she has received numerous awards, residencies, and public commissions.

A Civil Rights Memorial
Five years ago, I wandered downtown Montgomery in the sweltering heat, picked up a walking tour trail, and found myself facing a large, ornate fountain, situated on a brick pavilion. A Historical Marker said that I was standing on the former Court Square Slave Market, where slave traders sold men, women, and children to the highest bidder. It presented cold facts, detailing dollar values for slaves at the time and how none were given last names.

Swamp, Midnight, Mississippi

I was speechless. The fountain was erected at a time when this site was not considered for its history, the sign placed in a gesture of reconsideration. Moreover, the language printed on the sign was so void of sentiment – in no way testifying to the experience and meaning. I am from the American South, aware of the devastating history of slavery, but this site moved something in me that caught fire. I watched people pass by and wondered if they knew or thought of the history beneath their feet.

Site of Virgil Ware's Murder, on the Docena-Sandusky Road, outside Birmingham, Alabama

Curious about other histories and sites (marked and unmarked) I may be passing by in the American South, I began to research. I started with the founding of the Klan, as I vaguely knew it was founded not far from where I grew up. In Pulaski, Tennessee, I found the room where the six original members created the KKK. The original 1800s Historical Marker on the building has been unbolted, and rebolted so that only the back of the marker may be seen.

Road Thru Midnight, MS

Over the next several years, I traveled repeatedly through Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana, and documented sites where Civil Rights era atrocities, Klan activities, and slave trade occurred. In Money, Mississippi, I visited the remains of the store where 14-year-old Emmett Till allegedly whistled at a white woman, and the Tallahatchie River, where he was dumped after being tortured and disfigured. I traveled to Midnight, Mississippi, the birthplace of Rainey Poole, and saw the Sunflower River, where Poole was dumped after his murder in 1970. There are no markers in these places.

Crossing a Field, Near the Sunflower River

The Southern landscape is swallowing up these and other sites, as time is also burying these histories and leaving families without a sense of closure or justice. In this body of work, I am investigating how the affects of this history still reverberate in these communities and in the landscape. I hope to create this context in my photographs, and to remember these individuals and events through the images I am taking.

Tallahatchie River, Money, Mississippi

I have found each of these sites through research, and more importantly, have met and talked to family members and local people about the person who was lost, and the effects it had on both the family and the community. I have collected many of these conversations in audio oral histories. These histories are fresh for the people that lived them. In the majority of these cases, there was no justice, or justice came late, when cases were reopened in the 1990s and 2000s. Confessed murderers who were white were acquitted by all white juries. The justice system failed, and this history must also be considered and called to account, as the effects of this history still linger.

Medgar Evers’ Backyard, Jackson, Mississippi

My larger body of work is about families and communities. This project is absolutely about that. It is a meditation and a recapturing. These images are renewed representations of these events- some of which have been excluded from the collective and mediated retelling of this period in American history.

Office Door, Pulaski, Tennessee

I N T E R V I E W

Congratulations on the Santa Fe Prize! It is very exciting and well deserved. Do you have plans for the award monies?

Thank you! I'm really excited to receive the award and honored to be included in such a talented group of artists. I plan to use the award to create a website for the project that can integrate the oral histories and historical documents from my research with the images I have made.

Moore's Ford Bridge, Monroe, Georgia

A Civil Rights Memorial is such a thought-provoking series because what of lies beneath the surface of cursory historical facts and locations. It must be truly satisfying that you can use your photography to discuss history, politics, and human nature. Can you tell us about the project?

A Civil Rights Memorial is a photographic project about atrocities committed during the Civil Rights Movement in the American South and the related stories and legal cases. This project includes photographs of the sites where the atrocities were committed as well as sites related to slave trade and the formation and continuation of the Klan. The Southern landscape is swallowing up these and other sites, as time is also burying these histories, and leaving families without a sense of closure or justice. In this body of work, I am investigating how the affects of this history still reverberate in these communities and in the landscape. Historical ephemera including documents from the original FBI files, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and the NAACP are included. Accompanying the visual materials are oral histories from family members of victims, journalists and FBI agents working at the time, and journalists currently investigating cold cases.

Atop Stone Mountain

As a Southern woman, did your investigations and conclusions change something inside of you? Did you feel closer to the work?

I started this project looking at these histories, landscapes, and memorials or lack thereof, with questions, and I end it with a greater personal connection to the impact of these events. I have spent several years working on this project and experienced and learned a great deal, and these experiences have shaped me and will forever be a part of me. I feel angry and ashamed at the injustice that was committed when heinous crimes were perpetrated and there was little to no justice, or justice came late, when cases started to be reopened in the 1990s. The justice system failed and must be called to account. I also have a deeper understanding about how memorials can function for a family or community, and the closure that can come through the process of memorializing these individuals.

What I have been most struck by is the time with the family members, and hearing them talk about the struggle and ultimately the transformation as they personally internalized and dealt with extraordinary events and tragedies.
My work explores the remarkable and complex ways that people respond to challenging and extraordinary circumstances. These stories are rooted to greater narratives that span generations and political histories and actions. In the midst of it all, though, these individuals talk of being transformed, replacing hate with forgiveness or love, and their personal journeys towards closure and moving forward. However, not all of them have found closure, and I’ve seen how devastating that can be.

Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial

I imagine that the families and local residents might have found some solace in your project, or were they hesitant to reopen wounds and doors?

I have received mixed responses from the families. All of them have a lot of questions for me, and it has been necessary to answer them and express why I am making this work. Most of those I’ve spoken with appreciate being asked to share their story, though find it painful to tell.

It is wrenching asking family members to open up when I can see the pain it is causing them. I am often apologizing, but they remind me that these are important stories to tell, and that telling is part of the healing process.

I understand you have some ideas about growing the project into a multi-media exhibition and website. Can you elaborate?
The research for this project is compelling. I would like for parts of this research, including FBI files, articles, historical imagery and ephemera to be included in some way. The oral histories are also integral, as well as the histories that inform the imagery I am making. A multi-media exhibition and website will allow these elements to come together in a meaningful, dynamic and informative way.

Bridge to Freedom, Selma, Alabama

I really enjoyed your project, Waiting for a Sign--you seem to have such a rich personal history and a sense of humor! Are you working on anything new?

Thank you! Waiting for a Sign is a very important project for me in my development as an artist, and I learned a lot about my family in the process. When dealing with family, I think a sense of humor is absolutely necessary.

Currently I am working on finishing the A Civil Rights Memorial book dummy and exhibition. I'm also working on the book dummy for Hilltop High, a project about a high school for pregnant teenagers in San Francisco. There is new work stewing--I'll keep you posted!

Westbrook Cotton Gin, Liberty, MS

What advice can you give emerging photographers, especially on presentation, on networking, on consistently producing excellent work?

Most importantly, to keep going! I love being a photographer and feel extremely grateful for the experiences I have had and the people I have met while making work. There are moments when I am not sure I am on the right track and am tempted to give in to doubt, and I have to keep going, trust my instincts, and ask for feedback and support from my community.

Networking is important-I could definitely be better about it. There are so many great people in the art community, and it’s usually a pleasure to reach out to them. I learn a lot about professionalism from mentors and friends, and there are great resources out there about the business of being an artist. I try to be clear when talking about my work and keep people in the loop with what I am doing by showing up at events, sending updates, giving lectures, etc. It is primarily about nurturing relationships and following up.

Regarding presentation, it is always important to put your best out there, while also working in a way that is sustainable for you. You have to serve the work while maintaining balance (i.e. budget, etc). The importance of presentation cannot be overstated, and you have to be prepared to be your best advocate.

In my practice, I pursue my interests. When I am nervous or unsure, I remind myself that that is an OK thing, and not a reason to quit or turn away from something. Failure can also be a really good moment for growth and clarity, so I am often reminding myself to spend less energy worrying about failure and “what-if” and more energy making work and being open to possibilities found there.

Site of Frank Morris' Shoe Shop, Ferriday, Louisiana

What would you say was the one thing that helped get your foot in the door, and took your exposure to the next level?

I am blessed with fabulous mentors. Their guidance, support, and recommendation have been incredibly important in taking my work to the next level.

I also have wonderful friends who are artists and generous about sharing opportunities and advice.

People like you, and organizations like Center, who support artists and get their work out there, strengthen individual photographers and the community as a whole. Exposure and financial support is key, but recognition and encouragement excites me and keeps me going, and has often come at some times when I really needed it.

Site of James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner’s murder, Neshoba County, Mississippi, near Philadelphia

And finally, what would be your perfect day?

In terms of photographing, I love those days where I feel ON. That moment where I know I got the image as I take it, and I feel connected to whatever I am photographing. I love the energy and renewal that comes with a day like that.
Other perfect days involve a cup of coffee, a long sunny hike with my dog, and time in my studio to work on my work, where I can focus more and multi-task less, and periodically walk over to my bookshelf to be distracted by a terrific photo book.

Site of Mattie Green’s murder, Ringgold Georgia

Tyler Goodwin Bridge, Montgomery County, Alabama

Bank of the Sunflower River

Koinonia

Michelle Bates and more!

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Toy Camera queen, Michelle Bates, was a recent speaker at TEDxRainier in Seattle and shared the video of her lecture that features a few of her images, plus ones by Thomas Michael Alleman, David Burnett, Teru Kuwayama, Pauline St Denis, Jennifer Shaw, James Balog, Nancy Siesel, Becky Ramotowski & Michael Kenna. Congrats Michelle!

Also wanted to share these magical long exposure fire fly images captured in Japan. Found on the site, Escape Into Life.

And finally, Jeff Harris' amazing collection of thirteen years of self portraits, taken during times of great personal difficulty, and times of great joy. Inspirational to say the least.

Plus, there is still time to submit those camera photo photos to iSpy: Camera Phone Photography!

Carte Blanche Gallery

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:50:00 +0000

It always good news when a new photography gallery opens. Galleriest Gwen Lafage opened Carte Blanch Gallery in San Francisco. The mission at Carte Blanche is made up of four simple principles:

Buy art. Make history.
Forget collecting. We’re connecting.
Photography for everyone.
On the web, and on the ground.

