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

June 9, 2024

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:

NASA Official Statement

CNN Announcement:

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.

A Long Arc - Photography and the American South

May 26, 2024

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.

Sarah Kennel is the Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper at Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond.

Gregory J. Harris is the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography at the High Museum of Art.

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.

Brian Piper is Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Assistant Curator of Photographs at the New Orleans Museum of Art.

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)

Chrisopher Makos signing “Andy Modeling Portfolio”: at Fahey/Klein Gallery

Christopher Makos at Fahey Klein Gallery - Los Angeles

November 14, 2022

Fahey/Klein has long been one of the West Coast’s most influential photography galleries. Founded in 1986 by David Fahey and Randee Klein Devlin their 3,800 sq ft gallery houses an incredible 8,000 print inventory and has consistently showcased a diverse group of photographers throughout the years.

I had not been inside Fahey/Klein since before the pandemic so when I was up at Gallery 825 in September, I made a point to stop by and see what was showing.

As it turns out I caught the last day of an exhibition of Steve Arnold’s “Theophanies”. The prints were exquisite and the exhibition well curated, but the subject matter did not interest me. Still, it is always a good experience to see diverse works to keep you own saw sharpened.

The gallery traffic was light because it was near the end of the day, and this gave me the opportunity to speak at length with Nicole Boyle who is an Archiving Intern at the gallery. Nicole took the time to go through their collection room with me to answer some of my questions and just chat some about photography. I always love meeting gallery staff like Nicole who are passionate about the medium. There are few things worse for me than visiting a gallery which isn’t busy and has disinterested staff. At the end of the chat Nicole told me about their upcoming Steven Makos exhibition and book signing the following Saturday and invited me to attend. So, this blog post is because Nicole was engaging and motivated me to come back up to buy a book and see the exhibition.

As a documentary photographer, and a fan of Andy Warhol, I really liked this exhibition – Christopher Makos “Fringe” which runs through this coming Saturday. A couple images I saw seemed familiar, but I saw many images for the first time. Makos was in Andy’s circle, so he had great access to an incredible period in the art world. The prints in the exhibition are very nice and some are editions of 1 which made this viewing even that much more special. If you are in Los Angeles now, and a Warhol fan, I strongly suggest you get over to La Brea before this show comes down.

I find the book, “Andy Modeling Portfolio”, to be rather interesting. The book is basically a collection of studio portraits of Andy Warhol. If Warhol wasn’t the subject, then this book would never have been made, seeing multiple portraits of the same individual usually ends up telling us more about the photographer and their “eye” than the individual being photographed. But Warhol knew he was a brand and was always conscious of that when he was interacting with the world. I have no doubt that Warhol played a big part in the majority of these poses because so many have his signature look. For sure Christopher was staging the images but Warhol probably often took it from there. So that makes the book interesting for me, especially after having seen the Warhol exhibition at the Whitney Museum on two separate occasions (one of the best art exhibitions I've ever seen). The printing quality of the book is perfect for the subject matter since this portfolio is like a collection of test prints and proof sheets. If it was a grand higher-end printing on a larger scale the book wouldn’t have worked as well, as it is I think they nailed it.

One thing I discovered with researching information for this post is how interesting David Fahey’s own portfolio of work is. David studied photography and was photographing well before he got into the gallery business. David was insightful enough early on to realize there would be value in photographing the photographers he worked with. I found his photographs online and they immediately remind me very much of photo historian Bill Jay’s photographs. I studied under Bill Jay at Arizona State University, and I even remember being in the darkroom with him once while he was printing some of those images. It then hit me what an awesome experience I had in the gallery that day while someone like David was photographing Christopher Makos. I also realized, and found it interesting, that David had also photographed Warhol.

The story of the photograph below:

I was one of the last people there to get a book signed so I had time to talk with Cristopher. I had already walked around and viewed the exhibition before getting in line to have him sign my bool plus I had read up some about the exhibition online before heading up there. I knew there was a print of Andy Warhol wearing a red clown’s nose that was a single edition vintage print and I really liked it. But I noticed there was an oddity (a small circular shape like something had blocked the exposure of the paper) in the lower right corner of the image so I asked Christopher about that, I wanted to know why that was there. He wasn’t sure what I was asking about so I suggested we all walk over to it, and I would point it out. Christopher agreed and three or four of us, including David, walked over to the print with him. He was surprised I had noticed the detail and said it had no meaning and hypothesized he had used something to hold the paper flat during printing, but it had moved up and covered that corner of the easel during the exposure. I took the opportunity to photograph Christopher as he was talking about the print and at the same time, I could hear David was behind me also photographing him. My photograph below is from that moment. At the time I knew I had captured a good image, but after learning more about David Fahey’s photography my image now has a deeper personal meaning.

