My observation of the Eaton Fire, before, during, and after.
Read MoreExhibition Announcement - APG Selects 2024 - Opening September 17th
I am honored that the above print is included in the Selects 2024 exhibition which will open next month at the Atlanta Photography Group gallery.
The exhibition was curated by Aline Smithson who is a photographer, educator and founder of Lenscratch.
The Atlanta Photography Group describes Selects 2024 as an open-themed showcase that celebrates the diverse world of fine art photography, encompassing a wide range of subjects, cultures, and the global landscape. In the selection process, Smithson considered how the images worked in conversation with one another. She worked through 634 images submitted by 125 artists to choose 50 for Aline Smithson Selects 2024.
All work in this exhibition will be considered for the APG/Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Purchase Award, a $3,000 prize which is made possible through a generous grant from Edwin Robinson and Julin Maloof, in honor of Gloria and Ted Maloof. Lisa Volpe, Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will make the decision for the museum purchase award.
The Opening Reception will be a hybrid event on September 28, 2024 6:00-9pm ET, with Ms. Smithson and Ms. Volpe in attendance, and featuring a juror/artist talk beginning at 7:00pm ET.
The Image
This is the first time I have exhibited this image which I photographed this past March in Chicago.
I first traveled to Chicago to photograph in 1987. In the past 37 years I have photographed in Chicago more than any other city outside of Southern California. On my trip to Chicago this year, I encountered a noticeable population of recent migrants from South and Central America, something I had never seen there before on such a big scale.
I learned that since 2022, ~38,000 mostly South American immigrants have arrived in Chicago, from our southern border. The people I saw all had new winter wardrobes, and many were asking for money or selling candy. I usually don’t interact with people I photograph on the street, but in this case, I knew it would be wrong to assume their situation and I needed to know the truth. The people were reluctant to speak at first, but luckily my limited Spanish knowledge was enough to gain some trust. They said they had arrived from Venezuela and Ecuador three months before. I saw resiliency in the eyes of the kids, while the parents seemed completely unprepared for their new environment.
Photojournalists have documented the situation at the US/Mexico Border in great depth, but I think the story of the migrant population assimilating into our communities across the US is even more important and also needs to be told. Hopefully this image, along with more of my images, will help spark further conversation on these people and their situation.
The Print:
The exhibition print has an image size of 24” x 16” which is the largest sized exhibition print I have produced so far in an edition (I have produced some larger prints for commercial clients). This print is on a sheet of 26” x 18” Hahnemȕhle Photo Rag Ultrasmooth paper, framed with a window matt to an external size of approximately 31” x 27”. The print has an edition of 9 for this image size.
The print was made, and framed by, by Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta who I have been using to produce all my large print editions. Owner Barry Glustoff is fantastic to work with and his lab is one of the top certified printers of Canson and Hahnemȕhle papers in the world.
Lulu Conner 1997-2024
Images can Live Forever even though We cannot.
When I heard my daughter’s voice on the phone this week, I immediately knew something was terribly wrong. As a parent, as long as you hear you kid’s voice there is some relief because your kid is good enough to talk with you, but you instantly brace for what the bad news is. In this case my daughter called to tell me that her best friend from college, Lulu Conner, had died of an apparent embolism after going to Paris to watch her sister-in-law (Maggie Steffens USA Water Polo) at the Olympics.
At 27 my daughter should be going to weddings and showers, not memorial services. I know loss happens at every age and we all must deal with grief at one point or another, it is common to everyone. Sadly, some people must endure way more grief than others for some reason, it is just part of the plan. It sucks, but we need hard times to appreciate good times and to grow and to appreciate the gift of life.
Alyssa Valentine, Ramsey Hufford, and Lulu Conner
Lulu and my daughter Alyssa were assigned to be roommates as freshmen at UC Davis, they had never met before. Miraculously it was a perfect pairing, their bond was immediate, and they lived together their entire four years of college. They became the nucleolus of an incredible group of diverse friends. Lulu laughed, lived, and loved more in her brief time on earth than most people do who live decades longer. Her loss has left an incredible void for all her friends and family. I am so thankful that Lulu was so important to Alyssa and Ramsey, they loved each other so much, and I am grateful I was also blessed with so many good times with Lulu too.
When I got off of the phone, I got on my computer and looked up some of my photographs of Lulu to help me reflect on her impact and process the loss. I know what I am going to write is obvious, but I still think there is value in saying it. One of the greatest powers a photograph has is it documents and memorializes a fraction of a second in time and preserve that memory for as long as we want to maintain it. It is heartbreaking to know I will never be able to see my daughter and Lulu just laughing together again. But because I photographed them when they were together, I have something to hold on to, something to remind me how boldly Lulu lived and that helps with the loss.
I experience life by photographing my world. This usually annoys my family, but that is who I am, it is often uncomfortable for me to experience something without photographing it. I constantly frame the world in my mind as I look around and I hate missing opportunities to capture good images with a camera. I am a romantic, I don’t like change, I want to maintain the moment; I don’t know, maybe that is a big reason why I am a photographer. At this moment in time these traits are a blessing because I have a number of good images of Lulu that I can spend time with while I keep her spirit close.
We live in a Selfie world, with too many shallow self-portraits whose sole goal is to brag to our friends what we are up to (Group selfies do have more value). I just want to remind people to actually photograph your loved ones, ideally with a camera, as well as your cellphone. I know we are inundated by images online today but make sure you photograph to document some of the important things in life that will be cherished years from now. Make prints of those photographs and save files to external drives, don’t rely solely on the cloud.
A Bill Jay Lesson to Wrap Up this post:
I know I have told this story more than once, but it’s worth repeating and still is one of the greatest things Bill Jay taught us while I was at Arizona State University. We were in class one day, in Matthews Hall, when Bill put two slides up the screen next to one another (yes back then you looked at prints or slides in class and there were real blackboards). One image was Ansel Adams’s Moonrise Over Hernandez, New Mexico which had just set the record for the most expensive print ever sold (I think it sold for around $40K). In the other projector Bill put up a good snapshot quality photo of a child in an inflatable wading pool. I can’t recall but it may have even been a photograph of one of his daughters, doesn’t matter. So, with both images side by side he asked the class which photograph was more valuable. Lots of my classmates spoke up with reason why it was Adams’s photograph; because of composition, because of the author, and many noted how important the sale was for the medium in general because of the price it sold for. After everyone willing to take the bait had their say, then Bill gave us more information. He said what if this print is the only photograph that this mother has which documents her child at that time in their lives. Maybe all the family albums had been lost in a fire, maybe she had even lost the child, and that simple snapshot was the only visual reminder she had of her child. He then asked us which print would the mother say is more valuable? Would she even consider selling the simple photograph of the child for any price? That simple example was almost forty years ago, and it is still so vivid to me. The viewer sets the value based on their own experiences and tastes. The photographs I shared in this post always meant something to me, and unfortunately now they have become more valuable because I’ll never have those people together again for another photograph.
"Photoganda" - the attempt to censor Evan Vucci's iconic photograph
I saw the term “Photoganda” for the first time yesterday and when I heard what it was referring to, I felt compelled to write about it here on my blog. “Photoganda” is related to an apparent upswing of support Donald Trump has gained after Saturday’s failed assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania. It specifically identifies the powerful images from the event by photographers Evan Vucci and Doug Mills as the reason for the upswing. From what I can find Axios used the term “Photoganda” three days ago when they wrote an article about the photographers who documented the incident (It is a short but good read). Axios reported that unidentified photo editor(s) were calling for media outlets to stop sharing the images of a defiant and wounded Trump because they felt the images are giving Trump an unfair advantage in the Presidential campaign right now. From there other new outlets starting using the term. The term is very attention getting but problematic in concept. If there are certain individuals trying to devalue the importance of the photographs from the assassination attempt for the benefit of their own political interests, and they actually coined the term “Photoganda” then I have a serious problem with them. It is a dangerous term especially as we are entering an era of more AI imagery where people may already be starting to question the authenticity of documentary images.
When I heard of the assassination attempt, I immediately turned on the TV and most channels were showing the same 3 minutes of tape just before the shooting until Trump was driven off. Being a photographer with several decades of law enforcement experience I focused on lots of different details in the video. First the security tactics and response but then I noticed the two photographers who moved forward immediately after the volley of shots to document the incident. Early on I thought about authoring a post about the photographers based on their movement during the event and when I saw the images they captured I wanted to showcase them as photographers because it was obvious that these images would become iconic and most likely Pulitzer worthy. Those photographers received immediate media recognition so the need for post became less of an issue. Then the “Photoganda” dialogue yesterday motivated me to pick up the pace to author this post.
I’ll address the newly created term “Photoganda” first. It obviously refers to Propaganda which is defined as: Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view. Everyone agrees that Evan Vucci’s photograph of Trump with blood running down his cheek, raising his fist, with the flag in the background is factually correct; There are no claims of AI elements or manipulation. Most people also realize the image is a huge gift to the Trump campaign. The image instantly became iconic and no matter what your political beliefs are I think everyone can agree that Vucci and the other photographer were in the right place, at the right time to document something historical, but none of the photographers in Pennsylvania crafted images with the intent of creating propaganda. Even if they wanted to, they didn’t have time; they couldn’t prepare their shot (excuse the term) because none of them knew what they were about to witness, and they had limitations on their positions where they could photograph from, plus they all captured the same events just from different vantage points. If you look back to World War II there are plenty of great examples of Propaganda, the evil Nazi Joseph Goebbels was a master propagandist who comprehended the power of images, especially newsreels, to manipulate public opinion. US General Douglas MacArthur was aware of the power images had too, producing news reels of him returning to the Philippines and preferring photographers to photograph him from a low vantage point to visually increase his stature. We can also examine Joe Rosenthal’s photograph of the flag raising on Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima, which at different points in history has been accused of being carefully crafted, or possibly staged. Rosenthal earned a Pulitzer for the image which has become an unofficial second logo of the United States Marine Corps and is recognized worldwide still to this day. I heard TV commentator Jesse Watters have a humorous take on the “Photoganda” issue when he said “They take the photographs, we disseminate them, the public consumes it. If you don’t want to be part of the process, make pottery and sell it by the side of the road”. The images we are seeing in the media of the attempted assassination of Trump are just outstanding press or photojournalistic photographs. Sure, they could eventually be used in a propaganda form, most likely an unlicensed item, but as they are being shared now, they are not propaganda.
Donal Trump after failed assassination attempt. Photograph by Evan Vucci - AP Chief Photographer in Washington DC
Evan Vucci is AP’s Chief Photographer in Washington DC, and he captured the above image of a bloodied Trump the flag in the background (In the video of the incident I believe Evan is wearing a plaid shirt and a baseball hat). I assume he will win another Pulitzer for this image. New York Times Photographer Doug Mills, who was wearing a grey sun hat in the videos is another Pulitzer Prize winning photographer that captured some incredible images including the one below. Both these two photographers were moving about immediately after the shooting positioning themselves to get their images. Doug was directly below Trump photographing when the Bullet struck Trump’s ear. Doug told CBS News he made a burst exposure with his Sony camera and that one of the frames captured the bullet. He mentioned his camera was capable of 30 frames per second, so I assume the camera body was an Alpha 1, unfortunately he didn’t state what his shutter speed was for the exposure. I would expect his shutter speed was over 1/800th of a second so if the bullet was travelling around 2000 feet per second at that point the length of the line in his image would be consistent with how far the bullet traveled while the exposure was being made. It is an incredible capture one that Harold Edgerton would be jealous of. Doug said an FBI Forensic Specialist inspected the RAW image file and confirmed it documented the bullet in flight immediately after it had struck Trump. In watching the CBS interview of Doug Mills he spoke about former New York Times Photographer Ron Edmonds who photographed the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981. Doug said they worked together for 15 years and that he had talked with Ron several times about photographing the Reagan event. Ron told Doug in situations like that “to go forward don’t go backwards” to get the best images. Ron was also a Pulitzer Prize winning photographer and he unfortunately passed away last month.
Donald Trump as gunshots are fired at his campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024. This photo appears to show a bullet in the air near Trump. DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES
As I talked about above the motivation for this post was the creation of the term “Photoganda” and the suggestion that some people with political agendas were trying to censor outstanding press images solely because those photographs were not beneficial to their political goals. Censorship is a violation of the 1st Amendment of the Constitution, and it angers me when anyone tries preventing someone else from expressing themselves, in this case especially since these photographers were just sharing factually correct images of an historic event. Another thing I want to mention is I hope Evan and Doug are somehow able to receive some compensation from all the people who I know are all marketing their images in a variety of products. Copyright is also an important thing, unfortunately with so many people using Evan’s image already it will be a big task to track down every one of them. I know both photographers were on a paid assignment but hopefully they can monetize their images beyond their salary that day because I am sure their images are generating thousands of dollars for others. I also want to share Evan’s quote after capturing such an iconic image: “I haven't had a chance to really think about any of that stuff. But apparently, the photo is pretty viral.”