Born in Brittany, France, Gwen Lafage received a masters from a French business school before enjoying a 10-year career with international communications and advertising agencies in London and Paris. Over the years she developed two passions: world travel and photography. In 2010, she dedicated herself to helping emerging photographers and made photography a central part of her life. She now lives in San Francisco and is realizing her dream through the Carte Blanche gallery and bookstore.

When did you get really interested in photography?

I've always liked photography. I worked in advertising for 10 years and I had many opportunities to work with photographers organizing photo shoots for my clients. Outside of work I enjoyed taking pictures and sharing with the community online - that's where I discovered fantastic work from relatively unknown but very talented photographers.
My passion for photography really blossomed while I was traveling around the world a few years ago. When I returned from that life-changing trip, I decided to make a big change and pursue my passion for photography full-time.

What do you enjoy so much about photography?  

I love photography because it can convey beauty, emotion, and a strong message at the same time. Although it’s considered a high art, it is also accessible to everyone. Whether you visit a gallery, flip through a photo book, or share your family pictures on Facebook, photography is a part of your life.

Why have you decided to open a gallery? 

While exploring photography online I found a talented, energetic young generation of international photographers whose work was rarely represented in traditional galleries. I decided I wanted to create a space specially for them, that rethinks what it means to be a gallery in the same way they are rethinking what it means to be a photographer. Coming from outside the traditional fine-art community myself, I also wanted to give everyone the opportunity to own art; I wanted to help people bring photography into their everyday lives and to help photographers connect with their audience in real life.

Why San Francisco? 

When I moved here end of 2010, I knew immediately that this was where I wanted to start my new project. The creative energy of the city, its enthusiasm for art, its growing community of photographers and photo lovers: Everything about it felt right.

So what is exactly Carte Blanche?

Carte Blanche is exactly what the name indicates: the strong desire to give carte blanche to talented photographers, to give them the opportunities to show beautiful photography projects, being a series or a book. Carte Blanche is about discovering the world through photography. It’s an online gallery open to the world, it’s a gallery and bookstore in San Francisco to help the bay area the community and its visitors discover photographers, projects, books from everywhere. So welcome to our website -- we hope we’ll also see you at our gallery and bookstore in San Francisco very soon!   

Artist of the month, Wang Yuanling featuring the project, River basins #3

Wang Yuanling's images of his home town, Chongqing, tell the story not only of that place, but also of daily life across China.

Success Stories: Michelle Sank

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:06:00 +0000

South African photographer, Michelle Sank, lives in England and is fascinated with the human condition. Her work, as a social documentarian, explores physical and human landscape through social and cultural diversity. She recently released her third monograph, The Submerged, through Schilt Publishing. Michelle has numerous bodies of work, many exploring people living on the edge of society, captured on the fringes of communities. She is drawn to the human performance in and the architectural definition of, place.

Her photographs have been exhibited and published in England, Europe, Australia, Mexico, South Africa and the U.S.A. She has undertaken numerous residencies for prominent galleries in the U.K. and Europe. Her work is held in numerous collections such as The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas and The Woodstock Centre for Photography, New York. In 2007 she was a winner in The Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery, London and her work will be featured in the 8th International Biennial of Photography and Visual Arts BIP2012 which will take place from March 10 until May 6, 2012 in Liège (Belgium).

The Submerged: My practice is concerned with the notion of encountering, collecting, and re-telling. I am interested in creating sociological landscapes, interplays of human form and location that are significant in their visual, sociological and psychological nuances.

The imagery in "The Submerged" was produced within Mid-Wales in a coastal and hilly area existing at the end of the railway line. I became intrigued by the way both structures and the human form interact with the urban and natural make-up of this environment. I was drawn towards a sense of grittiness and resolution within the geological and architectural fabric of the place, something so often mimicked in the light, colour, dramatic skies and the human performance within.

Unwrapping The Submerged was like getting a Christmas present. Congratulations on a wonderful project and publication. Can you talk about working on this series?

Thank you Aline.
This series came about during a 3 month residency that I undertook At the Aberystwyth Arts Centre in Wales. I was allotted a wonderful studio in which to think and produce with no pressure as to what kind of work would emerge. This allowed me an unusual period of uninterrupted time to explore and try different things that would both develop and compliment my practice. This afforded me the opportunity to challenge myself in both the portrait and landscape genres.

How did the book come about?

When the committee at the Arts Centre saw the images that I had produced they were keen to get it published. With that in mind, I made an appointment to see Maarten Schilt from Schilt Publishing during a Fotofest session at Houston. He was happy to publish the work.

Two ideas in you statement really stood out to me: the re-telling of a story and the human performance in a particular location. Do you look for that in all of your projects?

Yes, I do. I think the interplay of portrait and background sets up a particular narrative. I also see my images as a space of performance where people can present themselves to the camera.

Another thing that struck me is the wide variety of dress--from beachwear to a wedding dress all in juxtaposition to, as you say, a sense of grittiness in the landscape.

The Submerged was named after an ancient submerged forest that only emerges on a beach in the area at certain times when the tide is low. This became symbolic for me in relation to the wonderment of the diversity and a sense of the exotic that appeared against the grittiness of the landscape.