Christopher with a single edition print of Andy

One last fantastic thing I discovered while authoring this post is that Fahey/Klein has been creating video interviews of their artists and their projects recently. These videos are an outstanding resource and I appreciate that David had the vision and resources to document these photographers and events.

Click her to see the Christopher Makos video.

Other interesting links about David Fahey:

Anthony Friedkin’s 2014 interview of David Fahey for Samy’s Camera

The Eye of Photography article on David Fahey.

Anne Breckenridge Barrett, Peter MacGill, Susan Harder, Laurence Miller, Jack Sal, and Rick Wester.

The Legacies of LIGHT symposium - The Center for Creative Photography

March 4, 2020

The CCP describes the Qualities of LIGHT exhibition as this: “The Center for Creative Photography’s exploration of LIGHT Gallery is an institutional history that investigates the impact of this commercial space through its role in the larger community.”

When I attended the opening in December, I saw the description was accurate. It’s a unique exhibition in how it recreated certain physical elements of the LIGHT Gallery, displayed works of LIGHT’s artists, had a component for highlighting emerging artist of today (an important function of LIGHT back when it was open), and was able to show how important this gallery was to the history of the medium. One of the most impressive elements for highlighting the impact LIGHT had on photography today was Curatorial Assistant Adam Monohon’s brilliant concept of creating a line map showing the connections of so many important photographers, curators, and photography institutions back to LIGHT gallery. The exhibition also has so many cool interactive elements which I documented in a separate post. I had no idea that so many of the people who effected my growth as a photographer were linked back to LIGHT in some way. I think the entire exhibition really does well to capture the spirit of LIGHT and that time period.

Another important aspect of the exhibition is to highlight the connection between CCP and LIGHT. Harold Jones was the first Director of LIGHT and his vision set the course for the galley. Harold left LIGHT to help with building the Center for Creative Photography and the Studio Photography Program at the University of Arizona.

So this blog post is about the “Legacies of Light” symposium which was held in January at the CCP in conjunction with the exhibition. I signed up for the symposium as soon as I learned of it after having my work included in the exhibition. I thought it would be a good experience to learn more about LIGHT’s history and to have an opportunity to interact with so many people involved in photography. I was blown away with the experience of this symposium, it far and away exceeded my expectations.

Here is a link to the description of the speakers and the subject matter o the “Legacies of Light” symposium on CCP’s website. It is the best way to accurately describe the event in detail.

Another great resource is this link of CCP’s videos of the symposium: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRnlWp7M-YuVQY_okRmQmGA .

Now for my impressions. While attending the Legacies of Light I quickly realized one of the symposium’s primarily goals was to document the history of photography’s evolution to becoming a recognized as fine art. The people connected to LIGHT, many of whom attended the symposium, played so many important roles in photography’s rise in status within the art world. The symposium also talked about the current state of the photography community and our future. Everything was so well done by Anne Breckenridge Barrett, Rebecca Senf, and the entire CCP staff. There is so much to cover I will just jump in and start talking about the weekend and hopefully all my notes and recollections are accurate.

Anne Breckenridge Barrett

Fern Schad, Britt Salvesen, and Charles Traub

Things started Friday with small tours of the CCP facilities (I covered that experience in this linked: blog post) and a Keynote speech by Britt Salvesen who is the Curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department at LACMA. She gave an overview of LIGHT’s impact on the development of fine art photography followed by a panel discussion with Fern Schad and Charles Traub about LIGHT. Fern owned LIGHT with her husband Tennyson. She had an early interest in photography and had worked for Bill Jay in England before coming to the US where she spent time as a picture editor for LIFE magazine. Tennyson was an attorney who had the vision for the gallery and supported it financially. Traub spent time as a Director of LIGHT gallery and later was instrumental in establishing The Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago. He is also an established photographer an educator. I was fascinated by how much effort went in to establishing the gallery and maintaining it.