Anna Moneymaker’s photograph Donald Trump after he was shot.
There were other photographers at the rally as well. Anna Moneymaker from Getty captured the incredible photograph of Trump on the ground after being shot through the legs of a Secret Service Agent who is shielding him. In an incident with an adrenaline spike like this, I suspect many photographers would have missed that image; their cameras probably would have focused on the agent’s rear end not Trump. She captured a hard image, in a dangerous environment. Gene J. Puskar who is a Pittsburgh based AP photographer also captured some solid images. Unfortunately for all the photographers who captured great images out that day, the world is most likely only remember the big three images by Vucci, Mills, and Moneymaker images.
We live in a world of reels and video content now, and a biproduct of that I think is often a short attention span for content. We have so much video and still image content from this event, but I love the fact people are focused on the still image. The still image allows the viewer to exam and reflect at our own pace and we need to be reminded of that fact. The capability of today’s cameras to capture detail is incredible. We have never been able to dissect an historic event like this with so many highly detailed images of the event. When I saw the photographs of Trump after he was shot there was no question to the location and extent of his injury, I am still in awe of the detail in the images.
I mentioned above how Ron Edmonds had told Doug Mills to go forward in critical incidents and it reminded me of some of the best advice I ever received studying at Arizona State University. When one of my professors, Bill Jenkins, saw the first few rolls of my Pasadena PD series he gave me similar advice when he suggested I change from a 50mm lens to a wide-angle lens to force myself to get closer to my subject matter. The suggestion was outstanding, and I have used it with most of photographs since. There is an edge you get being in close that takes most photographs to another level. Tactically, from a law enforcement perspective, I was taught early on that often the best way to handle a threat if you are out in the open is to go right at it instead of retreating. I worked with a number of Vietnam veterans in my career including a Green Beret and a Seal, both had incredible insight on how to survive. Obviously a completely different objective but an interesting parallel.
Finally, from a law enforcement perspective I saw some good things that officers and agents did and some bad things. From the protection perspective it was inexcusable to allow the suspect to have gained access to the roof location, and then for the counter sniper team to allow the suspect to fire, especially multiple rounds. After being shot Donald Trump should not have stopped to raise his fist in defiance because it exposed himself it there were multiple threats beside the first sniper. Maybe Trump had gone in to shock by that point, if so it was a strong reaction on his part, but the security detail should have covered him and whisked him to the car. Luckily for Evan that didn’t happen, and he captured the image he did. I will leave it there because there are so many other people scrutinizing what happened there and my primary focus here is on photographs. I am concerned that more press photographers will be able to document similarly chaotic events in the coming months, I hope they won’t have those opportunities, because I know we all need a break from the tension of the last eight years.
Related Articles
Evan Vucci's Trump Image Is a Legendary American Photograph - The Atlantic
In pictures: Trump injured in shooting at Pennsylvania rally | CNN Politics
Curator Rebecca Senf leading Maine Media’s workshop on Building the Curator - Fine Art Photographer Relationship
Building the Curator - Fine Art Photographer Relationship - Dr. Senf
Last month I had the incredible opportunity to participate in a Maine Media workshop, held via Zoom, with Dr. Rebecca Senf who is the Chief Curator at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, in Tucson. The workshop, Building the Curator - Fine Art Photographer Relationship comprised of two three-hour sessions with 8 participating photographers. The first session started with Dr. Senf talking about herself and her role as a curator. In the second half of the session the participating photographers shared their work with the group. Dr. Senf critiqued presentations and then during the week between the two sessions Dr. Senf reviewed written artist statement we provided her and reviewed everyone's websites in detail. The second session began with critiques of our sites and submissions and finished with an open discussion period.
This was the best education experiences of my photography career since I graduated from college. To have so much quality time with one of the top curators in the world, giving valuable insight to the curator’s perspective, then reviewing my work’s web presence was priceless. There was also a great benefit in listening to the critiques of the other seven photographer. When I say she reviewed our websites it was obvious she spent at least twenty minutes on every one of our sites and more time than that reviewing our written work. I have met Dr. Senf, Becky, a number of times and I had high expectations for this workshop, she exceeded those expectations tenfold. I normally wouldn’t write a post about this since it has already occurred, but Becky said she really enjoyed the experience and is hopeful to do more of these workshops in the future. For any serious photographer who is mid-career or established I highly recommend participating in this workshop if you see it available in the future. I signed up as soon as I saw Becky make a post about it and it sold out quickly, I am so happy I didn’t hesitate.
Becky said throughout this workshop, networking and developing relationships is the key to obtaining success for most anything. Through the workshop experience I got to know seven other interesting photographers, I have listed their website links below and I encourage you to visit their sites to see their work. We are a stylistically diverse group which helped to make the workshop that much more interesting.
Photographers who Participated in the Workshop:
Diana Nicholette Jeon
Website: http://diananicholettejeon.com
Instagram: @diananicholettejeon
FB http://facebook.com/diananicholettejeon
Anne McDonald
Website: AnneArdenMcDonald.com
Instagram: @anneardenmcdonald
https://www.facebook.com/anne.a.mcdonald
Chris Leventis
Website: www.chrisleventis.com
IG: @chrisleventis.artist
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cleventisphoto/
Susan Keiser
Website: https://susankeiserphotography.com/
IG: @susankeiser
Sara Silks
Website: https://www.sarasilks.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/sara_silks
Ken Karagozian
Website: https://www.kenkaragozian.com
Instagram: @kenkaragozian
Lydia Panas
Website: http://www.lydiapanas.com/
IG @lydiapanas
William Karl Valentine
Primary Website: https://www.williamkarlvalentine.com
Secondary Site: WILLIAM KARL VALENTINE 2020
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/williamkarlvalentine/
CHI DSC_6274_ 03-26-2024 - Laureen V. Connelly with her Cook County Assessor’s Office Certificate of Retirement plaque documenting 25 years of service.
Chicago Photographs - March 2024
Both of my kids played travel ice hockey growing up. It was time consuming and expensive, but it was some of the best times of our lives. A nice biproduct of them playing was I got back to the East Coast a lot and was able to photograph and see lots of amazing exhibitions. My daughter now lives in Chicago after getting her master’s degree from Northwestern and she started playing hockey again last year with joining a women’s league. When her team qualified for the payoffs, she told me that I needed to come back to see her play again. The last time I had been in Chicago was March of 2020 when I was driving across country with her brother trying to outrun the pandemic shutdown of the country. I acknowledged I was long overdue to visit so I agreed to a long weekend. The playoffs were up near Madison, Wisconsin but I was able to bookend days around the tournament to get three days to photograph in Chicago, museum hop, and eat at my favorite restaurants.
Chicago has been my favorite city to visit since I first went there in 1987 to photograph Wrigley Field, before they installed the light. I have been to Chicago at least twenty-five now. Chicago became our go to vacation spot, it was an easy flight, there was lots to do, and we just liked the city. Chicago had everything a big city should have but there is a Midwest atmosphere which is just nice. It is an amazing sports town, the museums are amazing, and the city has the best steaks of anywhere in the world.
Photographing on the street in Chicago is amazing I always find good images there. Like in New York there are usually lots of people walking about the city and there is plenty of interaction which usually adds layers of meaning to an image. I have also found that most of the time I have been in Chicago the quality of light in Chicago has been outstanding, which is not the case other places. I think part of it has to do with the way the streets are laid out, there is more room between the buildings there than most cities. I think part of that is by design since architectural design is so important in the city and there may have been a conscious plan to allow some buildings to have room around them to be showcased. The Chicago River and lake front also allow more light to fall in the city. The beauty of the architecture in Chicago is also lends itself to more interesting backgrounds of images. I also think the way some of the buildings are constructed that they improve the bounce light. The city also has that Midwest atmosphere most places which is nice. Michigan Avenue is a wide street with wide sidewalks and planter boxes; the street was designed for shoppers and heavy pedestrian traffic. With Michigan Avenue’s sidewalks being so wide not only does that allow more light into the area but it also has always given me room to maneuver and get in position to frame my images better than anywhere else. I have become so familiar and comfortable with the city I always do well with a camera there.
It was amazing on this trip in March how quickly I was back in the zone while photographing on the street. At times it felt like images were coming to me and I wasn’t having to search as hard as I do in Los Angeles sometimes. I especially found that interesting because I spent more time on this trip than ever before photographing South of the river, especially around Daly Square where I don’t usually go.
My Chicago portfolio is special to me, and I envision having an impact on others in book form and as part of a permanent collection. The Chicago Historical Society already has some of my photographs in their collection and hopefully I can find more homes in the city for my work soon.
This trip also inspired me to start digitizing more Chicago negatives and I have added some of those recently scanned images to my Chicago Portfolio here on my website.
Below are some of the images from my March 2024 trip:
CHI DSC 3029 3-22-24 “Untitled” (Wells & Wacher, Chicago)
Chicago Photograph brings back memories of 25 years ago
When I got back from Chicago in March and started going through all my images I came across this photograph above. At first glance I saw how the elements in the frame were interesting, and I understood how I was drawn to make the exposure. But when I zoomed in, I immediately realized that the little girl in the stroller looked so similar to my daughter Alyssa at that age and that reminded me how often we used to take her to Chicago for vacations. The little girl in the stroller is so alert to the world around her just like Alyssa was at that age. I am assuming it was seeing the stuffed animal in the girl’s arm that really made the connection. The girl is clutching it in such a protective way, you know how special the toy is for her. My daughter was exactly the same way, and that period of innocence was so wonderful. The image brought to mind how much a parent tries and protect their children when they are young and also how in today’s society I still worry about my adult children’s safety as crime and world tensions rise. Viewing this image became an incredibly intense experience rather quickly as I realized everything I just mentioned, and I was not expecting that. The experience motivated me to revisit my negatives and see what images I had of Alyssa when we would take her Chicago when she was young. Below is one of my Chicago photographs from 25 years ago when Alyssa two years old.
CHI-171 #29 5-03-99 - Alyssa Valentine at the Hancock Tower
I don’t know if there is too much more to say about these images or the recent experience. I don’t want to make it into something more than it is, but I thought there was value in sharing how I felt with people interested in my work or just interested a photographer’s process. I think it not only gives insight to the fact I am an admitted romantic, but it also highlights how a photograph can evoke strong emotions from the image maker even when that was not the original intent. I know everyone brings their own experiences with them when they view an image and that people often have different responses to images based on their own prior experiences. I also want to point out that images can become more important overtime and develop new layers of meaning particularly if public opinion of the subject matter changes or if the subject matter documents change in and of itself. Viewers opinions can also change over time as they have different experiences with the same image. These are all some of the reasons why I don’t delete image files or purge old negatives.
CHI DSC_6274_ 03-26-2024 - Laureen V. Connelly with her Cook County Assessor’s Office Certificate of Retirement plaque documenting 25 years of service.
Nikon Z6ii with a 24-120mm lens - Ms Connelly with her Retirement plaque
This photograph is another one from my Chicago trip that took on more so much more meaning once I got home and started going through the editing process. I am sure the faces, the contrast, and the forms all drew my intention when I made this exposure. I almost overlooked it until I zoomed in on the plaque that the woman was carrying and realized it was tack sharp and I could read what it said. The plaque is from the Cook County Assessor’s Office and was recognizing her retirement after 25 years of service, I could also read her name, Laureen V. Connelly. Being a block away from the Cook County Building I assume that this woman was coming from her old office where she had just had a retirement lunch, or reception, and they presented her with this plaque. I have no idea who the woman with here is, but I would guess it might be a daughter or even a former coworker that is a close friend.
With the information in the image, and some reasonable assumptions this image now has become pretty powerful. Laureen and the woman with her look rather solemn, like there might be a lot of reflection and thought going on. I can envision Laureen having the realization of the change in her life might be pretty intense. I assume she had a cubicle type job where she pushed a lot of paper and with it being the Assessor’s Office some of the citizens she interacted with daily might not have been in the best moods. But I can also imagine she took pride in her work and liked some of her coworkers. Change is not always easy and after 25 years to walk out of the office for the last time with just a pension and a basic plaque might be a little tough. The person with Laureen seems to be there in a supportive role. We can all imagine our own scenario of details with this image, and it doesn’t matter who is the most accurate. What is important here is the fact this person spent 25 years doing a job and is walking away with a basic plaque. Does this plaque really sum up her career? It lends the viewer to reflect on their own career and the real impact it is having on themself, on others, and society. This image allows the viewer to run with it. For me when I saw this, I reflected back on my law enforcement career and how it didn’t end on my terms because of an injury. The sudden change was not easy and luckily for me I had my family and my photography career to fill some of the void.
Between the two version I think the black and white image works best because I find the colors in the frame don’t add anything to the image and the monochrome version seems to be more appropriate for my interpretation of the mood. I just wanted to share both versions here so every viewer could have their own experience with the image.