The people you photograph are posing, yet feel completely natural. What is you approach to working with strangers?

I think when I see something my excitement is conveyed to the people that I am approaching. I have always said that the human interaction I experience is as valuable to me as making the images and I often feel privileged to meet and work with the people that I do.

What camera do you use?

Mamiya 7, Bronica 6 x45

What opportunity took your career to the next level?

I had a big gap in my career due to leaving South Africa when I did. It was doing a part-time MA in 2000 that acted as a platform for me to get critical feedback on my work and to experiment.

What advice can you give emerging photographers, especially on presentation, on networking, on consistently producing excellent work?

To be honest with yourself, to maintain the passion and to do it ultimately for yourself. It is also about having the stamina to cope with the highs and lows and to maintain the belief that if you try hard enough you will see the benefits. To be respectful in your approach to people and to represent your work as succinctly as possible both in the visual and written form.

And finally, what would be your perfect day?

My perfect day would be one of those I experienced in Wales during the residency where I could focus totally on my work away from all other life constraints.

Justin Visnesky

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 11:51:00 +0000

When I first saw Justin Visnesky's image on the new Collect.Give offering (benefiting the Sprout Fund in Pittsburgh, PA), it took me right back to my days with a 240 Volvo wagon filled with birthday balloons and made me want to see more.

Justin grew up in Pennsylvania, went to college in Jimmy Stewart’s hometown of Indiana, PA, and now lives in Pittsburgh. "He makes photographs of the simple, quiet times in life; taking the ordinary and making it something more, something for the keeping." I am featuring two series, Jimmy Stewart Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Sometimes You Just Know. Both are quiet explorations of place and moments.

Justin’s work has been published in a wide variety of online and in print magazines and has been exhibited throughout the US.

"Through the years Indiana (PA) has been something of tremendous importance in my life. It's true there is something special about the place where you were raised—your hometown. I have found through the years during the times when I've been here in Indiana that almost every direction I look, and so many faces I see, immediately cause a picture to be formed of an event, a happening in my life that I remember well … I've settled down three thousand miles from Indiana. I've traveled to points in the world three times that distance. At times I've stayed away several years at a stretch, but I somehow have never felt that I was very far from here ... somehow I don't feel that I have ever been away. "
– Jimmy Stewart

Sometimes You Just Know: In a broad sense, all of my work is an exploration of the ideas of home and origin in an effort to reconcile the divide between my past, present, and future. Specifically, the photographs in the series "Sometimes You Just Know” are an exploration of familiar spaces, inhabited and otherwise. They are a visual documentation of my feelings toward what I know or thought I knew. I’m not interested in freezing time, but freezing a feeling, that feeling you get in your gut when you know something is just right and may never be again.

Jade Doskow

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:54:00 +0000

Brooklyn photographer, Jade Doskow, brings a sense of contemporary nostalgia to her work. She revisits, reinterprets, and restates the idea of place. For her series, Red Hook 2003-2011, Jade photographs the American landscape in a way that at once feels cinematic and timeless. She leaves room for air and majestic skies, and her work looks to the past, but is rooted in the present and the now. Jade's series, I Lost Utopias/ The World's Fair Project, captures two centuries of architecture: World's Fair Project: 19th Century Projects, and World's Fair Project: 20th Century Projects. In their time, all sites represented a world of hope, possibility, and the future, and now, many are left dormant, fading, or destroyed.

Jade is an engaged educator, on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts, International Center of Photography, and Kingsborough Community College, where she instructs on architectural and digital photography. Her work has been exhibited internationally and featured in publications such as Photo District News, New York Arts, the Washington Post, and the Morning News. Most recently Jade has joined the Huffington Post as a photography blogger.

Red Hook / Repurpose
Red Hook is a small, waterfront neighborhood in Brooklyn that I have lived in and photographed for the last ten years. I have spent these years studying the subtle changes in buildings, vacant lots, and warehouses brought about by weather, time, and light. These images have come to represent my search for a specific feeling of spiritual expansiveness through my photography, more than a document of a specific place. Seemingly disparate elements---vines, a fence, the silhouette of a building---are brought together to create a dialogue of form, color, and emotional charge. Light and time transform seemingly mundane places, creating a feeling of peace and visual infinity.

These are the ideas I have subconsciously been bringing into this body of work, in addition to the more obvious aspects of architectural transformation and repurposing and the fallen aspirations that some buildings come to represent. My work is an ongoing examination of the practical and spiritual life of architecture as well as a quest for a feeling of sublime tranquility within the busyness of the built environment.

In Lost Utopias/ The World's Fair Project, I have been photographing the remaining sites and structures of world's fair sites internationally. What captured my imagination was how these magnificent, temporary events could permanently affect the city in which they were held. These fairs cost millions of dollars to prepare for and construct; however, many hosting cities often lacked foresight into how to maintain or demolish the fair pavilions after it closed, and these pavilions were often bizarre, unwieldy structures utilizing cutting-edge materials for the time and an unpredictable life span.