Becky Senf, Sally Stein, and Marvin Heiferman

Sally Stein, and Marvin Heiferman

Fern Schad - Legacies of LIGHT at the CCP

Saturday began with two former LIGHT employees Marvin Heiferman and Sally Stein reminiscing about the gallery and the atmosphere of New York in the 1970’s art world. Marvin spoke about how he learned to “see” pictures at LIGHT. He said Harold Jones taught him to “Just look at stuff” and to learn by the experience of looking. He went on to explain how he came to understand what pictures communicate to viewers. This really resonated with me because I feel too many people today don’t take the appropriate amount of time to actually look and experience images, we live in an Instagram world of the two second page view then “Like and Swipe”. Marvin gave examples of how photography wasn’t always accepted as art then. He remembered how a New York Times art critic had told Harold that photographs were not art. He also remembered an occasion when a woman accidentally got off the elevator on their floor while looking for another gallery He said she stepped off the elevator looked down the gallery wall at all the prints and stated “Oh photographs…” then stepped immediately back on the elevator. Marvin said Weston Neff and representatives from the Fogg Museum at Harvard would come in to the gallery but MoMA’s John Szarkowski would not, speculating because he didn’t want to acknowledge there was another “game in town”. Sally spoke to how the gallery struggled financially to survive.

Fern Schad, Andy Grundberg, and Marvin Heiferman

Becky Senf, Andy Grundberg, and Marvin Heiferman

Andy Grundberg, Marvin Heiferman, Michal Raz-Risso, and Sally Stein

Michal Raz-Russo, who is the Associate Curator of Photography at the Art Institute of Chicago spoke next of her Master’s thesis research about LIGHT gallery. She talked about how LIGHT was innovated in how they presented work, specifically hanging rows of images in grid form which hadn’t really been done before. She described Light’s 1972 exhibition of Stephen Shore’s “American Surfaces” which was shown three rows high and taped to the wall (No installation prints from this exhibition survived) and the 1975 exhibition of Garry Winogrand where LIGHT displayed over 100 of his prints behind glass and “L” hooks on one wall. Michal said Harold Jones used the grid style to try and show how Winogrand approached photographing: “Rapidly and Quickly”. It was fascinating to learn this because I can see the impact on some of the exhibitions I have seen. Most notably the Pier 24 Gallery exhibition where Winogrand’s complete “Women are Beautiful” series was displaced in a grid in one room while Stephen Shore’s prints were in another room. I can also recall MoMA, MFA, The Milwaukee Art Museum, The Art Institute and other institutions using grids in fantastic exhibitions, so I found it interesting to know where the possible origins of these designs came from.

Andy Grundberg spoke next on the evolution of photography as an accepted art form and LIGHT’s important involvement in that process. For those of you reading this who aren’t familiar with Andy he is possibly photography’s most well known art critic and the author of numerous great books on photography. He has written for the New York Times and is also a professor at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University. Andy was in New York City during this period and summed it up perfectly when he commented “I was a witness of photography at its most incredible time, the 70’s and 80’s”. I loved hearing him describe the New York scene like the print bins at The Witkin Gallery and studying under Lizette Model at the New School. I am also interested in upcoming new book, How Photography Became Contemporary Art because I understand there was considerable focus on LIGHT gallery’s impact.

Becky Senf lead a Q&A panel session next which focused on the history of photography and LIGHT’s impact. In summary they acknowledged how prior to the Witken Gallery and MoMA showing photographs that photography magazines and publications were the primary source for people to see good photography (way different than today’s Instagram era). They spoke how Winogrand and other photographers all got their start with photography-based magazines. Fern Schad, LIGHT’s co-owner, brought up how LIFE magazine closed in 1972 with the advent of television news, and how images on TV are fleeting. The panel spoke of Susan Sontag’s writing on photography and John Szarkowski’s catalogues at MoMA and how photography began to be looked at for its artistic value and not just a means of describing news. Michal Raz-Russo added to that saying that some Photojournalism is now starting to be accepted as artwork.

The panel recognized the important influence entities like The Society of Photographic Education, The George Eastman House, The ICP, National Geographic, The Visual Studies Workshop and others had on the medium. They also identified that the 1970’s were really when much of the movement occurred; in example the first formal photography department was at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1974. Becky Senf then pointed out something very important when she said “It’s remarkable how much (photography) history from the decade of the 1970’s isn’t documented.” Becky’s comment came in to focus for me more and more as the weekend went on. I realized the symposium was really focused on preserving photography’s history while it was still possible to get it firsthand from people who were part of it. Looking around the room there were so many icons from the industry and I knew because of reality of their ages that this symposium was most likely the last time you would have so builders of the medium together in one room. I also realized that with all my previous history of photography courses the focus was primarily on the photographers. Yes, Beaumont and Nancy Newhall were recognized, and we used their textbook, and we were taught about Stieglitz’s influence but most my knowledge was on image makers. It makes since because I studied at Arizona State University in the mid 1980’s when this New York scene was still strong and the Center for Creative Photography was just getting started. For me personally it was very good to grow my knowledge of the medium. By Sunday I realized the symposium was not only exploring and documenting the history of the medium, and considering its future, but I think the symposium was becoming an historic event in the history of the medium itself by what was being accomplished there.