This image is also a great example of how sharp the Nikkor 24-120mm Z lens is and how well it works with a Nikon Z6ii camera body; the autofocus capability is outstanding. UPDATE!!! Nikon Z6iii is out, and Preorders are being accepted at Samys Camera, with expected June 25th availability.
CHI DSC_6274_ 03-26-2024 - Black and White version
Museum of Contemporary Photography - Columbia College - March 2024
I hate to admit it but it had been a long time since I made it down to the Museum of Contemporary Photography. If I remember correctly, it was when I heard Duane Michaels lecture before a book signing. So, I decided to make MoCP my first gallery stop on the trip, and it was worth the visit. Their galley space is designed so well and is perfect for a university gallery.
The exhibition Captured Earth runs through Sunday August 18th, 2024, and Featurins works by: Ana Teresa Barboza, Karl Blossfeldt, Jeremy Bolen, Alan Cohen, Antonia Contro with sound design Lou Mallozzi, Barbara Crane, Odette England, Whit Forrester, Bertha E. Jaques, Dakota Mace, Robert Mapplethorpe, Byung-Hun Min, Liza Nguyen, Tarrah Krajnak, Martha Madigan, John Opera, Eliot Porter, Meghann Riepenhoff, Rachel Sussman, and Penelope Umbrico. The Exhibition was curated by Kristin Taylor, Curator of Academic Programs and Collections at the Museum of Contemporary Photography.
Thanks to Ram for accompanying me to the South Side on this one. A true Renaissance man: From a D-1 College Football lineman to a Yoga instructor who throws some clay when he isn’t carrying my daughter’s hockey bag.
On Monday we made a quick pass through the Chicago Cultural Center which has a variety of things in it. For me the most interesting thing about it is the architecture. The design and the craftsmanship throughout the building are incredible. I am including the visit here with my MoCP post because we were able to see another example of work by ingenious artists in the CCC’s gallery.
Transformative Threads is an exhibition featuring Dorothy Burge, Miridith Campbell (Kiowa), Mahwish Chishty, and Melissa Doud (Ojibwe) which is open in the historic Grand Army of the Republic Hall at the Chicago Cultural Center until December 8, 2024. The subject matter of the exhibition is perfect for the hall, and I respect the artist’s perspective, but the space is so massive the exhibition gets lost in there. I was way more interested in the building and the space just because of how impressive it is. Worth the visit to see the building and Buddy (the gift shop) is pretty hip.
David Goldblatt: No Ulterior Motive
Before I went back to Chicago I looked online and saw that David Goldblatt’s retrospective was up in the Art Institute’s Photography Galleries and noted the exhibition was closing while I was there.
I was aware of Goldblatt’s work but did not know it well, and I have never focused on South African photographers from a regional viewpoint. I obviously was aware of the social and political issues South Africa has gone through during my lifetime, but I never immersed myself in photographs from there as a whole. I do recall being very interested in South African photographer Kevin Carter and I have a had newspaper clipping of his obituary on my darkroom wall for close to 30 years. Carter documented a lot of pain and suffering in his lifetime, the nightmares from the things he witnessed eventually became too much and he took his own life. His photograph that accompanied his obituary was of a South African neo-Nazi Afrikaner Resistance Movement (AWB) member begging for his life moments before he was executed in Bophuthatswana, March 1994. It is an intense image, and I kept the article because of the message it had about dealing with the things you witness when you photograph bad things.
I was not “wow’ed” by the Art Institute’s online description of the exhibition, it was okay, but it wouldn’t have motivated me to plan a special trip to see it. So, when I eventually entered the exhibition I did so just interested to learn more about Goldblatt and his photographs. As I walked around the show it didn’t take long to realize that this was powerful the exhibition and that David Goldblatt was an excellent photographer. The exhibition exceeded my expectations gave me such a better appreciation of Goldblatt, other South African photographers, and the conditions which people in South Africa endured.
I was impressed that Goldblatt was able to document South Africa so completely. It is one thing to capture historical events like Kevin Carter did, but it is another thing to document something as complex as a country in depth. Goldblatt obviously had the skills to get to know different people and then make those people comfortable in front of his camera. Given the racial tensions of the period when Goldblatt photographed it was incredible he was able to document all sides so well. I also loved that Goldblatt documented the subtle important details of his country like the churches and mining. I came away from this exhibition with such a better understanding of South African and the people. I also had no idea the country was such a bleak landscape aesthetically.
The Art Institute of Chicago introduced the exhibition with the following:
Known for his nuanced portrayals of life under and after apartheid, South African photographer David Goldblatt (1930–2018) devoted himself to documenting his country and its people.
Born into a family of Lithuanian Jews who emigrated to South Africa, Goldblatt focused much of his work on Johannesburg, the city where he lived for most of his life. His relative freedom to move within a society bitterly divided by racial segregation influenced the critical perspective of his work. In a church facade, down a mineshaft, through the exchange of glances between a passing man and woman, Goldblatt recorded the uneven application and reception of South Africa’s political values and beliefs.
The Exhibition Title: “No Ulterior Motive”
If you say that someone has an ulterior motive for doing something, you believe that they have a hidden reason for doing it.
The exhibition included photographs from two other groups of photographers. One group, which included Robert Adams, considered photography’s privileged relationship to reality and its ability to effect social, political. and environmental change. The second group was South African photographers who had attended Goldblatt’s Market Photo Workshop. Goldblatt founded the workshop in 1989 to develop emerging local photographers with a goal to help bring his country closer together again after years of internal turmoil.
A powerful reminder of the staggering loss of life during the AIDS epidemic. After enduring the Covid Pandemic I am afraid many people have forgotten this chapter of world history.
I love the power of this image; it reminds me of one of Leonard Freed’s Police Work images where he focuses in on just the officer’s equipment, almost exactly the same portion of the torso.
(Link to exact image I am referencing, it is on the 12th page of the PDF)
Goldblatt’s photographs of churches were so beautiful. They were wonderful architectural images, but they were deep with meaning capturing the issues of a missionary religion in a nonnative land. They symbolize the conflicts within the country which mirrored issues throughout other parts of the world. When I thought about South Africa it was about Apartheid and relationships between blacks and whites, I had not considered the impact of western religion on the indigenous population (I should have because it is an issue still in our country today), nor did I know about the issues with the Muslim population in the country. In researching the issue of religion further, it appears the conflicts and violence in South Africa related to it appear to be ongoing to this day.
The photograph above of Ozzie and his daughter is wonderful, they look like great people and Nassima looks so full of life. I had no idea this population was in South Africa nor about how their businesses werer destroyed under the Group Areas Act.
The layers of meaning in this image are incredible, it absolutely was one of my favorite prints in the exhibition. It speaks to so many different issues, there is humor, tension, and great composition.
These two images are examples of how brilliant a photographer Goldblatt was. To think to photograph in a funeral home office, then garner the trust of the people there to actually photograph there and come away with images of a basic environment that are so deep with layers of meaning and information is incredible. I keep revisiting the top image and pondering the fact there is a tapestry of the NASA moon landing in the office of a South African funeral parlor.
For a portrait to work for me I always want more information than just what the subject looks like, I want to know about their environment; I think the only photographer to pull off photographing just the person well was Richard Avedon. The subtle information in these images is outstanding. Depicts a bleak, hard, lifestyle. I like his composition with the square format images especially. When I look at the photograph of J.J. Oosthuizen in his office (upper right) I can feel how hot and uncomfortable it is. He obviously holds a position of authority as a Senior Township Superintendent, but it looks like a miserable job. The juxtaposition of this photograph in the exhibition was next to a photograph of a man butchering a broken-down horse which also added to the experience seeing the image.
I see innocence and hope in this image, it suggests the kids are capable of being color blind. These kids are just laughing and playing together for Goldblatt’s camera. The world today needs more innocence and less stress.
This is one of those photographs when I look at it, I can imagine all the other senses from the moment, the temperature, the odors, and maybe even some dust. I love the composition as well; the framing makes the image more powerful by including all the extra information.
Goldblatt’s photograph of The Dethroning Cecil John Rhodes - University of Cape Town April 9, 2015, is another great image. The vantage point he chose was perfect because it documents the scale and showcases the relationship between the youth and the country beyond. I also like that the image captures all the people using cellphones and tablets to film or photograph the event. This element speaks to the medium of photography as well as the time in history, it’s another great layer. I also love that fact that Goldblatt was still getting out with the people and photographing at 85 years old. That is one of the wonderful things about being a photographer you never have to retire from it, if you adjust you can keep making images all the way to the end, or at least that’s my goal. Earlier this month I was out photographing the WeHo Pride parade with 84-year-old LA based photographer Ave Pildas and it took considerable effort for me to keep track of where he was because he kept darting through the crowd and often the actual parade (Also, height wise Ave doesn’t stand out like I do).
Goldblatt’s color images are beautiful, and they showcase his ability to photograph in different styles. The photographs perfectly document the environmental issues Goldblatt was bringing to our attention. I was not aware of Blue Asbestos mining or the issues it caused in South Africa. These prints are perfect compliments to the rest of the exhibition.
As I have said throughout this post this was a good exhibition, incredible images which were curated and displayed perfectly. I have paid more and more attention to the choices curators make when it comes to selection and exhibition design, it is an artform of its own. Matthew Witkovsky, Leslie Wilson, and Yechen Zhao from the Art Institute of Chicago curated this exhibition with Judy Ditner from Yale. David Goldblatt’s archive was acquired by the Yale University Art Museum in 2018. The Yale University Press published the accompanying catalogue for the exhibition.
Announcement and Reviews
Exhibition Announcement Press Release
A special thanks to my tour guide Alyssa for taking the day off from deciphering Genetics stuff to guide me around the galleries of the Art Institute.
NASA Photograph by Bill Anders - December 24, 1968, at 16:39 Hours with a highly modified Hasselblad 500 EL.
"Earthrise" Photographer (& Astronaut) Bill Anders dies in plane crash
The above photograph is one of the most iconic images from the 20th century and it was taken by Astronaut Bill Anders who died in a plane crash yesterday in Washington State. The press release and CNN announcement are listed at the bottom of this post. I assume he may have had some type of medical emergency and left this world doing something he loved, flying.
Apollo 8 Astronaut WIlliam Anders - NASA Official Photo
But since my focus is Photography, I wanted to recognize Bill Anders here on my blog for his contribution of capturing one of the most iconic images of all time. Bill is credited with taking the photograph above which was the first color photograph of the earth from the perspective of the moon. I was five years old when this image was taken and have seen it countless times in my life. It is one of the most published images ever and it has been used to generate dialogue on our place in the universe and the reality we are a very tiny part of everything that is. something people often lose sight of with their perspectives on earth.
With the news of his passing, I decided to research the photograph and Anders. I found the Wikipedia entry on the image and the events of December 24, 1968 to be outstanding and I encourage you to visit that link learn more. I was amazed the details of the photograph were so well documented and I found it interesting that mission commander Frank Borman took a black-and-white photograph of the scene, with the Earth's terminator touching the horizon just prior to Bill Anders making his exposure. I also loved that the post documented the conversation the Astronauts jokingly had about not taking unauthorized photographs. I huge component of the Apollo 8 mission was to document the moon and they only had so much film loaded in their cameras which were modified for the conditions they were photographing in. In today’s digital world so many younger people will have no appreciation of being judicious with exposures because of the amount of film you have with you. I also love how the Wikipedia post details how the film, Kodak Extachrome 220 slide film, was driven from Houston to Corpus Christi, Texas where a private lab had the capability of processing the film in four hours. The Wikipedia page is a great read. I also think recounting these images is a good reminder how so many of, especially in today’s world, are photographers and both Anders and Borman crafted nice images on that day in 1968.
Mission commander Frank Borman’s Black and White photograph taken moment before Ander’s color image. NASA photo
Moonrise, Hernandez New Mexico by Ansel Adams 1941
I think I should also mention Moonrise over Hernandez, New Mexico by Ansel Adams which I assume was the inspiration for the title given to Ander’ photograph. Moonrise is another one of photography’s most iconic images and one of Ansel’s most famous images. I remember when I was studying photography at Arizona State University that a print of Moonrise sold for a then record price of $64,000 and Professor Bill Jay lead some incredible discussions about the image and the impact the sale amount had on the medium of photography.
It is always sad when chapters of history close with the loss of someone but that is the only way new chapters can be written. I hope that in the coming years our generations will be able to write more positive chapters than negative ones, we haven’t started out well with that this century. God Bless Bill Anders and thank you for your courage and contributions during your lifetime. Below are a number of links about Photographer /Astronaut Bill Anders:
William Anders, a NASA astronaut who was part of the 1968 Apollo 8 crew who were the first three people to orbit the moon, has died in a plane crash in Washington state, according to his son, Gregory Anders. He was 90 years old.
My “dad passed in an aircraft incident in the San Juan Islands,” Anders told CNN Friday evening. “The family is devastated and grieving the loss of a great pilot,” he added.
The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release an aircraft went down off the coast of Jones Island.