Brussels 1897 World's Fair, "Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles,"Triumphal Arch at Dusk, 2008

What I have found is a huge variety as to how different countries have preserved or not preserved these sites and structures. For example In Paris I photographed the Eiffel Tower; in Philadelphia Victorian toilet buildings; and in Chicago the empty space by the shore of Lake Michigan where the largest fair structure once stood. I approach each site with an original fair map and retrace where the different attractions once existed, and then make photographs indicative of the zeitgeist of that long-gone event, often utilizing very long exposures and specific times of dusk and dawn to create an otherworldly, dreamy effect.

New Orleans 1884 World's Fair, "World Cotton Centennial," Birds, Audubon Park, 2008

Chicago 1893 World's Fair "The Columbian Exposition," Site of Manufacture Liberal Arts Building, Grand Peristyle, and Agriculture Building, View 2, 2009

Brussels 1897 World's Fair, "Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles," Colonialization Sculpture, 2008

Buffalo 1901 World’s Fair, “The Pan Am Exposition,” Site of Japanese Village, 2009

New York 1964 World's Fair, "Peace Through Understanding," New York State Pavilion, 2008

Paris 1937 World’s Fair, “Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne”, Graffiti, Palais de Tokyo, 2007

Brussels 1897 World's Fair, "Exposition Internationale de Bruxelles," Human Passion Pavilion, 2008

Philadelphia 1876 World's Fair, "Centennial Exposition," Fair Toilet Buildings, 2008

New York 1964 World's Fair, "Peace Through Understanding," Unisphere, 2009

Kevin Van Aelst

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 11:09:00 +0000

Kevin Van Aelst brings to the photography world a curiosity, a sense of humor, and a new way of looking a everyday objects. I can imagine him as a little boy, in bed a night looking around his room, his imagination allowing him to create new worlds within the familiar. You may recognize his work from his weekly illustrations for The Medium in the New York Times Magazine from 2007 - 2011, or from the pages of such publications as Scientific American, Men's Health, Money Magazine, Wired, and Time. To see his work on gallery walls, Kevin will open an exhibition at the Panopticon Gallery in Boston on January 12th running through February 28th.

Apple Globe, 2007

He currently lives and works in New Haven, Connecticut, but grew up in Elmira, New York and central Pennsylvania. He recieved a B.A. in Psychology from Cornell University and an M.F.A. from the University of Hartford. Kevin is currently is teaching at Quinnipiac University and ACES/Educational Center for the Arts High School Program. He is a recipient of a 2008 fellowship grant from the Connecticut Commission on Culture and Tourism.

Legos, 2011

My artwork is an attempt to reconcile my physical surroundings with the fears, fascinations, curiosities, and daydreams occupying my mind. The photographs and constructions consist of common artifacts, materials, and scenes from everyday life, which have been rearranged and reassembled into various forms, patterns, and illustrations. The images aim to examine the distance between where my mind wanters to and the material objects that inspire those fixations. Equally important to this work are the 'big picture' and the 'little things'--the mundane and relatable artifacts of our daily lives, and the more mysterious notions of life and existence. This work is about creating order where we expect to find randomness, and also hints that the minutiae all around us is capable of communicating much larger ideas.

Elsewhere, 2009

Tragedies, 2009

Ursa Major, 2010

The Ocean, 2010

The Moon, 2010

In Search of Perfect States, 2010

Blue Tape, 2009

If Wishes were Fishes, 2009

Digestive System, 2009

Common Clouds, 2007

Cemetery, 2010

The Heart, 2009

Dress Code, 2011

Caleb Charland

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:51:00 +0000

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." -Albert Einstein

It's hard to ignore an image like the one above, and it's hard to ignore someone who is really enjoying the art and science of our craft. From the home page on his website, it's obvious that Caleb Charland is a unique and exciting visual force. As Caleb puts it, "For me, wonder is a state of mind somewhere between knowledge and uncertainty." This wonder was developed growing up in rural Maine, where he spent much of his childhood helping his father remodel family homes. These experiences "installed an awareness of the potential for the creative use of materials". Caleb went on to earn a BFA in photography from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a Trustees Fellow in 2010.

The way we understand the world relies so much on our ability to measure it. Given that many measurements are based on the proportions of the human body its clear we measure stuff to find our place amongst it all and to connect with it in some way. By exploring the world at hand, from the basement to the backyard, I have found a resonance in things. An energy vibrates in that space between our perceptions of the world and the potential the mind senses for our interventions within the world. This energy is the source of all true art and science, it breeds those beloved "Ah Ha!" moments and it allows us to sense the extraordinary in the common.

For me, wonder is a state of mind somewhere between knowledge and uncertainty. It is the basis of my practice and results in images that are simultaneously familiar yet strange. Each piece begins as a question of visual possibilities and develops in tandem with the natural laws of the world. Serendipitously, this process often yields unexpected results measurable only through photographic processes. The human presence and artifacts of the process provide a clue to the creation of the photograph while adding to the mysterious nature of the image. My hope is that this work affirms that even within the well tested laws of science there are, and must always be, pathways to reinterpretation and discovery.

The Center Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 11:27:00 +0000

It was big news in 2003 was when when a young man by the name of Alec Soth won the Santa Fe Prize in photography through Center for his series, Sleeping by the Mississippi. From that moment on, the name Alec Soth was everywhere.