Dominique Luster

Rick Wester, Liz Allen, Dominique Luster, and Alec Soth

Liz Allen, Dominique Luster, Alec Soth, and Sarah Stolfa

The afternoon session on Saturday began with a panel discussion “Engaging Community” moderated by Rick Wester. The first thing they focused on was how we define the photography community. ASU Professor, and current Society for Photographic Education President Liz Allen spoke about SPE’s formation in the 1960’s under Nathan Lyons. She talked about the changing landscape of education the challenges educators have now with colleges having fewer tenure tract professor positions. Dominique Luster who is the endowed Charles “Teenie” Harris Archivist at the Carnegie Mellon Museum of Art spoke about her role with the Harris archive. I was not familiar with Harris who was a Pittsburgh based commercial photographer who documented the African American community. It was highly interesting to hear the impact Harris had on documenting the history of his community with his camera and how their museum is keeping that legacy of community moving forward. Magnum Photographer Alec Soth spoke about once he had a photography career, he craved a community. Something I can related to after graduating from ASU and leaving behind the academic environment. For Soth he started blogging in the early days of social media and found a safe way to engage a photography community. Soth remarked how he now followed by over 100,000 people which he still is awe of considering how few comments he got on his earliest posts. He also mentioned the weekend of the symposium was the 10th Anniversary of Instagram and added the “Corporation of Instagram has taken over” how we interact with photographs. Rick Wester added insight from a gallerist’s point of view when he said “The Internet has replaced the experience with information, people are now getting information and want to get the experience to go with it.”.

Following up on the last two quotes, I want to again talk about a theme I heard throughout the weekend and mentioned above, that you learn about photographs by looking at them. Now this might seem like an obvious thing but it isn’t today. We now live in the age of the “two second page view”, where people scroll through Instagram, or any other social media platform, as fast as they can until an image catches their attention. Unfortunately these “lure images” are usually the ones which catch people’s attention (my term based on the concept of shiny fishing lures). Intense saturation, lots of post-production, or a trending subject. Many people are missing out because they aren’t spending time with images to experience them. One of the best exhibitions I saw recently was the Howard Greenberg Collection at the MFA last November. The prints in the exhibition were some of the best I have ever seen. But to get the full experience you had to spend time inspecting them, noticing details, and thinking about them. I walked through there exhibition twice to make sure I experienced it as well as I could, and if I could have gone back and seen it a second time, like I did the Warhol at the Whitney Museum recently I would have. Everyone I saw at the MFA was taking their time viewing the prints, it gave me hope.

Web 1-17 to 19-20 CCP - 3 Legacies of LIGHT 5.jpg

CCP’s Meg Jackson Fox and Emily Una Weirich moderated the next session which was “Valuing Story”. I think the best way to describe this session was an exploration of how institution are preserving history in non-traditional ways; basically history used to be written in text books and now we are capturing oral traditions and digital forms of communication to preserve historical information. Cassie May – an Oral History Archivist focused on the medium of Dance, Molly Garfinkel – Managing Director of City Lore, Dr Matthew Grilli – Assistant Professor of Psychology at the University of Arizona, and Photographer Judy Natal were the panelists. Cassie, Molly, and Judy spoke about the projects and the process in their approach to documenting oral histories. It was interesting because they had diverse approaches and subject matter. They expressed the common theme that telling one’s story was important to create connections between people. Dr. Grilli then went on to examine what motivates people to tell stories, “The Why”. He said this motivation can change over time, often with younger people the goal may be to solve a problem while with older people the goal of story telling may be to teach, to inform, or to contemplate what may come to pass. They all agreed that documenting oral history is often a challenge because it is usually recorded in a long form manner which is hard to create sound bites from to be used in different ways of presentation. Several panel members also spoke of past problems they have with documenting oral histories and use rights. The panelists told of several stories where the original use release signed for an audio recording or filming for a specific project did not include wording in the release such “In all media for perpetuity”. The problem they have encountered is when they want to digitize the original oral histories and share them the original releases do not specifically authorize that and the interviewed persons are now deceased. Where it is obvious the person interviewed wanted to share their story, heirs have at times refused to grant new releases to use the materials in new formats.