© 2024 William Karl Valentine - Fatal Collision, Chino, California (CPD DSC 1344 1-9-24) Nikon Z6ii with a 24-120mm Lens. ISO 16,000 f/4 1/320 at 24mm
The Best Camera for Low Light Photography - Nikon Z6ii / Nikon Z6 iii rumors
My photographs documenting the Pasadena Police Department in the 1980’s are some of my best-known images. I spent over a thousand hours riding in police cars documenting the officers working for that portfolio. I started off photographing with a Nikon F and finished up with a couple Nikon FM2 bodies. I used Kodak Plus-X film mostly, and later on I used some T-Max 400. Since I was photographing mostly at night, I used a Sunpak 522 Thyristor off camera flash which paired up great. The exposures were good, and the high contrast of the flash added to the images. Throughout my law enforcement career when I photographed at night, I had to use a flash although I did experiment pushing Kodak T-Max 3200 to an ISO of 25,000 one night. I actually got images using just streetlights, but they were very grainy.
A couple years ago I was asked to come back out and start documenting the Chino Police Department, where I had worked for 20 years, and I immediately agreed. I had been looking for an opportunity to photograph law enforcement in today’s world to compare the new images with my work from the 1980’s. I started off using a Nikon D850 with a flash and I tried photographing some without a flash since today’s sensors are so improved. I wasn’t getting great exposures in low light with the D850, the grain was too much, and the camera struggled with focusing. The D850 can produce some beautiful images in perfect conditions, but I have never loved the camera, especially the auto focus. I eventually went and talked to my friends at Samy’s Camera in Pasadena, some of them I have known for 40 years, and I asked which cameras performed best in low light conditions. I expected they would suggest a Sony A7IV or A1 or A9. Sony’s are amazing cameras and I had rented several different models recently when I was considering switching over to their brand. I liked the Sony’s I rented but none were perfect. Several of my contacts told me the Nikon Z6ii as the best low light still camera on the market. They explained that the smaller, 24 MB, full frame sensor handled noise better than most the 45MB sensors. I had no interest in the original release of Nikon Z series camera bodies because they did not have an SD card slot option and I was skeptical that the new lens mount adaptor would work well with my older lenses. I had recently read that Nikon had their Z line to now have SD card slot options and my friends explained how well the lens mount adapter was designed. I had wrongly expected that the adaptor would change the focal length of my older lenses, but learned the adaptor doesn’t because the sensor in the mirrorless Z series cameras had been moved forward to accommodate the adapter while maintaining the original focal length of the older lenses and the new lenses are designed with the new sensor position in mind (the lack of a mirror allowed this design to work).
Everything sounded right so I bought a Nikon Z6ii as a kit with the 24-120mm f/4 lens, along with an adaptor for my older lenses. The camera performance has been outstanding, and the 24-120mm lens is one of the sharpest lenses I have ever owned. I am not going to get into a detailed tech review here because there are other people that do tech reviews for a living and have access to everything to compare. Links to some of those sites are listed at the bottom of this blog post. What I will talk about is how the camera is performing me.
In low light conditions, the images I am getting with the Z6ii are amazing. I took the camera to Chicago in March for a weekend as my primary camera and the images were great. I specifically went to photograph my daughter play in an ice hockey tournament and this lens and camera combination were the best I have every used in a rink before. I also took the adapter and an F mount 100-400mm lens and that worked well. The adapter handled the auto focus well and ergonomically was good. I ended up using the camera more for my street photography than I expected. Lately I have been using a Sony RX100 VII for my street photography because I use it from the hip and most people don’t realize I am photographing. In Chicago I started using the Z6ii some for my street images and I was getting better images with that the Sony, so I went with it. Most days were overcast so the light wasn’t fantastic but that was fine for the Z6ii. The auto focus was solid, and the lens was so sharp I got detail like I never have before. Here are a few examples of the camera from Chicago:
The experiences in Chicago inspired me to photograph on the street more with a Z body. I need to also share with you that earlier this year, after having success with the Z6ii, and after becoming more and more frustrated with the focus ability of my D850, I bought a Z8. The Nikon Z8 is one of the most incredible cameras I have ever owned, and I am just scratching the surface with learning all it is capable of. The sensor captures outstanding images and the camera focusing is such a huge upgrade. I also got a 24-120mm lens for the Z8 which pairs perfectly. In recent months I have also added the following Z lenses: a 26mm, a 40mm, and a 105mm macro. All three of these fixed length lenses are super sharp. I bought the 105mm, which is capable of a 1:1 magnification like the old 60mm F mount Nikkor lens, primarily to do copy stand work of my old negatives so I can digitize the images (I have a process where I upload image files in Bridge to crop, open them in Photoshop to Invert the image, then return to Bridge to finetune it). I bought the 26mm and 40mm as walk around lenses and incase I wanted to take the camera into certain venues with camera restrictions. Both those lenses are sharp, super-fast, and lightweight. The 40mm is a little hard to use walking through crowds but the extra length has been great in certain situations. The 26mm is ideal for walking on the street and photographing from the hip, I have been able to use it somewhat like a range finder, and it is so small people don’t notice it. It also has a great balance when photographing with one hand a waist level. The 40mm and 26mm lenses are also very reasonably priced.
Example Images with Technical Information:
Camera lens and strap options for Street Photography
I know it is late notice, but Nikon has all their Z camera bodies and lenses on sale through the end of this week. Camera bodies are discounted about 25% and lenses are about 20%. My daughter purchased a Z6ii with a 24-120mm lens, and the 26mm lens online from Nikon last week for approximately $2,400. She found an online coupon that coupled with Nikon’s Z discounts, and she utilized Nikon’s two-year interest free purchase plan (I purchased my Z8 with their 0% interest plan as well). Nikon is being very aggressive in the market now so I would expect the sales to continue or be brought back with some frequency this year.
I have a Peak Camera strap system on my Z6ii. I love the design of the locking disc. It makes it easy to go from a traditional camera strap position to a solo wrist strap position. The wrist strap pairs great when the 26mm lens is on for street images.
There are lots of amazing cameras and lenses on the market today, I have always used Nikon, I have friends that swear by Canon, and I know lots of people have gone all in with Sony. Because of all the variables I don’t think it is possible to have a camera that does every task perfectly, especially since cameras are now as much about video as still images. But I am convinced that right now the Z6ii is the best camera for photographing in low light conditions. I researched it online, talked to people with expertise, tested several different bodies and nothing came close to the Z6ii in low light. I am sure technology with continue to evolve and there will be better cameras in the future, but right now the Z6ii is my suggestion. (I also want to acknowledge that many cellphones like the iPhone 14 & 15 also create amazing low light images but obviously don’t have the same capabilities of real camera body)
Nikon Z6iii - Now Pre-Ordering $2,496.95 Delivery estimated 6/25/24
As I was wrapping up this post, I checked Nikon Rumors and saw there was talk that Nikon might be announcing a Z6iii in a couple weeks which could explain all the recent sales. Well, it has been announced and I wanted to update this. Samy’s has a great video review of the camera already on their order page for the camera. Link below.
The Z6iii has been announced and pre-orders are now being taken by Samys and B&H
Links to Reviews:
A Long Arc - Photography and the American South
When I was studying photography at Arizona State, I became aware of the FSA photographers, the photographers who documented the Civil Rights Movement, Matthew Brady, and William Christenberry. The images these photographers captured impacted how I see today. I remember installing Christenberry’s photographs for an exhibition at the Northlight Gallery in Matthews Hall on campus, and being in awe of how beautiful the prints were. Christenberry’s work probably was the most obvious in documenting the American South, he captured scenes that only exist there. At that time in my life when I was looking at the work of other photographers working in the South I was focused more on the specific subject matter and the craftsmanship of the images. Over time, from revisiting my own images, I have gained a better understanding of how many layers of meaning an image can actually have. Some images may have an obvious singular message, but many images have multiple layers of meaning and information once you learn how to look at photographs. I also remember Bill Jay stressing to us in class that every viewer brings their own experiences to each image and what is important to one viewer may not be important to another.
One of the people I follow on social media is Gregory Harris who is the is the High Museum of Art’s Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography. I have had the opportunity to meet Greg and I greatly respect his knowledge of Contemporary and Documentary Photography. At the end of last year, I saw him announce the release of the catalogue / book titled A long Arc Southern Photography which accompanied the exhibition at the High Museum. I was immediately interested in the book, so I contacted the High Museum gift shop to arrange a purchase. The book is the subject of this blog post, a post that is woefully overdue.
Weighing in at over 4 lbs. this 304 page Aperture book with over 275 photographs was published last November to accompany the exhibition which opened at the High Museum and is now currently on display at The Addison Gallery of Art at the Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts until July 31st. From there it moves to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts for an exhibition opening October 5th, 2024. The book is a beast, but it must be to properly cover the subject matter otherwise they would have omitted important photographers. I love the layout of the book and the content; it is an amazing documentation of the history of photography in the American South. The printing is good, and I like the fact the image descriptions and titles accompany the images. The dimensions of the book are unique, but it works well, allowing creativity with the image placement on the pages. The amount of information in this book, written and actual images, is incredible. The only complaint I have about the book is the font size and text padding are smaller than I prefer, it isn’t an easy read, but I understand why that is because it would probably add another twenty-five plus pages to an already big book.
This book really brought in to focus how important the American South has been to the history of photography. As I stated above, early on in my career I was aware of many of the notable photographers who had photographed in the South, but I hadn’t given any thought to how much the region was actually documented. When I started going through this book I was immediately impressed by how many great photographers had photographed in the South. I also was surprised to learn that some images I knew well, but had not considered the location, had actually been photographed in the South; the cover image of Robert Frank’s The Americans book is an example of one of those images.
A Long Arc - Photography and the American South - Page Examples:
Much of America is changing today because of ideological influences, migration, and a host of other factors that are too complex to get in to here. Many of our major cities have quality of life issues with things like the high cost of living, overcrowding, and criminal justice failures. Having visited Atlanta a couple years ago I felt the region seemed less affected by the problems in other parts of the country. I am not naïve to problems of the South’s past, but I didn’t feel the same racial tension in Atlanta that I have felt recently in Los Angeles (which has increased dramatically from when I was younger). The small portion of the South I have seen seems to be more like the America of the 20th Century than a lot of other parts of the country are today and I appreciate that. It is important to retain our American identity as a society while still appreciating and respecting the diversity within the whole. I think the residents in the South may be doing a better job of this than other regions of our country. So, with all this said, I think this book also has value documenting the community of the South which is separate from the history of photography element of the book. Another thing to appreciate is how many images in the book also document important historic and transformative moments in American history.
I have reviewed several books here on my blog and with each the goal is to give a fair evaluation of the book along with my personal taste opinions. One thing I always try to identify is who the book is best suited for, since photography interests and tastes are so varied and photography books can be expensive. This is one of the few recent books that I believe would be a good addition to anyone’s photography library. This book is as complete a document as you can author for the subject. The reader will definitely learn something new about the medium and probably rediscover some images they had not thought about in a while. The book is well worth the price, Amazon now has it for $47. It is important for photographers to understand the history of the medium to be good at their craft. I know most of us think New York is the center of the photographic universe but the photographs from the American South are some of the most important images ever made.
The book’s official description is as follows:
Collects over 175 years of key moments in the visual history of the Southern United States, with over two hundred and fifty photographs taken from 1845 to present. The South is perhaps the most mythologized region in the United States and also one of the most depicted. Since the dawn of photography in the nineteenth century, photographers have articulated the distinct and evolving character of the South’s people, landscape, and culture and reckoned with its fraught history. Indeed, many of the urgent questions we face today about what defines the American experience—from racism, poverty, and the legacy of slavery to environmental disaster, immigration, and the changes wrought by a modern, global economy—appear as key themes in the photography of the South. The visual history of the South is inextricably intertwined with the history of photography and also the history of America, and is therefore an apt lens through which to examine American identity. A Long Arc: Photography and the American South accompanies a major exhibition at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, with more than one hundred photographers represented, including Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Gordon Parks, William Eggleston, Sally Mann, Carrie Mae Weems, Dawoud Bey, Alec Soth, and An-My Lê. Insightful texts by Imani Perry, Sarah Kennel, Makeda Best, and Rahim Fortune, among others, illuminate this broad survey of photographs of the Southern United States as an essential American story. Copublished by Aperture and High Museum of Art, Atlanta
Details
Format: Hardback
Number of pages: 304
Number of images: 275
Publication date: 2023-11-21
Measurements: 8.07 x 11.42 inches
ISBN: 9781597115513
Contributors
Imani Perry is the Hughes-Rogers Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and a faculty associate with the programs in law and public affairs, gender and sexuality studies, and jazz studies.
Makeda Best is the Richard L. Menschel Curator of Photography at the Harvard Art Museums.
LeRonn P. Brooks is associate curator for modern and contemporary collections at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.
Rahim Fortune is a photographer living and working between Austin and Brooklyn.
Grace Elizabeth Hale is commonwealth professor of American studies and history at the University of Virginia.