© Alec Soth

The Center Awards have been a defining achievement for many a photographer's resume and career, and in the past several years, Center has made more opportunities available through the Project Launch Award and the Choice Awards. And of course, Review Santa Fe, the only juried portfolio review, still sets the standard for excellent in portfolio reviews. All of this and more is waiting for your submissions until the end of January. The deadline it 1/30/12, so don't let the opportunity slip by. Here are some new points of interest this year:

1. Entry fees are made affordable - for example, you can enter an entire project in Project Launch for $25/$35 depending on membership status
2. Project Competition award amounts have increased to $10,000 (was $5,000 last year)
3. The jurors are phenomenal - curator from the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Getty, TIME magazine, Newsweek, Rizzoli Publications...

David Ellingsen

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 12:18:00 +0000

I truly believe that most of us create work from some thread of our childhood, drawing upon references and influences and events. David Ellingsen was raised on Cortes Island, a remote community of 1000 residents in Canada’s Pacific Northwest, on a small family farm surrounded by forest and ocean. As an adult, David became a well-regarded commercial photographer gleaning advertising and editorial assignments from The New York Times Magazine, People, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, among many others. But David also has been able to create a parallel photo life, with a fine art resume reflecting dozens of exhibitions worldwide with numerous international awards and honors. It is his fine art work that brings him back to his childhood roots, to a focus that is steeped in the natural world. For the two series featured below, David uses of the now discontinued Polaroid 55PN film to capture images that demonstrate a broad tonal range and are and processed and archivally printed.

from Sea Life

“I have always felt a conflict between my rural upbringing and my adult urban life, and it is from this tension that I find the inspiration for my photographs. The values and lifestyle of the family farm where I grew up on Cortes Island formed in me a strong relationship with the environment and the cycles of the natural order. As I entered adulthood I left the island and readily embraced life in the city and the modern urban experience, and still do to a great extent, but that kinship with nature began to quietly seep away. This unwelcome disassociation inspires in me a navigation back to a harmonious place between the extremes and the compelling urge to create work about this journey.”

I am featuring two projects, the first, Hibernus, which opens as an exhibition at Akasha Art Projects in Toronto tonight and runs through February 4th, and a second project, Sea Life, that I enjoyed exploring as one of the Critical Mass submissions.

Hibernus: Collected in winter during the final stages of their life, the botanical subjects for this series were chosen for their beauty of form and graphic possibilities. Additionally, and more importantly, they represented a respect and appreciation for the value of the latter part of the life cycle. The Polaroid 55PN film used to capture this collection – an excellent, fine-grained, textured film, rich with organic imperfections—was also at the end of its lifespan. Due to the changing demands in photographic technology 55PN was discontinued in 2008, despite its decades of peerless performance.

In simple terms, the subjects and the medium were chosen in supportive tandem, referencing the beauty and significance in what has aged.

Sea Life: The creatures contained in this collection of photographs are not intended to be a concise record but rather a feeling...a fascination...a darkness. I return often to a shaded beauty in my photographs and this portrayal of these denizens of the deep seems an accurate metaphor for our times. Using part of my last supplies of Polaroid’s beautifully flawed Type 55PN film, now extinct in itself, and drawing on the historical darkroom processes of Man Ray and the botanical studies of Karl Blossfeldt, I was compelled to create a response to the ongoing decline of the planet’s oceans.

I shall leave words on the state of the ocean environment to Mr. Rex Weyler, whose accompanying essay for this series speaks to that subject with great eloquence. For my part, the creation of this body of work was simply a reaction to the overwhelming, paralyzing flood of environmental reports coupled with a sensitivity that grew from an upbringing on a remote island surrounded by the sea in a community where harmony with the environment is not only revered, but very often essential to immediate quality of life.

At its core I intend this work to be a part of the wider environmental discussion, contributing to awareness and helping to fuel the great call to action that, at this late hour, is imperative we clearly hear.

Patrick Millard, in Memoriam

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:39:00 +0000

Pittsburgh photographer and educator, Patrick Ford Millard, aged 30 and formerly of Lamont, MI, passed away Monday, December 12, 2011. I was informed by one of his devoted students, Margaret O'Hara, about this loss to the photographic community, and to Patrick's family and friends. I featured Patrick's work on Lenscratch just about a year ago and I loved his unique approach to image making. He had a scientific and visual mind and was exploring new terrain with his many projects and areas of interest. Margaret shared that Patrick would often show her work featured on Lenscratch and it is her goal to bring things full circle. Margaret is working on a project that I will be featuring in the future, as a way to honor Patrick.