Tennyson Schad

Fern Schad

Original LIGHT exhibition

Peter MacGill

Winnogrand show announcement

Stephen Shore announcement for LIGHT

First exhibition at LIGHT Gallery

Max Yavno

Bruce Davidson at ASU

Saturday concluded with a screening of Lisa Immordino Vreeland’s new documentary “LIGHT; When Photography was Undiscovered, 1971-1987”

Peter MacGill

Peter MacGill, Susan Harder, Laurence Miller, & Jack Sal

Anne Breckenridge Barrett, Peter MacGill, Susan Harder, Laurence Miller, & Jack Sal

Peter MacGill, Anne Breckenridge Barrett, and Harold Jones

Harold Jones and his family

Sunday started with a panel discussion about LIGHT from the perspective of people who worked there. Included in the panel were Peter MacGill, Laurence Miller, Rick Wester, Susan Harder, and Jack Sal. Its too hard to go in to all their comments, and this post is longer than I had intended already, but the thing I really came to understand listening to this group was an understanding of the atmosphere and energy of the LIGHT gallery. Susan Harder and Peter MacGill talked about handing them portfolios of photographer’s work and being sent out to museums across the country to cold call curators to promote photography as art and stir up business. They also told stories of going and staying with iconic photographers as they were preparing to exhibit their work at LIGHT and had so many funny experiences they shared. There is no doubt everyone involved with LIGHT helped pave the way for every photographer today. The panelists also accurately recognized how important the symposium was for recording the history they were part of because much of the knowledge of those days is on the cusp of going away with the aging of those involved. The final event was a celebration honoring Harold Jones who spoke along with several his close friends and family members.

Personally, I am still processing all the experiences of the weekend because it truly was an epic event. I believe this symposium, which was designed to document Photography’s history, will in fact be recognized in its own right as an historic event for Photography. The topic material from the symposium was fantastic but I more so I had so many valuable interactions with people, I am just thankful I was able to attend.

Becky Senf and Rick Wester

Richard Misrach

Anne Tucker and Meg Jackson Fox

Dr. Maurice Berger and Emily Una Weirich

Sally Stein and Jack Sal

Audry Sands

Alec Soth and Michal Raz-Rizzo

Mark Klett and Alex Turner

Mary Virginia Swanson

Rick Wester with Alec Soth

William Karl Valentine and Eli Giclas

William Karl Valentine and Liz Allen

William Karl Valentine with Meg Hagyard

William Karl Valentine , Becky Senf, & Frank Gohlke

After-party Sunday at Mary Virginia Swanson’s home - Mark Klett and Peter MacGill - perfect finish to the weekend.

William Karl Valentine and Fern Schad - The Qualities of LIGHT exhibition at the CCP - Tucson, AZ 1/19/20

Fern Schad - Legacies of LIGHT at the CCP

March 3, 2020

I must admit something, before the inclusion of my print in the Qualities of LIGHT exhibition I didn’t know who Fern Schad was. I graduated from ASU in 1986 just before LIGHT closed so they were still an active gallery and most my history of photography lessons had been about photographers not galleries or institutions.

At the Legacies of LIGHT symposium at the Center for Creative Photography, I quickly learned who Fern was and what an important role she played in helping to establish Photography as an accepted medium of art. I detailed the experiences of the symposium in a separate blog post, but I wanted to do a separate post on Fern to highlight some things.

First, I truly enjoyed listening to her describe LIGHT, the time period in New York City, and her experiences. She is a great presenter.

On Sunday after the last panel session concluded there was a break before the concluding celebration of Harold Jones and his work. Most people were interacting in the lobby but luckily I went back in to the gallery to look around again.

I found Fern walking through the main gallery alone looking at the photographs of the LIGHT artists. I watched her as she spent time with each image and tried to imagine all she was recounting, not only about the images but of that period of her life. I stayed back and took several photographs hesitating for her to between walls before interrupting her.