Maria L. Kelly is assistant curator of photography at the High Museum of Art.
Scott L. Matthews is assistant professor of history at Florida State College at Jacksonville.
Press Quotes:
“The magnificence of a retrospective like this is not just the accounting offered by its historical sweep, but the way it conveys the immense complexity of this region, to inspire a renewed attention to the cruel radiance of what is. Suffering does not always lead to compassion and change, but photographs like these remind us that standing in witness to suffering surely should.”—Margaret Renkl, The New York Times
“…these photographs demonstrate how essential the South has been not only to American history and identity, but to American photography—from Mathew Brady’s battlefield images of the Civil War (1861–65) to the intimate interiors of Carrie Mae Weems.”—Andrew Durbin, Frieze magazine
Additional Information about the Exhibition:
You Tube Video of the Installation at the High Museum (11 mins)
Winogrand Color & Friedlander's The People's Pictures
This blog post is a review of several new photography books I recently added to my library.
The release of Winogrand Color was my motivation to go book shopping online. I have mentioned this time and again I love Winogrand’s photographs, and I am always interested books about his work. While ordering the Winogrand book I also came across The People’s Pictures by Lee Friedlander and two other books which were on sale and looked interesting, so I added them to the cart as well.
Twin Palms publishers describes Winogrand Color as follows
Winogrand Color presents 150 photographs selected from the archives at the Center for Creative Photography by the American film director, Michael Almereyda and former Museum of Modern Art curator, Susan Kismaric. It is the first monograph dedicated to the artist's rarely seen color work.
Images were selected from the 45,000 color slides that Winogrand photographed in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Published November 2023, 12” x 12”, 176 pages, 150 four color plates.
The retail price is $85. Twin Palms produced two slipcase editions of 50 which are already sold out at ($300 ea) and they produced a limited edition of 750 books with an alternative cover image ($85) which is still available. The first edition printing is 7,000 books.
My first impression of Winogrand Color was good. I like the page layouts; I think the image sizes and book size are appropriate and the design is clean and simple, which I really like. The printing is very good, many images have deep shadow areas, and the printer was able to keep shadow details while still achieving solid blacks where appropriate. In reading the book detail I saw it was printed in Turkey and that several people were involved in the image restoration process, this suggested the Winogrand’s transparencies may not have been properly processed or stored.
As a document the book is good. First it documents an era in color well that most of us remember primarily in black and white. Second, and most importantly, the book allows us to see more Winogrand photographs, most of these images we have not seen before, and that allows the viewer to gain deeper knowledge about one of the greatest documentary photographers of all time. The photographs in this book also reaffirm that Winogrand was not wedded solely to Black and White photography. I remember in the 2018 documentary film on him, “All things are Photographable”, where Winogrand spoke about photographing with color film but had reservations about it because, at the time, he could not produce archival prints of color images. It showed the choice was at least partially a business decision not just an artistic one. So, as a photographer myself, the photographs in this book gave me a lot of clues about how Garry Winogrand photographed.
Many of Winogrand’s most famous images were made with a 28mm lens on a Leica M4. A number of the color images in the book seem to be made with longer legnth lenses. Winogrand is at his best when there are layers of information in his image. Winogrand was quoted numerous times talking about how he liked his photographs to be more interesting than the subject matter and how he photographed to see what something looked like photographed. With a wide-angle lens, you tend to have more content in the frame which lends itself to what Winogrand was after. You can still achieve images with deep meaning using longer focal lengths, Max Yavno is someone who photographed that way, but it did not seem to be Winogran’s typical approach. Thinking of Winogrand’s Women are Beautiful, when I saw the entire portfolio displayed at Pier 24’s exhibition “The Grain of the Present” in 2017, I really became aware of how rarely he used a longer lens.
This book begins with a number of longer focal length images at Coney Island I assume. They seemed more voyeuristic than insightful and I questioned if these were images that Winogrand really would have included in a portfolio or if he was just exploring with his camera. Was the color film and the focal lengths a careful creative decision or was it more spontaneous. I don’t know how Garry set up his cameras related to film type or if he carried similar focal length lenses. I have seen video of Winogrand photographing in the 1980’s and he had a single camera in hand and camera bag, but he didn’t seem to be transitioning to a second camera body. I wonder if Winogrand had his primary Lieca M4 with the 28mm lens loaded with black and white film and then had a telephoto lens on another Leica loaded with color slide film? Having photographed in the pre-digital era I remember having to carry two camera bodies if I wanted to photograph in color and black and white. It would also make sense logistically if he had a telephoto lens on the camera with color film too, because if he wanted to use a telephoto lens for a black and white image, he could just trade the lenses between bodies. (It is unfortunate that so many photographers today have never worked with analog cameras because it would give them a greater appreciation of what photographers in the past accomplished.)
Several images in the book looked to me as if Winogrand saw something that interested him, and he used the color film camera to just see the difference of how the image would be in color. One example is his famous image of a couple in Central Park Zoo with the baby monkeys. The famous black and white image is framed so much better than the color image in this book. Interestingly when examining and comparing the color and the black and white imagers of the couple it is obvious the color image was photographed with a wide angel lens and that the black and white image may have been photographed with a slightly longer length lens but still not a telephoto lens. The black and white image is the better composed and the lack of color helps the viewer focus on the details within the frame. There are a few images in the book that seem just okay like he was making an exposure to see the difference but not with the intent to ever exhibit the image. The photo in the book of a boxing match where you basically just see the ceiling looks like an absolute mistake, like it was an accidental exposure (Like most photographers I have captured many mistakes in my time). There are a number of images in this book that seem to fall short. This book is not an example of Winogrand’s best work, and I question the curator’s selections and wonder if Winogrand would have showcased the same images; I also can’t imagine if the editors had 45,000 color images that this collection was the best of that lot. I have not been able to find a concise statement about this book from either Tod Papageorge or Joel Meyerowitz who photographed with Winogrand during this time and know his process better than most people; I would love to hear their review of it. I think Arthur Lubow from the New York Times wrote a solid article reviewing the book and comparing Winogrand’s color work with other noted photographers working with color film at the time. The only thing in Lubow’s article I would question is when he said this about the couple in the Central Park Zoo: “It is a biting and unsettling comment on the era’s prevailing slurs about interracial marriage.”. I completely understand interpreting this image this way with today’s viewpoints, and I am sure some viewers now, and through the years, share Lubbow’’s opinion. But I specifically remember Tod Papageorge discussing this image in the documentary film on Winogrand “All Things Are Photographable” and dispelling that intent. Papageorge was there with Winogrand when he photographed the couple and in fact Papageorge photographed Winogrand with the couple. In 2014 Tod Papageorge wrote an article about the image for Transatlantica that explains everything about it. I have authored a separate blog with more detail on this subject.
So, to wrap up my opinion of the book, it does have value for me since I get to see more examples of Winogrand’s work and continue to better understand him. This book is not a priority add for a photography library and it isn’t something everyone should buy. 1964 and Figments from the Real World are much better books that showcase Winogrand at his best. This book is for people wanting to learn more about Winogrand and how he photographed. I am happy I added it to my library, and I know other Winogrand fans will feel the same way.
I had not taken notice of The People’s Pictures by Lee Friedlander until I saw it listed at a sale price. The book was produced in 2021 by Ekins Press Foundation and was printed in East Greenwich, Rhode Island.
I like this book a lot. The design and printing are good as is the edit and image sequencing. It is impressive that there are images from five different decades in this book, the combination of the images makes a great documentation of our world. I love the first section of the book where Friedlander photographs people with cameras, I like to take those kinds of photographs myself. The second section where he is taking pictures of things with actual photographs in the frame is stylistically different than the documentary street style of the first section, and I see how that could be slightly confusing to someone. But I understand the connection and I think it works well. The only frustration I have with the book is the lack of written information. There isn’t an artist statement or much guidance about the collection other than two vague quotes from books that aren’t specifically about the work. I always think less is more with artist statements and I think it is best for viewers to see photographs and experience them without being influenced by a complex artist statement. Good images stand on their own and people should have their own unbiased experience with a photograph. But after that the viewer should be able to compare their experience with the artist statement to see if their experience was similar to what the artist was projecting with the image. I think I understand well what this catalogue is saying but I still would like confirmation and in some cases more information. In reading reviews of the book on line I saw some images had more detailed titles than in the book. For example plate #31 is of a photographer in New York City in 1975 photographing with a Leica. You can’t see the photographer’s face well, but I think it might be Garry Winogrand. If it is I would like to know it. The opposite image in the book is of a pig roast in Cold Spring, NY in 2013, a great photograph. I want to know why this pairing was made, what deeper statement was being made here. There are several other images where I know more information about the image exits but its not included in the book because I expect they wanted to keep a simple clean design throughout the book. I am fine with it; I just wish there was a detailed description in the back of the book that I could reference to learn more. I paid under $40 for the book which was a great value. This is a book I would suggest for anyone who likes documentary and street photography. You will learn something just by looking at the images and even though I mentioned I wanted a little more text information with it, I am fine without it and I think I understand why this book was designed this way. A fun addition to the library.
The two other books I had in this order were Los Angeles Portrait of a City (572 pages, 2009) and Dark City: The Real Los Angeles Noir (478 pages, 2018) both published by Taschen America. These are not fine art photography books but there are good photographs in both books and with my interest in documenting Los Angeles now, there was valuable information in both. Dark City also interested me because of the law enforcement and evidence photographs it had. If these books had not been on sale, I would have passed on them but their prices were reasonable, so I went for it. Jim Heimann authored both books and there is some overlap of content. These are not fine art photography books but both books contain some outstanding photographs and are interesting, especially since I have been documenting Los Angeles more.
Controversy over Garry Winogrand's Photograph of a couple at the Central Park Zoo
In authoring a blog post on the book Winogrand Color I came across a review of the book online by New York Times writer Arthur Lubow. I think it was a really accurate review about the images in the book. The only thing I didn’t agree with that Lubow wrote were part of his comments on the very famous Winogrand photograph on the left above. Lubow wrote “Even less successful is the color version of one of his most famous photographs, “Central Park Zoo, New York City” (1967), which shows a Black man and blonde woman, seemingly affluent, each carrying a fully clad chimpanzee. It is a biting and unsettling comment on the era’s prevailing slurs about interracial marriage. In the color image, probably taken an instant later, the man is looking at the camera, the woman’s expression has changed, and the impact is diffused by the photographer’s own obscuring shadow and a distracting crowd of passers-by.” As I stated in my other blog post I saw the Winogrand documentary film, “All Things are Photographable” where Papageorge discussed this image and shared his own photograph of Winogrand with the couple. Tod Papageorge explained he was with Garry Winogrand that day and he disputed the assumption that Winogrand was making a statement about interracial relationships with this photograph. Tod and Garry were close friends and I think Tod would have understanding of Garry’s beliefs and opinions. I researched this subject matter further and found an in-depth article, with photograph illustrations, that Papageorge had authored about the photograph for Transatlantica in 2014 on MoMA’s website.
I know I have shared this information in the body of another blog post, but I think the subject is important enough to highlight in a separate post specifically dealing with the perceived controversy with this image because it applies to other works by other people. It is wrong to apply current day feelings or cultural standards with things from the past. I am not saying we need to condone outdated beliefs or past behavior that would be wrong in our world today. I am saying things needs to be evaluated with perspective of the time of the event and without any attempt to cancel it because of the current values and opinions of a segment of society. Here is a good non-photo example of my point:
My son is a graduate of Choate Rosemary Hall, a well-known prep school in Connecticut. On one of my many visits back there I got to sit in on his English class during the events of a “parents’ weekend”. My son’s teacher was Ed McCatty who is an outstanding educator, now retired. McCatty, who is black, had the class reading Mark Twain’s 1884 classic book “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” at the time. In the classroom, with all these other parents visiting, McCatty called on a student to read the book out loud and the student became nervous because of the book uses the “N-word” a fair amount to describe Huck’s friend Jim who was a fugitive slave. Finally, McCatty took over reading and projected Twain’s words eloquently. Parents squirmed uncomfortably as McCatty read “that word” again and again. I had already met Ed on a previous visit, he was one of the faculty residents in my son’s dorm, I knew where he was going with the reading, so I sat back and enjoyed seeing a number of parents getting completely stressed over words written in the 19th century. McCatty eventually explained how it was important to interpret Twain’s writing based on the time it was written. He pointed out that even though Huck was using the term for Jim that it wasn’t being used in a derogatory manner for the time, and the fact that Twain wrote about a young white youth befriending a black fugitive slave it showed Twain had a progressive viewpoint. McCatty took the topic further, using examples in his own life, and ended up giving everyone a lesson that day which went far beyond literature.
Interpretations of images (and other things) can change quickly, we don’t need a hundred plus years to pass for feelings to change. The best example of this with my own work is this photograph below which is in the permanent collection at the Center for Creative Photography.