Here is what Margaret has to say about Patrick as a teacher and mentor:
When I first met Patrick a year and a half ago, starting off my sophomore year in college at Point Park, I thought he was quite possibly the most pretentious individual I would ever meet. However, I soon learned that what Patrick was wasn't pretentious at all, but true genius and incredibly inspired about everything he was doing with his life. I almost as quickly learned that he was just as inspired about each of his students as he was about his own artwork. Before Patrick entered my life, I was a photojournalism major at the university, kind of just doing things I knew needed to be done, taking classes I knew I needed to take, etc. After I met Patrick, I changed my major to photography, and everything about my life changed thereafter. Patrick saw something in me that no one ever had before. He brought alive a spirit inside of me that I never knew existed. He showed me what it was to truly believe in photography as an art form, and to believe in myself as an artist. One thing Patrick always said to me, that never meant so much until we lost him as a part of this world, was: "Mags, if you love what you are doing, you will make it take you wherever you want to go." I have never in my 20 years of life come across a person so motivated about, well, every aspect of their life, and more specifically, about their artwork. I am truly thankful to have had such a great inspiration in my life, if only for a short period of time. Patrick Millard forever changed my vision of this world and what I want to make of it. I will never forget him.

Patrick Millard, Evening Reboot, 2007

Needless to say, Patrick's passing is a huge loss to the photography and education communities, as well as to his friends and family. Here is his bio, taken from the Park Point University site:

Patrick Millard, who joined the School of Communication faculty in 2010, is an artist who originates from the small Western Michigan town of Lamont. His work in photography, new media and sound addresses ideas about media, digital culture, technology and the interactions that human beings have within their own synthetic environment.

His work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and continues to gain recognition. Recent exhibitions include Homo Virtualis [Porto Santo Biennial] in Porto Santo, Portugal; Tek'tanik at Art Guild New Jersey and Gallery Affero in Newark, N.J.; Digital Landscapes at the TMG Gallery in Guarda, Portugal; Digital Fringe at the Melbourne Fringe Festival in Melbourne, Australia; Fauna Show at The Workshop Gallery in Bialystok, Poland; Origins at the Fox Art Gallery in Philadelphia; Snap To Grid at the Los Angeles Center for Digital Art in Los Angeles; The Human Canvas at The Center for Fine Art Photography in Fort Collins, Colo.; Virtual Worlds at the UAVM; Virtual Humanities at the Icone Gallery in Coimbra, Portugal; SMart Festival at Open Concepts Gallery in Grand Rapids, Mich., and A Million Little Pictures at Art House in Decatur, Ga.

In 2008, Patrick began to show his work inside the virtual simulation world Second Life; exhibitions that advance beyond two-dimension work and expand his ideas of simulation, virtual reality and the synthetic future where the physical object gives way to its virtual counterpart and its presence is valued entirely for its idea rather than its place in space.

This transition toward a more prominent virtual presence as an artist eventually led to the inevitable. In 2009, shortly after becoming a regular exhibitor in the virtual environment, Millard embarked upon his first photographic series that used the environment and society of Second Life as its subject matter and conceptual theme. Virtual Lens is an artistic and anthropological investigation into the life of the avatar, landscape of the sim environment and experience of the virtual world. Millard continues to photograph and exhibit his portfolios as well as spend time with fellow avatars in Second Life.

Patrick received a Bachelor of Arts in photography from Grand Valley State University and a Master in Fine Arts in photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

During June 2010, Millard was an artist in residence at the Biosphere 2. During his time in residence he worked on photographic, sound and digital media portfolios.

A recent Vimeo of Patrick lecturing...

Patrick Millard | Formatting Gaia + Technological Symbiosis from vasa on Vimeo.

Rest in Peace, Patrick. You are missed.

Jon Horvath

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:23:00 +0000

Milwaukee photographer, Jon Horvath, really looks at the world...whether it be by using Google Earth satellite images of various Zion Churches throughout the United States in order to explore shape, mass and architecture, or by using excerpts from Jack Kerouac's On the Road as source material combined with GPS technology to generate line drawings as evidence of Kerouac’s text being written in the landscape. When he has a camera in hand, Jon is observing the physical environment, exploring the complexity and intangible essence of our world. Some of these interests surely must come from his years in academia. He holds a BA in English Literature and a BA in Philosophy from Marquette University, and an MA in Photography and an MFA in Photography from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he currently teaches. He also teaches at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.

His work has not gone unnoticed. He was selected as a 2011 Magenta Flash Forward US Winner, has exhibited widely, and has work in the Collect.Give Program. I am featuring two series, both about investigating the intangible, more about the experience than the result, and there is a lightness to this approach, a freedom that comes from the "what if".

WIDE EYED: Wide Eyed departs from a reactionary response to my surroundings, grounded in a sense of wonder and awe. It is approached with the spirit of the wanderer and emphasizes democracy within the project structure. Wide Eyed persists as the undercurrent of my entire photographic process, bridging the gaps between more pointed investigations.

As a result, this project avoids specificity in content and conceptual motivations. Rather, it functions more analogously to an archive, a database, a repository for meditations, glimpses and passing thoughts about my relationship to anything I may encounter. Wide Eyed is intended to be a breathing body of images; a space to bounce and veer and double back while maintaining the sensation of being in a place of familiarity without specificity.

THE PLASTIC BAG SERIES: PROJECT 1: Photographic sequences seeking to achieve a visual representation of the wind, my favorite stand-alone weather phenomenon. In different times and places, I released a plastic grocery bag into a passing current of wind and followed, photographing the spaces to which I was led. The resulting projects indicate how this intangible entity may observe our physical environment.