I introduced myself, and explained I had studied under Bill Jay at ASU because she had spoken about working for Bill Jay. I asked her about what it felt like being in this space and she spoke briefly about her memories. I then thanked her for LIGHT and explained how the ripple effect of LIGHT was still continuing because I had a print in the Emerging Artists flat file component of the exhibition. She was very gracious and asked to see my print. It was a very powerful moment for me to watch Fern holding my print, studying it, and then talking with me about it. Receiving validation from someone with her expertise and experience meant a lot to me considering how many important prints she has handled in her lifetime. I am thankful that I thought to photograph her holding the print because the moment is important to me. Having this print in the exhibition and later having it added to the permanent collection of the CCP is important for my career. I only spent a few minutes with Fern but the experience will be one of the more memorable ones in my photography career.

Fern Schad viewing William Karl Valentine’s print which is included in “The Qualities of LIGHT: exhibition flat file drawers” at the Center for Creative Photography - University of Arizona.

When I returned home from Tucson I wanted to learn more about Fern. I found she remarried Alfred H. Moses after Tennyson passed and that their Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund has sponsored numerous major photography exhibitions, some of which I have seen. More photographers should know about Fern and her contributions to the medium, I am so lucky I was able to get to meet her and learn of her impact.

Bill Jay memory from ASU

December 13, 2019

I was going through some old notes today before heading out to Tucson for the opening of The Qualities of Light Exhibition at The Center for Creative Photography when I came across my notes from one of Bill Jay’s History of Photography classes at ASU.

Granted my notes from back then were sloppy (my writing habits changed a year later after the police academy TAC staff taught me that life was less painful when I was able to write legibly in a consistent manner) but I think I still have down the general concept of Bill’s message that day.

He was arguing that good photographers had to understand the history of the medium and what the standards of good photography are to truly be successful. My notes quoted him as follows:

“Young Photographers do not have the knowledge of History. If you don’t know the history, when you are so self absorbed, or if not self indulgent, then there is no relevance to your work other than your own feelings”.

I think this is even a bigger issue today than back then. With the technology advancements in equipment, more people are picking up camera and claiming to be “self taught” art photographers more than ever was imaginable 30 years ago. We live in a world of the two second page view and social media “Likes”. We are inundated with images. Often drawn to the brilliance of of over saturated images created more with pre-set s in a post production computer program than the creative eye of a photographer who has hone his or her craft. I also assume many of the photographers who are popular on social media have also probably never seen a good print in person. I want to be fair< I know not everyone young photographer is like this, but unfortunately many are, and often because they don’t know any better.

Need to keep this short, I just wanted to acknowledge that so much of my development as a photographer has come from viewing and studying the prints of the masters. I don’t know any other way to understand what a beautiful print looks like without seeing examples. I try and learn something every time I see great prints, and use those experiences to remind me of the standard I am striving for. For me it is usually a “sharpening the saw” experience. So, I am excited to be continuing my education tonight in Tucson , time to start driving!

Thoughts on Robert Frank

September 26, 2019

With Robert Frank’s passing earlier this month I have read lots of tributes since and I have given some thought to how his work impacted my development as a photographer.

There is no doubt that The Americans was one of the most important things to happen to the medium, I remember Bill Jay talking about that fact when I was studying at ASU, listing it as one of the three most important things in establishing the medium in the art world. I have a copy of the book, have seen his prints, know the work well and I absolutely respect and like it. But I would never look to Frank and say he is the photographer whose work has impacted me most. I am a Winogrand fan, and I know Frank’s work impacted him, and so many others that impacted me so maybe, by proxy, Frank had a bigger impact on me than I realize.

I just read A.D. Coleman’s article on Robert Frank which has some fantastic insight. One thing that jumped out to me was the fact that Frank moved on from The Americans to film and other projects. He never did another photography series like The Americans. I think its interesting because when you look at photographers like Winogrand, Friedlander, or whomever you learn a lot by comparing their photographs over a long time period. You learn about the subject matter in greater detail (in most cases our society) and you learn about the photographer personally. It is obviously different with Frank because he leaves the documentary style of The Americans behind and moves on so there is still work that offers insight to the artist but you can not follow the change of society through his work.

For me, I experience life by photographing. Even if I don’t have a camera, visually I am constantly focusing on elements of my world and framing them in my mind. Sometimes it is actually hard not to that. I think there is a lot of value in doing long term series like most of my work. I love being able to compare things over say a 30 year span and hope that many of my series will go well beyond 50 years. It would be interesting to see Frank’s work if had continued over a long period of time, maybe it would have been too much for him. Maybe the great initial success of The Americans prevented that. Lots to consider, but I wanted to take a moment and remember an icon for his contribution to the medium.