PPD-177 #23 March 1987 - William Karl Valentine
Officer Ware and Craddolph at search warrant related to a narcotics sales investigation.
When I displayed this photograph in the first couple decades after making the exposure most every viewer was compassionate for the child being raised in dangerous conditions and anger towards the parents for putting the child in the situation. Some people went on to acknowledge gratefulness for law enforcement for trying to protect the child and do something about the drug epidemic of the times. These are accurate opinions about what my image is about. But in the last decade plus a portion of our society has altered its perspective on law enforcement and I have been confronted about this image. I had an anonymous Instagram viewer question my ethics for taking the photograph when the woman was unable to defend herself. In 2020 the photograph was in a simple exhibition in Pasadena and several people demanded to have it taken down because they found it offensive, so that image was pulled from the wall by staff. I am fine with someone not liking my work or disagreeing with my interpretation of the world, but to censor me is outlandish. The First Amendment gives me as much right to express myself opinion as anyone else in this country. The fact that some people thing their feeling give them the authority to remove that right is infuriating. Most photographs are an accurate account of a fraction of a second of time, how we interpret them is another thing.
One final thing I want to get back to, the majority of Arthur Lubow’s opinion on Winogran’s color photograph of the couple at the Central Park Zoo is spot on. The image is not as good as the famous black and white image and for all the reasons Lubow points out in his description of the image. Lubow obviously knows how to look at photographs. The positioning of the subjects in the frame and Winogrand’s shadow make the color image way less impactful. If Winogrand had been using a digital camera, which obviously did not exist then, and decided to share this famous image in color I think it may have been impactful, but I can see how the bright colors could have been distracting from what was going on in the frame. I know in my own work sometimes bright colors in a color image distract the viewer from the shapes, forms, layers of meaning, and textures in the image which drew my eye. That was a big consideration I had with my Santa Anita book, I didn’t want the viewer to focus on the bright colors of the silks, the horses, and the grass, I wanted them to see the details and layers of information that came out in a black and white image. It is natural that our eyes are drawn to bright colors and when color is removed a photographer can direct the focus in an image. There are times that colors matter and for that I am thankful for the digital age where the decision can be made after the shutter was released. Knowing how many rolls of film that Winogrand exposed I can only imagine how many hard drives he would have filled and the thousands of more images he would have made.
Linde Lehtinen and William Karl Valentine at the Munger Research Center - The Huntington Library
Linde Lehtinen - Curator of Photographs - Huntington Library
On September 22nd, I had the amazing opportunity to meet with The Huntington Library’s Curator of Photographs, Linde Lehtinen, and explore a fraction of their Photography Collection. The Huntington has an incredible collection with over one million photographs, as well as photographic artifacts. Being born and raised in Pasadena I know the Huntington Library fairly well. I have walked the gardens numerous times, seen their famous paintings “Pinky” and “Blue Bloy”, smelled a Corpse Flower in bloom before, and I have seen a few photography exhibitions there. In fact, probably the best photography exhibition documenting Los Angeles that I have ever seen was the Huntington’s 2008 exhibition “This Side of Paradise - Body and Landscape in Los Angeles Photographs”. That show and accompanying catalogue were curated by former Huntington Curator of Photographs Jennifer A. Watts, independent curator Claudia Bohn-Spector, and Brown University Professor Douglas R. Nickel. But this was the first time I have ever had the opportunity to get an inside glimpse in to their amazing photography collection.
I was able to obtain this experience through the Los Angeles Center of Photography and one of their charity auctions. I am so thankful for the wonderful things that LACP does and I was happy to support them with my bid. I used my iPhone camera as my note taker for the event so this blog post is going to be more photos than words, which is always best with my posts. I will post gallery blocks for most items I saw. Linde chose the items to share based on our correspondence before the visit, selecting things I was interested in as well as unique pieces she was interested in seeing. In some cases, this was her first opportunity to really spend time with an item in the collection since the collection is so massive and the fact, she recently assumed her position.
Linde started off with the above Daguerreotypes. The first was a Daguerreotype made by photographing another Daguerreotype which was highly unusual but it created a richer image and allowed for reproducing an image. The second was on a mourning ribbon for Lincoln. I loved how this artifact was both a photograph and a piece of American History. The third was the largest Daguerreotype I have ever seen and when Linde tilted it the image was so rich. The link in this paragraph is to the Library of Congress’s definition and is very informative.
Preparing for my visit I researched the Huntington’s collection online and saw these two books and asked to see them. The red cover book was published in 1856, titled Photographs of the Most Beautiful Views and Public Buildings of San Francisco, G.R. Fardon's San Francisco Album is the earliest existing photographic record of an American city and one of the earliest of any city in the world. The dark cover book is William Henry Fox Talbot's Pencil of Nature, produced between 1844 and 1846. The Pencil of Nature was the first commercially published book illustrated with photographs. It contained twenty-four plates, a brief text for each, and text about Talbot’s invention of Photography, specifically the history and the chemical process. There are believed to only be 40 copies of this book that still exist today. As most readers of this blog will know, Talbot has been credited with discovering the photographic process in 1833, and with making the first negative in 1834. Most readers will also know that Nicéphore Niépce and Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre were working on discovering a photographic process with a Camera Obcsura in France during the 1820’s and that Dauguerre had perfected the Daguerreotype process by 1839 when he announced publicly. Most scholars I believe agree the processes were discovered concurrently. It was an intense feeling to be in the presence of these two books because I realized they were connecting me back to the beginning of a medium which is such an important part of my life. When we were looking at the Pencil of Nature, I knew that book had been produced just a decade after Talbot’s discovery of photography. In reading the pages of the book, seeing Talbot’s comments about the history and detail of his photographic process I felt like I had gone back in time and was listening to him telling me this story directly. The printing press / typeset work was beautiful, and I assume he supervised the printing of all photographs placed in the book. It was a truly powerful experience, and these books are so delicate now we had to view them in subdued lighting. Fardon’s book had images in better condition being produced another ten years later. What I loved about seeing Fardon’s book was it is a photographic record of something, it was a documentary project, the first book using photographs to accomplish that. Talbo't’s book was a history and resource guide about the medium. Fardon’s book could probably be considered the father of most all photography books. It is a wonderful documentation of San Francisco in the 1850’s.
Ansel Adams - Print from Portfolio One
I have seen lots of Ansel Adams prints in my travels, they have taught me so much about what a good print should look like, but I had never seen a copy of his Portfolio One in person before. Reading the portfolio’s accompanying documentation and seeing the general craftsmanship of the portfolio was a great reminder of what perfection looks like. It definitely helps ‘sharpen the saw’ seeing an Adams’s print. Linde also brought out a Hills Brother’s coffee can with an Adams photograph on the can. Adams had partnered with Hill’s Brothers to produce a limited edition run of coffee cans with his image Winter Morning Yosemite Valley on the side for some promotion, these can now be valued at upwards of $1,500. I am sure Ansel probably got some free coffee in the deal and was excited having one of his images get more attention and exposure. The Huntington has an actual coffee can as well as another unassembled side of the can before it was pressed. I had no idea this artifact existed, and I am happy Linde decided to share it with me.
Being born and raised in Pasadena I am very aware of the photographer Adam Clark Vroman who lived in Altadena and founded Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena which still is thriving today. Although his best-known photographs are of Southwest American Indians, I also knew he had photographed the local San Gabriel Mountains extensively. Because of this I had Linde if I could see some Vroman’s photographs in the collection. Above are some of the prints Linde shared with me. The San Gabriel Mountains, and specifically Mount Wilson are right above Pasadena and Altadena. If you live there, you see them every clear day (with the exception of rainy days and bad smog days back when I was a kid). I have hiked to Mt. Lowe and Henniger Flats growing up and knew about the famed Mt/ Low railway. It was awesome seeing these photographs because I have been there. I only know the trail to Mt. Wilson as a wide fire road so to see it as a horse trail was fun. I also loved the handwriting style with these photographs. One last thing about Vroman, Vroman’s Bookstore was the first place I ever did a book signing, back when I published my Santa Anita book.
I have always enjoyed the photographs of Edward Curtis and Karl Moon, I love the American Southwest desert and its history. The quality of the Curtis prints Linde showed me were incredible, so rich, the only problem was their surface was so shiny everything reflects in them. I was excited when I saw the Moon prints she had included Hopi Snake Dancers and a Snake Priest. As a kid I was interested about rattlesnakes and did at least one science report on them. I also remember learning about the Hopi and their tradition in grade school, and my parents took me on several road trips to the Hopi and Navajo reservations. Later on, I was lucky to get to know a couple Hopi and Navajo classmates when I went to ASU. I don’t recall ever seeing these specific images before.
The book Photographs West of the 100th Meridian , by Lt. George Wheeler was another interesting share. Timothy O’Sullivan was the official photographer who accompanied Lt George Wheeler and the Army Corps of Engineers on an expedition documenting the American West for the war Department between 1871 and 1874 and photographs are the basis of the book. I have so much respect for O’Sullivan and what he went through to photograph in those conditions with the equipment that was available during that era. His images are beautiful as well as being important documents,
I remember seeing Alexander Gardner’s “Harvest of Death” several times before, and I know it is one of the most famous photographs documenting the Civil War. What I either had forgotten or didn’t ever know, was the exposure was made by Timothy O’Sullivan, who was Gardener’s assistant, and that Gardner took credit for printing the image, while still crediting O’Sullivan for the negative. It was such a privilege to see this historic print with the notations on its original mounting board.
I knew about Photographer Mike Mandel’s work especially his Photographer Baseball Cards (below) but I had never heard of his 1974 book project Seven Never Before Published Portraits of Edward Weston. With the book Mandel reached out to as many people named Edward Weston as he could find and asked them to send him photographs of themselves along with answering some questions about themselves. The book is fun but at the same time also intellectually deep.
Mike Mandel’s 1975 Baseball Card project documenting photographers is legendary, and I just found this great video by the Worcester Art Museum of Mike talking about the project. Jim Hajicek was a professor at Arizona State University, and A.D. Coleman lectured there, while I was getting my BFA so I really liked seeing their cards. I appreciate Mike’s approach to the medium, it is healthy.
Bea Nettles “Mountain Dream Tarot” box of 78 photographic cards distributed by Light Impressions was another item I had never seen. This 1975 12 cm x 10 cm “book” is another example of how some photographers started to think about different ways which were appropriate to share their work. I loved the fact Light Impressions distributed it. Light Impressions used to be my primary vendor for all my archival product needs, back in the hard copy catalogue days, I even visited their Rochester, NY location once, while on a trip to the George Eastman House.
“Physogs” Facial Composit was a game released in 1939 in England. It was based on physiognomic principles, and instructed players how to read and construct facial features and character types as part of the game. When I saw this, it immediately reminded me of the Identi-kit that we used in law enforcement early in my career (1980’s -1990’s). The Identi-kit had drawings of parts of the facial features like this game but they were on clear acetate. You could stack the layers to get the final image then either photograph it of Xerox it for a suspect flier. You basically would sit there and mix and match the pieces getting input from the victim or witness to see if that part was similar to the suspect. The system was actually fairly decent and helpful for patrol officers looking for outstanding suspects. The latest versions are computerized.
This foldout book entitled Ginza Kaiwai 1954 by Shōhaci Kimura (1893 -1958), which documents the Tokyo Ginza district, immediately reminded me of Ed Ruscha's book Every Building on Sunset Strip, that he produced in 1967. I wonder if this inspired Ruscha for his project. I absolutely love the sketch / signature of the silhouette hanging out having a smoke. Love this book concept, a great document, would love to see it rephotographed and compare the changes.
Photographer Laura Aguilar was a key figure in the Chicanx and queer art scenes of Los Angeles. Linde shared Laura’s work with me and explained the value it brought to the collection as well as how much she personally liked Laura’s photographs. The photographs are good, I see why Linde likes the work. Laura’s images document important segments of our Southern California society, and I am thankful the Huntington is collecting artists like her. I also always value learning which artists and topics are holding a curator’s interest, that is so valuable to me as a photographer.
Linde recognizes the power photography has in documenting diverse cultures and she is exploring several future heritage projects. One such project includes curating their collection of Filipino photographic postcards. Linde explained she feels a strong connection to the images because of her own Filipino heritage. The image quality of these postcards was incredible, and it was impressive to see how much of their culture, past and present, was documented. I loved the fact that these postcards had actually been mailed. The postage stamps, the cancellation stamps, and the handwriting of the messages and addresses really made these items complete documents with lots of value.
Conclusion
I have never had an experience before like this visit to the Huntington Library’s Special Collections Reading Room, it was incredible. Linde was a great host and did an awesome job showcasing a fraction of their incredible collection. It honestly felt like we were together on an adventure checking out one treasure after the next. Linde told me she had never seen some of the items she brought out for my visit as and admitted she used my visit opportunity to get to know their collection better, I am glad she did. I am so thankful to Linde for putting so much effort into preparing for this meeting and I am also thankful for the Los Angeles Photography Center for making the opportunity available. I apologize that this blog post is massive, but I saw so much on the visit, and this blog post is basically my diary for those memories, so there is more content here than normal. I will wrap this up encouraging everyone to visit the Huntington Library, there is so much there to experience and its absolutely beautiful. I would also suggest that you follow their exhibition calendar, Linde is just starting out the Huntington and I know she is going to do some amazing things there for years to come.