Heidi Kirkpatrick

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 11:28:00 +0000

The photography world is hungry for new approaches to creating imagery as our current photographic environment speaks more to pixels and file sizes. Happily, there is a rebirth of exploring traditional and historical processes and a focus on the photograph as object. Heidi Kirkpatrick is creating three dimensional photographic sculptures after years in the darkroom producing traditional silver gelatin prints, that were, more often than not, tucked away in boxes. In an effort to work in a unique way, her photographs have found new homes and surfaces and they are getting lots of attention. Heidi will be giving a presentation on her work at the Portland Art Museum, as a part of their Brown Bag Lunch Talks, on January 18, 2012 at 12:00pm to 1:00pm. Her series, Specimens, was recently recognized as one of the Critical Mass Top 50 Portfolios. The image below was selected by Darius Himes for the traveling Critical Mass exhibition.

Branch ll

The two images below were selected by gallerist Deborah Klomp Ching for the New Directions exhibition at Wall Space Gallery, that opened January 1st and will run through January 29th.

Reveal

For Fredrerick

Specimens: I have had a lot of physical pain and have for many years. In my continual search for an answer, as well as my way of dealing with the unexplained, I dissect my Gray’s Anatomy book. The pages find their way into Specimens, layered under images of those closest to me. The illustrations bind, clothe and wrap the body. Putting the inside on the outside, I wear my heart on my sleeve. Reminiscent of nineteenth century cased images; Specimens are housed in small hinged tins that open and close to reveal or conceal the secrets they hold.

Heidi is a Portland photographer and artist, using found objects to create intimate and personal sculptures. Her work is mysterious, personal, and nostalgic. She explores themes of family, childhood, addiction, and pain. There is a sense of play present, but serious play that makes the viewer consider their own memories and insights. She has a book of her work, Lost and Found, through Blurb. The work below is gleaned from several series.

I am in love with film. All of my work is made with film. I shoot on film. I print on film. I do all of my own work in my darkroom. I like it dripping off my elbows. I do not use a lot of fancy equipment. My "models" are the people who are closest to me, my family and friends. I love layering the film positives over anything and everything I can think of or find. My studio is filled with found objects that inspire me, and photographs, lots and lots of photographs.

I use photographs to transform found objects into playful pieces of art. Fusing transparent figurative and family portraits with children’s toys and blocks, I create a playful tension between imagery and object. My work breathes new life into these found objects, yet they leave hints of the past in their lovingly worn appearances; the flecks of paint missing, and the soft corners worn down by tiny fingers and tumbling towers.

These works depart from the formality of a frame as they are arranged on a table top or a shelf, often stacked or placed side by side to reveal narratives of family snapshots, or the complexities of the feminine allure. In combination, I give you a chance to visit these earlier playful times while drawing on memories, contemporary issues, and visual formality.

Polly Gaillard

noreply@blogger.com (Aline) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:36:00 +0000

Mommy/Daddy from Truth, Fear & Fabrication

Polly Gaillard comes to photography with a camera bag full of life experiences that she mines for series that include themes of motherhood, children, memory, loss and family. She manages to find the intangible poignancy and undiscovered beauty in living life that is layered and complex. I am featuring her project, Reframing; Motherhood, Memory and Loss. These color images reflect personal life transitions and observations.

Polly received a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2010 and currently teaches photography at Anderson University in South Carolina. She is also an Artist-Teacher for Vermont College of Fine Arts. In Summer of 2012, Polly will be teaching photography in Prague for the University of New Orleans Prague Summer Seminars.

Polly has exhibited widely and her exhibitions for 2012 include Reframing; Motherhood, Memory and Loss at the Vandiver Gallery at Anderson University in Anderson, SC and in a group exhibit entitled Alignments at Clemson University’s Lee Gallery in Clemson, SC.

Reframing; Motherhood, Memory and Loss:
Reframing; Motherhood, Memory and Loss is a photographic series documenting my daughter after my divorce from her father. I am interested in the awkward moments we share, some constructed and others observed as she plays and is unaware of the camera. I am also interested in how the divorce plays out in our lives both in subtle and startling ways as I observe her through windows, behind a sofa pillow, or in the shadow of my house. The awkwardness of childhood surprises me as I record fragments of her body through the lens. To me, those fragments refer to the severing of the family unit. I am intrigued by this half-life we share due to custody obligations. She is here and then she is gone.

My process of that exploration shifted to one of documentation including photographing remnants of her presence, or what remains after the presence is absent from the scene. Basically, I am interested in how one’s daily actions accrue meaning, or stand in for that person despite their absence. These remnants take shape of ordinary things: a plastic bag that contained chocolate, Barbie dolls in the bathtub, or the remains of breakfast in the late morning light. The remnants, either photographed or scanned become a marker of life left by a physical presence, in this case they represent the presence of my young daughter.

The physical remains are obsessively collected and documented in a way that refers to the difficulty of letting go and the thoughts of loss that follow. My interaction with the remnants is a way to preserve it through the photograph, committing it to memory. The photographs strive to monumentalize the remnants and comment on the significance of loss, memory and absence.