Published by Yale University Press in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Author - Lisa Volpe (2023)
America and Other Myths - Photographs by Robert Frank and Todd Webb, 1955
I went into my favorite hometown bookstore, Vroman’s in Pasadena, on Monday for something and before I left, I checked out the Photography section for any new book arrivals. I was surprised to see they already had a copy of America and Other Myths - Photographs by Robert Frank and Todd Webb, 1955 so I grabbed it. I follow the author, Lisa Volpe so I knew the exhibition was opening at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and that the book/exhibition catalogue had just been released. I thought Vroman’s might get the book in stock before the end of the year, but I never expected to see it on their shelf within two weeks of its release. I like to support Vroman’s because they are independent, and they took care of me when I released my first book.
The exhibition, and this accompanying catalogue, compare the work of photographers Todd Webb and Robert Frank who received separate Guggenheim Fellowships in 1955 to document the United States. Robet Frank’s photographs were published in book form in France in 1958 then in the US in 1960. The book, The Americans, is arguably one of the most iconic photography books of all time. Webb’s 1955 photographs were not widely seen and were basically lost for some time before being rediscovered in a collector’s basement. In 2017 Webb’s 1955 photographs were obtained by Todd Webb’s Archive which began the archiving process of the images. Curator Lisa Volpe became aware of the Webb photographs around the time they made it to the Webb Archive and then had the vision to curate this exhibition comparing Webb’s unknown work Frank’s iconic body of work.
I became familiar with the Lisa Volpe, who is the Associate Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts - Houston, a year ago when she selected two of my photographs for an exhibition in Atlanta. During the submission process I researched Lisa online and found a couple videos of her talking about photography. Lisa has so much passion for photography and that energy comes across when she talks about the medium. I have followed her ever since.
I have seen Lisa’s recent posts about the exhibition America and Other Myths and the pending release of book/exhibition catalogue. The concept and images looked so fantastic that I have even been considering a trip to Houston to see it. I don’t know if I will make that happen but at least I have a copy of the book know so I know how good this exhibition probably is. But this post is a book review so let me get on with that.
Review of the Book:
The book was published by Yale University Press in association with the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. As stated above the author is Lisa Volpe - Associate Curator of Photography at the Museum of Fine Arts - Houston. The book was released this month and contains 184 Pages, is 10.00” x 10.70”, has 115 duotone images, and was printed in China. Directors’ Forwards were provided by Gary Tinterow - Director, The Margaret Alkek Williams Chair - The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and Betsy Evan Hunt - Executive Director of the Todd Webb Archive. Novelist and Professor Susan Straight provided the afterword.
The book is outstanding in every aspect. The design is obviously the first impression with any book. I love the cover image; it represents what it to come well and I like the font selection. The book is a really good size, you can hold it easily if you are lounging, so it has intimacy, but the book is also a little bigger than some other books which allows the images to be bigger so you can see more details in the image reproductions. The duotone printing is very good, the images are beautiful, and the printing quality also helps with seeing the image details. I absolutely love the page design where the image information is on the same page as the photograph, in a font that is easy to read but does not interfere with the experience of looking at the image. I made a point to do the same thing with my Santa Anita book because I always hate hunting through the back of the book to find the information about an image. With the writings, the text spacing is good, the font size is easy to read, and it has a nice font style.
There is an incredible amount of written information in this book. I don’t mean there is page upon page of reading to do to get through before seeing the photographs, that would have been a negative for me. What I mean is everyone who contributed text wrote in a way to share interesting facts about the photographers and their journeys in a wonderfully entertaining, clear, and concise manner. I obviously just brought this book home and have only read the introductions and skimmed the other text, but even with that I have learned so much about both photographers that I never knew. The story of how Webb’s 1955 photographs were rescued from a basement and preserved before ultimately being shared with the world now is amazing. The in-depth examination of both photographers and how they approached their Guggenheim projects is incredible. I look forward to spending a lot more time with this book to learn even more. Volpe’s writing style conveys her passion for the project and Susan Straight’s afterword is a nice compliment to the images and is very appropriate. Normally I wouldn’t pay a whole lot of attention to the Bibliography, Index, and Credits but again there is so much good information here about the images and the exhibition it is worth noting. Lisa and her team documented everything about this project, she could have been a good Detective with her skillset.
The image selection and the sequencing in the catalogue are again, outstanding. I have really started paying attention to how curators edit then hang their exhibitions over recent years. The curator’s process is often far more creative than the average museum visitor realizes. The pairings in the book are interesting, they work, and again I like being able to glance down to see which photographer created each image. Like most photographers, I was well aware of Robert Frank’s work in the exhibition, and I always find value in revisiting it. Like the rest of the world, except those involved in this project, I had never seen this body of Webb’s work before. In reading the descriptions in the book it appears that most all of Webb’s prints in the exhibition are Inkjet Prints printed this year. I assume that means Lisa and Betsy had to go through negatives and digitize images as part of the curatorial process. If so that makes the accomplishment of this exhibition even more impressive.
Image Showcase:
This photograph above of a barber in New Mexico has been on my mind ever since I saw it. The light in this image is amazing, as was Webb’s ability to capture it. I don’t know if there are words good enough to describe the quality of this image, this image doesn’t need words. Thank you, Lisa, for including it.
Two of my photographs compared two images from the book:
I had learned from Szarkowski’s book on Garry Winogrand that both Winogrand and Robert Frank had photographed the Father Serra statue in Los Angeles, even though all of them thought the statue was of Saint Francis. Because I knew they both had photographed something close to home, in 1995, I decided to search for the statue and also photograph it. I have written a previous blog post about all that whole process and how the statue had been moved. In September of 2000, almost exactly one year before the attack on the World Trade Center, I was in New York and captured the image above from the Empire State Building. At the time the person looking up at the claw railing had good value but after the attacks the the image became more powerful, and deeper for me. I don’t ever recall seeing Webb’s photograph from my exact same vantage point before, so I was excited to discover this image in the book this week, immediately realizing we had been in the same spot, just 45 years apart. I always find it interesting when I have the opportunity to photograph somewhere, or something, that a great photographer has. There is a unique connection and I like comparing the changes over time, or the lack of changes; it can be fascinating.
Conclusion:
If you like photography books you will love adding this book to your collection. For the $50 price, it is a great value. Every time you revisit this book you can come away with new experiences and knowledge, it truly is outstanding.
Additional Information:
Yale Press had links to a half hour podcast of Lisa Volpe being interviewed about the book which was fantastic as well as a half minute You Tube video of page turns showing off the book. Links are below.
Dr. Rebecca Senf - Center for Creative Photography - “Ask a Curator” life webcast
Recent Photography Webcast Worth Viewing - Becky Senf & Joel Meyerowitz
I have been able to watch a number of great live web events recently about photography and I want to quickly mention them in a post. With all the material out there today, I feel like I was lucky to have found these. The first two I discovered because I follow Dr. Rebecca Senf at the Center for Creative Photography and the last one was an Instagram alert about a live broadcast starting because I follow Joel Meyerowitz.
The first webcast was four weeks ago and was the Center for Creative Photography’s “Ask a Curator” event where Rebecca Senf (Becky) answered questions about being a curator for an hour. I thought this was outstanding and I encourage photographers, or anyone interested in fine art photography, to follow the “Ask a Curator” link and listen to her talk. I have really focused on getting to know curators and other photography professionals lately, just to deepen my understanding of the medium and the direction it is going. I have met Becky several times, have heard her lecture, and read her writings. She shares content in a way that every person who receives the information will gain a better level of understanding of the topic. I love listening to Becky talking about photography, her knowledge of, and passion for, the medium always comes through.
The next live webcast I saw was also promoted on Rebecca Senf’s Instagram. This event was the Photographic Arts Council - Los Angeles’s A Picture a Minute where well-known photographers, collectors, and curators each selected a single photograph and spoke to why the image was important to them, ideally for just one minute. You can see with my screen shot above the list of participants was impressive.
With the picture in a minute webcast, speakers were moving fast and my note taking was not perfect, but here is what I got down – I researched as much as I could to prevent errors, my apologies if I missed anything.
The concept for the event came from a project Agnes Varda had done for French television where she did 170 episodes called “un minute for un image”. Agnes wanted to how a single photo could impact people. Agnes felt that viewing photographs gave her space and time to think and wanted to share that with others.
Here are a selection of the presenters and their chosen photographs:
Alia Malley shared the photograph “Earth rise over the Moon” taken on 12/24/68 by Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders and spoke about how incredible that moment was for all of mankind and how important the image was capturing it. She also mentioned how intriguing it is to think the camera only captured 1/250th of a second in time but how powerful that fraction of time was.
Andrea Liss highlighted Carry Mae Weems photograph “Moody Blue Girl”
Arpad Kovacs’s photograph was David O. Alekhuogie’s 2015 image “Bandana Hearts”.
PAC LA’s Director, Bayley Mizelle, talked about Alvin Baltrip’s 1975-80 series “The Piers” documenting the gay cruising spots in New York City before the Aids epidemic.
Cesar Rueda showcased a photograph by Magnum’s Yael Martinez.
Paula Ely shared Vik Muniz’s “Ecstasy of St. Theresa after Benini” 2015
Clare Kunny and her husband Colin Westerbeck spoke about a photograph in their personal collection which is a dual portrait of Colin by Joel Meyerowitz. They spoke about how the image was photographed and how special it is to them (There is more about this image below including Joel’s comments about it which I heard in a separate web cast).
Dan Solomon spoke about Deborah Turbeville’s American Vogue editorial in the 1970’s and mentioned there was a ‘sense of decay, Photos are about memories”.
Gallerist Douglas Marshall paid tribute to Lawrence McFarland, who passed this year by talking about the power of his photograph “Wheatfields Nebraska/Kansas border 1976”.
Elena Dorfman’s choice was an 1872 Eadweard Muybridge print.
LACMA’s Eve Schillo chose Yan Wang Preston’s 2017 image Egongyan Park.
Hiroshi Watanabe didn’t understand the “one-minute” aspect of the event, but he gave an interesting talk about a Robert Frank print he had owned once, “New Orleans Trolley 1955”. Hiroshi paid $8,000 for the print in 1992 and when he decided to sell it a few years later, because it had started to fade slightly, it sold at auction for $36,800.
Jeanne M. Connell showed a 1948 print of Solarized Calla Lillies by Carlotta Corpron. I was not familiar with Corpron, who a teacher at Denton College in Texas, but this image was beautiful.
Jo Ann Callis shared Daido Moriyama’s famous 1971 photograph “Stray Dog”.
Rebecca Senf chose a photograph by Ansel Adams which was printed early in his career, a 1927 print of Mount Galen Clark. I found her selection interesting because I have seen exhibitions of Adams’s photographs where multiple prints of the same image, from different stages in Adams’s career, are hung together to show the evolution of his technique. I also found it interesting to see which Adams image Becky chose since she has expert knowledge of most all his work.
Robert Berman selected a Julian Wasser image that I know and like of Duchamp playing chess with a nude model. I did a blog post earlier this year when Wasser passed away. I have seen video of Wasser talking about his life and photography before, he definitely lived life to the fullest and made some great images. I also liked the fact this particular image was made in Pasadena, California in 1963, because I was born there that year.
Former gallerist Stephen White shared a Bill Brandt nude.
Virginia Heckert, who is the curator of photographs at the J. Paul Getty Museum talked about Shigemi Uyeda’s 1925 photograph “Reflections on the Oil Ditch” from their collection.
Michael Hawley, Chairperson of the Getty Photographs Council, chose a Graciela Iturbide photograph, titled “Angelita” 1979. Listening to Hawley, he obviously has great insight into the medium and he said a couple good things worth sharing: “The art of photography are pictures that offer more questions than answers” and he reminded people to get to know their artists who are still here.
Long time Los Angeles gallerist Paul Kopeikin shared a vernacular photograph of a cowboy and a girl from his collection and spoke to how anyone can collect photographs which I thought this picture was an awesome share. Paul’s words reminded me of some of Bill Jay’s lessons on the value of a photograph back when I was studying at Arizona State.
I am thankful the Photographic Arts Council - Los Angeles put this event on, it had a lot of value.
Darius Himes - Christie’s
Interviewing Joel Meyerowitz along with Alejandro Cartagena
The final live webcast I saw was Darius Himes and Alejandro Cartagena interviewing Joel Meyerowitz about his recent venture into the NFT market. I follow Joel on Instagram and got notification that the live video was starting, and at that time I was able to watch it. Alejandro is an artist in his own right, but he is collaborating with Joel, helping his go through his massive archive to find images from the past. Darius is the International Head of Photographs for Christie's. The conversation between these three was interesting enough but then Alejandro brought up the fact he had participated in the Photographic Arts Council - Los Angeles’s A Picture a Minute and mentioned one of Joel’s photographs had been featured in the event. The photograph was a dual portrait of Colin Westerbeck, one image in the morning and the second image in the afternoon in his apartment, I believe in Chicago. In the pre-digital age, it was a slightly complex image to compose so the frame edges lined up correctly. During the PAC LA event Colin and his wife, Clare Kunny, spoke about the print which still hangs in their house and how important it is to them because of their relationship with Joel. When Alejandro brought it up in this webcast Joel then talked about his photographic process for the image. It was fascinating hearing the perspectives from the three people involved in making the image. Colin is the former Curator of Photographs at the Art Institute of Chicago and an educator. Clare Kunny specializes in education programs within the museum environment. Colin and Clare have lived in Los Angeles for some time now. Joel Meyerowitz is another photography icon that is always worth listening to. He is one of the best image makers of all time and has such incredible energy.
There is so much content online now and it’s hard to navigate through it all, but when you do you often find some amazing content. Hopefully you will find the time to explore some of the links I have shared here.
Me and Ave on York Boulevard
Photographing with Ave Pildas - September 22, 2023
On Friday September 22nd I spent the afternoon photographing and hanging out with legendary Los Angeles street photographer Ave Pildas.
I discovered Ave’s work, when I found a copy of his book Street People at Arcana Books in Culver City five years ago. I liked his work so much I bought a copy of the book. I authored a blog post about Street People and how his photograph “Cop Salute” really stood out to me. I loved the fact Ave was apparently self-publishing small edition books, promoting his work, making his own opportunities. Los Angeles is a hard town to photograph in and it was obvious Ave has been out there documenting Los Angeles for a long time. I followed Ave on social media and when Deadbeat Club Press released Ave’s Star Struck book last year, I went back over to Arcana for the signing to meet him; I also authored a blog post about that. We had a great talk and I suggested going out photographing on the street together.
Ave and I had talked a few times this year trying coordinate our schedules to go out and photograph. When we figured out September would be good for both of us, Ave specifically told me he wanted to find new areas in LA to photograph. The light in September is also usually better than the summer months which I thought would be a plus, but of course the day we went out it was oddly overcast for September here. Ave lives in Santa Monica and is probably best-known for his Hollywood street photography. When we were planning the day Ave told me he was interested in exploring two Los Angeles neighborhoods: Liemert Park and York Boulevard in Highland Park. Because I knew I would be coming from a morning meeting with Photography Curator Linde Lehtinen at the Huntington Library I chose York Boulevard which was closer. I also liked how he described York Boulevard as a gentrified neighborhood with plenty of foot traffic and people out and about to photograph. I love an image rich environment.
We met at Avenue 50 and York which was perfect. There is also a bench there which allowed us to talk for half an hour before we started walking and photographing. I also got a good feel for the area watching the people pass us.
Ave and I are very different in a lot of ways, first and foremost I am 6’5”, Ave is not. I was born in the 1960’s, Ave was “living life” in the 1960’s and 70’s; and he still attacks life today. But I quickly discovered we are very similar when it comes to photography even though we work in different styles. We both constantly look for images in our travels, framing things in our mind when we don’t have a camera in hand, and we both have a strong desire to document our world. We also both feel the pressure of fleeting time and its impact on our efforts to preserve our work, so our images live on long after we are gone. We also have a similar geek side, like where we both got excited with the visit to Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. I bought some PEZ and Ave asked for a handful of eclectic bottle caps. I also loved listening to Ave and Ernestine at Leaf & Spine talk about succulents for ten minutes. We discovered her shop while adventuring around York Boulevard.
Street Photography Styles:
When it comes to photographing people on the street, Ave talks to people more, and likes to engage with his subjects. I like to move anonymously through crowds while photographing. I don’t want people to be aware that I am photographing them because I want to document the world as it is, without interfering with it; but I always do get incredibly powerful images when I get suspicious stares directly into my lens. We talked about our different approaches and during the conversation I referenced Bruce Gilden who photographs in a very confrontational style, on the street of NYC with a wide-angle lens and a flash. There is never a doubt when Bruce has taken your picture, he’s in your face. The confrontation Bruce creates is an important part of the image. Ave and I both like Bruce’s photographs but agreed we would never want to work in that style; we also agreed that style would not go over well in Los Angeles.
I think Ave photographs in a more methodical manner. Granted he is 84 years old, but he is in great shape still and could move along the street faster. He just really likes to examine everything around him and often photographs details from multiple angels to get exactly what he wants. I like to do that as well with static subjects but when I am photographing on the street I am usually moving and reacting to the people I see. I often “Shoot from the hip” literally, with a Sony RX100 vii with the rear screen tiled up so I can glance down and see it. I miss some things in the frame with this approach but with it I can move about better, and people are more natural. Missing an image is just part of the process, some things aren’t meant to be. When I see something that is amazing I will frame it regardless of whether people will notice. Often I have a Nikon D850 around my neck and will transition to that for those images. I also use the DSLR camera for all the static subjects. A DSLR camera body around the neck often helps me photograph surreptitiously with my Sony RX 100 vii. Suspicious people focus on the DSLR body, and they don’t even look at my hands. Good Life Lesson from my Law Enforcement days, always look to see what’s in people’s hands.
William Karl Valentine - York Boulevard Portfolio
The Experience of Photographing with Ave
The afternoon photographing with Ave was one of the coolest times I have had in a while. I almost always photograph alone or if I am with other people I am the only photographer. After leaving ASU I have never really had a mentor photographer. I have had outstanding advisors like Mary Virginia Swanson but no one I went out photographing with. Ave and I photographed well together, each discovering different things to photograph and moving at a pace that didn’t hinder either of us. The pace was also good because it gave us the opportunity to discuss so many different things. We meshed well, I did not set the day up looking for a mentor, I was looking to exchange ideas with an experienced peer, and I got that. I know we both got something out of the day and developed a good friendship. Ave even called me last week to tell me about photographing Liemert Park the weekend after we were on York Boulevard.
We discussed so many things there is no way to list everything here, and some things were just between us. Ave life has been an adventure. He was a successful designer in Cincinnati and when he wanted to get to the next level he followed the advice of his mentors and went to study design in Switzerland. He met his first wife in Switzerland and has two granddaughters who are Swiss. He taught in Philadelphia and ended up in Los Angeles because one of his former students worked at Capitol Records and introduced him to management when he had been in town on a road trip. He had to fly back to Philadelphia to get a portfolio to show them and was hired. We talked about some of the legendary photographers of our time, and it was interesting learning how Ave had met Danny Lyon in Milwaukee once and had seen Garry Winogrand photographing around Los Angeles on several occasions.
I look forward to getting back on the street again soon with Ave and could see somehow collaborating with him one day. His schedule is crazy, with pending trips to New York and Morocco coming up soon, but that also means I get to see more new images from him. I encourage everyone who reads this post to check out Ave’s website and follow him on Instagram, you won’t be disappointed. There is also a recently completed documentary film about Ave called Ave’s America that I am looking forward to watching once the release is complete.
William Kart Valentine on York Blvd – photograph © 2023 Ave Pildas
Ave Pildas at York and Avenue 50
Ave’s Bio from his website:
Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Ave Pildas worked early in his career as a photo stringer for Downbeat Magazine in the Ohio Valley and Pennsylvania in the 1960's.
In 1971 Pildas began working as the Art Director at Capitol Records in Hollywood and designed and photographed album covers for the label's recording artists. He launched a career as a freelance photographer and designer soon after, specializing in architectural and corporate photography. His photographs have been exhibited in one man shows at the: Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Photographers Gallery, London, Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, Gallerie Diaframma, Milan, Cannon Gallery, Amsterdam, Gallerie 38, Zurich and numerous group shows. His photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Bibliotheca National, Paris; the University of Arizona as well as numerous other public and private collections. He is a Professor Emeritus at Otis College of Design.
Atlanta Photography Group - Storytelling 2023 Exhibition - Opening September 19th
I am honored that the above print is included in the Storytelling 2023 exhibition which opened this week at the Atlanta Photography Group.
The exhibition celebrates street and documentary photography and was curated by Alyssa Coppelman.
APG shared the following about Coppleman on their website:
Alyssa Ortega Coppelman is an independent photo editor and photobook consultant based in Austin, Texas. She is Art Researcher for the Oxford American magazine; and Archival Researcher on the Emmy-nominated, PBS NewsHour series, Brief But Spectacular. Previously, she was Deputy Art Director at Harper’s Magazine.
About Oxford American
The Oxford American is a nonprofit arts organization and national magazine dedicated to exploring the complexity and vitality of the American South through excellent writing, music, and visual art. Billed as “A Magazine of the South,” it has won four National Magazine Awards and other high honors since it began publication in 1992. The Oxford American is published in partnership with the University of Central Arkansas.
The Image
This is the first time I have exhibited this image which I photographed in June 2022 at the First Annual West Hollywood Pride Parade. I have been concentrating on photographing more aspects of Los Angeles the last few years, partially because I think is important to document where I am from and partially because of the constraints related to the pandemic. I have always found it difficult to photograph in LA, it is not like New York or Chicago or even San Francisco. Los Angeles has so many diverse communities, and is geographically massive, it is really hard to capture everything about this place. People also don’t move around here like in the other big cities, in LA most people drive to where they were going, they don’t walk. Although this is changing some, as a photographer I still find that I have to search for the areas where people are congregating on the street. Hollywood and West Hollywood have always had more foot traffic than other areas and I knew the Pride parade would bring out lots of people for me to photograph so I went to it. I felt it was important to document the LGBTQ+ community because of its population size in Southern California and I was also interested to see how people would interact with each other at one of the first large post pandemic events.
When I saw this person in drag, and the people with them, I knew I was going to have the opportunity to capture a good image. I was first thinking my images would only be of the entourage but as this woman in in the tan hat started to fumble to get her cellphone camera up, I recognized that having her in my frame could take the image to a different level. The woman was so excited by what she saw approaching her that she stepped right in front of me to get her shot. Normally I would say something if someone did this while I was photographing but I wanted her in my frame. I stepped to my left and took my time framing the image. I made a number of exposures and worked to make sure the person in drag was featured, was in focus, and that I could see their image in the woman’s phone. Normally when I photograph on the street I am moving, often photographing from the hip (literally with a Sony RX100 vii), and when I frame an image, it’s quick. The parade setting obviously allowed for a more traditional photographic approach, framing in a viewfinder, but with this image I spent even more time than normal to perfect the frame.
For me, the interaction between the woman and the person in drag is key. The stare down of a dominatrix, the desire of the woman to capture the image and maybe even a desire for other things. The stare was so intense it seemed to single them out from the crowd, like a scene you might see in a movie, where all other noise is silenced and it’s just the two of them alone, albeit in the middle of a crowded parade. The other elements of the image work well too: the laughter of the other woman witnessing the scene, the contrast between the muscular man and other woman crossing the street, and the how the majority of the crowd isn’t even taking notice of their connection. With many of my street photographs I look to document relationships between individuals, and relationships between a person and the whole of a group or society. I love that this image has lots of layers to it, which allows each viewer to have their own experience of seeing it. The image is also a solid document of the event and a segment of the Angelino population.
The Print:
The exhibition print has an image size of 24” x 16” which is the largest sized print I have produced so far in an edition (I have produced some larger prints for commercial clients). This print is on a sheet of 26” x 18” Hahnemȕhle Photo Rag Ultrasmooth paper, framed with a window matt to an external size of approximately 33” x 25”. The print in the exhibition is #4 in an edition of 9 for this image size.
The print was made by Digital Arts Studio in Atlanta who I have been using to produce all my large print editions. Owner Barry Glustoff is fantastic to work with and his lab is one of the top certified printers of Canson and Hahnemȕhle papers in the world. I had Barry produce editions of 19 other images this summer at this size, and he has printed and framed all my photographs for every one of my APG exhibitions. His work is outstanding, and the staff is professional.
The Exhibition:
I have had a chance to see the other images in the exhibition and some early photographs of the installation. The exhibition looks great, some outstanding images, and I am pleased to be showing work with Gwen Julia, Joe Hoyle & Peter Essick again.
The List of Photographers in the exhibition:
Betty Press
Blake Burton
Caren Winnall
chilingo
Cindy Konits
Dennis Church
Dwain A Vaughns II
Eric Burkard
Eric bladholm
Erica Clahar
Gwen Julia
Howard Pelteson
Joe Hoyle
John Garcia
Joshua Tann
Laura Inman
Lawrence Manning
Louis Leon
Madeleine Soloway
Marcela Verschoor
Marcos lopez
Peter Essick
Richard Schramm
Robert Oliver
Roger Archibald
Steve Dinberg
Susanne Swing Thompson
Ulrich Mannchen
Willard Pate
William Karl Valentine